The Four Steps to the Epiphany

6. The Use of a Product Development Methodology to Measure Marketing  

The head of Marketing looks at the same product development diagram and sees something quite 

different (see Figure 1.3). For Marketing, first customer ship means feeding the sales pipeline with a 

constant stream of customer prospects. To create this demand at first customer ship, marketing 

activities start early in the product development process. While the product is being engineered, 

Marketing starts creating corporate presentations and sales materials. Implicit in these materials is 

the “positioning” of the company and product. Looking ahead to the product launch, the marketing 

group hires a public relations agency to refine the positioning and to begin generating early “buzz” 

about the company. The PR agency helps the company understand and influence key industry 

analysts, luminaries, and references. All this leads up to a flurry of press events and interviews, all 

geared to the product launch date. (During the Internet bubble, one more function of the marketing 

department was to “buy” customer loyalty with enormous advertising and promotion spending to 

create a brand.)