No Marketing, No Sale

CIO, August, 2006 by Larry Bonfante

Many IT executives frown at the thought of marketing IT internally. It conjures up visions of loudmouths delivering sales pitches—the kind of people we'd prefer to avoid. If we wanted to get into marketing, we would have gotten into…well…marketing. But what marketing is really about is educating people about something that you're passionate about. For instance, some of you probably spend hours regaling your friends about your tennis game. As CIO of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), I'd like to thank you for marketing our sport!

Many of us grew up believing that if we worked hard and did the right things, people would notice and reward us. Unfortunately, things don't always work out that way. The executives and board members who are critical to our jobs have countless issues being thrown at them all the time. Unless we market ...