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.
1 comment:
Good luck! Let us know how it plays out?
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