Business Corner
STRATEGIES & ANALYSIS
BY PHIL PHILLIPS
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
PHILLIPS@CHEMARKCONSULTING.NET
New technology adoption: Part IV
A look at the
fourth stage of
new technology
adoption.
In our previous three columns regarding
high-tech marketing, we outlined the importance of realizing different aspects of the
five stages—Innovation, Early Adopters, Early
Majority, Late Majority and Laggards—and
their impact on the success of a new product.
We considered the four GAPS between each
stage and the barriers these chasms bring to the
party. Now we want to tie these basic concepts
together in a Competitive-Positioning Compass.
Understanding the Competitive-Positioning
Compass (CPC) will help you “find the way”
with new product introductions.
In the CPC there are four domains of relative value in high-tech marketing: technology,
product, market and company.
CPC PREMISE
As a product moves through the Technology
Adoption Life Cycle (TALC), the domain of
greatest value to the customer changes.
In the early market, where decisions are dominated by technology, enthusiasts and visionaries,
the key value domains are technology and product.
In the mainstream, which includes the Late
Majority and Laggards, decisions are dominated by
pragmatists and conservatives. Here the key
domains are market and company.
Crossing the GAP, in this context, represents a
transition from product-based to market-based
values (to the customer). See chart below.
Within this model there lies a great number
of concepts. Here are some clarification points
that should help.
The compass will direct based on two axes. The
horizontal dimension shows the range of buyer
interest in and understanding of high-technology
issues. The early market is dominated by specialists. They are interested in technology and product. By contrast, the mainstream is dominated by
generalists interested in market leadership and
company stability.
The vertical dimension overlays a second measure—the buyer’s attitude toward the proposed
value proposition—ranging from skepticism to
support. Markets move from a state of skepticism
to a state of support. Early market exposure to the
technology enthusiasts evolves from a skepticism
gatekeeper to the mainstream market where pragmatists play. Once the technical enthusiasts give
their blessings, then their companions—
visionaries and conservatives—feel free to buy in.
This model also points to the fact that people
who are supportive of your value proposition take
an interest in your products and in your company.
People who are skeptical of you do not. The impor-
