Being the first to market is a huge advantage in marketing, but only insofar as it makes your company first to mind. Being the first to mind in a market is one of the biggest advantages in marketing because it creates a level of trust, comfort, and preference that is exclusive to that company.
This is a tough concept to really understand from reading, so I'm going to help you experience it. Listen to this:
Joe Cocker was first to market.
Tupac and Dre are first to mind.
Another example is the Wonderball commercial from 2000 (which is a parody of Who Wrote the Book of Love by The Monotones). As a 30-something, I can't listen to that song as written because the Wonderball jingle is so embedded in my mind.
Older people probably have the opposite problem because once a mind is made, it's rarely (if ever) changed.
These examples help us experience the power of being "first to mind" in marketing. It is futile to change minds, but it is relatively easy to stake your claim to one.
Trying to compete with a company who already owns the minds of customers in a particular market is the biggest waste of marketing resources. Trying to be more "search" than Google is like trying to take Joe Cocker's instrumental back from Pac and Dre: not gunna happen. Instead, you need to find (or create) a new category where you can own that piece of customers' minds.
