When a tech company is sales-driven, they will realize at one point that they need to:
– generate demand at scale, not just through biz dev reps
– differentiate
– create thought leadership
– have a “brand” (however we define that)
etc.
That’s what marketing is for, isn’t it!? – is the obvious and totally spot-on conclusion, so they set out to build marketing.
What ends up happening is marketing falls under sales or business development leaders. Nothing wrong with that.
But, sales people often start off asking the wrong questions…
The wrong questions are:
– should we be content-first or brand-first?
– how will marketing get more leads?
– should we do [XY strategy/tool/fad they’ve heard of]
What’s wrong with these questions?
In short, they lead the conversation/thinking down the wrong path.
Instead, here is what your new marketing department (which will likely be 1-2 people in-house, plus an agency) should obsess over:
– who are my best customers and why?
– how can I recognize buyers who are like my best customers?
– what do they read, consume, where do they hang out and exchange information… online and offline?
– how will sales and marketing blend and form a kick-butt revenue team?
If you answer these questions, it sets you on the path to figuring out the “leadgen” issue, branding and everything else that comes along.
Right mindset + strategy = 🚀🚀
Wrong expectations + wrong focus = 💩
