ProductMarketing.com

On Thought Leadership

I'm often asked: "How do you get started with thought leadership?"

Thought leadership is my favorite marketing activity. However, thought leadership is not the result of random "thoughts" but of informed commentary. Yet I fear that many execs and marketers advocate "deep thoughts" in isolation.

To be a thought leader, you should analyze data and reveal how the data can be used to help make decisions. Informed opinion based on and supported by research. That's thought leadership!

My daughter has started a company focused on home schooling. She's interviewing a new person each week and getting incredible insights but she's also reading published research--like the just-published US census data --and adapting the information to help her customers. "You are not alone; 3 million children in the USA are being home schooled."

My friend Alan is gathering loads of information about why vendors really win and lose deals. He's so busy doing win/loss analysis for buyers that he hasn't yet had time to write articles or ebooks. Yet. But he will. Wouldn't you love to know how often price is truly an issue? And how often the customer cares about the "sales relationship?" So far it appears that sales people rarely know the real reasons people do and do not buy.

How can you exhibit your thought leadership? Blogs and ebooks are obvious choices but you don't have to start there. Build a list of your favorite blogs (using something like Google Reader) and add commentary on posts that speak to you. Start reading and participating in discussion forums such as those on LinkedIn and Quora. Monitor Twitter and retweet the items you find interesting.

If you want to start a blog, check out Posterous. It's easy to setup and use, so you can focus on what you want to say instead of how to format it. Many ebooks are really a collection of strong blog posts so you'll want to tag your posts by category. My series of four or five blog posts on pricing might make a good article or ebook.

The key is this. Thought leadership requires informed opinion supported by research. It's also a community activity. Find a community, participate in it, add your thoughts. Agree (or disagree) and explain why. As you find your voice, more formal methods such as blogs and ebooks will become obvious.

Most annoying blog posts: 2011

It's almost 2011 and many bloggers will start the year with their resolutions including:

• I haven't been blogging lately but will post more often in 2011
• What I plan to blog about in 2011
• What do you want me to blog about in 2011?
• I'll have a new look in 2011

Who cares? Don't tell me what you're gonna do; do it. Don't tell me your plans; show me through your actions.

Your readers don't care what you plan to do; they care what you're doing. It's not like most of us start the day on your blog. Instead we use a blog reader and read what's out there. We can't read what isn't posted. And we don't notice when you don't blog.

It's like the marketing team who argues that they should go to Geekworld because people will notice if we're not there. Wow! How's the center of the universe working out for you?

You're the only one that notices your absence.

"Do, or do not. There is no 'try'."--Yoda, Jedi philosopher.

 

Photos as Web Content (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

Our eyetracking studies have documented a dramatic gap in how users approach website images:

• Some types of pictures are completely ignored. This is typically the case for big feel-good images that are purely decorative.
• Other types of pictures are treated as important content and scrutinized. Photos of products and real people (as opposed to stock photos of models) often fall into this category.

via useit.com

Jakob Nielsen makes a strong case for removing and never again using stock photos. The generic multi-cultural group looking admiringly at a laptop screen isn't just bad marketing, this type of art is actively ignored.

Want someone to scrutinize your content? Surround it with meaningful photos of real people and products. The generic stuff just doesn't work.

(Take a look at your web site. You may need to forward this to your own marketing team.)

Please don't contact us

Your website is a great way of getting product information to your clients. Or is it? How much does your website generate awareness and product visibility? How easy is it to find relevant information?

Suppose a blogger or journalist wanted to write about your product or service. Could they?

In his new ebook, Real-Time: How Marketing & PR at Speed Drives Measurable Success, David Meerman Scott attempted to contact the Fortune 100 and here's what he found:

• Only 26 of the Fortune 100 have an email address for general media inquiries.
• 10 offered only phone numbers.
• 1 offered only a "contact us" form.
• And when contacted, only 28 responded in any way.

Product marketing managers and marketing professionals spend time and money on programs to generate awareness and leads. But why bother? It seems that only 28% actually want to hear from customers.

