Marketing in a Start-Up

Spring Faculty Boot Camp

Creating the Marketing Plan

Process

What is Marketing?• Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for

creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

• (AMA Definition 2007)

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Awareness

Customer Acquisition

Lead generation

Brand

CompanyPosition

Marketing Begins at Company Inception

Audience

InvestorsEmployees

Early adoptersInvestors

Employees

ProspectsCustomersInvestors

Employees

ProspectsCustomersPartnersInvestors

Employees

Company inception

ProductDevelopment

Soft launch

Product launch

Revenue Ramp

Business Goals(#’s/$$$)

AcquireFunding &

Talent (AFT)

AFTIdentify & secure

first customers

AFT

Solid initialCustomers

Generateprospect list

AFTDevelop pipeline& close businessEstablish

Partnerships

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Developing an Effective Marketing Plan

Business Goals

Marketing Objectives and Strategy(Positioning and Messaging)

Marketing Plan

MeasurementCustomer Acquisition Cost

Refinement

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Relating Business Objectives to Marketing Objectives

• Acquire customers• Trial customers (alpha/beta)• Revenue customers• Subscribers

• Acquire partners• Enter new markets• technology• geographic• customer segment

• Introduce new products

Business Objectives

• Establish a position (near term and long term goals)• Market education• Credibility and validation

• Create awareness• Drive positive opinion• Communicate value

• Generate sales leads• Subscriber growth

Marketing Objectives

* Establish * Achieve * Generate * Expand * Change * Evolve * Reinforce *

The End Game

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Creating the Marketing PlanMarketing Objectives

Marketing Requirements

Deliverables

Programs Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month4

Month5

Month 6

Sales tools/collateral

Deliverable $$

Deliverable $$

Deliverable $$

Deliverable $$

Deliverable $$

Deliverable $$

Website

Public relations

Analyst relations

Events

Social media

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Positioning

Pay Attention!

Company and Product/Brand Positioning

• The foundation for all marketing activities• The magic ingredient in Exit valuation• Key considerations

– Where do you want to be in 1, 3, 5 years?– What credible position can you stake out

today?– Where do you have an opportunity for a market

leadership position?– Who are you talking to?– How do you differentiate yourself from the

competition?Don’t start the conversation until you know what you want to say!!!

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You

Market Environment

Prospective Customers

Media

Industry Experts

Competition

The Starting Point: Understand your Universe

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Is This Differentiable?

Enabling mobile access to any content, on any device, on any network, at any time

• Competitor 1: Your Video Anywhere

• Competitor 2:Discover, create and share anytime. Experience anywhere.

• Competitor 3:Engage your consumers anytime anywhere

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Creating a New Market Category• “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” –

William Shakespeare 1594

• Unless you have something that is completely new this should be a last resort option

• Category creation:• Requires buy-in from customers, analysts and the press• Is a time consuming and distracting process, requires a

great deal of investment in market education• Is potentially high risk (you don’t want to be in a category

of 1)• Won’t work if it is just a marketing game

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Company Identity

• Name• Can you pronounce it?• Can you spell it?• Is it unique?• Is the domain available?• Does it work globally?

Equipe

Doink

Vuuch

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Taglines: This is Not You!

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Product Nomenclature• Socializing a brand name takes time and money• Does it make sense for your business to try and socialize two

brands at once?• Company• Product

• Chances are your audience will only internalize one brand at a time – which is more important to you?

• Keep it simple!

ADOBE Acrobat

The Barking Dog Ltd.

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Leading with the Product Brand

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Aggghhhh

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Launch Strategies & the Marketing MixPrograms Stealth Soft Launch Full Visibility

Sales tools/collateral Y Y Y

Website Simple billboard Y Y

Search Engine Marketing

SEO only Y Y

Public relations N Editorial opportunitiesStart ups to watch

Awards

Full engagement

Analyst relations N Y Y

Social media N Blog Full engagement

Direct marketing N Y Y

Speaking Ops N Y Y

Advertising N SEM only Full engagement

Events Venture? Small presence Full engagement

Viral marketing N N Y

Mobile N N Y 18

Remember this…….

