A technology evangelist “promotes the use of a particular product or technology through talks, articles, blogging, demonstrations, [etc.]…The word ‘evangelism’ is taken from the context of religious evangelism because of the similar recruitment of converts and the spreading of the product information…”  (Source: Wikipedia)

I recently came across a blog post by technical writing and communications professional Dr. Ugur Akinci, who wondered aloud whether there was a better term to describe the title of Technology Evangelist. Ugur Akinci noted the dictionary definitions of evangelism in its original religious context; those definitions suggest communication that is, among other things, decidedly one-way. Point well taken, but none of the other alternative titles suggested – technology communicator, ambassador, champion, advocate, enthusiator (the latter one intended to provide a chuckle!) – comes close to conveying the role as vividly as Guy Kawasaki’s original term of technology evangelist: the active persuasion of people to buy into the superiority of his/her particular technology product and help spread the word about it.

Actually, the term technology evangelist becomes even more appropriate if we use more secularized religious terminology to describe the product offering itself. I have in mind an article product management professional Jacques Murphy wrote a few years ago, asking a still-timely question: Is Your Product a Missionary or a Savior?

(W)hile every (software) company wants their product to be brand spanking new, there are two very distinct strains of newness: the Missionary and the Savior. And one of those two types is a much harder sell…The Missionary product…represents a new idea or a whole new take on an old idea. Nobody has heard of it and your company is in the position of telling others about it and convincing them of how important it is…

With a Savior product, the market comes running out into the streets to greet it, cheering it along all the way. The Missionary product has to go exploring into lands unknown to make converts through its boundless zeal.

Of course, Jacques Murphy’s “market running and cheering to greet a Savior product” hyperbole has since become literally true many times over by Apple’s amazing run of true Savior products. As for software, particularly in the B2B space, every product will have some missionary, or educational, aspect to it. You will always need to effectively convey your understanding of your customers’ problems and how and why your product solves these problems in ways far superior to your competitors. Every software solution requires effective product marketing, and benefits greatly from technology evangelism.

But a ”true” Missionary product will also offer a very different solution to fulfilling a need; a solution that might even be openly contrarian to current conventional wisdom; a solution that is proven to yield unique and compelling benefits for your customers, but in very new ways. Having a technology evangelist, a name and face for the product, actively advocating your unique, even contrarian solution to the market, becomes absolutely crucial, absolutely vital.

A very good recent description I’ve read describing what a technology evangelist is, does, and should do is a blog post by Simone Brunozzi, Technology Evangelist for Amazon Web Services. In the form of an entertaining “Master to Grasshopper”-style conversation, Simone Brunozzi imparts advice to the aspiring technology evangelist, with links to further resources:

• Know the technology you’re promoting inside and out, know what customers need, know your competition, be ready and eager to learn new things
• Practice your presentation skills, learn to effectively communicate in public, using powerful visuals, voice, body language
• Give your audience a memorable experience, and show them respect (Simone Brunozzi includes a great story on how he immediately won over a restless audience that had just sat through a turgid, I’m-reading-my-index-cards speech by a pompous CEO).

But as good as Simone Brunozzi’s advice to the aspiring technology evangelist is, a very important piece must be added: the technology evangelist must be a content-creating machine (!), as emphasized in the new book Content Rules by Ann Handley and CC Chapman. The ability to devise and create online content – success stories, webinars, videos, articles, ebooks, blog posts and more – that your prospective customers will find informative and helpful is the single most important tool in the technology evangelist’s arsenal (more here!).

As Ann Handley and CC Chapman write in Content Rules, the active, prolific creation of online content helps the technology evangelist and his/her company become a trusted resource that prospective customers will look to, foster a desire to work with your product, and finally ignite customer passion for your product based on their success with it, to the point where they help you create content in the form of testimonials and other online content – all stated goals of the technology evangelist, and absolutely critical goals for any company with a “true” Missionary product.

One last thought: On the other end of the content creation spectrum, if a company has no constant influx of new online content – no new case studies, no new customer testimonials, no new webinars featuring customers, no podcasts, blog posts, nothing! - then you can rest assured that no technology evangelism is taking place, no new understanding of evolving market needs is in progress, and the company is implicitly relying on the market to become “seekers of truth” (another borrowed term of religious origin!) and somehow find the product on their own – the online equivalent of a frustrating archaeological dig.

