growing a startup with inbound marketing - bernco media
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Growing A Startup With Inbound Marketing
Darin “Doc” BerntsonFounder, Chief Remarkable Officer
Bernco Media
16+ Years Internet Marketing
Twitter @iGoByDoc / @BerncoMedia [email protected]
www.berncomedia.com - 801.438.4055
HubSpot For StartupsTwo year program to grow your business with
HubSpot's best in class marketing and sales software at a fraction of the cost.
More on that later..
At that moment Everything Makes Sense?
So why this story?
What have I noticedover the years?
Some entrepreneurs and business owners think marketing is
A NECESSARY EVIL.
Others have thought marketing is an AN UNNECESSARY EVIL.
I’m going to show you why Inbound Marketingis an absolute MUST
for your startup!
It’s something every early stage company should leverage to help
them gain exposure online and leverage against all their
competitors
Why care about Marketing?
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In 2000-2005How Did You Research / Buy A Product?
Catalog, Mail, Phonebook, Pick Up The Phone
In 2016How Do You Research & Buy Products & Services?
Buy online Price match (showrooming)
Trusted advisor, friend on social, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter… word of mouth
Why?You Want To Keep The Power of
Negotiation.
Not Be Bothered By Pushy Salespeople
Cold Calling?Is It Good For A Brand?
Does This Happen To You?
Are You Being Interrupted?
Are You Getting SPAM eMails?
Does This Make You Want To Buy?
Is There A Better Way?
• Businesses can eventually STOP Cold Calling
• Buyers Are Sick Of Marketing Interruptions
So, let’s start with WHY entrepreneurs often avoid marketing.
(not you, of course, those “other” entrepreneurs)
WHO NEEDS MARKETING?I’m building a product people
will LOVE (I’m all set)
Building a product people love? AWESOME!
Marketing can help you find people to love it.
You can’t just rely on others to share your product.
“I’m going to outsource this and hire
a PR agency and get on TechCrunch.”
I’m going to generate thousands of leads…
I’m all set.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
PR agencies are a typically a bad idea for most startups. You could be the exception… … but you’re probably not..
YOU are your best PR Agency You know your product better. You are your best spokesperson
“We are in stealth mode.”
Stealth mode is for fighter jets, not startups
Stop worrying that somebody will steal your idea.(Start worrying that nobody will care about it)
“I’m just not ready. It’s too early. I believe in marketing. Just not right now.”
Your should start marketing the day you start
building your product. (waiting until you are “ready” is too late)
“Marketing seems really unpleasant though.I’m not a writer.”
YOU’RE NOT ALONE The marketing industry has a problem.
Car Sales Lobbyist Marketer Stock Broker Lawyer
Less Trusted More Trusted
You don’t want to be this guy.
But, that’s old-school marketing.
When done right, marketing isn’t unpleasant.
(more on this in a bit)
“I’ve raised funding. I’ll just buy attention.”
You are not really buying attention, you’re renting it.
Ads are TEMPORARY.
When you stop paying the “rent”, you stop getting attention.
Your well heeled competitor has a
massivemarketing budget.
And you… not so much
Startups should’t get into an arms race for attention.
You can’t out-spend the behemoths.
NOBODY wakes up and thinks: “I hope I get spammed today:”
95% of people
don’t like being interrupted
The other 5% hate it!
“OK fine. I don’t want to annoy people.
What’s a better way?
Traditional Marketing Is BrokenBuyers are taking control. They’re turned off by
old-school marketing that’s impersonal and interrupts
INBOUNDMARKETING
Don’t Interrupt Buyers, Attract Them.
70% (zero moment of truth)
Zero Moment Of Truth
• 1st time someone contacts via a form, phone call, walked in to retail
• It’s the moment when they say they trust you enough to actually contact you, and you know it
• The moment you know they might give their money to you
Zero Moment Of Truth
• ZMOT was a Forrester Research Group study
• Started off as a B2B (business to business) study
• Then Google did the exact same study, but focused on B2C as well
70% Do you know the correlation?
Zero Moment Of Truth• 70% of the buying decision is made
before ZMOT
• Before they call you, fill out a form, walk in to your store, before they talk to a sales person
• They have done their research
• Buyers are way more educated today
• You want to be a part of that 70%?
Zero Moment Of Truth• Let’s go back 10 years, what do you
think the ZMOT percentage was?Maybe between 20-30%?
• Let’s go back 5 years?Maybe 40-50%
• Today it’s 70%
• What’s the number going to be over the next 10 years? Only going up!
No More Buyer Beware…It’s The Time OfSeller Beware!
If This 70% Number Is True
Which Department Has The Greater Impact On The Sale? Is It Sales, Or Is It Marketing?
Marketing!
Marketing Again!
Why are we doing it this way?
Again: Which Department Has More Impact on the Sales Process - Sales or Marketing?
• Who is typically first to get laid off? Marketing
• Who typically gets hired first? Sales
• This is backwards!
