Welcome to part 2 of our 7 part Failed Marketing series. Last week I talked about "creating your market" that leads us onto this weeks article of "basic delivery".

Without a product or service to deliver to a customer no business can exist, proof of this came in 2000 with the "dot com crash" that shattered the US markets. What caused this was a number of companies that "went public" to raise capital but didn't have any actual product or service that generated revenue. Many of these companies only had a website that failed to deliver anything valuable to the end user or investors.

Now we have learned from this multi-billion-dollar lesson, companies around the world have gone back to real product and service offerings - regardless if they are virtual, real or a combination.

Whole Point of Your Existence FAIL shows a real-world example of not delivering what you promise to your customers. I'm not going to point out the flaw in this image as I think it is pretty self explanatory.

Common in the IT industry is to release products before they are completed to judge customer feedback and evaluate if the product is good, has potential or should be shelved. This often saves millions of dollars in future development.

There is nothing particularly wrong with releasing a product that is not completed to the best world scenario, as long as it performs it's basic function and it isn't being falsely sold. In fact, it happens every day and we don't even realize it most of the time. What this allows for is a few things:

1.       Get feedback from customers early, this allows improvements to be made that the company thought were not needed or even remove features that customers generally don't want

2.       Generates revenue on the product line early allowing better and more development

3.       Provides overall information to the company on if the product is viable in the market before full investment has been made

Google provides a good example of early product release and in fact out of all products they release they withdraw around half from market. In the case of Google (and many other IT companies) they call these releases 'beta' releases.

The key here is to ensure your basic product or service delivery is taken care of, for example if you make calculators you need to ensure they can accurately add, subtract, multiply and divide. You also need to make sure they have all numbers from 0 to 9 in addition to having a screen and clear key. Finally you need to make sure they turn on when the "on" button is pushed. It doesn't matter if you don't have all the scientific features as long as your calculator does the basics of what you claim it does.

If you have a range of calculators that cannot turn on you and therefore cannot be used, you have just failed on basic delivery because effectively, you have now sold your paper weight as a calculator. How do you think your customers who just paid $5 feel? Ripped off I bet.

And how does a production and development matter relate to marketing? Simple, who makes the promises of what the products do to the customers? I will tell you now it is not development or production departments - they tell marketing and sale what the product should do, marketing makes the promises to the customers  of what the product should do at the end of the day.

So when you're looking to release a new product to market make sure it does what you claim it does before it's too late. Get involved and test the product before it goes to production as well as testing the first few units so you can see that it lives up to the development claims.

Once again we would like to that FailBlog.org for the inspiration for this article.

As many of you may have noticed there has been a recent and sudden change to content on our Facebook page this afternoon courtesy of FailBlog.org

This is part 1 of a 7 part series. Each week we will talk about one of the items and this week I'm going to talk about creating your market.

Every business needs to create it's market to some degree, some businesses take on an existing need and provide a solution to their own way of thinking, others have to educate their customers that they have a need in the first place.

Carcinogenic Product FAIL shows 1 way to create your market and keep your organization strong however it is not recommended. If you missed the "fail" as it is called first note that the product is part of a range of products from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., now read the warning on the image.



Companies such as DropBox and Contornics Technologies have had to show their market why their products are relevant, this activity isn't the easiest especially when there are multiple uses to a product.

For Contronics Technologies for example read our "Usage of Tour Verification Systems" to give you an idea of the variety of problems the single solution can handle.

There are better ways of creating your market than that used in this example, for example a blog that regularly talks about how a product works, YouTube videos, product demonstrations (live and recorded) and also distributor/point of sale education.

In the case of DropBox they created a short video that was targeted to show potential customers how easy the solution is and created a need. You can get a good idea of how this was achieved at the TechCrunch article "How DropBox Started As A Minimal Viable Product".

Regardless of how you create your market keep a few things in mind:

1. Don't compromise your values or what you stand for
   
2. Make sure you communicate clearly and effectively
   
3. Education is not to make people feel silly for not already knowing, you're the expert in your market - not your customers
   
4. Never assume your product is the best, just play to your strengths
   

There are other industries that have requirements for this type of technology but they haven't realized the benefits that come out of this type of solution so today I'm going to point some of the usages out.

