January 9, 2012

Jumping in with Sebastien Loze at CM Labs

Happy Monday everyone. I can't think of a better way to kick of this week than with a discussion with my friend Sebastien Loze. I had the pleasure of working with Seb when he was the Product Marketing Manager at Presagis - where his creativity was well-known and his ability to make the most complex concepts (to a PR person like me) simple. Working with Seb is always a great experience and now that he is the lead of marketing initiatives at CM Labs I expect we're going to see some big things in the very near future!

Name: Sebastien Loze

Title: Director, Marketing & Partner Sales
Home Base: Montreal, QC
Twitter: @SLFeeding
Pets:  Does a 4 year old daughter qualify? 
Quirks: Many along with a passion for photography and surrealist poetry
Contact Info: sebastien.loze@cm-labs.com / 514.690.5693

DTP: Seb, you’ve recently taken on the role of Director of Marketing at CM Labs. Tell us, how has the transition been?
SL: CM Labs is a company full of expertise, passion and bright people working to deliver solutions for a very complex problem in the industry: “How do I ensure that my training and analysis of complex equipment is more accurate and effective than “good enough” simulations?” It’s a common question asked in our industry – one that many of us need to consider and resolve – and for operators of equipment it’s one that when answered correctly saves time, money and more importantly keeps people safe.  

My role is challenging and exciting; it requires me to leverage both my marketing (and market) experience as well as my computer science/engineering background. I’m surrounded by a team of savvy and passionate engineers and like with any new job, am focused on communicating their incredible expertise to our community. There is a learning curve as with any new role, but the idea of developing CM Labs’ corporate and technology story is incredibly exciting.  

DTP: You have always been an ally to PR – you’ve helped me cultivate many a trend and customer story – now that you’re responsible for PR have there been any surprises you’ve learned about the profession? 

SL: I am still ramping up on this aspect of my work and it is very interesting to see that our community is a very small world when it comes to the PR community and through this small network there are a lot of people offering to help PR newbies like me develop best practices and build relationships with the media. By the way thank you Cerys ;) 

DTP: Many think that PR is synonymous with media relations. What does PR entail at CM Labs? Do you see its role growing within your company? 

Storytelling and public relations has been a missing piece of the communications puzzle at CM Labs in the past. We’re now making this a priority to help share our expertise with the community as a whole – not only related to our products and services – but related to the great people we have at our company.  

As we build our marketing team moving forward, we’ll expand our initiatives to further embed PR into the fabric of CM Labs.  

DTP: How would you describe the integration of PR and marketing at CM Labs? Where and when should the two roles intersect most? 

SL: They are feeding each other in term of content, but I support a vision where marketing activities embed the PR activities in a holistic combined activities approach. Marketing tells a story, define the path and PR is both: sharing the story and ensuring that feedback and trends are properly brought back to marketing.  

DTP: How do you balance the idea of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” with the latest tactics and tools you’re dying to try?  

SL: Today in our stage of development of our PR and marketing activities, I am facing a much simpler paradigm: “if it doesn’t exist, make it happen!” So I am having a brutally candid approach to PR. We’re identifying what we are able to do now, and what we will work toward in the future. 

DTP: Are there any tools that you find particularly useful? (i.e. web-based tools, video, monitoring, distribution, etc.) 

SL: I am a serial browser so I had to simplify and limit my time searching the web. I created a few dashboards with Netvibes which allow me to view all the content I want in a single webpage – it’s sorted and organized the way I want it to monitor news, track blogs, and to make sure I have all the newswires monitored without having to surf for hours on many different websites.

DTP: Over the last few years we’ve seen a shift in how marketing and PR people are getting their information in front of their customers. Can you share one of your favourite, “go-to” tactics?

SL: We work at both ends of the spectrum - we have very good relationships with existing customers where we focus on 1:1 conversations and direct communications. At the same time we are working strategically with large international organizations like NATO to bring awareness to an audience that may not be familiar with CM Labs. For me, it’s important that we accurately assess the different groups we communicate with and ensure that we develop content that is valuable to each audience. From there we can best determine what tactics we use – whether that’s a webinar, speaking opportunity or video campaign.

2 comments:

  1. Great interview, Sébastien, though I shall undoubtedly have to soundly curse you for introducing me to yet another piece of software I am going to have to learn: it sounds like Netvibes may be one method of preventing myself tearing out what little hair I have left!

    My interest was truly piqued, however, by the concept of surrealist poetry. I wonder if the following qualifies?

    Roses are red,
    Violets are blue,
    I'm schizophrenic,
    So am I.

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  2. Thank you Tim,

    It seems like this blog is the new place to be.
    This is the first time a man writes me a poem (when it comes to poetry I am more in the readers side rather than the writters so I can't really give you advice) so thank you a lot :-)

    Seb.

    Note : You will love netvibes

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