Essence of a business

I am constantly drilling students and clients about the four P’s of marketing–price, product, place, and promotion. However, the entrepreneur in me tells me there is clearly one “P” that trumps the others and that is product. When I look at successful businesses, it is often the product/service/offering, whatever you want to call it, that makes firm successful. If you have the best product, customers will flock to your even if you don’t have cutting edge promotion, price, or distribution. For entrepreneurs, the area in which you really want to focus your efforts is the product you design and offer to your customers. Strive to make it the most unique bundle of benefits in the marketplace. Your customers will rave about it and word will spread. A good example of this is the iPhone. It has had a unique market space for years. It is just a really cool, unique product. Imitators are now starting to come out of the wood work but the iPhone still has beloved fans.