Marketing

I am glad Merril knows what she is doing as far as the internet is concerned.  I find stuff out, but she finds stuff out quickly.  We had a problem with the internet yesterday in that it was really slow.  Pages would open eventually. We no longer have that problem thanks to what Merril found out.  I sure would not have thought of going there in that time frame.
Last night we were watching the history channel.  Of all things the program was about chewing gum empires.  Although people had been chewing gum, it was made from substances that were not particularly tasty and would break up easily.
(I admit I do have a problem with chewing gum.  I do occasionally have it and I do enjoy it.  But it is what I see everywhere that causes me angst.  Walkways everywhere contain evidence of chewing gum.  It is an eye sore.  It is no wonder to me Singapore banned chewing gum.)
Then a guy called Thomas Adams in 1869 used a substance called Chicle (sap from a central American tree) and added flavouring.  He marketed it in the northeast of the US and dominated the market.  In today’s money he made billions.  His son took over the business and bought up all the opposition willing to be bought (he made a conglomerate.)
A guy called William Wrigley Jn. was a competitor and did not buy into Adams conglomerate.    Although he was a little fish in a big pond, he believed he could be the dominant fish.  That is what happened.  In his lifetime he had 40% of the market (which meant he made billions in todays money) while the Adams company ended up with 15%.
It was how he did it I found fascinating.  It had never been done before but he determined that if done this way he could win.  He was the first to introduce blanket marketing.  He advertised his product right across America in papers, magazines and on billboards.  No one had ever spent so much on advertising before.
As they say the rest is history.  Wrigley’s dominates.  It is now worldwide.  It reminds me big time of Kevin Costner’s comment in “Field of Dreams.” “Build it and they will come.”  Wrigley ensured he had a good product and told everyone about it.
I believe that is what it is all about.  The product needs to be good in the first place.  I just know I am disinclined to go somewhere or buy something if I know the product is sus.  Merril and I bought a meal at one place, and it was terrible.  We both decided never again.
Once I have a good product, I need to determine the clients I want and go for it.  It really can be a small client base I seek (for me like stamps or the web) or huge (like Wrigley did).  I need to be prepared as much as possible that something may take off.  I believe in building for what is wanted rather than what is.
If the product is good people need to know.  It is no good to me if I have something really good and no-one knows about it.  There would be a few satisfied people, but the potential would be missed out on.  They say that one customer influences 15 others.  If their experience is good or bad they tell others.  The growth to me can be exponential.
I reckon it is incumbent on me to get things in place. I need to work at my dream knowing that perhaps it could explode.