• Ad Age, Thursday, January 5, 2006 10:30 AM

An Al Ries column from Ad Age discusses Google's success and brings it back to what the company does best: search. Search is its "mousetrap," which essentially refers to a product or service's ability to keep people coming back for more. And if it is the "mousetrap" or product that keeps people coming back, what exactly is the role of marketing? These days this is an especially interesting question, as marketers themselves tout a similar mantra that the key to their marketing success is simply about being better more clever, or bigger. Is marketing success simply about being better, or is it about representing an excellent product? Or both? Actually, Ries says, it's more about being first to market. The first to bring a product to market is then faced with the task of fending off other competitors by protecting its product through fierce marketing. Of course, the brand must also focus on improving its product, but rather than trying to enter a market by doing things better, the key to marketing a product well is solidifying its first-to-market qualities in the minds of consumers.

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