By: Mike Johnson, Director of Communities at MassTLC
This quarter we had a chance to talk to SmartBear Software’s
CMO, Bryan Semple, about his role, and what he’s thinking about for 2016. You
can also check out his blog StoryMETRIX.
CMO, Bryan Semple, about his role, and what he’s thinking about for 2016. You
can also check out his blog StoryMETRIX.
You started you post-military career as a sales rep in
the mid-90’s, back then sales departments and marketing departments were two
very different worlds but now the buzz is all about sales and marketing
alignment (Smarketing), when did you start to see the transition and how are
the departments aligned at SmartBear?
the mid-90’s, back then sales departments and marketing departments were two
very different worlds but now the buzz is all about sales and marketing
alignment (Smarketing), when did you start to see the transition and how are
the departments aligned at SmartBear?
I was an enterprise sales rep
where the marketing contribution to my success was low. I cold called
CTOs, CIOs and worked major Fortune 500 accounts building out a rolodex of
contacts. For high volume, B2B businesses I think sales and marketing
have always had to be aligned. A VP of Marketing who does see sales and revenue
as his goals is a short term VP of Marketing. This is as true today as it
was a while back. At SmartBear, each of our sales teams is aligned
with a market manager and product marketing manager who are goaled on product
revenue and tasked with delivering to the sales manager weekly downloads.
The rest of the marketing organization lines up to support these key players on
our team. It has proven very successful in driving thousands of trials
each week.
where the marketing contribution to my success was low. I cold called
CTOs, CIOs and worked major Fortune 500 accounts building out a rolodex of
contacts. For high volume, B2B businesses I think sales and marketing
have always had to be aligned. A VP of Marketing who does see sales and revenue
as his goals is a short term VP of Marketing. This is as true today as it
was a while back. At SmartBear, each of our sales teams is aligned
with a market manager and product marketing manager who are goaled on product
revenue and tasked with delivering to the sales manager weekly downloads.
The rest of the marketing organization lines up to support these key players on
our team. It has proven very successful in driving thousands of trials
each week.
Your desk looks a bit like mission control, can you run
us through what you’ve got going on here? Does this setup bring you back to
your Navy days?
us through what you’ve got going on here? Does this setup bring you back to
your Navy days?
Marketing today is a real
time endeavor. You need to monitor not only site operations, response
time, but also hot content, social feeds, and hourly day over day traffic
comparisons. Traffic is remarkably consistent hour by hour for a
global operation. Its critical to learn these patterns to detect if something
good or bad has happened. In addition, we also stream live feeds of our
trade shows back to marketing. It is important for everyone to realize
there are live customers out there every minute of every day and to keep that
in front of the team. In the Navy, we measured everything to stay safe
and prepared. So yes, part of this is probably due to my Navy training.
time endeavor. You need to monitor not only site operations, response
time, but also hot content, social feeds, and hourly day over day traffic
comparisons. Traffic is remarkably consistent hour by hour for a
global operation. Its critical to learn these patterns to detect if something
good or bad has happened. In addition, we also stream live feeds of our
trade shows back to marketing. It is important for everyone to realize
there are live customers out there every minute of every day and to keep that
in front of the team. In the Navy, we measured everything to stay safe
and prepared. So yes, part of this is probably due to my Navy training.
Sometimes living in a C-Suite world, you can miss out or
(hopefully not) lose touch with some of the things that are happening in the
entry or mid-level world of marketers, was are two things you’ve learned this
year from new marketers?
(hopefully not) lose touch with some of the things that are happening in the
entry or mid-level world of marketers, was are two things you’ve learned this
year from new marketers?
