Introducton to solution marketing

© 2011
Introduction to
Solution Marketing
Steve Robins
November, 2014
www.SolutionMarketingStrategies.com

C B O N D
cocpysmoreolomiprumdverpiuistctaeicsetntlisfyson
© 2009-2014 The Solution Marketing Blog

Beyond
Products:
Solution
Marketing

What is “it”?
What’s Happening What’s Needed
• Customers want it • Solutions make life easier
• But most customers • Help customers
can’t do it on their own
• Technology is increasingly complex and
customers lack in-house resources, time,
expertise
• Apple, IBM and Chuck e
Cheese sell it
• Each offers complete solutions to
customers…
Apple iPad ecosystem, IBM industry
solutions, Chuck e Cheese birthday
package • Provide discipline, rigor,
“It” = Solutions
consistency – best
• Seems like everyone sells solutions today
• Most tech companies practices
claim to have it
• But none of them know
what it is
• But there’s not a common definition
• Sales thinks they’re
selling it…
• Many sales teams use the Solution Selling
methodology
• Help Marketing to work
with Sales
• Provide a solution
methodology for
Marketing
• …but they’re doing it
without Marketing.
• But Solution Selling does not provide
strategic guidance for Marketing
• It can be confusing • There’s little discipline around solutions
• Solution Marketing Blog,
Group, Consulting
© 2009-2014 www.SolutionMarketingStrategies.com p4

What is “it”? Solutions is It.
What’s Happening What’s Needed
• Customers want it • Solutions make life easier
• But most customers • Help customers
can’t do it on their own
• Technology is increasingly complex and
customers lack in-house resources, time,
expertise
• Apple, IBM and Chuck e
Cheese sell it
• Each offers complete solutions to
customers…
Apple iPad ecosystem, IBM industry
solutions, Chuck e Cheese birthday
package • Provide discipline, rigor,
• Seems like everyone sells solutions today
• Most tech companies practices
claim to have it
• But none of them know
what it is
• But there’s not a common definition
• Sales thinks they’re
selling it…
• Many sales teams use the Solution Selling
methodology
• Help Marketing to work
with Sales
methodology for
Marketing
• …but they’re doing it
without Marketing.
• But Solution Selling does not provide
strategic guidance for Marketing
• It can be confusing • There’s little discipline around solutions
• Solution Marketing Blog,
Group, Consulting

methodology for Marketing
• Discipline, rigor,
practices
• Help Marketing to work with
Sales
• How:
• Solution Marketing
Blog
• Presentations
• LinkedIn Group
Steve Robins
 15+ years in solution marketing
– Expertise in solution, industry and product
marketing
– Experience: FirstBest Systems, Solution
Marketing Strategies, EMC Documentum, KANA,
The Yankee Group
 Founder, The Solution Marketing Blog,
Top-rated solution marketing blog
 Inbound Marketing Certified
Professional
LinkedIn.com/in/SteveRobins1
Twitter.com/SteveRobins
SolutionMarketingBlog.com

Solutions Everywhere
Device
+
Software
+
Content
+
Cloud
Device
+
Software
+
Content
+
Cloud
Kid food
+
Adult food
+
Entertainment
+
Activities
+
Party gifts

Solutions Everywhere

Agenda
 Introduction
 Beyond products
 Solution marketing
– Solution
– Education & engagement
– Value
– Access
 Building your solution marketing strategy
– Discovery
– Strategies for solutions, education & engagement, value, access
– Case studies
 Next steps, Q&A

Beyond Products
The Solution Imperative

Typical Company Wants…
Customer
Company
Tech-nology

What is a Solution Anyways?
so·lu·tion
noun sə-ˈlü-shən
General definition:
a: an action or process of solving a
problem
b: an answer to a problem
so·lu·tion
noun sə-ˈlü-shən
Business definition:
A complete and integrated
offering that includes everything
required to solve a customer
problem

Typical Customer Wants…
Services
User
Customer
---
Pain
Points
Tech-nology
Process
Content/ Data
Complete Solution
Everything to solve the customer’s problem

