To be honest, I don't believe much from that article... No, not the things that the author writes. I mean the general image of marketing. It's like I would talk about software that does everything you want and never crashes. It would be a really nice thing if it existed outside of some completely separated mini-universe.
"If people don’t like reading about unicorn tears on the sales site, there’s no way they’re going to like the book.
[...]
Only one person has ever taken advantage of the 30-day refund."
Yes - that's because people are a) lazy, b) trying to justify their choices. They did not bother to return the book; they got it as a present; they resold it on ebay; etc. etc.
Marketing in real world that we walk through every day is about selling you as many products as possible as fast as possible. That's how the performance is measured typically. That's why it doesn't matter anymore if a real person calls you. It's cheaper to do an automated call to 100 times more people, because someone will respond. That's why spam works!
"marketing is about support" may work for a 1-person shop. Sure - you will get the information you need, because that person knows his business. Then at the size of ~100 people there will be a buffer of 2 managers between him and the standard worker - each manager with their own decisions and measured by performance. They know that there's a support department and they know what it's for - answering the questions about the shit people bought. That's why you'll get a call to ask you whether you want to upgrade your service from a person who doesn't know what they're talking about.
Both marketing people and programmers have the same problem - there are loads of drones in their business. It would be foolish to judge marketing by the article's author and it would be foolish to judge programming by DJB's code. They're one in a million. And the rest will work great together - one side will create millions of lines of crappy code and the other will sell it like it was the best thing since sliced bread.
The author may be describing correctly her own environment and her workplace, but... please, stop fooling yourself about marketing ;)
Hey, I'm on my iPhone so I will write a more thorough response later, but --
My book is an ebook, not a physical object. I offer a very strong refund policy and getting a refund is as easy & instant as emailing the address listed on the site & book. Typical return rates for other ebooks range fro
3-5%, based on my convos with other people selling info products.
Also, when I say "support," I mean it in the traditional sense. I don't mean "customer support" as in "answering emails." Remember that that term predates that particular meaning.
Support, as I explain in my article, means helping people. I create products, first, with a goal of helping my customer make themselves/their lives better. That is my guiding purpose.
Then, with my marketing, I help them decide - really - if the product is for them or isn't for them. I make it extremely clear who the product will help, I don't cast as wide a net as possible.
Helping people realize "this product is NOT for me" is respectful of them & their time.
"If people don’t like reading about unicorn tears on the sales site, there’s no way they’re going to like the book. [...] Only one person has ever taken advantage of the 30-day refund."
Yes - that's because people are a) lazy, b) trying to justify their choices. They did not bother to return the book; they got it as a present; they resold it on ebay; etc. etc.
Marketing in real world that we walk through every day is about selling you as many products as possible as fast as possible. That's how the performance is measured typically. That's why it doesn't matter anymore if a real person calls you. It's cheaper to do an automated call to 100 times more people, because someone will respond. That's why spam works!
"marketing is about support" may work for a 1-person shop. Sure - you will get the information you need, because that person knows his business. Then at the size of ~100 people there will be a buffer of 2 managers between him and the standard worker - each manager with their own decisions and measured by performance. They know that there's a support department and they know what it's for - answering the questions about the shit people bought. That's why you'll get a call to ask you whether you want to upgrade your service from a person who doesn't know what they're talking about.
Both marketing people and programmers have the same problem - there are loads of drones in their business. It would be foolish to judge marketing by the article's author and it would be foolish to judge programming by DJB's code. They're one in a million. And the rest will work great together - one side will create millions of lines of crappy code and the other will sell it like it was the best thing since sliced bread.
The author may be describing correctly her own environment and her workplace, but... please, stop fooling yourself about marketing ;)