By Mark Helfen
The new-new was on display Monday, as a panel of marketers from clean tech businesses described clean tech marketing, and compared it with marketing the old-new - high tech products.
The panelists, both with high tech marketing backgrounds, said that clean tech marketing has similar tactics, but different strategic thinking - with a different language, a different technology, different customer motivations, and a different eco-system.
The panel, held Monday November 9, included Kate Gerwe, COO of Lucid Design, and Marcia Kadanoff, Vice President of Marketing at Sustainable Spaces. Moderators were Kathleen Gilligan and Karen Janowski of the EcoStrategy Group.
Before Lucid, Gerwe had been in marketing leadership positions at Yahoo, and Netscape. She also led the volunteer "Green Team" at Yahoo, which was a factor in her move to Lucid.
Lucid describes itself as "The pioneer in real-time resource use feedback technology." They offer instrumentation and software to help evaluate building energy use and other factors of environmental impact. Gerwe says that universities are one of their principle markets.
Kadanoff held marketing leadership positions at Zannel, a social media company, and had positions in marketing and management at other technology companies, both startups, and Apple. Her company, Sustainable Spaces does "green energy remodeling," both to reduce a homes energy footprint, along with making it a more comfortable place to live.
So how does clean tech marketing compare with high tech marketing?
"At some level, marketing is marketing," said Gerwe. The hardest part is figuring out what customers are looking for, and how you solve their problems. But from that point, the tactics fall out and are similar to high tech marketing.
Kadanoff had a similar view.
"I was hired because I knew the technical side of marketing." The company wanted her background in social media, knowledge of how to build a web site to drive business, and strategic pricing.
But at a deeper level, the marketing is different. For one thing, it's a "different language, a different ecosystem," said Kadanoff. Instead of dealing with computer scientists, you're dealing with building scientists.
And the customer drives are different. Return on investment is lower on the requirement list. It's less an economic decision, or the coolest product. It's more about sustainability and improving the global environment.
Moving from high tech to clean tech marketing requires some extra steps. Both panelists said that current tactical marketing skills, while a requirement, were not enough.
"I don't think I would have been hired without some previous experience in clean tech,' said Kadanoff. In her case, she had been a customer of the company some years before, and had her house remodeled to be more energy efficient. It would be fair to say that she was happy with the results. In addition, she had done a consulting project looking at franchising a home remodeling company.
Gerwe concurred. Her time managing Yahoo's volunteer Green Team made the difference.
Knowledge and demonstrated passion for clean, green products and ideas need to be in your background.
"Take a pro-bono, or low-bono project in clean tech," said Kadanoff. "I know I would not be sitting in this chair if it were not for that experience."
Seek out people in the business, and learn the language. And you need to be really committed.
"I'll be honest with you, clean tech pays 20 percent less" than comparable high tech jobs, said Kadanoff. "The salary scales are lower."
Gerwe had a similar answer.
"We used Linkedin when we post jobs, and we do want to see some sort of commitment to something in the green space," said Gerwe. "If I hadn't been on the Green Team for a couple of years getting into that mind space I wouldn't be here."
"We recently hired someone who had a couple of different volunteer things where he was interning for free, and was really passionate about it. You could see that. It comes through."
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Marketing - Moving from High Tech to Clean Tech
By Mark Helfen
It will be a clean, green evening at the November 9 SDForum Marketing SIG meeting, where an expert panel will discuss marketing clean technology, and in particular how clean tech marketing differs from high tech marketing.
The moderators, Kathleen Gilligan and Karen Janowski, are co-founders of the EcoStrategy Group, a consultancy that helps companies in "Bringing Clean Technology Products to Market" and "Helping Businesses 'Go Green.'"
I spoke to Janowski about what to expect during the evening.
For people who are interested in marketing clean tech, they will "learn the kind of career paths that it takes to get from where they are," marketing high tech, to marketing clean tech, said Janowski.
