Episode Summary
Phil Rimmler’s entire job revolves around marketing crushed diamonds.
“We help companies attach a digital record to a physical object, similar to inventory management, anti theft detection, things like that. And we do that by crushing up diamonds, literal diamonds, and mixing them with a UV epoxy,” he says.
That UV epoxy, when applied to objects such as fine art, creates a one-of-a-kind tag for the object, and finding customers for this niched product is Phil’s job as Marketing Manager at DUST Identity.
On this episode of Tech Qualified, Phil discusses what it’s like working for a fairly new company selling a product that’s only appealing to particular high-end or high-profile clients such as the military. Phil explains how much of his day-to-day work is detailed ethnographic, user and competitor research to keep DUST both appealing and relevant — particularly during a global pandemic that causes customer needs to change constantly.
“What our efforts are mainly focused on is creating that collateral so that during that customer journey when an organization knows that they want to solve this issue, how can we best position ourselves to seem like the likely and logical and economical answer?” he says.
Guest Profile
- Name: Phil Rimmler
- What he does: As the Marketing Manager at DUST Identity, a company that uses nanodiamonds to securely link physical items with their digital records, Phil uses his background in digital marketing to attract customers to a niche product.
- Company: DUST Identity
- Noteworthy: Phil has been in his current role since November 2019, which means more than half of his experience with the company has required constantly adapting strategies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Insights
- It’s easy to think comparing yourself to other companies is dangerous, but in actuality if you’re able to give your customers tools to show why you’re unique compared to others offering similar services, you’re helping both yourself and your customers.
- Once you’ve overcome the initial hurdle of attracting some customers, Phil says it’s time to refocus your efforts on gathering feedback so you can maintain the customers you have and attract more.
- Customer needs are always changing, which means you can’t get stuck in the past. Especially during a pandemic, Phil points out that a customer’s needs and wants are in constant flux (just like everything else in society), so be flexible and do your research to see what they’re most in need of right now.
Episode Highlights
- How existing customers may respond to product changes
- Personalize messaging even if customers have the same end goal
- Reevaluate your success metrics
- Great content gets straight to the point
- Great content gets straight to the point
