I dropped my son off at school this morning like any other morning. However, instead of taking the same route back to my home office I decided to branch out and take a scenic route. Sure I went totally out of my way and burned more gas than usual, but it was refreshing. I was able to crank some music, chill, feel the road and enter a different but relaxed state of mind. It was a change and it was great.
If you are a software marketer or just a marketer in general and have taken the same path home with your prospects or customers each and every time, a change can sometimes be refreshing. It could backfire and people will get freaked out, but sometimes branching out and doing something different even if its minuscule can make a world of difference. So change your newsletter up a bit. Market that white paper using non traditional media. Make a vidcast or a podcast series to reinforce brand. Do something goofy to get the sales folks engaged with marketing.
Think about this….can you imagine the person over at ad agency that introduced the whopperfreakout? At first pass you would think that is stupid…pretend you are not having your biggest product anymore and secretly tape peoples reactions. How would that ever push brand and Burger King? Sometimes new ideas and change work and sometimes they don’t. I would rather try and fail than not try at all.
So go ahead….take a different road today…let me know how it goes.
Is 2008 going to be more of the same for you in marketing?
Is the lure of communities and new media marketing speaking to you in a special way?
Are you going to continue down the same path as you have for the last several years of rinse and repeat marketing?
As the new year has come and you begin to solidify your 08 marketing plans, try to think a little bit outside the box and talk to those folks who can bring in a fresh perspective to perhaps your stale ways. Don’t get caught in a marketing rut and don’t think for a moment that what you did in 2007 or 2006 will work again in 2008.
Here is my question..when you work in a organization which totally does not operate with transparency and believes that what you did 3 years ago will work today in technology marketing, how many people does it take to change the feeling of the organization?
I read an article from eMarketer this morning stemming from the same report that TechTarget and the CMO Council put out on “IT Media Consumption Trends and IT Buyer Purchase Intention” Basically it points out that IT buyers are leveraging Podcasts more in their evaluations.
This article and study screams one thing to me: WAKE UP….what we did 3 or 4 years ago may not work today. And we as software marketers need to adapt to this.
I am 100% convinced that those companies that don’t adapt to this new way of marketing will be left in the dust. Old school folks who believe that what was done 3 years ago to promote software will work in today’s ever changing landscape will quickly and painfully learn that the IT buyer wants more flexibility. They want the software vendors that they deal with to be the educators or “trusted advisers” in their fields. They typical “in your face”, download, try and buy mentality is slowly dying. Heck…even live webcasts are losing their appeal….people want it “on demand” and don’t want to be tied down to a particular time.
Wake up marketers of software………overcome your fears and doubts.
According to Marilou Barsam at My Educated GuessSoftware Downloads are HOT! In addition, podcast usage is climbing. (now if I can only get the folks I work with to understand that podcasting is a good thing)
I read this really great posting from the folks over at TechTarget client consulting team about podcast usage up in 2006. You can find the post located at http://www.myeducatedguess.com/?p=70
I stumbled on their blog last week and subscribed to it. Its chock full of info for us software marketers so with out further adieu…..HERE IS TO YOU TECHTARGET CLIENT CONSULTING TEAM!
I was chatting with someone recently who mentioned that they have a blogger outreach program in their organization. I am curious to know if their are companies out there currently who have a full-time person dedicated to blogger outreach and if so describe in detail what exactly they do. (offer incentives, free product for the blogger to try with the hopes of them posting something) Also does this person do anything else in the org, or is it that blogs have become so popular and it really can prove fruitful for your organization.
I ran across a great article from marketingsherpa.com in their case study section that really sums up what I would like to focus my efforts on at Quest over the next 12-18 months.
Ron McDaniel had an interesting post yesterday about Podcasting and whether or not they are worth doing. At Quest, we started doing podcasting last year and there was a huge surge to get them done in late Q2 and early Q3, then they fell off dramatically in Q4 and we have none really scheduled for Q1. I think one of the things that our Product Marketing Organization struggles with is that they are not “lead generation” activities and therefor not really worth doing since I am sure most of them are judged in some part by the number of “leads” they bring in through their efforts.
While I understand their take on that, I also am having a hard time in educating them that Podcasting serves a better purpose than to just generate leads. Its all about gaining buzz and providing relative content out to the masses and showing our target audience that we are truly the innovators and educators in our space. I am curious to know if anyone out there has faced a similar issue and what they have done to perhaps educate folks that Podcasting is worthwhile.
Any help would be appreciated.
Rons post can be found at: http://blog.buzzoodle.com/index.php/2007/01/24/is-podcasting-worth-the-effort/
There was a recent article posted on marketingprofs.com talking about online marketing on a shoestring budget. The author Jodi Bash makes a couple of really good points in her article, but seems to have left out a couple of different angles that you should be aware of.
First off, I am a big believer in worth of mouth marketing. Companies should look for a way to create awareness of their brand via word of mouth and the web is a perfect way to do this. Working with influential bloggers in their respective industry is a great start. Second, a company should start a blog of their own. They can provide insight about their industry as well as act as experts all while providing a subtle way to push product.
Second, a company can do podcasting relatively cheap and offer up some more insight and expertise into their industry. Anyone can podcast and companies should really look into all cheap forms of media to promote brand and product.
Third, do something that will create a little buzz within the industry. Renaming a town is one thing (thanks Mark Hughes) but doing something that will attract attention within your specific demographic group of prospects is another. Whatever your industry or product is, there is certainly ways to get a level of buzz going for very little money.
The above to me is just the tip of the iceberg IMHO. Comment on this post and give me some insight on your company and I can perhaps add some insight into other ways to do stuff online for very little money.
I would love to hear from some of you on some of the stuff that you have done online that cost next to nothing.
Again Jodi made some good points, but there is a ton more that people can do online to get their company notices. Heck, I dont want to give away all of my secrets
I found this really great article from the folks at marketingsherpa.com that talks about the 10 steps an organization needs to take in order to deploy a podcast program. We have done some podcasting in the past at Quest, but have fallen off the wagon a bit and would like to get back on it.
