Hey Tech Marketers, How About Helping Your Customers Solve Problems

March 31, 2009 By 1 Comment

“Nobody Cares About Your Products (Except You),” is one of the core rules that author and marketing thought-leader David Meerman Scott espouses in his latest book, World Wide Rave, and throughout his other works and blogs. 

The most zealous anti-smokers that I know are former smokers.   The fact that in hindsight, I can see that I was guilty of being a bit too proud of the features and functions of my own products as a technology marketer makes me just a bit maniacal about David’s product rule as a user and consumer of tech products today. Unfortunately, it seems like there are still quite a few technology marketers out there that did not get the memo.

My Mini-Technology Odyssey:

For the past few weeks, I’ve been in search of a solution that will allow me to better serve my customers and grow my business.  My opportunity is to extend my service offerings by providing e-learning services/courses to subscribers to specific audiences.  Based on the feedback that I’ve received in teaching or supplementing my MBA programs with on-line offerings and given the time and cost challenges that so many professionals are facing, I’m convinced that it is time to expand into subscription-based e-learning. 

What I thought would be a simple search has turned into a quest worthy of Homer. While it is quite possible that I’m seeking fulfillment for a problem that has not yet been solved—a service that will allow independents and small firms to offer e-learning via a hosted platform with e-commerce and participant management functions, I don’t think this is the issue. There are plenty of firms that purport to offer all, most of or parts of this solution.  I think. 

Here are the Marketing Lessons I’ve Discovered Thus Far:

-Value-chain and systems thinking are foreign topics.  There are a myriad of pieces and parts providers that might sell more pieces and parts if they were able to connect people like me with other providers and partners in the value chain. 

Instead of focusing on where their offering fits, these firms view the world through the eyes of their products, not the needs of their customers.  Remember the old saying that no one buys a drill, they are buying the hole?  It’s true. 

In one memorable discussion with a rep for a flash authoring tool, he seemed taken aback that I might ask about platforms or other service providers where I could use the output of his company’s offerings.  A review of their web site left you thinking that this very substantial organization viewed themselves as the center of the e-learning universe, yet in reality they are just one component provider.  Marketing myopia, anyone?

-Feature lists do not equal answers to business problems.  Most of the service providers that sound like they might just solve my problem forced me to wade through long lists of discrete, acronym filled feature lists and jargon, only to leave me wondering whether they truly have what I need.  What do you do?  Who do you serve?  How are your offerings solving problems?  None of those questions are tackled head-on. 

-Once you get a live human on the phone, you want to throw him/her back.  Not once have I encountered a rep on the phone that is capable of indicating whether their offerings meet my needs.  They either are clueless or they are so obviously incented to sell what they have, that they engage in something that reeks of used car sales tactics. 

-Speaking of used car sales: What will it take for you to drive this product home today?  I love the vendors that require you to walk on hot coals to gain access to pricing.  Most often, they require a demo before sharing pricing with you.  Sorry, but life is too short.  I don’t care about YOUR SELLING PROCESS!  I want a solution to my business challenge. 

Tough Love for Marketers:

1.  Revisit your website and ask your customers and targeted buyers to tell you whether your messaging and presentation are helping them understand how you might solve their problems.  Build content to match your buyers and ensure that it speaks to solutions, not features.

2.  Develop a systems-thinking mentality if you are selling pieces and parts.  More than likely, no one needs your piece and part in isolation.  The better you can relate and link your offerings to other good offerings in the value-chain, the more your prospective buyers will be comfortable in purchasing your offerings. 

3. Stop with the offensive, insulting and invasive selling tactics and pricing shell games!  You are just pissing us off.

4. Educate your reps.  Teach them how to ask questions and help clients solve problems. 

The Bottom-line for Now:

Enough with the myopic thinking and feature-focused, jargon-filled gobbledygook that passes for marketing messaging.  Help someone solve a problem and you will sell more.  Guaranteed.  

Filed Under: Marketing, Product Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mind Your Knowledge Gap: Why Social Media is Essential to Your Career

March 13, 2009 By 10 Comments

This is a wake-up call to my mid to late 30 to 40 something (and older) contemporaries.  It’s time to figure out what all the noise is about social media and how to leverage it for yourself, your career and your organization.

It’s not going away.  It may change and morph, but there’s a whole new world of conversations and interactions going on and if you are not plugged in, you are tuned out and wandering aimlessly.

Do You Tweet?

If I had $100 for every conversation that included something like (with a tone of disdain), “Twitter sounds ridiculous.  Why do I want to know that someone is taking a shower or what they ate for breakfast,” I would be well on my way to recovering a few losses in my 401K. 

I’m two months new to Twitter and amazed at the quality of the conversations and the number of great professionals that I’ve met.  I’m also flabbergasted to think about the conversations, resources and talented professionals that I was missing out on prior to joining. 

Are You LinkedIn?

Or another exchange that I had with a brilliant and talented and dear friend the other day, “I only signed up for LinkedIn because I was looking for someone.  I hope this isn’t a mistake.” 

Sigh. Instead of a mistake, in the right hands, this is a remarkably powerful research tool and the most efficient way to-date to connect with and maintain a dialogue with former and current colleagues.  The only mistake is not to take advantage of it.

Thought About Marketing Lately?

I chat with many experienced marketing professionals that still view their jobs and their profession through the eyes of individuals that grew up and never left the teaching and prevailing wisdom of the 80’s. 

Meanwhile, Seth Godin (Tribes) and Guy Kawaskai (Reality Check) and David Meerman Scott (World Wide Rave) and others are serving up powerful arguments that the processes of reaching people, building visibility, building brands and establishing credibility are all different.   

The Younger Generation, Blogging and On-Line Learning:

As the MySpace/Facebook generation asserts itself in the workforce (see my post: In Hopeful Praise of the Millennials), the relevance of old approaches of working, leading and promoting will fade into history. 

In my own case, a mere two years ago, I wasn’t certain about blogging and the prospective value from the time it would take in my daily schedule.  Now, I’m a raving advocate for the medium as a means of establishing a dialogue with sharp people and for building your brand. The time commitment is down to less than one hour several times per week.  I’m also curious about what’s next.

I am an education junkie (and passionate about great universities and great educators) and love the chance to bring a heavy dose of pragmatism into my MBA classrooms.  I  was slightly cynical about the potential of on-line education and wondered what all of the noise was about. In following the old adage, “if you want to learn something, sign up to teach it,” I did.  Three times. 

Once you rethink and acclimate to the communication dynamics, the potential to integrate on-line and live education is remarkable.  In my hybrid class (one week face to face the next on-line) in Project Management this past winter, the on-line portion provided the ability to research and share perspectives much broader and deeper than any I’ve ever witnessed in a straight classroom setting.

The Bottom-Line For Now:

I’ll be back on this topic sometime soon. 

My advice to you or for your doubting colleagues is to show them the networking and research power of social media.  Highlight examples of brand-building and thought leadership development that cost nothing but time.  Showcase the savings from eliminating many interruption-marketing techniques in favor of the new approaches.  Invite them to Twitter and show them how to filter out the noise and focus on connecting with the many, many sharp people.

There are no silver bullets in life or business, but there are sure-fire ways to fail.  One of the best is to start acting like some of our parents and avoid what we don’t understand.  

Hey, by the way, join me on Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn.  The conversations are great. 

Now, if I could just figure out what all of the fuss is about Facebook.  I just don’t get it…

Filed Under: "To Do" List, Career, Crisis Leadership, Marketing, Marketing Yourself, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,