• Within 10 years, marketers will make more money than sales people
What’s Inbound Marketing?
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What Is Inbound Marketing?
Instead of buying ads, buying email lists, or cold calling, Inbound
marketing focuses on creating educational content that pulls
people towards your website where they can learn more about what you sell, on their own accord.
Inbound Is an Approach To Marketing That Teaches Today’s Consumer
Get found by qualified leads online with content (website pages, blog articles, social messaging)
optimized for search and social media
Understand what content pulls your buyers through the
sales funnel, and use that context to
personalize your marketing at scale
Inbound takes the marketing people know (and hate)
And turns it on it’s head.
In Summary, Inbound Marketing
is about…• Building trust, not skepticism
among your prospects • Being loved, not ignored by
your customers • Outsmarting, not out spending
your competitors
It focuses on attracting people instead of annoying them.
It’s simple.(but not easy)
It’s about providing value instead of pushing your way in
It’sCommon
Sense
In a nutshell…
Market with a Magnet, not a sledgehammer
Less: • Cold calling & Spamming • What You Want
More: • Attraction & Permission • What the Customer Wants
The most common and easy way is to
create content that’s helpful.
Some types of content you can create…
Blog Posts - Photos & Infographic - Videos & Podcasts - Presentations &
eBooks - Software or Tools
Build your marketing machine just like you build your product.
Release early, release often. Publish early, publish often.
Ideally, you’d have written your first line of content the day you
wrote your first line of code.
And, validated learning applies here too.
Publish - Learn - Measure - Repeat
Now, back to the types of content.
ONE word of advice.
KEEP CALMAND
CREATE KICK-ASS CONTENT
BLOG
Blogging can be called many things.
News section, updates, tips, learning center
So thats a bit about strategy and philosophy.
Now, let’s dig in to some details.
Typical applications needed for marketing
How do I attract visitors?
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Did you know there are almost
6 BILLIONsearches on Google every day?
Maybe a few of those people would be interested in
your product?
We’re going to take a moment to emphasize the importance of
blogging because it’s that important
Startups in particular should blog because it’s one of the most
effective ways to build brand awareness and attract potential
customers to your site.
Blogging• Minimum of 1 blog post per week
• Pick a blog series to help organize ideas
• Feature guest bloggers and team members
• Ensure each post is properly optimized (keywords etc)
• Include calls-to-action and links throughout
Is PPC a good idea?Yes and No.
But 90%of the links searches click on are
organic… not paid.
90%of the searches never click on ads. They click on the organic listings.
Why pay to reach the 10%, when the other 90% are free low
marginal cost?
You want to build marketing assists that you own.
SOLD
So, invest in organic search
content.
As ye SEO, so shall ye reap.
HOLD UPBuild content for your buyer personas
and where they are in the buyers journey
BEST ADVICESolve for the searcher not the search engine.
Happy Humans = Happy Google Happy Google = Better Rankings
Blogging isn’t the only tool that can help you attract visitors,
though.
Social Media Marketing & Monitoring
• Developed social media channels:
• LinkedIn company page, Facebook page, Twitter, Google+ (?) and LinkedIn Groups
• Determine appropriate strategy & frequency
• B2B audience benefits from LinkedIn sharing
• Post 80% external, helpful, curated content and 20% brand
• Monitor relevant conversations. LISTEN. ENGAGE.
Few tools are more affordable and effective as blogging and social media for growing your
business.
SEO & Responsive Design• Must have responsive website, blog and email - People are MOBILE! Think Mobile First!
• Search engine optimization strategy:
• On and Off page SEO
• Keyword research
• Blogging
• Landing pages
• Stay up to date with SEO changes
HOLD UPDon’t waste too much money here
We’ll talk Growth-Driven Design later.
Make sure your website is responsive, like now!
Email Marketing & Automation• Promote targeted / segmented offers and increase awareness
• Include appropriate offers on each email marketing campaign to increase lead reengagement efforts
• Send at least 2 emails per month to selected buyer personas/segments
• Increase marketing automation efforts based on lead insights, web traffic, social traffic
• Make sure each email has one single focus, or action you want your contact to take
How do I convert visitors?
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Lead Capture Forms & Landing Pages
• Ensure content is behind a landing page with a form
• Develop at least 1-3 offers per month
• All offers include:
• Call-to-action, Landing page, TY/Offer Page and Follow up email
• Utilize progressive profiling (smart content)
How do I close leads into customers?
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Email Marketing & Automation• Promote targeted / segmented offers and increase awareness
• Include appropriate offers on each email marketing campaign to increase lead reengagement efforts
• Send at least 2 emails per month to selected buyer personas/segments
• Increase marketing automation efforts based on lead insights, web traffic, social traffic
• Make sure each email has one single focus, or action you want your contact to take
How do I delight my customers?
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Alas, we’re done with the tools.
