Today we’d like to introduce you to Lora Kratchounova and Peter Atanasoff.
Lora and Peter, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Scratch was started when I realized that there was – and still is – a gap in the marketing consulting space – a lot of specialized agencies delivering demand gen, PR and content services, but really no agency that focused on diagnosing and determining the best mix of strategies, channels and tactics to be used for the challenge or opportunity tech companies are facing, only then executing.
There is an inherent bias when you go to a specialized consulting, comms or demand gen firm – every problem or opportunity you present to them is seen through the lens of what they do. I am yet to hear one CEO tell me that a PR agency advised him they are too early for PR. Or a demand gen agency advising that a company’s positioning is not crystalized or products not well defined for it to push it to market.
Scratch was born out of the vision that innovations need special feed and care – they need a well thought out go-to-market strategy first, based on market and competitive diagnostics. Once the opportunities and white spaces are defined, it is about integrated execution.
The other aha moment for starting Scratch 10 years ago was the availability of digital data and analytics tools to diagnose these white spaces for innovative companies (they can be both startups like Boston-local Chaos Sumo or established brands like VMware). Scratch’s DNA is based on what we call Digital Authority audit – we flex the digital data and breadcrumbs to determine the most effective and efficient way to get companies launch and growing.
Since its inception 10 years ago, Scratch has had the privilege to work with market leaders such as VMware, EMC, Dell, F5, Cisco, Citrix and TUV, and game-changing tech innovators such as Logentries (now part of Rapid7), Sanbolic (now part of Citrix), Kitewheel, Masabi, and Umajin.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It never is a smooth ride. Some of the challenges we have faced growing the company include:
1. Finding the right talent. As a small business, growing from 5 to 25 employees is not an easy task. Nor is it a straight line. You need to be a really rare individual – someone who is driven, resourceful, can multitask effectively, client service-oriented, and expert in multiple areas of marketing.
2. Knowing where to invest in terms of new services. Scratch has been fairly lucky as we started with an integrated offering, but delivering on it over the years has required different and varied skill sets. When we started 10 years people really did not know how to navigate the social space. For most, event until this day, social platforms like Twitter are considered posting platforms. Our initial charter was to help people see the potential in social – to learn the beat of a community, to find and engage with the people who matter, to build your own credibility and following.
Today, we help clients navigate the account based marketing (ABM) space – although not new as a B2B marketing philosophy, its practical implementation continues to be struggle for most. Delivering on a social and an ABM promise requires different skills.
3. Understanding our ideal customer profile. As an entrepreneur you always worry about what’s next. It is always hard to say no because you always worry about the opportunity cost. It took us a while to establish who we service the best and focus on these clients. One of the big revelations that took us a while was that we don’t work well with clients who expect us to simply execute or take orders. The best relationships are based on mutual respect and collaboration.
Scratch Marketing + Media – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Scratch is an integrated marketing firm focused on getting innovative tech companies get noticed, recognized and considered for their contributions. That means we help both the marketing and sales teams at tech companies.
Marketing usually has needs that fall either 1) under the corp communication umbrella – positioning, public relations, website, content, or 2) demand gen/ product marketing – advertising and lead gen campaigns, data and analytics tools. We provide the spectrum of integrated services for marketing that fall under 1 and 2. For sales, we help sales teams with the tools they need to sell effectively – customer-facing decks, solution sheets and case studies, and tools such as battlecards that help them understand how their company is better than the competition. We are increasingly getting involved in sales operations – helping sales team find the right data and targeting tools to make their job more effective, alongside sales outreach content and tools.
We are most proud of the collaboration with and impact delivered to our clients. We have helped a number of innovative companies be recognized for their innovations and acquired, we have built momentum for global brands in their various markets, we have set up strategy and execution for complex global rollouts and partnerships. Most agencies can only claim one of these accomplishments.
What sets us apart from others is that we are both a growth advisor and a nimble integrated execution partner for our clients. We know tech better than most – esp. complex tech, and really excel at solving complex problems, challenges and opportunities for clients.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
As the principal of the firm, I look for the following:
– Are we having a material difference to our clients’ business? Not only in terms of helping revenue, but market momentum and excitement. When a CEO of a global company sends you an email that he has never seen so much excitement and support for the work we are doing in his 20 years at the company, I know we are adding value.
– Do we continue to work with true innovators? How is the word spreading about the work and impact we are doing?
– How is the Scratch team feeling? Are people energized and excited to do the work? Are they coming with innovative ways to get innovations recognized and adopted quickly.
Contact Info:
- Address: 84 Sherman Street
3rd floor
Cambridge MA 02420 - Website: www.scratchmm.com
- Phone: 617-945-9296
- Email: contact@scratchmm.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScratchMM
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1130700/
Image Credit:
Scratch Marketing + Media
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