Marketing High Technology - by William H Davidow (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Marketing is civilized warfare. And as high-tech products become increasingly standardized--practically identical, from the customer's point of view--it is marketing that spells life or death for new devices or entire firms. In a book that is as fascinating as it is pragmatic, William H. Davidow, a legend in Silicon Valley, where he was described as "the driving force behind the micro processor explosion," tells how to fight the marketing battle in the intensely competitive world of high-tech companies--and win.

Blunt, pithy, and knowledgeable, Davidow draws on his successful marketing experience at Intel Corporation to create a complete program for marketing victory. He drives home the basics, such as how to go head-on against the competition; how to "plan products, not devices"; how to give products a "soul"; and how to engineer promotions, market internationally, motivate salespeople, and rally distributors. Above all, he demonstrates the critical importance of servicing and supporting customers. Total customer satisfaction, Davidow makes clear, must be every high-tech marketer's ultimate goal.

The only comprehensive marketing strategy book by an insider, Marketing High Technology looks behind the scenes at industry-shaking clashes involving Apple and IBM, Visicorp and Lotus, Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor. He recounts his own involvement in Crush, Intel's innovative marketing offensive against Motorola, to demonstrate, step-by-step, how it became an industry prototype for a winning high-tech campaign.

Davidow clearly spells out sixteen principles which increase the effectiveness of marketing programs. From examples as diverse as a Rolling Stones concert and a microprocessor chip, he defines a true "product." He analyzes and explains in new ways the strategic importance of distribution as it relates to market sector, pricing, and the pitfalls it entails. He challenges some traditional marketing theory and provides unique and important insights developed from over twenty years in the high-tech field. From an all-encompassing philosophy that great marketing is a crusade requiring total commitment, to a careful study of the cost of attacking a competitor, this book is an essential tool for survival in today's high-risk, fast- changing, and very lucrative high-tech arena.

From the Back Cover

Marketing is civilized warfare. And as high-tech products become increasingly standardized-- practically identical, from the customer's point of view -- it is marketing that spells life or death for new devices or entire firms.

Review Quotes

Robert N. Noyce

Co-founder, Intel Corporation

"Marketing High Technology" documents clearly and forcefully that technological breakthroughs alone will not enable a company to survive. Marketing makes products. In particular, Davidow's discussion of the cost of entering a well-established competitor's market will be required reading for all marketing managers and chief executives.

Theodore Levitt

Editor, "Harvard Business Review; " author of "The Marketing Imagination"

"Marketing High Technology" is a rare and marvellous book -- rare because it shows, in its own readable words, that while "great devices are invented in the laboratory, great products are invented in the Marketing Department." For the first time an experienced practitioner from a first-rate high-tech company tells the inside truth about the ingredients for marketing success. And it's a marvellous book because it says everything so well and convincingly. Life will never be the same.

Thomas J. Perkins

General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers

Davidow writes about successful product crusades. Indeed, he is a crusader here, but for all marketing, for all companies: a tough challenge but one handled masterfully. This book should be required reading not only for marketeers, but for all those who depend upon successful new products -- from engineers to financiers.

John Sculley

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Apple Computer, Inc.

Bill Davidow is both an insightful thinker and respected player in the Silicon Valley phenomenon. Bill's unique perspective on high technology marketing makes this an important book for all of us in high technology to read.

About the Author

William H. Davidow is a general partner with Mohr Davidow Ventures in Menlo Park, California. Before forming this venture capital firm, he was senior vice president of sales & marketing for Intel Corporation and shepherded the renowned Intel 8080 and 8086 to success. Prior to joining Intel he was a marketing manager for Hewlett-Packard's computer group. Davidow graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College and holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.