Interview with Lawrence Cole - vBulletin Operations & Marketing Manager

[The Sandman]

The Sandman submitted a new Article:

Interview with Lawrence Cole - vBulletin Operations & Marketing Manager

Lawrence Cole is the online marketing guru who took over as vBulletin's Operations and Marketing Manager about 2 months ago. Lawrence graciously agreed to "answer all of our questions" in an interview, and shared a lot of interesting and useful information with us. However, there were some questions which he chose not to answer. Those questions have been included in the interview for the sake of continuity.


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Tell us a little bit about yourself.

"I’m 34 years old and was born and raised in Florida. I moved to Los Angeles in 2000 after I graduated from college and completed my last undergraduate internship."


What is your educational background?

"I have a BS degree in electrical engineering."


What kind of positions did you hold before becoming Operations & Marketing Manager for vBulletin?

"I started my career as a junior java developer for an ISP. They had a huge layoff during the time of the “dot com bomb” and the September 11th attacks after which I did some web development and online marketing for a few years for a small company. After that I spent most of the next 8 ½ years in corporate sales and account management with a 2-year rotation into operations and facility engineering roles."


What is Xtreme Marketing?

"Xtreme Marketing Systems is how I’ve kept my marketing skills sharp over the years. I love marketing and could do it all day. XMS is one of several part time projects that I have had over the past 7 or 8 years, including a small weight loss forum that I ran for a while, which is actually how I first came to find out about vBulletin. I had a phpBB forum that had a security vulnerability that allowed my entire website to be hacked and taken over. It was suggested that I convert my fledgling community over to vBulletin for better security against such issues, so I downloaded the latest version of vBulletin and became a customer."


How did you come to be vBulletin Operations & Marketing Manager?

No comment.


What are your responsibilities as Operations & Marketing Manager?

"My responsibilities are two-fold. One encompasses the daily operations of vBulletin. The customer service and tech support groups roll up to me; however, they don’t need much help because they are some of the best if not the absolute best at what they do. All phone support, ticket support, and customer issues are handled through those...

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[smacklan]

This pretty much says it all for me:

Where do you see vBulletin going in the future?

No comment.

 

[AdamD]

This pretty much says it all for me:

No comment

Heh yea, same here.
I see he's still defiant about that temper tantrum he threw in the Licensed area, lol
Some people never learn, I guess.

 

[petertdavis]

Heh yea, same here.
I see he's still defiant about that temper tantrum he threw in the Licensed area, lol
Some people never learn, I guess.

Well, I think that's what he means by "Xtreme Marketing"

 

[Choice83]

Lawrence graciously agreed to "answer all of our questions" in an interview, and shared a lot of interesting and useful information with us.

No comment.

 

[DaUnknownAdmin]

How did you come to be vBulletin Operations & Marketing Manager?

No comment.

What changes have taken place since you joined the team?

No comment.

What are the issues that need to be addressed next?

No comment.

What are the concerns being voiced by customers which you consider to be valid?

No comment.

Do you have any comments on the change in pricing structure that came with vB4?

No comment.

In retrospect, what if anything could have been done differently to improve the development of vBulletin and reputation of Internet Brands?

No comment.

Where do you see vBulletin going in the future?

No comment.

How Xtreme

 

[esquire]

Well, I think that's what he means by "Xtreme Marketing"

To me, the only thing better than a good CMS is an XMS. And right now at this time of year, XMS is probably the biggest thing around. I'm impressed. Kudos to him.

 

[motowebmaster]

I still check the vb forums from time to time, but am not aware of this person. Has he done something beneficial?

 

[AdamD]

Not really, no

Just a lot of marketing talk....oh and he sent out a few pretty marketing orientated emails, that's about it.

Can't forget the tantrum he threw either - http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90056

 

[HondaATC]

Just out of curiosity why was this pulled from the front page?

 

[The Sandman]

Just out of curiosity why was this pulled from the front page?

 

[The Sandman]

Lawrence just sent me some responses to the questions he didn't originally answer.


========================================


What are the concerns being voiced by customers which you consider to be valid?

"We don't discuss our forward product development planning."


What changes have taken place since you joined the team?

"One of my top priorities has been expanding the technical support team. We’ve added both stateside and international tech support staff to continue offering what many consider to be the best support within the forum niche."


What are the issues that need to be addressed next?

"We don't discuss our forward product development planning."


Do you have any comments on the change in pricing structure that came with vB4?

"I do not. However, there are tons of pages of discussion on that in the forum if anyone wants to refer to them."


Why have so many vBulletin staff members left recently, and what does this mean for vBulletin customers?

"Contrary to popular belief churn has actually been down. Additionally, we a have some great new additions to the team."


In retrospect, what if anything could have been done differently to improve the development of vBulletin and reputation of Internet Brands?

"I’m much more concerned about the future and the exciting product work we're doing."

 

[HondaATC]

A few days ago when I first noticed this interview, it was on the homepage. It no longer is, and Jasper's interview is the last one at the top now:



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Doesn't really matter, I just found it curious with the content of the interview.

 

[The Sandman]

It wasn't on the homepage - I forgot to add it to the list. It's up there now though.

Thanks!

 

[IcEWoLF]

I have no comment.

 

[Panupat]

What are the concerns being voiced by customers which you consider to be valid?

No comment.

=========================================================

What are the concerns being voiced by customers which you consider to be valid?

"We don't discuss our forward product development planning."

. . . funny that seems to be the thing I want to hear the most.

 

[Exyicon]

Lawrence just sent me some responses to the questions he didn't originally answer.


========================================


What are the concerns being voiced by customers which you consider to be valid?

"We don't discuss our forward product development planning."

.......

In retrospect, what if anything could have been done differently to improve the development of vBulletin and reputation of Internet Brands?

"I’m much more concerned about the future and the exciting product work we're doing."

I don't like this guy..

 

[AdamD]

I think his primary job is/was? to try and quell the negativity and try and push for more product sales, given the emails he's sent out were purely marketing ones.

Sadly, it doesn't seem to have worked to well for him, since his immature blow up against that Lizardman guy, he's been a LOT quieter.

 

[Panupat]

Ryan.

In retrospect, what if anything could have been done differently to improve the development of vBulletin and reputation of Internet Brands?

"I’m much more concerned about the future and the exciting product work we're doing."

Where do you see vBulletin going in the future?

No comment.

 

[BrandonSheley]

the original "no comment" remarks are troublesome..