As you can see below the applications only go as far as your imagination and finding out how they can benefit your business or application is as simple as picking up the phone or sending an email.

Finally before the list, this post may be updated from time to time, we will let you know when it is via our Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/contronics), our Twitter stream (www.twitter.com/ContronicsTech) and in the news section of our website (www.contronics.com/eng/noticias).

Hospital nursing departments use the products to verify that nurses (especially on night shift) are visiting patients regularly, who has visited patients and to log any non-urgent needs.

Hotel & hospital cleaning departments use the technology to log when an area (such as a room) has been cleaned, who cleaned it, when it was cleaned and when any maintenance issues that are discovered. This is often used with a real time system such as Guard On-Line or integrated directly with an in-house system.

Public transport operators use the solution to record when buses and trains arrive at certain stops allowing them to verify the on-time percentages.

Social welfare departments verify attendance for visits to foster homes and safety checks for children, it is also used to record anything notable that is observed on-site.

Farms use the solutions to record progress and calculate the value of animals on the farm. It is also used to verify that animals are still on the farm and haven't gone missing.

Retail stores use the equipment to reduce liability over issues such as slip and fall but demonstrating due diligence.

Security departments use the equipment to verify security patrols & fire checks have been done, record any observations on the patrols as well as to record when staff are found working after hours.

This last point helps when records of staff and where they are located in the building are needed such as if there is a theft or if a staff member has a health problem it means the company can verify the needs of the staff member are being addressed.

Companies with remote/roving staff use the equipment to verify where staff have been as well as the time they attended work for payroll purposes.

Many companies use the solution to record vehicle allocation and mileage also.

Complimentary or complementary, that is the question many companies don't even know they need to ask.

First we need to define these 2 words, the difference of 1 letter makes all the difference in what the answer is for your company.

Complementary (with an E): to work or go with, to work along side
Complimentary (with an I): for free, gratis, at no charge

As you can see they have 2 very different definitions that can impact how you look at the answer.

Companies now more than ever need to set themselves apart from the pack, in doing so companies without realizing it are asking themselves if they want to provide an add-on at no cost or if they want to add value and make ask a little more money for doing so.

I love using telecommunications companies to demonstrate these points as usually they have both models in play, we just don't realize it.

For example the marketing that gets you into the store may be "sign up for a 24-month contract and get the latest and greatest BlackBerry/iPhone/Android smart phone for free", this is a complimentary offer, then when you're going through the sales process the sales rep tells you, "with BlackBerry you can get the special unlimited internet access for just $19.95 per month on your plan" this up-sell is providing the complementary service to a BlackBerry smart phone that represents value to you as a new BlackBerry user.

Many companies are falling into the bottomless pit of giveaways, for zero dollars ($0), free - complimentary. This is a good short-term strategy to get customers in the door but skilled sales people will convert these customers looking for a free lunch into valuable paid customers who forget about freebie in order to get what they really want, better value and service. The problem is many companies don't have the skilled sales staff capable of converting these customers and have fully subscribed to the idea they will constantly lose money in order to win new customers and then slowly make that money back over time.

Some companies however have realized that this type of marketing activity, where it does get the customers through the door, does not really return well on investment. Smarter companies are working out what they can do better or extra, otherwise known as their point of difference. They then use that combined with a "special offer". For example, Contronics Technologies is a manufacturer of tour verification systems that are designed and assembled to a very high industrial standard, many customers are finding their readers are lasting in excess of 10-years. The problem that faced Contronics Technologies is "what can we do to provide a better offering without affecting our ability to continue research and development, not to mention to maintain the high product quality?", they quickly noticed a trend on customers asking about a real-time system to monitor the tours being performed. In response Contronics Technolgies has now built Guard On-Line (GOL pronounced "goal") that works with their Guardus line of tour verification readers as well as their accessories. This delivers more value to not only the company performing the tour but their customers also, this is complementary to not only the Contronics Technolgoies offering but the security company also. In turn the security company can charge a premium to provide a service that is not widely available but greatly required.

