A working theory....

On the nature of Job titles

A recent tweet by AdBroad : http://twitter.com/adbroad/status/10474922314 about who owns the brand in the future—marketing or technology—reminded me of an old post on job titles of the future.  In my opinion, one can no longer afford to specialize in Technology, without considering the marketing implications of the field. Little of the “technology” spend in the future will be entirely behind the firewall, isolated from partners and customers.  And, even that which is, has always had profound impact on business results, and business personel are in desperate need for sound “platform” advice from their IT brethren.  Similarly, and perhaps more of an eye-opener, Marketing professionals who cannot grasp, or fail to even try to understand the technical underpinnings of many of today’s modern business trends (location, activity streams, social, UGC, assembled web) do so at their own peril—AND the peril of their campaign or brand! 

As many pundits or “experts” will tell you, proper social strategies (and I’d argue that should read Marketing strategy) should start with the end goal in mind, and let the appropriate tools shake out from there.  However, this assumes a deep familiarity with the tools, where, upon configuring the strategy, the nuances of each will reveal whether they should be implemented or discarded.  While it is possible to hire this expertise (or rent from a consultant), the nuances also can deeply impact the strategy—meaning, a deep understanding of why and how consumers are using the tool, a broad understanding of how the tool works, will help guide ideas around the campaigns.  It may even lead to insight into new forms of marketing—such as the Brand extension work you are seeing with iPhone apps that aid customers in a peripheral area of their life. Ultimately, I’d argue this becomes a core requirement of the modern marketing professional’s resume—not a niche area of expertise that can be ignored.

Finally, in the battle for internal resources and dollars, the long-term decisions a firm makes on things such as Facebook “connect”, iPhone/Droid, Open/Proprietary, Assembly Required/Pre-Assembled, can make profound impacts on what, where, when, how a particular marketing campaign can be executed.  The days of outsourcing all components to an Agency for a particular campaign, are increasingly changing to (at best) a partial integration solution.  In the future, IT and Marketing need to be perfectly in sync, and on a consistent 3 year road map, so that proper Technical Marketing direction can be provided to marketing partners/buyers/agency personnel.

In my opinion, this calls for a new, hybrid role similar to the chief revenue officer position we are seeing emerge.  That of Chief Technical Marketing Officer, for all things external facing or that impact a brand’s presence or participation in its marketplace.

Thoughts?
ACEdge

Selling the “win” as an intra-preneur.

Recently, I’ve been working on selling through a complex idea across multiple business units of Experian. This process has unfolded over the last 9 months (I know, I know…but that’s what you get at a large Co!).

I’ve noticed a few things:
(1) Selling a new, innovative idea in a space that is rapidly changing (In this case, real-time bidding for display advertising) requires a fluid “pitch & update” process.  It will be nearly impossible for everyone to be on the same page throughout the entire process. Many peripheral departments will either lack the expertise or be too busy to keep up with the changes.  I’ve recently stumbled on the concept of a “mind map” from @UpbeatNow (see a sample of mine here: http://www.slideshare.net/ACEdge/webknowledge-mind-graph-alan-edgett-jan-2010 ).  This concept can be extended to any project, so that you can build up a living, growing “where we’ve come from” slide on topics evaluated, vendors considered, changes to the model, etc etc.  In this fashion, new meetings or refresher meetings with peripheral managers can be inclusive without being too repetitive.  Anyone can find where on the map they’ve left off, or perhaps are starting, and can see the progression to current status.

(2) Definition of “The Win”. Also, perhaps even more important than the above “roadmap” of where you’ve been, and even, the future plan for where the project or product is headed, is a solid definition of what “the win” is for the initiative—and perhaps your company.  Knowing that you are satisfying a large niche, or thwarting competition, or delivering xx% incremental revenue, is great.  BUT, having senior execs be able to clearly articulate the key indicator of a “win”—whether that is planned for 6 months or 6 years in the future—is critical to keeping momentum!  After all, niches may change, models may evolve, competition may arise or fall, but if the strategic goal or win is clearly defined, these tactical changes can easily be explained.  Without a clear definition of “the win”, these changes will actually confuse the organization and can cause suspicion, or worse, distraction.  A Good story keeps focus on a main theme.

