Blog Insights

I was recently asked to participate in a panel discussion about marketing trends and challenges for technology consulting firms. I thought the questions and answers were worth sharing.

I am continually surprised by business owners who haven’t stayed current with marketing trends, techniques, or technology … yet expect to pay pennies to hire a team of people who have invested in continual learning in the craft. (I know – I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am).

Which of these phrases best describes marketing in your tech company?

1. We suffer from random acts of marketing
2. We’re really good at drive-by demand generation
3. We think of marketing as arts & crafts

Running your business is hard. There are never enough resources to do everything you want to do. Technology never seems to deliver on its promises and is harder to work with than expected. Time seems to accelerate, never pausing for you to catch up on your to-do list.

I’ve had the privilege of talking with hundreds of CEOs, presidents, and founders of small and mid-sized businesses over the years. Here’s the one thing I’ve noticed that’s consistent among all the successful ones: they want the big picture, the vision – and quickly. If you want the details, you’ll ask questions. Details are what you have a team for.

Let’s say you have a sales team of between two and ten people. I’m going to make an educated guess that one of three things is happening:

My 10-year-old daughter (M) and her 11-year-old best friend (K) want to start a business. (They’re both Shark Tank fans). They decided the best idea was a party-planning business.

(I’m speaking to business owners and leaders here.)

And I’m guessing you probably aren’t sure.

The definition of a shortcut is something that gets you somewhere faster – cutting a route to make it shorter. However, shortcuts can have a negative connotation (as in, the building’s structure is weak because the builder took shortcuts.)

I often get asked, “What’s the magic bullet?” or “What’s something I can do that no one else is doing?” Sometimes that question is related to marketing. Sometimes sales. Sometimes customer satisfaction (or, as I prefer, customer delight).