I was already impressed with the work of Stu – I mean Dr. Stuart Payne – and his staff, and yet was even more so after reading his Principal’s Message in the latest issue of Northwood Elementary’s impressive parents newsletter, which summarized the goals he and his teaching staff set for 2011:

At the beginning of this year, our dedicated staff set…three goals for ourselves: (1) Rigor, (2) Differentiation, and (3) Progress Monitoring.

These succinct goals no doubt rang true for Northwood Elementary parents.   In fact, they rang quite true for me in my world of product marketing.  Let’s look at each one more closely:

Photo by courosa (Flickr CC)

Rigor.  Stuart Payne writes: “Through rigor, we endeavor to make sure that every child is challenged in a developmentally appropriate manner.”  This vital educational goal can be easily adapted to product marketing/product management terms: We must challenge ourselves to really understand our products and our markets, and convey our value in a compelling manner that our target markets will understand and be motivated to learn more.  I am reminded of a blog post by Dave Kellogg (MarkLogic CEO for six years) on applying (rigorous) critical thinking for effective product positioning (I elaborate on Dave Kellogg’s fine post here, BTW).

One sidenote: Stuart Payne also wrote: “(R)esearch indicates…that when the work is too difficult, (students) become frustrated.”  This reminded me of a classic blog post by Kathy Sierra: Do your customers feel a similar sense of frustration trying to understand and/or use our products?  Why?  How can this be corrected (and fast)?

Differentiation.  Of course, as a product marketer, product differentiation is critical.  However, Northwood Elementary is referring to differentiation as in the non-standardization of classroom instruction:

By designing differentiated lessons that meet the needs of our students varying ability levels, we ensure success for all  (emphasis added).

So let’s look at “differentiation” in a similar way for marketing: The “standardization” of marketing and PR is long gone, as David Meerman Scott and others have already made quite clear.  That said, what different means, what different avenues should we share our product messaging?

The new book I am reading now, Content Rules by Ann Handley and CC Chapman addresses this very topic (watch for a book review here soon).  In a nutshell, it’s a how-to guide to differentiate your product messaging mediums – video, podcasts, webinars, blogs, ebooks.  Doing so enables us to connect with prospects in the mediums of their choice, in which we convey in informative, compelling ways what our products are and why they are essential.

Progress Monitoring.  Stuart Payne explains:

Progress monitoring is the way in which we gauge the effectiveness of our instruction and the way in which we measure students’ progress toward their learning goals (Emphasis added). During our Response to Instruction (RTI) block, for example, we are able to target instruction in a way that aligns with each child’s reading ability.

Similarly, how do you know if your marketing programs are any good?  I’ve always defined success of my product positioning, messaging and marketing content is its capacity to yield qualified leads and ultimately translate into revenue.  True enough, but just counting up “leads” is insufficient.  Ardath Albee, in her excellent book eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale, connects the dots between marketing and revenue with content marketing:

Building online engagement…depends on your ability to develop compelling content…’Engagement bling’ is what I call the positive results your company gains from sustaining trusted engagement with prospects and customers throughout their buying journeys…

The goal of marketing in a complex sale is to generate qualified demand that efficiently transitions to revenues.  And if you want to increase the level of demand for your solutions, it is critical that you enrich the relationships your company establishes with prospects and customers.  Marketing with contagious content operates like a pay-it forward system for your company.  This is because the value your content provides transfers to the value your prospects and customers ascribe to your company (p. 14 & 16 – emphasis added).

Ann Handley and CC Chapman elaborate further in Content Rules:

(A)ccording to Forrester Research, “Long sales cycles and complex purchase decision-making challenge B2B marketers to find the most qualified prospects and to build relationships long before the first sales call.” As a result, you need to embrace a new mind-set – one focused not just on generating leads but on developing a [content] strategy to keep prospects engaged until they’re good and ready to talk to your sales reps. (p. 25)

 In other words, the old metaphor of the marketing department “throwing leads over the wall” should be replaced by a metaphor of marketers throwing an entertaining, informative party that prospective customers want to stay at and meet all your friends…who happen to work in the sales department!

There’s plenty more to write about on this topic, but it’s important to note that Northwood Elementary is taking an innovative approach in how student progress is being measured (its Response to Instruction block noted above, as opposed to, say, grades – a flawed, lagging indicator).  Similarly, marketing programs should be judged not just on a flawed measure such as the number of “leads” who, for example, opened an email link, but based on the quality and duration of the engagement of prospects to “keep them at the party.”

