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Elain Szu

AMA: Sentry VP of Marketing, Elain Szu on Brand Strategy

April 8, 2021 @ 10:00AM PT

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  1. How important are brand marketing skills for product marketers compared to analytical skills?

    There is often a huge emphasis on analytical skills, instead of brand marketing skills, when it comes to product marketing job descriptions.

    Elain Szu
    Elain Szu

    Aurora Solar SVP of Marketing • 5y

    You've hit upon one of the reasons why marketing in tech is a neverending challenge (and the fun part IMO). I think the best marketers have both strong analytical skills and grasp how to build long-lasting brands based on an emotional connection with their customer. If your goal is to one day lead marketing more broadly, you absolutely need to demonstrate that you can build a brand beyond the product marketing itself.  I think a strong brand requires a consistent identity and tone that emphasize ...Read More

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  2. How do you keep competitors from copying your product messaging so that your value prop stays differentiated?

    Elain Szu
    Elain Szu

    Aurora Solar SVP of Marketing • 5y

    This is one of my favorite challenges when you're developing brand positioning and you can apply to a singular product area, as well. You can't prevent them from copying messaging -- but you can establish that you are the only credible player to deliver that positioning. Credibility comes from all the core product (or platform) value.This is better as a white board exercise, but imagine your brand positioning statement and your 3 reasons-to-believe (RTBs) underneath it. A competitor can copy one ...Read More

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  3. Brand marketing efforts usually get discredited because it's hard to measure revenue. How do you build a business case to invest in it, and what should you do first as a SaaS product?

    Elain Szu
    Elain Szu

    Aurora Solar SVP of Marketing • 5y

    Great question. I'd say the core of this problem is that Marketing has to play a role over the short, medium, and long term. And often time, brand marketing efforts require persistent campaigns over a longer period of time, so the key is to establish a baseline and come up with a few metrics to showcase along the way. Your end goal is to show that rising tide (your brand perception) is lifting all boats (including the revenue engine that is your GTM team).  That baseline is often best establishe ...Read More

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  4. What role should your brand story have in product roadmap planning?

    Elain Szu
    Elain Szu

    Aurora Solar SVP of Marketing • 5y

    Your brand story is often rooted in how your company's core mission solves a critical customer problem. So in order to tell a unique and compelling narrative, you want to look at the company's core product DNA, tell an excellent story about how that landscape for that problem has evolved and continues to evolve, and link it to your audience's core need.  Why do you exist - what's the core problem or issue For whom is your product roadmap built - often times it's one of your founders in tech How ...Read More

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