Complete Solution
User • User interfaces
• Training
• Support
• Best practices
• Domain expertise
Process • Process optimization
• Reengineering
• Workflow
• Integrated experiences
• ROI studies
• Security
Content/
Data
• Content
 Documents
 Images
 Video
Music
 Books
• Data
• External data sources
• Data security, data policies
Technology • Hardware/ infrastructure
• Software platforms
• Applications
• Complementary technologies
• Integrations
• Custom coding
Services • Strategy
• Project management
• Risk management
• Custom coding
• Integration services
• Communications services, hosting
• Support

Why Solutions?
 Increasing complexity of technology
 Limited in-house IT to support systems
 Avoid in-house/SI build or integration
 Business users drive tech decisions but don’t
understand the technology
 Mature markets

Why It Matters
Relative % of Customers
The Tornado
The Chasm
Early Life Bowling
Innovators
Technology
Enthusiasts
Early Adopters
Visionaries
Alley
Early Majority/
Pragmatists
Main Street
The Solution Opportunity
Late Majority
Conservatives
End of Life
Laggards
Skeptics
Time
Customers want technology
and performance
Customers want solutions and convenience
Sources: E.M. Rogers, G. Moore

Solution Marketing
Customer-Centric
Marketing for Today

What is Solution Marketing?
so·lu·tion mar·ket·ing
noun sə-ˈlü-shənˈmär-kə-tiŋ
The process of defining,
educating, and providing access
to complete and integrated
solutions
that deliver value
by helping customers to solve
their problems.

Solution Marketing Adds Value To
Marketing, Sales and Product Management
Frictionless
Sales
Social Media
Field
Enablement
Marketing
Support
Product
Management

The 4 P’s – All About the Company
Place
Product
“Build it and
they will come”
Pro-motion
Company
Price
Outbound,
interruption
marketing
Best channels
for us to sell
the product
Cost-plus;
margin is king

Solution Marketing – All About the Customer
Strategy, Metrics
Access
Place
Solution
Product
“How can I solve
my problem?”
Education
Pro-motion
Engagement
Customer
---
Pain
Points
Company
Price
Value
“How can I
learn more
about it?”
“Where can
I find it?”
“How will it help me and
what is my total sacrifice
to get this solution?”
End-to-End Marketing for Today
Customer-Focused Marketing

Building Your Solution
Marketing Strategy
Discovery
Strategies for:
Solutions
Education & Engagement
Value
Access

360o Discovery
Portfolio
Strategy
What markets and
solutions should we
target?
Solution
Development
What will each solution
do and include?
User
Personas
How will we educate and
engage with potential
users and buyers?
Customer
Value
How will we incorporate
and communicate value?
Solution
Access
How would the user/buyer
like to buy and use the
solution?
Internal
• Revenue
• Current offerings
• Core competencies
• Solution maturity
• Sales-readiness
External
• Under-solved
challenges
• Top market, solution
opportunities
• Segment size
• Market drivers
• Competition
Solution
Requirements
• Use cases
• Revenue
• Business challenges
• Industry/function
trends
• Key components
• Buy vs build
• Testing
Persona
• Titles
• Business challenges
• Career goals
• Thought process
How to connect
• “Hang-outs” –
communication
channels, pubs,
trade shows, social
media
• Industry jargon
• Influence levers (ex
case studies?)
Value
• Before/after process
• Before/after
challenge/gain
• Customer’s value
drivers -
dollar impact
• ROI
• Purchasing habits,
budget
Access
• Best channels
• Optimal role of
VARs, SIs, direct
sales, buying on
contract
• Preferred delivery
models… Software?
SaaS? Business
Process
Outsourcing?

Solution Needs Hierarchy
5
Components &
integrations
Business
value
Intelligence:
templates,
rules etc
4
Solution description –
what it does
Target audience and
business problem
Mature
Less
Mature
2
3
1

Solution Strategy
• General strategy:
• Target markets/functions, solutions
• Solution maturity
• Partner
• Buy vs build
• Completeness: Platform > Framework > Templates > Application
• Portfolio management
• Revenue goals
• Cross-functional team
• Metrics for success
• Cross-functional alignment, organizational support
• Development/engineering/product management
• Channel/SI partners
• Marketing
• Sales
• Support
• Services

PowerAdvocate Offers Complete Solutions
BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION
Business challenge:
Optimize procurement in the energy
sector (power plants)
Company challenge:
Differentiate the company from larger
players like Ariba