The staff goals of Northwood Elementary to engage and help their students succeed bear some interesting similarities with the goals of effective marketers, working to engage and help their prospects succeed with your products.  And, no, I’m not suggesting prospective customers be treated like elementary school children.

Actually, hang on, I take that back: If your prospective customers are given the same respect, dedicated focus as afforded to the kids in Northwood Elementary, with the same authentic desire to help them succeed, that will put you way ahead of competitors whose product marketing practices and corporate culture are the equivalent of vapid school lessons that may as well have originated in the mimeograph era.

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“Missionary” Technology Really Requires a Technology Evangelist

The good old “800 pound gorilla” metaphor came up in a conversation this week, reminding me of a clever article I read a few years ago on the subject of animal metaphors, which are all too common in business-speak.

This company or that company is the “800 pound gorilla.” Another company might say it “strives to be an eagle in its industry.” Infamous ex-Sunbeam CEO “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap, fitting his penchant for firing scores of people with impunity, adorned an entire office wall with an image of a mighty lion, honoring its predatory, eat-or-be-eaten, zero-sum game carnivorousness. And of course, one wants to be a “dog” company.

Source: jpmckenna (Flickr-CC)

Actually, companies should strive to be the crow of their industry.

Putting aside the ominous symbolism of crows in mythology and popular culture, business columnist Dale Dauten made a pretty good case for businesses to act like the crow. Given the particularly difficult economy today, calling for business to have the same kind of hardscrabble resourcefulness and adaptiveness of the crow is more on target now than when he wrote this a few years ago:

Most corporations aspire to being mighty, seeking to be the lions or eagles of their industries. Indeed, the largest and strongest of the business predators are sometimes referred to as ”category killers.” Grrrgh…

I’d like to see what we can learn from the wisdom of the crow. Crows are the geniuses of the avian world…crows are ”eight times more abundant within six-tenths of a mile (1 kilometer) of people than they are further from people.”

Yet, crows do not require humans. They eat seeds, insects, worms and just about anything else. When convenient, crows can work as a team: Should they spot an otter with a freshly caught fish, the crows gather around, and one crow pinches the otter’s tail to distract it, then the others nip in for the fish steal…

Thus, we see the wisdom of the crow, the ultimate adapter: Go with it. Not the old ”go for it” of the predator relying on strength and will, but the brainier ”go with it,” accepting the environment and making use of whatever it offers.

Dale Dauten’s point nicely dovetails (no aviary pun intended) with the more recent advice  from 37Signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson to utilize simplicity as a product differentiator to beat the competition: “do less than your competitors to beat them. Solve the simple problem and leave the hairy, difficult, nasty problems to the competition.”  I blogged about Jason Fried’s and David Heinemeier Hansson’s book Rework in this blog entry, which also includes some related advice directly applicable to software companies by Kathy Sierra.

It is also clear to me that Jeffrey Fox’s new book, How to Be a Fierce Competitor, can be described as a primer on how to be a crow in business: seeking and finding new opportunities amid hard economic times while bigger competitors sit on their hands to “wait things out.”

Please read my review of How to Be a Fierce Competitor, perhaps Jeffrey Fox’s best since his first bestseller How to Become CEO.

Read Dale Dauten’s archived article here.

Acting like a crow, with full awareness and action based on a very acute knowledge of the realities of its markets, will no doubt improve the likeliness for businesses to succeed, despite hostile economies and would-be 800 pound gorillas, eagles, lions, tigers, and/or bears for a very long time.

I’ve been reading Rework by 37Signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. The book is loaded with wise, relentlessly succinct and deliberately sharply-written advice to succeed in business in a web-enabled world. 

There are plenty of insights in Rework worthy of several blog entries, but one that especially jumped out at me was Jason Fried’s and David Heinemeier Hansson’s advice to “underdo the competition.” This is also one of the blunt implorements on the back cover, including: Emulate drug dealers(!) Pick a fight(!) Happily, each is elaborated upon in the book to successfully deliver a salient point.

As for underdoing the competition:

Instead of entering into a “one-upping, Cold War mentality” with competitors, “do less than your competitors to beat them. Solve the simple problem and leave the hairy, difficult, nasty problems to the competition.”  (Rework, p. 144) …

In the end, it’s not worth paying much attention to the competition anyway…Focus on competitors too much and…(y)ou wind up offering your competitor’s products with a different coat of paint. (p.148)

Simplicity is clearly a strong product differentiator.

