Marketing manager should know the disadvantages of a product in order to present them properly

I found out that Eugene played KVN for a long time and travelled with the team until he was absorbed in marketing. As a sales manager, I have to interact a lot with marketing managers. I see a lot of overlap in our professions, as both marketing managers and sales managers need to have a great understanding of the values and needs of our customers. Therefore, I decided to contact a specialist with a lot of experience in this field and learn more details about the specifics of the job.

Case studies: successful and not so successful

Eugene, please tell me what you do.

I have changed 13 companies over the 11 years of my professional career. That is, I change jobs often and for any HR manager it looks strange. But I like it because during this time I have managed to work with different business spheres - cosmetics, document management systems in HR processes, e-commerce, telecommunications, nanny recruitment and many others. Because I change spheres frequently, my horizons are broadened and I get to know different markets.

I have a number of freelance clients, and completely different ones at that. For example, furniture and construction shops and other areas. But the main one is my own marketing agency: domarketing.md. A project that I started developing in 2020 before the pandemic started. Then we started very confidently. We took on about 20 clients in half a year. However, we had to close down because of COVID-19. It was the marketing budgets that were the first thing that all the clients blocked. Now, I don't think COVID is coming - so, reopen 🙂 .

Congratulations! I'm interested to know more about the specifics of your work. Can you give me an example of a successful case study?

Of course. There are quite a few of them. One of the projects I remember most vividly was Edoositter, which is a platform for finding babysitters. I worked on that project for 2 months, and I'm proud of the fact that even though it's kind of B2C, we were able to implement a B2B module there, adding registration for agencies and the possibility of promotion for companies. The startup was developing at a good pace, but on the third round of investment something went wrong and I had to look for a new project.

And an example of a project you didn't like?

I will not return to the telecommunications. I had time to work in Moldtelecom on an e-commerce platform. I went there for a case. I wanted to create a cool product. But everything there is so bureaucratized that even if I wanted to change something, it would take several years. And planning a product that will be ready in 3-4 years is not very possible in our realities. And this is not the fault of the people who work there - the team is excellent, but I realize that this is how the system works, unfortunately.

Who else are you not going to work with?

With real estate agencies. I don't like the fact that they don't like to talk about the cons, and for me, as a marketer, this is very important because it's my responsibility to know the pros and cons of the product to wrap them properly. Also, they often need to rush to get 40 posts on a page. Any even novice SMM person will tell you that's not the way to do it. You're just disrupting all the algorithms, organics and investing in the promo of each post, of course, no one will want to. That said, you try to explain something to them, but nobody listens to you. I don't enjoy working when I'm not listened to as a specialist.

What else don't you like?

You're provoking me now 🙂 🙂 

What's wrong with SMM courses

Of course, that's my goal 🙂

For example, courses on SMM. This is a problem not only in our country. You can count on your fingers the courses that provide really useful information. Most of them are either translations of Facebook Blueprint, a free service where you can study and take tests on your own, or how to make reels, stories and how to design Instagram profiles. I think we need to figure out how the system works first, and then we'll learn how to create content. That's not what's being taught. That's why we have such a shortage of good professionals who understand the basics of marketing and can bring profit to a business.

What criteria do you use to define a good SMM person?

When I hire SMM-ers, I always ask a tricky question: "How much does it cost to attract one subscriber in Moldova?". If a person answers anything in figures, we don't hire him. Because we are used to thinking that the lower the number, the better. But this is not an indicator. I know an example when the owner of a sushi restaurant gave people a set of sushi, and they themselves posted stories with thanks and good reviews. Even I fell for it once, and was very happy with the approach and the sushi. I later met the owner of the business. It turned out that he gave away 100+ boxes of sushi, and ended up making a lot more money from it because people were genuinely recommending this restaurant to their friends and acquaintances. At the same time, his page had few subscribers, but the value of each one was very high.

Tools of modern marketing

What tools are helping you figure out a new field?

First and foremost, Google it. I even have a Facebook post about the perfect CV: first name, last name, date of birth, valuable skills "I know how to Google". You need to figure something out on your own, that's the best way. At the very least, if it's something very specific, there are always colleagues you can ask to help you figure it out. But this is also an important point - many companies have been using some processes for years without thinking that there are other ways. And since I don't have experience in this area, I can look at things they are used to from a different angle, and offer to try it in a new way. And expertise in a new area is gained quite quickly - after two or three months, a clear picture already emerges.

Also, on a recent project, I've seen the usefulness of SEO optimisation. A keyword analysis tool like Ahrefs helps to understand what our clients are interested in. 

