Spatially Relevant

Marketing is in the Middle: John Peltier

John Peltier is an interesting guy who I’ve just recently gotten to know better now that he is an Atlanta-ish resident which I am glad I have. I first met him via ProductCamp Austin, btw – the whole Austin crew is just a good group of folks and for a single city I think Austin might have more product marketing and product management bloggers per capita than anywhere. Second I think is Toronto maybe. Which reminds me, John blogs as well @ johnpeltier.com and is still active in Product Camps, now that he has moved to Atlanta he is actively engaged in helping the team make the 4th PCAMPATL a success as well.

John provides some interesting insights into the journey many technology marketing folks take which often starts in the tech side of the business in his responses. John is currently a product manager and product owner.

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?
I’ve got a little inbound and a little outbound marketing. My primary outbound marketing experience was the year I spent as Marketing Lead for ProductCamp Austin. On the inbound side, I’ve spent three years in product management.

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

As a technologist with a background in quality assurance and technical support, my biggest ramp-up was the business side of things — the interpersonal relationships and consensus building, as well as the financial analysis.

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

The biggest return comes from relationship building and understanding what products to build for the market and what the business constraints are. Validating which problems people are willing to pay to solve helps ensure financial justification, as well as a successful rollout and marketing campaign. So tools that allow engagement with a wider range of customers and prospects provide the raw input for the most important decisions faced by an organization.

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

I am bordering on repeating myself here, but marketers can bring to market a wide range of situations, and developers can build a wide range of products. Marketer need to identify what is needed–what to sell, and what to build–is ultimately the determining factor of a good gig.

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’m a big proponent of agile development, because I see agile as a response by development teams to the reality that it’s extremely difficult to craft a winning solution out of nothing. Building things iteratively, and proactively obtaining feedback on each iteration, gives marketers the opportunity to change course well before the die is cast. This works best, naturally, when marketers actually bring in end users to see the product throughout the process.

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

Companies benefit when they provide the freedom and resources to allow innovation; over-emphasis of delivery dates to the detriment of building game-changing products leads to efficient followers. Further, companies whose leadership can unite disparate divisions around a unified purpose have an advantage over those whose leadership can’t. Product managers can’t necessarily create the former, but those who can provide a vision to help unify the company can improve the 2nd metric.

How far is this from reality?

Some large companies like Google dedicate resources to innovation and to pet projects, and others like Apple force themselves through many design concepts before picking the final one. Obviously exceptional companies, they illustrate ways to institutionalize the innovation that so many of us want.

So what’s next?

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. As just one example, last year I proposed a standard set of documentation that covers the problem(s) solved, buyers, users, value proposition, and the proposed workflow(s). My example is probably a bit heavy on the workflow side for a true agile implementation, but by going through a similar exercise in concept validation, a product manager can make the life of the marketer and the product marketer much much easier.

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Twitter: johnpeltier

Blog: Johnpeltier.com

Thanks for taking the time to provide your feedback on where you see marketing today John!

February 3, 2011 by Jon Gatrell

Marketing is in the Middle: Chris Cummings

The fourth interview for Marketing is in the Middle is with Chris Cummings. I’ve been reading his blog for quite a while – Product Management Meets Pop culture. Not only does he have a cool blog, he’s got an interesting gig as the Director of Product Management of Games and stuff at Lycos’ Gamesville. Chris provides clarity with every post by trying to look at the product marketing and management delima through a pop culture lens – movies, comics, and other pop culture ephemera. Not only does it resonate with a gaming, tv watching and comic liking geek – it provides everyday examples which are easily digestible and fun.

I’m glad Chris was willing to share his take with y’all. So here are his insights:

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

My first professional job was working in the marketing communications office of a college database company called CMG, which soon started spinning out different web-based startups. That was back in 1997. I’ve been in online ever since. The majority of my time has been in online games, and I’ve recently branched out into web publishing.

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

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: I never wanted to be a magician or to live in a black box!

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

I’m really focused on digital, so I’d say making sure your website or app has customer-focused content and interactive features that speak to the needs of your customers or prospective customers is paramount. Part of that “interactivity” should be providing clear, and plentiful, ways for them to reach you. So many businesses still rely on the “Contact Us” or “About” page to drive leads, it’s mind-boggling. But then again, almost half of all small businesses don’t have a digital presence at all so there’s clearly plenty of room for improvement!

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

Understanding the problems of the market you’re focusing on. If you don’t get that, then you basically just have a really cool tech demo and not a business. That applies to everything, even online games. What problems does Gamesville.com solve? Part of it’s psychological, part of it’s pure advertising. Gamesville provides a place for people to come together, create community, and encourage each other playing games while also pulling together a valuable demographic that advertisers want to reach in an environment uniquely suited to getting their messages across.

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 think we’re seeing more strategic integration on the metrics that drive our businesses, and that’s helping everyone including the roles you mention… providing they’re doing a good job. Not everything is measurable online, but many key things are. Focusing on those key metrics helps everyone understand our joint success and failure, and you’re individual role in it.

