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Marketing Superstars
Marketing Superstars - Using Technology To Sell…
Technology
Al Conte, director of digital imaging products (and de facto director of marketing), Microtech International, North Branford
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2/21/2000
By: Michele Beck
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In high-tech marketing, a thorough and up-to-the-minute knowledge of the technology, coupled with the confidence to make quick decisions, are keys to success. So says Al Conte, who oversees marketing at Microtech International, a North Branford high-tech firm that also has offices in southern California.
In fact, Conte doesn't even have a marketing background. He has been with Microtech for ten of the company's 15 years, holding positions in sales, product management and purchasing. Before coming to Microtech, which makes peripheral devices for the digital technology aftermarket (digital film readers, digital storage devices, memory products for PCs and Macs, etc.), Conte worked in sales in the industrial electronics industry.
Despite his lack of formal training in marketing, Conte has masterminded one of Microtech's greatest marketing successes: the launch of its USB digital media reader, “USB Cameramate.”
“I looked at three things,” Conte says. “What users wanted, what resellers wanted, and how we could compete with products currently on the market.” The result was a product that was better than anything else available, with a functionality that users loved, and what one review described as a “perfect price point” - which had great appeal with resellers. The device won Digital Camera's and PC Photo's Editor's Choice Awards, and is already generating impressive monthly revenues.
How Conte marketed the USB Cameramate illustrates a principle he has found to be key in high tech marketing: He tries to find creative ways to build brand recognition. Microtech's advertising, he says, is very targeted, “not much image advertising. We may do a banner ad on Photohighway.com, but no banner ads on Yahoo.”
Still, as with any product, Conte acknowledges the importance of building overall brand recognition. One way to do this is to capitalize on smooth transitions from the existing product line. “We leveraged brand recognition from our parallel reader,” he explains. Other ways in which Conte builds brand recognition, and respect, for Microtech products include making sure the company's partnerships with Fuji, Kodak, Apple Macintosh, and other big names are well known; and advertising to the firm's distribution partners (dealers and resellers), reinforcing the brand name to them wherever possible.
Despite the importance of brand recognition, Conte has found that promoting specialized high-tech products through vertical markets is the most effective way to advertise. These include the specialist enthusiast magazines, mail-order catalogues such as those of MicroWarehouse and MacWarehouse, and specialist Web sites.
He predicts that Microtech's advertising on the Internet in particular will continue to grow in the coming year. In fact, in recognition of the key role played by the Internet in the marketing and sales of the company's products (direct sale of products over the Web will begin within the month, and many Internet resellers are already buying Microtech products), Microtech is creating a new position, director of Internet business development.
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing high-tech marketers, says Conte, is the fast pace of change. “You can spend time and money on a new strategy, but it is often difficult to get a return on your investment before the product is obsolete,” he says.
Two ways to overcome that challenge are: one, to be the first to market something, so that you get your revenue early in the curve; or two - a little trickier - to market your product in such a way that you are first in mind with consumers.
The first of these approaches requires an expert knowledge of the existing technology. However, Conte points out, it also requires someone open to new ideas, not too married to the way things “have always been done,” someone able to think two steps beyond the present. Even more important, he says, a successful high-tech marketer “needs the ability to recognize new ideas and to move quickly. It's very important not to hesitate, not to procrastinate.
“It's not necessarily the best product that wins,” Conte contends, “but the first to market and the one that makes the most lasting impression.” BNH
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