I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
When marketing and selling a product or service, it is important to ask two questions to understand your buyers.
1.What motivates people to buy a product or service?
2.How do people find a product or service to buy?
I surveyed my LinkedIn audience for answers.
1. What motivates people to buy a product or service?
People buy a product or service to: solve a problem, meet a need, or fulfill a want or desire. 49% buy products and services to solve a problem, meet a need, or fulfill a desire. 27% wanted to solve a problem, 16 % want to meet a need, and 8% wanted to fulfill a want or desire.
2. How do people find a product or service to buy?
People find and buy products or services through word of mouth, social media, online search, and,/or product reviews. Of those surveyed, none said they found or bought products from seller calls or emails. No one found or bought products attending trade shows or events; this can be because of the pandemic.
63 % found or bought products from social channels or word of mouth, and 37% found or bought products or services from online searches or product reviews.
These findings suggest businesses need to create products and services that are customer-centric. Businesses need a great reputation to survive in a competitive marketplace.
Answering these questions will help businesses develop, create and, position products and services customers want to buy.
Your approach will vary depending on your industry.
What motivates customers to buy your products and services?
I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
During my time in field sales, I wanted to obtain the business of Dental Schools and Hospitals. After obtaining meetings and making presentations to prominent Dentists, I was informed that they could not buy from me. After handling objections, showing how my offerings were better than the competition, I found out why. The decision-makers explained that they were under contract with large manufacturers and distributors.
These competitors offered deep discounts to Dental Schools so their students would get comfortable using their products. When students would become licensed Dentists, they would use the products they trained on instead of the competitors. These competitors built lifelong customer loyalty.
When I called on certain Dentists, they said they liked a particular company’s product. I asked them why they liked the product and would they consider switching for something comparable with faster service. The Dentists said no saying that they learned on particular equipment in Dental School and it was the only thing they felt comfortable using.
Geoffrey Moore discusses the Technology life cycle in Crossing the Chasm.
Dental manufacturers and large distributors used pricing to target the Innovators/Early adopters/which in this case was the dental students and hospitals. To increase market share, they offered discounted pricing in exchange for purchase and long service contracts. These manufacturers and distributors succeeded in targeting dental students right before they would become customers; earning them years of customer loyalty.
Here is how this SAAS marketing program could be executed on the Technology Life cycle curve.
Innovators Preparation Programs
Offer Preparation programs discounted pricing and free trials to try the product.
Have Pre-service Professionals get comfortable using the product.
Early Adopters Early Career Professionals
Offer them free trials and a lower discount.
Early/Late Majority Seasoned Professionals
Offer Trials and discounts to targeted staff and managers
Laggards Senior Staff Members
Continue to innovate the product and messaging to show how the product is being used.
Obtain Testimonials from satisfied staff and managers.
Show how the product exceeds competitors.
When appropriate, offer free and discounted trials to all appropriate prospects.
This is how Tech companies can improve their market share and generate life-long customer loyalty.
Tech Companies have the chance to improve business and generate life-long customer loyalty. This opportunity can be seized by offering discounted pricing and free trials to Innovators/Early Adopters which in this case are the preparation programs.
How this applies to EdTech & E-Learning
This strategy can be applied to the EdTech/E-Learning market because many companies serve this space but only a few companies dominate the market. The opportunity to target Innovators/Early adopters as I described above presents itself as the United States Department of Education is asking for Education Technology to be embedded into K-12 teacher preparation programs.
EdTech/E-Learning companies have the chance to improve the Teaching profession and generate life-long customer loyalty. This opportunity can be seized by offering discounted pricing and free trials to Innovators/Early Adopters which in this case are the teacher preparation programs.
Here is how this marketing program could be executed on the Technology Life cycle curve.
Innovators Teacher Preparation programs
Offer Teacher Preparation programs discounted pricing and free trials to try the product.
Have Pre-service Teachers/Admins get comfortable using the product
Early Adopters Rookie Teachers/Admins
Offer them free trials and a lower discount.
Early/Late Majority Seasoned Teachers/Admins
Offer Trials and discounts to targeted staff and Administrators, Lead Teachers, and Instructional Coaches.
Laggards Senior Staff Members
Continue to innovate the product and messaging to show how the product is being used.
Obtain Testimonials from satisfied Teachers and Administrators
Show how the product exceeds competitors.
This is how EdTech/E-Learning companies can improve the Teaching profession and generate life-long customer loyalty.
What EdTech/E-Learning product do you want to try?
Additional Market Research
Why & How People Buy Tech
When marketing and selling a tech product or service, it is important to ask two questions to understand your buyers.
1. What motivates people to buy a tech product or service?
2. How do people find a tech product or service to buy?
I surveyed my LinkedIn audience for answers.
1. What motivates people to buy a tech product or service?
People buy a technology product or service for many reasons.
2. How do people find a tech product or service to buy?
People find and buy technology products or services in different ways.
How Buyers Find EdTech & E-Learning Products & Solutions
I asked my audience how they find Education Technology products and solutions. According to a survey I conducted on LinkedIn, 58% used google, viewed product demos, and read reviews. Next was Social Media and word of mouth at 33%. This suggests that the education technology buying cycles are customer-centric. A great product demo is only as good as product reviews, word of mouth, and the customer experience for established brands. Only 8 % found products from seller-centric activities such as seller calls emails and catalogs. Customers are educating themselves and seeking out sellers at the end of the buying process, not the beginning.
When marketing and selling an EdTech or tech product or service, it is important to ask two questions to understand your buyers.