Here’s how the inbound methodology and tools
all come together
Who do I hire for marketing?
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You don’t need to hire a CMO
Start with someone that’s going to jump in and start helping your
future users/customers
Try to find someone that is:
• A Digital Citizen • Analytically Driven • A Content Creator • A Reach Builder
Look at some of the best brands, or your competition,
and see how they are delivering content.
Find a local college/university.
Go to the professors and find the most talkative and digitally savvy person in their
class. Who cares about doing the work!
They may be free with school credit.
This person, after 6 months or som could make for a great full-
time employee!
They will be ahead of the curve!
HOLD UPBe sure to start with a strategy.
Use SMART goals. Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Results Focused. Time-bound
Look for a mentor or coach.
Yeah Right, Doc! Who Can Do All This? What Is The ROI?
What’s the ROI to Inbound?
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Investors Love Analytics
Investors Love Analytics
Implement all that we have talked about today, and that will
set you up for success!
If you can demonstrate revenue, sales, content that is working, that is something that is very
attractive to investors
You can also identify areas in your marketing that you may
need to tweak!
Fail early and often!
I Know a Pool Guy• 2007/2008, wondering how he
would pay bills, and salaries
• Wondered if he and his partners would lose their homes
• Sales were down
• They embraced Inbound Marketing, and embraced “They ask, you answer” and blogged daily!
Fast Forward• #1 pool site, probably in the world
• Expanding into manufacturing
• Outranks all competitors
• Outsells competitors, and is usually $5-10K higher than competitors
• Prospects became more educated
• Sales cycle dropped dramatically
• Now a national company after merger
Start Content Marketing
Over $3 MillionIn Sales
Attributed to that ONE blog post
ROI Anyone?
And there are many more success stories
Anything you think has to be sold face to face will be able to be sold online in the future
• Two of my clients - Never met in person, they found me via Inbound
• Pool example:
• Last year 95 pools sold
• 80 sold online
• $50K+ each w/o ever going to home to measure… Why?
• Trust agents in their industry
For Inbound / Content Marketing To Work…
• MUST have management and employee buy-in
• All employees, staff are in marketing now
• We call this insourcing
• No one knows your business better than you!
• Take your marketing back!
Don’t Over Think Content• Yes, eventually do persona development, but don’t let that stop you
from getting started, NOW!
• Persona = “prospect with pain” - What is their challenge/symptom?
• They ask, you answer…. good, bad or ugly you write about it
• Listen to what customers ask. If one asks, hundreds or thousands more are asking as well. That’s a blog post!
• Cost • Problems • Versus • Reviews • Best
“The Big Five” Content Types
How Many Salespeople Does A Business Have?
How Many Emails Do They Send Every Day?
How Many Salespeople Does A Business Have?
How Many Emails Do They Send Every Day?
How Many Salespeople Does A Business Have?
How Many Emails Do They Send Every Day?
Every Company
• Should have a DEDICATED content / inbound manager
• Can’t afford it? Outsource to a knowledgeable partner! (I know a guy)
• Hire a journalist coming out of school. $30-40K year. They can 5 - 10x their salary in revenue
Focussed Mainly On Content Today
So much more to Inbound…
Just Leave With This:
Become The BEST Teacher In The World!
HubSpot For StartupsTwo year program to grow your business with
HubSpot's best in class marketing and sales software at a fraction of the cost.
The details.
Hundreds of startups are taking advantage of this program.
HubSpot For StartupsHubSpot platform for 90% off first year
Second year at 50% offOne-time fee of $540 (normally $3000+)
•1 on1 Assistance with Technical Setup of your account•Up to one training session per quarter for assistance with implementation of HubSpot
tools and/or methodology•Unmetered technical support from the HubSpot Support team•Exclusive access to HubSpot's startup network via Inbound.org group•Access to HubSpot's Onboarding Plan for Startups•Access to HubSpot Academy, tutorials, best practices and client examples•Landing page, email, and blog templates of your website
Ready to sign up?
9
HubSpot For Startups
Go to BerncoMedia.com/techX
Fill out the form, and I will shoot you instructions on how to apply.
We just scratched the surface
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Other future topics:• HubSpot Demo • Buyer personas • Content strategy • Buyers Journey deep-dive • Analytics that matter for inbound • Web design • And more…
Can Bernco Media help my company?
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Bernco Media
Yes. If you wo old like assistance, I am more than happy to help.
[email protected] - 801-438-4055
Darin “Doc” Berntson
Twitter @iGoByDoc @BerncoMedia [email protected]
www.berncomedia.com - 801.438.4055
Thank You
Homework / Study GroupBrainstorm at least 10 blog post ideas
We wat these to be Awareness Stage Helpful - Educational - Solving a Problem
CTAs and Offers
What 2 or 3 offers could you create that would be at the end of the blog post, and would be something helpful to
convert your visitor into a lead?
The Big 5• Cost • Problems • Versus • Reviews • Best