Marketing Myopia
Many companies define themselves almost completely through the product or services they offer. This is a common approach that can seriously narrow the focus. Extensive attention on products rather than customers’ needs, create a “marketing myopia” resulting in business nearsightedness or shortsightedness. The most important question is therefore, “What business are we really in?” from the perspective of what customer want.
What do people really want when they acquire a product or a service? This question directly impacts the strategy and the value proposition definition
Companies need to understand the difference between a product and a commodity:
- A product is what customer feels about your business
- A commodity is anything for which there is a demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market
Kodak is a great example in which marketing myopia was present. The digital camera was invented at Kodak in 1975. But instead of marketing the new technology, the company kept it under wraps for fear of hurting its lucrative film business. And when Kodak decided to get in the game it was too late.
Kodak had the myopic view that the company was in the film business rather than the story telling business. But customers aren’t buying cameras and film as much as they are buying a record of their memories. Kodak therefore misdefined the business they were in: instead of focusing on the product: capturing stories, they hooked on the commodity: selling film.
Marketing Myopia is the title of an important marketing paper written by Theodore Levitt and published in 1960 in the Harvard Business Review
