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The White Paper is an opportunity to present a relatively long message to your potential customers. When you offer a White Paper, you're telling the customer that here is an in-depth view of your product or technology that will help the customer in the decision process.
Unfortunately, most White Papers fail. We see considerable evidence of this in responses to our reseller surveys. The problem with the typical White Paper is that it is either a sales document or it's an engineering document. What the customer is looking for is something between these two extremes. Like an engineering document the White Paper should have substance, but it should also have a solid point of view. Your company builds products to answer a need in the marketplace. The reader of the White Paper should clearly understand who the product is for and how it answers the need. Beyond that, the White Paper can provide a variety of decision tools to the customer. These may include such sections as cost analyses, design alternatives, and applications. A good White Paper takes the customer from problem definition to an installed and operating solution that the customer can visualize. Let Michael Durr & Associates discuss your White Paper requirements with you. |
The marketing research conducted by Michael Durr & Associates is designed to offer unique marketing insights. We are able to blend our marketing expertise with a firm background in technology to provide practical information necessary for reaching your market. Marketing research is substantially different from market research. Market research defines the market, while marketing research defines how to reach that market. As marketing consultants, we not only know what to ask, but how it can be used. Our background in technology and in the computer industry allow us to better communicate with the users and resellers that we interview. Our surveys are based on a semi-structured questionnaire that includes both open ended and closed ended questions. From closed ended questions we build profiles of the target consumer. Open ended questions allow respondents to tell us what is important to them. In this way, we allow the respondents to state their issues. Our qualitative surveys also work in combination with large quantitative surveys. The quantitative information indicates the size of the market. The qualitative information in our surveys lets you build profiles of the market in such areas as awareness, interest, readiness to purchase, purchase criteria, and hot button issues. | |
An analysis of the competition is extremely important when positioning our client's products. Competitive Analysis examines the features and benefits of competing products, along with their positioning in the marketplace. | |
Differentiating your product from the competition and defining its market segment is imperative to successful sales. Michael Durr & Associates conducts product evaluations from a marketing perspective. By evaluating the functions and features of your product, we can successfully differentiate your product from the competition, and thereby demonstrate its business value. This allows us to create a stronger marketing concept for the product. | |
A great marketing plan always initiates within the company and reflects the company's goals and beliefs. It cannot be effectively developed solely by an outside source. Michael Durr & Associates will analyze your current marketing plan and make recommendations - or if need be, we will work with you to develop the total plan. Michael Durr & Associates follows one primary rule in marketing plans. There is no Plan B – there is only Plan A. The reasons are twofold:
By not having to go to Plan B, there are tremendous savings. Sometimes, the process of dropping one marketing direction to set a new course can be fatal. But it's always expensive. A marketing plan should be a living and breathing document. It is a tool. You use it to coordinate and organize your whole marketing program. It gives you guidelines to follow. | |
Michael Durr & Associates conducts interactive product marketing seminars. These seminars are customized to individual client needs and encourage the input from members of the client's marketing team. They provide a chance to bring your organization to a consensus on the marketing approach. We begin seminars with a presentation. Some of the topics discussed will the importance of vision, use of research, consumer buying patterns, and how to tailor your marketing program to coincide with buying patterns. A workshop session is held to develop programs that can actually be implemented. This workshop is an opportunity to reinforce the ideas already discussed. A Q&A session allows Michael Durr & Associates to address real issues that are of current concern to the company and to the attendees. | |
A one-day seminar on Focused Marketing will provide your organization with a better understanding of marketing through a unified approach. Focused Marketing is Michael Durr & Associates' approach to building a unified program. Focused Marketing has three points: one, define realistic marketing objectives; two, focus all of the company's resources on accomplishing those objectives; and three, ensure that the necessary programs are in place to achieve those objectives. In this interactive seminar, your organization will learn the steps involved in implementing the Focused Marketing approach. Each stakeholder will be coached in how to focus their actions on the ultimate objective. | |
 (Click here for ordering information) | Michael Durr & Associates publishes several industry reports annually. These reports and surveys on specific technologies are published by Electronic Trend Publications and currently available from Michael Durr & Associates:
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