Market Dimensions for One Goal Console

Estimating market size depends on four different cuts of market data: (1) demand, (2) addressable market, (3) realistic opportunities vs competition, (4) targeted selection of "winnable" market opportunities. Discuss with respect to your team's new business.

(1) demand – The demand for products centered on systems integration is very large, so long as those products can satisfy Meaningful Use and Affordable Care Act requirements. These laws and federal mandates are driving hospitals and healthcare facilities (in some cases begrudgingly) to adapt electronic systems to capture patient data and transmit it between systems and facilities. Marketing material for OGC should heavily emphasize these benefits as this is the main area where our product can add value to facilities both small and large.

(2) addressable market – while the total size of the ‘addressable market’ can be defined as any healthcare delivery facility, our discussions have led us to understand that, for the purposes of a launch, addressable market should be narrowed down to be smaller healthcare facilities for whom a product such as this yields considerable gains at not much cost. Specifically, facilities that are on the road to integration, but cannot afford the larger, more expensive 'all-in-one' systems that come integrated out of the box.

(3) realistic opportunities vs competition - As far as realistic opportunities are concerned, the above customer segment is really the most realistic opportunity; the competition in this market is growing ever tighter, and as budgets get smaller and smaller, the need to demonstrate ever-increasing value at ever diminishing cost takes on additional importance.This is an area where OGC can actually excel, since the product meets a very specific need, and can be priced as such; many integration solutions offer a broad array of functionality; small facilities with very specific integration goals benefit more from the OGC than they would from other comparable products.

(4) targeted selection of "winnable" market opportunities - we've chosen to target smaller outpatient and extended care facilities as the most 'winnable' segment for launch. Since these facilities want to access government stimulus money for meeting Meaningful Use and ACA requirements, but do not have large discretionary budgets, a product like OGC can enable them to real rewards for not a lot of cash. 

Survival is not enough

The question is asked as to whether a firm can survive on inbound marketing alone.

My response beings with a question: is survival merely enough?

Survival implies maintaining a status quo; just barely staying afloat. But as any investor will tell you, growth is the lifeblood of any firm, and a firm that is not growing is dying.

So perhaps a more fitting question is, 'can a firm grow on inbound marketing alone?' To which the answer is, 'it depends.'

In the case of small businesses which are financed with equity in the form of venture capital, the driving financial goal of the business should be to realize returns which are in line with the expectations of the investors. and any kind of decision which could conceivably inhibit your ability to deliver those returns should definitely be considered a Bad Thing, and inadvisable. An explicit reliance on inbound marketing, which places an emphasis on organic growth and is very resource-intensive, could conceivably handicap a small business.

That said, if a firm's hurdle rate is low, and they have enough cash to not have to worry about a runway, sticking to your guns becomes much more doable, and in the long ron can even be a strategy for growth, if you are in a market which places a premium or corporate branding and integrity.

Relying solely on inbound marketing as a growth strategy is inherently risky, because the yields on inbound marketing increase as a firm, product or service's user base increases, and the venture must  reach a certain 'critical mass' in order for the firm to see any significant returns.

Now that said, every once in a while firms get lucky, and the right combination of product, placement and price causes a firm to see significant organic growth based solely off inbound marketing and superior product design. But these firms are the exception rather than the rule, and while it may be tempting to idealize their successes and believe we can apply the same formula, it is as often as not chance as much as anything else... even Apple, one of the largest and by any measure most successful firms, employs extensive outbound marketing to raise awareness about new products and their features.

So perhaps the question should be 'if Apple doesn't rely solely on inbound marketing, why should you?'