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marketing question

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    marketing question

    We are preparing a marketing campaign for Alpha Five, and one of the questions that we have been asked is:

    What are the 5 top market niches that Alpha Five serves?

    Please reply to me as soon as possible to
    [email protected]

    Many thanks in advance for you thoughts.

    Richard Rabins
    Richard Rabins
    Co Chairman
    Alpha Software

    #2
    RE: marketing question

    If A5v5 is well documented with a good tutorial (much like A5v1) then there is a tremendous market for those who have tried to deal with Access but gave up or would like to do some of their own programming. I have been programming for 35 years (Assembler, RPG, Cobol, Basic, etc). I bought A5v1 when it was released because several folks I had run across were very high on A4. I was very impressed with the product and have used Alpha 5 for my own businesses and a few applications for clients. Everytime I have shown A5 to someone they have been impressed and wanted to run out and buy it at the local Office Depot (or whatever). When I tell them it is only available direct from Alpha and has limited documentation the story usually ends there. (This pretty well eliminates impulse buying) I can live with this because of my background and the great support from the message board. Your average first time user will probably not tolerate this. You have a great base of loyal users that are all potential salespersons. However, if the product is hard to obtain and difficult for 1st time users to grasp, I am afraid your base will remain your main market.
    I am not trying to tell you how to run your business but I have been involved in marketing of software for many years. You seem to reach a plateau via referrals and reputation no matter how good your product may be. To reach the next plateau you must reach out to the non-loyalist. This is costly as I am sure you are aware. As they say, half of your advertising budget is probably wasted, you just do not know which half. If you do happen to reach the non-alpha users and get their attention. You must be able to deliver more than the software and documentation in pdf format on a cdrom. PEOPLE WANT A NICE BOX FULL OF MANUALS!!
    By the way, to respond email [email protected]
    Tommy Thompson
    Thompson Consulting Services
    Beautiful Kentucky Lake, Springville, TN 38256
    [email protected]

    Comment


      #3
      RE: marketing question

      Ummm - top 5 niches out of what list?

      I came to Alpha Five with limited programming background and have a sophisticated database solution for a small business.
      1. End user developed custom database system (me now)
      2. Consultant provided custom database solution
      3. Network database solution
      4. Core software integration - shell out to Excel, Word etc
      5. Packaged Database solution (me in my dreams)

      Comment


        #4
        RE: marketing question

        At our last user meeting in Dallas, a VERY LONG TIME ACCESS user was voicing his disgust at the way Microsoft is moving to a subscription service.

        It would seem a no brainer to offer a non subscription product WITH DOCUMENTATION in the ACCESS market place.
        PS also extol the great virtues of this excellent message board.

        Steve Pick

        Comment


          #5
          RE: marketing question

          I'm sure the marketing campaign question you are referring to is for A5 v5 and not just for the product Alpha 5. If you are, the date now is 7/28/02, why is A5 contemplating a marketing campaign at this late date when A5 is long overdue for release? As to the question about the 5 top market niches that Alpha Five serves, they are
          1. new customers with no programming experiences.
          2. current users of A5 with some programming experiences.
          3. Developers
          4. Small business owners
          5. Personal
          All not necessarily in that order.

          Bruno

          Comment


            #6
            RE: marketing question

            Richard,

            If you truely want to grow awareness of A5, in whatever flavor, develop an educational marketing plan. I've mentioned to both you and Selwyn at the meeting last year in Boston that my thought that if you introduce A5 to people taking database development courses in post K-12 education, they will develop comfort and familiarity with the product. Those students moving to A5 in employment after college is a logical next step. THAT will grow Alpha's market share.

            Dave Jampole
            Dave Jampole
            www.customalpha.com

            Women and cats will do whatever they want. The sooner men and dogs realize that, the happier they will be.

            Comment


              #7
              RE: marketing question

              In that vein it seems most A5 users have been around a while (hangers on from DOS days) but STILL need education.

              Encourage user groups as training grounds. Develop training materials to be available through users groups (for a fee, which would help the group...)

              It seems there are a lot of user-developers, compared to developers. Help them out. They have friends. Hook up folks through this website - find a user group, get it together, get it done.

              Comment


                #8
                RE: marketing question

                At a database users group, an Access user stated how well Alpha 5 "filled in the middle." I believe he meant that a very novice user can create an address book with Access genies and a very sophisticated programer can create advanced databases with Access. Where Alpha really shines is the middle. A non-programer can create some pretty fantastic and sophisticated databases with Alpha Five. The middle is a pretty good place to be - lots of wanna be database creaters out there!

