Re: TTG marketing woes

[Robert Bidinotto 76260.3570@xxxxxxxx]

Peter Knupfer wrote:

"I'll bet that many of us would like TTG and XW to keep its cozy community
of users together, but that has exacted a price, IMHO....one should
not need to surf the web to get official answers to basic questions about a
program in which one has invested a good chunk of change. When I have
raised this question with tech support at TTG, they have shrugged it off,
saying that TTG just doesn't like to invest in advertising -- yet that
policy is an important deterrent to current and potential users, who wonder
year to year if this program is going to survive and the company can be
relied upon."

That says it all! Marketing and advertising tell the public -- including past
customers -- not only that you have a good product, but that you are for real,
that you are in the market for the long haul. Software outfits that think they
can simply fiddle with their product in the safety of their offices, but are Too
Good to enter the messy and threatening world of marketing to real people, are
guaranteeing themselves certain extinction, via the slow bleeding of their
market share. At the current rate of market attrition, the extinction of XyWrite
is a foregone conclusion; only the timing remains in doubt.

I love XyWrite, and think that it is an incomparable engine for professional
writers. But I have to tell you that the lack of advertising and support by TTG
is truly astonishing, and demoralizing. Though a registered owner/user, I can't
tell you how long it's been since I even received so much as a mailing from TTG.
Has to be at least 2 years. Until I found this maillist, I wasn't even sure TTG
and XyWriter were still around.

This sort of neglect does indeed cause users to rethink buying any upgrades,
because of the uncertainty of the company's prospects and continuation. And the
cost of this neglect to TTG is demonstrably enormous. For example, I write
frequently for a MAJOR national magazine, employing scores of editors and
writers, and which for years had used XyWrite as its main engine. But the whole
operation is slowly changing over to Word, simply because of a lack of
confidence in TTG.

I visited TTG a couple years ago during a Baltimore business trip, and made
points similar to these -- even leaving a lengthy memo filled with low-cost
marketing suggestions. I didn't even get so much as a thank-you note for my
troubles.

Next time I have to upgrade, I'll be carefully considering options other than
XyWrite -- a program which deserves (like its dwindling number of buyers and
users) far better attention than TTG seems willing to give.

Sadly,

Bob Bidinotto