Overview of marketing at a tech company, examples, and practical tips for aspiring tech marketers.

1. High-Tech Marketing:
The Silicon Valley Way
Andrew Ahn
@aahntastic
www.linkedin.com/in/ahntastic
San Jose State University | Lucas College of Business
BUS 134C Social Media Marketing

2. My professional career...
Marketing and Customer
strategy consultant
Product and Monetization
Growth marketing leader
Product Management

3. What’s so special about
marketing in Silicon Valley?

4. Fundamentals are the same...
def: Marketing
The activity, set of institutions, and
processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings
that have value for customers, clients,
partners, and society at large.
-The American Marketing Association
Price Product
Placement Promotion
Marketing
Mix (4P)

5. … but need to solve for more unique
situations than the most
Targeted at very nascent, or even
non-existent, market
Constantly changing (esp. with
Internet and software products)
Based on unproven technology
Fierce competition, often only a
‘click away’

6. A need for ‘modern marketers’...
Image source: https://goo.gl/images/RjZqhVImage source: https://goo.gl/images/Xms75m

7. … in modern marketing functions
Underlying core marketing capabilities and functions
● 4Ps, 4Cs
● Market / user research
● Creative
Brand marketing
Marketing
analytics
Comms
(+ IR / AR / PR)
Product marketing Growth marketing
Marketing
operations
Field marketing ... ...
New, accelerated, or
modified marketing
functions to meet the
complex business needs

8. High-tech marketing in action

9. Growth Marketing example

10. Growth Marketing example

11. Product Marketing example

12. Three practical advices to help
train yourself to become a
marketer at a tech company

13. 1. Experience and
play with a lot of
products
Ask yourself:
● What is the user problem?
● Who is the ideal customer?
● How would the business
measure user success?

14. 2. Critique what
comes in your
inbox and see on
the web
Ask yourself:
● What is the marketer trying
to tell you?
● How would you tell the story?
● Why or why not, and how are
you reacting to the message?

15. 3. Invest on quant
and analytical
chops
Practice, if you can:
● A/B experiment design
● Simple data analyses
● Keeping a log of good
intuitions and best practices
Image source: https://goo.gl/images/uBeyfw

16. Don’t be this person

17. Thank you!
Questions?

18. Disclaimer
Views expressed in this presentation is personal, and do not reflect the views and/or endorsements of
companies affiliated or employed by the presenter. Materials used in the presentation are mainly for
illustrative and instructive purposes, and were sourced from publicly available domains.