Pro IT marketing with a human face

Problem number 1



We are a software company operating in a narrow niche of electronic archive systems and libraries, and marketing / PR is one of the key business processes in our work. Increasing sales and brand awareness, competitive battles, department development, employee training, task distribution, performance control ... - you can list problem issues without stopping. Like many companies, we boil in our own juice, we are constantly looking for new channels and promotion tools, so we need an influx of fresh ideas, an exchange of experience with our colleagues.



Problem number 2

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2 years ago, we started teaching IT marketing at St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI" as part of the course on "Product Management". Own experience, supported by the theory of good books, is great, of course. But to implement a large-scale academic approach, it is necessary to summarize the experience of the whole industry, using a wide range of tools and practices from various IT sectors. We, in turn, have teaching experience and ideas, as well as the desire and willingness to share them.



Where can I find, hear and summarize all of these experiences and ideas of marketers in IT? “We have to go to industry conferences,” we thought.

Where we are going?

Below is a small selection of events over the past year.







If you know examples of other good and interesting events on this or related topics - we will be glad to comment.

Formula correct event

Looking around, we found that:



1. Thematic special measures on marketing and PR in the field of IT is extremely small

2. The maximum that is - single reports from representatives in the composition of large and paid events (more often - in Moscow, less often - in St. Petersburg).



Having visited several events and discussed with colleagues, we formed a number of principles and requirements for the event :



1) The correct format. More educational information, successful cases, practical recommendations and reviews of tools and techniques, less self-promotion, no reports like "we are the best on the market, the rest are dung", no hunting and clown speeches.

2) Correct speakers and reports (not advertising, but problems and solutions told by experts with work experience, results, unique practices and best practices) from the right companies (IT, hi-tech, consulting).

3) The right place. In the stump of the hotel and conference rooms with pompous interiors. Give interesting places to expand the horizons of the marketer.

4) The right listeners: no intertwined side gagged PR people. Those who are just learning and want to be professionally oriented, beginners, and already experienced specialists, assorted technicians and managers at all levels, must also walk.

5) The correct cost of participation, i.e. is free. Who pays in the end? Organizers who publicize their event, company and lifestyle and work. Organizational expenses should be kept to a minimum.

6) Correct regularity and timing. Not once a year as a reporting and re-election event, but at least once a quarter. After work in the evening for 2-3 hours.

What happened

We already have experience in organizing such events (talked about designing interfaces on GUI Meetup , and about software testing - on How to become a TRUE-tester ). Therefore, it was decided to launch an IT marketing seminar under the working title of MarketoIT . The plans (September 25, 2013 in St. Petersburg at 18.30) to comply with the above requirements:



1) The correct format : seminar discussion

2) Correct speakers and reports : we tried to select questions from the most diverse areas of IT marketing - and the promotion of startups, and building the work of the marketing department, and creative ideas for promoting and competence of IT marketers from the right and most diverse IT companies ( technological start-up , software company , PR and marketing agency , IT training center ).

3) The right place: Chose Fab Lab - the laboratory of digital production.

4) The right listeners : Registration is actively taking place at MarketoIT, the number of registrants has exceeded 100, so you can now analyze the audience of the event.







Most of the participants are either students or PR and marketing specialists - 22% and 21%, respectively. Slightly less expected managers (by products, projects, business development) and university graduates (11%).

It is worth noting that the questions discussed at MarketoIT are also of interest to owners of their own business and heads of departments, they constitute one tenth of those who submitted their applications for participation.

Of course, programmers, testers and other technical specialists will come to us - 7% of the audience.

They were surprised to find applications from economists and designers, but they are quite expected - from specialists of related professions - analysts, freelancers and SEO-optimizers.

5) The correct cost of participation, i.e. is free.

6) Correct regularity and timing. We plan to collect listeners after a working day for 3 hours about once a quarter.

Summing up

1. What are your own criteria for a proper event?

2. What are the issues and IT marketing issues that interest you? We are already making a discussion program at the following seminars.

3. Do you know good speakers who might be interested in such questions? You can recommend yourself, familiar speakers or companies for such events.

4. If there are those who wish to hold a similar event in their own city, we will only be happy to support.