So when looking at how you can grow your business think about what value you can add rather than what you can do for no return, added value at a fair price will always win out over free because smart customers understand to get a free product they will ultimately pay more for the company to continue their existing activities plus deliver the freebie.

Innovative solutions have been the cornerstone of successful business for not only the past few decades but for centuries. Go back to the Stone Age, the cornerstone itself is probably one of the biggest innovations the world has ever seen, along with the wheel.

Moving forward to today, businesses constantly need to step up and go the extra mile. There are a number of examples in today's modern markets; in mobile communications you can get a  smart phone at no direct cost and value by the bucket-load in the plans. Then there is the car  industry, never before have we seen such value available with extra safety innovations. These companies that are going the extra mile are experiencing something else too, with better options, better service and better support they are seeing record growth and what wasn't expected, record profits just out of one of the greatest world-wide recessions ever seen.

With this being said the security markets are starting to fall behind, new technology is available but under the perceived economic climate companies are afraid to invest into innovative solutions that will make them stand out. This is more important than ever with the renewed threat of recession and economic uncertainty, this is as companies who invest today will have a point of difference tomorrow when the competition won't be in a position to invest. Higher profit margins are again achievable but innovation needs to take place and offerings not only expanded and enhanced but made the norm.

"Software as a Service" (or SaaS) is a business model whereby companies use software online, they will generally pay a license fee to use the software, however it reduces the IT infrastructure requirements and enables enterprise level solutions without the enterprise level expenditure. Many companies are now re-focusing on this SaaS market as it represents higher customer satisfaction and as we all know, the happier the customer is the healthier the business is.

Some products that use this SaaS model include Microsoft Office 360, Contronics Guard On-Line, Google Apps and even QuickBooks have an online version of their software.

Customers don't only save money on the purchase of the products but they also save money on an on-going basis. Enterprise solutions often require an IT professional to manage them, with SaaS this requirement is gone. Then there is the cost of taking the enterprise server off-line for updates, again the cost of down-time is gone because this is managed by the SaaS provider.

In addition to this, SaaS also allows companies using the services to reduce other costs while increasing revenue making for a more profitable business. A great example is the Guard On-Line (GOL pronouced "goal") product from Contronics. It is normal in the tour verification markets for reports to be generated manually over a number of days taking 1 or 2 staff members out of production, this activity costs a lot of money to the company and as a result customers have to pay a premium for basic reports. GOL allows companies to not only create and schedule automated reports that can be sent to the customer on a regular recurring basis but it also allows companies to schedule customized reports that include a variety of data, they can make the reports as in-depth or as simple as possible. At the same time GOL allows companies to provide access to their customers should they wish to do so, this means the customers of security companies for example are now able to go in and create the reports they need. This makes the security company a SaaS provider in their own right enhancing their image without the big software development costs.

GOL can also provide alerts to customers, for example if an incident is recorded such as a door is unlocked or a window broken an email can be sent immediately as the information is sent to the system, coupled with real-time monitoring for companies equipped to deal with it GOL is a revolution in a market that hasn't truly had revolution in around 20-years.

The great thing from the security companies stand-point is the same higher revenue for reports can still be generated, a set-up fee can be charged, better reports can be produced and the cost of delivery is reduced. Companies taking up the GOL offering are also seeing their customers are generally happier with the service, company executives have a better image of what is happening now and patrol officers are being more productive.

So when looking at business delivery and innovation, the GOL case study along with countless others like it in multiple industries are proving that innovation is still required for real longevity and growth, like the wheel and cornerstone SaaS is here to stay and is quickly becoming the norm.

Any good Marketing Manager who is in his or her right mind would never really divulge secrets of how they manage to succeed at their job, luckily for you the International Marketing Manager at Contronics Technologies yesterday was not in his right mind and wrote the following blog article, but make sure to read to the end where you will get his best tip of all!

Everyone knows that good marketing creates awareness of a brand and product while giving a customer a reason to contact the company. What everyone doesn't know is what goes on to create this awareness.

Marketing Managers are often seen as lazy, just surfing the internet or having coffee with who seem to be random people that have nothing to do with anything. So I thought I would dispel this myth and give a tip or 2 so you have an insight and show you what is really going on.

