On October 25th and 26th folks involved with various elements of Middlebury Interactive’s marketing efforts came together in Middlebury for two days of meetings aimed at clearly defining roles and responsibilities across the team. Locals Stacey, Tom, and Jason were joined by new hires Jay Bhambhani and Eric Mack, while Linda and Ryan joined us from California. In our next blog, we’ll share faces and titles of the full team and what they do.
The image below illustrates at a high level how responsibilities will be divided. A special thanks to Linda for providing this framework.
I will refrain from going through every box on the diagram, but will offer a quick explanation and some FAQs to assist everyone in knowing who to contact when they have questions. Let’s take the scenario of an idea you came up with and jotted down on a napkin when out to dinner with the family. The first thing you would do is send your idea to Product Management.
Since this is the best idea in company history we can assume it is approved at every step. Now clear your mind and imagine Richard Attenborough narrating the magical process of your idea becoming the DNA of the future of our company. Once Product Management assesses that we have or can develop the needed technology, Business Development analyzes the project feasibility. They will look at the size of the market, competition, and potential sales. Sales will be consulted to share what they are hearing in the marketplace.
When the project is approved several things will happen; Product Management creates a budget and a schedule. Marketing creates a strategy and Product Marketing researches the competitive landscape and works with our partner channels to price the product. Product Marketing puts together a launch plan and works with Marketing and Sales to create the needed sales tools, demonstrations and collateral. Marketing creates campaigns for lead generation and awareness. Sales works leads, maintains relationships, gives product demos and works events with the support of Marketing.
A few common scenarios and recent questions the team has received is included here in a list of FAQs that further explain who is doing what going forward. We’ll add to this list in our next blog post, so please forward any suggestions to emack@middil.com
Q. Who do I contact if I am looking for information on corporate branding or positioning? This includes items such as the style guide, company and brand logos, presentation templates, and letterhead.
A. Eric will cover this and put you in contact with Jason if it is a unique situation or special request.
Q. If I am looking for product specific collateral such as one pagers and spec sheets?
A. Linda will send you the requested document or in the case one does not exist she can create something for you.
Q. I am headed to a conference, trade show, or a meeting with a customer and need corporate collateral, who should I contact.
A. Contact Eric and he will work with Jason to decide what materials you need or if something needs to be created for you.
Q. Who do I contact if I am looking for information about a market or a specific competitor?
A. Jay will be able to assist you.
Q. A customer just asked me for the technical specifications of a product, who should I ask for this information?
A. Linda.
Q. If I am having a technical problem or need a new product demonstration created, who should I contact?
A. Linda is in charge of the creation and fixing of product demonstrations, but is not involved in scheduling of or training for a product demonstration.
Q. A customer has asked for a product demo or presentation, who do I ask about this?
A. Chad or Jamie can help determine if someone from sales can attend or if a webinar is sufficient. They may also point you to materials to help prepare you to deliver the session.
Q. While looking at one of the websites (MIL, MMLA, or Powerspeak), I have found an issue with or have a recommendation to improve the site, who should I contact about this?
A. Please email Jason and Eric and they will sequence the fix with Ryan.
Q. Who can answer questions about product release dates and product roadmaps?
A. Tom will field all these questions until a Product Manager is hired.
Q. Are we attending ________ tradeshow or conference? If I have a question about conferences or tradeshows who should I contact?
A. Jason can share with you his plan for the company or connect you to additional resources at K12.
Again, please let me know if you believe there are other questions that should be added.
Look for another blog from me next week that introduces you to the full Marketing team.
This is great. With our rapid growth, this is a great way to keep everyone aligned. Should we do this for other departments that have grown or have new hires/leadership??
ReplyDeleteEric, nice job. I just want to reaffirm with people that if they have product ideas, it's better to get the idea to Product Management (me, for now) in rough form than to try to make a 10-slide deck...otherwise we usually forget the idea for 6 months and then it's too late.
ReplyDeleteWell done Eric!
ReplyDeleteSo who is Richard?