Technology Marketing Lessons from....Uganda??

I enjoyed a rare moment to catch up on some reading this morning during a flight to Virginia and was moved by the article "The Work is Never Done" in Inc. Magazine's May issue. The article highlights Moses Kizza Musaazi, an inventor and entrepreneur in Uganda, and his use of "appropriate technology."  As a crude paraphrase, I might say 'less is more' or 'keep it simple, stupid.'  Musaazi's inventions and ideas are simple, show thoughtfulness and are scaled to the local environment, or his market.  

You should read the article yourself, but what struck me was how stark the contrast is between Musaazi's approach and that of the over-eager technology marketing jargon and buzzwords that far too many firms rely on.  If more companies would base their messaging on their markets, their customers and those customer's pain points, the entire practice of marketing would benefit.  One of our clients recently bucked this counsel, opting instead for an approach that one analyst described as "hyperbole" and "talking the walk, rather than walking the walk."  Not surprisingly, the client's chosen language has failed to gain any noticeable traction in the market.  

Read the article. And keep it simple.

Group82 Celebrates Milestone...and How We Got Our Name!

What a difference three years can make!!  It's hard to believe that three years has gone by so fast, but today marks the 3rd anniversary of Group82!  We've been extremely fortunate to work with a great cast of clients and the support of our family and friends has been a driving force behind our success.

The foundations of Group82 date back to 1997 when Eric and I worked together at Hyperion Software (which later became Hyperion Solutions and then later Oracle).  Eric ran marketing communications and I handled PR & Analyst Relations.  We both commuted about an hour to Stamford each day, and it was after more than a year working together that we discovered that we only lived a few minutes from each other.

Our careers took different paths in '99 when I left Hyperion to tackle a variety of marketing roles at technology companies including Integral Development, Mantas and Sungard.  A few years after me, Eric left Hyperion and began freelancing for a who's who of B2B technology including EMC, Deltek, Sungard,  and Kalido.  We stayed in touch, getting together for lunch every now and then.  In 2009, at the urging of a longtime friend and colleague we brought or talents together and started the agency.  Naming our venture was the first challenge.  Our approach to marketing has always been straightforward -- talk to your market like an adult and in terms they react to.  Having a "cute" agency name like Accelerate Marketing just didn't fit with our style.  Likewise, using the founders' last names Waldschmidt & Mangelsdorf was obviously out.     Too mouthy and starting the agency really wasn't about either of us.  

We quickly realized that if we were half as good as we thought we were, ANY name would do.  After all, we're in marketing!  In the course of tossing names back and forth, Eric offered up "how about Group82?" Route 82 is the main road between our homes and it was the first name that made both of us stop for a minute... and THAT is how we came to be Group82.

In the last three years we've built an incredible roster of B2B technology clients, added staff, opened an office and are building Group82 to support more companies and their marketing needs.  We can't wait to see what the next three years look like!

When Marketing Campaigns Fail...

Things go wrong.  Timelines get stretched. Results fail to meet expectations.  These are realities all marketing leaders face.  This is especially true at smaller, entrepreneurial companies where marketing strategy is often summarized as “throwing s#!t on the wall to see what sticks.”  Invariably it won’t all “stick.”  What then is the best course of action when a campaign fails?

Often we encourage clients to stick to the larger plan and to understand that changing market perceptions takes time and that any failed campaign is an opportunity to rethink how and why they are targeting particular audiences.  This creates stability and predictability to marketing programs, and it may be the wrong course of action.

Social Media is Media, Media is What People are Talking About

I had been one of those people that was convinced by social media. It took me a month working on a social media campaign for Group82, to realize social media has not reached its potential yet. Everyone sees the huge audience on different social media sites, therefore they think they have to be on them as well.

The problem right now is that social media is not genuinely social. This is because of the people who think they can translate social media to real life. Everyone knows that it doesn’t mean you are social because you have a million followers on twitter or a billion Facebook friends. For some reason those numbers are still important to people. What has been frustrating to me is trying to find people who use social media platforms effectively. Successful companies like Apple do not need social media platforms to succeed. Where do you look for effective Twitter accounts? There are an infinite number of connections on Twitter that can be made but which ones are the most relevant to the company? Then finally after searching for specific CEOs’ and businesses’ Twitters, I came across this.