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Velocity White Paper

Riding the Hype Cycle

The role of marketing in each stage of Gartner’s Hype Cycle

Doug KesslerContactinfo@velocitypartners.co.uk We’ve always been mildly allergic to the reductivematrices, models and quadrants peddled by theanalysts, but we’ve come to recognise a ring of truth totheGartner Hype Cycle. The Hype Cycle maps a curvethat describes the way new technologies becomeadopted by the marketplace over time.Few companies actually ride the entire curve. Rather,the curve describes the trajectory of a

technology

.Companies tend to enter and fall off the curve as timepasses. Only the biggest (with the deepest pockets andthe most diversified product portfolio) usually ride theentire length.Gartner has named the five parts of the curve andidentified the dynamics specific to each segment or‘phase’.

Over the years, we’ve worked with companiescompeting in each of these five phases. And we’velearned that the way you market needs to changedepending on where you are on the Hype Cycle.Here’s what we mean (Gartner’s own description is inbold, ours in normal text): The five phases1. "Technology Trigger" The breakthrough, product launch or other event thatgenerates significant press and interest.Very few new products or new companies are luckyenough (or visionary enough) to launch a new HypeCurve. But when Venus aligns with Mars and you findyourself associated with the Next Big Thing, it’s good totake a view on the roller-coaster ahead. The marketing challenge during the Trigger stage is not just to get on the map, but to draw the map. To stakeout the terrain for the market in way that favours you.For CRM to be born, Siebel had to create and sellthe vision.

For ERP to take hold, SAP had to evangelise the hellout of it.Our client, Magus, is pioneering Website QualityMonitoring by defining the web quality landscapeand showing how monitoring is the missing (butessential) piece. This is pure thought leadership. To win, you need tobecome a firehose of content: white papers, conferencespeeches, Powerpoint mountains, analyst briefings,interviews, brochures, websites and microsites, videos,case studies… everything you’ve got.And it all has to pound away on a very simple story: thisis the problem; this is why it can’t be solved with thecurrent approaches; this is how we solve it; this is whatit’s called; this is why we’re perfectly placed to seize thisopportunity.During this stage, you need your vision and your story towin. You also need to your

language

to win. In newmarkets, nothing has a name yet. If you’re there early,you need your names to be adopted by the industry. This means trademarking the proprietary technologiesand products that you need to own but also creatingsome terms that you’re happy to release to the market(like CRM or ERP) – making sure that your name iswelded to this new generic term.2. "Peak of Inflated Expectations"In which a frenzy of publicity typically generates over-enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations. There may besome successful applications of a technology, but thereare typically more failures.As the market ascends to this peak, it’s important tobalance your bold, exciting vision with practical, realisticsolutions that can be bought into right away.By all means, paint the pretty pictures of the futureyou’re helping bring about, but don’t forget: every visionhas an equal and opposite reaction. Keep yourmarketing feet on the ground and sell your tacticalsolutions alongside your big story. The first big wins for CRM were really just providing

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Marketing Through Gartner's Hype Cycle - stage by stage

Gartner has identified five stages of its famous Hype Cycle. Here's how to change the way you market for each stage of the hype cycle you're in.

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Category:	Business/Law > Marketing
Rating:	(1 Rating)
Upload Date:	03/03/2009
Copyright:	Attribution Non-commercial
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