Brian de Haaff's Blog, page 9

Roadmap.com Survey Shows Product Managers Struggle With Strategy and Marketing

Tell me if you can figure out this math problem. In a survey of more than 500 product managers, 81 percent said they owned product strategy as part of their role. And yet barely 25 percent said that the company was clear on strategy as a whole. (I promise this is not a theoretical word problem, but rooted in real data.) So, how can both be true?

We just finished analyzing the results of the first-ever product management survey sponsored by Roadmap.com — and I want to share the fascinating...

5 Signs You Lack an Integrated Marketing Plan

Tell me if this sounds familiar. After a strategic planning session, the marketing team agrees on a high-level roadmap for the next quarter. You are excited to get to work. But then one teammate learns about a new ad platform. And another just got back from a conference and wants to start a company podcast. Everyone is going in a different direction. Suddenly, your solid plan feels more like a franken-plan.

This is not a plan. This is a collection of random activities, stitched together by v...

Marketing Strategy vs. Sales Strategy

Childhood lemonade stands. If you grew up in the U.S., you probably had one. Maybe you posted fliers in your neighborhood. Whether you knew it or not, this was your marketing strategy. You made basic decisions — how many cups you hoped to sell and any tactics you might use to encourage a purchase. You also had to decide what the price would be and if you would offer multi-cup discounts. This was your sales strategy.

Marketing and sales are usually the two major drivers of any business. Witho...

The Founder’s Paradox: How Do You Keep an Entirely Remote Team Engaged

I understood the skepticism at first. After all, Aha! was a new company with an entirely new approach. This was early 2013. My co-founder Dr. Chris Waters and I were working hard to build a Minimum Lovable Product and get as much feedback from customers as we could. We knew we wanted to wait until we had 100 paying customers before hiring anyone. And we knew that no matter what, we wanted to build our team intentionally and remotely.

From the beginning, people scoffed at the idea of building...

This Is Why Brilliant Marketing Teams Never Lie

What would an ideal world look like to you? Your answer might be slightly different than mine, but I believe most of us would include some fundamentals — integrity, kindness, and service to others. It might seem odd to say that you can be a part of making this happen through your work. Especially if you work in marketing, which often gets targeted as mischievous and dishonest.

The world is imperfect but marketing teams are in a unique position to be forces for good.

I realize this is a bold...

Stop Being so Fixated on Your Next Job Title

Have you ever quit a job because you did not get the promotion or title change that you wanted? I considered doing so myself in the past and know a few people who actually have. You start growing restless — convincing yourself that everyone else is “getting ahead.” In fact, you grow so restless that you become more fixated on the title than the work and your personal growth.

But here is a thing about getting ahead at work — it has nothing to do with your job title and everything to do with wh...

The Founder’s Paradox: How Do You Celebrate the Now When Your Job Is About the Future?

“Toot toot!” This has become a sort of virtual celebratory air horn sound at Aha! — it started with one teammate and has spread. Being a remote-first company, it is a simple message that is clear to all. “Hooray! We did it!” But for me, it has become a welcome reminder that it is important to stop and celebrate. This is different from my always-looking-ahead mindset and I appreciate it.

Slowing down to celebrate the now is not something I do easily — I am always focused on the next achieveme...

The Marketing Plan vs. the Launch Plan

“We use the word ‘strategy’ very loosely in marketing.” I read this comment on LinkedIn recently and it got me thinking. The s-word is not the only squishy one for marketing teams. There are plenty of other terms that get bandied about without a lot of clarity, like “marketing funnel” and “conversion rates.” But there are others that cause confusion, like “marketing plan” and “launch plan.”

So, what is the difference between a marketing plan and launch plan?

You can think of the marketing pl...

How We Celebrate Perfect Moments at Aha!

Dozens of support articles. 58 marketing activities completed. And hundreds of screenshots. This is just a sampling of the work that went into the launch of Aha! for Marketing. Our team felt an enormous sense of accomplishment on the morning of the launch. And despite the fact that we all work remotely, folks still got together to celebrate — hopping on a video meeting to cheer as the new product went live.

It was a perfect moment — a time when the team worked extremely hard to reach an ideal...

The 7 Things That Belong in Every Marketing Plan

People often mistake the “what” for the “why.” Let me explain. Say you are preparing for a long vacation and have a long list of to-dos before you go. The “what” is the to-do list of things like packing and putting your mail on hold. However, the “why” is the vacation ahead. Marketing is no different. Before you launch into any activities, you need to have a solid understanding of why you are doing it.

This is why all marketing managers need strategic marketing plans — to guide where they wan...