In the Bay Area I was a small fish in a large pond.  In San Diego, at least I’m a small fish in a small pond.

bah-dump, bump.

The San Diego market for marketing professionals certainly is different and has, not surprisingly, both its ups and downs.  Clearly, fewer opportunities exist for software and Internet high-tech marketers.  There are just not as many companies as in the SF Bay Area, including Silicon Valley.  San Diego has a strong bio tech industry, but the cross-over is not simple (or at least that’s the perception).  Wireless technology is big here, led by, of course, Qualcomm which has resulted in a number of wireless/telecom start-ups.    There certainly is some crossover into this market.  It’s my view, however, that a mini-bubble exists in that there are serious business model issues with some wireless start-ups, and I’m guessing the current economic downturn will expose these.  (I talk more about this in a separate post.)

Generally, I’m not feeling a lot of marketing love in San Diego.  Perhaps it is simply the natural evolution of a technology ecosystem.   First a region must build a strong technology base and then a demand for marketing expertise will emerge.  Despite the fact that San Diego-based WebSideStory was instrumental in leading the marketing ROI trend through its web analytics products, and the fact that there are several marketing related start-ups here, e.g., JuiceMetriQs, Island Data (now Overtone, I see), and Certona, generally, the idea that Marketing doesn’t mean Madison Ave, appears to me to be poorly understood.

(BTW, I don’t know the motivation, but Overtone moved its marketing organization to the Bay Area.  Aside from founders, until recently the entire Ortiva Wireless management team was from outside San Diego.   The same goes for Paraccel. Trend or merely emblematic of the state of San Diego resources?)

There is upside:

The community is tight.  The atmosphere is collegial and in general, one gets the feeling that all are “in this together” — this being the flourishing of San Diego’s tech community.  As I made my networking rounds when I first arrived, I heard the same people that I needed to get to know, repeatedly.  Several individuals made an effort to introduce me around, for which I am grateful.  Some of these include Leo Spiegel, Ruprecht Von Buttlar, Jeff Belk, and Carlton O’Neal.  (Much thanks!)

There are a number of good groups and organizations in town, including CONNECT, Tech Coast Angels, San Diego Venture Group, MIT forum, CommNexus, and San Diego Software Industry Council, but not so many as to make one feel inundated or incapable of keeping up.  They offer a steady stream of networking opportunities, workshops, quality speakers, etc.

Finally and most importantly, if it is the case that many San Diego entrepreneurs, technologists, or investors lack knowledge of process-oriented, metrics-driven high-tech marketing, well then, that represents an opportunity for education and for new voices to be heard.

Hmm, a pain point, an opportunity, I better get to work!

Hence, Market By Numbers.  Marketing by numbers goes way beyond measuring ROI, however.  “Market by numbers” also evokes an analytical, process-oriented approach to marketing.

Process-oriented and metrics driven marketing go hand-in-hand.  While I wouldn’t say that such marketing derives from Engineering processes, it is similar, and is also born of analytical thinking.  We’re not talking Madison Avenue here. (Not an inconsequential benefit of such marketing is the potential for a better relationship between marketing and technologists.)   While “market by numbers” is maybe not so easy as “paint by numbers,” the point is that there is a process — distinct steps one can take — which provides CEOs and boards:

• business plans with tight and defensible financials;
• marketing plans with well-defined, cost-effective budgets;
• fast and optimized customer acquisition;
• well-defined, scalable, and replicable sales;
• mistakes, but assurance that lessons were learned.

So you might ask, if this is so great, why has it taken so long to get here?

In all honesty, metrics-driven marketing is not truly new.   I have friends in advertising who serve Global Fortune 500 firms and they tend to chuckle at high-tech marketers who, like Columbus “discovered” America despite the fact native Americans were already living there, believe they’ve discovered something new that traditional marketers have known since the beginning of time — or at least since the beginning of advertising.

It many respects they’re right.  There are fundamental principles of marketing, including branding, copywriting, advertising, direct mail, etc., which old school marketers learned by moving up the ranks of advertising and traditional direct marketing firms, and not by the trial-and-fire methods of many high-tech marketers, myself included.

But I daresay, much is new.  technology itself is part of the marketing.  Early adopters of computers and Internet technology represented a different market segment that required specialized outreach methods.  The experience in opening e-mail vs. snail mail, for example, while the former benefits from best practices of the latter, is fundamentally different, so ultimately, must be treated differently.

Similarly, ROI tracking is not only different, but incredibly more precise.  Ponder the difference between knowing how many people have visited your web site, from where they came, what search phrases they used to reach you, what ads they acted on, what they did when they arrive,  etc., versus the Nielsen Families, ostensibly representing millions of viewers, reporting which TV programs they watch.  It can be argued that the present advertising pricing structure is built upon a house of cards, which the TCP/IP protocol  crushes.

No, marketing ROI is not new, but technology takes it to a whole new level.  My first introduction to this was listening to the VP of Marketing Analytics of Yahoo speak at a CMO Council conference.  (I cannot track down the woman’s name, so would appreciate it if anyone could help me out here.)  This is not about unique visitors, or even what field in a form in which a user abandons registration.  My eyes were opened-wide to learn that there was an entire department of mathematicians and statisticians developing internal models that reward Yahoo groups that produced products that were successful, and eliminated those that weren’t; automated resource investment and divestiture.  While I’m not sure I completely agree with such a methodology (couldn’t a tweak of  intuitive dramatically change the outcome?), I was fascinated by the utilization of the power of numbers.

Here, on Market By Numbers, I hope to contribute to this metrics-driven marketing discussion and perhaps touch on areas not extensively covered.   I highly recommend you visit the writers listed on my blogroll, made up of industry executives with far greater experience than I, who have valuable inputs into developing process-oriented, metrics-driven go-to-market strategies.

Some of the topics I hope to cover in the coming months include:

• What marketing means to high-tech B2B start-ups;
• Details of process-oriented marketing;
• Low budget, high impact marketing;
• How to relate marketing spend to corporate objectives;
• Relationship between Marketing and Sales;
• Relationship between Marketing and Engineering;
• Your suggestions?