Not always, I think.
And it all depends on how one defines great.
Mr. Godin asks which comes first - marketing or the product?
I believe marketing comes first - because marketing is all about doing undercover work amongst real people - and realizing that there is a need that can be filled. And then getting under the skin of those who may need the product itself. And then coming up with a solution - with the right price (and profit-making plans...).
And then offering it.
Through another step in the marketing process - promotions (which happens to include advertising...)
In my mind, I think marketing pervades the entire process - and that it is a neverending process.
Way after the purchase has happened and the need has been fulfilled, the process starts again.
Marketing is about real people.
I never studied advertising nor marketing in university. I was studying maths, stats, body parts of cats and sharks and fish and chicken, and human brains (real, preserved, formaldehyde-soaked human brain).
But I was told that marketing has four P's: Product - Place - Price - Promotion.
A former colleague told me that there's a fifth P - and it's the most important one of all: People.
Marketing starts with people. Marketing ends with people. And gets restarted again because of people.
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