...tao of marketing and other thoughts

Filed under: Axosoft, Marketing, Imported

Thank you for reading my blog.

Who am I?
I’m Angelo Coppola.  I work for Axosoft – which makes me (what is sometimes referred to here as) an “Axon.”  I’ve been a full-time Axon since June of 2006.  I live in Arizona with my family – that’s three daughters, ranging in age from 3 to 12 (hence the shiny head), and my far better half, my fiancée, Amy. 

I have two dogs…one’s a honey-colored terrier mix / mutt that I fell for at the local pound (HoneyBear).  And, the other’s a black Pug that I fell for a few years later…at the local pound (Boodah).  Someday, I hope to add a pair of Dobie’s to the pack.  I enjoy training, and they’re an exceptionally intelligent breed.

What do I do?
I’m fortunate enough to be doing what I love:  identity, marketing, communication, web design, and managing an incredible group of people who teach are my betters in the areas of customer support and education.  One of my primary aims is to promote the idea that every Axon is a critical piece of Axosoft’s marketing puzzle…that all of our decisions tell a story about who we are, and the collection of all our stories together tell the Axosoft story.  After all, what is a company if not its people?

To me, generally speaking, marketing isn’t about advertising.  It’s especially not about advertising for advertising’s sake.  It’s not about pretending to be everything to everyone.  And, it’s not about pretending to be anything at all.  In some companies, these principles would grind all active marketing to a screeching halt.  In most cases, I believe that would be the right thing to do, too: stop and start over fresh.

Good marketing is about investing in a product you are passionate about and doing such a good job at it that other like-minded people will become passionate about using it.  When you start there, as Axosoft has, you’re setting up a solid foundation for a healthy system: employees are passionate, customers are passionate, and as that passion intensifies great things can happen with both groups motivating the other to push toward and find the edges. 

Instead of force-fitting some pre-determined fantasy of a marketing plan, one can and will emerge.  Instead of going after total control of the product, its customers, the market, your competition – you can take on the responsibility of nourishing a growing entity that’s already heading in the right direction.

What’s the Point of this Blog?
During the course of almost any given day, and certainly within the typical week, I encounter a lot of interesting situations.  Most of it’s marketing-related.  Certainly, I’m projecting my own subjective ideas of “interesting” and “marketing-related” onto those situations.  I guess, to me, almost everything’s marketing-related.

Some of it’s worth writing about and sharing.  And that’s what I intend to do.

Also, during the course of most days, I haven’t been generating enough opportunities to interact with this company’s better half – its customers.  We’re two sides of the same coin, and I hope this blog will give us a chance to communicate better.