Many companies are still living in a one-way world. They promote; you buy. But for today's buyers, there are multiple steps between awareness and contract. A typical buyer wants to learn more about your company. They check Facebook and Twitter and blogs long before they engage with a sales person.

What is the social networking world saying about you and your product? If you're not there, someone else is leading the conversation.

What's the ROI on social media? Learn more in Real-Time: How Marketing & PR at Speed Drives Measurable Success

 

Aligning strategy to execution

Marketers have always struggled to connect programs with a measurable result, particularly return on investment (ROI).

http://socialmediatoday.com/jeremy-victor/177723/where-world-b2b-social-media-roi

Perhaps it's hard to calculate the value of social media because of company restrictions.

http://dilbert.com/2010-09-13/

And perhaps it's hard to align programs with strategy since it's sometimes hard to know what your strategy actually is! The goals of "Grow revenues by 20%" and "Be #1" don't really tell you anything meaningful. 

How are you aligning strategy and execution? 

For help in aligning product management with strategy, see http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/seminars/pragmatic-roadmapping

For help in aligning product marketing with strategy, see http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/seminars/effective-product-marketing

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Friday fun: Talk with me!

http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2010/08/it-is-that-easy.html

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Does Your Site Say “Keep Out”?

My sites break a lot of rules. Someone pointed out that, although I push my clients to design sites with high contrasting fonts on a light background, our new media agency site is designed with a dark background and light fonts… much more difficult to read. Other friends have pointed out that it also doesn’t fit on a small resolution laptop.

I know.

The truth is, I don’t want to attract visitors with netbooks or older laptops. I want to get attention from people with huge resolutions. I don’t want to attract companies who won’t upgrade from Internet Explorer 6. I don’t even want people to read my site. I want them to browse it and wonder whether or not I can help them… and have them click through on a web form.

If you disagree, you’re not my prospect.

via marketingtechblog.com

Good marketing execution should DISqualify those who cannot buy. Sales people qualify; marketing people disqualify. Those of us in marketing need to remember that it's not about impressions and number of leads, it's about impressions and leads from people who can buy our products. In my old team, once we started thinking about getting qualified leads, we stopped doing giveaways that generated tons of unqualified cardscans and focused on disqualifying leads. Our sales team was delighted to get a short stack of only good leads.

What about your web site? Is it attracting the wrong people? It's fine for the unqualified to download your white papers and read your articles but you shouldn't bother to gather a lot of information unless the inquiry has the potential to buy. Social media experts agree that you should give away your thought-leading content, knowing that the qualified buyers will return to you when they're ready to buy.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Marketing Apple: Secrets of the World's Best Marketing Machine: Apple iPhone 4 Recall? Or a chance to recall greatness?

I've already called Apple the World's Best Marketing Company.  But they now have a PR nightmare on a level they have rarely known.  It's now time to become the world's best company.

Ok, so Apple made a rare engineering mistake and the best marketing in the world won't change that fact.

So what do you do, Steve?

Simple.  You come clean.

via marketingapple.com

Steve Chazin has an inspired view of how Apple should address the current PR tsunami that is the iPhone antenna issue. It's bold; it's big; it's what Apple should do? But will they?

Post your comment on Steve's site. How would you steer Apple on this issue??

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Alas, another white paper I won't read

The white paper sounded really interesting but I'll never know. When I reached the download page:

This isn't "tell us who you are." This is "how many ways can we spam you?"

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Social media & product management June 2010

Our friends at Brainmates shared this presentation on social media.

brainmates - Social media & product management June 2010

View more presentations from brainmates.

In particular explore the concepts starting at slide 19 for how to include social media in every stage of your life cycle.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

How to improve your blog community by being yourself

As we all focus on search engine optimization, blogging, and social media… we tend to forget a very important element – Personality.

via chris-moody.com

My friend Chris offers these great tips on making your public identify "real" by including your own personality. No one likes the corporate voice but we sometimes get stuffy when we write our bios or About Me pages. Read Chris's post for more on integrating personality into your blog.

Posted via web from Steve Johnson on product management

Would you give this much information?

