MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange : HOW TO BRAND "ANTI-SOFTWARE" SOFTWARE

Ask your question ... sign up today! It's FREE!

Branding URGENT - Need Help Fast!

This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.

How To Brand "anti-software" Software
Posted By: jampap* on 9/17/2006 5:39 PM (CST)	500 Points
We are a new company that creates hosted and managed software solutions which are uniquely built on business process engines that intuitively guide users through an active, thinking, and highly simplified software experience. We have created and are preparing to launch an honestly unique and innovative software solution for a specialty market within the healthcare industry. Our dilemma is that we beleive in order to market/brand this product successfully we must position ourselves against the existing market of practice management software and we must also avoid a “features” comparison between other software programs and our solution. Yet at the same time, we must somehow demonstrate that although our “features-free’ solution is completely different, and as a result much more simple and effective, it still resolves important practitioner pain points others claim their labor intensive ‘features’ are designed to resolve. What makes this difficult is that our software solution solves the same practitioner pain points (and many more), like billing and documentation, but does not do so by offering the same complicated feature sets applied by other software programs. Despite the revolutionary approach of our more comprehensive and vastly different solution, friendly practitioners say that we ‘sound’ much the same as the competition--our greatest marketing fear. However, after any opportunity for personal conversation, practitioners always reach an “ah, ha!” experience and become immediate champions of the concept. How then can we achieve the same "ah, ha!” result in our written and marketing media and create an entirely new brand as we do in actual conversation? All without engaging in a feature to feature comparison (that doesn’t even exist) and still address solving the practitioner’s pain points? Narrating the differences achieved through conversation is seemingly impossible and proving not compatible with the simplicity required for successful printed marketing/branding campaigns. My sincerest appreciation... Kind regards, James Pappas The Mystified Marketeer

Posted by: stlubahn	Accepted Answer
9/17/2006 9:32 PM (CST)
I would need more information on exactly what you are trying to sell, but is it possible to focus on selling a process vs selling a software? It sounds like you are offering a product that does not require a point-by-point raw feature comparison, but more of a process focused approach. I would also offer a short video on your website that establishes the differences you highlight in your introduction here. It sounds like a conceptual approach that could be enhanced by some nice graphics and sound to engage the website visitor and get then interested in what makes you unique. Steve

Posted by: jampap*	Author Response
9/18/2006 12:01 AM (CST)
Thank you Steve for your prompt reply. We are selling a software solution for the healthcare industry used by doctors to manage their practices. So, selling our solution as a process rather than a software solution would be somewhat inaccurate and far too foreign to even garner interest, especially since we are actually a hosted software solution. The difference I tried to articulate before is that our software solution is the only one that utilizes an end-to-end management of the all the processes within an entire practice, e.g.: billing scheduling documentation, etc. In stead of boxed software programs which have disparate systems that require enormous user effort to navigate, our solution brings together all the different systems (processes) into a single platform that manages the lifecycle of all processes collectively, making the user experience enormously simplified. Video illustration is a great idea and we intend to use it as an enhancement. However we are a bit hesitant to 'open our kimono' on the web by offering a demo (if that's what you are suggesting). After all, getting potential buyers on the phone and walking them through a live demo has proved the most successful. We fear the look and feel offered by a demo illustrating such a simplified solution could initially give potential customers a misleading impression that our solution isn't doing much, even though it is actually 'doing' much much more behind the scenes. Hopefully this clarifies a bit. I welcome more thoughts.

Posted by: Jo Masterson	Accepted Answer
9/18/2006 2:59 AM (CST)
Hello, You might look at what others are doing in this area. www.SalesForce.com seems to be doing a very good job with the no software concept. I don’t think most people don’t understand the difference... so I would consider promoting the benefits of low entry costs and monthly fees vs large upfront cost (free trial?)….. I do think many in the medical field will have concerns about the security of their patient info using a web-based solution so be sure to address that issue in your marketing. Some other quick ideas… Web-based solutions for real world problems Virtual solving your operational issues. On Time, On Task, Online Good Luck, Jo

Posted by: Frank Hurtte	Accepted Answer
9/18/2006 9:08 AM (CST)
Focus on the software benefits without the need for hardware and the associated costs of an IT department. I would pepper your sales talk with quotes from popular experts that are preaching the advantages of outsourced IT..... Examples.. Daniel Pink A Whole New Mind, Thomas Friedman "The World is Flat". Typically Doctors are well read and somewhat technically savvy.. but they need someone to push them over to your thought process.

