Finding the Right Way to Communicate: An Interview with Paul Dunay

Visit the web sites of most technology companies and the communication is often all about them: how they are internally organized, who they’re partnering with, and profiles of their executives.

Sure it’s relevant stuff, but it’s often done at the expense of the customer. Inside-Out cultures, that interpret markets from a corporate-centric view (and lose out on marketing and sales opportunities that are in plain sight) should take a tip from Paul Dunay, Global Field Marketing Director for BearingPoint.  Dunay, an Outside-In disciple, generates higher campaign response rates than market norms for his industry. He also gets more than his fair share of positive media attention.   

How did you get your start in technology marketing?
I spent time out of college as a techno geek and eventually the tech wave passed me by. But I knew another, new type of tech wave would be coming, along with the need for someone to market it. After spending time in both technology product and services marketing I discovered an affinity for services. It’s a wide-open field, especially in technology markets.

At some point or another every product company enters a state of market saturation – followed by the realization that they had better migrate to a services organization to sustain their long-term survival.  That’s where I come in.

Why do you think inside-out cultures are particularly endemic in technology companies?
I think the  “inside-out” epidemic started in the software industry – where new product development groups drove the market with features and functionality designed for the Technorati rather than the masses.  It’s a “classic” marketing myopia situation.

Read the latest issue of CMO magazine. It talks about how Microsoft is now – after all these years - finally integrating marketing with its product development teams!   On the services side it gets a thousand percent worse since any technology consultant with a PowerPoint deck can get a new solution funded.

My question for them is always, does anyone actually wanna buy that? 

"I think the “inside out” epidemic came largely from the software industry where new product development groups drove the market with features and functionality designed for the Technorati rather than the masses."

How can technology marketers become better at outside-in communications?
In a word, research. In two words: primary research.

Who is your customer, what do they need – and what are they willing  to pay for? Ninety percent of the time marketers can’t defend these basic questions. How can you hit a target if you don’t know WHO they are or WHAT they need? Market-ing is about responding with what the “market” needs. Everything else is just advertising.

"Who is your customer - and what are they willing  to pay for? Ninety percent of the time marketers can’t defend this basic question."

Most technology companies react to market upsets – by getting defensive. You have a history of using bad news to your advantage. How?
My team has been extraordinary at scanning the market for news that affects IT managers at any major enterprise.  Take security for example. All you have to do is read the paper to see which industries and companies are being challenged with security breaches.

We respond by asking ourselves a bunch of questions:

How can we help IT managers and their teams at financial services firms? What are  the five ways we can help a company keep their security issues out of the headlines? How can we tell if a firm’s top three mission-critical areas are secure? We focus on what is relevant - right now.

"Market-ing is about responding with what the  market needs. Everything else is just advertising."

Contact Paul Dunay at paul.dunay@bearingpoint.com