Having overheard a heated discussion at the local Telecom Unemployment Office (aka Starbuck’s) about how to spend a modest marketing budget, I could not help but introduce myself and see what their issues were. Semi-surprisingly, but only after they determined that I was not a job stalker, they were more than happy to download all of their woes. Looking back, I think an invoice for Psychotherapy services would have been reasonable.
Not surprisingly, there was a weird combo of misunderstanding and disagreement around matters of what technologies might work for them. They were running what they considered a “duct tape and paper clip” version of a full Salesforce.com suite. That is, they had done a schlocky (technical term) job of implementation so nobody really knew what they had or how to use it. Of course, they didn’t have the time to go back and figure it out…much less look into the mass of cool vendors and tools to be found in the AppExchange within SFDC. They really came across like they just wanted to get it over with but were also SURE they were at the top of the game (no comment – ahem).
I guess my point here is that it was striking how uncertain these mid-level marketing managers felt with regard to trying something new. And while they carried strong pre-conceptions about certain technologies, they were not willing to really understand the landscape. I guess it would just “come to them”.
A core attitude here was that if they tried something new (e.g. Web Video) they would just annoy their audience and muddle-up their sites…hence create more distraction and lose messaging…forget about stickiness.
It sure made me see how our efforts at Upshot Institute will really be helpful to so many folks stuck in a similar spot of misunderstanding, impatience, or fear. Certainly one can jump-in and try any number of cool marketing technologies and, in the hands of (dare I say) amateurs, create things that may indeed be little more than “noise”. The truth is, even a modest amount of competence and some brain power, marketer’s have a world of tools at their disposal…they just need to reach out and learn…or hang at Starbuck’s and bicker. That’s always productive.
Comments