21st century marketing for startups (...and grown-up cos too)

October 14, 2014

Marketing Plans (and a lot more)

Agenda: What You Will Learn Today

• Elements of Go-to-Market Plan• The Sales and Marketing Funnel Revisited• Determining Your Shtick• Launch Channels and Prioritization• LTV and CRV and NPS• Benchmarks and Measurement

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The Evolution of Marketing• Up to 1980s: Marketing the past

• Telemarketing, radio, billboards, posters, print media

• 1980-1990s: Marketing the present• Database marketing, relationship marketing, e-commerce,

spam, guerilla marketing, CRM gains dominance in strategy

• 2000+: Marketing the (social) future• Social media, an ongoing effort, creative exploration in developing technology and platforms

Marketing of the Future• Products/services are never finished• Products/services never stand alone

Marketing Defined

2000+: What People Buy

• Promise that the brand will continue to deliver now and in the future

• Trust = the belief that a brand is capable of delivering now and in the future

Startup Marketing: You Have Been Warned

5Source: @MikeTrap

Startup Marketing: The Reality

6Source: @MikeTrap


• Used a video of a non-existent product to gather feedback

• Formulated hypotheses about features and tested them rapidly

• Changed marketing approach and feature set when hypotheses were disconfirmed by market feedback

• Started as a platform for gathering support using “tipping points”

• Customers told them that the idea was too abstract and unfocused

• The company almost ran out of money

• Found that only one aspect was working: group deals


Payment system for PDAs

Massively multi-player game

Video-dating site

Automated email recommendation

service

Podcasting (as Odeo)

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Marketing Disruptive Products

For High Tech Businesses, Marketing is More About Opps Than Current Market

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Current Market Demand Opportunity

Current products meet current customers

Novel products, often targeting non-users

Needs well understood and stable

Needs not well-defined, likely to change

Substitutes for existing products within category

Creating new categories of demand

Selection, resulting in market share

Rate of adoption and penetration

Size of market, ease of addressing

Potential benefits vs. behavioral change

Source: Michael Davies, Endeavour Partners

Novel, Tech Innovative Products: Difficult to Adopt

• Most people, most of the time loathe change• Investment in time and effort• Uncertainly, anxiety

• Not familiar with novel products and their potential

• Novel products always require trade-offs• Evaluation based on perceived value, relative to products in use• Sensitive to loss aversion

• Companies underestimate the switching costs, overestimate the potential benefits

11Source: Michael Davies, Endeavour Partners

The Gap b/n Eager Sellers and Stony Buyers


What Can You to Do to Drive Rapid Adoption?

• Accept resistance• Anticipate long adoption• Manage accordingly

• Strive for >10x gain:• Make relative benefits so great they overcome

customers’ overweighting of potential losses

• Minimize resistance:• Target non-users – don’t use product now, no

change needed or the unendowed• Target segments of customers who don’t give up as

much• Make behaviorally compatible products


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Go-to-Market Goals

What You Need at Launch

15Source: @MikeTrap

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Go-to-Market Framework

Positioning/ GTM Roadmap

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Customer Analysis

Client Interviews

Positioning & Messaging

Supporting Evidence

Channels and External Influencers

• Research, whitepapers• Shorter POVs, insights

• Website• Blog (internal)• Blogs (external)

• Client testimonials• Case studies• Bios

• Collateral

• Meetings• Videos• Social media channels

• Outreach to key influencers by sector

Competitive Analysis

Go-to-Market: Engaging the New Social Customer

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Unraveling their lifestyle,

pains, passions

Identifying their media

consumption choices

Identifying and connecting with

those who influence them

Connecting the dots between brands and

their customer with/ social

content

Positioning Defined

Great companies are mission-driven;

Great marketing is

simple, intimate and

mission-driven

Remember: It is ALL About the Why

20Source: @MikeTrap

Positioning Roadmap Revisited

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Positioning is driven by the reason why you started your business – the insight or “aha!” moment behind it:• Why did you create your company?• What need did you want to address? • Who are “your people”?

Example: VitalityA product designed to tackle the combination of factors that conspire to cause non-adherent behavior = GlowCaps

The Insight

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Understanding “your people” means designing a solution with your customers in mind:• Who are the beneficiaries of your product?• Who are the buyers of your product?• Why do they buy?• What’s important to them?

“Your People”

“Your People”: Market Segmentation

“Your people” are not a homogenous group. Address each group individually:

• Market segmentation means dividing your market into distinct groups with:

• Distinct needs• Characteristics• Behavior

• Each segment may require separate products/services or marketing mixes

Developing Positioning Statement

• Positioning statements summarize the company or brand positioning • To (target segment and need) our (brand) is

(concept) that (point-of-difference) or• For (target segment) who is dissatisfied with

(pain point) your (brand) is (concept) that (point-of-difference)

• Example: For drivers who value automotive performance, BMW provides luxury vehicles

that deliver joy through German engineering

Backing Your Positioning by Segment: OpternativeTarget AudienceSegment

Specific Value for Audience Segment

How Service is Provided

Evidence

Patients

Doctors

Pharmacies

• Evidence – anything that supports your case:• Irrefutable facts• Statistics• Examples & case studies• Visual aids• Hypothetical evidence• Parallels or analogies• Testimonials & references

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Go-to-Market Plans

Typical Go-to-Market Plan Goals

• Gain new customers/ revenue• Definition of a customer: account, member, services/ products

bought, frequency of usage, customer satisfaction/ feedback

• Market feedback and recognition:• By industry experts• By media• By potential partners

• Test assumptions:• Product vs. solution• Pricing• Acquisition channels• Cost per acquisition• LTV

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Channel Fragmentation

29Source: Forrester and @MikeTrap

The Customer Journey

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Middle of the Funnel

Bottom of the Funnel

Top of the Funnel

Top of the Funnel



Buying Stages Sales & Marketing

Funnel

The Elements of the Go-to-Market Plan

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Channels:• PR/ influencers• Advertising (online, offline,

syndication)• Social Media• Sponsorships/ trade shows• Channel partner programs/

distribution• SEO• List buys

Content Types:• Blog posts, infographics• Videos, demos• White papers, eBooks• Webinars• Demos• Special offers

Buying Stages GTM Elements

The Right Channel Mix: Is There Such a Thing?

• How to prioritize your channel mix• Is your audience there?• How is each segment using the channels?

• Top channels for building awareness:• Which ones? Why? How do you measure them?• How do you use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,

Pinterest, YouTube to build awareness?

• How about interest, desire and trial?

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Measurement

Measurement Structure: Overall and By Channel

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Top of the Funnel

Bounce RatesTotal Visits

Increase Traffic QUALITY

Time On SiteReturn Visits

Average Pages/ Visit

Capture/ Act on Leads

Downloads/ MQLsContact Sales

Request a Demo

Increase Traffic VOLUME

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Technology Stack

Competitive AnalysisTraffic AnalysisPaid Search AnalysisUser Experience

Marketing AutomationCRM

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Customer Metrics: LTV

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LTV Exercise

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Customer Metrics: Net Promoter Score

Source: @MikeTrap

Customer Metrics: Customer Referral Value

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GTM Revisited: Quick Checklist

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• Market vs. Demand Opportunity• Established category or disruptive product/ solution?• Positioning and segmentation• Addressable market

• Why customers would buy• What is the promise?• The emotional connection, hook or shtick

• Channel mix:• Detail the channels and how each one will be used• Detail specific marketing tactics by channel – use the 6 principles of

persuasion

• Measurement:• Cost per acquisition• LTV, CRV, NPS• Launch and optimization