Spatially Relevant

Marketing is in the Middle: Jay Baer

This is the second one and I have really been impressed with the different approaches to the questions from the participants so far. I’m also encouraged by many of the answers I’m seeing in the responses on how businesses developing more strategic marketing organizations in many sectors.

Jay Baer was kind enough to participate in the Marketing is in the Middle series. I’m super thankful that since I’ve been reading Jay’s blog for several years now (Convince and Convert). It was one of those random word of mouth things… Dave Daniels tuned me in to Jay who then was in Phoenix and who now is in Indiana doing consulting work all over the place. I think Jay just might live in airports.

If you haven’t read/ran into Jay yet, he is real pragmatic in his approach – actionable strategies, tools and real-world use cases on how you can increase your operational effectiveness with social processes. Jay just co-authored a book which spoke to 7 critical shifts businesses just need to make when thinking socially.

So here’s Jay’s take on the questions:
What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

I started as a PR intern in Phoenix. I was then a political campaign manager in Arizona for a few years, before moving to the client side as a marketer for Waste Management, Inc. in AZ and Southern California. I then was briefly the spokesman for a state agency before getting involved in online marketing in 1994. I was VP/Marketing at Internet Direct (the world’s first hosting company); co-founder at azfamily.com; Senior Director at visitalk.com; and founder of digital agency Mighty Interactive – all of those in Phoenix. Most recently in 2008 I started my Convince & Convert social strategy consultancy. I now live in Bloomington, Indiana but have clients everywhere.

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

Adoption curves repeat themselves. The questions we’re asking and answering about social media today are very similar to those we dealt with regarding email a few years ago, and websites a few years before that. We’ve seen this movie before.

Based on your experience what activities do you think get the most return?
Anything that combines direct communication, opt-in, and relevancy. Email and search are the most noteworthy examples, and I hope social will continue to progress so that we can have the same potential successes.

What do you feel is the most important component of a successful marketing gig?
Cultural support for change, and a belief that the customer experience is paramount.

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?
Much smarter about getting marketing involved earlier in the process, combined with a recognition that marketing is about more than a launch.

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

Allowing marketing to be as close as possible to product and customer support makes for the best environment. I also prefer it when companies embrace a spirit of testing and trial. Three years ago, suggesting that social would be a meaningful part of the marketing plan was crazy talk for most companies. And look at it now. Marketing must be fluid, because customer dynamics and expectations are fluid.

How far is this from reality?

Fortunately, it’s reality today in some companies, although they tend to be mid-market. Enough resources to try stuff, but unburdened by corporate process.

So what’s next?

I really, really hope we 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. Social is an ingredient, not an entree.

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I’ve been using the ingredient quote for a while now. Social media for B2B marketing isn’t a pure play effort for most businesses, it requires an integrated and managed approach across the business – support, marketing, pr… Social processes should make your business more efficient and improve your customer’s experience.

Again, I am most appreciative of Jay taking the time to participate.

Blog: Convince and Convert

Twitter:@ jaybaer

Book: The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter & More Social

January 26, 2011 by Jon Gatrell

Marketing is in the Middle: Mike Troiano

It’s time for input from other people again here at SR. So I decide to dust off a series I start a while back call Marketing is in the Middle. The last time I did this I got some really good responses from a host of folks:

I’m kicking off this round with Mike Troiano. So who’s MJ? I’ve just recently started reading his stuff in last in 90 days or so and he has a straightforward approach to most everything he posts. For an introduction to his efforts, I would take a look at his how to sell post. Mike Troiano is currently a Principal at Holland-Mark in Boston. His blog, Scalable Intimacy, also provides a lens into agencies as well, not just marketing insights. Mike has had a bunch of leadership roles across multiple functional groups throughout his career. I suspect his insight into multiple groups was key to him being the founding CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Interactive.

So here’s Mike’s take on Marketing Being in the Middle:

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

I was a brand guy at McCann, an interactive guy at Ogilvy, a mobile guy at m-Qube, and a social guy at Holland-Mark.

