It's almost 2010. Let's get product management done right in the new year. Print off a copy and pass it around the office. (Word cloud created by Wordle).
It's amazing how many companies are still using "old school" marketing. David Meerman Scott explains today's marketing in Web Ink Now: Social media marketing explained in 61 words. It's a long video but the first few minutes are key:
You can buy attention (with advertising);
You can beg for attention from the media (with PR);
You can bug people one at a time to get attention (with direct sales).
Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free: a YouTube video, a blog, a research report, photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a Facebook page.
What a great intro! Yet, alas, in our annual product management survey, we learned that 43% of technology companies have no social media component in their marketing plans and only 7% consider it a major element.
As we go into 2010, all marketers should be exploring how social media defines the marketing plan. Instead of talking about SEO and other web "tricks," today's marketer should embrace the "new rules" by developing real content that generates inbound links--which is what the search engines really love.
Everybody (except perhaps sales people) know that some customers are just bad. They're difficult; they want special treatment; they expect a level of support far in excess of what they paid. They're like my father-in-law who wants Nordstrom support at a Wal-Mart price. Jim Anderson explores this situation in his article Tough Times Call For You To Fire Your Customers. He writes:
Dr. Larry Selden of Columbia University has written the book on good customers and bad customers (Angel Customers and Demon Customers: Discover Which is Which and Turbo-Charge Your Stock). What his research has found is that the bottom 20% of customers can drain your product’s profits by 80% while the top 20% can generate 150% of your product’s profit.
Wow! 150%!! Yeesh, that's some real difference. A PC maker told me that their profit margin only covers a few phone calls. My dentist "fires" bad customers periodically: those who frequently miss appointments without canceling and those don't pay their bills.
It seems ignorance is bliss for many in tech companies but it really doesn't matter if you're a product manager, a product marketing manager, or a product owner, there are six technical practices you should know about: Version control, Continuous integration, Automated testing, Refactoring, Simple design, and Collective code ownership. If you're in a tech role--or work with technical people-- you should understand these concepts, and make sure they're in use by your team.
(Oh, and also, you need to know the characters of Battlestar. Of course, you already know Star Trek and Star Wars.) (Plus, who Douglas Adams is.)
Have you every found yourself getting a request, googling it, and sending the link? Don't you wish some of your least favorite people could... uh... I dunno... think? Or at least use Google before they ask you to read aloud to them?
The solution: Let Me Google That For You. You can also get a tinyURL to tweet or to confuse your "friends."
This presentation uses animations very well... and the cute people icons actually help, instead of distracting. (Anyone remember those annoying string bean people?) Notice as well the SPEED of the animations; most animations in presentations are waaaaaayyyyy toooo sllloooowww.
I know we can't duplicate this technique in Powerpoint or Keynote but it's a handy reminder that each animation should add real value to the presentation.
Ideally, you should use marketecture to free yourself from the technical and refocus on how the product solves problems for buyers. Now that's a marketecture I can believe! Or as Adele would say, "Got a great product? Get over it." Talk to buyers about solving their problems, not about your features. DCPs indeed.
Product Camp Atlanta
For those of you in the Atlanta area, another ProductCamp Atlanta is scheduled for February 06, 2010. We'll be there. Will you?
Posted on January 01, 2010 at 12:09 PM in Industry News & Commentary | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)