Making friends with the enemy

Happy Tuesday everyone,

Hope we are well? It's been a slow start to the week, it's cold and like my poodle Nikon, brain. not. work in cold ( or hot hot weather for that matter).

Let's get to it shall we?

ICYMI: Below is a list of all the Web 3 and Thrive podcast episodes released in the past few weeks.?

Check them out now ??

Episode 7: Hiring leaders & getting hired in Web 3 w/ Emily Landon

Episode 8: Navigating more... difficult personalities in Web 3

Episode 9: From Meta to Women of Web 3 w/ Lauren Ingram

Episode 10: Finding conscious competence with Regan Oelze Finding conscious competence with Regan Oelze

Getting stakeholder buy in

Back in 2018, I walked into a meeting in the office of the exchange I had been hired to work with. It was cold af because they always had the AC on way too cold ( we were in Asia, everywhere is freezing inside) I remember I used to wear a big cardigan and scarf inside this office and wear it halfway up my face when I was concentrating, it was that or a comany hoody.

That morning was one of my first meetings with the product team.?I had fuelled for it with chopped guava with salt ( prepped by the Vietnamese office auntie) and a coffee from my bougie cafe in Thao Dien where I used to get the driver to drop me off at before we went into the central business area.

Back then, I hadn't had the best experience with product teams as an ' employee' . I used to hate working with product teams, they always tried to intimidate me and I found them so difficult and I thought, they thought, I was a dumb woman who didn’t know what she was talking about. Usually, I have to rely on the founder to win them round and get them to listen to little old me.

I expected the same with this team.?

They started the conversation with:

Product lead: Emily we read your proposal…and wow if they listen to you and we get this done, then we will be further ahead than we ever have been. They never listened to us.

Me: Hmm…ok, what about the proposal fits with what you have been trying to do and why hasn’t it been accepted so far??

Product lead: Well, the devs just do what the founder says and no matter what we’re meant to be working on, it all gets derailed.

Me: Ok, how often does this happen?

Product lead: On every project?

Me: hmm ok. So to execute this plan, it will need a ton of product support and will end up with us allocating dev team support to this, how do we make this happen?

Product lead: hmm what do you suggest?

Me: Historical data and rolling data moving forwards.?

Product lead: what do you need??

And boom. In 30 minutes, the product lead became my ally. From that day on we worked side by side and the business saw retention rates soar from below 10% to over 60%. They saw how having a simple process, clear communications and organized, well presented data helped to get buy in and sign off on the projects. We worked in Kanban and I made it my mission to get on the same level as product.

I learnt user stories, how to identify edge cases, Jira.

Anything that made it a low bar to collaboration.

I re-wrote designer brief templates and ensured before every feature update, every launch , every mechanical campaign that needed front end support that we brought all heads together, mapped it out and tasked out to Kanban together. We stayed late and ordered sushi when launching, making sure all hands were on deck. It worked really well.

Not going to say there wasn’t ever friction, yes we had arguments and disagreements of course- we were working intensely together 5 days a week, it’s expected. But this experience changed how I work with product teams and now I pass on those learnings to the marketing teams I coach.

Every time I start coaching and or consulting with a marketing team I ask; "what’s your relationship with product?"? If there is ever an answer that’s more like “ we don’t have a fucking clue who product is", then, we have a lot of work to do.?

We hone in on this area, build processes for communications, build templates, set up recurring meetings, get on their software. They are our ally and if we want to create an user experience in web 3 overall, that’s as easy as web 2…then it’s an essential part of your job as a marketer in the space. We rely on you to make it happen, so others learn and follow suit and it ripples across the industry.?

Here’s 3 things you can do today to get clear on whats going on with product and how to build a better relationship with the team:

1. Learn Kanban ( Asana use it, and they have a free version)
2. Learn what a PRD is and how to read it?
3. Thoroughly understand and use the product. So many marketers in web 3 I meet have never used the bloody product they’re marketing. No product team will ever take you seriously if you don’t know the basics. If you have a wallet product,? learn how to send and receive crypto, selling NFT’s? Go through the check out process and give feedback as a first time user.??

Hope this is helpful! If you have any questions as always, send me a dm!

Hi, I'm Emily, I've been a marketing leader in?#crypto?and Web 3 since 2016 ??

??Now, I’m a marketing and leadership/business coach who helps ambitious but overwhelmed female leaders and founders in Web 3 find balance and confidence so they can thrive in their careers and business. DM me for more info ?? ♀?

I also have a podcast?Web 3 and Thrive, for all women working in?#web3?who just need to hear from a gal who's done it all before?? ??