Choose Marketing over Innovation

We put man on moon before we thought to put wheels to our luggage.

Imagine that, for a moment...

Man set foot on moon in 1969. The first wheels on luggage were seen only in 1970.

In hindsight, you'll think this was possibly the most useful innovation for travellers.

But it still didn't pick up for nearly two decades.

Why?!

Because of our inherent stereotypes.

The luggage industry had two assumptions:

1. Men wouldn't want to roll a suitcase because it would be seen as "unmanly" not to carry it.

2. When a woman travelled, she would travel with a man who would then carry her bag for her, because of point 1.

And this is why marketing is equally important to innovation (if not more).

These inherent biases limited much commercial opportunity from a brilliant idea that seems awfully obvious today.

All it needed was to solve a marketing problem.

And this is where the B2B industry is now.

Revealing the pricing upfront isn't a norm.

Why? Inherent beliefs about how things work.

Events are the biggest source of leads and/or connections

Why? That is how it has always been.

Product is where the power lies.

Partially true. Real power is in the distribution and marketing!

The world is moving towards consultative problem solving and not pure-play selling - driven by quality content and visibility.

And it is about time, B2B (as well as D2C) brands realise the same - and spend equal time on marketing as on the product or innovation.

So the next time your CEO tells you innovation is more important than marketing, tell them about man on Moon & the wheels on luggage.

What's Hot?

Google adds new AI features to Google shopping experience.

X updates its privacy policy to allow third parties to train AI models with its data.

Amazon Ads launches new AI tools for advertisers - AI creative studio and Audio Generator.

LinkedIn reports a 35% increase in C-suite professionals activity in the US on LinkedIn in the past 5 years and a 30% rise in the UK.

WhatsApp to get chat memory for Meta AI.

What's Trending?

Alex Lieberman on Newsletters.

Peep Laja on B2B websites.

Clémence Lepers on the need for clarity on homepage of the websites.

Siddharth, or Sid, has worked for 3 organizations across 6 different states, selling everything from laptops to mobile recharges to SaaS products. He was handling brand and growth marketing for 15 countries at his last organization before he got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug.

Three years in, he now leads a team more driven than him at Ad Momenta. You can find him talking branding, B2B marketing and growth at @sidgrover25 on Twitter and LinkedIn.

And if you are stuck with some your brand and marketing problems, say Hi @ admomenta.com :)