Techniques and tools that come out of high tech marketing can sometimes be applied to clean tech. The panel will talk about where things are the same, and where they diverge.
The topic fits the "classic MarketingSIG audience," according to Janowski. She lists people who currently market high tech but want to move toward clean tech, marketing managers already in the clean tech space, and startups that plan to be selling clean tech products. People marketing high tech products will also gain fresh perspective about new marketing techniques.
I asked her about the three panelists will speak at the meeting.
Marcia Kadanoff is Vice President of Marketing at Sustainable Spaces. Sustainable Spaces describes itself as "Bay Area's leader in green energy remodeling." Kadanoff has been around the valley for a long time, and is an expert at creating "demand by key decision makers," said Janowski.
Kate Gerwe is COO at the Lucid Design Group. They describe themselves as "The pioneer in real-time resource use feedback technology." One of Lucid's primary markets is universities, and according to Janowski, Gerwe's background at Yahoo helps her "create communities" with early adopters, administrators, and students.
Tom Tansy is Vice President of Marketing at Fat Spaniel Technologies, who "the leading independent provider of critical monitoring and reporting services for the renewable energy industry." According to Janowski, Tansy has experience in several clean tech businesses. His prior job was selling clean tech to consumers, while Fat Spaniel sells to businesses.
Where does the "fat spaniel" come in? You will need to show up Monday to find out.
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
By Mark Helfen
It will be a clean, green evening at the November 9 SDForum Marketing SIG meeting, where an expert panel will discuss marketing clean technology, and in particular how clean tech marketing differs from high tech marketing.
The moderators, Kathleen Gilligan and Karen Janowski, are co-founders of the EcoStrategy Group, a consultancy that helps companies in "Bringing Clean Technology Products to Market" and "Helping Businesses 'Go Green.'"
I spoke to Janowski about what to expect during the evening.
For people who are interested in marketing clean tech, they will "learn the kind of career paths that it takes to get from where they are," marketing high tech, to marketing clean tech, said Janowski.
Techniques and tools that come out of high tech marketing can sometimes be applied to clean tech. The panel will talk about where things are the same, and where they diverge.
The topic fits the "classic MarketingSIG audience," according to Janowski. She lists people who currently market high tech but want to move toward clean tech, marketing managers already in the clean tech space, and startups that plan to be selling clean tech products. People marketing high tech products will also gain fresh perspective about new marketing techniques.
I asked her about the three panelists will speak at the meeting.
Marcia Kadanoff is Vice President of Marketing at Sustainable Spaces. Sustainable Spaces describes itself as "Bay Area's leader in green energy remodeling." Kadanoff has been around the valley for a long time, and is an expert at creating "demand by key decision makers," said Janowski.
Kate Gerwe is COO at the Lucid Design Group. They describe themselves as "The pioneer in real-time resource use feedback technology." One of Lucid's primary markets is universities, and according to Janowski, Gerwe's background at Yahoo helps her "create communities" with early adopters, administrators, and students.
Tom Tansy is Vice President of Marketing at Fat Spaniel Technologies, who "the leading independent provider of critical monitoring and reporting services for the renewable energy industry." According to Janowski, Tansy has experience in several clean tech businesses. His prior job was selling clean tech to consumers, while Fat Spaniel sells to businesses.
Where does the "fat spaniel" come in? You will need to show up Monday to find out.
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Marketing
By Mark Helfen
If you have ever worked in marketing, you probably have noticed a certain disconnect between corporate marketing and the field sales organization. There is a “constant tension” between the organizations, according to Sandy Hawke, who is a Senior Director of Product Marketing at BigFix.
But Hawke has had some success in “bridging the gap,” and will share some of her strategies in a talk titled The Zen of Sales and Marketing Teamwork, next Monday at the October 12 SDForum Marketing SIG meeting (details here).
I spoke to Hawke on Wednesday, October 7, and asked her about her presentation.
She takes a broad view of marketing – and includes not only product marketing, but also product management, marcom, PR, web development, and lead generation – anyone who helps sales but doesn’t directly carry a quota.
