Browsing Tag

Rate of return

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!

Exit Strategy: Sue Gartner for $1.696B

I’ve seen a good deal of crazy valuations and market activity to boost share holder wealth, but sometimes you should just choose the maintenance increase.  Ultimately it appears ZL tech doesn’t realize that not all revenue generation ideas or exit strategies should be prioritized solely by the top line opportunity value.  I mean the return on investment is pretty straightforward and simple: legal fees under say a million and a crazy $1.696B top line.

I can see the retort when question on the top line estimate:

Even after negotiations it is still a $600M pay day.  Add in some contingency legal fees and the net is like $400 or like a gabillion times more than current revenues.

So while ZL clearly admits a short coming in marketing, which is the reason they aren’t leaders, thus the law suite, they might want to spend some time reflecting on the Ability to Execute concept when this is all over.

Below is a simple overview how marketing and branding just might influence a given organization’s placement in any given magic quadrant.

Many thanks to Hub Spot Marketing for their grader tools.