Several years ago, I attended a marketing seminar given by Dr. Art Weinstein. Dr. Weinstein taught us how to define a market using the 3D analysis model. The 3D model consists of the following dimensions:
- Customer groups (market segments)
- Customer needs (functions / uses)
- Technology
Here’s an example for the laptop market in 1995:
- Customer groups: Business traveler
- Customer needs: Laptop, mobility
- Technology: 486DX chip
During the lecture, I realized that a consulting company could use this model to build right-sized applications for its customers. Suppose a 76-person business asks a consulting company to develop a web app that stores information in a relational database. Let’s peer through the 3D lens and see what database appears in the target window.
- Customer group: Mid-sized company
- Customer needs: Process 2,000 records per day
- Technology: ?
Given the customer groups and needs, a vision begins to form for the database technology. We’d skip past an Oracle database configured in high availability. Instead, we’d be inclined to select MS SQL Server -- or MySql -- for this target market. Anyway, you get the picture.
tags: Marketing, Product Management
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