Marketing Technology » Leadership

Taking it too far

iamreff — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:14:39 +0000

My recent forays into the role of early adoptors on innovation uncovered a gem. In 1999 Tom Creed of St. John University entitled Confessions of an Eary Adopter.

Review these 7 steps, do you need an Innovation Intervention?

7 Symptoms of Early Adoption Syndrome

Symptom #1 – lack of impulse control in the presence of new technologies

Symptom #2 – being in denial about the psychic costs

Symptom #3 – inability to focus on important variables

Symptom #4 – anticipation inflates expectations beyond reason

Symptom #5 – Loss of objectivity, in the moment, everything you do is brilliant

Symptom #6 – The obession becomes a financial burden

Symptom #7 – You are more enthralled with the workings of the technology than what it actually accomplishes

Photo credit Pixomar @ freedigitalphotos.net

Are you an Early Adopter?

iamreff — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:44:54 +0000

I’ve been thinking about Early Adopters lately. I think I’m an EA and reviewing the definition solidifies my thinking. I am generally aware of and interested in new technology, but not all types. I don’t care much about new technology in home theater, tools, sports gear, photography, etc. I pretty much just stick to computer based technology.

This led me to think about how to categorize and capture the level of EA. I sketched out some of areas that touch my life in a simple radar graph (5 is high).

Why do early adopters exist?

In thinking about it, I believe there are two reasons people become EAs in their interest areas

Passion for topic - an individual finds themselves on the left hand side of the technology adoption curve when they have true passion on the subject matter. A person becomes super knowledgeable and engages in the community around the topic. The passion emanates from within the person, it’s part of their being.
Belief in intrinsic value – sure people can tinker without purpose. Tinkering is wonderful and creative, but I believe Early Adopters find a intrinsic value in the technology. Perhaps it’s that the best cameras do a better job at creating art. Or the best sports gear yields the best sportsman.

Sound right? Does the combination of passion and value that yield early adopters? What other factors are at play?

What does your radar graph look like?

Photo credit Pixomar @ freedigitalphotos.net

How can Early Adopters drive change?

iamreff — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:30:53 +0000

Lately, I’ve been thinking about innovation and the role of early adopters. Survey after survey of exectutives describes “innovation” as a priorty for moving their business forward and providing value to their shareholders. Yet instilling an innovative culture seems to be a difficult task. A company is made of humans that will have some proclivity for (or against) accepting and embracing change.

BusinessDictionary.com defines Early Adopter as:

In the diffusion of innovation theory, the minority group (comprising about 14 %) of population which, after innovators, is first to try new ideas, processes, goods and services. Early adopters generally rely on their own inuition and vision, choose carefully, and have above-average education level. For any new product to be succesful, it must attract innovators and early adopters, so thatits acceptance or ‘diffusion’ moves on to early majority, late majority and then on to laggards.

How can innovators and early adopters inspire change among their late majority and laggard peers? How can they remove the obstacles to change (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and help others make transitions more smoothly?

Seen it done well? I’d love to hear from you.

Photo credit Pixomar @ freedigitalphotos.net

What is a Marketing Technologist?

iamreff — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:40:36 +0000

Recently I was having lunch with a colleague and we discussed “What is a Marketing Technologist?” (Other topics: why are companies inventing this position? What does a Marketing Technologist do? How does one land such a job?)

What is a Marketing Technologist?

Let’s start with some typical responsibilities of the position.

Responsibilities:

Evaluate new technologies as they relate to the Marketing discipline
Assist Marketing with technology awareness, evaluation and adoption
Create standard processes that support Marketing Operations functions
Liase between Marketing and IT as needed to ensure resources are properly aligned

While a list of responsibilities is useful, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Depending on the company, the opportunity and the individual, a Marketing Technologist may find themselves providing value to the department/company in various ways including:

Strategist - you will frequently be asked to analyze situations, evaluate options, and recommend strategy & tactics
Change Agent - you may find yourself playing the role of a change agent where you have the opportunity to introduce new marketing technology and techniques
Consultant - you may be asked advise ebusiness teams on how to integrate new “Web 2.0″ digital techniques to the traditional websites
Project Manager - given your unique position between IT & Marketing, you may be asked to manage several projects

BONUS POST: what can IT & Market do today?

iamreff — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:00:30 +0000

Now in Marketing after 15 years of managing technology infrastructure I have gained insights into the similarities and differences between IT and Marketing. This is the last post in a series of four posts.

