Today Apple announced additional details of AppleWatch as well as a new, slimmer (!) MacBook line at a media event in San Francisco. Apple is an iconic company and their innovation can provide helpful lessons, many of which apply to solution marketers. Which takes me to the AppleWatch: Needing to be tethered to a iPhone via WiFi, and carrying a not-insignificant price for an optional gizmo, it’s not clear how well this new product will perform I the market. But if anyone can make a go of it, Apple can. Here’s why. Continue reading
How Apple Creates a Future that Sells
Cyber Lessons from Black Friday
Black Friday offers an important lesson for cyber (i.e., enterprise software) solution marketers.
Bombarded by Black Friday
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been bombarded with a never-ending stream of Black Friday TV commercials. These included a litany of TV commercials for BMWs and other cars on sale for Black Friday. Maybe it’s all due to a surge in self-gifting, although experts were predicting a drop for 2014.
In a world where everything from clothes to cars was on sale on or around Black Friday, retailers were competing against just about every other retailer for the $381 that the typical shopper spent this past weekend, according to the National Retail Federation. That included direct competitors offering similar goods, indirect competitors who offered different goods that solved the same problem (say, giving a nice gift) and what I’ll call Share of Budget competitors who solved different problems but competed for the same budget.
Filed under Solution Marketing Strategy, Solutions, Value
Product Marketing in an Agile Environment – Recap from ProductCamp Boston
Reprinted from Gail Ferreira’s B2B Solution Marketing Insights Blog with changes
Ed note: My biggest takeaway from this discussion was that marketing/product marketing needs to contribute strategically to the roadmap (even in an agile environment). The roadmap needs to work not only to support customers and prospects but also marketing launches and timeframes (which of course also support customers and prospects as well). -Steve Robins
ProductCamp Boston 2013 was again another great event! From a discussion facilitated by Steve Robins, I wanted to share some insights on “Product Marketing in an Agile Environment”.
Agile processes do impact marketing, particularly when product roadmaps don’t proceed as anticipated. For example, using Steve’s company as an example, he noted that: Continue reading
Filed under Product Marketing, Solution Marketing
Solution Marketing @ The Boston Startup School
By Steve Robins
Solution Marketing for Startups
A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to teach a one-day solution marketing class at the Boston Startup School, located in the Harvard Innovation Lab.
Learn to Do
If you have the opportunity to teach, learn, network or otherwise participate with Boston Startup School, jump on it! Run by startup incubator TechStars, the new program helps “young professionals to learn the skills needed to have an immediate and positive impact on the startup they join.” Wondering what’s on their minds? Check out the new blog by the sales and marketing classes, www.GrowthNinja.com, which states that…
You don’t have to start a company to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is a mindset. It’s a healthy discontent with the status quo that brings together teams dedicated to making the world a better place. Entrepreneurs include all members of a startup team, from the CEO to the summer intern.
…and I couldn’t agree more. Continue reading
Keynote at ProductCamp Boston: The Invisible Customer
By Steve Robins
Join me On June 9 at Microsoft Cambridge for ProductCamp Boston 2012!
I’ve always been passionate about ProductCamp – I’ve been speaking at ProductCamp Boston since it began in 2009 and have been leading the marketing team since 2011. So I’m very honored to be delivering the keynote presentation this year.
The theme for ProductCamp Boston 2012 is Customers First! And it’s a fitting theme since customers are so central to the success of our products and solutions, companies, and even our careers.
Filed under Presentations, ProductCamp, ProductCamp Boston, Solution Marketing
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