The crash is coming
Or how marketers can position themselves to benefit from the next market crash
I am fairly convinced by now that in the next 12 to 16 months, we will have another major correction in the market. Another bubble will explode in our faces. And it will affect tech startups directly. Money will dry out, particularly of the venture type. Runways will finish, startups (and possibly a few unicorns) will fold, and very talented engineers, designers, data analysts, community managers, and growth marketers will be out of jobs.
Now I am not an angel investor or venture capitalist, so I’m not particularly interested in the crash origins, or in the consequences of that burst in terms of equity losses, but I am interested in how larger corporations/brands, viewed as safer in times of trouble, can position and prepare themselves to absorb this newly-freed up talent pool when the time comes.
In order for a large brand to be ready for this sudden availability of talent, the first question that needs to be answered is: what kind of talent do I want/need for my business or brand? Now this is the easier one to answer: most marketers I know are a bit behind the curve on all areas mentioned above: engineering, development, design, business intelligence, business model design, mobile, social community management, etc. Econsultancy provides a handful of market surveys that confirm that. So defining your talent needs is the easier bit.
The follow-up questions are a bit less direct to answer: where will I find them once they become available? And how do I make myself attractive to them?
I will try to tackle these two questions in the following paragraphs.
A good place to hang out if you’re a marketer interested in connecting yourself to startup talent is AngelList. Crunchbase is a nice information hub as well. And Mattermark can be useful too. For design talent currently working for startups, I suggest you browse through Dribbble’s Teams. Or Behance Teams. Spend some time with these networks, start appreciating and commenting the work of talented people. Exchange a few emails. Nurture at least one connection in startups you know about, and they will prove useful when the time comes.
Now to the hardest question of all: how can my marketing organisation become attractive to these talents? Well, when the tsunami comes, your attractiveness as a stable, wage-paying large organisation will rise by default, but you shouldn’t bank only on that. Set up a little landing page, if you can, where you chart out a vision for the brand or organisation, and what are the roles needed to fulfil that vision. Try to state a mission that goes beyond just usual marketing objectives like gaining market share or increasing awareness. Make your life easier and install some kind of job application tool, to organise the incoming job applications. Jobvite is a tool that’s getting some momentum, but your HR probably uses something already. Write up a good definition of the problems you’re facing as a marketer right now, and post them in this landing page. Refrain from sharing what your ideal solution is. Let people get involved with your problem.
That’s it.
If you have prepared for it, and the scenario suggested proves to be true, your brand or organisation should be able to quickly benefit from it.