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

There’s something I find interesting at the intersection of marketing and new technology, so that’s pretty much where I’ve focused my career.

Based on your experience what activities do you think get the most return?
That’s a pretty broad question, and I don’t think there’s a single tactical answer that applies in every case. Speaking generally… I believe in the power of brands, and the common thread across all of my digital marketing work is that it was about leveraging new media to seed, cultivate and harvest relationships.

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

I’d have to say quality of execution. I think the age of “easy” marketing is over, and the marketing that works today invariably has a lot of moving parts and details to get right coordinate. Managing those details effectively is what it’s all about.

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?

No, I really haven’t. I think most brands are still trying to figure out what do with the social stuff, for example. Very few have determined how to re-align themselves to take full advantage of that opportunity. I’m sure it will happen, but with notable exceptions, I don’t think it has yet.

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

Great marketing organizations have CEO’s that support them, leaders with the courage to take risks, ground troops who focus on quality of execution, systems to measure results and iterate, and passion for real business results.

How far is this from reality?

Pretty far. I think most marketing organizations have 1 or 2 of those things, really good ones have 3 or 4, and only the rock star teams have them all.

So what’s next?

I think what’s next is companies starting to make the structural, systemic and procedural changes necessary to take advantage of social media. It’s one thing to hire some college kid to tweet on behalf your brand, for example… quite another to inform your product development and other marketing priorities with the insights you’re gleaning on an ongoing basis through Twitter. Sometimes I think most marketing people are still trying to make social media go away, trying to either outsource it or put it in a box at the margin of the business. I think this year we’ll start to see companies really start to view the social stuff as a mechanism to connect with the external reality, and taking full advantage of that potential will require more fundamental changes.

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Blog: Scalable Intimacy

Twitter: @miketrap

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Many thanks for Mike’s willingness to kick off this series with some clarity from the field!!

January 25, 2011 by Jon Gatrell

ACETECH Symposium: Whistler – April 7, 2011

: Image via Wikipedia

It’s been an exciting kick off to 2011 so far. I’m in the process of completing an interview project and I’ve just been added to ACETECH’s annual symposium for current and past CEO’s of technology companies in Whistler this April.

This should be a great event, not just because of it being in Whistler, but because of the environment which ACETECH creates for all the participants:

ACETECH Symposium is total immersion into the core of how technology business works…and how you can make it work in your company. From the highs of advanced business concepts to the answers to workday problems, the ACETECH Symposium empowers the CEO for the next day back at work and the next ten years of you career…….Your participation in the Annual ACETECH Symposium will provide new year round learning opportunities:

Annual Symposium at Whistler – 3 days of strategy with world class leaders allowing you to benchmark your strategic direction against leading edge trends

Best Practices Workshops for you and/or team members to identify and implement models that can substantially improve your company’s performance

Ongoing Whistler Peer Round tables moderated by subject matter experts to continue discussion on critical issues identified at the Whistler Symposium

If you are a current/past CEO/president in tech and this event looks like something you might want to attend, I’d really recommend it. I hope to catch up with you there!

January 24, 2011 by Jon Gatrell

SCRUM In Marketing: Leveraging Agile Outside Development

When going Agile in development there are definitely challenges both inside and outside the traditional R&D group. The impact of improved velocity in the “manufacturing process” can definitely create bottlenecks in adjacent organizations/process owners. Some organizations answer these challenges with going towards an Agile enterprise approach. Others when asked “how can you use Agile methodologies outside of a traditional IT and Development mode?” may roll out to another group here and there, but don’t go all-in.

Having had the opportunity to deploy Agile across the enterprise over the last several years – I’ll agree it helps bunches. Focus, transparency and priority setting. I’m definitely a believer in the benefits, which is why I’m sharing the presentation below.

Here is Kristen Petra’s pitch on how Hub Spot uses SCRUM in Marketing successfully from the 2011 Austin Product Camp/#PCATX. While I think a Scrum Master role is needed, this is a solid overall intro into on how to use SCRUM outside of IT/development.

Marketing the Agile Way – Applying Scrum Outside of Develoment

View more presentations from Kirsten Knipp