Introducton to solution marketing

© 2011

www.SolutionMarketingStrategies.com

Introduction to

Solution Marketing

Steve Robins

November, 2014

© 2009-2014 The Solution Marketing Blog

C B O N Dlimitscompetitioncompanyyourselfservicesproducts


BeyondProducts:

SolutionMarketing

www.SolutionMarketingStrategies.com p4© 2009-2014

What is “it”?

What’s Happening What’s Needed

• Customers want it • Solutions make life easier

• Help customers• But most customers can’t do it on their own

• Technology is increasingly complex and customers lack in-house resources, time, expertise

• Apple, IBM and Chuck e Cheese sell it

• Each offers complete solutions to customers…Apple iPad ecosystem, IBM industry solutions, Chuck e Cheese birthday package • Provide discipline, rigor,

consistency – best practices• Most tech companies

claim to have it• Seems like everyone sells solutions today

• But none of them know what it is

• But there’s not a common definition

• Sales thinks they’re selling it…

• Many sales teams use the Solution Selling methodology

• Help Marketing to work with Sales

• Provide a solution methodology for Marketing

• …but they’re doing itwithout Marketing.

• But Solution Selling does not provide strategic guidance for Marketing

• It can be confusing • There’s little discipline around solutions• Solution Marketing Blog,

Group, Consulting

“It” = Solutions


What’s Happening What’s Needed

• Customers want it • Solutions make life easier

• Help customers• But most customers can’t do it on their own

• Technology is increasingly complex and customers lack in-house resources, time, expertise

• Apple, IBM and Chuck e Cheese sell it

• Each offers complete solutions to customers…Apple iPad ecosystem, IBM industry solutions, Chuck e Cheese birthday package • Provide discipline, rigor,

consistency – best practices• Most tech companies

claim to have it• Seems like everyone sells solutions today

• But none of them know what it is

• But there’s not a common definition

• Sales thinks they’re selling it…

• Many sales teams use the Solution Selling methodology



• …but they’re doing itwithout Marketing.

• But Solution Selling does not provide strategic guidance for Marketing

• It can be confusing • There’s little discipline around solutions• Solution Marketing Blog,

Group, Consulting

What is “it”? Solutions is It.



• Discipline, rigor, consistency – best practices


• How:

• Solution Marketing Blog

• Presentations

• LinkedIn Group

Steve Robins

15+ years in solution marketing

– Expertise in solution, industry and product marketing

– Experience: FirstBest Systems, Solution Marketing Strategies, EMC Documentum, KANA, The Yankee Group

Founder, The Solution Marketing Blog, Top-rated solution marketing blog

Inbound Marketing Certified Professional

LinkedIn.com/in/SteveRobins1

Twitter.com/SteveRobins

SolutionMarketingBlog.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveRobins1

http://www.twitter.com/SteveRobins

http://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/


Solutions Everywhere

Device

+

Software

+

Content

+

Cloud

Device

+

Software

+

Content

+

Cloud

Kid food

+

Adult food

+

Entertainment

+

Activities

+

Party gifts


Solutions Everywhere


Agenda

Introduction

Beyond products

Solution marketing– Solution

– Education & engagement

– Value

– Access

Building your solution marketing strategy– Discovery

– Strategies for solutions, education & engagement, value, access

– Case studies

Next steps, Q&A


Beyond ProductsThe Solution Imperative


Typical Company Wants…

Company

Tech-nology

Customer


What is a Solution Anyways?

so·lu·tionnoun \sə-ˈlü-shən\

General definition:

a: an action or process of solving a

problem

b: an answer to a problem

so·lu·tionnoun \sə-ˈlü-shən\

Business definition:

A complete and integrated

offering that includes everything

required to solve a customer

problem


Services

Typical Customer Wants…

Customer

---

Pain

Points

Tech-nology

User

Process

Content/ Data

Complete SolutionEverything to solve the customer’s problem


Complete Solution

User • User interfaces

• Training

• Support

• Best practices

• Domain expertise

Process • Process optimization

• Reengineering

• Workflow

• Integrated experiences

• ROI studies

• Security

Content/Data

• ContentDocuments

Images

Video

Music

Books

• Data

• External data sources

• Data security, data policies

Technology • Hardware/ infrastructure

• Software platforms

• Applications

• Complementary technologies

• Integrations

• Custom coding

Services • Strategy

• Project management

• Risk management

• Custom coding

• Integration services

• Communications services, hosting

• Support


Why Solutions?

