Hockey, Marketing and Startups - Discuss

Tip number 3 from Mark Suster's tips for marketing a startup. Applies to big companies as well:

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3. Market Today’s Puck, Not Where It’s Going – I often tell startups to “skate where the puck is going” as a metaphor for not just copying what every other company is doing today but to think about where the future lies and planning for that now.

But it is a big mistake to tell too many people where you’re heading. I call this “marketing futures.” Marketing futures can be really good for enterprise software companies where the information is passed between sales rep and potential customer in terms of near-term roadmap. The buying cycles are often 3-6 months so you want to put your best future foot forward. But don’t let this information get out into the general press and don’t market more than a few months out.

For early-stage consumer companies I would be careful not to market futures at all.

We all know that much of early-stage technology startup success comes from execution and often what you’re working on today will be rolled out more seriously over the next several months. So I recommend that companies talk in detail about the puck at their feet but avoid talking about where the puck is going. While all your competitors are trying to copy your model, you’re already on to the next thing on your engineering team.

Nobody seems more disciplined at this tight-lipped future marketing than Apple and you can see how it has served them.

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Couldn't agree with Mark more. There's actually a field of behavioral research (sort of) focused on this type of marketing futures. It even has a name: the Osborne Effect. One of the reasons we have seen the iPad dominate the healthcare market is because almost as soon as you knew about it, you could buy it. That isn't always the case with device product launches. We'll mention on earnings calls that we have exciting new technologies in development and broadcast to the world what they are 3-5 years before anyone can actually touch them. This robs the salesforce of the necessary focus on what's available today. Consumer retail and start ups have a lot of perspective to offer on the power of an actual product launch, distinguished from an eventual product roll out on a technology announced years back. Food for thought as you consider your market development and product launch planning efforts.

Wireless iPad Presentations on the Horizon

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/17/ios-5-airplay-mirroring-demo-brings-games-and-more-to-the-big-sc/

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Infuse to Sponsor 1st Annual Digital Marketing for Medical Device Conference

The world's most innovative medical device marketers are gathering to the Twin Cities this week for the inagural Digital Marketing for Medical Devices conference. Held at the Millenium Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, the event will span three days and identify current trends and best practices in social media, mobile strategy, lead generation, patient community development, digital asset management, salesforce automation and more. Marketing leaders from across the country are expected to represent that majority of major medical device manufacturers across a wide variety of specialities. As our industry continues to progress and innovate, this conference represents an important milestone in solidifying the value of digital solutions to medical device training, marketing and education challenges. 

Sponsoring the event is a who's who of top healthcare agencies. Infuse Medical's Strategic Account Manager Asher Cameron will present his remarks Tuesday afternoon around the transition from traditional product launches to the new paradigm of digital product launches. Please join us at Digital Marketing for Medical Devices 1.0 starting tomorrow at the Millenium Hotel on Nicollet Mall. 

Interface Design and the Importance of Context

There was a great yellow pages billboard campaign that I remember from a number of years ago. The billboards were physically manipulated and had a single word. My favorite was the sign that had been removed from it's posting and said simply, "Cranes" with the Yellowbook logo in much smaller type.

I saw something today that reminded me of this campaign and a phrase that has stuck with me from the Bauhaus - context before absolutely everything. That means that when we design a thing, we must first take into account how, where and by whom that thing will find its use. I saw a great example of this using the context of the new smart cover. To me this app represents the epitome of great design, taking a physical object into context and designing digital experiences around that:

The Evernote Peek app uses the physical context of the smart cover to create a very clever flipbook game:

The next time you are considering working on a campaign, interactive or mobile, start with the context of who is using, where are they using and how are they using it. This will get you so much closer to a targeted creative solution right out of the gate.

Distributed Control and Medical Education

Fascinating interview with James Currier of Medpedia on the possibilites for medical education through disintermediated technologies: