Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
12/01/2015

Looking For Rising Stars?

News Image
With HD, 3D and 4K all arriving in the space of a few years, it is interesting trying to guess which technologies will become mainstream. This led me to reflect on how we market a product at the early stages of its life cycle, and the classic Boston Consulting Group model provides a good framework to look at this. By industry and PR guru Anna Wood.

With the BCG model, an embryonic or new born product is sometimes called a 'problem child'. It needs nurturing and investment in development, and careful marketing to bring it to the customers' attention. In reality, many businesses begin marketing before the product is complete – especially when the sales cycle is going to be a slow one.

In marketing terms, if the product is a true breakthrough technology, there will be media interest in it and plenty of curiosity from the market, but it may be challenging to convince the market that the innovation is indeed a viable solution, and that it has a business application. The product – and how it works – may not be understood at this stage and it may seem that nobody wants to buy it. So marketing the problem child is about winning confidence and credibility. People use educational pieces to explain their technology, without giving away IP of course, but saying enough to gain understanding and acceptance.

If the new product succeeds, the problem child may become a 'rising star'. This is a product which is new, exciting, answers a need and sells at a premium price. If the developers have judged it correctly, and if the market potential is there, sales and market share will grow fast – and the product will become soon become very profitable. If the product is based on emerging technologies, it may not have very much competition for a while, so there is great potential for growth. The challenge for the marketing managers will be to get the message out to the marketplace as fast as possible, and to find the first few customer success stories and use these to build sales momentum.

Rising stars turn into 'cash cows' when they become established and sales continue to roll in. However, by this stage in their life cycle, most products have competitors, which will be vying for market share. This means that the new challenges for marketing will revolve around building a trusted brand, differentiating the specific features of this product, and holding a position in a competitive market.

It is likely that the manufacturer will be spending its marketing pounds and dollars on branding and advertising, and it is during this period that the product should repay the investments made in the early days. Good marketing strategies might be to use CRM to address the market systematically, hire a professional sales force and start to grow maintenance income.

Markets never remain the same for very long, and cash cows do not last for ever. After some time, the market becomes saturated, or another rising star appears which starts to grab market share.

At this stage, the BCG called the product a 'dog' (I guess they were not dog lovers). The product is becoming a little tired and it may be getting quite costly to maintain it and keep long-standing customers happy. Perhaps this is time for the entrepreneur to move on, or maybe look at tailoring the product to fit into new niche markets. It tends to be at this stage that market prices decline, and companies respond by cost-cutting – which no manufacturer really wants to do.

Some technology products seem to die, but not all. Some, like Betamax for consumers, become outdated and are superseded in the main – and some seem to remain with us for ever and simply become part of the everyday landscape – as we have seen with WiFi or mobile phone SIM cards – they have become so ordinary, and so inexpensive, that no one remarks upon them anymore.

For a business to remain balanced and healthy, it should always have a portfolio of products at different stages in their life cycle, and there should always be one or two problem children. They may not all go on to become rising stars – but it is from these small beginnings that future business will grow.

Anna Wood works with small-to-medium technology companies on short and long term PR and Marketing projects, and specialises in the broadcast sector.

The article is also available to read in BFV online.

(IT/JP)
Solidmate Ltd Memory Card Hire London

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

22/02/2024
TSG Launches New Georgia Copper Product Line
Technical Services Group (TSG), a leading broadcast engineering and commercial AV solutions provider, has announced the full integration of Georgia Co
11/12/2023
Hiltron Announces New Addition To Its Product Range
Hiltron Communications has announced a new addition to its product range with the introduction of the Drive-Away transportable satellite link. Designe
27/05/2003
MediaMatch UK announce Film Finance Market and Co-production Market
MediaMatch UK is offering independent filmmakers the chance to attend the highly successful ProductionMatch International Film Business Summit and new
11/08/2023
Hiltron To Display Latest Additions Ot Its Product Range At IBC 2023
Hiltron Communications is to promote the latest additions to its product range on stand 1.D50 at IBC 2023, Amsterdam, September 14th-17th. Making its
15/03/2023
MRMC To Display Largest-Ever Product Line-Up At NAB 2023
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC), a Nikon company, is to present its largest-ever product lineup at NAB 2023. The company will use the event as the
14/03/2023
Visix Adds Digital Designs To Its epaper Product Line
Visix has added digital desk signs to its epaper line of products to further support hybrid workplaces. The new EPS 42 epaper desk sign is small, ligh
02/03/2023
Telestream To Unveil New Product Innovations At NAB 2023
At NAB 2023, on booth W1501, Telestream® will unveil new product innovations to streamline the creation and production, distribution and monetization
17/10/2005
Digigram technology brings new RAMI product to market in record time
RAMI, a French manufacturer of professional audio devices for broadcast and industrial environments, has signed an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture
07/03/2024
Ross Video To Display Latest Product Innovations At 2024 NAB Show
Ross Video has announced its plans for the 2024 NAB Show, taking place April 14-16 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. With a major presence at the ev
01/03/2024
Interra Systems To Display Product Innovations At 2024 NAB Show
At the 2024 NAB Show, Interra Systems is to showcase its cutting-edge product innovations designed to deliver end-to-end quality assurance for the dyn
09/10/2023
ARRI Appoints VP Product Management Business Unit Lighting
Michael Huelskemper has joined ARRI as Vice President Product Management Business Unit Lighting. In this role, he is responsible for further developin
03/10/2023
Clear-Com Appoints New Product Manager
Clear-Com® has appointed Terence Chan as its newest Product Manager, based out of the company's Cambridge, UK office. Terence will be responsible for
28/04/2023
Black Box Wins 2023 NAB Show Product Of The Year Award
Black Box has announced that its Emerald® DESKVUE is a winner in the 2023 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards, Hardware Infrastructure category. This
28/04/2023
Brompton Technology's Tessera G1 Receiver Card Wins Product Of The Year Award
Brompton Technology has announced its ground-breaking Tessera G1 receiver card has won the coveted Product of the Year Award, following a live awards
28/04/2023
Perifery AI+ Scoops NAB Show Product Of The Year Award
Perifery, a division of DataCore, announced that its groundbreaking new Perifery AI+, a set of application-centric services for content production wor