I’m temporarily relaxing my focus tomorrow morning (Friday) by posting Bredemarket material to my personal LinkedIn account. (But not my other personal accounts.) Because the rules must be broken. (Not really.)
Tag Archives: competitive analysis
Ubiquity Via Focus…On Where?
So Bredemarket’s talking about “ubiquity via focus”?
Focus on where?
On the Bredemarket blog, your source for the latest identity/biometric and technology news.
And your source for the most up-to-date information on Bredemarket’s content-proposal-analysis services.
Be sure to visit https://bredemarket.com/blog/
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Ubiquity Via Focus…On What?
So Bredemarket’s talking about “ubiquity via focus”?
Focus on what?
If you have 3 minutes and 40 seconds I’ll tell you.
Ubiquity Via Focus
Well, that’s done and over with.
So let’s move forward with the third year of the revived Bredemarket.
In case you missed it, Bredemarket provides content-proposal-analysis services for identity/biometric and technology firms by means of standard writing offerings.
And Bredemarket will improve its capabilities to serve you…by the means of ubiquity via focus.
No, Bredemarket isn’t ready to reveal what “ubiquity via focus” is yet…but I think you’ll figure it out.
Who Runs Your Company’s Marketing?
I found an open marketing position at Company X.
Why was I looking at Company X?
Because I knew two people (long gone) at Company X, so the company came to mind.
Who runs marketing at Company X?
Because the open position was not an executive position, I searched LinkedIn for the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, or what the cool kids call the CMO. Anyone applying for the open position would want to talk to the CMO.
But I found:
- No CMO on LinkedIn.
- No Head of Marketing on LinkedIn.
- No marketing head on Company X’s About Us page.
But they’re hiring…a marketing manager.
Normally companies hire a marketing head, then let them build out their team. But in this case, Company X is starting in the middle by hiring a non-executive marketing manager.
Or maybe not.
The CxxO and double duty
There’s a chance that one of the other executives at Company X is wearing the marketing hat, in addition to their other duties.
This isn’t unusual in small startups, after all.
Now this makes it difficult for people outside the company who want to speak to the marketing head.
But who cares if it’s difficult for outsiders?
- Yes it makes it hard for a marketing jobseeker to determine who the hiring authority is for an open marketing position.
- And yes (because this blog is all about me) it makes it difficult for a product marketing consultant to pitch their services…especially when the two original contacts have left the company.
Making it hard for outsiders is actually GOOD for the company. Pesky outsiders can be pesky, especially if they’re calling at all hours and bumping their emails.
Who runs marketing at Company U?
But what’s happening on the inside of Company X, or at Company U (your company)?
- Who determines what the marketing manager is supposed to do?
- Who determines if the marketing manager is a success or failure?
- Who determines the company’s marketing strategy?
And (again because this is all about me) who determines when the company needs outside consulting help, and who can answer the questions that the consultant will ask?
From the perspective of Bredemarket, I am much better off when a prospect company has a clear plan of how it can use my content-proposal-analysis services.
Does your company know what it wants to do?
(Imagen 4)
Solving Problems vs. Problem-solving
Marketers, let’s return to school and talk about the difference between solving problems and problem-solving. Afterwards we’ll go back to work.
Marchetti SP and P-S
Some time in 2008 or earlier, Carolyn Marchetti heard this:
“Problem-solving is what you do when you don’t know how to solve a problem.”
She contrasts this with solving problems, where you apply known techniques to a problem that has already been solved.
Marchetti approaches this from an education perspective, where students ideally learn solving problems AND problem-solving.
Shah SP and P-S
This distinction is not unique to Marchetti’s anonymous speaker. Sam J. Shah, also dealing with students, notes the need for problem-solving in certain scientific disciplines:
“[M]ost of the work done in fields as sterile as combinatorics or as messy as molecular biology involves navigating corridors of inquiry, trying (and often failing) to draw connections, and coming up with new lenses with which to look at problems. Frustration and dead ends are part and parcel of working in these fields.”
Bredemarket SP and P-S
We encounter these issues outside of school when we go to work.
- For businesses, Bredemarket usually solves problems: your prospects don’t know about you, your prospects don’t know why they should care about you, your prospects lack information. There are known solutions.
