Quality or Quantity?

Over the past two to three decades, there has been a singular push in marketing: Quantity over Quality. The thinking is simple:

• At some level, business is a numbers game. The more numbers you have, the more opportunities you have to play.

And the results have supported the push.

We reached a million people and converted 10% — that’s 100,000 sales!

However, what is rarely considered is the costs associated with quantity. Yes, you reached a million people, but the price is the equivalent of 100,001 sales < so you are out of money. Further, with quantity often comes a diminishment of repetition. The collapse of Prime Energy Drink comes to mind.

The easy answer is to do both. But realistically, only some brands (Nike, Apple, etc.) get reach and loyalty.

In the battle of more or better — the answer is more complex than many would like it to be.