PowerAdvocate Offers Complete Solutions
BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION
 Products: SaaS solutions for
procurement
spend, cost, market, sourcing
 Services: Industry experts
provide services to lower
costs
 Data: Market-specific
procurement data and
analysis
Differentiator: industry-specific data
Solution Assessment
User 
Process 
Content/Data 
Technology 
Services 

Education & Engagement: Message
Targeted
Consistent/
True
$
Insured
Agent
Carrier
Loss ratio
Value-
Driven Relevant Jargon

Education & Engagement: Strategy
Challenge
& How to
Market
Education
Market
Engagement
Field
Enablement/
Sales
Buy
Now!
Frictionless
Sales
Demand
Gen

Value = Benefit - Cost
Benefits (Improvement)
 Profit, expense, revenue drivers
 New business
 Time savings
 Productivity improvement
 Headcount reduction
 Soft benefits
Total Cost of Ownership
 External…
– Software
– Hardware
– Services
 Internal…
– Training
– Change management
– Desktop upgrades
– IT management
Value
Value
to the user
or buyer
$Dollars
Perceived
Benefit
Total
Cost
© 2011 www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com

Value-Based Pricing
Value = Benefit - TCO
Business Benefit ($)
Customer
Benefit
Lost revenue
Customer
Benefit
Customer
Benefit
A B C
Assume that vendor charges fair price
for features provided
Poor Value
Unneeded
features
Unneeded features
Price
Customer
Benefit
D
Fair Value
Price matches
benefit
High Value
Lost software
revenue
Fair Value
Price matches
benefit
Solution use-case drives benefit and value

Microsoft SharePoint Delivers Value
with 50% of the features
BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION RESULT
Share information with other
people in the enterprise

We don’t claim we do everything.
If we do 50 percent of the
functions that these other
companies do, but they’re the ones
customers really want, that’s fine.
The magic is that end users
actually like to use the software.”
“
Chris Capossela
Senior Vice President
Information Worker Product Management Group , Microsoft
NY Times 8/2/2009

Significant growth at expense
of mainstream ECM vendors
Lesson: Customers gain value by
buying only the features they need
E

Access
 Be flexible
 Provide seamless experience
 Enable frictionless sales
 Complete/close the sale quickly
 Ensure success thru “the last mile”

A Cautionary Tale
From the Archives

Solution Marketing Failure 2011
 Solution
– Don’t give customers what they want
 Education/Engagement
– Blame your offering’s failure on communication instead of admitting it was
just a really bad idea
 Value
– Base your pricing on what works for you, not for customers
– Nearly double prices for your best customers
– Decrease customers’ perceived value of your solution
 Access
– Make it more difficult to do business with you – split your offering into 2
websites
– Dis-incent customers from buying both of your services

Solution Marketing Failure
Convenient, inexpensive
access to entertainment

 Inexpensive
 All-you-can-eat
 Video by mail
 New: streaming
 New pricing plans, July 2011:
streaming vs. video by mail
 Focus on what’s good for Netflix,
not the customer

28
26
24
22
20
18
16
$944
$894
$844
$794
$744
$694
$644
$594
$544
$494
14
3/2010 6/2010 9/2010 12/2010 3/2011 6/2011 9/2011 12/2011
Revenue ($ Millions)
Subscribers (Millions)
Unique subcribers Revenue
Subscriber trend Revenue trend
$75
$107
$155
$176
$238
$263
$113
$69
Stock price Sources: NetFlix, Google

Netflix Dictates Customer Access

Next Steps

Getting Started
1. Begin internal discovery
2. Know the customer
3. Define the business problem
4. Move from feature/benefit  business
value
5. Think about solution completeness
6. Bonus: how are market/tech forces
changing solution requirements?

Strategy, Metrics
Access
Place
Solution
Product
Education
Pro-motion
Engagement
Customer
---
Pain
Points
Company
Price
Q & A
Value
Solution Marketing
Services
User
Customer
---
Pain
Points
Tech-nology
Process
Content/ Data
Complete Solution

Thank You
Steve Robins
Principal
Solution Marketing Strategies
s.robins@SolutionMKT.com
LinkedIn.com/in/SteveRobins1
Twitter.com/SteveRobins
SolutionMarketingBlog.com
www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com

Introducton to solution marketing

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