Mike argues that marketers need to be technologists in order to be successful and iterate, but what does it mean to be a technologist? Do marketers need to be technologists, or must they understand the big picture first?
Iterating. Everyone says their doing it, but are they actually? Iteration can be the difference between success and mediocrity. At the end of the day, when you try something new: does it work... or fail? Everyone talks about iterating, but few ever really step out of their comfort zones and make it happen. So what does it take to iterate?
It's important to have a base of knowledge that allows you to evaluate what is working and what isn't. Salespeople and marketers are limited by their knowledge. They place too much emphasis on results happening because of one decision that's good or bad, rather than digging deeper to understand the why and the how. Sales and marketing departments don't understand the theory behind what they do, so the have no basis on which to iterate. The solution: Become a technologist. Learn how the systems and technologies work. But, is that all? Doug argues that becoming a technologist comes second to understanding the business entity. At the end of the day, success and failure with regards to iterating comes down to 2 things: Business acumen and luck.