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by Merrill R. Chapman
 Available
ONLY from the author -click here to order or for more information
Who Should Use This Handbook?
The Handbook can be used by any size organization. Larger software
publishers can use it as a workbook for their product managers and
as a tool to manage the marketing cycle and boost sales. Several
major software publishers, such as IBM and Lotus, use the Handbook
in just this way.
Start-up companies will find the Handbook is an invaluable educational
tool and a blueprint for marketing success. Too many new publishers
make basic mistakes - improperly positioning their product, creating
category conflicts, or printing poorly-designed collaterals that
cost them thousands of dollars and precious time.
Using the Handbook as your guide, you will shorten your marketing
cycle, sell more product, and avoid making these mistakes.
The Software Industry Today
Since the publication of the first two editions, the U.S. software
industry has continued its dynamic growth. The entire market now
comprises over $94 billion, including retail, direct, and embedded
applications. Growth in all these markets has been steady, in spite
of recessions and problems in any one segment or company.
US Software Applications Market
As the software market has grown, so have competitive pressures
and public awareness of the industry and its impact on their lives.
Microsoft, for example, has gone from being an obscure software
power to an international colossus, respected by many and feared
by some. Its founder and leader, Bill Gates, has undergone the transformation
from rich but unknown nerd to international celebrity and seminal
figure in American business history, a man worthy of the fame and
notoriety accorded earlier giants like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and
Ford.
In an industry already driven by the relentless prod of technological
innovation, the rapid growth of the Internet has acted on the market
like a shot of steroids in a weightlifterâs biceps. The promise
of the information age delivered by the World Wide Web (hereafter
referred to simply as "the Web") to every home has caused
the home market to grow faster than the business market. This, in
turn, has sparked ruthless competition among manufacturers, resulting
in steeply decreasing prices at the same time that speed, storage,
and memory is increasing and graphic displays grow ever larger.
This relentless growth has caused a flood of new categories and
titles to come market. But the gods of success have not smiled equally
on everybody. Apple has stumbled to the brink of oblivion (again).
Former hardware and software giants like Commodore, Ashton-Tate,
and WordPerfect have disappeared. The Internet superstar Netscape
was purchased by AOL. Even mighty IBM has been humbled by changing
times.
The reasons for failure have not changed since the first two editions
of the Handbook. In many cases, companies have stumbled or failed
not because of poor technology, but because they didn't understand
the marketing process. The U.S. software market is a demanding one.
Its consumers are prosperous, knowledgeable, and fickle. They have
little interest in dealing with wrongly-positioned products, confusing
pricing, and badly-conceived collaterals. The need to understand
and properly execute marketing basics has never been more important
The Handbook is designed to help you understand that process and
assist you in the critical tasks of positioning, launching, and
sustaining products in todayâs ultra competitive software
arena. It describes, in detail, the different tasks marketing managers
in the software industry must accomplish. In turn, each task is
broken down into a series of goals and steps that must be completed
for your product to be successful.
There are usually two things that stand between a software product
and the market.
The first is the product itself. If the publisher has misread the
market's desire to purchase the product, if the product cannot perform
up to market expectations, or if the product is fatally flawed technically,
then no expert or theory can help. Only you, or your company, know
the truth about your product.
The second is the execution of a successful marketing plan, which
incorporates these fundamental tasks:
Positioning: The clear description to the market of a productâs
functionality and purpose, both in relation to itself and its competition.
Your product positioning drives every aspect of your marketing.
Launching: Releasing the product to the marketplace.
Distributing: Making the product available to buyers.
Sustaining: Maintaining sales and market share through marketing,
advertising, and sales promotions.
The principles of successful marketing are well known. There are
no secrets, no "magic marketing bullets," that guarantee
success. While there are many books that describe various marketing
theories and concepts, what has been missing is a book that assists
marketers in executing programs and evaluating results.