As product examples proving their point, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson point to the increasing popularity of plain-vanilla fixed-gear bicycles that are cheap, easy to ride, and require less maintenance, as well as the Flip, a best-selling compact camcorder with no bells or whistles - except that the market has decided ”ultra simplicity” is the one bell/whistle they really need.

Actually, I found an example of my own while looking for a web-based to-do application. There are plenty of fine (and free) online organizers out there, but the one I settled upon was perhaps the simplest one available: TeuxDeux by “studio-mates swissmiss and Fictive Kin.”

In keeping with Jason Fried’s and David Heinemeier Hansson’s advice, take a look at the one and only screen you work with in TeuxDeux. You have just logged on with your new free account and here is your blank canvas:

There are other to-do applications that run rings around TeuxDeux in terms of features, options and automation, but, just looking at this screen, can’t you tell just by looking at it how to use it?

Instead of learning how to use their to-do application, might most people want to hit the ground running and start using their to-do application immediately?

The element of absolute simplicity is critical for any winning software application. With perfect simplicity, the time it takes to go from an absolute beginner to successful user must be as short as possible.

This winning observation is from Kathy Sierra and her grand slam home run of a blog, Creating Passionate Users (Dec 2004- Apr 2007) here:

For most of us, our user wants to use our tools (software, books, sermons, screwdrivers, saddle, music) to do something else ([solve business problems], learn, find inspiration, build a deck, ride a horse, dance). So we try to think about the thing they want to do, and how quickly we can get them through those two thresholds:

1) The point at which they stop hating you (your company), the activity itself, or their complete inability to do anything useful.

2) The point at which they start feeling like they kick ass. While passion is not a guarantee at this point, the chances of someone becoming passionate before this are slim.

And it’s not always about the product–sometimes it’s all about framing, documentation, and learning. It’s about [straps self into buzzword appreciation chair] attenuation. Turning down the gain. Narrowing. Focusing.

and also here:

We will resist the siren call of the market, because we believe the best path is:  Give users what they actually want, not what they say they want. And whatever you do, don’t give them new features just because your competitors have them! … Be the “I Rule” product, not the “This thing I bought does everything, but I suck [at using it]!” product.

(BTW: An excellent update on, and an appreciation of, Kathy Sierra and retrospect of some of her best posts is here, by David Barnes. Nicely done, sir).

It’s no earth-shattering statement, nor is it a flattering commentary on our society: ads featuring attractive, provocative women have a proven track record selling everything from cars to beer to men’s fragrances to hokey get rich quick real estate plans, advertised on hilarious late night TV ads in the 80′s.

But can it sell Business Intelligence software?

Should it?

There is a video ad that seems to think so, which I stumbled upon via a fellow WordPress blogsite “Integrate the Clouds.”

The ad in question is here (SFW):

“I know what you’re thinking,” says as the attractive model as she dives in a pool. Well, as a husband and father of two teenage daughters, I was thinking about the SAP BusinessObjects ad marketing team’s assumption that IT decision makers are all men (and that this ad is the right way to market to them).

In that light, the ad is a sobering reminder of how few women choose to pursue computer science degrees and careers in technology. Indeed, only about 9% of all CIOs are female. 

That said, why would any company risk alientating 9% of its market? Carve the BI/DW market up based on verticals, namely higher education, with women occupying about 25% of CIO posts, and suddenly this ad is risking irking a quarter of that particular vertical.

Dave Kellogg raises the important difference between a “critic,” a person who criticizes everything, generally without proposed solutions” and a ”critical thinker,” a person who attacks ideas in the spirit of making them better, and who can hold both sides of an argument in their head at once.”

Point very well taken. I’d additionally define a critical thinker as someone who will also not allow herself/himself or others to fall victim to “paralysis by analysis.” Even more importantly, by virtue of being unafraid of taking a hard, unbiased look at issues and listening to others’ opinions, concerns and doubts, and in fact welcoming such open discussion, a critical thinker is also an optimist by nature.

I like how Dave assesses the level of critical thinking applied in the crafting of successful marketing positioning (emphasis added):

Critics “attack” other people’s ideas but not their own. Critical thinkers “attack” everyone’s ideas, especially their own. For certain disciplines (e.g., marketing positioning) one of my primary tests is not to examine the substance of a proposal, but instead to examine the critical thinking in the process that led to it [for example, reviewing a marketing proposal recommending a new company tag-line]:

• How many other tag-lines did you think of?
• Why didn’t you pick tag-line 3?
• Did you consider tag-lines based on the higher-level notion of satisfaction?
• What’s the argument against the tag-line you’re proposing?
• What are the direct and indirect competitors tag-lines and their relative strengths and weaknesses?