(3) Credible validation. Nothing sells a restaurant like a good review.  Same with selling a new idea or product internally.  Can you get quoted in an external source? Are there others in or around your industry talking about your idea or similar ideas? Better yet, are institutional funds or consultants making investments in this area or niche? By all means, get this sort of info into the pitch process.  While focus on revenue targets, customer research, and product specs are required, a little PR never hurt! There is a fine line between selling “fantasy” and selling a future capability, but if you can get early testimonials, Proof-of-concept paperwork, or demonstrate the industry “ecosystem” building around the product, concept, or niche, you’ll have a much easier time competing against internal resource allocations destined for those “pet projects”! 

Just my $.02 on the nuances of “Intra-preneurship”…

Happy Hunting,
ACEdge

If I were looking for a job…

Thought I’d get back in to long form blogging (new year res) with this post on the companies and niches I currently find most interesting if “I were looking for a job”…

I’ve broken them in to categories, please feel free to weigh in on the comments if I’ve missed any *YOU* think are up and coming:

(1) Real-time Data.  This area is exploding and is also ripe for acquisition.  These companies are dealing with immense, “web-scale” data, and, as a result have awesome opportunities for people to learn & grow on the cutting edge of the assembled web:
JS-Kit/Echo—Real-time commenting run by the fantastic Khris Loux.  Work here if you can.  ASAP!

Demand Media—Real-time? Yes, in their content creation approach.  While we can debate the quality/quantity all we want, advertisers need relevant content and need it ASAP.  Plus, it’s Richard Rosenblatt, enough said.

Adchemy—Changing banners in real-time is difficult enough, but landing pages along with it? And, bidding on the inventory on an impression basis? And, “De-averaging” as Murthy Nukala (CEO) likes to say?  Forget about it…go work here and learn from the best.

(2) Consumer Web

Milo—Back end API’s, front end UI, and “real-world” practicality.  Young leadership (could be opportunity for seasoned pros to join?), but great pedigree and obvious market strategy chops.  This company is destined to be acquired.

BillShrink—OK, I work at Experian and we are biased to Lead-gen, and our own Matt Coffin put money into this one! Still Peter Pham rocks, as do their marketing partnerships. Join now, then go to work for Peter!

(3) Advertising

AppNexus—Sell side got all the love over the last few years as everyone tried to help the Publishers.  What about where the money comes from? Yes, enter the “Demand side” platforms.  These guys have it dialed in, as does the next company…

MediaMath—What’s in a name? Everything you need to know here. Online has always been for geeks, and this is as geeky as it gets.  Real-time bidding, algorithmic buying.  Direct mail has come a loooong way:-)

Look for Part II of this post for some other cool companies that I would jump at in a heartbeat if I was “looking for a job”.  I’ll keep updating this post/blog in the coming year as I stumble on other cool companies as well (I promise, less 140 char and more long form!:-)

ACEDGE

Job Interview Questions to ASK your (future) employer…

Having spent the majority of my time in a Marketing, PR or Business Development capacity (for both start-up and F500 companies), you might think I’d have very little to say on the subject of IT, Technology platforms, the role of the CIO, etc in a job interview process! However, what is clear to me, as I’ve morphed into various new product development and “liason” roles between Marketing and IT over the years (primarily due to my knowledge of the Web and how it is affecting everything inside and out, for a particular company), is that we on the “business side” can no longer “sell” (market, develop, promote, etc) and leave the technology decisions to IT. Or, more pointedly, if you are not aware of the decisions they’ve made in recent years, the current state of the “platform”, and their attitude toward such things as “OPEN-ness”, “API’s”, “Enterprise (or external) 2.0 initiatives”, etc, you may find you are extremely hamstrung regardless of your “skills”. I’m hoping to compile a more complete list by leveraging the vast knowledge of “smart folks” out there, so please post if you have additional insights/questions. But, I thought, at the very least I’d compile a beginning list of questions to ask your potential employer in the interview. (A) It’s a good idea to demonstrate your familiarity and knowledge and (B) you may want to seriously re-think the offer if the answers come back in contrast to some popular trends. Without ado: (1) From a Partnership perspective, many new products will need to combine data or elements from each respective business. From an IT philosophy perspective, does [fill in company] subscribe more to proprietary development process or a more OPEN/standards based approach? How does this differ (if at all) from internal non-critical infrastructure components? What about critical components? (2) Do you have external acccessible API’s? If not, have you thought about this area and do you have any immediate plans to offer? Do you leverage API’s internally to allow new product configurations/development? (3) From an internal/Enterprise perspective, how many tools have been implemented for employee collaboration? What type of tools are they? How “forward-thinking” is the innovation process? Do product mgrs, others, have sandboxes for new product development? How quickly was the last innovation proto-typed? Developed? Tested? Deployed? How many 3rd party tools have been integrated into the Enterprise (portal, intranet, web site, etc)? (4) How many developers/engineers/programmers attend new (sales, business development, marketing, partner) meetings? How many attend “business” conferences? How many attend IT conferences? Which ones? Do you have a thought leadership position in your industry from a technical level as well as product level? (5) What “presence” does the company have on the Internet other than it’s website? How are comments/feedback incorporated into company from a technical perspective? Is this process automated? What tools do (marketers, sales, BD) have to gather data on product success? Customer feedback? As mentioned, certainly this is not an exhaustive list, and may not apply for all industries. But, increasingly, I find even the largest, most isolated industries need to adapt, partner, innovate and “institute flexibility”, and some of these answers will tell you if they truly believe that or are simply providing lip-service. Even in sales, I’d argue, that will affect you… Have other questions? Post and I’ll insert them here… ACEdge

