People are such complex and irrational beings that it is quite an impossible task to predict their behaviour. However, professionals in the field of marketing have to do this impossible task on a daily basis, and naturally some succeeded and some failed. What really fascinate me though, is whether there is a decisive factor in determining if a marketing strategy would be a success or a failure. Is it the amount of budget you set on the actual marketing strategy? Is it the amount of time you spend preparing; doing the marketing plans and research? I do not know the answer to either questions but I do have a story to share…
Not long ago I heard a story about a little tea house. This tea house is located up in the mountains, about 2 hours drive from the city of Taipei, Taiwan. There is nothing special about this place at all apart from the fact that it has its own little story. The story is about the origin of this tea house. There are two women; one was an investment broker, and the other was an art director at some big company. These two women had a dream of owning a tea house and so one day they decided to give up everything and put their money together to open this little tea house up in the mountains. They did not have any money or time to do a proper marketing strategy for their business but that did not stop it from becoming a huge success. When words start to spread about this little tea house and its origin, it became an instant hit. People from Taipei would spend 4 hours driving up and down the mountain on weekends just to go to this tea house and drink tea!! I guess the moral to this story is that sometimes… a simple story sells.