ERP:  a difficult environment demands a bigger role for communication

published  2002

Few areas are more specialised - and challenging - than marketing business products and services to business.  This is especially so in the ERP (enterprise resource planning) market where there are dozens of companies and hundreds of products offering solutions in areas such as finance, manufacturing, distribution, human resources and CRM (customer relationship management).

The challenge is greater because in this market - perhaps more than most - the landscape and environment has changed.

Technology is no longer the easy sell it once was.  Expenditure is increasingly being capped and IT projects more studiously measured.  The hurdles to get significant projects up are getting higher.  Management is often reticent - some say scared.  Boards of Directors are more likely to exert their power of veto.  Many IT Departments no longer enjoy the forceful and credible position they once commanded. 

And, most importantly, the competitive landscape is more crowded than ever before with a multitude of like products and implementation companies!

No longer is the product king. The days of internally driven sales and marketing process, where the client was dazzled by the technology, are fast disappearing.  So to is the market support approach of running an IT focussed ad campaign with a PR product media campaign thrown in.

In today’s changed environment there are four key factors to consider:

• Corporate reputation is becoming crucial.  As clients become more cautious, the vendor’s corporate reputation becomes a bigger factor in decision-making.  ERP vendors  - especially those in the second tier - need to be actively running communication programs to position themselves corporately.
• It’s increasingly important to talk about meeting business needs.  The emphasis is shifting from product features to how products and services meet business needs, solve a problem, provide a benefit and provide a return on investment in a shorter timeframe.
• If you want your share of media coverage, you have to be prepared to get involved in issues. Why?  Mainly because IT publications are becoming far less product-centric as the differences between products narrows and genuine ‘breakthroughs’ lessen.  They are now immersing themselves more deeply in issues.  That means it’s becoming more about companies and less about products.
• Who you need to talk to through your marketing communication is changing.  When the focus was on product, you were talking to the CIO, the IT administrator and engineers.  A shift to end user benefits and more focus on issues means that the CEO is now more a part of your targeting, because issues relate to the business, not just the IT department.

So what are some of the PR implications?

• Your emphasis needs to change to using PR in a corporate and broad positioning role not just as a media-focussed tool.
• You need to think more about education and information of your target market rather than simply throwing more products at them.
• If you are really serious about being seen as a key player within your markets, and have media portray you as such, you have to be prepared to take a leading role on certain issues.
• If you have traditionally relied on the publication of new product releases for media exposure your should shift your message focus from ‘what’s tech-sexy about my products’ to ‘how my company relates to current issues through the use of our products’.
• You need to focus your marketing PR more on vertical markets and seek to identify your organisation with solving existing business needs.
• Consider shifting part of your budget from media releases to sponsorships.  There are many ways you can creatively use sponsorships to be seen by your target markets.
• If you are using external consultants you may need to re-define the skill base you require and ensure that you redress the balance to ‘corporate savvy’ rather than ‘technical competence’.
• Introduce some innovation.  For example, consider advertorials.  There are a number of publications aimed at SMEs that do run advertorials.  These can be an excellent way of imparting the information you have in an educational and credible way. 
• Finally consider whether it’s time to re-focus the market on your human rather than just your product resources.  Too many ERP vendors have become so mesmerized by their own technology that they’ve forgotten that it’s often the people that are the best means of differentiation.