Marketing your products is a lot like flying an airplane: It’s terribly unforgiving of error and mistakes are often fatal.
If you think that’s overly harsh, ask the product manager of New Coke if he wishes he’d gone outside the company before launching.
To address these issues, we offer the 2-phased process of a Deep Dive service and a “Blue Team” service.
A TPG Deep Dive is service developed by the TechPar Group to help clients develop and refine their go-to-market strategy for technology-based products and services. The Deep Dive is conducted by very experienced executives and consultants who are representative of potential customers, providing the opportunity to present your offer to a friendly, but critical, audience. The service is useful for both early-stage companies who want to explore the commercial viability of their products in a target market as well as mature companies who want to explore opportunities for existing products in new market segments or new products to existing markets.
The “Blue Team” service follows a Deep Dive, if warranted. A lot of executives come out of TPG Blue Teams feeling like they’ve been run over by a steamroller. That’s the point: To get run over in private by people who are on your side instead of in public when it’s too late.
The TechPar Group borrowed the term “Blue Team” from the Defense Department. During computer security exercises, Blue Teams measure effectiveness of security measures and identify security flaws in defense against Red Teams, which attempt to penetrate those defenses.
The TechPar Goup Technology Marketing Services help marketing executives of technology firms develop clear, compelling messages that will grab the hearts and minds of potential customers and thereby create demand for your products and services. Blue Teams also help product managers fine-tune their strategies.
And for investors, these services test the messages of firms they’re thinking of putting money into, helping them learn, before it’s too late, how likely these budding businesses are to fly in an unforgiving world. Better to see who salutes in private before you run it up a public flagpole.
You can’t control the weather or other airplanes. But you can at least make sure you’re not about to land with your gear up.
For details on how Blue Teams work, email Baruch Plagman.