This is a difficult topic, and I know there are many sides to this argument, but here goes. MS is spending big on marketing in a saturated market. This approach is similar to other industry sectors like FMCGFast moving Consumer Goods. But it’s worse for I.T., because it’s not like reselling the same box of cereal with a different wrapper or a free movie ticket/DVD, or using different colours for the same feminine hygiene product, (they advertise non-stop in Australia, like they need to remind all of us in case we forget, uugh). I.T is not like fashion where the same fashion can re-appear 10 or, (in the case of my dress sense), 20 years later and be able to recycle it. I.T. comes and then it’s gone (or do you just re-wrap it with some more frills ?).

Compelling Reason to Buy.
You have to demonstrate a compelling reason to the consumer to get them to buy it. And there’s the rub, what is the compelling reason ? Do you need to go to Vista ? Do you need to go to Exchange 12 ? Do you need Notes/Domino 7 ? If the product addresses problems (either self-inflicted or not), then it should be able to sell itself without zillions of bucks of advertising and wenches at the trade shows, (just having the wenches is good enough reason to have a tech-show <- guffaw->). Technical/articulate people see through this advertising instantly.

There are other issues relating to re-licensing software. For instance, if the version you licensed and upgraded too was a disaster, (remember R4.1), you would be forced to commit to the upgrade. So for the vendor it’s risky, because you have violated the trust and it can be either an easy sell or you lose the client.

Software Feature “Zenith” and diminishing returns.
I had installed AcdSee 7.x a while back and then they want me to buy it after a trial. So what did I do ? Given that I only need it to view pictures, I un-installed it and went found ACDsee 3 from a few years ago, loaded it up and forgot about it, I get that annoying message once in a while, but it works well enough.

Once you have reached the software feature “zenith”, then you have to invest heavily in marketing and advertising to create the desire to purchase. I think that the degree of advertising is an indication about the level of diminishing returns. As much as I would wish IBM/Lotus to invest more actively in promoting Domino 7 and Hannover regionally, it’s kind of “less is more”.

LCTYLotusphere Comes To You and Orlando’s budget would leave you with a lot of change for $500M. The products are now becoming quite mature and so the degree of advertising and promotion is a lot more conservative. Is this an indication that the product sells itself ? I would say yes.

Quality products is marketing in itself.
I know there are people who detest Lotus Notes for various UI reasons, but looking at the underlying technology, it has only increased in stability, reliability, and integration. This demonstratable quality already wins people over in our industry. Building that trust with your clients is critical. It removes those doubts about reliability, usability and value.

The marketing for Lotus was done before the first brochure was printed. It started years ago in the software development teams. “Build it [well, fulfill their needs,] and they will come” anyway.