subject: The Better Mousetrap Marketing Myth [print this page] In nearly 40 years of working with small businesses, especially start-ups, I've found inexperienced marketers because of their lack of background in marketing often buy into common myths about marketing. And, unfortunately, will sometimes make ill-advised decisions based on these myths, at best wasting limited resources and at worst possibly putting their business at risk.
A myth is a traditional story used to explain a custom. These myths get repeated from business to business, from generation to generation, until they take on a life of their own that may or may not have any basis in today's marketplace reality.
One of the most common myths is what I call the Better Mousetrap Myth. It has lots of variations:
"If I just invent the better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to my door."
"We don't need to promote, our products are so good they sell themselves."
"Advertising is a waste of money --- our reputation is our best advertising."
The truth is today's marketplace is filled to overflowing with "mousetraps" --- translate that to mean virtually any product or service you may be offering into the marketplace. They are available in virtually any store, as well as online and probably on more than one cable shopping channel. They are available in basic models and models with all the bells and whistles. They are available in any color you want. And they are available at practically any price you want to pay. So that, even if you could actually come up with a better "mousetrap," chances are the marketplace would greet your astonishing invention not with a thunderous stampede to your door, but with a disinterested yawn.
Now, this is certainly not meant to discourage you from offering your "mousetrap" into the marketplace --- I never discourage entrepreneurs! Rather, it is meant to say that you will need to continuously promote your mousetrap in order to differentiate yourself from all the other mousetraps.
