This is a presentation we did for the East Region Microsoft Dynamics partners on June 19. DIAMOND Strategic Marketing specializes in helping companies of all kinds formulate, execute, and manage vertical marketing programs.

1. Vertical Marketing Best Practices
Fred Diamond
DIAMOND Strategic Marketing
Tyson’s Corner, VA
www.diamondstrategicmarketing.com
703.628.6910

2. Focus on Vertical Development,
Management, and Growth

3. The Intention of this Discussion for
the Partners on the Call
 How to optimize vertical market efforts
 Key considerations for vertical market growth
 Elements of successful vertical marketing effort
 Roadblocks to avoid
 Example how multiple partners came together
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4. Growing Vertical Markets for Small-
to-Midsized Service Providers

5. A Smart, Sound, Committed Vertical
Marketing Effort Can Spur Growth
Truly understand and provide value added
services to the customer
Customers want solutions providers that
understand their problems
Partners focusing on the vertical provide leads
Gives telesales something relevant to say
Say what value we offer in client’s language

6. Tight Vertical Marketing & Sales
Moves Deals Thru the Funnel
The World Suspect Prospect Proposal
Customer$$$
General Target Entity that should Wants to take Ready to Buy
take action and action within 4
we have their info months

7. DIAMOND Marketing’s 6 Main
Factors for Vertical Success
A Market
with Real
Buying
Entities
Understand
The Right
Customer
Product
Reqs
Commitment
Marketing
Market
and Sales
Intelligence
Execution
Process
Plan
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8. Determining if the Market’s Viable
 Who will buy?
 What is the market made up of?
 How big is it?
 Are there gaps?
 What is our true addressable market?
 Who’s tracking the market?
 Who specifically will we be talking to?
 What’s unique about our target audiences?

9. Sample Search of Four Verticals
Within 130 Miles of Son’s Dorm
Healthcare (583 companies)
Professional Services (430 companies)
Financial Services (517 companies)
Private Education (409 institutions)

10. Where are the Competitive Holes?
Cost Per Relative Roadmap Open WW Service
Performance Performance Architecture and Support
Ancillerary Good Fair Good Good Fair
Systems, Inc.
Dellwin, Inc. Excellent Fair Poor Excellent Excellent
Network Fair Good Excellent Fair Fair
Enablement,
Inc.
Quartran, Excellent Fair Fair Poor Fair
Inc.
PUJ, Inc. Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent

11. It Comes Down to Knowing What’s
Going On at the Account Level

12. New Marketing Comm Plan Reflects
How the Customer Actually Buys
seminars Public
demos speaking
PR
sponsorships
incentives trade shows
banners behind planes billboards SEO radio
NPR sponsorships Social Media promotions kiosks
stadium advertising telemarketing e-newsletters
email campaigns Direct mail
catalogs Print advertising
Social media
webinars
Thought leadership

13. Marketing Execution Plan Emerges
Oct. 1 Oct. 15 Nov. 1 Nov. 15 Dec. 1 Dec. 15
Clear, crisp product
differentiation Produce product
Agree on product Schedule meeting
offering delineation description content
with ABC NW to
for web and
refine working
datasheets
relationship
Vertical market Agree on 2 Produce Produce
agreement verticals to marketing
Refine lists on vertical
focus materials for focused
each vertical’
start building web and print Webinar
database to support
verticals
Customer
requirements
Develop CRD Publish CRD
definition (CRD) for 2 verticals for 2 verticals

14. Message Timing to Audiences is
Critical in Vertical Marketing
Type of Message Q1 (Jan.-Mar.) Q2 (Apr.-Jun.) Q3 (Jul.-Sep.)
Corporate We are a leading and We are is a leading and We are a leading and
innovative manufacturer innovative manufacturer innovative manufacturer
and provider of high quality, and provider of high and provider of high quality,
affordable converged … quality, affordable … affordable …
Technology We are the premier We offer the most scalable We are at the forefront of
..provider for NFS and open NAS technology NAS technology and the
environments including Sun for UNIX and Windows leader in NAS/SAN
Solaris, HP-UX, AIX,. environments. integration.
IT Buyer We offer the best We offer an affordable We offer an extremely
integrated NAS/SAN feature-rich NAS/SAN affordable NAS SAN system.
system. We also supply system. We also supply We also supply HDS with
NAS technology to HDS for HDS with NAS technology NAS technology for all of its
all of their storage systems. for all storage systems. storage systems.
Enterprise Buyers We offer the most scalable We offer the most scalable We are the most open and
and open NAS system. and open Enterprise NAS. scalable enterprise NAS.
Internal Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx
Partners YYYYYY YYYYYY YYYYYY
Investors ZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZ ZZZZZZ

15. An Example of a Microsoft Partner-
Driven Vertical Strategy
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16. Home Page
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17. Sample Page with Latest Blogs
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18. All in…or All Out?
All In All Out
 More prospects than you are  Don’t have the patience
reaching today  Little interest in growing
 Moving prospects through market understanding
the funnel easier  Not looking to grow
 Easier to educate company  Looking for quick exit
on customer needs  Not willing to travel
 Partners available  Once bitten twice shy
 Many resources available
 Maximizing budget and time
Resources

19. THANK YOU!
FRED DIAMOND
WWW.DIAMONDSTRATEGICMARKETING.COM
FDIAMOND@DIAMONDSTRATEGICMARKETING.COM
703.628.6910
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