There are two matters at hand that I need to gripe/complain/explain and lots of other descriptive words about. I don't care if I should make it into two separate posts, because gosh darnit I will MAKE IT WORK!
First off, I just read chapter 3 .. or at least most of it in Naked Conversations by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble they were discussing ICQ and Firefox and how both took off like wildfire (no pun intended) they attributed ICQ's and Firefox's success to it's Word of Mouth advertising, whether it be through actual mouths or blogs.
But I have to question this.
Firefox and more so, ICQ were revolutionary, so does it or did it really matter how they were marketed or advertised? When there's a need for a *USEFUL* product that hasn't existed yet does it matter if it's advertised through blogs or through TV commercials? Will it have the same effect?
WITTY TRANSITION...
This brings me to Skype versus Vonage (in a fight to the death, on Pay Per View tomorrow!) As I understood it Israel and Scoble insinuated that because Vonage took traditional route in advertising and not word of mouth like Skype, that that's why Skype grew and possibly is growing faster than Vonage. But that doesn't quite make sense to me.
I understand that less marketing costs is better, but as far as I know, Skype and Vonage are two separate products based off of the same VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) technology. I've heard that Skype is expanding their product line (in order to charge their users $$) which would cause them to actually resemble Vonage a little more than before. But in the beginning isn't it true that Skype was a free, use it on your computer calling service? And isn't Vonage a you pay monthly, use your phone bought at Best Buy calling service?
If so, how can they be compared? Not to mention who didn't love Vonages' first commercials with people doing stupid things and the goofy music behind it??? You know you loved it!
If my understanding of each product is correct then it makes perfect sense why Skype grew faster than Vonage ... -People don't want to pay (for anything) especially per month, people are afraid to switch from traditional phone service to VOIP phone service (diff 911 system?!?!), and as mentioned in Naked Conversations, people do like the newest tech thing (downloading Skype)
So there, apples and oranges right?
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Skype versus Vonage -- a Fight to the Death!!!
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3 comments:
I do know that a lot of international students prefer Skype for calling home. Maybe it is the international brand recognition of Skype that makes it an easy choice over Vonage
I understand what you mean. Even though Skype and Vonage are both VoIP technologies, they come off as very different products. I think this is because of the price difference, their intended use and how they were marketed. This makes the two somewhat hard to compare. Although the marketing aspect is very interesting. I think Skype was smart for relying on word-of-mouth. Hearing about a product makes it far more desirable than seeing it advertised through traditional media (esp when that product is free). At least I know that's true for me. Maybe it makes people feel like they're ahead of the curve. But, again, Vonage is a very different product from Skype, and because they are so different, the word-of-mouth avenue probably would not have worked as well.
p.s. nice witty transition
its an interesting point you bring up about whether or not the type of marketing matters when a product is supposedly "revolutionary". i believe it totally matters. even if something seems really cool, many people may be hesitant to try it if is not well-known or widely accepted. of course there will be early adopters, but it will take time to reach the masses....potentially more time than something with a stronger promoional campaign. this time may be costly because others could enter the market or a fledgling company simply may not be able to survive on a segmented buzz alone. these days when consumers have so many choices, even something that seems like it should just "take off" or be "the next big thing" can fail if it doesn't get promoted properly.
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