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

If I was going to design the perfect corporate environment, we’d have a product organization that reports directly into the CEO along with the other C-level functions. The Chief Product Officer would be responsible for leading the product while working with the other members of the senior team to make sure finance tracks key metrics (not just costs!), that our marketing is effective, sales is selling, and engineering is making the magic happen. Team work among the senior team is critical, including productive conflict, but everyone needs to respect and understand who’s driving which parts of the business — and which “key drivers” are really key.

How far is this from reality?

I think we’re getting closer and closer to this every day. Thanks to web analytics, there’s so much information available — and anyone with the right credentials can see it, at any point, including the CEO. Step one was getting everyone to see the same data. Step two is getting everyone to agree on which metrics actually matter!

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I think the Chief Product Officer (CPO) will definitely be an emerging role in the market as Chris suggests. I also think that Chief Marketing Officers and CPO’s will need a key technology role to support them in the goal of improved processes and metrics. Organizations are going to not only need to invest in developing products to be successful, but also leverage tools and content to drive efficiencies and increase ROI of marketing programs/investments.

Twitter: chriscumming01
Blog: Product Management Meets Pop Culture (http://christophercummings.com/)

January 31, 2011 by Jon Gatrell

Marketing is in the Middle: Marty Thompson

The number 3 participant in this second round of Marketing is in the Middle is Marty Thompson. So Marty is a guy that I’ve been lucky enough to get insights from him for over a decade. He just one of those B2B marketing consultants whose insights help provide clarity for a business.

So here is Marty’s take:

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

I’ve worked primarily in marketing and product marketing management within several arenas, including CRM, eCommerce, Knowledge Management.

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

I wouldn’t say it relates to activities, per se. I’ve gotten the most satisfaction from working with companies that are at a crossroads. Whether they are a start up, a well known company that is in acquisition mode, or one that has made the jump into uncharted waters, they tend to be willing to completely rethink their marketing efforts. This environment is not for the thin skinned, but it can be exhilarating, and marketers can see their efforts play into major successes.

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

Believe it or not, sound email marketing tactics are not going away. Tweeking SEO, creating sound content, are some of the most basic foundational activities that still matter. Anyone who says direct mail is dead better understand where their company exists in the food chain. Activity driven ROI depends on understanding what works. It’s that simple. But what I am also seeing out their is a willingness, and a slow evolution, of how organizations are using social as a springboard to finally transform their organization internally. 99% of all the advice out their regarding social media, whether it relates to policy, internal processes, readiness, etc, are missing the real point of what I think is happening when companies embrace social. The ones that end up using it well are the ones that have transformed their employees. The frightening aspect of this is that organizations are achieving various levels of success without any understanding of this internal transformation process. …and of course failures happen along the way too – learn from it and improve.

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

The most successful marketers understand that they are one part of a very large team. I tell junior marketers to interview a prospective employer very critically. Don’t waste your time with a Bill Lumbergh. The precursor to being successful in any marketing role is to be sure that it is a good fit. Be sure the executive team “gets” you. Are they excited about what they are doing? Does it show? They need to understand what you think the challenges for the organization are…now, and in the future. You should be in agreement with your understanding of the marketplace, your goods or services, etc. They need to understand that failure is a part of this business, and that marketers in particular are in a position to learn from them. All the best technologies out there will not guarantee success. Talk to everyone on the team, and also try to chat with others in the company. Customer support, product management, anyone you will be interacting with in a marketing capacity. Read their tweets, their blogs, anything to better understand them.

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?

A couple of things come to mind. first off, in at least two of my previous gigs, the CMO understood the value of the pragmatic model, and had embraced it as part of their raison d’etre. The second change is a bit tougher to find, even in the over saturated “social” environment. And that is a fundamental understanding that social technologies are on the one hand yet another channel, but more importantly, can be transformational. I like to call it socialized commerce, but of course that is nothing but a lovely generalization.

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

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. If you are working in a company that has embraced their customers, using social technologies, and is attempting to build out a vibrant community, by all means be in the thick of it. And don’t try so hard that you stop listening.

How far is this from reality?

I would hope that almost every marketer out there is working in an environment that is getting close to this. If there is a major gap, it may fall back on the notion that they may be fighting an uphill battle. In that case, stop thinking about tactics and technologies. Start having the tough conversations with your CMO.

So what’s next?

I hope that this year we’ll see much of the dialog about social media move away from the same conversations we all had about CRM, marketing automation, and other things. I believe the real tsunami behind social technology is how for some organizations it was the internal transformational catalyst to change the way people think, how they interact, how they work together.

We’ll also see a huge shift to further understand the behavior of the consumer. How we make the leap from intent, whether implied or implicit, to accurately predicting behavior, this will be hotly pursued. However, we will as marketers come up against barriers, and perhaps rightly so. With the ability to dial in personalized data, from Facebook to device fingerprinting, many people are becoming increasingly sensitive to their behavior profiles. If your are under 20 years old, you are more likely to text than use email. Even though our world is becoming increasingly interconnected, we are beginning to see a backlash.

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A strategic approach to marketing and engagement requires a holistic examination of your process, touch points and customer transactions. Email is still a relevant part of the mix for B2B marketing. Yup, Marty is spot on with email and engagement. Thanks man.

Web: Two Bananas Marketing

Twitter: @freighter