Category Archives: SIVA – Elements of Solution Marketing

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

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

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

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Filed under Pricing, Solution Marketing, Value, Value

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

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Filed under ProductCamp, ProductCamp Boston, Solution Marketing, Solution Marketing Strategy, Solutions

Blogging Gets Serious

– By Steve Robins

Younger Readers Flock to Facebook

Who’s reading your blog?  According to a recent NY Times article, Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter, younger bloggers and readers are moving from blogging to more social and easier to use platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Continue reading

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

HuffPost SEO Lessons for Solution Marketing

– By Steve Robins

More Learnings from The Huffington Post

Continued from The Solution Marketing Blog: Is Your SEO Worth $315 Million?

Let’s take a look at the Huffington Post’s SEO strategy as described by the NY Times, and see how it applies to solution marketing:

  1. Provide value. First and foremost, write content that provides value to your readers.
  2. Use keywords – within reason. Make sure that you do include relevant keywords in the top few paragraphs of a page or article.  Don’t pack in too many keywords or your content will be hard to understand – which won’t help anyone. Continue reading

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Filed under Case Studies, Information, Social Media, Solution Marketing, The Solution Marketing Blog