A week or so ago I was listening to an interview on Inside the Net with a founder of a new web company. They’ve had a fair amount of attention, leading to early signs of business success. But during the interview this guy said something surprising – he said that they had gotten quite a bit of attention and buzz without ever doing any marketing. What he missed was that he was not only doing marketing at that very moment, but he was doing the most important kind of marketing. The world of marketing for software has changed so fundamentally that sometimes people in the middle of that transformation don’t even realize the new forms it has taken.

It used to be that marketing of technology was similar to marketing of many other products. First a press release, sometimes with a press tour, followed by a mix of trade shows, advertising, brochures and direct mail. With the advent of the Internet, e-mail marketing began to supplant direct mail. Then web sites replaced brochures. Now we have blogs, which expand on web site content to allow an editorial voice. Blogs have had a powerful effect on so-called viral marketing (which is just a fancy term for good word-of-mouth marketing).

All of these changes have had a profound impact on how people make technology buying decisions. That’s the first thing to understand, that end user purchasing behavior has changed. From there, work backwards to determine how buyers are influenced. How are they using the web? Perhaps the most common way starts with a Google/Yahoo/Ask/MSN/… search. As a result, search engine strategy has grown in a few short years to be a critical component of all technology vendors.

Another strong influencer is the opinions of people that buyers respect. Starting with Amazon and eBay ratings systems, the web has built up ways for people to form strong trust relationships with others they have never met. That’s what makes blogging so influential. It’s one person taking the time to express their opinion. Over time, the market votes, and interesting, credible blogs are linked to more often. Once a reputation is built, there’s a strong incentive on the part of the blogger to maintain that reputation. If they do, their influence increases, often at a dramatic pace. The result is that blogging has become a dominant influencer for technology buyers. That’s true of traditional media blogs, individual bloggers and, increasingly, corporate bloggers. For an example of corporate blogging, check out HP’s approach on IT Conversations. The same effect will happen more and more with podcasting, though I don’t think it will ever match blogging in influence on technology buyers because podcasting requires more production effort, and is less convenient to consume.

As e-mail, blogging, podcasting and other forms of Internet marketing gain in influence, traditional forms of marketing decline. That’s why there are many fewer technology publications today than in the 90’s, and many ad agencies have gone out of business.

Technology buyers have permanently changed their approach to purchasing. In response, marketing hasn’t gone away – it has adapted and it is as important as ever. Those companies that evolve their marketing will prosper. Those that stay in the old world will founder. From our sponsorship of WGBH’s popular Morning Stories podcast to an increasing number of blogs (see http://blogs.ipswitch.com), we are committed to presenting information about our products to customers where, how and when it will be most useful.

Posted by Roger Greene
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