My New B2B Marketing Advocacy and Evangelism Role

Things have been a little quiet on this blog over the past month – too quiet.  It’s not intentional, and I wanted to explain. 

Some of you may have seen an announcement today that I have Joined B2B marketing automation/demand generation firm Silverpop.  Not only have I started in a new role, but I also have moved from Madison, WI, to Atlanta, GA – a busy/chaotic last few weeks for me and for my wife.  I posted the “Marketing Measurement and ROI” piece right before the move, but I’ve been hard-pressed to do any substantial posts since then.

Fear not, though … more new Propelling Brands content is on the way.

First let me tell you a bit about my new role, and then I’ll explain where I plan to go with future content on this blog.

    

What is my new role?

I’ll take a page from the intro I did for a blog post on the Silverpop Demand Generation blog today to explain my new role and why I have chosen to go to work for Silverpop:

You … know I’m passionate about my mission, both in writing [this] blog and also via my ongoing work in this space, to be a resource for marketers on issues of marketing strategy and also to provide marketers with insights into innovation and technology that have the potential to help them change their game.

I’ve had the good fortune throughout my career to connect with the best and brightest thinkers and leaders in the marketing technology space, and it has truly inspired me.  In fact, I’ve been searching recently for a ‘platform’ that would enable me to better accomplish my mission, to be an advocate for marketers and to stay on top of the state of marketing innovation and technology.  So I was excited by the opportunity to join Silverpop.  What I’ve found is an organization with goals, aspirations and beliefs that align with my own.  It is an online marketing solutions company with a clear vision of its goal to empower marketers through intelligent solutions and strategies that ultimately help marketers be more successful.  I like that.

The company has asked me to take on a role where I will be able to work closely with front-line marketers – as a listener and as a coach – talking to marketers, relaying their insights back to the people who develop the company’s B2B marketing platform and also delivering cutting-edge insights into new strategies, innovation and best practices back to the marketing community.

So I am now the Director of Field Marketing for Silverpop’s B2B demand generation and marketing automation platform – branded ‘Silverpop Engage B2B’ – which for those of you keeping score is formerly the Vtrenz platform (which Silverpop acquired in May 2007).

    

What is next for Propelling Brands and for my book?

One of the encouraging aspects of my new role is the support Silverpop’s leadership has voiced for my continuing the Propelling Brands blog and my book.  Through the blog and my upcoming book, I will continue to focus on helping marketers address key opportunities and challenges in leveraging technology more strategically.

It’s worth noting, as well, that I will work through the blog and my book to avoid any conflicts of interest, and I will differentiate between these two activities and my formal activities on behalf of Silverpop.  One departure is that – moving forward – I will no longer provide direct mention or evaluation of vendor companies in the demand generation and marketing automation arena on this blog or in my book.  (I will, however, leave past content – written in a totally unbiased context – up on the site; moreover, I will not be making any changes to that content.) 

I will focus via the blog on examining strategic issues marketers are facing (as you saw in my recent marketing ROI piece) and/or providing assessments of adjacent, but non-competitive, technology segments.  The point is to stay vendor neutral when it comes to any discussion on this site or in my book of platforms that may compete with Silverpop, and in doing so, I hope to avoid any potential claims of bias.

I started this blog for marketers, and I will continue to make this blog about marketers.  So in many ways, this is an opportunity to stay true to my roots.

Also, as a note, I anticipate that my book may be delayed a bit as I am getting ramped up here at Silverpop, but I hope it will not be delayed too much.

    

So those are the details. 

Stay tuned for some new content shortly; meanwhile, let me say how much I appreciate the engagement and support I’ve gotten from the community that reads this blog over the past year.  I look forward to continuing our dialogue!