OBJECTIVES

To rapidly increase worldwide visibility and credibility of products, and to increase sales, particularly in the USA, at a time when financial results were due to be announced. SG also had to work on improving internal staff morale.

SG had to achieve this with one trainee assistant - previously l5 people had been involved in marketing, together with external agencies handling PR and Advertising.

RESULTS

SG quadrupled the press coverage and this brought in twice as many sales enquiries. American PR had previously cost Micro Focus $l2,000 per month. SG handled this along with the UK and European PR and other communications activities.

SG produced ads for $400 each, which had previously cost $10,000 each. User stories were written by SG for a fraction of the $2000 previously paid. There were far more product reviews than before.

Every marketing dollar was fully exploited. SG encouraged Micro Focus to be very market research oriented, and thus very responsive to the market. She developed a system whereby each new sale made was researched to find out where the sales lead came from and the exact reason why people decided to purchase Micro Focus products. This led to an extremely effective allocation of available budget. The success of the very active marketing campaign improved internal staff morale.

Resultant favourable American coverage was used to demonstrate to the City of London that American trade was likely to turn around, which it did. At that time, Micro Focus was the most successful computer flotation on the Stock Exchange. (Prior to moving to Palo Alto to work for Micro Focus, SG had been the company's marketing and PR consultant in London for seven years.)

Paul O'Grady, Micro Focus' Chairman and CEO, on above full-time appointment and previous consultancy work: "In l985 Sally Goodsell went to work full-time in our US office in Palo Alto, Ca. Her brief was to rapidly increase the worldwide credibility of both Micro Focus and its products, and thus increase sales and staff morale. The task would have been a tall order for an agency, let alone an individual, but Sally Goodsell's work exceeded our expectations and at a vastly reduced cost to the company. Sally has tremendous drive, energy and enthusiasm and is an asset to any team."

STRATEGY AND TACTICS

Press : Immediately on arrival in the USA SG researched how Micro Focus was perceived, and organised an East Coast press tour with the Marketing Manager to ensure the credibility of products and to endorse Micro Focus' commitment to the American market.

SG handled all the UK, European and American PR personally. However, as the USA was seen as the main source of future sales and where the greatest challenges lay, the American market became the focus of SG's work, with the resultant material being made available worldwide.

Press releases produced by SG included agreements with AT&T and contracts with various users such as US Army and US Post Office who are normally publicity shy. The resultant media coverage included American radio and TV. SG arranged press meetings for Micro Focus executives in UK, Europe and USA.

There was a multi-pronged synergistic marketing strategy. Users were encouraged to buy Micro Focus products and their interest was leveraged to persuade the industry suppliers - all OEMs, VARs and ISVs - to implement and incorporate Micro Focus products in their own offerings. Additionally, ISVs were persuaded to use MF products in their own development work. To support this strategy SG drafted various articles showing successes gained by all parties as a result of using MF products. These articles were successfully placed in quality American publications such as Information Week, and then produced as reprints. SG organised Micro Focus' attendance at various major American shows and produced press releases, arranged graphics, demo material etc.

Advertising : A new weekly advertising campaign with a very low budget was launched by SG who had to find new, very low priced resources in California to help with this. SG obtained input for ads from management and the front line sales people, selected the media, negotiated very best prices and positions and monitored the response.

Collateral : Seven new brochures were written and produced in 6 months and SG also established a competitive database. Each month the sales people focused on a particular product and SG supported this by ensuring that the maximum material was made available in line with the product focus for that month including direct mail, product reviews, ads etc.

Management : As an executive of the company SG also produced budgets, attended management meetings, and produced a procedure for all marcoms activities.

MICRO FOCUS LIMITED - London based consultant

OBJECTIVE

The short term objective was to support the sales activity by gaining recognition for Micro Focus which was almost unknown in l980. The long term objective was to give integrity to the company prior to its planned Stock Exchange quotation. In order to sell Micro Focus' products SG had to convince and inspire the market so that COBOL was no longer seen as a dead language.

RESULTS

Micro Focus was seen as a company with integrity and high quality technical products. At that time, whatever the press wrote about - from City financing to software documentation to marketing overseas - Micro Focus executives were asked to comment. In this way the company became recognised as a major player in the IT market.

All the marketing messages were 'two pronged' that is, they were aimed at the OEMs and ISVs who were able to grant major contracts, but in order to convince them to do this Micro Focus' marketing was targeted at end users so as to create a ground swell of demand which the OEMs could not ignore.

Paul O'Grady, Micro Focus' Chairman and CEO: "Micro Focus was relatively unknown in l980 and as the company's Public Relations Consultant, Sally Goodsell's main task was to increase sales by establishing our visibility in the trade, business and national press. This was achieved with a very high level of success. Micro Focus executives were frequently called on to comment on industry trends and the company came to be seen as a major player. This work helped pave the way to our being one of the most successful flotations on the London Stock Exchange. Sally has tremendous drive, energy and enthusiasm and is an asset to any team."

STRATEGY AND TACTICS

SG recognised that Micro Focus' great strength was the quality of its technology and its people. Every communication was carefully honed to ensure that technical quality and competence permeated every message. SG handled Micro Focus' PR in UK, Europe and Japan.

In the light of 4GLs etc. there was a great deal of cynicism from journalists about COBOL and its relevance. This was countered with facts about the existing heavy investment in COBOL and its user base, and the merits of Micro Focus' development environments.

Having achieved recognition as a company of high technical competence, SG encouraged journalists to approach Micro Focus' executives for comments on the industry in general. This furthered the objective of Micro Focus being recognised as an important force in the industry.

Micro Focus' successes in Japan were fully exploited in the national press, TV and radio.