Russ Somers

Russ Somers

Director of Product Marketing at Invodo

Austin, Texas Area

Current
  • Director of Product Marketing at Invodo
Past
  • Senior Product Marketing Manager at SolarWinds
  • Senior Marketing Manager, Subscription Marketing at Hoovers Inc.
  • Senior Product Marketing Manager at Hoover's Inc
  • Marketing Manager, Pricing and Segmentation at Hoover's Inc
  • Brand / Business Manager, SMB OEM Software at Dell
  • Pricing Manager, Global Consumer and SMB Marketing at Dell Inc
  • Senior Marketing Analyst at Sabre Holdings
Education
  • The University of Texas at Austin - The Red McCombs School of Business
  • The University of Texas at Austin
Connections
475 connections
Industry
Internet
Websites

Russ Somers’s Summary

Experienced senior marketing professional with demonstrated leadership in product marketing, brand and segment management across technology and information companies. P&L responsibility to $300MM, budget management to $12MM, McCombs MBA.

Blog at http://eggheadmarketing.wordpress.com/, on Twitter as @rsomers.

Russ Somers’s Specialties:

Expert in positioning, pricing, promotions, e-commerce, strategic planning, business case development, market and competitive analysis.


Russ Somers’s Experience

  • Director of Product Marketing

    Invodo

    (Privately Held; Internet industry)

    August 2009Present (4 months)

    • Based in Austin, Texas, Invodo provides the world’s premier product video distribution service, syndicating over 20,000 product videos to thousands of retailer websites nationwide
    • Develop and execute all elements of go-to-market plans including naming, positioning, pricing, and sales support and enablement
    • Manage marketing programs including PR / branding, corporate Website, email marketing, and CRM

  • Senior Product Marketing Manager

    SolarWinds

    (Public Company; Computer Software industry)

    January 2009June 2009 (6 months)

    • Planned and managed product launches for enterprise software including positioning, launch strategy, pricing, promotional plans, SEO-friendly Web content, sales and partner training and Operations readiness
    • Collaborated on process to enable a two-person Product Marketing team to manage 20+ launches per quarter

  • Senior Marketing Manager, Subscription Marketing

    Hoovers Inc.

    (Public Company; DNB; Information Services industry)

    April 2008December 2008 (9 months)

    • Led five direct reports in managing online marketing programs for segments including Enterprise, SMB, SOHO, Channel Sales and other segments to exceed $100MM goal for customer acquisition and retention
    • Shortened Direct Marketing cycle time from days to hours, eliminated data corruption and enabled targeted messaging on a variety of segmentation criteria by restructuring program and vendor relationship

  • Senior Product Marketing Manager

    Hoover's Inc

    (Internet industry)

    December 2006April 2008 (1 year 5 months)

    • Led seven direct reports in managing product marketing as well as pricing, promotions, marketing communications, PR and analyst relations and event marketing
    • Consolidated online and offline Marketing functions into a 24-person shared services organization and managed a $12MM budget during a time of leadership transition
    • Doubled rate of new customer acquisition with targeted e-commerce SMB product. Drove initiative from ideation and business case development through launch
    • Helped lead entry into social media including user-generated content and Twitter presence

  • Marketing Manager, Pricing and Segmentation

    Hoover's Inc

    (Internet industry)

    January 2006December 2006 (1 year )

    • Drove pricing, segmentation and analytics initiatives as leader of two-person team
    • Delivered $1.8MM annualized incremental revenue per quarter with pricing initiatives

  • Brand / Business Manager, SMB OEM Software

    Dell

    (Public Company; DELL; Information Technology and Services industry)

    July 2005January 2006 (7 months)

    • Managed $300MM in annual SMB software sales across five lines of business
    • Created online and offline demand generation programs using print, Web, direct mail, email and newsletters

  • Pricing Manager, Global Consumer and SMB Marketing

    Dell Inc

    (Public Company; DELL; Information Technology and Services industry)

    July 2004July 2005 (1 year 1 month)

    • Optimized operating income for Inspiron notebooks with analytically-driven pricing and promotional strategies
    • Broadened focus of competitive reporting to include distributor, VAR and other channels

  • Senior Marketing Analyst

    Sabre Holdings

    (Privately Held; Information Technology and Services industry)

    July 2002June 2004 (2 years )

    • Senior analyst for deals and customized marketing agreements up to $30MM
    • Led 32-person global sales team in transition to Siebel CRM and Target Account Selling
    • Forecast and administered $11M sales plan and $1.5B revenue plan


Russ Somers’s Education

  • The University of Texas at Austin - The Red McCombs School of Business

    MBA , Marketing , 20002002

  • The University of Texas at Austin

    BA , Sociology , September 1992May 1995


Additional Information

Russ Somers’s Websites:


Russ Somers’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

  • career opportunities
  • consulting offers
  • new ventures
  • job inquiries
  • expertise requests
  • reference requests
  • getting back in touch

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