Many people come to America to study business, and marketing is a popular emphasis, but in my opinion, marketing is something difficult to teach. In the classes you learn about things that have worked and not worked in the past, but a lot of times in the past people have proven to make a good marketing situation, that would not be expected. There have been several surprises in the past century when it comes to how a product is viewed relating to it’s marketing.
Bad Publicity is Good Publicity
This saying was first recorded in 1915, in a US newspaper. It has proved to be valid since then in many cases. Many movie stars have had negative publicity and have come out better for it. If a person didn’t have these examples, they wouldn’t believe the saying is true. Any rational person would think that if the media talks negatively about a business, it will suffer, but this is not always the case. But like many like it, this marketing rule, or should I say trend, is not a sure one. Who would have known that Toyota would take such a hit after the negative publicity it got?
Radio and Texting
When TV was invented, many people thought radio would die. Why would someone want to listen to their media ever again, now that moving pictures were available? This seemed to be the case, but somehow, radio still is alive and well. There is still a market for radio because people drive in their cars and are unable to do more than listen. Like radio, texting had a similar story.
When the idea of sending instant text messages came up in some meeting years ago, it had its critics. Who would want to send written words instead of a phone call? But texting did find its way. Radio and Texting are more simplified versions of what technology has available, but they are both well used.
Cold Call Sales
Most people don’t like the salesmen that come to them, and telemarketers are pretty low on the liked workers list. But somehow, this continues to be a practice. If it didn’t have any success cold call would have died years ago, but it lives on.
Who can say what will work and what won’t. In all of these examples, things weren’t black and white. The market seems to be very particular about how things are presented. If you have an odd idea, but present it in a fabulous way anything is possible and no one can tell you it definitely is not. They can only tell you if they would fund it.
Tiffany Thatcher is a guest blogger who writes for Klas Products and specializes in marketing.