As David Ogilvy once said: “good writing is slavery” (see page 33 of Ogilvy on Advertising). So is good positioning. And it comes from critical thinking and plenty of it.

I think delving into the multiple meanings of Dave’s word “attack” is important here, too.  A critical thinker will indeed “attack” an idea much differently than a critic. There is a world of difference between “attack,” as in how a critical thinker will “earnestly initiate” a rigorous debate of an idea, in such a comment as, “The European sales team will have concerns about the time they will need to devote to the new product. Let’s work out how we can address that concern and ensure they will have time to complete their deals in the pipeline,” versus how a critic might truly “attack,” as in, “beat down,” an idea with a discussion-dampering remark:  ”Oh, the European sales team always marches to their own drummer. Mark my words, they will ignore the new product. I’ve seen it before.”

How to effectively deal with the “critic” is addressed in author Bruna Martinuzzi’s article on optimism, which she kindly allowed me to republish on this blog. Bruna accurately identifies the behavior of the ”critic,” aka “devil’s advocate,” as symptomatic of general pessimism, which can discourage critical thinking:

How can someone who has a pessimistic outlook embrace change over the safety of the known?  Those who have a pessimistic outlook typically approach changes to the status quo with the familiar: “we tried this before,” “it won’t work,” or “it will never fly.”  Such individuals often label themselves as devil’s advocate.  The negative effect this can have on creativity, innovation and change is reflected in the title of a new book by Tom Kelley of IDEO, the world’s leading design firm: The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization.  Kelley provides a roadmap for those who want to fuel innovative thinking and neutralize the pessimistic, often destructive “naysayers” who shoot down ideas and stifle creativity.

Bringing this discussion full circle, Bruna’s definition of an optimist leader is very much in line with Dave Kellogg’s “critical thinker”:

To be innovative, one needs to be open to new ideas, wide open to seeing possibilities, willing to take risks and encourage others to take risks – willing to challenge the process in order to create new solutions or products or improve processes.   In short, one needs to have a sense of adventure and an expectation of success…

[Dr. Martin E. Seligman, who has extensively studied the human trait of optimism, recommends practicing] “flexible optimism,” i.e., having the wisdom to assess situations and identify those that require a pessimistic inquisition, and those that call for optimism, for having a “can do” attitude and taking a chance. (emphasis added).

Bruna Martinuzzi goes even further in her new book, identifying optimism (and, by extension, “critical thinking”) as just one of several key qualities of a leader who is a mensch, a person of supreme integrity, honor and character. Dave noted how surprised he is how many, many executives do a poor job thinking critically. I unfortunately must concur whole-heartedly. So, if you find yourself working for a “critical thinker” aka “flexible optimist” aka mensch, consider yourself lucky!

Stay tuned Click here for my review of Bruna’s new book, The Leader as a Mensch: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow.

The Annual Leadership Forum brings together innovative business professionals, NGO executives, thought leaders and more to discuss and share successes on the positive impact enlightened business can have and is having on our society, our environment, our global quality of life. The Forum is capped off by a luncheon honoring student winners of the Tomorrow 25, an international competition honoring 25 outstanding high school juniors with a series of special events on the Bentley campus.

Speaking to the concept of personal branding, the Bentley brand, consisting of its longtime business pragmatism melded with a very strong sense of business ethics, integrity and responsibility is one I am pleased to claim as part of my personal brand.

And I am hardly the only alum who feels that way: Fellow Bentley alum and social entreprenuer Nancy Gallant recently wrote a fine post about this year’s Leadership Forum on the Bentley University Alumni LinkedIn Group, which she has allowed me to share here. I share Nancy’s “gushy” feelings (aka pride!) in Bentley University for conveying its inspiring values by hosting such important events:

As a social entrepreneur, I found the speakers, their stories and their message inspiring and empowering. And, the Tomorrow 25 “kids” that were introduced, don’t even get me started!

