Vendors: It’s time to cut the crap out of your marketing strategy

For too long, service providers have focused on being everything to everyone—refusing to retire legacy services while simultaneously claiming immediate expertise in this week’s crop of new and shiny technologies. But who can we trust to deliver the goods? Increasingly, we’re seeing a new breed of services firm that, in some cases, quite literally cuts out the crap and focuses on what they are uniquely positioned to deliver better than any of their competitors. The subsequent success of these firms reveals exactly why providers must stop hyping and instead focus on marketing what makes them stand out.

Nexient’s motto literally cuts out the crap—and it’s helping to bring in talent and win new clients

Product-minded software development firm Nexient has been on our radar for several years now. We named it a Hot Vendor in 2018, and it made the Hottest of the Hot vendor panel at our latest NYC summit. But what grabbed our attention—and the applause of the audience—was its simple yet powerful strapline: “Because life’s too short for crappy software.” And we agree, guys; it really is.

We caught up with CEO Mark Orttung and CMO Cristin Balog to discover the inspiration behind the strapline and how it’s helped Nexient strengthen its market position, attract like-minded talent, and differentiate from major IT firms. They’ve taken a stand, and it’s paying off.

To get to the strapline, according to Mark, Nexient focused on the what, how, and why of its customers’ needs, which meant focusing on users’ experience with their software. The undeniable reality is that everyone has experienced lousy software, and with the integration of technology at every level of human life, it’s not just the IT teams that are frustrated by unintuitive platforms and clumsily built applications. Undoubtedly, part of the reason Nexient’s strapline seems to resonate so well with the audience is that it’s relatable.

Success in a competitive market is as much about highlighting what you can do well as it is about what you won’t do at all

Nexient’s mission to rid the world of crappy software is laudable, but there’s also an element to the firm’s approach that all of the major providers must notice. Nexient is just as quick to clarify what it won’t do—the first slide when presenting its business to the audience in NY read “First of all, we don’t make robotic anything,” a clear differentiator in a room packed with the purveyors of automation products and services and a welcome relief to a sea of nodding heads in the audience, who are no doubt disillusioned with the overhyped rhetoric marketing of automation and RPA.

Crucially, taking a stand has a significant impact on the market perception of a firm. In Exhibit 1, we can see the clustered pack of the majority of IT services firms. Effectively, clients are struggling to tell who’s who in a market where everyone says they can do everything.

Exhibit 1: Stuck in the middle with who? Providers in the IT services market struggle to differentiate

Sample: Buyside n= 302, Adviser n=171, G2000 study 2018

Source: HFS Research

Clarity of vision and mission may win clients, but it also wins talent in an increasingly competitive labor market

A core part of Nexient’s strategy and value proposition is that it is 100% onshore in the US. But this presents its own challenges, particularly for recruiting the right talent in a hyper-competitive labor market. Mark and Cristin tell us their approach has resonated well with current and future employees (a lot of the current employees pitched in for their now-famous strapline, which after a while just stuck!).

Nexient is focusing its acquisition of talent in the midwestern United States. The company is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and has consultants in client sites across the country, but the majority of its employees work from product development centers in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana cities located near universities and other major tech employers.

For example, the company’s newest center in Columbus, Ohio, was selected for its wealth of tech talent and quality of life. But Nexient is also tapping into a broader “reverse migration” of talented professionals fleeing traditional tech hubs like San Francisco and New York, which suffer from spiraling costs of living and associated headaches (long commutes, competition for good schools, etc.).

Taking a risk may be a tough conversation for some marketing teams—but Nexient’s success is a testament to the value of standing up for what you believe in

Cristin was open about Nexient taking risks with its marketing messages and candid strapline, which stands out among the big IT firms that try to play it safe and reach as broad an audience as possible. The reality is, when you have a clear company vision, you attract the clients and professionals that share that view. It pays to be different.

The Bottom Line: In a crowded market full of overhyped solutions and underwhelmed clients, it pays to be different. It’s high time all vendors took a good look at what they want to be and clearly articulate it to market.

When asked what the future of Nexient was, Mark advised the plan is simple—keep ridding the world of crappy software. In many ways, Nexient has a luxury that many providers don’t have, which is clarity of purpose. Over the decades, the same firms have tried to reinvent themselves to stock as broad a portfolio of products as possible and to market to the largest audience as possible. What Nexient and other nimble firms have shown us is that the market has changed. To rise above the hype, it pays to be clear.