Marketing: would you rather be smart or lucky?

You’ve got a new product. If you could choose to be smart or lucky with it, which would you choose?

I’d choose lucky, every time. No matter how smart you are, or how great the product, there are no guarantees.

Seth Godin is rerunning a great post from 2004 “Factor L”. He says:

Every time you launch a product or service, every time you apply for a job or start a nonprofit, you’re either going to hit or not. If you get lucky, you’re entitled to deny that luck had anything to do with it. But if you fail–and you probably will–understanding the role of the L factor will keep you sane. And if you’ve planned for it, it will keep you solvent as well. Solvent enough to try again and again, until you make it (and take all the credit).

Seth talks about spreading the risk too — that is, not relying on any one product. It’s the old story: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

Technorati Tags: marketing, luck

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