There are two principal views about marketing. The first school of thought treats branding almost solely as a means of selling a product: the more my message resonates with you, the buying public, and the more often my slogan or jingle or TV commercial stays at the forefront of your mind, the greater the likelihood I will sell you more “stuff.” Whether that stuff is good or whether it is merely a widget, an interchangeable product or service that exists purely to generate cash, is, for this group, irrelevant. The second school of thought is the exact opposite; it believes that marketing is the essence of sincere communication, and that people may listen to a lot of concepts but they will quickly determine if the message matches reality. Think of the first group as an organization that controls the entire marketing campaign, preventing any outside criticism and quashing any attempt to deivate from the party line.
The problem with this theory is that no company can control its marketing; the Internet – the microsites, blogs, chat groups, message boards and pages upon pages of social media – makes this task impossible. And yet, some companies still try to overrule criticism — they express shock when consumers do not kneel before the idol of Mediocrity.
The second group, which consists of companies that welcome the free form nature of the Internet, understands the most fundamental rule of communications: no one can control the message; you can shape it, you can influence it, but you cannot impose your will on a global community. More to the point, if you have a good product – if your service is exceptional – then your message will be effective. Period.
Maxthon embodies this principle, which explains our success with people throughout the world. This statement is not a reason to become complacent, since we must never forsake our commitment to developing the very best products and services. But we do want to thank our users, the men and women who continue to advance our cause, because this passion is the ultimate proof of successful marketing. Let us go forward to even greater achievements in the months ahead!
Maxthon stands for many things – excellence, innovation and transparency, to name a few – but it most symbolizes the power of community. By uniting people throughout the world, and by inspiring them to share ideas and spread the word about Maxthon, we continue to transform – for the better – the way tens of millions people access the web. And now we can all give ourselves a deserved round of applause, because the editors at PCWorld have named Maxthon as one of the 100 Best Products of 2011.