A few shout-outs…

Have been using Radian6 (http://www.radian6.com) recently and really like their interface/ease of use and ability to help me articulate the impact SM is having on our business! Great job guys! And, we’re making progress with a new FaceBook Brand page, thanks much to RoyalPink Productions, however, we are still struggling a fair amount with compliance and the main corporate blog site/rules. It’s tough for us, as a heavily regulated business, to set the proper review/approve process in place without seeming so stale in blog responses as to make the effort not worth it. We want to be “transparent”, but we’re also restricted from providing “advice” and much (if not all) of the questions we see posting online are due to an overall lack of education on our product. It will be a tough balance… Finally, props to MySpace for the work they’ve been doing under the hood. I can imagine how tough it is to see all the press for FB, and the traffic numbers! While, all the while building/re-building/adding slowly to make sure you have a scalable, sellable product. Kudos. I still use FB a lot more than MySpace, but I suspect that will slowly change soon… And, to Google TV reps for keeping it real in your pitches. “Beta” is just fine as long as you’re honest…And, to YouTube, for just keeping it plain fun! ACEdge

Wow. Social Media moves fast.

Or, perhaps I should say…Time flies when you are having so much fun. Apologies for no updates to the blog… Have been meeting with senior teams at Yahoo, and Facebook, and Myspace…Whew! How much more social can we get?? Still trying to figure out exactly the right blend between Direct Response, Branding and Engagement. It’s not an easy balance, especially for an established online brand such as ours! Soon, we are launching our “Points of Presence” as Chris Brogan calls them. We would have sooner, but we realy wanted to baseline our DR ads prior to layering in display or brand and engagement focused efforts. Now that we have the data, we think we’re ready to move! (I say think, because you never know what the lawyers/compliance officers will do at the 11th hour!). And, I am in a new group! My “digital media” team, as it were, has been shifted over under the Broadcast and Sponsorships group. A good idea, in my opinion, and one that should give us a tighter offline to online mix. Will post when we get our first combined campaign up…in the meantime, check out the winners of our Youtube video contest at http://www.freecreditreportband.com or visit the homepage of YouTube on January 28th! ACEdge

To all the “Do-ers”..

Chuck Hollis had an excellent post on the “Do-ers” vs. all the “Experts” who constantly fill the social media airwaves: http://chucksblog.emc.com/a_journey_in_social_media/2008/11/those-who-talk-vs-those-who-do.html.

Certainly, we need forward thinking bloggers who constantly assess and assimilate new technologies, offerings and business models.  But, it certainly would benefit all of us, if more of the “Do-ers” posted or at least more of the “consultant” bloggers used specific examples.  Even if you are prevented from using client names, you could genericize results and efforts.  Something tells me, however, there are far more “experts” who like to pontificate than actually implement for clients!  While, certainly, much of Web 2.0 is about the individual, and the top bloggers are exceptionally good at personal branding, few and far between are the blogs that help all of us implement!

So to all the “Do-ers” out there…Keep up the good “work”! And, if you can take a break from implementation every once in a while, let’s post some things! And, to the “experts”…go easy on those us who are trying to get things done.  It isn’t easy turning back 80 years of social/business culture!

Alan