Manizesto

Case in point: the Chevy Malibu. Here’s the story.

For years, the most important car an automaker can have - the full-size, family sedan - that Chevrolet brought to the table was a half-hearted, ugly, unreliable car that paled in the face of it’s overseas competitors. It seemed that generation after generation of the blighted family hauler was a disappointment, getting failing grades from consumer reviews and drawing a seemingly endless stream of customer complaints, like this one:

“I would not sell this car to anybody I knew because I know it has problems. It’s a total piece of junk. My next vehicle will be a Toyota” (full review here).

Other owners called the car “An insult to the word automobile,” a “total waste of my hard earned money,” “a great car if  you like the repairman,” “a vehicle that should be recalled,” and as one reviewer concisely put it: “This car sucks.” (more scathing reviews).

You can imagine that with reviews like these, there was no marketing budget large enough, no campaign intriguing enough and no offer strong enough to overcome the poor quality Chevrolet offered in the Malibu. 

But now the tides have turned. Just look at the chart below, which illustrates interest generated in the Malibu over the last 6 months. Notice the huge increase in interest since GM (Chevy’s parent company) came out with their redesigned car.

Surpassing all major competitors by a long shot, including long-time leaders Toyota and Honda, Chevy has completely changed the game with the 2008 Malibu, and is rebuilding a damaged reputation too. Sure there was a significant marketing budget behind the new car ($150 million), but there’s no doubt the car is light-years ahead of the previous generation, and that is why people are paying attention. 

Lesson to small business owners: To have success, make sure the products you offer are at least on par with what your competitors can offer, and then your marketing efforts can build awareness and create interest in those products. Obviously, the better your product, the higher your chances of being able to market it successfully. 

And if your products have been less than stellar in the past, there’s hope; it’s just going to take more R&D and a bigger marketing budget to overcome your reputation.

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