The 3rd edition of The Product Marketing Handbook for Software
fills that gap. Written and researched by software industry experts,
its focus is on the bottom line and the successful strategies that
will enable you to manage effective marketing campaigns. The Handbook's
checklists help you plan the nuts and bolts of a product launch,
and evaluate and deploy the different marketing, advertising, and
promotional programs used by successful software marketers.
Organization
The Handbook is divided into the following sections:
Positioning, Pricing, and Naming
Channel Distribution
Collaterals
Public Relations and Product Review Programs
Advertising
Sales Promotions
Direct Marketing
Bundling
Internet and Electronic Marketing
Trade Shows
Each section contains detailed descriptions of the specific marketing
tasks, focus stories, and checklists. The focus stories recount
actual marketing situations, including major and minor mistakes
and disasters. Read them carefully. By learning from these stories,
you can start earning your advanced degree from the "See What
They Did? Now Donât Do That" school of marketing!
The Checklists
We have chosen to use checklists to categorize marketing tasks
because they are easily and quickly adapted to different needs.
Many different programs exist that fit marketing activities into
some form of predefined process. If you are currently using such
a program, the checklists can provide added benefit and value to
your system. If you are not, then the checklists can serve as the
foundation for creating your own system.
The Handbook uses two types of checklist: the Objectives/Evaluation
Checklist and the Success Checklist. In the preparation/planning
phase of your marketing activities, review the Objectives portion
of the specific checklist(s) and decide which objectives best fit
your marketing plan. For each objective chosen, enter a specific
target goal÷ generally a number or a percentage. This is
the "what you will do" part of your plan, and should include
measurable and quantifiable objectives.
After you determine your objectives, you then use the Success
Checklist to implement your plan, stepping through all the activities
that promote a successful effort in the particular marketing area.
This is the "how you do it" part of your plan. After implementation,
revisit the Objectives/Evaluation Checklist(s) and use the Evaluation
column to record what was actually accomplished, evaluating how
well you did with respect to your initial objectives.
Tracking the success (or failure) of your marketing activities
will help you build a marketing "bible" of what does and
doesnât work for your product and company. Over time, you
will possess an "at-a-glance" record of your marketing
performance and be able to quickly identify areas of critical weakness
and repair them.
The checklists are very comprehensive. How you use them depends
on the structure of your company and its individual resources. Regardless,
each relevant task on a checklist must be completed. Your goal is
to complete them as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
The Handbook will help you do just that.
The Disk
To further assist you, all of the Handbook's checklists are contained
on an accompanying disk in 7-bit ASCII format. Any text editor,
word processing application, or business-presentation package can
read it. The checklists can be quickly printed out as is, or edited
and converted into overheads, handouts, etc. You can alter them
to meet your particular needs and strategies.
Endorsement
"Simply put, this is the definitive guide for sales and marketing
professionals who need to successfully navigate the tricky and tumultuous
waters of the computer and software industry. In the 18 years I've
worked in sales and marketing for billion dollar companies such
as IBM and Hewlett-Packard, major software firms such as Ashton-Tate
and Lotus Development, and in the two companies Iâve started
from the ground floor (Lyriq International and now Miacomet, Inc),
the one thing you quickly learn is that our business changes every
three years. You must constantly challenge yourself and your assumptions
or face failure. If you donât start with an approach and methodology
that promotes excellence, you will not get a second chance. The
Handbook provides that start.
"It does so by discussing and illuminating proven marketing
principles and methods that lead to sales success and by providing
the tools you need to succeed. Its combination of checklists, templates,
case studies, and methodologies are invaluable to understanding
not just how companies succeed (and fail), but why. Many successful
companies, including my own, use The Product Marketing Handbook
for Software to consistently get results.
"Whether you are just starting out in this industry, or a scarred
marketing veteran, you will gain insight and invaluable knowledge
from the Handbook. I have not seen anything that is better written
or more thorough in presenting all aspects of the industryâs
sales and marketing process. Good luck and good selling!"
Randy Hujar
CEO Miacomet, Inc.
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