So here is Patrick McKenzie’s brilliant talk at Business of Software 2011 on engineering your marketing outcomes. Marketing comes naturally to some people. Unfortunately, few of them go on to found software companies. Patrick talks about types of marketing that use engineering skills and won’t be rabidly opposed to your developers. Instead of spending a few weeks cranking out one more feature that won’t be seen by 1% of your users and increase the value of your software by <1%, learn how you can use the same few weeks to create scalable systems that take much of the guesswork out of marketing.
Patrick talks A/B testing, funnel analysis and SEO through scalable content generation.
Don’t forget, registration for BoS 2012 is open now. We hope to see you in Boston October 1st-3rd 2012 and the first EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT tickets run out on March 30th. Save $900 on full registration.
Watch the video here or skip below to see a full transcript of the talk.
Don’t forget, registration for BoS 2012 is open now. We hope to see you in Boston October 1st-3rd 2012 and the first EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT tickets run out on March 30th. Save $900 on full registration.
Transcript of Patrick McKenzie at Business of Software 2011:
Patrick McKenzie: [Deep voice] Hello Ladies.
[Normal voice] And Gentlemen. [Laughter]
So, if you weren’t here to the talk last year I basically did about an hour-long takeoff on the Old Spice guy I was telling you about. Does everyone …OK …Raise your hands if you were here at the talk last year… [Everybody raising hands]
OK. Put your hands down if you have forgot… No, keep them up! [Laughter]
Alright. Now put your hands down if you have forgotten the topic of that talk. OK, Good. So some people remember even a year later.
So that’s the reason why I like humor in presentations — because it helps people retain what you’re speaking about. Now, right after Business of Software last year I flew back to Japan where I live, and I got off the plane and I gave a phone call to a lady who I met right before coming to Business of Software and she said, “Hey, what did you do on your business trip?” So I gave her the Old Spice speech. I said — and I got to get a new speech this year, and I probably can’t sustain the Old Spice guy for sixty minutes and the joke will be old.
And she says: “That’s OK; I think you’re cooler than the Old Spice guy anyhow.” So, that was a sign to me and we’re now dating. [Laughter and applause]
So, the most common question I get asked is “Why are you in Japan?” And because it’s kind of relevant to the topic of the talk, I’ll tell you. People always ask me “Is it because of Japanese girls?” And that did happen but it was, like, eight years later… The actual reason I’m in Japan is not because of Japanese girls, it’s because of Indian men. Specifically… [Laughter]
Ten years ago I was an engineer with very little self-confidence skills — and now I’m an engineer with very little self-confidence ten years older.
But I was in college and reading the Wall Street Journal. And the Wall Street Journal was saying “The Indians, they’re going to steal all our programming jobs and we’re going outsource everything to India for one quarter of the cost. And if you are getting a programmer right now it’s a mug’s game; you will never be able to compete with all of those folks.” And I’m, like, “Oh God, they’re right!”
So, I thought: “How I am going to get a nice, safe job at a big mega corp like Microsoft like my parents have always wanted for me?” I thought: “I’ll play the Van diagram game: you take one thing that’s pretty hard like programming, take another thing that’s pretty hard like, say, speaking Japanese and you intersect the two.”
And the people who can do both — there must be, like, four of them, right? So, if I go to Japan and become bilingual then I can come back and get a job at Microsoft and no one will ever be able to take that thing here away from me until the day I die.
And that didn’t really work out. But…
So, I’m in Japan and… We have lots of young engineers in the audience? Let me… Perhaps help put your mind at ease regarding the outsourcing issue.
