Truth & consequences

A couple of weeks ago I spoke with VP of Marketing about a product marketing role with his company, a start-up in SF. I’ve undergone some, ah, introspection since I tanked my last interview, so I entered into this conversation in a somewhat different frame of mind.

It helped that he didn’t ask for examples of consumer SaaS applications, nor did he seem interested in what I do outside of work. Perhaps because, when I asked him what type of person is successful at his company his answer was, essentially, “someone who works all the hours God sends.” So, as far as he’s concerned, there is no “outside of work”.

However, when I inquired as to what, by way of sales tools, he needs most immediately—brochures, customer success stories, sales decks, etc.—he replied, “You’ve been to our site (I assume)—you tell me what we need.”

Well, as it happens, I had indeed been to their site and the thing that struck me was their blog. As I told him, a corporate blog is an opportunity to connect in a very human, conversational way. Stuffing it full of press releases, ah, doesn’t quite feed the bulldog. I mean, I get it that the people who provide content (corporate-speak for the ones who write the posts) have full-time jobs (and that, in that company, “full-time” obviously means round-the-clock), but, truly—if you go to a blog all all you get is announcements, you’re not going to return.

Thing is—it’s always a gamble telling someone that, in effect, their baby is ugly. So I guess I’ll have to wait to see whether or not when he asked for the suggestion, he really wanted it.