The heart of the issue is that companies do not select the “right” people for marketing positions. We’ll tackle the what, where, when, why and what needs to be changed.
High Technology Marketing is not at all like Classic Consumer Marketing
This basic tenet is at the core of how things got out of hand over the past decades. The essence is that in classic consumer marketing, products do not change without significant work and thought, large marketing budgets for promotion are available, trial is easy and risk of purchase is low. In contrast, high technology products must change (sometimes rapidly) or they die, marketing promotion funds are significantly lower, trial is harder (and often complex) and the risk of purchase is much higher. In fact, products are obsolete on their date of purchase. For more detailed discussions see my posts on Why Marty Cagan is Wrong About Product Marketing and Consumer Versus High Technology Marketing and Branding.
Who Are the Right People?
The short answer is … not consumer products marketing people.
Their backgrounds are almost always a complete mismatch for what is really needed, they don’t understand technology, they can’t hold their own against engineers or software developers and they are used to large marketing promotion budgets, as well as, significant outside agency support and large internal staff.
There are places for marketing team members who do not have some type of technical undergraduate degree, but they must be managed by those who do. Otherwise you get Super Bowl Ads that make a splash and have no effect on revenues.
Before going too far, let’s be clear that “engineers should not run the railroad”. There is a reason for the tagline, “The Art and Science of High Technology Marketing”.
The Right People like People
Huh? Whether your company offers B2B or B2C products, you are marketing and selling to people. Many technical folks really don’t like people, have poor people skills or project their views on their market. You need marketing folks who understand technology, relate to people and have a proper marketing coursework background.
The Right People have the Right Education
The ideal background is a combination of engineering/software courses coupled with marketing courses. This might mean a technical undergraduate with a marketing MBA, but it could be simply additional marketing courses after undergraduate school. Education should include at the minimum: Introduction to Marketing, Market Research, Statistics, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Communications, Product Launch/Management
Most marketing teams have few, if any, people with this background. Often the department is mostly staffed with PR and marcom folks. As a result, the marketing department becomes the PR and marcom department.
The Right People Might have been a Product Developer in Another Life
To be effective in high technology marketing where there are constant tradeoffs among, budgets, features and timelines, you must have the ability to understand what the technical teams are saying, as well as, to be able to push back based on a firm understanding of your company’s technology and market needs.
The Right People Know They are not the Market
This mistake is repeated over and over. Repeat after me … I am not the market. I am not the market. I … am … not … the … market.
I love what technology can do for businesses and individuals when it is designed, developed and promoted well; but I know that I am not the market. My job is to figure out who is the target market and how to do the best I can to get product from my company into that target’s hands. It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what they think.
The Right People have a Diverse and Often Artistic Background
While I was in Engineering school, we were required to take one course each semester outside of a technical discipline (the average course load was six courses each semester totaling 18 or more credit hours … 12 hours was not full-fulltime!). I took: English Literature, Business Law, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology and a two semester sequence in Russian Literature. All of these courses broadened my horizons and have been invaluable to me during my career. Look for diversity in courses and hobbies.
I was a musician in high school and debated going to college to pursue that career. Wisely, I did not take that path. However, while in college, I began to note that the most creative and talented engineers, scientists and architects all seemed to have played an instrument for several years. Marketing is not just a science, it is also an art. Look for those who have some kind of background like music (which is really aural math … but I digress).
The Right People Aren’t Afraid of Real Work
I can’t tell you how many times I have encountered marketing team members who are just project managers. They outsource all the actual work to agencies, stringers, consultants or other departments. They have never written a press release; constructed a balanced market research questionnaire or analyzed the results; developed web copy, white papers or data sheets; conducted competitive analysis; staffed a trade show booth; developed product positioning or messaging, or been deeply involved in developing and integrating websites.
I could go on, but the point is obvious. Anyone who is not willing to put their fingers on the keyboard and do task work is holding the rest of the team back. Plus, how can they tell when the time and effort estimates they are given are a smokescreen?
The Right People Do Not Come from Big Companies
In case you missed the reference above, most often marketing people from big companies are not a good fit for “the rest of us”. There are three principal reasons. They are used to managing not doing. They are used to big budgets and staff. The success of their prior company likely has little to do with them but they don’t know it. Their tendency is to use the same approach that might have worked at their last company.
I look for marketing people who have come from “challenger brands” not dominant ones. “Looking up” is harder work than “looking down”.
The Right People are Hard to Find
This may be so, but it is worth the effort and can pay huge dividends. They might even be able to mentor those who do not have the backgrounds noted above.
So What Should You Do?
That depends on who you are.
Head of Marketing
If you are the head of marketing, start by assessing your current Product Marketing team. Make sure they have the technical “chops” to engage in meaningful discussions with the technical team(s). If they don’t, find another place for them if you can and hire the right people in those roles. Once you have made changes here, move outward to web-related activities and other areas until you believe that a technical background is honestly not needed.
Product Marketing Head or Team Member
Take the above to heart and if you do not have a technical background, get one.
- Take online or evening courses in statistics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, market research, computer programming, mechanical drawing, etc. from a college or university with a real campus
- Read everything you can on high technology marketing (my Top Books page list is not a bad place to start)
- If you can handle statistics, computer programming and mechanical drawing, consider going deeper into relevant technical areas of software or hardware design
Public Relations, Marketing Communications, Market Research, Advertising, Competitive Analysis, Social Media, Web Design
- I presume you have education in these areas. If not get it by adding those courses to the list below.
- Take online or evening courses in statistics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, market research, etc. from a college or university with a real campus (you might be able to skip the really technical stuff and deeper math … but you must take statistics if you have not done so)
- Read everything you can on high technology marketing (see my Top Books page list for a start)
