Marketing Weak technology in Mature Markets

The Company:  A 22 year old software
company specializing in IT solutions involving data communications.

The Situation:  Management had paid an outside developer to create a console concentrator - a tool to manage multiple mini or mainframe consoles from one PC.  They did so without any market research to measure demand.  Management desired to recoup their investment by taking the product to market while investing very little money for promotions.  Launching the product required generating revenue quickly to justify maintaining the product.  

The Research:  Research showed that this type of product had been around for years, and that three significant competitors remained in the market.  Research also showed a very narrow band for pricing among the competitors.  The competitors also used technologies with which customers might not always be familiar.

The Strategy:  The company had a tremendous database of existing customers, but most of the names were outdated, making a direct mail campaign ineffective.

Before roll-out, we contracted with a product reviewer to write a "review" for internal use.  This process caught some unknown defects as well as showing the product strengths to promote.  The same reviewer was called to review the product for publication once a final release was ready.

The company had another product that was doing well and had sufficient budget for promotions.  There were overlaps between the target markets for both products.  We used sales campaigns and tradeshow events to build brand awareness, and to join the two products together in a "management suite".

The promotional strategy relied on leveraging both the need for simplification within an IT environment, and an established "peace of mind" positing for the companion product.  Combining these positioning statements reinforced the concept of a product family, which in turn increased interest and awareness.  It also allowed us to leverage the brand awareness of the mature product to create awareness of the new product.

The Results:  Initial results from trade show events showed equal lead generation with the mature product.  Prospects showed a high level of understanding about the need for this product, and the synergy between both products.  Initial results encouraged management to maintained and enhance this new product.

The Lesson: Often a product's strength is not within the product itself.  It is often emotional issues, workplace issues, or the branding and positioning of a different product that can bring vigor to a new offering.