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Marketing to Engineers via text

Marketing to Engineers via text

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

I would have to agree with you Amorrison.  This is what I don't believe

Quote:

1) Engineers look down on advertising and advertising people, for the most part. Engineers have a low opinion of advertising - and of people whose job it is to create advertising.

I see marketing as tool to close the loop on the entire business/design process.  There are two important items a successful company possesses good products and the list of people (companies) that buy them.  Both of which require engineering and marketing to play harmoniously in the sandbox.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 2.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1400
      o
  _`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea"  Bernard-Paul Heroux
 

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

amorrison4,

I also agree with the article other than the same section as Heckler.

Marketing like everything else that we use day to day is a tool to getting a job done, mainly selling our finished product.  We as engineers understand that there is a correct tool for every job and that has to include all facets of a business that wants to sell its goods.

Thanks for the great link.  You received a star from me for it.



Alan M. Etzkorn  
Project Develpment Engineer
Wabash National Corp.
www.wabashnational.com

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Joe Salesman stops by to show me his Brand X widgets.  I already have catalogs on my shelves from widget Brands A through W.  He has a hard sell.  Maybe Brand X has a bell or a whistle that I happen to need.  If he fills an immediate need, then he has my attention, and I will probably try it.

Few engineers I know design around the bells and whistles, but around basic functionality.  Price is not always an issue for the design engineer, but he may be driven by the client's interest in keeping the cost down.

I don't brush Joe Salesman off, because who knows when I may need his help.

Most people who are stereotypically "good at sales" are the kind of people that rub me the wrong way--the buddy-buddy, backslapping type.  Many salesmen become smooth or unctuous because they have to appear pleasing to the customer.  I don't envy anyone in sales, but sales makes the commercial/ industrial world go around.

William

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

I think the article is straight stereotype.
The author doesn't know why we are like this.

I read. I might look at the pictures or the "glitz". But, I read the text and specs. That is what I do. That is why I have this job. I read and understand what I am reading.
I can apply what I have just read to applications. I understand requirements. I understand bells & whistles will help sell the product. I understand the cost of components affects the selling price.

I read...I understand. (If I don't understand, I come here. Hehehe)

If a salesman comes to me spouting "jargon", but obviously doesn't understand what he just said, I will still look at what he is offering. You never know, you might find a gem being presented in a rough box. Being a salesman isn't easy. I couldn't do it. I'm not "your buddy".

I like packaging and "Glitz". I like the "Wow" factor. But I need to know if the product will meet my needs, not just that it is the next "NEW" thing to come along.

I sure don't think much of the article. However, it came from a marketing point of view. Maybe they really do see us this way. Oh well, not everyone has a 2 second attention span and can't read past the 6 grade level. I'm sure it is hard writing copy for the Engineering Professional. Sorry.

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Rerig:  no need to apologize.

I spoke yesterday to a colleague whose daughter (just graduated from high school) was trying to decide between engineering and advertising.  What a choice--truth or deception.

OK, perhaps it's not so much deception as manipulation.  I guess that's where I draw a subconscious line between advertising and marketing.  In my layman's understanding, advertising is trying to create a need for something; marketing is increasing the potential customer's awareness of a particular brand or provider.  All of them put the best possible face on things.

William

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Perhaps we need to break this down into different areas where Engineers are the marketing target. This is just my take on this:

At work - We've all got the internet so defining and locating a product is easy. However, companies still insist on sending you to a distributor or 'rep' for price and sales. This wastes time, especially during preliminary research. Then you get the 'rep' who leaves voicemail like "This is Morty from Woozangle Products. Call me at 1-201-555-4???." which you can't understand because he talks so fast. Sorry dude, I don't do toll calls to idiots. Another company just got the business.

Publication ads with pictures and a useful 'tech' headline get my attention. Foo-Foo or stupid a** ads get ignored. Now if a magazine circulation department hires some offshore company to telemarket me to "renew your free subscription" they lose me as a subscriber on the spot. AND - my eye color, month of birth, etc., are NONE of your business.

