Do engineers have the right wiring to be marketers?

The answer is a resounding yes.

I've seen plenty of evidence over the years that engineers can be effective marketers. Many engineer CEO's often mistakenly think they can't be marketers, mostly because of what they think marketing is. The definition they know is usually an extremely narrow view of marketing and thus limited to playing a very minor role in achieving their company goals. This is a very tactical-oriented definition, seen as something to be tacked on at the end, often delivered by a junior staffer without a seat at the executive table. While not necessarily their fault that they have this view, it is however potentially very detrimental to the success of their firm. I've found that to reveal what marketing truly is requires mapping marketing processes and strategies in such a way that they connect with how engineers think. For instance, engineering-oriented minds often think in terms of inputs and outputs, resources expended and saved, and how each black box works and interfaces with it's peers in an ecosystem. I can't count the lightbulb moments that have happened over the years by simple defining marketing and strategy problems and how to go about solving them leveraging this thinking framework.

I've personally been interested in this engineering/marketing relationship since my days back at Acadia University . I did a year of engineering before switching over and finishing my degree in business, with a focus on marketing and entrepreneurship. At the time, it felt like a pretty seamless transition for me. Little did I know that I would straddle the marketing and engineering worlds for most of my career.

Marcel LeBrun is a great example of an engineer that is also a great marketer. Take a watch of this video we shot 13 years ago in the early days of Radian6. (Yes, we were trying out a bit of that NYPD Blues-shaky cam effect that day so it is probably best to be seated while watching it LOL).

See how Marcel uses the art of storytelling to break down some new concepts, even comparing them to some other more well known theories - like the famous one from Marshall McLuhan . These storytelling skills were put to use many times over with customers, staff, press and keynote presentations. He also embraced the idea of building community and connecting with other leaders in the emerging social media marketing space worldwide. Marcel recognized the role that marketing played in terms of not just tactical programming but as a key element of company strategy. Marketing was always a seat at the leadership table, and was fully plugged into all aspects of the business. This combination helped Radian6 emerge as a thought leader brand and that played a key part in why over 50% of the Fortune 100 decided to work with the company. You can continue to see how Marcel has done a great job utilizing storytelling and building community with his recent 12Neighbours Community Inc. project as well.

I've also had a chance to work with engineers as part of my Marketswell Solutions mentorships, be they young engineers as the cohort members or the CEO's who sponsor them. The speed in which each has embraced marketing concepts and approaches has been beyond impressive. I'm clearly seeing a trend, not just a collection of outliers.

This engineer/marketer relationship has stood out to me so much that I've begun to toy around with the idea of dedicating the cohort next year just to working with engineers, whether young engineers working in marketing or product management roles, or CEOs, like Marcel, who have a marketer inside that just needs to be fully realized. I've seen how the combination of engineering-skills-meets-marketing-thinking can propel startups ahead of competitors and into market leadership roles.

What other evidence have you seen where engineers have made excellent marketers?