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: marketing question

                  One more way is have a free download of full version of A5V5 with restriction on number of records to 10, 20 30 etc.

                  This way potential new customers can try first hand how good A5V5 is.

                  Just an idea used by many software companies.

                  Its nice to have some idea about the approximate release date....... Lots of people are waiting for this????????

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: marketing question

                    I work for state government. In the division where I work we have used A4 and then A5 since A4v2, discovered through a magazine review of several database programs popular at the time (Paradox, FoxPro, DBase, etc.). The analysis of A4 was very positive, dwelling on its power and ease of use compared to the others.

                    In spite our extensive use of Alpha databases which has allowed us to produce complicated applications (no two anything alike) whenever needed, our computer tech department has consistently pushed Access. Why? Because they have heard of it, but have only heard of A4/A5 because we use it. They have never investigated its capabilities. They dismiss it as that strange little program that we use. The computer tech people offer to help other departments with their database needs by creating applications in Access, yet I'm unaware of any Access applications they have produced. No one there seems to be too knowledgeable about Access, despite their extolling it. When someone in another department needs a database application, outside Access consultants are hired. From what I understand, the results are often less than spectacular.

                    Another thing I've noticed where I work is that there is always the assumption that the more something costs, the better it must be. Therefore the mentality that $400 software is better than $150 or $70 software.

                    My whole point is that we seem to believe that a particular software is better simply because we have heard of it. Those that influence purchasing/use decisions usually are not the ones who will ever use the software. If uninformed management have to make any sort of decision regarding a database product, they will take the safe course and pick Access every time simply because they have heard of it. Perhaps charging a little more (how I hate to say that) would provide a greater advertising budget.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: marketing question

                      How did Snapple do it?

                      You make some excellent points, Richard. It brought to mind a comment someone made about 10 years ago that all the big companies had the market sewn up and there was no way a small guy could compete with them. He specifically mentioned the soft drink market. At that time Snapple was a tiny company. Little did we know!

                      Does any one know how their secret?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: marketing question

                        Richard,

                        I understand and sympathize with your frustration. We are a County Government agency Working with the state department of Human Services. We originally got going with Alpha because one person in the office knew it and I was brought in to develop appications that weren't provided by the state. In the last 8 years we have developed a very robust application covering almost all aspects of what we do. The only thing we didn't do was to duplicate systems already in place from the state. Over those last eight years, the state has tried to implement (at great expense)numerous Oracle applications. NOT ONE of them is completely, successfully rolled out. We keep offering our applicaitons and suggestions, but like you, how could we, county personnel know as much as the state IT group. As long as they leave us alone, we will continue to create and use our applications in spite of the state IT group.

                        Tom

                        Comment


                          #13
                          RE: marketing question

                          Richard, I just saw your note. My experience indicates that a great number of Law firms use Alpha Software, so this is definately a target group. We have also done quite a bit of work with small manufacturing companies over the years, and as you might know, Marine industry. Marinas are big users for point of sale and service tracking. I have a database of Marinas which I will be happy to provide you with, if you desire. If I were targeting marketing, I would suggest:
                          1. Law firms
                          2. Marina/marine vendor operations
                          3. Manufacturers
                          4. Retail (point of sale)
                          5. Institutions
                          John Lemisch

                          Comment


                            #14
                            RE: marketing question

                            by the way, when do you think it is being released?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              RE: marketing question

                              Richard

                              I am not in marketing and could not tell you from the outside what are your top five market places. However, reading through all the users, many of us have been Alpha clients for a number of years and you have listend to the needs and problems of your customers. This is a marketing plus. It is very important to create 'product awareness' and what occurs to me is 'grab them young'. Have some type of tutorial and then a small test based on that. We have a basic computer exam in England that includes the simple use of Access. The course also covers Word and Excel. This Diploma is recognised by employers. Now if you can get these computer learning centers to teach Alpha, you will surley have a lot of happy bunnies out there and that will increase the demand for database applications.

                              The maketing in UK at the moment does not exsist, you have got a big company in Guildsoft but what are they doing?

                              What would it cost them to send out a monthly Email? Or to have a UK Forum Page? Get them to sell to local education boards the value of learning Alpha as part of computer litracy.

                              I hope this give an extra angle for you to consider with your marketing.

                              Good Luck

                              Keith Hubert
                              London.
                              Regards
                              Keith Hubert
                              Alpha Guild Member
                              London.
                              KHDB Management Systems
                              Skype = keith.hubert


                              For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

                              Comment

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