It's also important to realise that there is no such thing as a target audience in our usual sense as a customer portrait. I really like the Customer Journey Map tool. Let's look at an example. A guy in his 30s goes to a cafe in the morning to work on his laptop, after lunch he goes home to finish his work, and in the evening he comes to the same cafe with his friends to have a beer. He has two different needs in the same establishment, and it doesn't matter how old he is. Accordingly, you build a product based on the customer's needs, not their inputs. And then, understanding this, they can build their own business processes for purchasing, cooking, cleaning the premises, and so on.

Well, of course, analytics systems - Google Analytics, Yandex.Metrika, Webvisor, Hotjar.

How do you strategise and for how long usually?

For a maximum of six months, if it's a stable niche. If it's for IT, it's a maximum of three months. And in fashion (beauty salons) there is no point at all, because everything changes very quickly there. Especially the owners or more accurately to say "owners" 🙂 🙂 .

Working with domarketing.md

What kind of companies can approach you?

Everything except estate agents and wineries. I've already told you why I don't want to work in real estate. With wineries for the same reason - not knowing how to work with contractors. Yeah, probably not all of them, but my experience with a few of those areas tells me I don't want to go grey that early. 

And, to open up the framework, I'd like new brands to start with our consultation and audit. We would immediately put everything on the right track and avoid problems in the future. But, auditing can also be useful for already large companies. We can optimise processes, which will reduce costs and increase profits. And, believe me, optimised processes in marketing are very important. Very.

How is the budget calculated? Can you tell the timeframe, action plan and amount of your services right away? What does it depend on?

Immediately - only roughly. Even on my own site I try to develop a budget calculator so that the client has at least a rough idea of what to expect. But it is better to start with a consultation. We, as marketers, need to understand the goals of advertising and possible problems. Based on this is built marketing strategy. From it we understand what channels of promotion and advertising will be most suitable. Based on this is already considered the necessary advertising budget. 

By the way, it makes life very easy if a business initially knows its CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost). Roughly speaking, it's the cost per customer acquisition. After all, we spend money on advertising- buying a customer 🙂 So, if you are from a business and reading this - please calculate CAC for each of your marketing channels separately. You'll need it too. And so will we, if we collaborate.

Does it matter at what stage of the project to contact your agency? 

We can help at any stage. We have a partnership with a design studio, with guys who do CRM. We create websites, develop strategy. And yes, if we realise that you don't need outsourcing, we are ready to build an in-house department. We will set up processes, give step-by-step guidance on what to do and how to do it. How to calculate efficiency and effectiveness.

Who's on your team? 

At the moment, there's not many of us. There's a content manager who can shoot cool TikTok videos and Reels. Trendability is her middle name. The first is Margarita Karadzhi.
There is a Romanian-speaking copywriter who writes without mistakes. It's the first time I've seen such a thing, to be honest, and I'm shocked every time. There's me, who can do a lot of things. And there are partners I've been working with for years, it just used to be freelance. Now it's official. It's contractual.

What results and in what time frame can you achieve? 

Let me start by saying that I hate reports. I don't understand why we, as an agency, need them and why the client needs them. In 10+ years, there were literally only a few clients who actually read the report. In freelancing, I worked more simply - I asked the client about the indicators that were important to him. Usually, it was 2-3 indicators. These were the ones I would drop to the client in chat. The rest of the indicators are auxiliary and the client doesn't really need them. We have a service for connecting Google Data Studio. You set it up once and forget it. Even the most meticulous client will see all the changes in the indicators in real time. He is happy, and we are happy that we don't have to spend a lot of time on reports.

So the result is what will be spelt out in the marketing strategy. And the speed of getting the result depends on it. The first results will be visible in the first week. And then there is more to come.

About inspiration

And another important question: what inspires you?

Techdoor.md 🙂 Yes, yes, dear readers, stop by the Humour section more often and like, like and leave your comments! 

I agree, encourage everyone 🙂 And if it's about work?

You won't believe it, I'm very inspired by memes. On one of my cartoon-related projects, I built a communication strategy on memes. We draw cartoon memes and get free coverage.

I am inspired by cases of real-life success stories, not the "reach for the achiever" and "never give up" format. Last year I was fascinated by Vladimir Balaban's presentation at Product Management Conference 2022, who talked about his big business, which started with dog boxes and grew into security guard boxes, and on to estate agencies. But no longer booths for them. So this year I went to the conference without hesitation.

It was great to see you there 🙂 Thanks for the informative conversation. I wish you more informed clients and successful cases!