In the first post in this series we considered what Marketing doesn’t know about IT. In the second post we looked at the flip side. In the third post we looked at the similarities between the two departments. In the final post we looked at why these two are bound at the hip. This is a BONUS post, what can IT & Marketing do together?

So if you’re IT what can you do to foster a better relationship with Marketing?

Topical Marketing Initiatives	What IT can do today.
Speed to Market	Determine development and support processes that could and should be accelerated to ensure product and services get to market quickly. Be specific. Identify success criteria & metrics. Celebrate successes.
Adjusting to New Technology	There is a rash of new technologies that Marketing needs to adjust to. IT can reach out and lead conversations on which technologies matter and which are fads. IT has a long history or accessing technology and Marketing could benefit from IT’s experience.
Market Research & Customer Intelligence	Identify gaps and opportunities associated with capturing, storing, and managing customer behaviors and attitudes at a macro and micro level. Invest in technology to harvest information and intelligence from the data collected.

If you’re Marketing, what can you do to foster a better relationship with IT?

Topical IT Initiatives	What Marketing can do today.
Invest Smartly	Spend time with IT discussing Marketing priorities. Be precise in what is needed and what features can be delayed. Involve IT early in the process. Reach out to IT with business problems and opportunities, not solutions.
Business Partnership	Marketing can advocate for technology improvements. It can be an active member of an IT planning committee. Through training programs Marketing can become more tech savvy and seek to understand how new technologies (Web 2.0) are affecting the Marketing profession.

4 reasons why Marketing and IT need each other

iamreff — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:00:11 +0000

4 reasons why Marketing and IT need each other

Marketing needs IT to become (or continue to be) an adaptive organization that effectively applies technology to reach company goals
Marketing is great at PR, but isn’t often tech savvy. IT loves technology, but is generally not good at PR. If IT helps advance Marketing advance its capabilities via systems/solutions, Marketing could help generate great buzz regarding how IT is a great business partner
Both seek to demonstrate their organizational value and they can work together to identify gaps and implement solutions that furthers the goals of the organization
Both have experience managing shifting priorities and fire-drills, but if they work together they can establish clear objectives and roadmaps

There’s are discussions out there with some viewing marketing technology as a battlefield. What do you think is it a battle or an opportunity for greater partnership?

4 similarities between IT and Marketing

iamreff — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 14:31:52 +0000

Now in Marketing after 15 years of managing technology infrastructure I have gained insights into the similarities and differences between IT and Marketing. This post is the third in a series of four posts.

In the first post in this series we considered what Marketing doesn’t know about IT. In the second post we looked at the flip side. In this post we’ll consider the similarities between IT & Marketing.

4 similarities between IT and Marketing

Both are often under resourced (or often feel that way). There’s so much to get done. IT has to upgrade patches and find time to build out the new infrastructure for the new application all while fielding requests for help. Marketing has to keep the website content fresh and make time to figure out the next quarter strategy all while helping Sales close new business.
Both need to manage shifting priorities and fire-drills. Both departments have to remain consistent in their delivery and message while at the same time maximizing flexibility to respond to new threats and opportunities.
Both need to focus on the NOW (Marketing: revenue capture, IT: effective support)
Both need to focus on the FUTURE (Marketing: profitable growth, IT: enterprise architecture)

The similarities are amazing, yet I wonder if they know it!

