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Product Marketing

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/

February 14, 2011 by Jon Gatrell

Mobile Trends for Marketers, Product Marketers and Product Managers

Market research isn’t easy – it’s always a bunch a work. Gaining insight into trends and alike not only requires a keen eye on the data, but continuous interaction from folks in the market. To that end, researching trends can definitely be more difficult than it should be and researching markets can be even harder if you don’t have an analyst budget.

For the past 2 or 3 years or so, I’ve been consistently tracking the mobile markets and trends for some time and here is some more stuff for y’all, with another one from Mary Meeker. It also looks like Meeker apparently recently joined – KPCB. OK maybe not recently, but at least since the last published Morgan Stanley pitch on internet mobile trends.

Mobile megatrends 2011 (VisionMobile)

View more presentations from andreasc.

Again a bunch of meeker slides:

Top 10 Mobile Internet Trends (Feb 2011)

View more presentations from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

February 11, 2011 by Jon Gatrell

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!

February 10, 2011 by Jon Gatrell

Marketing is in the Middle: Joshua Duncan

Josh Duncan took some time out his busy schedule at start-up Zenoss to provide some insights. Josh is an Austin native and has had a very diverse background which spans hardware and software for both B2B and B2C markets, so he bring a bunch of experience to the table for this effort.

So here is Josh’s take:

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

I started the first phase of my career as a software consultant for Accenture and ended up an Enterprise Architect doing technology strategy for Bank of America. I loved the strategy aspect but wanted to do more on the business side of the organization so I did a career switch over to marketing.

My marketing roles and background have covered both business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketing, all in technology marketing.

As a consumer marketer, I worked planning and launching desktops, netbooks, and tablets for Dell’s consumer product group.

I currently lead the product and social marketing at Zenoss, an enterprise software start-up..

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

That’s a trick question, right? One of the reasons that I made the career switch was because of all the interesting aspects of marketing.

Currently, I am finding building a product marketing program, in startup environment, is a very interesting challenge. When there is more work to do than time to do it and limited resources, what do you focus on to deliver the most results?

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

Currently, I am a big fan of projects that can be reused across multiple channels. For example, if we are working on building momentum around a product launch and are thinking of sponsoring a webinar, what else can we do at the same time? Can we turn this into an interview series, a blog post, a case study, a white paper, etc?

Basically, once we land on a good story, how many ways can we get it out there so that it finds its way to our customers in a manner that works for them.

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

Being able to work with the organization to effectively build a marketing strategy that delivers results.

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 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.

In the past, it might not have been as apparent when there was communication challenges and dysfunction in the company but not any more. Consumers have much higher expectations and much lower threshold for B.S.

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

A great environment for a marketer is at a company that has figured out who their customer is (and whom to avoid) and unmercifully focuses on meeting their needs.

A perfect environment would be a company that isn’t just focused on selling a product for the short term, but is willing to take the time to invest in efforts with a long term horizon – building a movement (borrowing from the Brain’s on Fire terminology) .

How far is this from reality?

I think there are handful of companies out there, small and big, that are starting to figure this out and thriving because of it.

The trouble is that it is hard to bolt this on after the fact. It has to be a result of decisions made early on in the company’s life that are then maintained and built on over time.

So what’s next?

I think the big challenge for 2011 and beyond is going to be finding ways to be relevant. If you think it is noisy now, just wait till you see what the next few years bring.

This was a topic that I spoke on, along with three other marketing leaders, at the last Product Camp conference in Austin, TX. As we marketers look to grow our business, finding way to become and maintain relevancy are going to be critical.

It is going to be a tremendous challenge but I think if it is done right, is going to be worth the effort and has the potential of being a lot of fun.

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Twitter: @joshua_d

Blog: www.arandomjog.com

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Many thanks to Josh for his answers and make sure you connect with him if you are in Austin.