New Medium Sparks New Thinking

by Lloyd R. Prentice

excerpted from Sales and Marketing Strategies & News, March 1992, pp 19-20

In the '50s, television profoundly transformed consumer marketing forever. Today, the personal computer promises even greater seismic changes, this time rearranging the map for business-to-business as well as consumer marketers.

In six years, the interactive computer-based sales presentation evolved from novelty to can-do muscle medium, a potent new channel for reaching and influencing buyers. More and more marketers are tasting success by weaving this medium into daring new strategies. . . .

Early adopters reported tantalizing successes.

Corning Glass reported 60 percent response to a floppy-disk-based market survey, compared with 2 percent from a print version of the same instrument.

The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency mailed 5,000 disks promoting investment in Holland to U.S. high-tech CEOs. Response exceeded 10 percent. Follow-up six months later revealed that 85 percent looked at the disk; 70 percent rated the information useful; 60 percent spent more than five minutes reviewing the disk; and 20 percent spent more than 15 minutes.

Litton (now BEI) Itek Encoder found a disk-based "Optical Encoder Selection Guide" out-pulled a promo video 6-to-1 when offered as a response premium in trade ads and direct mail; it out-pulled free literature 3-to-1.

Harris Semiconductor scored a 13.3 percent response on a mailing of 15,000 computer adventure games. Prospects spent at least 30 minutes reviewing the Harris message while solving the puzzle posed by the game.

But rigorous follow-up studies seldom are published. "Some companies feel they have a secret weapon here and would rather not talk about," says Jim Moreton of Creative Disk, a California-based disk duplication and packaging company. Research is needed to discover when, how, and with whom interactive disks are, or are not, effective. However, a picture is emerging.

1. Computer-based presentations are most appropriate for the up-scale business and consumer decision-makers who use PCs as tools.

2. Disk-based presentations work well in advertising, but even better as sales tools with the power to assess needs, present solutions, respond to objections, and motivate a sale.

3. Interactive presentations don't replace other media. Deployed in well-integrated sales programs, they offer powerful potential to increase sales, shorten the sales cycle, and cut costs.

4. Contrary to some reports, disk-based programs are not inherently expensive. Creative and duplication costs should compare favorably with video or high-end print. Indeed, a high cost/effectiveness ratio makes it easier to produce high return on investment with interactive.

5. Marketers also are discovering they must open their minds to new thinking. The computer opens a new dimension - interaction. Just as early filmmakers invented a grammar of visual expression, disk designers are inventing a "grammar of interaction." Mastery of this grammar enables marketers to tap into a whole new range of consumer responses.

6. Markers need to extend their language. Computer users berate "page-turning" programs which make them sit passively. They expect programs to put them in control of the content and behave like responsive tools for the mind. Thus, "viewer" doesn't do it for interactive audiences. Talk about "participants" not "viewers."

And think about the message differently too. Designing a disk should be more like training a sales rep rather than telling a story. As every good sales rep knows, an actively involved prospect is much more likely to learn, remember and buy than a passive desk potato.