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David Wilson
Wilson’s world
David Wilson is editor of Engineeringtalk and Electronicstalk and associate editor of The Engineer
Nothing without marketing
Just months before he was due to graduate with a masters degree in electronic engineering and computer science, the young student paid his old father a visit.
During the course of their conversation, it became apparent that he was bursting with bright ideas about the uses to which he would put his engineering degree. One of his schemes involved starting up a company to develop new software in the image-processing field — software that, he believed, would play an important role in the medical diagnostic field.
Apart from his obvious passion to create a new business rather than simply find employment with an existing one, he had also had some initial conversations with the university careers officer, during which he had been informed of the support that he might be able to get from the local business incubation centre.
But that, sadly, was as far as he had taken his plan. And, during the long exchange with his father, it became obvious that the young engineering student had done very little actual research into the potential marketplace for his new product ideas.
That’s right. Not only was he unaware of potential competitors that might be developing similar products, he was also oblivious to the actual size of the market itself and the potential revenues that his new software products might bring.
Being a wise old man, his father suggested to him that, before embarking on starting up a company without carefully having researched the market, he should form an alliance with another young graduate that had a degree in business studies and marketing. This person, he said, would be able to study the field thoroughly and develop a sound business plan for his son’s new company.
Taking his father’s words to heart, the son returned to university where he struck up a relationship with an equally enthusiastic young woman from the school of business studies with whom he shared his ideas.
Impressed by the young engineer’s fervour for developing innovative new products, the woman from the world of marketing carefully set about identifying whether there was a market niche for the engineer’s new product ideas, the number of potential customers and how much revenue a new company could expect to earn from them.
With months of marketing groundwork completed, it became apparent that there was indeed some merit to the young engineer’s thoughts and so the two partners set about starting a small company at the incubation centre to exploit their potential.
Now I’m pleased to say that, through their close working relationship, the two partners have built a small business between them. And while they may never be as big as Microsoft, their company is, nonetheless, successful enough to provide them both with modest salaries.
All because the young engineer was smart enough to have taken heed of his father’s advice all those years ago when he told him that the brightest ideas in the world aren’t worth a hill of beans unless there’s a market out there for them.
David Wilson
The Wilson’s world blog also forms part of the Engineeringtalk, Electronicstalk and Manufacturingtalk newsletters. To subscribe, go here for Engineeringtalk, here for Electronicstalk and here for Manufacturingtalk
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Readers' comments (13)
Rob Hill | 17 Mar 2011 11:23 am
You have identified a weakness (not really a weakness as such but you will see what I mean) of engineers in general. We get a buzz out of solving problems. Having come up with a solution it is more exciting to solve the next problem than to exploit the solution to the first. In your example the engineer was well advised to team up with someone who got their personal buzz, not from finding solutions to problems, but from the commercial exploitation of the solutions.
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Anonymous | 17 Mar 2011 11:36 am
Ideas are worth a great deal but if you want commercial worth then yes, you absolutely need marketing. As a marketer it's very frustrating to talk to good companies complaining about lack business then being told that their marketing budget is zero- what did they expect?
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HJ | 17 Mar 2011 11:46 am
An excellent article.
I have both an electronics degree and have a postgrad diploma in marketing strategy and endorse every word.
It is nice to see recognition that marketing is about how to align your efforts to address market needs and not just assumed to be something to do with advertising (which is but a small part of marketing).
When working with engineers, many tend to be a bit rude (albeit in a friendly fashion) to marketers asking (sceptically) "what do you do?". My reply is always simple: "I'm here to make sure that your time and efforts aren't wasted".
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Geoff Revill | 17 Mar 2011 11:55 am
sooo true....both the article and Rob's comment.
While the 'gut' feel of many engineers can often be correct regarding the value of their idea and its market potential - its almost certain to fail to get to market without first clarifying all the points made in this article.
However therein lies the problem - most engineers won't 'pay' (either by hiring someone or by paying a consultant) to validate their idea. At least not until its too late - i.e. when the initial money has run out - hence marketing gets relegated all too often to simple PR + sales brute force to 'pull us out of the mire'...and while the company may survive it never really reaches its full potential in the market.
A scene I have witnessed too often in the UK as a marketing consultant - which is why the majority of my clients are in the USA - more of them seem to have learnt this lesson.
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Ian Thain | 17 Mar 2011 12:03 pm
Yes, I have long thought that "Sales Engineer" is a contradiction in terms. Engineers get their buzz from technical elegance; salesmen get their buzz from cracking a new customer, particularly if that customer is known to eat salesmen for breakfast. In the UK the two roles are almost never found in the same individual. An engineer will happily talk all day about his pet product to a potential customer - then leave without getting an order and still think his day has been well spent!
The preparation of business plans should be an essential part of every engineering degree course.
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Russ | 17 Mar 2011 12:28 pm
I can't agree more! Having started a company after working for a major multi-national.
I fell into exactly this trap. I realised how good the products & solutions I found for my client were but had absolutely no skill in selling them.
I've now realised this mistake and am trying to find solutions. This is something everyone technical must realise.
Marketers please apply within!
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Dave Bethell | 17 Mar 2011 2:23 pm
Yes, a sensibly argued point, but there is a of course a flip-side ...
... what of companies that make a virtue out of marketing products which are the sad victory of 'style' over substance, or just of atrocious quality or practicality ..?
And of course any Sales / Marketing type involved in products with even the slightest techincal subtlety will need experienced and competent engineering back-up to match the widget to the application ... or even to design the widgets in the first place !!!
Mind you, it is probably the bean-conters who have the ultimate overall control ... discuss.
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Anonymous | 17 Mar 2011 11:07 pm
There is a place for marketing and it is important. That said, I heavily endorse the comment about pushing dubious products onto customers. The one thing that stood out to me in the article and which I think happens too often in reality is that the marketing person appears (from what was written) to have got 50% of the company that was founded on the engineer's innovative ideas. The marketing was essential to start the business and needs to continue during operation, but its role is no where near 50% of the business.
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Jim Daniels | 17 Mar 2011 11:14 pm
In my many years of technical sales and marketing I have met many engineers. I have generally found good or great engineers do not make good salespersons. I have also met many graduate engineers who made great sales people, but most really were not great engineers.
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Anonymous | 21 Mar 2011 10:25 am
I am beginning to think that society today requires every skilled or professional person to be a jack of all trades and master of none! Yes I agree, obviously having a great idea or device, gadget or whatever is useless unless there is a market for it, but still the engineer does their bit and marketing do their bit. All the engineer needs, really, is to know that there is a requirement for a business plan and marketing strategy. So put it to the business development department or as in the editorial, team up with another professional!
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