- Occasionally, Bredemarket engages in problem-solving, where there are questions without clear answers, and you and I work together to determine how to move forward.
Your company probably needs to both solve tactical problems and perform strategic problem-solving.
How?
I’ve worked on both the strategic and tactical levels. Let’s talk. https://bredemarket.com/cpa/
(Imagen 4)
The Uncertainty Timeline
The thing about uncertainty is that it also makes timelines uncertain.
If you ask me how long Bredemarket will exist, I can’t tell you.
Maybe it will be going strong 15 years from now.
Or maybe it will end today.
But however long it lasts, I hope Bredemarket retains its focus on helping you serve yours.
(Imagen 3)
Stealing and Awareness
The reason that I redirected the purpose of my Substack posts is because much of my audience there isn’t familiar with the…um…minutiae of biometrics and identity. (For example, my reference to minutiae would probably go right past all but two of my Substack subscribers.)
My Substack audience is best served with awareness content.
But awareness content is not only informative and educational.
Awareness of you
It also makes prospects aware of your company…which is critically important.
Last month I said the following about awareness:
“Technology marketers, do your prospects know who you are?
“If they don’t, then your competitors are taking your rightful revenue.
“Don’t let your competitors steal your money.”
Perhaps steal is a harsh word, but it’s accurate.
Or perhaps a better word is indifference: your actions indicate that you don’t care whether customers buy from you or not. If you cared, you’d actually market your products.
Who needs marketing?
“Nonsense, John! We have a sales staff. Who needs marketers?”
Especially when content marketing may take up to 17 months to convert. That doesn’t help the current quarter.
But your sales staff cannot be everywhere. If your prospects don’t know about you and aren’t reaching out to you, then you have to reach out to them.
And the calls? “Hi, I’m Tom with WidgetCorp.” “With who?”
So how is that current quarter looking now?
You need marketing, now
Your current quarter and future quarters would look better if your secret salesperson were working for you. As Rhonda Salvestrini said:
“Content for your business is one of the best ways to drive organic traffic. It’s your secret salesperson because it’s out there working for you 24/7.”
But the secret salesperson won’t engage your prospects until you act to create that content.
Talk to Bredemarket about your content, proposal, and analysis needs: https://bredemarket.com/cpa/
Before your competitors steal more from you.
How to Isolate Your Unfocused Company
(StealthCo picture from Imagen 3)
So what are you doing, Jane?
“I’m a Scrum Master. Very busy.”
Who are you working for?
“I can’t tell you. We’re in stealth mode.”
When will you emerge?
“When we are ready to blow the world away.”
Um, how do you know that you will blow the world away?
“Our leader says so. And she knows what she’s talking about. She attended Stanford.”
But is anyone checking your assumptions?
“Of course. All 23 employees…forget I said that number.”
But what about your prospects? What are they saying?
“We know they will love it!”
Did they say they will love it?
“We know they will!”
What if the prospects learn about your stealth product and decide it sucks? And all the years you’ve spent developing in isolation are in vain because of a lack of true customer focus?
“That won’t happen. Our leader knows what she’s talking about. She founded one successful company, and uses that experience to guide us remotely from Texas.”
Who is this leader?
“Elizabeth Holmes. Have you heard of her?”
Ending the Isolation
There are potentially valid reasons for entering stealth mode, including protecting trade secrets and keeping the competition away.
But…there is a risk if you also keep the prospects away from your stealth mode operations and fail to engage with them. Who knows—maybe your prospects might have some ideas of what they need, and that information might be good to know. Your unicorn rockstar fearless dear leader may not know EVERYTHING.
If you want to work out a strategy for getting prospects engaged, let me ask you a few questions. Book a free meeting at https://bredemarket.com/cpa/
The Wildebeest Obviously Needs a Snack
It’s time for my (usually) once-a-month edition of Bredemarket’s LinkedIn newsletter, “The Wildebeest Speaks.”
And I revisited a topic that I originally visited in December 2023, but hopefully with a new perspective.
Go to LinkedIn and read the latest edition of my newsletter, “Who Are Your Hungry People?” It is at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/who-your-hungry-people-bredemarket-xiafc/
Bredemarket 