Marketing is everything - Well almost

When I was doing my Intermediate, I used to watch a singing talent program in a local TV channel. That was a very nice program but these local channels never marketed them beyond a certain extent and they have found some very talented guys through this program. Then came American Idol program (Fox network in USA). This is a huge hit in all the countries. The name of the program itself is soo striking, and even today it continues. These local channels never projected them beyond a certain boundary. Now the national channels had taken a clue from American channels and they started marketing their programs in a similar fashion and you can see the result (Indian Idol). There are many other amazing examples on marketing.

Another interesting fact - When black pearls were first introduced to the market, no one knows what their value was, whether they are worth more than white pearls or less. Most people believed that white pearls were still more valuable. Then these discoverers of black pearls approached a famous jeweler and asked them to market these for them. The jeweler shop guys took these black pearls and placed them next to the more precious gems: rubies, sapphires, etc. The end result - Black pearls are now worth more than white. Imagine if they are placed lower initially, that would have been the rate and we would have got them for 100 or 200 rupees a set.

So how much ever work you do - it's equally important to market, project and place yourself in a nice manner, whatever you did and whatever you accomplished. If you are a lead or a Manager, it is most important for you (and of course your job) to market and elevate your teams and the right persons. There are many people who are extremely talented, give them anything and they will produce wonderful results. Some of them never talk about their results and some talks a bit more. If the person who doesn't market himself goes under a team where the lead doesn't know how to project the team, you will remain there forever waiting to increase your years of experience to get promoted instead of through recognition.

In the testing world, you only hear 10 to 15 names a lot. These guys are extremely talented, no doubt about that but the way they market is also amazing and the way they created a chain to market themselves is much more amazing. They are surely others who are much more talented. I have been to testing conferences where I met amazing testers from different companies. They are not so active in internet world but they are truly amazing and extremely talented but they were heard very less in the internet world than others who are very active in their blogs and tweets.