By Matt Massey, President, drive2
Last week I attended a local marketing networking event on the topic of Demand Creation. My initial thoughts were; "Great! Finally an event in line with drive2's services". I was looking forward to this event as both a networking event and the opportunity to open the eyes of a lot of Ottawa-based marketers working for some of the most progressive technology companies in the world about building demand creation programs.
Unfortunately the turnout for this event was abysmal; an audience of 90, of which, at least 20 were associated with the event as speaker/sponsors. Note that the event was liked by most attendees, including this blogger. But this got me thinking, am I missing something? Are marketers missing something?
Then it came to me, this Demand Creation stuff is bleeding edge for marketing. At least I believe it is.
I'm guessing/hopeful that most technology companies are running too fast to take that big picture approach to marketing effectiveness, demand creation model, marketing metrics blah, blah, blah.
I'm also guessing/hopeful that these companies and in particular, the CEOs of these companies don't wait too long to jump on the bandwagon. The reality is that Canadian tech companies need to do a more effective job of marketing and selling their technology. Coupled with strong advances in the Canadian dollar, we no longer have advantageous pricing in our favour and US Companies with competing technology are building their companies better, stronger faster and are clearly focused on revenue generation.
In order for Canadian companies to compete in the global economy, we can no longer rely on the status quo. Building great technology is what we're known for, but the best of Canadian tech companies end up as an acquisition target because they are too focused on investing in and building great technology, while underinvestment in marketing and sales is all too common.
This might sound like a bit of a diatribe, and it is, but I see it happen all too often, particularly in Ottawa.
My message to tech CEOs – It's time to break out of the status quo, continue to build the best technology Canada has to offer the world and put revenue funnel wide open.
drive2 is a demand creation company. We develop performance driven, results-based lead generation and demand creation programs for technology and services companies. For more information on demand creation on how drive2 can work with your company, visit drive-2.com.
