Karen Quintos - DellWorld 2012 - TheCUBE Karen Quintos, SVP & CMO, Dell, with John Furrier and Dave Vellante John Furrier and Dave Vellante were together again at DellWorld 2012 this time sitting down with Karen Quintos, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at Dell to discuss marketing strategies and the changes that have taken place over the last several years (full video below). Furrier says that, as a company, Dell is exploding and he asks Quintos how marketing is playing a role in that, and how the marketing of the product is growing to which she points out DellWorld in itself is a form of marketing to customers, introducing them to the products and abilities of the company, as well as giving customers the opportunity to interact one-on-one with Dell representatives answering questions or concerns that they otherwise might not address. Quintos points out that, “Customers used to think of Dell as a brand that sold PCs and hardware,” when in reality more than 80% of the business comes from commercial customers, and the access that Dell has acquired over the years is allowing the company to provide for the needs of the business customers. Over the course of the last several years it has been common for users to ask, or be surprised about, Dells foray into enterprise and commercial products. Quintos points out that while this has lessened over the years, users are still asking these questions and finding themselves surprised when Dell is in fact a major player, meaning that the marketing department still has a lot of work ahead of them in terms of getting the word about Dell and its products out in a way that customers can relate to, and by holding events like DellWorld and brand advertising. Vellante points out that Dell can’t do a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy, it’s just too diverse, and asks how Dell can rationalize that. Quintos says you can talk about the Dell brand in a way that is very general because as a company they do embody those broad stereotypes such as being easy to do business with. Following that line of thought, they bring stories to life that shows how the Dell brand brings a wide range of solutions to customers. In the past marketing for Dell was all about what’s the fastest the products could be, and now its shifted instead to what’s the outcome of the desired solution. By using new platforms such as social media and digital marketing. Dell is now pioneering and selling social media analytics and digital marketing, and Furrier wants to know how Dell can take that to the next level. The entrepreneur spirit is still at Dell, and social media services started as an idea in marketing, and saw it as a chance to help customers as well, taking a marketing solution and raising it to the next level. “Old school marketing is in a new era,” says Furrier, asking what Quintos vision is, to which she responds social media, like it or not, is here and needs to be integrated into marketing strategies. The integration of social media with the back end system that enables the client to interact with customers can also help sales teams and innovation is where the realm of marketing is moving. In the future, and particularly at Dell, the CMO is no longer going to be a glossed over member of the team, marketing is turning into a vital part of the business model and as the department responsible for getting the word out about products, innovation, and customer interaction it is important for other companies to mimic Dell.