Author Archives: admin

Outsourcing Savvy

Posted on by

Happily, outsourcing marketing strategy works for everyone. Last year I got a call from a global conglomerate that rakes in over $20 billion each year. They were launching a new product from within one of their divisions. Savvy as they were, they needed help in new product go-to-market messaging.  In the division of that giant corporation, the native knowledge was unavailable. Sadly, this doesn’t happen all the time. Nobody is universally competent. In large companies, even specialists with necessary knowledge are not portable between organization boundaries. Smart marketing executives inventory their talent and outsource as needed to assure everything that needs to be done is done, and is done well. Companies that don’t fail. Early in my consulting career I was hired to help with the pivot of all pivots, changing an entire post-IPO enterprise from a hardware company into a software vendor. The company was successful at what they … Continue reading →

Targeting Buyers

Posted on by

Marketing is a bit like target practice. You aim for the middle to score the most points. Start-ups are notoriously bad at targeting their buyers. Instead of using a hunting rifle, they choose a shotgun, scattering their marketing spend over vast areas of ill-defined buyers. Thus their spend per new customer is higher than it should be, and their stable of customers contain awkward fits who will be less happy with the product that well targeted buyers. Start-ups entrepreneurs shoot their investment wad and go home without winning. Go-to-market plans need to identify everyone that influences a purchase decision in a viable market segment. If you have not segmented – properly or at all – and you have only vague ideas about the functional and emotional motivations of buyers, their bosses and subordinates, then you are shooting blindfolded and will miss your target. Here are the essential steps in formulating … Continue reading →

Funding Fumbles

Posted on by

About the time this blog post goes live I’ll be breaking the hearts of a handful of entrepreneurs. Sadistic as that sounds, my job is to insert reality into uncomfortable places. In my speech today I’ll be telling some tech innovators why no angel investor would ever give them a dime. Tears will be shed, anguished screams will be head, and I may get a new laptop if someone throws theirs at me. Entrepreneurs here in Silicon Valley are more common than belfry bats. They exist on the hope of changing the world and getting hit by the money truck. These two aspects mean that they are commonly irrational and unreasonable about their products and prospects. Some of them succeed because they are unreasonable – nothing important has even been accomplished by a reasonable person. Where they often fail is funding. Despite being digital demigods, they rarely put themselves in … Continue reading →

Media Mutters

Posted on by

Media ain’t what it used to be … thank God. The internet has made everyone a publisher, and as such has completely rearranged from where information and power emit. Dead is the quaint era when all info rained like fetid manna from centralized sources. Today you, the marketing ground workers, have seemingly endless avenues for promoting your products, your brand and your profits. Which is why some of you have been driven to drink (though for a few it was just a short stroll). The reason self-medication is becoming popular in marketing circles has nothing to do with Mad Men or three martini lunches. It derives from needing to orchestrate outreach through all these media channels. Wherever such seeming chaos ensures, it is best to take a deep breath, a shot of something, and distill your options into a manageable set. In media, there are three basic categories through which … Continue reading →

Don’t Survey

Posted on by

I have talked clients out of broad market research studies. Doing so doesn’t help my bottom line. We at Silicon Strategies Marketing do quite a bit of market research work, both qualitative and quantitative. Surveys have become one of my favorite projects because divining numerical answers from complex situations engages my inner geek. Our clients have a tendency to want to know everything today. They envision surveying their broad markets with dense surveys that measure everything, right down to if respondents were or were not bottle babies. I talk nearly every one of them out of this. Your market is divided into segments, for which there are a small handful of magical requirements. Yet all segments are not created equal – some are more interesting and profitable than others. After developing your segmentation model, your next step is to scorecard potential segments and quickly decide which are most viable– for … Continue reading →

Basic Bodhi

Posted on by

“I wasn’t aware you existed.” Sounds like something my congressman would say to me. Brand awareness is the minimal quantum of connection with customers, and the foundation for every other marketing maneuver. If they don’t know you exist, then there is no hope they will adopt your product. You must achieve brand awareness before customers can even approach brand knowledge, acceptance, preference, loyalty, advocacy and religion (and if you need some religious indoctrination on all things branding, flip to chapter six of the Start-up CEO’s Marketing Manual). However, “awareness” has proven to be a tenebrous term. In branding, “awareness” constitutes being aware that a product exists, what value it provides and a notion of why the customer should give a durn. For example, I’m aware that Lady Gaga exists, but even after multiple brand exposures, I still cannot identify her value or why I shouldn’t change the channel. Granted, middle aged marketing gurus are … Continue reading →

Relo Ready

Posted on by

A quick note to Silicon Strategies customers and fans of Marketing Memos. We have nearly completed our relocation away from San Francisco, landing squarely in San Jose – the eastern anchor of Silicon Valley. I personally look forward to seeing fellow Valley tech company execs at the various regional functions in the near future.

Continue reading →