Any Saleserson needs to show the product quickly and completely, including a price, and answer most tech questions with having to call the engineers at the factory. Don't waste my time asking about what my company does or what I do unless it's germane to the product - have that research done first.

On site presentations - Occasionally we get a bunch of corporate types with the dog and pony show on powerpoint.
3 words: "No Geek Slides" meaning I don't want to see pictures of your buildings, staff or pie charts on how big a player you think you are. Show us the tech stuff on the widget you think we can't live without. Extra points for doing this while we eat the lunch you supplied.

Not at work.....
Screaming TV/radio ads or those with whining children will lose me as a customer.  Those of us with an IQ greater than our belt size don't need that.



"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Sprintcar,
It looks to me like you've described yourself almost exactly like the article described all of us.  The article was intended to be a primer for marketing types to learn how to sell into the trillions of dollars of capital we control.  I think it was a bit simplistic for a prize that size, but it wasn't far from the mark that I see.

The way I read the article, the author is saying "tell the truth, tell it straight, include the tech specs and present them in a way that a technical person expects to see them".  When I'm working on sourcing materials for a project that is exactly what I want.  

Nothing turns me off quicker than a glitz add that I can't identify the product or service within 3 seconds.  The stereotype in the article looks back at me every time I shave.

David

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Be sure that Madison Avenue knows you and what makes you do what you do.  You can deride or curse or pretend to ignore an ad, but you will still buy the thing, even if you don't know what the ad is for.  Pretty scary, eh?

William

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Bob Stone's 30 Timeless Marketing Principles that prove true better than 90 percent of the time.


1.All customers are not created equal. Give or take a few percentage points, 80% of repeat business for goods and services will come from 20% of your customer base.

2.The most important order you ever get from a customer is the second order. Why? Because a two-time buyer is at least twice as likely to buy again as a one-time buyer.

3.Maximising direct mail success depends first on the lists you use, second on the offers you make, and third on the copy and graphics you create.

4.If, on a given list, "hotline" names don't work, the other list categories offer little opportunity for success.
 
5.Merge/purge names - those that appear on two or more lists - will outpull any single list from which these names have been extracted.

6.Direct response lists will almost always outpull compiled lists.

7.Overlays on lists (enhancements) such as life-style characteristics, income, education, age, marital status, and propensity to respond by mail or by phone will always improve response.

8.A follow-up to the same list within 50 days will pull 140 - 50% of the first mailing.

9.'Yes/No" offers consistently produce more orders than offers that don't request "no" responses.

10.The "take rate" for negative-option offers will always outpull positive-option offers at least two to one.

11.Credit card privileges will outperform cash with order at least two to one.

12.Credit card privileges will increase the size of the average catalogue order by 20% or more.

13.Time limit offers, particularly those that give a specific date, outpull offers with no time limit practically every time.

14.Free gift offers, particularly where the gift appeals to self-interest, outpull discount offers consistently.

15.Sweepstakes, particularly in conjunction with impulse purchases, will increase order volume 55% or more.
 
16.You will collect far more money in a fund-raising effort if you ask for a specific amount from a purchaser. Likewise, you will collect more money if the appeal is tied to a specific project.

17.People buy benefits, not features.

18.The longer you can keep someone reading your copy, the better your chances of success.

19.The timing and frequency of renewal letters is vital. But I can report nothing but failure over a period of 40 years in attempts to hype renewals with "improved copy." I've concluded that the "product" - the magazine, for example - is the factor in making a renewal decision.
 
20.Self-mailers are cheaper to produce, but they practically never outpull envelope-enclosed letter mailings.

21.A pre-print of a forthcoming ad, accompanied by a letter and a response form, will outpull a post-print mailing package by 50% or more.
 
22.It is easier to increase the average dollar amount of an order than it is to increase percentage of response.

23.You will get far more new catalogue customers if you put your proven winners in the front pages of your catalogue.