Us Marketing Managers do spend a lot of time surfing the net but have you ever noticed what we're looking at? 9 out of 10 times you will see something like a blog article, press release or the company's social network page and the content may be something that seems to be unrelated but generally it is not.

What we're often doing is analyzing 1 thing or another, maybe it is a company that has the same type of clients we have, maybe it is seeing how another company is positioning their non-competitive product that uses the same technology we are using, or maybe it is fortifying the companies brand, image and message on Twitter or Facebook.

A good example is I have been reading a lot about mobile devices lately, iPhones, BlackBerrys, Androids, the sexy feature phones that are coming out, but I'm not trying to decide what mobile device I want next, I'm actually gathering news and information on devices that have Near Field Communication (NFC), a technology that works with the Contronics Guard On-Line system. What I am looking for is first how the manufacturers and mobile providers view the technology, second what the public think of the technology, third if the public matches our target market, fourth what devices are a good marketing match with our product/brand and fifth how our NFC offering can be positioned to our customers with certain devices. This alone is a lot of work to get this information and researchers are not cheap for a small company so some of my time is used to do all of this.

TIP: when possible hire someone to do research for you - this allows you more time to work on your golf swing, to go shopping at the mall 10 miles away or to go joy riding in the company car, on the golf green while travelling to the shopping mall 10 miles away.

Social networks of all kinds provide valuable insights, as an example have you just liked a few companies like RedBull, Coke or Sony and watched their content scroll down your wall? This content is targeted greatly to enhance their brands and in turn this makes them the brand of choice for many consumers, guess what, consumers then buy for their business what they would like for themselves. In our case we are one of the few that are actively working our social networks in this part of the market. It is an effective way to make announcements - like the publication of this blog article, when a product is updated or when a new product is out. Social networks are also a great way to tell customers where you are, for example what event are you attending next?

TIP: where possible integrate your social networks into your blogging or other systems, this will save you valuable time meaning you get more out of the whole golfing or shopping experience.

Marketing is fun even in a boring industry such as security, well it is for me but this is because I want it to be fun, people respond to fun and cheeky, we aren't really selling to businesses but to people... who happen to work in or own businesses, if we can connect with them and provide a smile they are already happier to talk to sales people.

TIP: find ways to lighten up your brand or marketing, this way it is harder for the boss to tell when have a glass or bottle of Vodka each day - he or she will think it's your personality!

Second tip, at work Vodka is best because when mixed with a cold drink it is odorless and doesn't discolor the stuff it is mixed with.

So next time you're trying to spy on the Marketing Manager to bust him or her for playing at work, why don't you just ask what it is for, if you're allowed to know you will be told, if you're not allowed to know you will know quickly and if it is the 1 time out of 10 he or she is not working you will likely be told to "sod off".

FINAL TIP: ignore my tips, I ain't giving away my secrets but the information is still good... not to mention, thanks for reading!

For those who do not know, ASIS International holds a regular 3-day trade show and 4 day conference focusing on the security industry, each year it is held in a different city within the US, this year it was in Orlando, Florida. The exhibition floor showcases products from thousands of companies and is commonly used to launch new products and services. Contronics has been attending for the past 6-years.

We instantly noticed that this year the expo floor was smaller than what we have seen in previous years, after looking at it there are 2 reasons we could see behind this, first many companies reduced the size of their booths and secondly we noticed a number of companies just didn't attend. We also noticed fewer attendees to the show than in previous years. This gives an indication of the economic climate in the US and that companies are trying to reduce costs where ever possible.

The greatest trends we noticed are towards the Cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS). A few companies were willing to comment about their Cloud based products and have been surprised by the resistance in the security market to their product, this was especially noticed by the start-ups. Established companies in general have noticed more resistance than expected but to a far lesser extent. 1 thing is for sure, the cloud is now a standard part of the security industry with market leaders such as Securitas, Contronics and G4S implementing these cloud based systems and demonstrating that their willingness to adopt new technologies and be 1-step ahead of the industry is what keeps them on top.

We look forward to seeing the regulars again next year at ASIS 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along with some more new faces too!