Question

Topic: Strategy

Non-conventional Channels When Competition Is High

Posted by biggermiao on 6/15/2017 at 9:11 AM ET 250 Points
Hi everyone, thanks a lot for this help in advanced!

I'm doing marketing for our online marketing analytics product and hoped to get some opinions on what are some less traditional channels one could use to reach our target saas customers due to our product being a new addition to a heavily saturated market with many competititors who have already taken all the visible spots a on the internet for being seen by the target customer, whether it's in search rankings, review sites, Ads or places on more well known industry publications. These competitors have also written and taken most of the topic ideas in the industry as related to content marketing.

My 2nd question is also, in addition to how to reach these customers, as our product is not yet competitive in either pricing or features, is there anything we can do to attract them to choose us through the way we sell rather than our features, even if they are also aware of our competitors.

thanks alot for the insights and help!
-Biger
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 6/15/2017 at 10:01 AM Accepted
    Your 2nd question really concerns me. Your product is not more attractive in pricing nor features? You are in a very tough place.

    You need to find some way to differentiate yourself from the competitors to have a chance to break in. Find something you do better than them and focus on promoting to the customers who could use this. Maybe there is some niche you can handle better than the entrenched competitors?
  • Posted by telemoxie on 6/16/2017 at 8:12 AM Accepted
    I would suggest that at this point, your company needs to spend a lot more effort listening and a lot less effort talking. If this were my project, I want to meet with people in my target market (not necessarily prospects) in person. I would want to ask them what their problems are from their perspective. If I could control the interaction, I would like my R&D people to hear this directly from the customers. No, I'm not talking about emails or blog posts or articles, but actually interacting one-on-one with human beings. You might find some technical capability which is unique to your product which can help certain people in certain situations.

    I think you need to focus on how you can help and how you can listen and how you can respond Said that unmmet needs expressed by your target market rather than on how you can sell.
  • Posted by telemoxie on 6/16/2017 at 8:15 AM Accepted
    In addition to in person meetings, you can schedule conference calls. Let's imagine for a moment that you can identify a helpful person with specific technical knowledge related to your application. Schedule a conference call, and have your company president, your Dir. of R&D, the vice president of sales, and the most technical person you have on your development team on the call. This will get the attention of the person on the other end of the line, since they typically talk with sales and marketing types.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 6/16/2017 at 10:31 AM Accepted
    I agree completely with the comments above -- from Peter and telemoxie.

    If you need professional help to get at customer perceptions, values, beliefs, attitudes, habits, practices and needs that might lead you to a unique benefit promise, I can recommend a market research professional who has experience in your industry segment. Just contact me via email (in my profile).
  • Posted by biggermiao on 6/19/2017 at 1:02 AM Author
    Thanks everyone for the the excellent comments and suggestions. It's definitely something I'd like to try and one challenge is also getting the Product team to be more committed to acting on the client's needs vs going in their own direction, which is something that also needs to be resolved. Thanks mgoodman for recommending someone, regarding the research, I'd be glad to PM you later for the details. thanks!
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