Over the past few days, I have been trying to focus on what I do and where I feel me and my company\u2019s expertise lies.<\/p>\n
I enjoy creating effective materials that use equipment simulations as part of marketing and training efforts.\u00a0 When I say \u201csimulation\u201d to any group of people (who will stand still for more than a few seconds), that word seems to eclipse the importance of whatever other words surround it.\u00a0 However, as I quickly follow-up as an example, \u201cgood simulation-based training\u201d is foremost about \u2018good training\u2019, not something to be judged necessarily on how accurate the simulation is.<\/p>\n
While the field of \u201csimulation-based training\u201d is roaring along, I have yet to hear the phrase \u201csimulation-based marketing.\u201d\u00a0 Based on some shoddy and incomplete research (i.e., doing hasty web searches and looking at the first few pages of results), I have yet to see this term used.\u00a0 Feeling somewhat presumptuous, I wonder if I am the first person to use this term.<\/p>\n
When I say a \u2019simulation-based product marketing piece,\u2019 I mean \u201ca presentation designed to engage viewers with the product, in which the product is reproduced to some level of interaction, for the purposes of selling to, or persuading them to buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At its core, and this relates to our work over the past few years, is the notion of \u201cProduct Engagement\u201d (PE).\u00a0 I have seen people use the term \u201cbrand engagement,\u201d but I haven\u2019t seen as much attention to \u201cproduct engagement\u201d, though clearly this concept is at the heart of pretty much all types of sales.\u00a0 Often we talk about \u201cputting the product into a prospect\u2019s hands,\u201d or giving a prospect a \u201chands-on feel\u201d for the product.\u00a0 \u2018Product Engagement\u2019 could be a way to measure how successful a presentation is at giving the prospect the feel for a device.\u00a0 Not to carry this too far, but PE doesn\u2019t have to relate to a simulation \u2014 it could be an assessment of an experience with the actual product itself.<\/p>\n
In the same way a simulation or model always makes assumptions about what it is representing, the engagement is never quite identical to using the product in an on-the-job experience (except, of course, using the product in an on-the-job experience).<\/p>\n
The idea of PE highlights an important distinction between sim-based product marketing and what could be considered a broader, sim-based product training.\u00a0 In training, ultimately, our goal is to transfer correct performance using the device in realistic conditions.\u00a0 In marketing, our goal is to give the prospect confidence that they know how they will perform.<\/p>\n
Here are two posts I think that relate very well to this discussion:<\/p>\n
The materials I see on the web relate to how products can be linked into games and into social media.\u00a0 At the forefront of this area, like most, seems to be the B2C manufacturers, though a post I made a few months ago about Malvern Instruments is one demonstration that the B2B community wants and needs this approach.<\/p>\n
I think there is a confusion between \u2018engaging the viewer\u2019 and \u2018engaging the viewer with the product\u2019.\u00a0 I think that is why so much interactive marketing today focuses on games and game-like elements, because they misdirectedly (is that a word?) believe that the goal is to engage the viewer and then sneak the product in somehow.\u00a0 When I hear discussions around the idea of \u2018product placement\u2019, it almost seems like a dirty secret that the manufacturer is placing its product in a position, hoping the viewer notices it\u2013but doesn\u2019t notice it too much.<\/p>\n
This seems ridiculous to me.\u00a0\u00a0 I believe that if one makes a marketing piece about a product and lets the viewers interact with the product in realistic situations, situations that highlight the competitive or unique features of the product, then the viewer engagement will take care of itself\u2013those viewers who are interested in the product will be retained, and those interested simply in the \u2018fun\u2019 aspect will not.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t this the core group that the marketer wants to attract?<\/p>\n
I think that one of the neat parts about simulation-based marketing is that the concepts and materials fit so well\u00a0 into other important business categories, namely training (for sales reps, customers, service technicians, etc.) and even product design and manufacturing (designing products that can engage users).\u00a0 The path, then, being set is to align processes along having users interact with the product.\u00a0 If one has confidence in the superiority and quality of one\u2019s products, isn\u2019t that the best way to sell it or learn how to use it?<\/p>\n
I think that the same concept I\u2019ve presented regarding \u2018product marketing\u2019 could be viewed in a larger context of purely \u201cSimulation-Based Marketing.\u201d\u00a0 My vision is that the broader concept does not necessarily involve equipment or devices (though it could), rather, it is about re-creating the ownership experience (hence the \u2019simulation\u2019) for a prospective customer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the past few days, I have been trying to focus on what I do and where I feel me and my company\u2019s expertise lies. I enjoy creating effective materials that use equipment simulations as part of marketing and training efforts.\u00a0 When I say \u201csimulation\u201d to any group of people (who will stand still for\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions\/36"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}