Product vs Advertising

“It’s all about the product.”

That’s what I hear a lot in the eCom space.

Many brands I know get so caught up in their product that they forget about everything else.

It’s useful to have a product-first mindset.

But you can go too far.

Most of the time, it’s only a half-truth - especially for small and medium eCom brands.

Don’t get me wrong.

I agree that a great product is the foundation of any business.

But they alone don’t build a business.

What’s the point of having a great product if no one knows it exists?

Sure, you can rely on word-of-mouth or referrals.

But that’s a slow game.

Painfully slow.

And you might not even be able to cover your costs before it catches on.

Take Apple, for example.

Their mission has always been to create the best products on the market.

And with hundreds of millions of devoted fans, you’d think that alone would be enough.

Yet they still spend around 1 billion in advertising every year.

They understand that while word-of-mouth is powerful…

Competitors are always trying to steal their customers with smart advertising.

Not to mention…

When you have great products, there will be knockoffs and resellers.

They can flood the market with multiple ads, pushing your product down in search results.

They can use different angles, images, and keywords to steal potential customers from you.

So even if your product is the best, others can beat you by simply out-advertising you.

And in the worst case?

Those low-quality knockoffs can damage your brand reputation and destroy the trust you’ve built with your customers.

That’s why when brands talk to us, this is what we say:

“Yes, focus on your product. Make it the best it can be. But don’t sleep on advertising.”

The biggest brands focus on both the products and the advertising.

It’s a powerful flywheel.

They create great products.

They run ads.

Customers love their products.

More people know about them.

Sales keep rolling in.

They have more money to make even better products.

Which gives them more angles and mechanisms for their ads.

And the ads get a higher ROI.

Think of the product as the car and advertising as the fuel.

It’s not about which is more important.

It’s about making both stronger so they can complement each other.

Jackson,

Founder and CEO of Echelonn.

P.S. Got a friend interested in Google ads? Share the love and send them our way.

If you’re that awesome friend, you can subscribe here.