Every Company Needs a Chief Evangelist
A technology evangelist is defined as a person who builds a critical mass of support for a given technology, and then establishes it as a technical standard in a market that is subject to network effects.
The Forbes article below is a good read.
Unfortunately there are times when companies have a good idea, good management, and even are well capitalized; but then lack a real, inspiring story about their products and/or services.
Although many times we associate chief evangelists with large companies, they are also key for smaller and medium size companies.
In those cases it might be customers who express great passion and enthusiasm, openly giving analytics on revenue increases and cost cuts. Having evangelists detached from the payroll are priceless.
Many companies use traditional methods for marketing and sales. They miss key elements of business development, excellent customer experience, and identifying evangelists.
Those companies use the “Field of Dreams” approach -- build and they will come. After a few years they become nightmares and wonder why?
Recently I worked with a company who was attempting to build sales. They had great prices and products, their missing piece was customer service, and evangelists.
Although they were telling customers they could meet schedules, they didn't. Unfortunately the delays were being poorly handled. Customer had no idea schedules were not being met, until deadlines came, and products weren’t there.
In order to turn the situation around, there had to be micromanaging of the process. Customer has to be kept in the loop with both bad news and good news. Managing those issues has and will develop customers into evangelists.
As stated below “Roles within Sales and Marketing has become much more complex amid the cacophony from social networks, the proliferations of mobile devices, and changing TV viewer habits.” Companies, such as Amazon and Apple get it, while many retail stores are being shuttered.
Why Every Technology Company Needs a Chief Evangelist
Theo Priestley, author
Summary of his article
Roles within Sales and Marketing has become much more complex amid the cacophony from social networks, the proliferations of mobile devices, and changing TV viewer habits. In fact, the positions merge further when you consider just how much content marketing now plays a part in the sales process, especially in light of the ‘social selling’ trends. To manage this, evangelism has to evolve beyond its current definition …. The title of ‘Chief Evangelist’ has been around for a few years now in Silicon Valley, and the term evangelist itself conjures images of some feverish person on their TV soapbox. The most notable example is Guy Kawasaki, who was perhaps the first to coin the term itself when he spent his career at Apple. Consider the differences between Sales and Evangelism:
Create a transparent story
The evangelist needs to be able to create stories that inspire passion. And to do this, transparency is important….. Corporate and product marketing has traditionally been about one-way messaging. But to perform well in new channels, it must become two-way. An honest, transparent conversation about one’s business allows authentic connections with customers. It draws out their own issues and successes, and in turn can turn them into evangelists with the message that comes from the story itself.
Create a real, inspiring story
An evangelist must have the charisma to inspire. Robert Scoble is another example of an early evangelist. Scoble became well known at Microsoft for his frank conversations about the tech industry. He became respected because he was always honest, even when it came to his own company’s shortcomings. …..A message has to inspire in order to galvanize both employees and clients into action. Kawasaki championed the masses and listened to what the fans were saying, Scoble inspired and informed from the inside out, so that Rackspace employees are a part of the overall picture.
Adapt constantly
A survey report published by Forrester found that 97% of CMOs think marketing must do things it hasn’t done ever before to be successful and that two thirds find it very difficult to keep up with the changes. No longer do marketers have a limited number of channels or devices to target. They constantly need new skills, to manage the proliferation of smart devices and channels through which people communicate (mobile apps and web, social networking, etc.). Delivering the brand message requires all kinds of customization, depending on the medium. And that will keep changing. Even the marketing must-haves keep changing: Awareness of how the brand is perceived in the market, knowledge of the technology behind the product and how it is differentiated, and relationships with customers.
Be opinionated
Opinions matter, even if they’re controversial, because they help a marketer to evangelize. Without an opinion, there’s very little passion. Both clients and employees will see right through this. ….The evangelist is someone who can stay ahead of trends and feed that back to the organization.. It’s not about shouting with a megaphone when a new trend breaks. It’s about analyzing trends and picking the right message to draw from its impact, and retaining authenticity.
Connect the dots
And lastly, it’s about taking those stories and using them to connect the various departments within the organization itself. This allows marketing to connect better with pre-sales efforts to deliver a more consistent and concise message. That message feeds back into the product roadmap, allowing for consistent improvement and adaptation to market needs. And those dots connect all the way back to the point of why you exist: your customers. To paraphrase Steve Jobs, “you have to start with the customer and work back to the technology”, and an evangelist brings that to life. Evangelism creates a human connection with buyers and consumers to technology way beyond typical content marketing means because there’s a face and a name relaying the story, expressing the opinion, and ultimately influencing a decision. And in a world of data driven, and automated marketing technologies, evangelism is something you just can’t hand over to a robot. Read why storytelling is the only way to market technology and also how marketing could take a leaf from the video games industry. If you’re in need of an evangelist for your company, look me up on LinkedIn.