Asymmetric Marketing: Tossing the 'Chasm' in the Age of the Software Superpowers [Paperback]

Joseph E. Bentzel (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (October 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419649809
• ISBN-13: 978-1419649806
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #849,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joseph Bentzel is an advisor to software and high technology companies at all stages of development, from startups to market leaders. He is the founder of Platformula Group, a new breed consultancy focused on the application of asymmetric marketing to 21st century markets from cloud computing to mobility to social appplications. Bentzel's blog at PlatformulaGroup.com focuses on strategic marketing in the age of the cloud superpowers, including Google, VMware, Microsoft, Amazon.com and others.

Bentzel grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attended Temple University, and is now based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He can be reached by email at [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, timely approach to selling software and services with/around the "Marketing Superpowers", December 12, 2006

By 

J. W. Strohecker (Silicon Valley, Calif. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Asymmetric Marketing: Tossing the 'Chasm' in the Age of the Software Superpowers (Paperback)

Most marketing and sales professionals have read the tomes by Geoffrey Moore, et al., that opine that chasms can be easily or rigorously bridged with targeted campaigns. In contrast, Mr. Benzel has created an insightful view of the new, engulfing "Sandstorm Economy" that is dominated by "Marketing Superpowers."

Thus, unlike the chasm theory, Mr. Benzel asserts that in order to effectively compete in today's changing economy, we must be much more nimble and aware of the successful practices -- and directions -- of the Superpowers, or we will be engulfed.

Clearly, companies now have the opportunity to learn from the practices of these Superpowers and leverage new techniques and operative methods to be more competitive and successful.

This is an excellent book -- and an even better Primer for conducting technology marketing in the new, changing economy. I strongly recommend this book for Marketers who are looking forward and who want to leverage new, successful techniques, rather than look back and continue to invest in staid methods with decreasing value, significance, and success.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging, Readable Marketing Strategy Book, September 22, 2009

By 

Daniel N. Miller "Opus Research" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Asymmetric Marketing: Tossing the 'Chasm' in the Age of the Software Superpowers (Paperback)

Joe Bentzel takes a heretical approach to high-tech marketing in a software-driven world. He challenges bell-shaped world created by devotees of Moore's Law, marketing lifecycles curves and venture funding to provide truly practical advice for firms that want to do well in today's marketplace, which is dominated by a small cohort of Big Code. I thank him for stopping short of my personal high-tech marketing hero Bill Davidow, the man who kicked off the chain of thinking that spawned Geoffery Moore and Tom Perkins.

This is an engaging and readable book. Bentzel has a conversational quality that makes it easy to take personally. He also presents thoughts that are easy to visualize, with images of cage matches, no-fly zones and the like. He highlights many of the marketing pathologies that gave rise to growth tactics built on venture funding (rather than top line growth), David disrupting Goliath (when Goliath brands have the capital, intellectual property, distribution strategies and the like to lock out insurgencies) and exist strategies that resemble divine intervention.

Although it is framed in 2006, it contains practical advice for marketers entering the second decade of the new millennium.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "How-To" book for technology oriented business in the 21st century, November 9, 2006

By 

J. S. Bickley (Reno, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Asymmetric Marketing: Tossing the 'Chasm' in the Age of the Software Superpowers (Paperback)

This book is a must have for any technology driven business seeking success in today's, "post bubble", competitive landscape with software superpowers lurking at every turn. (HINT - it isn't through charitable VC funding or the next breakthrough technology!) Whether you are an upstart ISV or a seasoned marketing executive at a Fortune 500 firm, the information contained in this book will shift your outlook entirely. The reality is that the rules of the game have slowly changed over the past two decades and fortunately for us, Joe Bentzel has been paying attention. If you think you know the technology landscape of today's economy, do yourself a favor --- read this book!