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Unintended consequences of empathy: A new Golden Rule for marketers
Making an effort to imagine yourself in your customers’ shoes may give you a false sense that you understand what your customers want. This counter intuitive statement stems from research conducted by Johannes Hattula of London’s Imperial College and his colleagues. Fortunately there are steps you can take to ensure you are not projecting your opinions onto your customers.
Read MoreCustomer-centric IT: 4 tips for technology marketers
stomer centricity is reshaping IT in many organizations, as customer experience becomes an increasingly important source of competitive advantage. We’ve seen this trend developing over the past few years and it is now gaining widespread attention. Customer centricity means aligning IT’s resources and objectives to optimize the customer experience. Increasingly, IT’s strategies, organizational structure, and role in the organization are evaluated in relation to the external customer.
Read MoreDon’t throw out the data along with the failed concept
Product management and marketing teams often use primary research to test new product and service concepts. Before investing millions of dollars and years of development efforts they want to know if the concept has legs. Sometimes the research shows that the market does not have enough appetite for the concept to justify further investment. At that point the research has done its job. But often the results can provide additional value to the organization that is forgotten.
Read MoreShould M&A due diligence incorporate primary market research?
The due diligence process for mergers and acquisitions is intended to validate the decision and minimize risk. Unfortunately the resources and rigor devoted to the activity can be undermined by common biases that distort reasoning.
Read MoreIf organizations value it, why won’t they pay for it?
A client recently asked us this questions as part of a market sizing exercise. Fortunately this client asked the question before entering the market and was able to plan accordingly. The buzz surrounding new products or technologies often attracts established vendor that can find after investing in a new category the market does not live up to their expectations in terms of market size or revenue growth. The disconnect stems from behavioral gaps in the typical market adoption curve.
Read MoreThe dynamics of today’s IT decision making
Over the past five years, some technology marketers have lost sight of one of their most important audiences – the IT department. The rise of cloud applications, mobile, IT consumerization and BYOD made many technology vendors believe that the IT department was no longer relevant. They envisioned end-users going directly to the technology providers they wanted to use and leaving IT behind to tend to a largely abandoned infrastructure. Looking back, these beliefs about the market followed the usual technology hype-cycle of over inflated expectations and a trough of disillusionment. Today we are in the slope of enlightenment and IT plays a critical role in bringing these technologies to meaningful levels of productivity.
Read MoreUncover hidden causes of slow adoption rates for more accurate opportunity assessment
Why does the adoption rate of many new enterprise technologies fall short of expectations? The answer is often simple: The market isn’t ready. It may have an interest in the technologies and understand the potential benefits but practical realities prevent the market from buying. Understanding these barriers will lead to a more accurate market opportunity assessment, and improved adoption rates.
Read MoreWhat’s really in the glass?
When making any business decision–from rebranding to evaluating a new market opportunity–it is easy to view the glass as half full. The challenge is to understand what is really in the glass. Even with the best intentions it can be difficult to step back and evaluate the situation with an objective eye.
Read MoreMarketing to the evolving IT organization
Two recent articles in CIO Magazine feature companies (Yum Restaurants, Quintiles Transnational) in which IT departments are taking on new roles in order to more effectively serve their organizations. With a focus on what’s new and noteworthy, these articles profile departments that are leading their peers in reorganizing and redefining how they provide value. Such a shift has important implications for the value propositions, messages, and creative aimed at this audience.
Read MoreUnderstanding irrationality in B2B decision making
B2B technology vendors often overestimate the degree to which their markets make rational decisions. They forget the human element in business decisions to their detriment.
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