Author Archives: Steve Robins

November 7, 2011 · 11:00 am

Netflix: It’s About the Customer Strategy, Stupid – Part II

Six Solution Marketing Lessons from Netflix

As I mentioned at the end of the last post, Netflix: It’s the Customer, Stupid, Netflix’s recent misadventure is a cautionary tale for solution marketers. Following are a six key lessons:

#1: As a vendor or service provider, technology upgrades are good.

So, if you rent DVDs and know the market will eventually transition to video on demand, you need to offer video on demand as well – just as Netflx does today. Streaming is proven and consumers will demand it. It’s not a matter of if, but when. However…

#2: Consumers and customers do not share your company’s timetable

Continue reading →

Netflix: It’s the Customer, Stupid, Part I

By Steve Robins

Netflix loses sight of their most important asset: the subscriber

If you’ve read The Solution Marketing Blog for a while, you know that business (or consumer) problems tend to remain fairly constant while the technologies and solutions to those problems tend to advance at a more rapid pace. That’s one reason why most problems have multiple solutions. And it’s why dominating a market today does not guarantee dominance forever. Just ask General Cinema (General Who?) or Blockbuster or, well, you get the point.

So, if you’re a savvy solution marketer, you realize that today’s hot technology or medium will eventually be replaced by another. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under Case Studies, Solution Marketing

Tagged as DVD, DVD rental, Netflix, Solution Marketing Blog, Steve Robins, Video

September 30, 2011 · 10:55 pm

Icebergs & Solution Launches

By Steve Robins

It’s what lurks below that drives solution launch success

Icebergs: pretty, grand, glistening in the afternoon sun. The stuff of movies. And even disasters like the sinking of the Titanic.

And yes, these icy wonders share more than a few traits with solution launches.

The process of launching a new solution is much like an iceberg. The most important trait? Just like an iceberg, you see only 10% of the effort above water. Up top and above the water, everything looks shiny and crisp. Pretty even. But just like an iceberg, a launch’s success is based on the 90% of effort, the foundation below the surface — the planning and preparation that sit well below the surface, invisible to the public and to many of your colleagues. Oh, and yes, just like an iceberg, a bad launch can, well, sink a ship. Yikes.

Let me explain. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under SEVA - Elements of Solution Marketing, SIVA - Elements of Solution Marketing, Software marketing, Solution, The Solution Marketing Blog

Tagged as Icebergs, Marketing, Solution launches, Solution Marketing, Solutions, Steve Robins, technology marketing

August 23, 2011 · 10:00 am

HP TouchPad @ $99 – Value?

By Steve Robins

No, this is not a good thing

Confession: I enjoy talking about “value” because sometimes, it’s counter-intuitive. For example: how can an expensive solution or product be a better value than an inexpensive solution or product?

Value has been making big news lately, especially in the turbulent world of tablet devices. Take a look at six months of HP TouchPad headlines: Continue reading →

Building Your Solution Marketing Strategy

By Steve Robins

Where Are You in the Solution Marketing Lifecycle?

The obvious part of solution marketing is what gets delivered at the end of the process in the go-to-market phase – materials, web content and more. But the heavy lifting begins well before. Following are highlights of the key phases required to build and implement a successful solution marketing strategy. Continue reading →