Jeff Bezos explains why product is more important than marketing in the Internet era

In this 2012 interview with Charlie Rose, Bezos points out that the Internet has made word-of-mouth more powerful than ever. This, he argues, has dramatic implications for business strategy:

“In the past, if you were making a product, the right business strategy was to put 70% of your attention, energy, and dollars into marketing the product and 30% into building a great product. So you could win with a mediocre product if you were a good enough marketer. And I think that is getting harder to do.”

He continues:

“The right way to respond to this if you’re a company is to say, I’m going to put the vast majority of my energy, attention, and dollars into building a great product or service. And put a smaller amount into shouting about it (marketing). Because I know if I build a great product or service, my customers will tell each other.”

Full video: Investing Principle “Jeff Bezos: Conversation with Charlie Rose - November 2012” (Nov 2012)

P.S. We’ve put together a YouTube playlist with every Jeff Bezos insight we’ve ever shared. You can watch it here: "Best startup advice from Jeff Bezos"