Technology marketing - differences and similarities

The principles of marketing are entirely applicable to technology-intensive products and services, including innovative ones. Nonetheless technology markets tend to be volatile, marketing decisions can be particularly complex, and there are aspects to the technology marketplace that can seem counter-intuitive.

Models and frameworks can be helpful for making sense of the complexity. In 2004, Uslay, Malhotra & Citrin put together a useful conceptual framework for the marketing of technology-oriented products.

Interestingly it uses the traditional 4 Ps of product, place, price and promotion, but applies them to the technology marketing setting.

Geoffrey Moore's well-known work "Crossing the Chasm" offers a number of valuable ideas for any technology business. Another very useful perspective on technology marketing from John, Weiss & Dutta in 1999 identifies a number of issues specific to technology marketing, including tradability problems, externalities as positive spillover rather than negative, network compatibility, and the role of expectations of the pace, scale and uncertainty with which a technology will develop.

Of course, models need to be applied intelligently, with an awareness of the specific circumstances of an individual technology company. Nonetheless this kind of structured and systematic marketing thinking can help enormously in dealing with the strategic challenges that any business faces in taking an innovative product to market successfully.

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