Show prospects how
you can solve their problems.
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Think of how often traditional tech marketers focus on our products,
our technical
differentiators, our preferred channels and pricing, etc. Unlike
traditional technology marketing, solution marketing is more
focused on the customer – their business needs, their industry,
their
function, their preferred channels, their benefits, etc.
Solution
marketing is the process of defining, informing, and providing access to
complete and integrated solutions that help customers to solve their
problems and deliver value.
Solution marketing encompasses:
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Solution – Whatever it takes to
solve the customer’s problem. The solution might include your
product, as well as partners’ products, solution frameworks,
integration tools and services, strategic and technical services,
solution training, solution-level support and more.
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Information – The process of
sharing information, engaging in a 2-way dialog and educating the
market on your solution. Rather than trying to force suspects to see
your message, you’ll enable them to find information later on when
they have a real problem to solve.
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Value
– A more complete approach than competitive pricing alone.
Value takes into account the benefit that the customer will
achieve minus the total cost (TCO) of the solution.
Value = benefit – total cost. Customers are willing to pay
more for high benefit solutions, so you need to understand the
customer benefits in order to price the solution appropriately.
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Access – The ability for the customer to acquire your
solution when and how they want it. For example, software companies
might have both SaaS and on-premise offerings.
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Adapted from Dev & Schultz, 2005 |
