The Tribune

By D’Arcy Rahming

As marketers, we often have to work with the technical people who develop websites, lead generation systems, design customer response management systems, and keep us abreast of the various forms of social media, such as Facebook. This can be frustrating, as technical people speak a completely different language from marketers. Although the advances in user-friendly technology are amazing, there is often still a need for technical professionals to assist in getting your marketing message across.

I worked for many years as a liaison between technical folks and business people. As an engineer and a marketer, I could understand both worlds. So here are a few hints for getting the most out of your technical gurus.

Rule number one is to have mutual respect for each other. Many technical people, just like everyone else, want to work on what is ‘cool’, or what they are interested in. If getting a banner to flash on your website, or merging the website with a membership site, is their interest, that is what they are going to take the majority of their time on. Unless the technical person respects the fact that there is a business need behind your requests, you will often feel like your needs and their work output do not align.

Rule number two is that if the tech can’t explain what their process for completing the project is in layman’s terms, they are either dishonest or incompetent. An acceptable answer would be: “I have to do some research to give you an idea of approximate time needed for completion.”

When someone tells you that to change the colours on a web page is very expensive and time consuming, you will feel they are pulling a fast one on you - unless they can explain some structural reason why this is the case. However, sometimes things that appear simple are very difficult to alter, and this depends on the underlying infrastructure.

This leads to rule number three. Tech guys work to a different schedule. They do not typically sit down in front of the computer from 9am to 5 pm working. If they are on a normal schedule, they are usually cruising the web instead of working. There is a lot of waiting around for support partners that they have no control over. So, it may appear to you that they are not working.

On the other hand, most tech guys think that marketing guys don’t really do anything. They typically do not understand the creative process, and will often make changes because they think you are being fussy over a small detail. Which leads back to rule number one: The need for mutual respect.

NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. To receive his marketing newsletter FREE go to http://darcyrahming.com