Secrets
of Successful Software Marketing
Hint: It's NOT the Technology
By Rick Sharga, President & CEO, CJ Patrick Company
Some people
call them "epiphanies." I prefer "blinding glimpses
of the obvious."
Whatever you
call them, you're probably aware of the experience. It's that
moment of clarity-when all the extraneous information melts away
and you're left with THE ANSWER: an undeniable, absolute sense
that you've figured things out.
I remember
one such moment, while sitting through a two minute Brittany Spears
Super Bowl commercial. After watching Ms. Spears wriggle and writhe
her way through multiple-and increasingly more revealing-costume
changes, my wife turned to me and said "You know, she's not
really all that good a singer."
No. Really?
My wife's
"epiphany," that Brittany Spears' popularity had less
to do with her vocal chords and everything to do with the sexual
cords she struck among teenage boys is a classic case of product
packaging. And a great example of marketing.
Love her or
hate her, software marketers can learn a lot from Brittany Spears.
- First,
most importantly, is the need to thoroughly, intimately understand
the needs and motivations of your customers.
- Second,
that it's critical to understand what your product's capabilities
are, and to determine if those capabilities meet the needs of
the customer.
- Finally,
that success is often determined by the ability to package and
promote the product in a way that addresses the customers' needs
and motivations, and differentiates the product from the competition.
If Brittany
wore formal gowns and sang opera music it's less certain that
she'd have become a star-even though she'd still be on stage,
and still involved in music. Same product, different audience,
different packaging-and almost certainly less successful results.
All this seems
patently obvious when the product is a teenage pop diva. So why
is it so confusing when it comes to marketing software products?
Oops! I
did it again!
The rules for successfully marketing software products are essentially
the same as those used to successfully market Brittany, but they're
routinely ignored by software companies.
Part of the
reason for this is that many software executives have convinced
themselves that software marketing is "different" from
any other kind of marketing. Traditional rules don't apply. Software
customers are interested in technology, not marketing puff. That
the best product will succeed because it's the best product.
To a certain
extent, that's true (and is at least partially true of every market).
But if this was really the way things worked, we'd have all been
watching Beta-not VHS-tapes for the last 20 years. And I'd be
typing this article in Word Perfect running on OS/2.. On a Commodore
Amiga.
Clearly, the
"best product" doesn't always win-at least not if we
define "best product" as the product with the best technology.
The fact is that it's seldom technology alone that makes a product
successful. Superior technology aimed at the wrong market segment,
or improperly positioned is doomed to failure.
Like Brittany
singing Verde.
Nobody
Wants to Buy Version 1.0
Even though the fundamentals are the same, marketing software-or
technology in general-is often more difficult than marketing traditional
consumer packaged goods. There are numerous reasons for this-complexity,
cost and compatibility to name a few-but there are also a number
of proven ways to address these issues.
Here are five
"secrets" I've learned from clients and colleagues over
the past 20 years of successfully marketing technology.
1. The
higher the risk, the lower the tolerance.
Frozen corn doesn't represent much of a risk. Buying the wrong
brand of toothpaste won't bankrupt the company. But making a decision
on which ERP software to deploy is a "bet the company"
decision. Or at least a "bet my job" decision. Deploying
a new financial application that isn't compatible with the ERP
software can decimate a company's productivity. A big part of
the role of marketing software is risk mitigation-making it "safe"
to buy the product. Whether through partner certification (i.e.
"Windows compatible"), customer testimonials, or verifiable
documentation, marketing needs to minimize risk to maximize adoption.
2. People
don't buy products, they buy the company.
Say it together: "No one ever got fired for buying IBM."
Repeat daily. Think about most successful software companies.
Oracle. Microsoft. Peoplesoft. Intuit. Established brands. Reliable
companies. More than likely, the first place people look when
they're going to buy a new software product. The reason for this-again-is
risk mitigation. Customers trust the company to deliver products
that work, or to fix them if they don't work at first. They'll
pay a premium price for a product or service from a software company
they know and trust. Even-and often-if it's not the best product
in the category. The challenge for smaller firms is to establish
their companies as viable, trustworthy organizations, or leverage
relationships with the larger companies to "borrow"
credibility.
3. People
don't buy technology, they buy solutions to a problem.
Ask any business owner if she'd rather buy a Linux-based application
or accounting software that will help her company comply with
Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. Or whether he's looking for code
that treats each data file as an object, or for an application
that makes it easier for his team to find information in the company's
database without having to write SQL queries. As painful as it
is for developers to admit, the answers to these questions are
obvious. Customers-the financial decision makers-don't care nearly
as much about how a product works as they do that it will solve
their problem. Marketing needs to start with that problem in mind,
and then position your company and product as the solution to
the customer's problem.
4. People
want total solutions.
Even the best-written software is worthless is the customer can't
use it. How many times have you looked at documentation reads
like it was drafted in Mandarin, translated into Spanish and then
machine translated for English-speaking customers? How much better
is the documentation for your products? How good are the training
materials? Are they available online? Are there customer service
representatives who have been trained in troubleshooting and getting
new customers up and running? Or ISVs that make it easy to deploy
or to tailor the product for a specific customer environment?
All of these questions address the notion of providing a total
solution to your customers-helping ensure that your product will
solve the business problem, and minimizing the risk of failure.
5. A strong
brand is as important as state-of-the-art technology.
A strong brand will do more to ensure success than the best code.
More to the point-it will give you the opportunity to make sure
your superior technology gets deployed by numerous customers.
Your brand will get you into the consideration set when CEOs are
looking for solutions. It will position your company as one that
will solve a customer's problems. It will enable you to charge
prices for your product that generate profits. And it will mitigate
the risk involved in dealing with your company, by establishing
trust. Marketing's role is to define the brand and communicate
it to all of your audiences in a way that resonates with them,
and differentiates you in a meaningful way from the competition-giving
customers a reason to consider you, and the confidence to do business
with you.
A nationally-recognized
expert on Branding, Rick Sharga is the President & CEO of
CJ Patrick Company (www.cjpatrickcompany.com)
, a business strategy firm that helps companies develop Unique
Value Propositions and positions of competitive advantage that
accelerate growth.
