This document discusses the concept of "marketing myopia", which is when companies focus too narrowly on selling products instead of understanding customer needs. It outlines three key ideas: 1) there is no such thing as a growth industry, industries rise and fall, 2) a company's product is not its business, the business is fulfilling customer needs, 3) companies should focus on customer needs rather than their own capabilities. It also discusses four common myths that lead to marketing myopia and recommends curing it by thinking broadly about the customer-oriented business a company is really in.

1. Marketing
Myopia

2. What Is Marketing Myopia?
Focusing too narrowly on
selling products and services
Missing the “big picture” of
what consumers really want

3. Companies need to
Consider:
What Business Are
They Really In?

4. Three Key Ideas
There is no such thing as
a growth industry.
Your product is not your
business.
Focus on customer’s needs,
not your capabilities.

5. There’s No Such Thing
as a Growth Industry
“The history of every dead and
dying ‘growth’ industry shows a
self-deceiving cycle of bountiful
expansion and undetected
decay.”
—Theodore Levitt

6. Your Product Is Not
Your Business
Transportation
• Customer oriented
• Focused on
customers’ needs
Railroads
• Product oriented
• Focused on railroads

7. Focus on Customers’ Needs,
Not Your Capabilities
7
“The marketing effort is still
viewed as a necessary
consequence of the product—
not vice versa, as it should be.”
—Theodore Levitt

8. The Four Myths

9. Myth #1
THE FOUR MYTHS
RESULT
We focus on products, not customers’ needs.
BELIEF
An ever-expanding and more affluent
population will guarantee our growth.
1

10. Myth #2
THE FOUR MYTHS
There is no competitive
substitute for our industry’s
major product.
RESULT
We fail to innovate.
BELIEF
There is no competitive substitute for
our industry’s major product.
2

11. Myth #3
THE FOUR MYTHS
RESULT
We focus on selling instead of marketing.
BELIEF
We can protect ourselves through
mass production.
3

12. Myth #4
THE FOUR MYTHS
Technical research and
development will ensure
our growth.
RESULT
We think our products will sell themselves.
BELIEF
Technical research and development
will ensure our growth.
4

13. The Cure for Marketing Myopia
Think broadly about the business
you are in.
Create a customer-oriented
company.

14. Thank You
00966 56 100 4748
info@dtechsystems.co
www.dtechsystems.co
You can contact us at