Marketing SUSE Linux to Gain Market Share
Taking on Red Hat from second place, and growing revenues 5,000%

The Client: SUSE Linux, the number-two commercial Linux distributor and provider of open source solutions.

The Situation: SUSE was founded in Germany, and had a very Eurocentric culture. This helped them gain 70% market share in EMEA, but they struggled in North America against market leader Red Hat.

Silicon Strategies Role: North American marketing strategist.

Initial Observations: Being a successful European company, SUSE's U.S. office did not always receive the guidance they needed. The home office generally let the U.S. division operate independently. However, SUSE's U.S. office did not have anyone on staff with a classical technology marketing background. Through a series of executive interviews Silicon Strategies Marketing concluded:

• SUSE did not have a consistent brand identity in North America
• The market had assigned SUSE a brand, that being of a quirky technology company with good products, but without mind-share or traction
• Corporate-wide, SUSE did not have any core marketing messages
• SUSE did not position their superior technology effectively

Going Back to Basics: SUSE's U.S. office was very eager to take the fight to Red Hat and other competitors. Together, SUSE and Silicon Strategies:

• Defined brand value statements that SUSE wanted the market to believe, based on defensible positioning in the market
• Established core marketing message for the brand, products, and each decision maker genotype
• Committed to strongly branded themes for their major tradeshows, namely LinuxWorld

From these seeds, many other activities were launched:

• Rapidly collected customer testimonials that reinforced the new brand and strong SUSE technology position
• Proposals and RFPs for Fortune 500 companies
• Extended core messages through strategic partners, including IBM, HP, Oracle, and others
• Carried messages through collateral, presentations, and advertising

The Results: The results were very positive:

• Over 5,000% revenue increase for business products
• Tradeshow traffic, magazine ad response, and positive media coverage improved
• Messaging and positioning content fed a renewed PR campaign resulting in media mentions of SUSE wherever Red Hat was covered, and excluding all smaller competitors
• Strategic partners took renewed interest in SUSE - even paying for representation in SUSE tradeshow booths
• SUSE was sold to Novell for six times annual revenues

The Lesson: There are a number of lessons from the SUSE engagement:

• Success in one region can blind a company to how they should market in others. SUSE's U.S. operation needed independence in order to move their market forward.
• When you do not create your brand, the market assigns one to you. SUSE's designated brand would have kept it a distant second unless they took control.
• The market rewards strength, and strength is reflected through communications. SUSE attracted more participation from customers, more attention from the media, more key customer deals (including a corporate wide contract for Ford Motor Company), and a favorable acquisition.

Contact Silicon Strategies Marketing for a telephone consultation on how to control market perceptions.