Working well with sales, especially in these tough economic times, can help both your company and your career.
Hawke was once one of those quota carrying sales reps, and when she went from a field position to a product marketing role back at corporate headquarters, she vowed to “remember how tough the battle is.”
“The sales force is my customer,” she said, and described herself as their advocate.
She will use her first hand experience to help you “get inside the sales person head,” and understand what its like to walk in their shoes.
“You need to understand the challenges in another department that you rely on for your success.”
Hawke explained how she considers special product feature requests from sales reps, something that happens regularly in large, complex software products – she evaluates the revenue the change will generate for the company.
But as a former product manager, I pointed out that there is a weak correlation between the revenue a new product feature will generate, and the noise level the request generates from field sales. After all, sales reps are particularly good at persuading people to their point of view.
“I will say no, but I’m not Doctor No,” said Hawke. “You can still get along with sales without saying yes to everything.”
Some of her response is based on the personality and reputation of the person who is requesting the feature.
“Within a month I know which ones to believe.”
You can learn how to decide who to believe at next Monday’s meeting.
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at: mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
If you have ever worked in marketing, you probably have noticed a certain disconnect between corporate marketing and the field sales organization. There is a “constant tension” between the organizations, according to Sandy Hawke, who is a Senior Director of Product Marketing at BigFix.
But Hawke has had some success in “bridging the gap,” and will share some of her strategies in a talk titled The Zen of Sales and Marketing Teamwork, next Monday at the October 12 SDForum Marketing SIG meeting (details here).
I spoke to Hawke on Wednesday, October 7, and asked her about her presentation.
She takes a broad view of marketing – and includes not only product marketing, but also product management, marcom, PR, web development, and lead generation – anyone who helps sales but doesn’t directly carry a quota.
Working well with sales, especially in these tough economic times, can help both your company and your career.
Hawke was once one of those quota carrying sales reps, and when she went from a field position to a product marketing role back at corporate headquarters, she vowed to “remember how tough the battle is.”
“The sales force is my customer,” she said, and described herself as their advocate.
She will use her first hand experience to help you “get inside the sales person head,” and understand what its like to walk in their shoes.
“You need to understand the challenges in another department that you rely on for your success.”
Hawke explained how she considers special product feature requests from sales reps, something that happens regularly in large, complex software products – she evaluates the revenue the change will generate for the company.
But as a former product manager, I pointed out that there is a weak correlation between the revenue a new product feature will generate, and the noise level the request generates from field sales. After all, sales reps are particularly good at persuading people to their point of view.
“I will say no, but I’m not Doctor No,” said Hawke. “You can still get along with sales without saying yes to everything.”
Some of her response is based on the personality and reputation of the person who is requesting the feature.
“Within a month I know which ones to believe.”
You can learn how to decide who to believe at next Monday’s meeting.
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at: mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Your Launch Strategy - An Apple a Day...
By Mark Helfen
Responding to his client's request that he wanted to "launch products like Apple," Josh Weinberg developed "a whole new field of study." Perhaps "launchology" might be the term. (Not a word used by Weinberg.)
At the SDForum Marketing SIG meeting on September 14, Weinberg, President of the Digital Life Consulting Group, described his study, summarized in 11 rules, for successfully launching consumer technology products. His presentation showed examples of great launches, mostly starring Apple Computer's Steve Jobs.
But I would summarize his lessons with a single idea - that the launch, and planning for the launch, is an equal partner to every other part of creating the product, at least for products targeted to consumers. Equal to engineering, product development, product marketing, and all of the other functions in getting a product out of the door. Launch planning needs to start early, not when the product is almost complete.
Weinberg advocates appointing a launch manager to run the launch team, with the product manager one of the attendees at the team. The launch manager is responsible for the product launch, instead of the more typical approach of handing the job to the product manager.
