Curiouser and Curiouser!

Curiouser and Curiouser! on marketing http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic marketing Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Beginning to market your software Thu, 12 Sep 2002 09:20:32 +0100 <A href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0107789/2002/09/11.html#a839">TidBITS: Marketing Software, Part 1</A>. A great article on <A href="http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06933">Marketing Software</A> in todays TidBITS <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> "You may have an application, and it might be truly useful (rather than a candidate for MacHack), but you don't necessarily have a product or, more importantly, a solution. What's the difference? A pencil is a product, but it's not a solution."</BLOCKQUOTE> A good read for anyone in the software business. Also the first time I've ever read an article and actually contacted the author to query about <A href="http://www.emortal.com">their services</A>. We'll see what comes of it. [<A href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0107789/">rebelutionary</A>] <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> » Thanks Mike, A great article.  Timely to as I was just thinking about productising liveTopics now that the non-commercial license is finallly worked out.</BLOCKQUOTE> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000536.html Pass me a wrench.. Sat, 28 Sep 2002 21:57:01 +0100 Just listened to the Geoffrey Moore talk (thanks to <A href="http://www.rklau.com/tins/2002/09/25.html#a540">Rick Klau</A> for the link) about making quota in a down market He's an interesting guy to listen to and a good perspective on the challenge facing us over the next few years (Moore says decade but I've gotten used to things changing too quickly to believe that). Basically what it boils down to is pain.  That's all anyone can think about right now.  That and slashing costs.  So if you want to unlock the purse strings you have to be into pain management and pay for yourself in saving.  "Fixing the leaky pipe" as Moore puts it. But he goes further and basically says that typical mass-marketing lead generation won't work any more.  All enterprise deals will require referrals to get through the door. Now I'm not quite at the enterprise software level, but the same principles apply to a greater-or-lesser degree wherever you are.  Looks like klogging's going to have to get vertical and start attacking those leaky pipes if it's going to succeed any time soon. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000624.html How to annoy your users (Part I) Sat, 05 Oct 2002 10:01:44 +0100 To anyone working in a software company. My computer is my own. You do not make assumptions as to how I want to use my computer, nor do you make assumptions as to how much I want to use your product, just because I happen to be installing it. The worse culprits in this kind of thing are probably <A href="http://www.real.com">Real</A>. Real seem to have an entire marketing strategy focused on annoying the fuck out of their users until said users refuse to ever install a Real product again. I know that's the state I'm at, and so are quite a few of my friends. When there's a site that says requires Real Player, my reaction is Oh well, I can't hear that. [<A href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0100190/">The Desktop Fishbowl</A>] <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> » This is such a stupidly annoying practice.  I too gave up on Real long ago, so far it hasn't bothered me too much - their time seems to have come and gone. To Microsoft, and all the others who mess with my carefully configured settings, I ask the question "Whose bloody computer is it anyway?"   But of course we all know the answer to that one: "Not yours mate!"</BLOCKQUOTE> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000642.html Filling the pipeline Sun, 13 Oct 2002 13:27:59 +0100 I haven't posted much about business lately.  I've realised that I have fallen into the trap that lies in wait for so many people who go it alone.  The business of business is quite daunting - it's very easy to focus on what you're best at and hope the rest takes care of itself.  (Note to self: It won't!) I have been struggling for some time to work out what it is that I am trying to offer, as a business, to whom and how.  So far I've been doing it in an ad hoc fashion.  Chip a little here, nibble at bit there.  But like a pitcher who can't quite find the strike zone I've been feeling increasingly uncomfortable with my game. I keep thinking that, by now, I really ought to be certain what the hell I'm doing and be out doing it.  Instead I'm still circling the problem, unable to focus.  As it always has been with me: lots of ideas, still need to execute. So my coach "!coach" has introduced me to the <A href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814479928/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/202-7979533-4611019">Get Clients Now!</A> approach (from the book by C.J.Hayden).  Get Clients Now! is a repeatable 28-day marketing program which focuses on finding where you are blocked, suggesting strategies for going forward and then providing a 28-day program to further those strategies.  The idea is that you configure each 28-day program to fit your current needs and execute on it.  At the end of the program you evaluate, adjust (or totally change) and go round again. It's a very simple system.  The beginning is to work out your overall goals and where you are stuck in achieving them.  