Looking for help with some of the bigger issues in high-tech marketing? The General Marketing section has links to resources on central issues like strategy, as well as specialized topics that do not yet have their own category (e.g. pricing, product marketing, etc.). Once we have a critical mass of information on a particular topic, we'll launch a new category and break out the bubbly to celebrate! 

Please note that the information on this page is intended to be a helpful suggestion, and is not an endorsement of certain products or companies.

This page is moderated by Steve Adams, VP Marketing at Protus IP Solutions - the makers of MyFax internet fax service. If you have suggestions or comments, please send them to SAdams@protus.com

Last month, Zone5ive featured a speaker from Google, and this month our topic is Customer Experience & Branding. What's the link?

In my real life, we rely extensively on all the major search engines for both paid and natural search traffic. From a traffic and online sales perspective the results have been extraordinary.

The strategic challenge is that virtually all of our customers that find us through a search engine also find our competitors. To win - and keep - our customers we focus on implementing a customer experience that differentiates us from competitors.

Strategy is about doing something different than competitors - something that is hard to copy. It's easy to run ads (ok, it can be expensive) - it's hard to win customers.

A couple recent readings http://www.customerpassion.com/improving_customer_experience.htm

http://arc.typepad.com/customercrossroads/ 

It's all too easy to get wrapped up in marketing tactics like web design, PR and advertising programs, and branding. Sometimes it's important to step back and focus on marketing fundamentals - defining the target markets; assessing opportunities; plotting winning strategies.

While I've never been in a company that could afford their services, I find that the 'big' consulting companies often have very useful publications and resources.

Last week I read a McKinsey & Company article The Power of Pricing. It highlights both the importance of good pricing decisions to the bottom line, and the myriad of ways in which price points and margin get eroded through special discounts, incentives, credit and delivery terms, etc.

Boston Consulting Group has a less extensive library but some good market and industry profiles. One of our target markets is the small business customer, and The SME Market for Telecom Providers is a good read.

For more tactical information, I rely on Marketing Sherpa and MarketingProfs(doesn't everyone?) - particularly for online marketing information.

MarketingProfs. In their own words, they "specialize in providing both strategic and tactical post-MBA marketing know-how to Internet and offline marketing professionals in medium and large corporations, through a combination of provocative articles and commentary." Definitely worth reading ... escpecially for new trends like podcasting. www.marketingprofs.com

MarketingSherpa publishes useful case studies, results data, and best practices for marketing, advertising, and public relations professionals. Definitely worth checking out! Click here to join the trek to MarketingSherpa

Have you been to a very good high-tech marketing conference recently? If so, please tell us about the experience.

I don't recommend a lot of business books - truthfully, I find most  books make good articles, and most articles make good diagrams.

Crossing the Chasm is - deservedly - an important reference. It reminds us that there is a technology adoption curve, and of the importance of 'whole ' products. It's a quick read, or you can just look at the pictures.

Winning Market Leadership - Strategic Market Planning for Technology Driven Businesses  is a more robust book (likely used as a textbook in places). It is particularly good at providing a structured approach to developing strategies - not dogmatic, but good guidelines and challenging questions.

Marketing Expenditures for Technology Start-Ups in 2003

From LaunchPad, a high-tech marketing consulting firm, this is an annual report of how start-ups spend their marketing budgets. Published annually since 2000, it is one of the most useful (and free!) resources for marketers. I use it annually to check trends and comparisons (as well as providing external validation) when setting the marketing budgets and plans.

Other free reports at the LaunchPad web site (www.lpad.com) include:

• What Start-Ups Must Know About Selling to the CIO
• Trade-offs in Business-to-Business Research: Selecting the Right Sample Size