Some of Dilbert’s favorite targets are sales and marketing folks. Some of this may be well deserved in the way we perform our communications.
The good news is that ISA puts on a Marketing and Sales Summit to help us improve and make our communications more relevant to automation professionals. I had the opportunity to moderate a panel of experts in online communities, blogging, and other forms of social media-base communications. The panelists included Doug Brock, Sales Engineer for Kendall Electric, Juliann Grant, ISA’s Social Media Community Manager, Larry O’Brien, Fieldbus Foundation’s Global Marketing Manager, and Deirdre Walsh, Community Manager for Jive Software.
Marketing and sales folks from across the spectrum of automation suppliers asked great questions. Why, how, what’s valuable? My thought is that it’s mainly about trying to connect people with questions closer to people with answers. This can cross the spectrum from thinking about solutions to a problem to decommissioning the solution at the end of its useful life. I want to thank Doug, Juliann, Larry, and Deirdre for sharing their expertise with everyone.
Emerson’s Jane Lansing shared how the path automation suppliers are on needs to bridge the language of products and specs to problems and how to solve them.
Emerson’s Mike Boudreaux shared the value of story telling, the why behind the product, the why of “making a dent in the universe“–in a word, starting with why. Mike shared great examples such as Simon Sinek’s Start with Why TED talk.
I learned a number of tips and tricks just in the lunchtime and discussions in addition to the great lineup of presentations. Hopefully the net result of this session for all of the automation suppliers in attendance is to make your job solving problems easier.
Update: Eoin Ó Riain has an outstanding recap of this event in his post, #ISAms Social tweeting at marketing summit!
