1. HOW TO LAUNCH ATECHNOLOGYPRODUCT

2. Youve got a new technologyproduct and a finite budget.How do you launch the producton the market? 3. 3 When youre launching a new product youshould focus on an initial group of customers your target market segment. Crossing the Chasm describes an approach forselecting the most promising target marketsegment. If you combine that approach with digitalmarketing, you improve your chances of success 4. 4Launching a new product A lot of technology startups know how to build a great product butare not sure how to bring it to market One common problem is that the new technology has a number ofpotential applications and the startup is not sure whether to focuson one or else try to promote to all potential market sectors Crossing the Chasm is a classic textbook on technologymarketing The book argues there is a chasm between early adopters of anew technology and the early majority (pragmatists). One of the requirements to successfully cross this chasm and reacha larger audience for your product is to pick an initial target marketsector and focus your promotional efforts on it We recommend a variation of the approach combined with digitalmarketing to increase your chances of success 5. 5The problemWhy cant I market to everybody? If you have a product that could be used in a lot of different ways, peopleare tempted to try to market to all potential users You worry that if you focus on one group you will exclude the others This is wrong for a couple of reasons: Limited promotional budget you have a fixed amount of money to spend onpromotion. Concentrating that spend on a clearly defined target group willproduce better results than spreading it thinly across multiple potential targetgroups Trying to be all things to all people generally doesnt work when launching anew product. If you designed a car that tried to appeal to young families, men intheir 20s and elderly women, you would end up with a mishmash that appealsto no-one. The same is usually true with technology products. You should focusyour product and promotion on one or two sectors for your launch. 6. 6Target MarketsWhat is a target market segment? A market segment is a group of potential buyers for a product orservice that share some characteristics The most important characteristic is that they think of themselves asbeing in a particular group and that they reference each other For example, information security officers in large enterprisesconstitute a market segment if they think of themselves as workingin the same sector, attend the same industry events andcommunicate regularly with their peers when evaluating solutions orservices A sector can be horizontal if it crosses a number of differentindustries e.g. the information security sector is horizontal because ITsecurity is deployed in multiple industries including finance, defenceand healthcare. A sector is vertical if it is restricted to one industry e.g. ATMtransaction processing systems are only sold to the financial sector 7. 7Choosing a target sectorHow do you pick a target sector? You want to choose an initial target sector that is most likely to adopt your product We suggest a slight variation on the method described in Crossing the ChasmIdea GenerationFilter ideas based oncriteriaPrepare propositions and testmarket onlineFilter again based onfeedbackGo to market 8. 8Choosing a target sectorHow do you pick a target sector? Brainstorm as many plausible uses of the technology as possible,in different sectors . Write up the best candidates identifyingtarget customers and the benefits of the solution. Write a typicalscenario describing how the solution would be used and specifythe unique differentiators of your technology versus competitors.Idea GenerationFilter ideas based oncriteria Filter the ideas using standard criteria such as the potential size ofthe market for the candidate application of the technology; howquickly you could generate revenue from it; the level ofcompetition; how credible you would be entering that marketsegment. You do not have to be exhaustive, but you are trying topick winners, so avoid a market which is small, or where you haveno experience or credibility. Use a table (see next page) to scorethe ideas during filtering. Pick 2 to 3 top candidates. 9. 9Choosing a target sectorFiltering your ideasExample using a table to score competing scenariosScenario Market Size(10 = Good1 = bad)Nearness ofrevenueCompetition OurCredibilityin thismarketProductfit for thismarketTOTALSCORE1. Use Scenario 1 10 10 10 10 7 472. Use Scenario 2 5 8 8 8 10 393. Use Scenario 3 2 7 5 5 5 244. Use Scenario 4 10 2 9 3 9 335. Use Scenario 5 10 2 7 4 9 326. Use Scenario 6 4 10 10 9 10 437. Use Scenario 7 2 2 4 3 2 138. Use Scenario 8 8 10 5 5 5 33 10. 10Choosing a target sectorHow do you pick a target sector? You can test market a product early and at low cost usingdigital marketing. Develop some web pages and productcollateral and use pay-per-click ads, email, social media andPR to generate web traffic and potential leads. Pitch theproposition to some real candidate buyers too usingstoryboards to illustrate how it works and the benefits it willbring.Prepare propositionsand test market onlineFilter again based onfeedback You should now have a sense of which of the candidates showreal potential. Your choices at this point are to (a) select themost succesful proposition and go to market, (b) revise thepropositions and test again or (c) going back to the start andgenerating a new set of potential uses of the technology,based on what you learned during the test marketing. 11. 11Choosing a target sectorHow to test launch When you have identified a potential application of your technology that shows real promise,prepare and execute a test launch i.e. a launch where you are not committing all yourresources Use your website, email, pay-per-click ads and social media. Create a landing page on your website that describes the proposition and proposed pricing in acompelling way check out other SaaS or high tech product launch pages for comparison. Your landing pages should emphasise the benefits, make the pricing clear, and describe how theproduct can be used e.g. with a video or storyboard slidedeck Drive traffic to your landing page (using pay-per-click ads, social media and email initially, laterSEO) and monitor the reaction If you have lots of visitor signing-up and expressing an interest in your beta launch then this ispretty good validation proceed to the next phase of a full launch If there are no registrations, think about what might be wrong and test some hypotheses. Forexample, test some alternative landing pages with a different pricing model to see if that works,or try highlighting different benefits and features. If nothing works, switch to the next potentialapplication of the technology and do a test launch for it too. 12. 12Good resourcesHere are some suggested resources (we plan to add to this list)Links Unbounce - http://unbounce.com tool to build landing pages that you can usewhen launching a product Lincoln Murphys blog Sixteen Ventures - http://sixteenventures.com/ - advice onpricing, SaaS freemium modelsBooks Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore you dont have to agree with everythingin it, but it is recommended reading, especially for technologists with no marketingor sales background. Lean Startup, Eric Ries iterative development and testing of new products Landing Page Optimization Tim Ash Getting Real, Jason Fried et al advice from 37Signals, the people behindBasecamp 13. We have seen for ourselves how a solidstrategy has helped to drive traffic to oursite and generate sales leads.Caolan BushellBusiness Development ManagerMergon GroupBarry RooneyChief Operations OfficerSiemens ITSSMotarme delivered real,measurable results in a shorttimeframe sales and contacts fromour target audience at Tier 1companies.Joe LynchGeneral ManagerIMEC TechnologiesGenerating leads online is now acentral part of our sales strategy.About Us 14. What We Do B2B Technology MarketingMotarme helps business-to-business (B2B) technology companiesgenerate leads online and convert those leads to sales. We providemarketing automation, website design, digital marketing and PRservices. Lead Generation Consultancy Marketing Automation Web Marketing and Web Design 15. Thank YouMotarme Marketing AutomationT: +353 1 969 5029M: +353 86 383 8981W: www.motarme.comTwitter: @motarme