The Leadership Summit is the perfect illustration of Bentley’s dedication to “doing well by doing good.” Given the recent (and, I believe, inevitable) upheaval in the economy, I am hopeful that, in addition to Bentley’s current student population, Bentley alums will help lead the way toward conscious capitalism, a concept with considerable merit and in need of passionate support. Given their leadership role in business ethics, among other things, it only makes sense that Bentley would be a major part of the conversation to promote positive change, socially and environmentally, while embracing and espousing the benefits of a capitalistic economy in which ethics, morality, transparency and stewardship to our future generations, those less fortunate, and our environment are all part of the equation…

I could go on (and on). If you are interested in digging deeper, your time would be well spent checking out a couple of related links:

Whole Foods President John Mackey’s commencement speech 2008 at Bentley

For those who may have missed it, Bentley has a partnership program in support of City Year that should serve as a model to all institutions of higher learning.

Bentley grad Joe Marchese, the speaker at the Tomorrow 25 Luncheon, is walking the walk of conscious capitalism through the creation of his SocialVibe website that harnesses the potential for social media to serve as a positive changemaker, simply by helping organizations drive profits by promoting their socially responsible initiatives.

It’s with pride that I watch Bentley continue to raise the bar and lead the way in ethically-based, cutting-edge business standards that promote and encourage business initiatives and innovation that, in President Gloria Larson’s words, “are both good for business and the broader social good.”

If I sound gushy about Bentley, that’s how I truly feel. Being my authentic self is a great part of values-driven business – working each day in service to a mission that is in synch with my own values and aspirations to be a part of the positive change that is upon us. Not bad work if you can find it or create it!

Meanwhile, Bentley University’s 5th Annual Global Business Ethics Symposium is set for Monday, May 18!

Update: One of the best examples of business for social good profiled at the Leadership Forum was World of Good, presented by founder and CEO Priya Haji. Priya Haji established a new global distribution system for ethically developed products by over 150 artisan cooperatives in 34 countries around the world. These products are already sold through retail partners like Whole Foods Market, with new partnerships with Hallmark and Disney in progress, as well as online via World of Good on EBay. View Priya Haji’s introduction to World of Good and her participation in a panel discussion via the Leadership Forum home page.

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Product management author Alyssa Dver who has spoken at a number of BPMA events over the years offered this advice during a guest presentation on effective communication for product managers:

Alyssa Dver presented the following sample template to build your own short but sweet product message:

“(Your Company) develops (describe product) that (describe benefit of using). Unlike other solutions, our product (compare to the competition, your unique selling proposition).”

Alyssa Dver went further, offering excellent advice on the actual verbal communication of the positioning message / unique selling proposition. I have found Alyssa’s attention-commanding “flag and flank” strategy very useful during live presentations with large audiences:

Product Managers should also be ready to interject ‘quotables’ – statistics, reference stories, etc. – designed to validate the product message. One especially effective speaking tactic Alyssa Dver recommended to command attention to such quotables is that of “flag and flank.” First, “flag” to your audience that you are about to say something very important (“What I’m about to say is the most important fact about XYZ product”). Follow this by the message you want noticed, and “flank” that message with a concluding comment (“I hope you understand; that is really an important fact”).

You can read my BPMA e-newsletter article on Alyssa Dver’s presentation here .

And one of the best-attended BPMA meetings in recent years featured SolidWorks founder Jon Hirschtick and his presentation entitled Billion Dollar Business Plans…

 Jon Hirschtick discussed his lessons learned on markets and buying, market risks, product positioning, product design and business plans themselves. These lessons led Jon Hirschtick to go from his first product effort, DesignView, with total sales of $1 million to SolidWorks, which has tallied well over $1 billion in cumulative revenue.

Developing an effective positioning message was a keystone of Jon Hirschtick’s presentation:

Jon shared clear and direct advice on getting product positioning right, including focusing on a strong position statement using this suggested template:

“For (target customers) who (have the following problem), my product (name) is a (product category) that provides (key capabilities). Unlike (reference competitor), our product (key point of differentiation).”

For SolidWorks, Jon said, the positioning statement was: “For engineers who need to move to 3D CAD, Solid Works is a 3D CAD system that costs only $4K, unlike Pro/Engineer, ours is an easy to use windows program.” Definitely a very solid elevator pitch, and the elevator has not yet reached the second floor!

Here too, you can read my BPMA e-newsletter write up of Jon Hirschtick’s Billion Dollar Business Plans here .

These are two resources I go back to again and again when developing effective product positioning statements for collateral, presentations and webcasts. I hope you find them useful too.

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