I'm at still at stage#1 (sigh) or filling the pipeline.  As someone coming in to this game without the 12-months solid preparation that it needs I lack the network of contacts or visibility required to be in business. (Aside: although I've met a lot of interesting people over the last couple of months.  Although I've done a huge amount of thinking and really feel I've achieved something personally, for me.  Despite all that I haven't come up with a sustainable business model.) When filling the pipeline the recommended strategies are: <UL> <LI>Direct contact and follow-up</LI> <LI>Networking and referral building</LI></UL> So those are what I am going to focus on in the next 28-days. When "filling the pipeline" using these two strategies there are a number of techniques (ingredients as Hayden calls them) that can be practiced.  It is strongly recommended that you choose no more than 3 for any iteration of the program.  I've chosen: <OL> <LI>Description of Services</LI> <LI>Target Market Definition</LI> <LI>10 Second Introduction</LI></OL> (Note: If you 'complete' your program early you can do more, but Hayden advises choosing no more than 3 ingredients up front) And now, having reached this point I can see clearly why "!coach" got me to look at this program.  Here, in a nutshell, is the focus I have lacked.  When I have these three things I shall, at last, know: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> What I am doing & Who I am doing it for</BLOCKQUOTE> Then I can actually go out and start doing it. It's going to be an interesting 28 days! http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000708.html Getting into practice Thu, 12 Dec 2002 08:12:45 +0000 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <A href="http://interdependent.blogspot.com/2002_12_01_interdependent_archive.html#85423529">KM as Both Practice and Theory</A>. Ton Zijlstra uses his weblog to share self-directed learning experiences and think out loud about how to address issues in his company. [<A href="http://www.terryfrazier.com/weblog/">b.cognosco</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> <A href="http://www.terryfrazier.com/weblog/">Terry</A> points to a good article about the perils of being a thinker and also the problems of getting your message across.  This: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> This prospect viewed us a software company as the only product information he saw from us was one having to do with some software we happen to sell as a tool. This tool is part of a larger product that is in the area of consulting. So I talked with this prospect about what it is we actually do. Now how is it that this prospect got the wrong impression? Is our productinformation not clear enough? These are the sort of things my colleague and I want to talk about when meeting the other accountmanageing researchers.</BLOCKQUOTE> struck a chord with me.   http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000985.html The purple cow of knowledge Tue, 18 Feb 2003 11:25:37 +0000 I've been reading <A href="http://pf.fastcompany.com/online/67/purplecow.html">In Praise of the Purple Cow</A> in which the author, Seth Godin, proposes that, in order to be truly successful, a product must be remarkable.  His claim is that being very good is also failure.  These days everyone is good or very good, you have to be remarkable to stand out and get the notices (good and bad). The purple cow idea jives very much with what I've read of Gary Hamel's notion of how revolutionary approaches create new markets and deliver profits.  Unless you also invest in new purple cows then building upon success is the road to stagnation.  Ask AOL, Palm and Yahoo.  This idea feels right to me. Which lead me to thinking about knowledge management products and how so many of them are good, but hardly remarkable.  <A href="http://www.thebrain.com/">Personal Brain</A> is a remarkable product which was never exploited.   The <A href="http://c2.com/cgi/wiki">Wiki</A> idea was remarkable, but none of the Wiki software I've used has been.  In fact when I think about it, the whole field of KM is dominated by the idea of being good enough. For example <A href="http://www.opentext.com/">OpenText Livelink</A> is a very successful KM product.  Which gives you some idea of the state of that market.  Livelink is a well-dressed document management system.  Hardly innovative, definitely not purple cow territory.  But it's been successful.  Why is that? I think the answer is partly about OpenText being an aggressive sales driven company, partly that the KM market is dominated by large, conservative, corporations, and partly because the whole market is ripe, waiting for a real purple cow. Can anyone say "Moo!?!" http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001172.html Ringing the changes Thu, 01 May 2003 22:35:21 +0100 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <A href="http://dangerous-thinking.com/archives/002192.html">Top 10 E-mail Marketing Mistakes</A>. You could do a lot worse than read this: Optin News: Top 10 Email Marketing Mistakes Companies Make [MarketingFix: Worst Practices in Email Marketing]... [<A href="http://dangerous-thinking.com/">Dangerous thinking</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> I'd highly recommend subscribing to David's newsletter <A href="http://www.changes-newsletter.com/">Changes</A>.  Good common-sense advice about good marketing.  Before I met David I didn't really believe there was such a thing! http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001442.html