Someone recommended a product from this company. I went to the web site to see if they did anything for product managers and not just product owners. And they took me here:

Sorry. Not gonna give any vendor that much information on the first date. I can see how they might ask for an email address but nothing more. So I'll neither check them out nor recommend them.
My friend Adele (Happy birthday, Adele!) compares marketing to dating. Would you give this much information to a blind date?

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

The latest thing in social networking....

I attended a networking conference and saw no one networking. They were twittering.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Social media adoption

Neilsen shares these amazing stats on social media adoption. 

Yet our 2010 survey results show that 43% of vendors place NO importance on social media. Yikes!

More stats from Pragmatic Marketing's 2009-2010 product management survey coming next week. 

Top5 Keynote Speaker Honorees for 2010

Each year, Speakers Platform recognizes five speakers within fifteen popular topic areas. Excellence in speaking is based on: expertise, professionalism, innovation within the topic area, client testimonials & references, presentation skills, original contribution to the field and votes from the general public.

via speaking.com

Congratulations to my friend, David Meerman Scott, for making the Top 5 in Marketing speakers.

Posted via web from Steve Johnson on product management

New edition of The New Rules of Marketing & PR

I've just started the new year by reading the new edition of The New Rules of Marketing and PR. Excellent so far! This new second edition adds updates on the latest trends for today's marketer.

• New case studies and current examples are included to illustrate the very latest in technology marketing .
• Completely updated to reflect the latest marketing and PR techniques using social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
• Includes a step-by-step action plan for harnessing the power of the Internet to communicate directly with buyers, increase sales, and raise online visibility

via www.amazon.com

Nowadays, customers get product information directly from your website, not from your sales people. Yet I continue to be astounded (okay, depressed) by the "old school" marketing that I see. Get a copy of The New Rules of Marketing and PR and share it with your product marketing and marcom team.

Social media marketing explained in 61 words

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.

Here's the video of David speaking at BMA 2009:

David Meerman Scott keynote at BMA 2009 national conference

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.

Viral Marketing explained

Viral marketing explained.

Why marketers have trouble with full-duplex social technology

Just read Why marketers have trouble with full-duplex social technology by Josh Bernoff.

Great quotes:

The problem is simple. Marketers don't understand channels where you have to talk and listen at the same time.

and

The marketing industry's idea of a two-way communication is to put an 800 number or a web address in an ad and take orders.

and

Your company has a chance to turn its email list into a two-way communication. Except that most mass emails from companies are "do not reply". "We want to talk to you," they say. "But we don't want to hear back from you. Unless you want to place an order, and if so click here."

How much of your marketing is communicating AT people instead of WITH people?

The power of the ebook (part 2)

David Meerman Scott's New Rules of Marketing book and seminar have made the ebook my favorite new promotional technique. It's an incredibly effective method for getting your message into the hands of the customer...for beginning a conversation about issues, not products.

An ebook is akin to a whitepaper, except that it's designed to be read on computer screen rather than read from printed paper. E-books tend to be in color rather than the black and white text and graphics associated with whitepapers. And ebooks are focused on industry issues, not product features.

Why write an ebook? An ebook addresses a specific pain in your industry and gives suggestions on how to deal with the issue--without trying to sell anything! Amazing, isn't it? For instance, what do your customers need to know about FERPA or ISO 9001:2008 or HIPAA or SAS 70 or Sarbanes/Oxley? Your guidance now will undoubtedly lead them to you when they need additional help.

Karma is the law of moral causation. It states that nothing in this world happens to a person that he does not for some reason or another deserve. Use an e-book to give value to your community, and you'll have it come back to you tenfold. Otherwise, you can continue with your old sell-sell-sell ways, and customers will turn away, just as they have in the past.

Some ebook ideas:

• The executive recruiter who explains how to hire the best talent (and how to showcase your talent) ultimately gets more searches and more candidates.
• The dry cleaner who explains how to care for fragile garments (like grandmother's wedding dress) gets more business than he can handle.
• The rock band that explains to venues how to be a better host gets more bookings from those venues.
• The product management training company that explains the strategic role of product management gets more training business.

Give your customer and your industry your counsel, your recommendations, your insights... and you'll find them returning to you for your expertise in solving their problems.