Why you shouldn’t care about Bing…

…or any other product that spends so much on marketing ($100+MM). They’re hiding something.

Bing isn’t a huge leap over Google. Blu-Ray drives haven’t exploded because they aren’t a huge leap over DVDs. Hybrid cars aren’t a huge leap in conservation over gas-powered models.

So what do companies do when they know their product isn’t that great? They spend money to promote it. A LOT of money. Bing, Sprint’s Pre and movies are great examples of this.

Good products grow over time. Good products are spread from one person to the next, not through advertising from one to many. Easiest way to get people to like your product is to let them use it, make it better with their feedback and then help them tell their friends. I assume this costs less than sponsoring TV shows.

Try this with a potential customer. The loud ones work best. Give her your product for free. Let her try it out. Make it better based on what she says.

Consumer to consumer works. Try it.

UPDATE: Apparently Bing is bigger than a bunch of other popular, non-search-engine web sites. Woohoo. One month of heavy advertising worked. Let’s try back in three months. Or six.