FOLLOW THE CUSTOMER MARKETING FOR STARTUPS

RALUCA GEORGESCU• Computer science !

• Learning by doing - Never a fan of “rules” and “best practices” !

• 10 years of real-life experience in entrepreneurship and business management - ONLINE & E-COMMERCE !

• HowToWeb Co-Founder !

• Former Naspers Country Manager !

• Marketing & Management Consultant for F64 !

• GPeC E-Commerce Events for SEE Co-Organizer

• The truth is that many startups fail because they are terrible at marketing the product -> they blame it on “time to market” or “solution to problem” !

• A great product alone is not enough to succeed - Without marketing your potential customers will not even know your killer product exists and solves their problem !

• Marketing is not the job of the Chief Marketing Officer - everyone in a startup team should be selling and doing marketing !

• Nothing kills a bad company faster than good marketing - no amount of marketing will make a crap product gain a mass audience

THE “JESUS APPROACH” DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT IN REAL LIFE

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• Creating products/services that people will love !

• Finding people to love your products/services

AS A STARTUP YOU SHOULD SPEND MOST OF YOUR TIME ON PRODUCT AND PEOPLE

Isolating who your customers are, figuring out their needs, designing a product that will blow their minds and then letting them know your product exists.

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USER - Who is using your product? !

BUYER - Who is buying your product?

THE SINGLE NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITION FOR A BUSINESS IS ONE PAYING CUSTOMER

THE SURE WAY TO FAILURE: TRYING TO PLEASE EVERYONE

Market = end-users that buy similar products, have similar buying cycle, there is word-of-mouth between clients in the market !

Market overview: • size - how many potential clients? Total

Addresable Market • wealth - do they have money to spend on your

product? • competition • does your Unique Value Proposition cut through

the noise?

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING ANY ROAD WILL TAKE YOU THERE

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THE customer: • well-funded? • readily-accesible? • compelling reason to buy? • way into additional segment? • consistent with your values?

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NOT ALL PEOPLETHE RIGHT PEOPLE

Buyer persona = semi-fictional representation of an ideal customer based on marketing research and real data about existing customers

• demographics: sex, age, income, location; • background: job, career, family status • identifiers: values, common preferences, hobby types • goals • pain points: challenges they face towards goals • common objections • perceived benefits • marketing messaging: describe solution to your customer

- BAC • elevator pitch: sell product/service to buyer persona • competition/alternatives !

No one wakes up thinking “Geeeeee, I hope I get spammed today!” !

Focus on useful content that draws people to you, attracting instead of annoying them !

Be yourself, find your unique self - Not another “me too” communication style !

Never engage in an arms race for attention - at least, because you don’t have the money for it

NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE… PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THEIR PROBLEMS

SHOW ME THE MONEY?FREE MARKETING EXISTS!

• Webdesign - Your business card: not just best practices, also innovation

• PR - Press releases are spam, stories are Word-Of-Mouth

• Key Opinion Leaders - Influencers influence • Social media - Influencers influence • SEO • Content marketing - content rules the web • Visual content backed with real data - easy to share - data, market insights, survey results, info graphics

• Personal branding • Great customer service - “The best way to drive your competition crazy is to make your customer happy” - Guy Kawasaki

ALWAYS BE MEASURING!NO, REALLY!

• Metrics and KPIs are important right from the start so start measuring from day one

• Google Analytics • KISSmetrics • Marketizator • Unbounce • Optimizely

• Surveys to find out how your customers found out about you and to get their feedback - customer feedback loop

• Target early adopters • Fine tune your message

GPEC SUMMIT MAY 11-12-13 2015 NEIL PATEL - WORLD-FAMOUS DIGITAL MARKETING

GURU (FOUNDER CRAZYEGG & KISSMETRICS)!

contact@ralucageorgescu.com WHO YOUR BUYER PERSONA IS

THANK YOU!

www.RalucaGeorgescu.com !

facebook.com/raluca.georgescu !

@RalucaGeorgescu