Can You Predict How Your Market Will Behave?
You can’t? And you call yourself a Marketer??? Granted, market modeling was never the traditional purview of marketers, but seeing how Markets have evolved, gotten so much more competitive and so much more saturated, I don’t know how you can pass up a chance to be smarter about the way your organization goes to market. [...]
Samsung Galaxy S vs. Samsung Galaxy S
The title is not a typo, I’m really comparing the Galaxy S to the Galaxy S. Join me. Here’s the version many of us have seen, and I held in my hands (salivating with desire, I might add) at the Google I/O Conference: And here’s the Samsung Captivate, announced by At&T today, and heralded [...]
Can Your Product Drive Word of Mouth Marketing?
In a word, “yes”, but you have to ask yourself “will mine?” Why do certain products have buzz and why are some just plain DOA? 1. Products that get used a lot get talked about a lot (OK Steve, brain dead obvious), what’s the interesting part?). The interesting part is that when a product is [...]
On Startups, and Influence, and Messaging
I’ve spent over a month in the past three in the US, split between three different trips for different events, and over this time I’ve met with dozens of startups, many of who are from outside the US and are making their first tentative forays into the US scene. I’ve had conversations with a bunch [...]
Storming the Castle: Chap 4: Markets With Attitude
Here’s Chapter’s 1-4 of Storming the Castle. I’d love your input and your feedback! Chapter 4 is below. Download Storming_the_Castle We’re up to Phase 4 of our Customer-Centric GTM strategy — Market Development. We’ve done some thorough product testing using formalized QA methodologies, and we’ve worked with our customers using VOC techniques. Our product is [...]
AbleBrains: Zen and the Art of Product Management
Here’s Chapter’s 1-3 of Storming the Castle. Chapter 3 is Zen and the Art of Product Management (text only is below). Enjoy! Feedback is most welcome. Download Storming_the_Castle We’re this far into our GTM planning to take our most prized market castle. We’ve conceptualized a product, ran it past our customers with our VOC team [...]
NetSuite, Manufacturing, Ecosystems and a Better Way to Compete
We’ve covered NetSuite substentially @ CloudAve – to the point that I’ve run into trouble with my title: I already used NetSuite vs SAP … Round #n. A Game Changer? so what should I call this one? NetSuitevs SAP Round #n+1? All right, let’s get serious: NetSuite launched a Manufacturing Edition today. Dennis Howlett has [...]
Storming the Castle Chapter 2: How I Gave Up Finger Painting and Decided to Develop a Category.
Folks here’s an excerpt from Chapter 2. Enjoy. Comments as always are welcome. Arts and Crafts Time Is Over Well that’s what you’re CMO should be saying. Look, time and time again, marketing has been relegated to the tail end of a GoToMarket (GTM) strategy — the arts and crafts aspects of marketing, which is [...]
Storming the Castle, Chapter 1: Do You Really Have to Storm the Castle to Win?
Folks… here’s an excerpt of Chapter 1 of my eBook, Storming the Castle: Developing a Go-to-Market Strategy That Enthralls, Intoxicates and Drives Growth. Many organizations think of markets as castles — surrounded by difficult to cross moats, filled with hostiles, their customers and prospects and all resulting in a lot of casualties when these organizations [...]
Can Customer Choice Drive Revenue?
So… is it the blue packaging and the $50 rebate that drove your recent uptick in sales? Or was it your brand name coupled with a set of features that your clients have been asking your team to add for years? Nine times out of ten a company can’t answer the basic question “what about [...]
Segmenting Your Market: 2010 Style
You: a young company. What: You’ve recently put a product in market and you’re trying to figure out how to really drive adoption! How: Segment your market to find those most likely to buy. Sounds easy? Its not but it can be relatively painless. When a company first brings it’s solutions to market it needs [...]
NetSuite vs SAP … Round #n. A Game Changer?
In my recent Suites post I said there were exactly 1.5 (one and a half) integrated full business solutions (SaaS Suite, SaaS All-In-One, SaaS ERP, SaaS SMB ERP – take your pick or create a new one) offered as a service. The one in that equation was NetSuite, and the half is SAP’s Business ByDesign. [...]
Messaging for Growth in a SaaS Business
I posted recently about the visit I’d made to Xactly in San Jose. As well as spending time talking about the back office processes they’d used to enable them to grow by triple digits for several years running, I spoke with CEO Chris Cabrera about the challenges that his company has faced in marketing it’s [...]
Skunk Works Junkies: a Series on the Cloud’s Silver Lining – Part One – Dangling the Carrot
Skunk Works Junkies (SWJs) ears perk up if they hear, “beta invite,” and like anything exclusive, jump to snatch it up. The reality is, start ups can’t get enough beta-testers, or at least keep them consistently engaged once the party starts. In this series, you’ll hear first-hand from a beta-junkie what worked and what didn’t. [...]
Edgy Marketing: Great Plains and SAP Guy vs. NetSuite Guy (Mac vs PC)
You’ve seen Great Plains and SAP, now in the Grand Finale they come together to match up against Mac .. I mean the NetSuite Guy: (Disclosure – Ben and I are attending NetSuite’s SuiteCloud conference and the company covers our expenses.)
