August 20, 2018

Why Engineers Make Great CMOs

The historically challenging industry of telecommunications is changing thanks in part to Jive Communications and their cloud-based phone services. Drew talks with co-founder and current CMO, Matt Peterson, about how he transitioned from his background in software engineering into the marketing realm.

Not only do they discuss Jive’s innovative marketing verticalization strategies, but they also focus on the company’s innate ability to tackle big problems and approach large customer opportunities with confidence and ease.

Hear the story behind Jive’s unconventional beginning and the heart of the company, as well as discover Matt’s favorite resources for marketing professionals by listening to this engaging episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Matt and Drew’s conversation is sure to inspire and educate – you don’t want to miss it!

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What You’ll Learn

  • [0:31] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Matt Peterson, co-founder and CMO of Jive Communications
  • [3:44] Matt explains how he became the CMO of Jive
  • [6:34] How Matt’s background in software engineering influences his current work in marketing
  • [10:20] Drew asks Matt about his biggest learning curve when entering the marketing realm of Jive
  • [13:35] What is at the heart of the Jive brand?
  • [16:43] The top examples of Jive’s marketing campaigns that point to the core of Jive
  • [21:25] Drew asks Matt about one of Jive’s most creative marketing projects
  • [23:59] Another example of a Jive program that points to their core values
  • [27:00] Brands and strategies from other companies that Matt admires
  • [29:48] How to keep your  marketing mind sharp and Matt’s top resources for CMOs
  • [34:04] Matt explains some of the strategies Jive is implementing for better organizational success
  • [36:00] Challenges Matt is tackling in 2018

The heart behind Jive Communications and how Matt’s background helps him in his position as CMO

Drew and Matt discuss at length the heart of Jive Communications, and Matt attributes much of the company’s success to their “scrappy, blue-collar, bootstrap” approach. He understands that while their competitors may be larger and have more resources, Jive is able to tackle the industry and “punch above their weight class” with ease. Matt explains that by using his background in software engineering he is able to approach problems with an analytical mind that quickly links together the human intangibles found in marketing with what the data illuminates. Your company could benefit from hearing the story behind Jive’s foundation and current success, so be sure to listen.

Tackling marketing verticalization the Jive way

In order to effectively go after specific customers within their chosen target market, Matt needed to help Jive Communications find its optimal verticalization strategy. One of the best examples he explains to Drew involves the K-12 education system – a customer base that was notoriously hard to enter and change. By following Jive’s “scrappy” mindset Matt and his team were able to solve multiple problems for their education customers and ended up with dozens of new sales contracts. You don’t want to miss the full story of how Jive is shaking up the telecom industry, or the other fascinating examples of prime verticalization, so give this episode your full attention.

How to keep your marketing mind sharp and Matt’s top two challenges for 2018

Matt explains to Drew that staying current in the marketing industry through continuing education is key to greater success. By attending conferences, reading voraciously, and having an incredible appetite for knowledge your marketing professionals are sure to stay at the top of their game. In this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Matt discusses his top two challenges for 2018: communicating Jive’s differentiation points in better ways and nailing their outbound approaches. Be sure to listen to the full episode to catch the whole conversation.

Connect With Matt Peterson:

Resources & People Mentioned

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Quotes from Matt Peterson

You're going to see technology start to invade marketing quite a bit more as these sciences are converging. You can't really be a true marketer these days without being a technologist.
With engineering, you can program something and when it misbehaves you can understand why. Sales marketing is much more about interacting with people, motivating people, understanding their ambitions, their motivations, their buying behavior. What exactly gets them out of bed in the morning? I find human beings to be quite a bit more complicated than computers at this point.
We've really had a huge focus on our customers. They've really been the ones funding our growth.
If we're not agile, we're not reactive and proactive to our market conditions. And we're going to get quickly left behind.