Marketing to Data Executives: What Buyers Want, per COLLIDE 2023
At COLLIDE 2023 in Atlanta, AI Connect co-founder Brian Mink explained how economic decision makers differ from technical practitioners. He outlined why data executives are risk averse and five tactics for reaching them.
By The AI Enterprise Magazine Team4 min read
Key takeaways
- Executives buy for alignment. Economic decision makers must show progress on company strategic priorities and KPIs.
- Credibility is at stake. Untested vendors put an executive's standing and political capital at risk.
- Lead with the problem. Business and use cases land better than technical product detail.
- Go where executives already are. Existing communities, peer speakers and benchmarking resources cut through the noise.
- Think long term. Large-enterprise deals involve many reviewers and can take a year or two.
At COLLIDE 2023 in Atlanta, Brian Mink, Co-Founder and President of AI Connect, laid out how data solution providers can reach data executives. In the session "Cracking the Code: Mastering the Art of Marketing to Data Executives," Mink drew on his time as a corporate executive at a Fortune 300 company and in the C-suite of a national hospitality chain, and on the community AI Connect has built since 2012.
His central point, as presented at the time: executives buy differently from practitioners, and content that serves them starts with business cases, not product detail.
Who are data executives, and how do they differ from practitioners?
Mink described two audiences. Technological decision makers, the practitioner half of the community, focus on technical detail, innovation and problem solving, and may care less about short-term return on investment.
Economic decision makers, such as directors of data science and chief data officers, want "quick wins and cost effectiveness," he said. Many have a technical background, but their job is organizational alignment. The company's strategic plan has been set by the CEO and approved by the board, and an executive has to show at year end which KPIs moved against it.
Mink said AI Connect's community, at the time, was about half executives and half practitioners, with 31% at director level and 25% in the C-suite. He cited more than 100,000 data professionals in over 80 countries, including 95% of the Fortune 500, and more than 250 events since 2012.
Why are data executives cautious about new vendors?
Executives are leaders whose credibility is part of their position, Mink said. Taking a chance on software that is untested or less secure than alternatives puts that credibility at risk, and with it future resources and, potentially, their job. As a result, he said, they may be more risk averse than a data scientist trying to solve a problem.
They also face an overload of information about competitors and technology trends. Mink said this combination means a vendor's assumptions about pain points are often off.
What barriers do data executives actually face?
Mink listed several that vendors tend to underestimate:
- Legacy technology: A tool used for decades may be too costly and politically expensive to replace, even if the executive would not design it that way today.
- Data silos: As more organizations add chief data or analytics officers, many still have analytics teams scattered across business units, which complicates any rollout.
- Political capital: Executives hesitate to spend it on something that may not work.
His advice was to frame the risk honestly. The risk of doing nothing, such as insecure data, exposed personally identifiable information or an outage, may be worse than adopting the solution.
How should vendors market to data executives?
"Cut through all this noise," Mink said, and focus on use cases and business cases. Executives want to know what a product does for the organization, how it will be implemented and what it does for the bottom line, he said, and credibility has to be established from the outset.
He offered five tactics:
- Use existing watering holes. Reach executives where they already consume content rather than building an audience from scratch.
- Partner with other executives. Executives want to hear from peers, for example on a panel or in a talk.
- Provide benchmarking resources. Executives like to see what others in their industry are doing.
- Lead with the problem or opportunity. Open with the business case, then mention the solution.
- Build long-term relationships. In large enterprises, he said, an account-based approach matters because no single executive decides alone, and a deal may take a year or two.
What did this look like in practice?
Mink gave three examples from AI Connect's client work, without naming the clients:
- Benchmarking survey: A Series C privacy startup commissioned a survey of its ideal customer profile. Respondents received anonymized results, and the company used them to guide its thought leadership and product marketing. Its chief marketing officer called the data "data gold," Mink said.
- Executive roundtable: A Fortune 30 company brought senior data executives together to discuss pain points in data management and edge computing for manufacturing and supply chain, to shape its product marketing.
- Community building: A Series B startup with a niche feature engineering open source product grew a community of 1,000 members in under six months across seven cities and three countries, then used it for in-person events.
Where to meet data executives in 2027
AI Connect continues to bring executives and solution providers together. The AI Enterprise Conference 2027 takes place Tuesday, August 31, 2027, at Pier Sixty in New York City; see the event page. ALIGN AI Executive Summits are invitation-only gatherings planned for eight U.S. cities in 2027, listed on the ALIGN page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between technological and economic decision makers?
Mink said technological decision makers focus on technical detail and innovation, while economic decision makers such as chief data officers focus on quick wins, cost effectiveness and strategic alignment.
Why are data executives risk averse?
Backing an unvetted product can damage their internal credibility, their access to future resources and potentially their job, Mink said.
How should vendors pitch to data executives?
Lead with the business problem or opportunity and use cases, then introduce the solution, rather than leading with product features.
What marketing tactics did Mink recommend?
Tap existing audiences, partner with executives, offer benchmarking resources, lead with the problem and build long-term relationships.
This article is based on remarks by Brian Mink, Co-Founder & President, AI Connect at COLLIDE Data + AI Conference 2023 on October 3, 2023. More coverage: COLLIDE AI Conference.
Filed under: AI Strategy & ROI, People, Culture & Leadership
