Question

Topic: Strategy

How To Market A New Technology Product

Posted by Anonymous on 3/28/2005 at 12:18 PM ET 250 Points
Hi. I am the marketing manager for a startup company that has designed a prototyping platform for engineers in the design phase. It helps minimize time and cost from conception and design to final product. It provides state-of-the-art processing power at the fastest speeds currently available on the market. Anyway, the problem I am having is that no one offers a board with this many functions so no one knows it exists. We have attended a trade show and have a press release coming out. Any suggestions on the most cost effective way to market this? Also, the product can be used in multiple industries and that size of mass marketing is not feasible. Our customers are engineers and executives which have been difficult for us to contact. They have never heard of our company or our product. How can I generate interest with these prospects?
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  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 3/28/2005 at 12:35 PM Member
    First, you described this product based on features it has. When it comes to marketing, you must think in terms of what are the benefits to the customer. Doing so will both help them understand why they would want to buy the product, but also help you think about who you want to target.

    So, why would someone use your product? What pain are they feeling that you solve?

    Having the fastest speed is not why, but the benefit they gain from the faster speed (able to do more or do it faster) could be why.

    On market to target - even if the product could be used by everyone in the world, you need to "pick the low hanging fruit first". Target the customers who are both easy to sell to and would buy at high prices. Only when you get enough foothold in this market to allow you the time/resources to look at another should you consider going to the next.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 3/28/2005 at 3:06 PM Accepted
    The pain wouldn't be "lack of availability of OUR testing platform", but closer to what you said earlier "lack of accessibility to test algorithms they came up with". Your customers want to develop new products, which they need to test. They are having challenges testing them, and your product gets around some of these challenges.

    The next step is to make sure you know what this is worth to prospective companies. What are they spending to get around not being able to test (costs of experiments which they then have to shelve because they can't test, costs of doing alternate ways of testing like making a test board for each trial, etc.).

    As you are determining this, also watch for markets that look to be ripe for your product. If you find people in one area who are spending a lot of money or losing out on a lot of potential gain because they can't test, then these would be ripe markets for you to attempt to enter.

    Along with finding a market, understanding what a customer is currently doing and what it costs them will help you understand how to promote your product to them (messaging) and what your product is worth (needed to set optimal pricing).

    Note - most engineering based companies (as yours seems to be) would have some of this info in your company. Who was it that developed this product and why. They likely talked to prospects - you should be able to get a good basis from them to start on, though always talk to other prospects whenever you can to make sure you get the full picture.

    You said in your initial post that "Our customers are engineers and executives which have been difficult for us to contact."

    In regards to engineers and executives, keep in mind that they have different requirements from your products. Engineers want to know how it saves them time, allows them to do more, etc. - technical stuff that makes their job easier. Executives want to now how this will improve the business (save money or make money). Time is money, so saving time is the same as saving money.

    You may want to consider bringing a marketing expert on to your team. Either hire someone or bring in a consultant who can work for a somewhat long term with you.
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 3/28/2005 at 5:38 PM Accepted
    There is some great advice here already.

    Brainstorm with your team what this thing does. Each time someone calls out a feature, say "So what" and write down the next thing the group says, then say "so what" again, until there are no more comments - you will have described the pain and the benefits if you get through five or six "so whats"...

    Take the benefits to the prospects via trade press, on-line and off-line. Engineers read trade magazines to find out all the latest componentry to use to keep their designs ahead of the game.

    Identify a few "must have customers". Customers without which your product will fall by the wayside. Work with them to adapt your technology to what they are doing and write a case study to demonstrate the benefits. Get it published via the trade press...

    Hope this helps.

    ChrisB
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