Increasing complexity of technology

Limited in-house IT to support systems

Avoid in-house/SI build or integration

Business users drive tech decisions but don’t understand the technology

Mature markets


Why It Matters

Early Adopters

Visionaries

Innovators

Technology

Enthusiasts

Early Majority/

Pragmatists

Late Majority

Conservatives

Laggards

Skeptics

Time

Customers want technology

and performanceCustomers want solutions and convenience

Rela

tive %

of

Cu

sto

mers

End of LifeEarly Life Bowling

Alley

Sources: E.M. Rogers, G. Moore

The Solution Opportunity

Main Street

The Tornado

The Chasm


Solution MarketingCustomer-Centric

Marketing for Today


What is Solution Marketing?

so·lu·tion mar·ket·ingnoun \sə-ˈlü-shən\ˈmär-kə-tiŋ\

The process of defining,

educating, and providing access

to complete and integrated

solutions

that deliver value

by helping customers to solve

their problems.


Solution Marketing Adds Value ToMarketing, Sales and Product Management

FrictionlessSales

Social Media

FieldEnablement

MarketingSupport

ProductManagement


The 4 P’s – All About the Company

Place

Product

Pro-motion

Price

Company

“Build it and

they will come”

Outbound,

interruption

marketing

Cost-plus;

margin is king

Best channels

for us to sell

the product


Strategy, Metrics

Place

Product

Pro-motion

Price

Company

Solution Marketing – All About the Customer

Customer

---

Pain

Points

Solution

AccessEducation

Engagement

Value

End-to-End Marketing for TodayCustomer-Focused Marketing

“How can I solve

my problem?”

“How can I

learn more

about it?”

“How will it help me and

what is my total sacrifice

to get this solution?”

“Where can

I find it?”


Building Your SolutionMarketing Strategy

Discovery

Strategies for:Solutions

Education & EngagementValueAccess


360o Discovery

What markets and solutions should we

target?

What will each solution do and include?

How will we educate and engage with potential

users and buyers?

How will we incorporateand communicate value?

How would the user/buyer like to buy and use the

solution?

Internal

• Revenue

• Current offerings

• Core competencies

• Solution maturity

• Sales-readiness

External

• Under-solved challenges

• Top market, solution opportunities

• Segment size

• Market drivers

• Competition

Solution Requirements

• Use cases

• Revenue

• Business challenges

• Industry/function trends

• Key components

• Buy vs build

• Testing

Persona

• Titles

• Business challenges

• Career goals

• Thought process

How to connect

• “Hang-outs” –communication channels, pubs, trade shows, social media

• Industry jargon

• Influence levers (ex case studies?)

Value

• Before/after process

• Before/afterchallenge/gain

• Customer’s value drivers -dollar impact

• ROI

• Purchasing habits, budget

Access

• Best channels

• Optimal role of VARs, SIs, directsales, buying on contract

• Preferred delivery models… Software? SaaS? Business Process Outsourcing?

User

Personas

Customer

Value

Solution

Access

Portfolio

Strategy

Solution

Development


Solution Needs Hierarchy

Components &integrations

Businessvalue

Solution description –what it does

Target audience and business problem

Intelligence:templates,

rules etc

Mature

Less

Mature

2

3

5

1

4


Solution Strategy

• General strategy:• Target markets/functions, solutions

• Solution maturity

• Partner

• Buy vs build

• Completeness: Platform > Framework > Templates > Application

• Portfolio management• Revenue goals

• Cross-functional team

• Metrics for success

• Cross-functional alignment, organizational support• Development/engineering/product management

• Channel/SI partners

• Marketing

• Sales

• Support

• Services


BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION

PowerAdvocate Offers Complete Solutions

Business challenge:Optimize procurement in the energy sector (power plants)

Company challenge: Differentiate the company from larger players like Ariba


BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION

PowerAdvocate Offers Complete Solutions

Products: SaaS solutions for procurement spend, cost, market, sourcing

Services: Industry experts provide services to lower costs

Data: Market-specific procurement data and analysis

Differentiator: industry-specific data

Solution Assessment

User

Process

Content/Data

Technology

Services


Education & Engagement: Message

TargetedConsistent/

True

$

Value-Driven JargonRelevant

InsuredAgent

CarrierLoss ratio


Education & Engagement: Strategy

MarketEducation

MarketEngagement

FieldEnablement/

Sales

Challenge& How to

FrictionlessSales

DemandGen

BuyNow!


