Marketing is the art and science of determining what people want to buy and how to advertise it to appeal to their needs.
Product manufacturers often miss the connection between marketing and product development.
Many OEMs have Product Development and Sales/Advertising teams. When the CEO wants more sales volume, they often add Business Development teams filled with the top sales people they can find.
I know sales people who can sell ice to Eskimos, but it takes tremendous effort and resources. This is what I call “Push” selling. They must push their product on you because it is often not an ideal fit for your needs.
Marketing directors listen to the needs of a market. They understand what people and businesses want. The best ones imagine themselves in their client’s shoes and are exceptionally honest when they need to say “this product may have limited applications” (putting it gently).
By truly understanding the needs in the market and adding a little creativity, a great marketing director can identify exactly what a product should do, what features it should have, and how to correctly deploy the product. He or she also needs to be able to covey those requirements to the product development teams in terms they understand (“geek speak”).
While nothing sells itself, having a complex product designed to holistically solve real life problems and not just advertising “pretend world” scenarios, will be easy to sell. Reducing sales overhead costs means extra money in the coffers that can be used to streamline business further or enjoy in profits.
It’s true what they say about the importance of good listening skills.