1. What motivates people to buy your tech product or service?
2. How do people find a tech product or service to buy?
These findings suggest businesses need to create customer-centric offerings to survive in a competitive marketplace. Answering these questions will help businesses develop, create, and, position offerings people want to purchase.
Why & How People Buy In General
When marketing and selling a product or service, it is important to ask two questions to understand your buyers.
1. What motivates people to buy a product or service?
2. How do people find a product or service to buy?
1. What motivates people to buy a product or service?
People buy a product or service for many reasons.
2. How do people find a product or service to buy?
People find and buy products or services in different ways.
These findings suggest businesses need to create customer-centric offerings to survive in a competitive marketplace.
Answering these questions will help businesses develop, create, and, position offerings people want to purchase.
I’m a Strategic Marketer with Field Sales, Sales Enablement, Content Creation, and, Classroom Teacher/Trainer skill-sets using Marketing to drive Sales/Growth.
As a Marketer, I’ve worked with Start-Ups, a Political Campaign, and a Digital Marketing Conference. I’m certified in Inbound Marketing with classes in Marketing, Product Management, Product Marketing, SEO, SEM.
Before teaching, I was an Outside Sales and Marketing Rep. selling and marketing dental products to Dentists using consultative selling, trade show marketing, field marketing, and market research.
I publish Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today a blog covering industry events and trends.
Articles and insights have been featured, mentioned, and, referenced in:
•SlideShare for being in the top 5% of profiles viewed in 2014
•LinkedIn Profile was in the top 1% of profiles viewed out of 200 million members in 2012
I’m seeking a full-time role in:
Inbound Marketing, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Product Marketing, Demand Generation, Social Media Marketing, Sales Enablement Enablement, Sales Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Employer Branding, Recruitment Marketing. Reach out to start a conversation on LinkedIn or email me at dan@dangalante.com
Posted 138 weeks ago
Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today
I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
I covered the Product Marketing Community event in New York. Product Marketing Community was founded by Product Marketers for Product Marketers.
Attendees of Product Marketing Community events take interactive workshops led by product marketing leaders and network with their peers.
The event covered how to: build and execute: go-to-market strategy, buyer insights, messaging, content, and sales enablement.
Product Marketing Community founder Rowan Noronha kicked off the event.
Currently VP of Product Marketing for Zix, Rowan has led product marketing for North America (Office of the CFO) at SAP and Cognizant. He also serves as an Advisor to SAAS startups.
Here are takeaways on go-to-market strategy, developing buyer insights, and sales enablement.
Marketers need to develop and deploy a buyer-centric go-to-market strategy.
It is time for marketers to ask better questions about buyers.
Businesses should identify their ideal audience for their offering. Data from this analysis can be used to target better prospects and improve go-to-market results.
Only certain target customers will buy due to internal and external factors.
To grow revenue, businesses need to develop and use better competitive insights. Developing these insights entails examining everything about the competition to identify: strengths, weaknesses, competitor priorities, growing, and under-served markets.
Product Marketing involves more than just supporting the Marketing and Product Management teams. Product Marketers serve Marketing, Sales and Product teams. Each team has different needs and responsibilities. However, they all play a role in growing the business and serving customers.
Product Marketers serve as market experts and translators for teams from across the organization.
What is Product Marketing?
Product Marketing is the discipline of bringing a product to market and nurturing its success. Businesses need to create and market products people want to buy. To do that, they need to use the Pragmatic Framework.
Product Marketers are taking on some Product Manager responsibilities.
Product Marketing needs a separate brief.
Johnathan Hinz of Seismeic shares his insights on sales enablement and its role in marketing.
The lack of Sales and Marketing alignment is due in part to the inadequate amount of customer value mapping relating to the number of buyers types.
Product Marketing Community New York was a great event.
I covered the Product Marketing Community event in New York. Product Marketing Community was founded by Product Marketers for Product Marketers.
Attendees of Product Marketing Community events take interactive workshops led by product marketing leaders and network with their peers.
The event covered how to: build and execute: go-to-market strategy, buyer insights, messaging and content and sales enablement.
Product Marketing Community founder Rowan Noronha kicked off the event.
Currently VP of Product Marketing for Zix, Rowan has led product marketing for North America (Office of the CFO) at SAP and Cognizant. He also serves as an Advisor to SAAS startups.
Here are takeaways on go-to-market strategy, developing buyer insights, and sales enablement.
Marketers need to develop and deploy a buyer-centric go-to-market strategy.
It is time for marketers to ask better questions about buyers.
Businesses should identify their ideal audience for their offering. Data from this analysis can be used to target better prospects and improve go-to-market results.
Only certain target customers will buy due to internal and external factors.
To grow revenue, businesses need to develop and use better competitive insights. Developing these insights entails examining everything about the competition to identify: strengths, weaknesses, competitor priorities, growing, and under-served markets.
Product Marketing involves more than just supporting the Marketing and Product Management teams. Product Marketers serve Marketing, Sales and Product teams. Each team has different needs and responsibilities. However, they all play a role in growing the business and serving customers.
Product Marketers serve as market experts and translators for teams from across the organization.
What is Product Marketing?
Product Marketing is the discipline of bringing a product to market and nurturing its success. Businesses need to create and market products people want to buy. To do that, they need to use the Pragamtic Framework.
Product Marketers are taking on some Product Manager responsibilities.
Product Marketing needs a separate brief.
Johnathan Hinz of Seismeic shares his insights on sales enablement and its role in marketing.
The lack of Sales and Marketing alignment is due in part to the inadequate amount of customer value mapping relating to the number of buyers types.
Product Marketing Community New York was a great event.