Posted by: jampap*	Author Response
9/18/2006 1:38 PM (CST)
Hello Jo, Thanks for the suggestions! I had the same thought and spent two days last week studying and dissecting sales force's marketing and web site. I will say they are very consistent in their message of offering on-demand real time analytics . A feature that we too uniquely offer for our indusrty. You are absolutely right and have struck the nerve of my problem. Most do not understand the difference. How then do we articluate the difference and address the solutions? I wasn't asking so much "What to say" e.g.: low cost, no IT, etc., but "How to go about saying it." In discussing your answer aloud I think I may have discovered the solution. How do we get the necessary benefit of conversation into our printed marketing without the opportunity for dialogue? The answer. Flash demos. We can host flash demos that have a person talking through the uniqueness of our solution, the problems it aims to solve, and the benefits it provides. The flash demo would not be a demonstration of the product per se, but a video narrative of our points accompanied perhaps by some graphic representation or animation in the back ground. The flash demo can be the perfect meduim for providing the needed dialogue (albeit beneficially one sided) and posing questions whose answers help define and explain our unique approach and benefits to potential users. Any thoughts? Yours in gratitude, james

Posted by: Jo Masterson	Member Response
9/18/2006 1:43 PM (CST)
I like it - I think short on demand "demos" would work great - We use them and are in the process of improving ours at this time. Good Luck, Jo

Posted by: jampap*	Author Response
9/18/2006 1:45 PM (CST)
Frank, Good idea to use supportive marketing on how this approach has revolutionized business. Last night I spent time reading the benefits of business process management (our secret sauce) and cases made in favor of its application. In fact, Business Integration Journal has articles as well as TIBCO and WhiteHill. Although the articles were not about application in the healthcare industry specifically, the benefits and advantages are universal. So using these studies to support our case is a great idea. Thank you. james

Posted by: DR Hitch*	Accepted Answer
9/18/2006 4:37 PM (CST)
James, I went to your company's web site if that is any indication of migrating from the auto industry to the healthcare industry.... You are selling a s/w "product" and I presume you'll try to sell through some sort of a indirect sales channel model; how will you sell to medical office managers? I assume they're your target buyer? Anyways, to separate your shrink-wrap software solution from any othert office management suite, you really need to hammer out the BENEFITS of your system such as "50% faster set-up and learning curve over clunky software products"...or "in an office with temporary/transient staff, this software protects your patients better than any other HIPAA compliant...blah, blah". What is the benefit of your system? Does it mimic a doctor's current office system. I like your analogy of "resolves important practitioner pain points"...So, now go and USE THAT METAPHOR to show me some quantifiable examples (note this is NOT your product features/specs) of how your system is better than anything else.

Posted by: jampap*	Author Response
9/18/2006 5:33 PM (CST)
Douglas, Thanks for offering your suggestions. Our company is an imaginative solutions provider offering business products supported on the SaaS platform. We are not an automotive industry company. Although I can clearly see how you could make that assumption from our former web site. We have developed product for Subaru and others, but auto is not our focus. We have not updated our web site with the healthcare products because what we have is too proprietary to advertise just yet. But we will very soon as we close in on our go to market date. We will sell direct, not through an indirect channel. The benefits we will surely hammer home. But as I stated in an earlier reply to another member, I was looking for the how to deliver it as opposed to what to say. And I think we're on the right track with the flash demo idea. Thanks for the compliment on the analogy. It is just something we started saying around the office. Fits though doesn't it? Good reply. Thank you. james

Posted by: D1	Accepted Answer
9/19/2006 2:56 AM (CST)
Hi James Quite a challenge! I think you can find some good tips through the above comments. You said that your software is: “completely different, and as a result much more simple and effective” What does this mean? Does it save time? No need for additional software or advanced technical knowledge? “Completely different, simple and effective” is a beaten path. It is a mean to reach a higher aim? What is this aim? Is it to: Allow doctors to allocate more time to the things they do best? How much time? Start by spelling the software unique benefit. Once you have your message it becomes much simpler to identify you bridge for ‘deploying’ it. Hope this helps. D

Posted by: jampap*	Author Response
9/19/2006 1:00 PM (CST)
D, Thanks for the empathy! I am refining and redefining our USP's right now. Once we decided on the exact messages we wanted to convey, that's when I discovered the need for a better conveyance. You are exactly right. I really like the way you ask the question about aim. Thank you greatly. james

Get more answers ... ReTweet this!

Would you like to post a response?

Welcome to Know-How Exchange!
This is a collaborative community. We welcome everyone's participation.
All you need to do is login. Enter your account info in the box above (top right).
Not a member? Not a problem. Register here (it's FREE and EASY).

Know-How Exchange powered by MarketingProfs

MarketingProfs' Members Register for B2B Forum 2010 for just $695! (good until 11/30) »

MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange : HOW TO BRAND "ANTI-SOFTWARE" SOFTWARE

Ask your question ... sign up today! It's FREE!

Sponsored Links

Join over 355,000 members ... SIGN UP!

Already a member? Sign In!

Resources

Community

Company

Marketing Topics