For someone outside the trade, the term “technology” is used liberally to convey the change it brings in the way they do business. For the industry this term is not some marketing maneuver, it is the business! As an entrepreneur in the technology sector, a developer, I have come to learn running things in a new way vice verse the common businessperson. The very volatile tech-business is shaping a new way of running things and I am sure the industry will gain a lot from this debate. In this topic am going to promote discussion of new or better technology-marketing models..
There is, of course, a necessity to reevaluate the impact of technology verses marketing placed parallel to each other. More than ever before the global market is gravitating towards technology and its by-products, but are we as investors paying attention? How many tech-products you have developed or know of, lasted the market for a year? Are we, in the tech business, milking this cow for what its worth? Or are we busy developing new products and killing current ones prematurely?
We have countless examples of tech-products that never fetch their market value before they were exterminated by competition. And we have seen this competition go down sooner than it came up. Someone is doing something really wrong somewhere, and there is a possibility that that someone is everyone. Wouldn’t it be nice to hit the market with our product and be king for a while before being dethroned, regardless of rivalry?
So many questions, so many wishes, so many tech-business!
Oh yes, so many tech-business. That’s where the real problem is; the market is swamped with competition. The product you are working on somebody else is, or at least thinking of, comparable like peas in a pod. Similar products are joining the market simultaneously with just but different names. Most regrettably a number of good products fall victim to this.
It takes remarkable energy to turn a concept into a hot product thus is necessary to optimize its sustainability in the market. Few in the industry have yet realized that they need to adopt new strategies to drive their marketing policies, but some already understand this. A clear winner on strategic basis is humanizing the product.
The fact of the matter is that the "real world" is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group.
The Status Of Linguistics As A Science, 1929, Edward Sapir
A good salesperson should have acquired the necessary product knowledge and should be prepared to answer all industry-associated queries. This is mostly true when we are talking of non-technology products. Take an example of soap; when selling I should be able to tell my clients the ingredients and assure them that their skin will remain intact if not be better. With technology, Microsoft Word Processor as my example, all the customer needs to know is the software will organize her work and print it better and faster. The difference here is that instead of going deep you need to go shallow. Tone it down, make it nice. I will not need to tell my client how many classes or method calls it will take to get her job done.
Technology is only fascinating when it is practical to authentic human desires. It is all about establishing a product with the user in mind then supplying it to the market. This concept has had huge impacts for technological inventions re-marketed with a human perspective. Even bringing in profits many times over the original drafts. Take an example of remote scripting, came back as Ajax(Asynchronous JavaScript + XML) and was a hit. Just a sweet name was almost all it took.
To make it in the technology business now, you have to be a contemporary entrepreneur. Think differently than the common businessperson. Observe user needs and create a business platform that responds to them. Gauge achievements in the market and if things are going right go more human.
However, conveying technology to the marketplace using cool names or simple explanation is only good as it gets. It cannot by itself survive time. That’s where our second strategy comes in: empower the client.
EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGY
“Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
Saint Francis of Assisi.The gods of technology have been really busy. And to be honest, we are still nursing a big hangover from tech-explosive products that forced everyone to stop and take notice. But on the other hand we have seen technology being forced to the market with no intention to empower it. Do you have features in your phone that you never use and you don’t know of anyone who does?
Very few businesses are going in the market to ask it what it wants. Product developers are hectic making gadgets for technology sake. Just because they can!
Between college, work, kids, school and just the many parts of clients’ lives, there are things they truly need. As a tech firm you should be concerned with providing this things that make everyday life easier. Do some market research before developing the product. This is another focal difference in marketing technology; the process starts before assembly.
TO BE CONTINUED....
