To all the folks in marketing in the IT and telecom industry, get better!
Get better at telling the story. Work really hard at crafting the Positioning story. Sweat over the unique value proposition. Why?
The service providers do NOT have a Polycom problem. They don't need a cheaper phone (save $10 on a gigabit handset!).
Your job is to explain WHY. You are in the PAIN business. What pain do you solve? In many cases, I think: there isn't any pain.
Sure Polycom phones aren't sub-$100, but then neither are the phones you are shilling. And the ones that are a PITA to get to work with the switch for care-free, painless provisioning and installing (which is where the market needs to move toward or as Gretsky says: that's where the puck will be.)
[picture from tumblr under creative commons license]The users do not have a Dropbox problem. Other file-sharing and online backup services have a Dropbox problem.
Online shoppers don't have an Amazon problem. Online stores have an Amazon problem. And that problem is frictionless, 1-click sales and sign-on. That's what Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and others are all fighting - the ease of use. User Experience is everything.
So Marketers, work on the User Experience while you master the storytelling. Combined these make for a giant killer.
