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Where is Your company on the spectrum of product-first versus problem-first?

The electronics industry (like many others) has an unfortunate tendency to make marketing much more complicated than it should be. In response, I’d like to offer a simple solution.

In October 2019, I presented at the Electronics Components Industry Association (ECIA) Executive Conference in Chicago. My presentation took a closer look at two of the most prevalent methods companies in the electronics industry use to build their business. View part one of the full presentation below!

Some companies rely almost solely on New Product Initiatives (NPI) and product messages, while others take a different approach of putting their customers’ design problems first, leading their messaging and marketing with an idea of “problem-first, product-second.”

It’s a simple idea, but surprisingly, many companies struggle to adopt it.  As you watch the video, think about your component company’s marketing plan and ask yourself: is it based primarily on your NPI schedule? Or is it based more on solving the types of problems that your clients encounter? Most likely, you fall somewhere in between, but where?

In this presentation, I cover how your company can address the struggle, re-think your culture, build the right team, produce the right content, and why it is so important to grasp all this in 2020.

One reason is, for example, the way voice search is changing the way we search; platforms like Alexa, Siri, and Cortana are encouraging us to ask full questions, not just to enter search terms. And the questions we ask of these platforms are in fact problems that we are asking them to solve.

Therefore, if you want these new search engines to find your company in the future, your content will need to be problem-solving content and not just product content.

Watch below for more!

This video is one part of a series of five. Watch the full, 45-minute presentation here.