24.Assuming items of similar appeal, you will always get a higher response rate from a 32- page catalogue than from a 24-page catalogue.

25.A new catalogue to a customer base will outpull cold lists by 400 - 800%.

26.A print ad with a bind-in card will outpull the same ad without a bind-in up to 600%.
 
27.A direct response, direct sale TV commercial of 120 seconds will outpull a 60-second direct response commercial better than two to one.

28.A TV support commercial will increase response from a newspaper insert up to 50%.

29.The closure rate from qualified leads can be from two to four times as effective as cold calls.

30.Telephone-generated leads are likely to close four to six times greater than mail-generated leads.

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

1.  I found the article to be right on the mark!

2.  If a vender asks for my advice and/or assistance is setting up a meeting with the senior Navy people,  I ALWAYS tell them:
- Bring a technical person who can discuss AND back up the claims
- If you bring a salesman,  tell them to tone down tha sales pitch and only say enough to get the technical person up-front, as the more sales-pitch BS the senior people hear, the more the WILL BE turned off with anything they are associated with.

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

The last statistic I saw stated that we are exposed (on average) to something like 400 ads per day.....

I just make it a habit to buy (when possible) what I need when it's on sale or if I have a coupon. The local grocery stores all have their little 'discount card' which -if used properly - can cut food spending by about 30%.  Now the girlfriend (and other women I've seen shopping) tend to buy Only the brand they want regardless of price.  Maybe THAT is the Madison Ave result??  

"You know you're an Engineer when you shop the Clearance rack at Wal-Mart"

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Interesting.
Most sales training courses are not specifically geared to engineering sales and the received wisdom is that in the end it is emotion that decides a sale; it suggests that many salesmen will be less effective in engineering sales as they have been provided with the wrong tools.
Engineers do like technical detail but marketing, e.g. the writing of editorials and articles, follows the guidelines of the publication.

I have written a number of such articles and usually had a battle with the publicity agency to put in technical detail which I felt instinctvely right.
Interestingly not all engineering magazines use a technical approach and many do indeed seem to be produced to a generic formula established by the publishing house which reflects the emotional rather than the technical.
Armed with this article I will let no one tell me again that I am too technical!

So in general I agree with the article.

And yes, I think sometimes engineers do not favour advertising as they might. This may not be because they do not apreciate the value of marketing but perhaps reflects that the style of marketing is not specifically aligned with engineers needs.

If you want an example of how to raise your blood pressure, try and use the cell phone manufacturers web sites to choose a new phone; if you are like me you have decided on certain features such as Tri/quad band, hand sfree with automatic answer when in headset mode or car mode, battery life and standbye time, infra-red computer synchronisation or blue tooth and so on. This is the hardest way to choose between phones because the marketeers have decided instead on a "lifestyle" approach that demands you define your level of street cred, colours options etc but does nothing to let you know about the technical features.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

A further thought: accidentally or otherwise, the character of Spock, and Vulcans in general, appears very well conceived for but I wonder if his view of Earthmen matches the generally poor view many engineers have of management?

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

jmw,

I find that quite logical.

rerig.
Live long and prosper.

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Actually - I've found the best marketing word is

                F R E E !!

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Except that they never are.  That's one that always hacks me off.  FREE implies there is not cost.  Invariably, when something advertises FREE, it really means "at no additional cost" since you pretty much always have to buy something first to get your "Free" item.

Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas

"All the world is a Spring"

All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text


'FREE' is semantically equivalent to 'Perpetual motion machine'. They can both only be currently achieved through the liberal application of smoke & mirrors. Offers of either should be viewed with deep scepticism - at least until either:
1. Entropy starts decreasing
OR
2. Human greed stops

Good Luck
johnwm
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RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

By the way, does this mean that engineers are the ones reading the small print on soup tins in the grocery store?

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Marketing to Engineers via text

Yes, and we're also the only ones who can pronounce the chemical names in the ingredients as well.

Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas

"All the world is a Spring"

All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.

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