Japanese Open Source Pioneer Enters US Market, Increases Sales Leads 1,300% posted by Jesse Casman at Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Plat'Home, a Linux pioneer in Japan, turned to Page One PR to expand into the US market in late 2007. Plat’Home sells a line of small "microservers" not much bigger than a smartphone but with enough power to handle a wide range of IT applications. A publicly-traded company and an established brand in Japan, Plat'Home was essentially unknown in the U.S. With a conservative budget for overseas operations, they needed to rely on online sales and low-touch, Web-based marketing (including PR). Their initial marketing efforts focused on product flexibility and a wide range of possible uses because, hey, that's what their Japan customers had wanted!

Plat'Home, in discussions with Page One, realized that they needed more specific differentiation in the U.S. market and re-positioned the product value proposition around the microservers' hidden strengths – low power consumption and extreme temperature resistance. In our rollout strategy at Page One, we also offered review units to reporters. You have to see these things to believe them. Out of the box, the high quality Japanese engineering and small size – a fully functional server that fits in the palm of your hand – has a big impact.

Plat'Home has the advantage of having market-tested products. While they appear to be a startup here, the products they sell in the U.S. market are in their fifth generation, with many large satisfied Japanese customers such as KDDI (telecom), HitachiSoft (software), Yomiuri (news), and Shimizu (construction).

Page One, in media outreach and Web-based guerilla marketing, focused on "tiny, green and extreme toughness," to re-launch Plat’Home products in the U.S.. Clips piled up quickly, with coverage in CNET, Wired, The Register, Slashdot (with 188 comments), E-Commerce Times, and many other important IT trade publications.

U.S. web site traffic, the main barometer of success and where all sales leads originate, jumped 20-fold and then 70-fold and finally 90-fold. It was like an online firehose. In-coming sales leads tracked a similar trajectory, overloading Plat’Home’s ability to respond, initially (they subsequently added "Buy Now" buttons on most of their Web pages). That's a nice problem to have!

The U.S. market is large and noisy for foreign companies entering for the first time. Adjusting to the landscape of U.S. media can also be daunting. But Plat'Home now has increased interest in the U.S. market, both in the media and with customers. They still have work ahead of them but they have built a good foundation for long-term success by focusing their messages and playing to their strengths.

Plat'Home-At-A-Glance
Daily U.S. web site traffic before Page One PR: life support, almost flat line. Minimal inbound sales queries (see trend lines in graph below).

March 31, 2008, first press release with Page One PR (clips in CNET, others):

• Web traffic up 2,000%;
• In-bound sales queries up 500% over historic traffic level.
  

April 21, 2008, second press release with Page One PR (clips in Wired and Slashdot, others):

• Web traffic up 7,000%;
  
• In-bound sales queries up 1,000% over historic traffic level.
  

April 28, 2008, follow-up Page One pitching on second news release sparks second round of media coverage (clips in The Register, others):

• Web traffic up 9,000%;
  
• In-bound sales queries up 1,300% over historic traffic level.
  



(percentage increases in plathome.com website traffic)