• There is no magic formula!!!!!!!!

• Always ask• Does this program serve my

business objectives?• Can I afford to do this? Does the

expected return justify the cost?• Is this right for my company?

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Elevator PitchMay 2011

Ian MashiterExecutive-in-Residence

The Elevator Speech

• What Is It?• Video• Why Is It Important?• How Do You Develop?

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What Is An Elevator Speech?

• Imagine You Get on an Elevator– …With an Important Person…

• What Is Your Objective?• What Do You Say?• Example

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Must Be Clear, Concise, Engaging

• They Should Understand Your Business Concept

• They Should Become Interested• They Should Want to Hear More• Example Video

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Why Is This Important?

• Sometimes, Your Only Chance• Average Investor Listens for Only 90

Seconds• Process Forces You to Clarify Your

Concept– Usually You Understand More Clearly

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How to Develop?

• Describe the Business• Ask Yourself “What Must They

Remember?”• Answer the Key Questions

– What’s the Problem?– How Will You Solve It?– Can You Do It?– Will They Make $ By Helping You?

• Practice!!25

Elevator Pitch Components

• The Hook: Grabs the listener's attention

• The Connection: Make a connection

• The Benefit: What’s in it for them

• The Ask: Request for next step26

Try This Sample

• Let me introduce to my company______ We do __________We solve the problem of__________(Hook)

• We have put together a team that includes ____ and _____, who have ______. Our Advisory Board includes ______.

• Your background in ______ would be ideal as an ________. (Connection)

• We have raised _____ thus far and are now seeking _____ to finance _______. (Benefit)

• Would you be interested in meeting to discuss this in greater detail? (Ask)

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Key Ingredients

• It’s Not Just the Words!• Don’t Forget:

– Eye Contact– Pace & Voice– Body Language

• You Want to Convey Confidence and Passion!

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Preparing the Pitch

Ian MashiterExecutive-in-Residence

Lecturer, Strategy & Innovation

Making your pitchThe Goal

• To Make Your Points…–Clearly–Professionally–Memorably

• Which requires…–Thoughtful Planning–Careful Preparation–PRACTICE!–Video

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Preparation • Know your audience

– Technical or Not– Known vs. Unknown (to You)– Why are they here?

• Define your purpose– To Inform?– To Entertain?– To Motivate?– To Persuade?– What Would Be a Good Outcome?

• Consider time– Understand your constraints– Be respectful & appreciative of audience’s time

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My Outline• What is your business?

– Elevator Pitch• Why would anybody need it?• How are you going to market and sell

it?• How are you going to make money

– Business model• Why is this team qualified to do it?• How much investment is needed?• What are the deal terms? 32

Presentation DOs and DON’Ts

Measurement

Fre

qu

ency

Histogram

Mea

sure

Time

Run Chart

Variable A

Var

iab

le B

Scatterplot

This . . . NOT this . . .

Unit Time-1 Time-2 Time-31 16 43 352 18 58 353 14 52 384 17 62 355 16 44 366 14 47 387 16 52 328 20 44 329 19 50 3310 16 49 3811 17 48 3912 14 49 3513 15 52 3614 18 57 3615 18 40 2916 16 44 3317 17 47 3318 15 48 3019 17 53 3620 16 55 3621 16 57 3722 19 49 3723 22 42 35 33

PRACTICE!

• Review for Clarity• Review for Flow• Review for Impact• Manage Pace / Timing• Prepare for Q&A• Dress Rehearsal

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Style - Be Professional

• Dress & Appearance• Know Your Audience• Try to Match Their Dress Code

or dress better• Definitely Match Each Other

• Language• (Avoid “Ummm” and “Ya Know”)

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Role of the executive summary

• Important document to distribute– E.g. email

• Make sure it looks visually stimulating– Magazine not term paper

• One or 2 pages

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What Now?• Networking

– Boston as a great entrepreneur eco system www.greenhornconnect.com

– linkedin

• Use a mentor (s)– BU now has the excellent Kindle

mentoring program • Enter Business Plan competitions

– BU has 1k and 50K competitions– More info on bu.edu/ITEC

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