By focusing on the launch, your product gets off to a successful start. This can help move your product out of the price wars. He supplied some examples (Cuil.com, the search engine - remember them?) where the damage of a muffed launch is never undone.
Apple figured prominently in Weinberg's presentation. In fact, it would be fair to say that launchology is largely a study of Apple launch strategies, which he has decoded from outside the company.
He may have picked the right target. Last week, the market research firm Interbrand moved Apple up four places on its list of the 100 best global brands, calling Apple "among the most iconic of relatively young brands in the world." Following the 11 rules in his list must play a part.
You can get the complete list of rules from Weinberg directly, but here are a few favorites:
1. It's a product experience.
Meaning it's everything about the product, not just the technology. The box it's packed in, and everything included in the box. The manuals. How it assembles, how you upgrade from the prior version, how you get support, and lots more. The complete experience of purchasing, opening the box, and owning the product.
6. Products have names.
Ipod, Flip, Blackberry are names. SGX2275 isn't a name, it's a number.
8. Communicate clearly.
As a writer, one of my favorites. If you live in Silicon Valley and work in technology, you speak a different language than the rest of the planet. Information about your consumer product needs to be written for normal people.
10. Launches are theater.
You will have to watch Weinberg's presentation and its video clips of Steve Jobs to see some examples. As a one time product manager (of business technology products) I have to admit that I never considered the product launches that I worked on even mildly entertaining, much less theatrical. But then not every company has Jobs to front for them.
You can contact Weinberg through his Digital Life Consulting Group Web site, www.Dlifegroup.com.
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
Responding to his client's request that he wanted to "launch products like Apple," Josh Weinberg developed "a whole new field of study." Perhaps "launchology" might be the term. (Not a word used by Weinberg.)
At the SDForum Marketing SIG meeting on September 14, Weinberg, President of the Digital Life Consulting Group, described his study, summarized in 11 rules, for successfully launching consumer technology products. His presentation showed examples of great launches, mostly starring Apple Computer's Steve Jobs.
But I would summarize his lessons with a single idea - that the launch, and planning for the launch, is an equal partner to every other part of creating the product, at least for products targeted to consumers. Equal to engineering, product development, product marketing, and all of the other functions in getting a product out of the door. Launch planning needs to start early, not when the product is almost complete.
Weinberg advocates appointing a launch manager to run the launch team, with the product manager one of the attendees at the team. The launch manager is responsible for the product launch, instead of the more typical approach of handing the job to the product manager.
By focusing on the launch, your product gets off to a successful start. This can help move your product out of the price wars. He supplied some examples (Cuil.com, the search engine - remember them?) where the damage of a muffed launch is never undone.
Apple figured prominently in Weinberg's presentation. In fact, it would be fair to say that launchology is largely a study of Apple launch strategies, which he has decoded from outside the company.
He may have picked the right target. Last week, the market research firm Interbrand moved Apple up four places on its list of the 100 best global brands, calling Apple "among the most iconic of relatively young brands in the world." Following the 11 rules in his list must play a part.
You can get the complete list of rules from Weinberg directly, but here are a few favorites:
1. It's a product experience.
Meaning it's everything about the product, not just the technology. The box it's packed in, and everything included in the box. The manuals. How it assembles, how you upgrade from the prior version, how you get support, and lots more. The complete experience of purchasing, opening the box, and owning the product.
6. Products have names.
Ipod, Flip, Blackberry are names. SGX2275 isn't a name, it's a number.
8. Communicate clearly.
As a writer, one of my favorites. If you live in Silicon Valley and work in technology, you speak a different language than the rest of the planet. Information about your consumer product needs to be written for normal people.
10. Launches are theater.
You will have to watch Weinberg's presentation and its video clips of Steve Jobs to see some examples. As a one time product manager (of business technology products) I have to admit that I never considered the product launches that I worked on even mildly entertaining, much less theatrical. But then not every company has Jobs to front for them.
You can contact Weinberg through his Digital Life Consulting Group Web site, www.Dlifegroup.com.