Value = Benefit - Cost

Benefits (Improvement)

Profit, expense, revenue drivers

New business

Time savings

Productivity improvement

Headcount reduction

Soft benefits

Total Cost of Ownership

External…

– Software

– Hardware

– Services

Internal…– Training

– Change management

– Desktop upgrades

– IT management

Valueto the user

or buyer

$D

oll

ars

Perceived

Benefit

Value

© 2011 www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com

Total

Cost


Value = Benefit - TCO

Value-Based PricingB

usin

ess B

en

efi

t ($

)

CBA

Poor Value

Unneeded

features

Fair Value

Price matches

benefit

High Value

Lost software

revenue

Assume that vendor charges fair price

for features provided

D

Customer

Benefit

Fair Value

Price matches

benefit

Lost revenue

Unneeded features

Customer

Benefit

Customer

BenefitCustomer

Benefit

Price

Solution use-case drives benefit and value


BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION RESULT

Microsoft SharePoint Delivers Valuewith 50% of the features

Share information with other people in the enterprise


BIZ CHALLENGE RESULTSOLUTION


We don’t claim we do everything. If we do 50 percent of the functions that these other companies do, but they’re the ones customers really want, that’s fine. The magic is that end users actually like to use the software.”

“Chris Capossela

Senior Vice President

Information Worker Product Management Group , Microsoft

NY Times 8/2/2009




Significant growth at expenseof mainstream ECM vendors

Lesson: Customers gain value by buying only the features they need

E


Access

Be flexible

Provide seamless experience

Enable frictionless sales

Complete/close the sale quickly

Ensure success thru “the last mile”


A Cautionary Tale From the Archives


Solution Marketing Failure 2011

Solution– Don’t give customers what they want

Education/Engagement– Blame your offering’s failure on communication instead of admitting it was

just a really bad idea

Value– Base your pricing on what works for you, not for customers

– Nearly double prices for your best customers

– Decrease customers’ perceived value of your solution

Access– Make it more difficult to do business with you – split your offering into 2

websites

– Dis-incent customers from buying both of your services



Solution Marketing Failure

Convenient, inexpensive access to entertainment


BIZ CHALLENGE RESULTSOLUTION


Inexpensive

All-you-can-eat

Video by mail

New: streaming

New pricing plans, July 2011: streaming vs. video by mail

Focus on what’s good for Netflix, not the customer




$494

$544

$594

$644

$694

$744

$794

$844

$894

$944

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

3/2010 6/2010 9/2010 12/2010 3/2011 6/2011 9/2011 12/2011

Rev

en

ue (

$ M

illio

ns)

Su

bs

cri

be

rs (

Millio

ns

)

Unique subcribers Revenue

Subscriber trend Revenue trend

$75

$107

$155

$176

$238

$263

$113

$69

Stock price Sources: NetFlix, Google



Netflix Dictates Customer Access


Next Steps


Getting Started

1. Begin internal discovery

2. Know the customer

3. Define the business problem

4. Move from feature/benefit business value

5. Think about solution completeness

6. Bonus: how are market/tech forces changing solution requirements?


Strategy, Metrics

Place

Product

Pro-motion

Price

Company

Q & A

Customer

---

Pain

Points

Solution

AccessEducation

Engagement

Value

Solution Marketing

Services

Customer

---

Pain

Points

Tech-nology

User

Process

Content/ Data

Complete Solution


Thank You

Steve RobinsPrincipalSolution Marketing Strategies

[email protected]

LinkedIn.com/in/SteveRobins1

Twitter.com/SteveRobins

SolutionMarketingBlog.com

www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Intro to Solution Marketing Presentation 11-2014

http://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveRobins1

http://www.twitter.com/SteveRobins




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Introducton to solution marketing

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