Launch Clinic

Product launch isn’t about the product

By the time it gets to you to plan a product launch, the product features and content have already decided. You get a 10 pound bag of {insert favorite word here} and are told to package it up for Sales. So you create a sales preso, a demo and work with Marcom on a really cool brochure. Wait – throw in a few trade shows too. If you’re like most folks, you believe your job is to throw the product over the wall to Sales as quickly as possible and let them figure it out, right?

Sales spends the next 3 months figuring it out only to conclude since the product isn’t selling, and since it couldn’t possibly be them, either:

1. The price is too high, or

2. There’s something wrong with the product

Then the shouting begins. The antagonist in me loves this part.

This is not what management really wants. They expect you to figure out how to sell as many 10 pound bags of {insert favorite word here} as possible at the highest price. Anyone can create a deck of slides or a brochure. Successful launches are anchored in goals that real people understand and are supported by a process that ensures the desired outcome.  It takes into consideration that each product launch has unique charateristics that require different approaches.

What’s your product launch process?

Technorati Tags: product launch,process,repeatable

Runners wanted – Ragnar Relay – Wasatch Back

Pragmatic Marketing has entered a team to run the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay and we need four runners to complete our team. The run is on June 19-20, 2009 and is from Logan, UT to Park City, UT. It’s a 178 mile run (yes, that’s correct) completed over 24 hours in a team relay style. The team consists of 12 runners who will run 3 segments over 24 hours.

Our goals are modest.  We just want to finish.

If you are interested please visit the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay website and then contact our team coordinator – Josh Covey by email – jcovey (at) pragmaticmarketing.com.  Josh can fill you in on the details.

Technorati Tags: Ragnar Relay,Wasatch Back,Runners,Running

Saturn, RIP

The writing is on the wall for Saturn and it’s only a matter of time before the brand that would have transformed the American auto industry is kicked to the curb. I dinged the AMA for their post on the Super Bowl ads and I wanted to make up for it with a link to a new AMA post titled Saturn Coulda Been a Contender. So true and so sad.

Saturn had an awesome differentiator: no haggle pricing. The market responded positively and Saturn became profitable in just three years.

In my humble opinion the fate of Saturn was sealed by the auto unions and a powerful GM dealer network, both threatened by what the realization of the Saturn mission would do to the status quo. GM management, the unions and the dealers are complicit in the demise of Saturn.  How do they sleep at night?

Principles and integrity trump image any day.

How INTTRA got a 23% increase in B2B leads

For those of you debating (arguing, actually) over whether to have a registration form before a visitor to your site can see a demo of your product, you need to read Product Demo with Voluntary Registration Results in 23% Conversion Rate over at MarketingSherpa.

INTTRA is a B2B business selling an ecommerce platform for the ocean-shipping industry to old school buyers. The lessons learned from Ross Win, Product Marketing Manager, are good for all of us to learn, namely “23% of those who viewed the online demo filled out the voluntary registration form, creating new leads for their sales team”.  Note that is they got to view the demo WITHOUT registering first and then offered their contact information voluntarily.

I hope Ross got a big raise.

Cross-Functional Teams - the Grand Illusion of Collaboration

Cross-functional teams are a requirement for a successful product lunch.  Unfortunately most implementations of CFTs are nothing more than an illusion of collaboration.  Executives introduce CFTs as a way to cure organizational dysfunction – the big lie.  When implemented poorly (the norm) CFTs are wasteful exercises in forcing people with misaligned objectives to work together to solve a problem.  In these instances the CFT leader goes through the motions, endures enormous hassle and spends more time to get less done.

Implementing powerful cross-functional teams requires a cultural shift, setting high expectations of team members, aligning objectives and providing training.  When done right it’s magic. It just doesn’t happen organically.

Technorati Tags: cross-functional teams,launch teams,product launch

The AMA on Super Bowl Ads

After reading the AMA blog post - "The Super Bowl Spots: What Worked, What Didn't", I realized first there was no way they could know which spots worked and second how it was an analogy for what management often sees as what is wrong with Marketing.

While I agree with their assessment about the creative execution of the ads, what really counts is if the ads sell more stuff. That won't be known for a while.  Chances are the GoDaddy ad did drive people to their site to see what else Danica Patrick was going to do in the shower.  It was measurable.  It wasn't brilliant cinematic execution but then again it didn't need to be.

Marketing is often seen as a creative bunch that spends a lot of money and shows little in the way of demonstrable results. They measure things like "leads" and unique visits to the web site.  In this rough economy the only metric that matters is deals closed.  If Marketing doesn't wake up to that reality and connect everything they do to selling more stuff, it will be a bitter lesson to learn.