4 things IT doesn’t know about Marketing

iamreff — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:22:49 +0000

Now in Marketing after 15 years of managing technology infrastructure I have gained insights into the similarities and differences between IT and Marketing. This post is the second in a series of four posts.

In the first post in this series we considered what Marketing doesn’t know about IT. Now let’s look at the flip side.

4 things IT doesn’t know Marketing

Marketing is pressured to differentiate - to carve out space within the market. Key in developing a differentiation strategy are speed to market, research and customer intelligence.
Marketing is measured by how well it helps capture revenue and achieves profitability. Marketing spends a portion of its day with a short term focus – working to close business. Yet it also focuses on thought leadership – how to bring dollars in the door next quarter.
Marketing serves many masters. They must juggle the needs of the customer, Finance, Sales and Executive Management.
Sometimes there are unseen pressures at play – things are hotter closer to the fire

What can IT do to Partner with Marketing?

So how did I do?

If you’re in IT, did you know these things? Do such partnership efforts make sense to you?

Marketers, what else doesn’t IT know about you? Let me know in your comments.

4 things Marketing doesn’t know about IT

iamreff — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 01:13:21 +0000

Now in Marketing after 15 years of managing technology infrastructure I have gained insights into the similarities and differences between IT and Marketing. This post is first in a series of four posts.

Let’s begin the first in this series by giving Marketers a quick view into IT. Users, that’s what IT calls customers, tend to think of IT as what they see on the monitor (Outlook, Word, browser, business apps), but so much more goes into providing services including disaster planning, security, documentation, auditing, training, support, reporting, network management, disk storage, vendor management, IT operations systems (ITIL), expense management … the list goes on and on. I offer four things that Marketing doesn’t know about IT.

4 things Marketing doesn’t know about IT

IT is pressured to maintain standardization in order to manage costs. In their heart of hearts many IT people would love to give you the device you need/want (hey, they want them too), but IT is held accountable for what it costs to provide technology services. Internal customers don’t often bear the burden of cost, IT always does. Complexity and non-standard systems cost money in support and administration.
IT is typically measured by how well it maintains services (not necessarily on how quickly it changes). You may wish to be on the latest-greatest versions of Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, but IT has limited resources and supporting many versions of software puts a great strain on available resources.
IT serves many masters. It must juggle the #1 priorities for Marketing, Sales, Product divisions, Finance, etc. As well as maintain hardware, software and the daily administration of systems and services. If business partners takes the time to discuss departmental priorities with IT, then IT better understands what is needed, but IT still has to weigh everyone’s needs and make the best decisions it can.
IT works all the time – seriously, they are always on call.

So how did I do?

If you’re a Marketer, did you know these things? (and if you did I wonder how deeply you understand them). IT, what else doesn’t Marketing know about you? Let me know in your comments.

Data vs. Gut Instinct

iamreff — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:09:55 +0000

Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”

How easy is it to get a project stuck? To get to a point where momentum is lost and everyone feels dispirited. Projects become territorial and politicized and come to a standstill. Why does this happen? A fiery cocktail of ego, varying priorities, and personalities. Project stakeholders have different (usually valid) agendas and ideas on how to spend resources.

So how do you keep your project from dying a slow death of indecision and debate? In addition to getting executive support, GET THE DATA. People can have different opinions but they can’t have different facts. However, quite often no one bothers to find out the facts! Data collection can be hard work and may ultimately disprove your own ideas. However, if you focus on the facts you can short circuit debates that don’t go anywhere and often foster resentment.

Don’t have the data? Figure out what data you need and start looking. You may not get exactly what you want, but chances are you’ll have something to go on. If you figure out what data you need you’ll better be able to set up systems to collect data you need to make better decisions in the future.

So what about gut instincts? After many years in technology, my gut instinct is right a large majority of the time. Except when it isn’t. Those are the moments when, well, boy do I look silly…..use your instincts to validate the data. Ask yourself, “does this make sense?”. This is critical because one can’t follow data blindly. Just ask the people that follow the GPS system in their car – right into a lake!