Blending technology and marketing.

At a Me.dium company all-hands meeting the other day we talked about the necessity of having marketing expertise as well as technical expertise in order to get the job done. I've long believed all you need is good technology in order to succeed. While I still believe that you can "build it and they will come," regardless of marketing effectiveness, I've seen the light that can shine from solid, calculated, marketing/branding campaigns. When you plot out your look & feel (from color palette, to logo, to overall design) as well as your availability strategy, you can have tremendous impact on the marketplace.

I'm also re-evaluating my perspective on whether or not it's technology's fault, or design's fault when a user doesn't understand the value in a product. I'm the type of consumer/user that will jump over lots of hurdles and bad UI in order to leverage the power of a product or utility; if the value's there, I'll dig for it. However, most user's aren't like me, rather, they need to be led to the value via effective UI design. The value in Me.dium is phenomenal; we just need to ensure we get the technology & design right. Lot's to do.