5 Marketing Lessons from SXSW Interactive
April 7th, 2011By Fernando Labastida
I just spent five days at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, a conference that focuses on emerging technologies such as social media, web 2.0, development tools, cutting edge marketing and startups.
It’s a wild and woolly cornucopia of ideas, networking, presentations and parties.
As somebody who is in the business of helping nearshore software development companies market themselves to U.S. buyers, I am always on the lookout for new ideas to help generate awareness and bring in customers. Since SXSW provided too many great ideas to list here, I narrowed down what I learned into five key lessons that Nearshore providers can implement in their businesses.
1. Think like a startup
SXSW Interactive is THE conference for startups. Many of them launched their products right there at the festival, or participated in …
Q/A: Lack of Marketing Savvy Hurts Latam in Web 2.0
November 11th, 2009As Latin America emerges as a significant player on the worldwide outsourcing stage, questions are coming up around how well Latam sourcing providers are marketing themselves. With US buyers looking for knowledge and insights, providers need to step up their digital marketing capabilities, says Fernando Labastida, owner of Latin IT Marketing, and a leading expert on marketing practices in the offshore industry.
We sat down recently with Fernando to get more of his thoughts.
What do Nearshore service providers need to do to improve marketing practices in the digital age?
For lack of a PC term, they have to look and behave American (or European or Canadian, depending on which market they’re going after).
1. They have to have modern, user-friendly, straightforward and to the point websites with flawless English. No more flash websites. No more “good enough” translations. No more typical corporate websites with information about their company, their wonderful reliable, expert developers who know Java .NET, SQL Server, Oracle, IBM and can develop anything from an iPhone app to an add-on for SAP.
2. They need to start blogging, creating eBooks, making videos, do webinars. They essentially need to take a content marketing approach, because that’s the best long-term strategy to turn their web presence into a destination and become thought leaders.
