More from these Authors

• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | April 2018

  Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer

  Frank Cespedes

  Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-001. Formlabs is a venture that manufactures and sells 3D printers used in a variety of industries and applications. As the young company prepares to ship its latest model, the head of Customer Development is tasked with developing a marketing and distribution strategy that will double sales in the next year. The case issues highlighted in the teaching note include examining and analyzing a) the go-to-market options and trade-offs available to entrepreneurs in a category where product quality is rapidly increasing and price decreasing; b) a representative evolution of go-to-market approaches in early-stage ventures; and c) new product introductions in a context where the venture faces past product-quality issues and going-forward growth and valuation goals.

  Keywords: 3D printing and manufacturing; sales channel development; Sales strategy; entrepreneurial management; product engineering; prototype; prototyping; Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Hardware; Business Startups; Customers; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Adoption; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; Sales; Salesforce Management; Technology Industry; Computer Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Europe; Asia;

  Citation:

  Cespedes, Frank. "Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 818-127, April 2018.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2016 (Revised April 2018)

  DataXu: Selling Ad Tech

  Frank V. Cespedes, John Deighton, Lisa Cox and Olivia Hull

  DataXu served marketers by buying digital advertising for brands using its demand-side platform. It sought a way to build a more predictable revenue stream in the very transactional media marketplace, and hoped that two new marketing analytics products would give it a more predictable revenue stream. But sales were behind forecast. DataXu’s large brand and advertising agency clients found the new products interesting, but evidence suggested that their buying processes might be incompatible with the recurring sales model DataXu wanted to implement. Will DataXu need to change its sales organization, pricing approach, or hiring criteria to sell the new products?

  Keywords: sales management; marketing strategy; pricing; programmatic ad buying; ＂marketing analytics＂; advertising technology; Sales; Online Advertising; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Campaigns; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Media; Technology Industry; Advertising Industry; Boston; Massachusetts;

  Citation:

  Cespedes, Frank V., John Deighton, Lisa Cox, and Olivia Hull. "DataXu: Selling Ad Tech." Harvard Business School Case 817-012, October 2016. (Revised April 2018.)  View Details

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• Article | Harvard Business Review (website) | April 19, 2018

  4 Ways to Improve Your Content Marketing

  Frank V. Cespedes and Russ Heddleston

  In the past decade, content marketing has become a widely established practice. Companies have hired writers and chief content officers to run departments as well as create blogs and other materials—in the process, some have assured sales people that content marketing can mean the end of cold calling. The authors examined 34 million interactions between customers and content on DocSend’s platform, which is used daily by organizations across a variety of sales contexts. The result is empirical data and a good starting point for examining core aspects of any content marketing initiative. The authors found that prospects spend less than three minutes on content, mobile is less important than advertised, one day of the week isn’t better than others, and case studies are most preferred.

  Keywords: Marketing; Marketing Communications; Sales; Performance Improvement;

  Citation:

  Cespedes, Frank V., and Russ Heddleston. "4 Ways to Improve Your Content Marketing." Harvard Business Review (website) (April 19, 2018).  View Details

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