I don’t feel too isolated at
all. My team is super flat, not hierarchical, and we all sit in an open
office plan. So I hear a lot, and I am sure they hear a lot from my
desk. We encourage everyone on the team to speak their mind and
argue their points. If you disagree, speak up. We have pretty
lively discussions and arguments where my ideas don’t always carry the
day. All of us are always looking at new ways to improve operations and
drive more revenue. This year we doubled down on our commitment to agile
marketing expanding our calendaring system to link with Jira. We started
to experiment with Kanban systems for some groups. We have adopted buyer’s
journey models for all our markets and 8 products along with corresponding
content models. We continue to decrease our spending on PPC while looking
for incremental spend opportunities that matter. We are also rethinking our
whole SEO operation. There always innovation on the team from everyone and that
is what makes it fun.
all. My team is super flat, not hierarchical, and we all sit in an open
office plan. So I hear a lot, and I am sure they hear a lot from my
desk. We encourage everyone on the team to speak their mind and
argue their points. If you disagree, speak up. We have pretty
lively discussions and arguments where my ideas don’t always carry the
day. All of us are always looking at new ways to improve operations and
drive more revenue. This year we doubled down on our commitment to agile
marketing expanding our calendaring system to link with Jira. We started
to experiment with Kanban systems for some groups. We have adopted buyer’s
journey models for all our markets and 8 products along with corresponding
content models. We continue to decrease our spending on PPC while looking
for incremental spend opportunities that matter. We are also rethinking our
whole SEO operation. There always innovation on the team from everyone and that
is what makes it fun.
SmartBear is growing quickly and I’m sure your growing
your own department, what are the must-haves to be invited to join your team?
your own department, what are the must-haves to be invited to join your team?
We look for culture fit – low
ego, team players with a passion for what they do. Intellectual curiosity
is big for us. We tend to hire quirky people which I am not sure how that
happens. For anything but entry level positions, we look for excellence in
digital arts. For entry positions, we tend to hire new college hires if
they have had internships that make sense. We have had great success with
interns from Northeastern. We throw a lot at them, and see what they can
do. For regular hires, we do two rounds of interviewing on site
with a practical exercise thrown in. We learn a lot from the practical
exercise and can see how people approach problems, pressure, and how well
they listen. I really enjoy my team and it is one of the things that
makes it so enjoyable to come to work each day.
ego, team players with a passion for what they do. Intellectual curiosity
is big for us. We tend to hire quirky people which I am not sure how that
happens. For anything but entry level positions, we look for excellence in
digital arts. For entry positions, we tend to hire new college hires if
they have had internships that make sense. We have had great success with
interns from Northeastern. We throw a lot at them, and see what they can
do. For regular hires, we do two rounds of interviewing on site
with a practical exercise thrown in. We learn a lot from the practical
exercise and can see how people approach problems, pressure, and how well
they listen. I really enjoy my team and it is one of the things that
makes it so enjoyable to come to work each day.
What’s the #1 to-do for your 2016 marketing strategy?
Same thing as 2015 – grow
downloads and traffic. We are going to do a renewed focus on our content
production, distribution, and marketing. We have always done a lot of
content, but are looking to be more precise in its development. We hired an
experienced content marketer to drive this for us and we are very excited. In
addition, we run the two largest open source communities in the API space –
SoapUI.org and Swagger.io. For 2016 we will be increasing our investments
in open source.
downloads and traffic. We are going to do a renewed focus on our content
production, distribution, and marketing. We have always done a lot of
content, but are looking to be more precise in its development. We hired an
experienced content marketer to drive this for us and we are very excited. In
addition, we run the two largest open source communities in the API space –
SoapUI.org and Swagger.io. For 2016 we will be increasing our investments
in open source.
What’s something from this year that just isn’t relevant
for next year?
for next year?
Everything we exited the year
doing we will be doing in 2016. If something didn’t work for us, we
stopped doing it immediately since we measure everything. We saturated
our event schedule this year, so I don’t expect major changes in events. In
addition, our paid advertising is running at max value, so we won’t be changing
that much next year.
doing we will be doing in 2016. If something didn’t work for us, we
stopped doing it immediately since we measure everything. We saturated
our event schedule this year, so I don’t expect major changes in events. In
addition, our paid advertising is running at max value, so we won’t be changing
that much next year.
