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Marketing is in the Middle: The Recap

Thought I would provide a recap of the series which appears to be some of the most popular content here according to Google analytics…  So in case you didn’t catch it the first time, here’s the replay:

Sales Interface – Vikram Singha:  The successful organization aligns the Sales leader and the CMO tightly and creates structures that allow these teams to interact both formally AND informally. The trick is to make sure there isn’t an echo chamber and that creative differences can be brought out and thought through. My sense is that short term focused organizations (typically the tech industry which tend to be more quarter-driven) tend to have more differences. Managing this is always a challenge, as well as part of the fun of marketing.

Culture – Chris Brogan:   listening. I think that listening and customer service are the new marketing. Screw your stupid tag lines and contests. If I listen to prospective customers’ needs, and I can improve the way a customer works with my company, then I’m doing what marketing really wants to do: acquire new customers and keep the existing ones happy.

Awareness – Steve Johnson:   …it’s just the concept of being in marketing.  The word marketing means different things to different folks.  1/3 thinks it is advertising, 1/3 hear MARCOM and the remaining 1/3 think it is strategy and products. The confusion of what marketing is challenging for a lot of people in marketing roles.

Roles – Chris Cummings:  The most interesting and challenging has been defining and explaining what it is, exactly, that I do. Over the years, more than one person (including multiple CEOs) have noted that: a) they’re not entirely sure how I do what I do but b) I always get the job done, and bring real value to the business. On the one hand, that’s a big compliment. On the other, it made me a little nervous

Engagement – Jay Baer:  ..stop (at least for this year) talking about the hot new thing, and instead turn our attention to doing the current things better. Social media optimization and integration would be a good start.

Customer Intimacy – Josh Duncan: I would say that now, more than ever, successful organizations are finding a way to align their marketing, sales, and support teams to best server their customers.  There is a greater understanding that all of these touch points are important when it comes to the customer experience.

Metrics – Elizabeth Quintanilla:  ..finding all the analytics based on the customer metrics and presenting them in a digestible format for the small business owner so they can see the impact of their marketing activities

Teams Matter – Jennifer Doctor: I believe what is hard is understanding and adapting to the different cultures I have entered and left. Each environment brings its own set of expectations and rules, mostly unwritten and tribal driven.   This can make it challenging to drive to what is right and make a difference.

Evolving Expectations – John Peltier: Product management is evolving and maturing as a discipline, which is helping illustrate to companies the clarity of vision that should exist for products brought to market.  Product managers should strive to establish a minimum set of deliverables that can clearly convey the essence of a product, and should strive to ensure they can complete it convincingly before delivering a product to market.

Field Success Matters – Marty Thompson:  One of the most valuable things any marketer can do is spend time with their sales team. Go out in the field with them. Walk a mile in their moccasins. Believe it or not, they really want you to help them be more successful. And they spend more time talking with customers and prospects, more than most marketers do now. Spend time with your customers, even the ones who are unhappy. Get out there.

All about the Product – Mukund Mohan:  Great products appeal to the customer in a uniquely satisfying way, making marketing’s job to only create awareness.  Satisfied customer’s allow for faster product adoption and provides quicker time to revenue.

 

Marketing is in the Middle: Elizabeth Quintanilla

The final person in the series is a person who tirelessly given back to the product marketing community and just the community in general – Elizabeth Quintanilla.  Within 30 seconds of meeting Elizabeth you’ll know that she brings passion and energy to ANY effort she applies herself to.  I first met her at a product camp and have been actively watching her tweets since then.

Elizabeth isn’t just a leader in the product management and marketing community, she devotes her time to improving Austin and works to advance efforts locally as the social media ambassador of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GAHCC).  The other cool thing about Elizabeth is she might be able to be technically called a rocket scientist with a long stint managing products for the Jet Propulsion Lab.

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

Surprisingly, I had a strange start to Marketing.  My first taste of product management was a systems re-engineering project at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  It was my job to solicit requirements on how over 200 engineers how and wanted to actually use a software system used to navigate all current robotic missions at JPL.  After graduating with my UT-MBA, I had another product manager role within a product group of IBM’s WebSphere.  In 2009, I decided to start a woman-minority owned marketing and community outreach firm.  Since then, I have worked with government, high tech, small family business, and restaurants.

When you look at your career in marketing, what activities have you found most interesting/challenging?

What I really enjoy is the creative part of marketing – ranging from storyboards to the full video creation.  Also, I enjoy finding all the analytics based on the customer metrics and presenting them in a digestible format for the small business owner so they can see the impact of their marketing activities.  Some have described me as a creative analyst.

With my background in technology, my first client engagement in the food and beverage market was a challenge because of the rapid ramp time to address their unique concerns.  I had to remember all my experiences of having that part-time high school job.

Based on your experience what activities do you think get the most return?

Speaking and teaching; volunteering my skills with non-profits; building relationships that generate referrals based on volunteer, presentation, and coaching activities.

What do you feel is the most important component of a successful marketing gig?

Executive Buy-In – there must be acceptance from exec team for bringing in an outsourced marketing resource and provide timely relevant information.

How have you seen organizations change in the last 3-5 years to better support the needs of product marketers, product managers and communications teams?

Better realignment between where product managers report to (Development, Sales, or Marketing) and the overlap in teams.  Move to an agile adoption where each of the teams have 30, 60, and 90 day plans.

If you could design the perfect corporate environment for a marketer to be successful what would that be?

One where the Execs buy in to the process and if I could get a little more dreamy, daily stand ups through the organization to improve communications.

How far is this from reality?

I see an increase of adoption within marketing teams and leadership teams, but it still requires work for most companies.