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
Monday, September 7, 2009
Don’t Just Plan the Party
By Mark Helfen
“The consumer technology industry needs to forget it’s a technology industry, and must move to being a consumer product industry.”
Or so said Joshua Weinberg, President of The Digital Life Consulting Group, when I interviewed him to ask about his upcoming SDForum Marketing SIG talk. He will be speaking at the Monday, September 14 meeting, and you can check out the meeting announcement here.
Weinberg has studied companies that do a great job of launching consumer technology products, and has developed a list of rules for the perfect launch. The idea is to have everything ready when the product publicly launched. The same rules that apply to physical products also apply to web based consumer products. Business products also benefit from following the rules.
Apple is a company that does a great job, and Weinberg studies Apple's product launches, which helped him crystallize the rules.
“A launch is not planning six weeks for a big party,” said Weinberg. “It’s a year long process that starts at the moment the product starts.”
He referred to his recent blog posting “Why would Sony launch a product that consumers can’t buy?” which compares Sony’s Reader launch to product launches from Apple and Bose.
“Sony is not a failure, but clearly Apple has mind share.”
The “little things” matter a lot, like the product having a name as opposed to just a meaningless string of letters and numbers. Every accessory in the box is as important as the main product. For a web product, the sign-up process is as critical as how the product works day to day.
While companies can be “somewhat successful” without using his strategy, they can be “more successful the more rules they follow.”
Here in the valley, there is a long tradition of delivering the absolutely newest technology even if it’s not fully productized. If you have purchased technology products recently, you may have seen that some, or many, companies don’t have everything together when the product is launched. I related my recent purchase of a (name brand withheld) router where the User Guide is not yet finished.
Weinberg’s response is that “if the only thing you have is being first to market, there is not a lot there.”
“Most of these rules are blatantly obvious,” said Weinberg. “But if it’s so obvious, how come people aren’t doing it?”
You can ask him yourself at our next meeting on the 14th.
You can reach Weinberg at http://dlifegroup.com/
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
“The consumer technology industry needs to forget it’s a technology industry, and must move to being a consumer product industry.”
Or so said Joshua Weinberg, President of The Digital Life Consulting Group, when I interviewed him to ask about his upcoming SDForum Marketing SIG talk. He will be speaking at the Monday, September 14 meeting, and you can check out the meeting announcement here.
Weinberg has studied companies that do a great job of launching consumer technology products, and has developed a list of rules for the perfect launch. The idea is to have everything ready when the product publicly launched. The same rules that apply to physical products also apply to web based consumer products. Business products also benefit from following the rules.
Apple is a company that does a great job, and Weinberg studies Apple's product launches, which helped him crystallize the rules.
“A launch is not planning six weeks for a big party,” said Weinberg. “It’s a year long process that starts at the moment the product starts.”
He referred to his recent blog posting “Why would Sony launch a product that consumers can’t buy?” which compares Sony’s Reader launch to product launches from Apple and Bose.
“Sony is not a failure, but clearly Apple has mind share.”
The “little things” matter a lot, like the product having a name as opposed to just a meaningless string of letters and numbers. Every accessory in the box is as important as the main product. For a web product, the sign-up process is as critical as how the product works day to day.
While companies can be “somewhat successful” without using his strategy, they can be “more successful the more rules they follow.”
Here in the valley, there is a long tradition of delivering the absolutely newest technology even if it’s not fully productized. If you have purchased technology products recently, you may have seen that some, or many, companies don’t have everything together when the product is launched. I related my recent purchase of a (name brand withheld) router where the User Guide is not yet finished.
Weinberg’s response is that “if the only thing you have is being first to market, there is not a lot there.”
“Most of these rules are blatantly obvious,” said Weinberg. “But if it’s so obvious, how come people aren’t doing it?”
You can ask him yourself at our next meeting on the 14th.
You can reach Weinberg at http://dlifegroup.com/
=============
Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mark.helfen
follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mark_helfen
=============
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