Hawaiibadboy
BANNED
Value can neither be mandated nor created; it is not even tangible. It is the quantification of perceived benefit. It is strictly in the mind of the beholder. Jason and myself expend much energy in the quest to provide exactly this in our products. Now the trick here is to realize that value belongs not just to us but to our users as well. Value cannot exist without both a provider and a user. The key idea here is empathy with our users.
The higher the value, the more willingness there is to buy. Marketing is necessary only to the extent of a lack of value. More plainly stated, marketing is only necessary to sell products which no one wants. At Schiit, we have no marketing department, only a brand. This leaves us free to redeploy misguided marketing resources to further value.
If a company does not believe in value, it is not that it believes in nothing. It will just have to resort to campaigns of coercion to succeed or go out of business.
“You’ve got to live right, too. It’s the way you live that predisposes you to avoid the traps and see the right facts. You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It’s easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally. That’s the way all the experts do it. The making of a painting or the fixing of a motorcycle isn’t separate from the rest of your existence. If you’re a sloppy thinker the six days of the week you aren’t working on your machine, what trap avoidance, what gimmicks, can make you all of a sudden sharp on the seventh? It all goes together ... The real cycle you're working in is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be "out there" and the person that appears to be "in here" are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from Qaulity together.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
You gotta read this book if you have not.
You sparked this quote in my brain. I'll get me some schiit sometime.