22 December 2015

Technology Marketer Nik Haidar Introduces Himself

Written by Nik Haidar

In our last one for  2015, this month's 'Meet Our Marketing Experts' introduces Nik Haidar,  a Technology Marketer from The Marketing Centre:

1. Who are you?

Nik Haidar.  I started my career years ago as a journalist for the BBC making documentary films….in Russia. But then this thing called “the Internet” came along and I thought it seemed far more interesting than TV.  So I swapped TV for networks and technology. I worked in a number of international corporates offering everything from subsea cables to address management software. For the last three years I’ve been working independently with clients in industries as diverse as sports publishing to cyber security.

2. What do you do / what are you a specialist in?

Having spent more years than I care to remember working with telcos, Internet Service Providers and software companies, I have a love for technology.  I’ve been involved in most areas of the commercial development and marketing in these companies with a particular background in product development, marketing and go-to-market strategies.

3. Tell me about a "typical day" in the office

When I have a typical day I’ll tell you about it. But that’s kind of why I do what I do. As well as the mental stimulation of having diverse clients, in different industries at differing levels of development – it means that you are always learning new things.  And this means that you can cross-fertilise ideas but always have to have fresh perspective on the issues your clients have.  So a typical day might be like today – in the morning I ran a conference call with a dispersed marketing team for one client – ensuring that all projects were on course and trying to arrange a mutually beneficial time for a Christmas party for them. Then I worked through and sent the agenda and the methodology for a Value Proposition workshop for another client.  We’re running that workshop next week with their team.  Followed that up by sending out copies of a really powerful press release for another client – their software had just been extremely favourably evaluated by a trusted 3rd party. So time to make hay…even though it was raining outside.

4. What do you like most about your job?

Everything.

5. What approach do you take to help your clients?

I think it was Einstein who said “If I had an hour to save the world, I’d spend 59 minutes understanding the problem and a minute to resolve it”. I’m not going to compare myself to Einstein but I do think it’s important to really get to know what the business is about before I feel qualified to share an opinion or start kicking off a strategy. The people across the business know it best – but it’s important to find the time to ask the right questions and for them to be able to answer honestly. It’s important also to get a rounded perspective – customers, competitors, technology trends, the company’s own sales data – what are they telling us? OK now we’re getting somewhere like understanding it

Obviously we don’t have the luxury of spending 59 minutes of every hour contemplating…so once we’ve got the picture I do like to get involved. “Vision without activity is just a dream. Activity without vision is a nightmare”. Not Einstein – a Japanese proverb this time I think. Anyway – once we know what we should be doing it’s important to a) formulate a plan b) get on with it and c) know that there will be lots of things wrong with that plan so evaluation and revaluation is key and then go back to b).

6. Are there any common marketing pitfalls that you see?

Lots – but probably the one that is most pernicious is the belief that the marketing strategy somehow sits separately from the business vision.  The one is there to serve the other.  Often – if the business lacks vision other than “sell more” – marketing is seen just as a means to do this.  That’s ok if that’s what you want to do with your business.  But it ain’t great.  And it means that everything you do will be tactical.  SO if you want a company that’s just ok – then that’s ok.

7. Are there any websites, books, or training sessions you'd recommend that have been helpful to you and why?

I haven’t been on it yet, but I’ve spoken to The LinkedIn Man (yes that’s the business name) and I’m doing the training in three days time - I'll let you know, but it sounds good.

I like the “Value Proposition Design” book by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. It’s about “tell me what your customers are like” not “tell me about your product”

For anyone who loves either technology companies, startups or product development – the Lean Startup by Eric Ries is a classic.

Feel free to get in touch with Nik if you wish to have a discussion or you can learn more about our other marketing experts in your area.

 

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