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Marketers often feel like second-class citizens in their companies because people think new products and services come first and marketing comes afterward.

Maybe you've heard something like this from colleagues or friends: Assuming that people know what they want and need for a product is a mistake, because they simply don't—just like nobody knew that we needed an iPhone before the first iPhone was launched. Just like nobody knew they wanted Alexa until Alexa was born, or Ring Doorbells until it was launched, or PowerPoint until Microsoft came up with it, etc.

The list goes on and on and always has the same point: People don't know what they want until someone makes it first.

When a reporter asked what market research went into the iPad, Steve Jobs replied: "None. It's not the consumers' job to know what they want." (Lohr, S. "Without Its Master of Design, Apple Will Face Many Challenges," NY Times, 08/25/2011)

If that's true, then focus groups, surveys, or any other market research won't make a difference since people can't tell you what they want—except for specific features of already-developed products.

What if customers do know what they want?

In your company, most likely engineering (or some other group outside of Marketing) comes up with new products, and Marketing has the responsibility to sell those products—whether they are good or bad.

It's easy to see why marketers might think they don't have much power over new products: They spend their time marketing other people's new products.

But what if I told you people do know what they want. Then I imagine your world would change completely. Marketing would be a seat of power and you could then talk to customers and help engineering design new products that solve real problems.

Well, the fact is, customers do know what they want!

Customers know what benefits they want vs. features or attributes

Let's start by looking at the iPhone. Here is Steve Jobs' introduction of the iPhone when it first came out in 2007:

Well, today we're introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. The third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.... These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

What were the benefits of the iPhone when it first came out?

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Yes, Customers Always Know What They Want

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss is MarketingProfs founder and CEO, positioning consultant, and emeritus professor of marketing. Over the years he has worked with companies such as Texas Instruments, Informix, Vanafi, and EMI Music Distribution to help them position their products defensively in a competitive environment. He is also the founder of Insight4Peace and the former director of Mindful USC.