So what’s next?

More teaching small business, and working with interesting clients as a marketing gunslinger for me.  For the industry, a steadfast movement away from big ideas, tech and products and alignment with the needs of the markets.

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Web: EQ Consultants

Blog: elizabeth-quintanilla.com

Twitter: @equintanilla

Many thanks to Elizabeth for her participation.  What a positive note to end the series on!

Marketing is in the Middle: Lauren Carlson

The next person in the series, is Lauren Carlson.  I asked Lauren to participate since as the interviews started to unfold from a content perspective, no one was really talking about tools which provide marketers an edge.  Lauren writes about various topics related to CRM software, with particular interest in sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service and this background clearly made her a great fit to help fill this gap which has emerged in the discussions around marketing being in the middle.

Like all marketers or people around tech – Lauren isn’t formally trained in technology or marketing.  She has a background in the music industry, and when she isn’t writing about software, you can find her running at  Town Lake and singing at local venues around Austin.  So maybe, just maybe I should have entitled the series Austin is in the Middle of Technology marketing with a couple of  other geographies added to the mix, just for fun.

Here is Lauren’s take:

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

I am relatively new to marketing but I continue to get exposure to many software marketers, companies and service providers as a journalist. The role I have at Software Advice provides great access to leaders in the community. As a practitioner, I am actively involved in doing search engine optimization.

When you look at your career in marketing, what activities have you found most interesting/challenging?

Targeting the right segments in the market.  Ultimately as marketers, we have to find our niche or audience.  So finding the right audience can often be difficult. Sometimes we have really great content, but if it doesn’t hit the right person, it is useless.

Based on your experience what activities do you think get the most return?

Doing the background research! Certainly it can take a good deal of effort and a bit of time, but it often brings back the most returns. I spend days researching keywords and search stats to better understand my audience. It can be tedious, but when we start to rank for those competitive terms, that’s really when you see the fruits of your labor.

What do you feel is the most important component of a successful marketing gig?

Content. Content. Content. Content drives everything. You can have the most talented people or the best business model, coolest tech, but if your content is bad, you’ve got nothing to keep your audience/buyers engaged.

If you could design the perfect corporate environment for a marketer to be successful what would that be?

It would be focused on collaboration and creativity. Sometimes I get my best ideas when talking with a co-worker or when I am simply away from my desk interacting with others. Don’t get me wrong –  some structure is great, but I think having the freedom to team up or step out of a structured environment can really free the mind to come up with some awesome stuff.

How far is this from reality?

I think that a lot of new start-ups are adopting this environment. Our company is working toward it and I have heard of others that are using this model. I think it is possible in organizations with a legacy in the traditional way of marketing. It is simply a matter of them accepting it and making the decision to adopt it.

So what’s next?

I have personally done a lot of research in the area of marketing automation – a piece of software that automates basic to complex marketing tasks. Companies are beginning to see the value of adding a marketing automation system to their enterprise software mix. However, the issue of adoption is what is holding it back. Software Advice just published a very interesting article from Jeff Pedowitz called, “Why the Marketing Automation Market is Floundering & 5 Fixes to Fuel It.” One of the stumbling blocks faced by the industry is education. We have this great new software, but we have not educated marketers on what it is or how to use it. I think we will see a new generation of marketers popping up in the next few years. These marketers will be true analytical thinkers more focused on process. We still need creative minds, as well. I think when you combine great technology and process with vibrant creativity and ideas, you have the perfect marketing mix.

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Twitter: @MASoftwareGuide or @CRMadvice

Blog: www.softwareadvice.com/articles/crm/

Marketing is in the Middle: Amanda Vega

The series continues with insights from Amanda Vega a online marketing veteran who as you find out many of us can thank for really cool branded coasters in our dorm rooms.  If you haven’t yet read some of the stuff she writes, you have to take a look at it – concise and insightful.  Amanda doesn’t only blog around traditional PR and Brand activities, she has also been doing some interesting work on social media compliance which continues to gain momentum as a topic of extreme interest for individuals and companies alike.

So here’s Amanda’s take on marketing is in the middle:

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

Everything from Marketing Assistant, to VP of Marketing in markets coast to coast.

When you look at your career in marketing, what activities have you found most interesting/challenging?

The most interesting by far was the roll out of AOL instant messenger and the marketing activities surrounding the huge influx of AOL users from those annoying CD’s you used to find everywhere.

Additionally, since growing up in the online space (been here for over 20 years now) I’ve seen the power of using data collected from actual behavior online to create not only smarter marketing programs, but more sustainable and profitable businesses.

Based on your experience what activities do you think get the most return?

Branding and PR get the most long-term ROI. It’s sad that more companies don’t invest in them – because they are too focused on direct sales funnels.

What do you feel is the most important component of a successful marketing gig?

The ROI, of course, which has to be judged beyond sales.

How have you seen organizations change in the last 3-5 years to better support the needs of product marketers, product managers and communications teams?

I’ve seen them allow more flexibility and access to technology that help them succeed.

If you could design the perfect corporate environment for a marketer to be successful what would that be?

I’ve built it. Our company offers a completely independent work environment where work product and client happiness, not hours, are counted as success.

How far is this from reality?

It’s clearly difficult for people to do as I know of very few companies run like ours.

So what’s next?

The continued use of data collected from online user data. The demise of using things like Neilson as law in reach. Results are all that is going to matter.

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Twitter: @amandavega
Blog A: http://www.amandavegablog.com
Blog B: http://www.socialmediacomplianceblog.com/

Many thanks to Amanda for her taking time out to provide feedback on marketing’s role from her perspective!