Time and again, I’ve heard the following from most entrepreneurs and solopreneurs:
- I have a great product, but for some reason, nobody’s buying
- There isn’t a great product-market fit
Here’s the truth nobody likes to talk about — the product sucks! And that’s okay, so long as you’re not in denial.
No product or service is ever genuinely perfect, but the onus is onto the entrepreneur to ensure that it meets a certain standard before they’re ready for prime time. The big question is, who decides these standards?
The end-users. Always. No exceptions. And folks who whine about lack of sales or marketing challenges usually don’t bother to test drive their own product/services with the end-users. They think it’s perfect. And the reality is that consumers don’t give a crap about what the owners/creators of the product feel.
Of course, there’s no denying your product may have had some traction upon launch. It happens all the time. But what are the chances that it’s going to stay that way over the long run? If you aren’t sure, you don’t have a marketing problem. You have a terrible product.
Reasonable entrepreneurs would always test drive their product with a sample of their target audience. They seek feedback and keep improving the product to the essential standards, before shipping it. And even then, the feedback and improvement process doesn’t stop.
That’s essentially the basics of developing a great product or service — you start small and work your way up to a bigger audience. Constant and never-ending improvement is what happens between ideation to execution.
So, instead of worrying about your marketing woes, pay attention to the product/service. It’s probably not up to the mark; otherwise, the right audience would have undoubtedly found it. And if you keep working on the product, they eventually will.