Early Stage Marketing - Incubadora Sinergia

This is the talk we give to new batches to establish basic principles and a framework for marketing. It helps analyze what assets a startup has to share, how channels are a function of their business model, and basics about acquisition costs and AARRR funnels. We end looking at landing pages, as a basic marketing tool that can put this all together.

Transcript

1. Startup Marketing
2. Agenda Marketing • Startup Marketing • Marketing Basics • Messaging and Content • Channels and Tactics ◦ Landing Pages ◦ Other Channels
3. Before even looking at tactics... • Must have a clear idea of your goals • Must know what is necessary to deliver / dist your value • Set up channels with clear calls-to-action (CTAs) for people to take actions and express interest • Know your customer / business ◦ What is the job to be done? ◦ How often (frequency) does this job need to be done? ◦ What volume do you need now? To breakeven? To justify investment? ◦ How is this process going to work offline and online? ◦ What messages are important for them?
4. Big Changes in Starting Companies Remember the context you compete in... • It’s cheaper to start and market a company ◦ more competition for your clients / users • Potential market is bigger ◦ “Software is eating the world” ◦ More long tail opportunities (for niche business models) • New companies all face the same challenge: communicating with users ◦ Rise of Online Marketing as a standard Marketing is still just as daunting, intimidating...
5. Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market New Product
6. Offline Marketing • Ads - Print & Exterior • Branding • Events & Expos • PR • TeleMarketing + High volume - Push - Price - Very little data Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market New Product
7. Offline Marketing • Ads - Print & Exterior • Branding • Events & Expos • PR • TeleMarketing + High volume - Push - Price - Very little data Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market Market New Product Online Marketing • Search • Social • Content • Email • Location Based + Intent (Pull) + Very cheap + Realtime - A ton of data
8. WE THINK: An overwhelming amount of marketing channels and possible actions REALITY: Marketing channels are a function of our business model
9. Is there a scalable business model? • Hustling Things your competition won’t do, what is necessary • Search Optimization Find you through search* • Content Marketing Blogs, videos, social media, infographics, influencers, etc. (feed SEO) • Email Marketing Direct access to people’s inbox • Online Advertising ◦ Search ◦ Social Media ◦ Banner / Display ◦ Affiliate • Mobile Downloads Mobile specific networks • Branding Large Ads, Sponsorships If No, then... If Yes, then... Credit for model - https://youtu.be/MKxRs2vpsog
10. “OK, but that doesn’t apply to me” Justification to spend money (and dangers): • “Early stage, trying to grow fast” ◦ Danger - is your product validated, does it have a fit? • “Figuring out which marketing channels work” ◦ Danger - is your messaging and UX good? • “Figuring out how to price” • “I don’t know how to do marketing” ◦ Danger - Expensive / Generates dependencies Reality: A mixed model is ALWAYS short term
11. Marketing Basics
12. Why? The economics just don’t work
13. Why? The economics just don’t work This has a cost Getting customers takes time and money
14. Why? The economics just don’t work This has a cost Getting customers takes time and money This is where we get money These guys are supposed to pay us
15. How are your business economics? Total Marketing Costs Total Customers ÷ Customer Acquisition Cost = $1000 100 $10 Total Revenue Total Customers ÷ “Lifetime” Customer Value = $900 100 $9 CAC LTV
16. Cost of Acquiring Customer (CAC) vs. Lifetime Value of Customer (LTV) CAC > LTV CAC = LTV CAC < LTV Great Business Bad Business Bad Business $10 $1 $10 $10 $10 $11
17. You are a No, until you are a Yes • Hustling Things your competition won’t do, what is necessary • Search Optimization Find you through search* • Content Marketing Blogs, videos, social media, infographics, influencers, etc. (feed SEO) • Email Marketing Direct access to people’s inbox • Online Advertising ◦ Search ◦ Social Media ◦ Banner / Display ◦ Affiliate • Mobile Downloads Mobile specific networks • Branding Large Ads, Sponsorships If No, then... If Yes, then... Credit for model - https://youtu.be/MKxRs2vpsog
18. Rule #1 - Start Hustling “Do things that don’t scale” - Paul Graham • Paganza - taking stacks of invoices to pay centers • QuieroInfo - client Qs → Small Business Owners • Airbnb - door to door, founders taking pictures • Stripe - “instant” merchant accounts manually • Buffer - handwritten letters to early users
19. Getting first users → Whatever it takes • There are NO QUICK WINS, best option is to start yourself ◦ Going to be expensive (time and money) at first ◦ Gain more exposure, knowledge from users → easier/cheaper to acquire later • Cannot be lazy or have any fear • The “Big Launch” does not exist ◦ Can you remember any big startup launch?!?! “A person’s success can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.” - Tim Ferris
20. “ You Make What You Measure”
21. If you measure your weight everyday... … it might affect your eating decisions … you might be able to correlate cause and effect … if you make a goal, you might better understand how to reach it
22. The Funnel (AARRR Framework) Acquisition Activation Retention Referral Revenue https://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/startup-metrics-for-pirates-long-version
23. The Funnel (AARRR Framework) https://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/startup-metrics-for-pirates-long-version Visit to Site Signed Up Download Multiple Visits MAU / DAU Told Someone Paid MRR Acquisition Activation Retention Referral Revenue
24. The AARRR Funnel Visualized
25. Marketing ↺ Metrics • Acquiring clients can be constant drain of time and money ◦ But, if there is no growth, there is no business • You need to find which actions and channels are working ◦ Which are creating the most volume? ⭐ ◦ Which are creating the most impact? ◦ Which are using the most resources? • Marketing has iteration cycles - how long to test? KPIs? • Then, which messages work best with each channels...
26. For Example - Looking at our Marketing Volume Impact Resources Pitch Night ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Noche de Miercoles ⭐ Prensa ⭐⭐ Contenido ⭐⭐ Canales Online ⭐⭐ Comunidad ⭐⭐⭐ Channel We can start to make decisions based on estimates of volume, impact and resources. Later we can use analytics platforms to optimize.
27. Messaging and Content
28. • Get out of your head → a founder’s mind is already corrupted • Remember that messaging and copy is for your audience ◦ And remember their “job to be done” • Discern Features vs Benefits Best Practices • Active Voice > Passive Voice • Make it skimmable (get the impact at top / headings) • Play with scarcity / urgency • Always give them a clear call to action Messaging More - http://theheureka.com/marketing-copy-startup / https://blog.kissmetrics.com/75-copywriting-resources/
29. "Here's what our product can do" and "Here's what you can do with our product" sound similar, but they are completely diferent approaches." Jason Fried
30. Remember what clients are interested in... • Product / Service - What is it, actually? • Benefits - Faster? Cheaper? More Money? • Incentives - Do they know what’s most important to me? Do they know I don’t care about that? • Process - Do they know who would be using this and what the process is? • Confidence - Is this too risky for me right now? Who else is taking that risk? • Team - Do I want to work with this team? Can they do what they say they can do? • Price - How much does this cost - money / time?
31. What assets do we have? Elements of our pitch WHY - Show the user that we understand their context and know their incentives HOW - One Liner, Explainer video, etc. Product or Prototype WHY - To let the user see the potential benefits, how easy it is, etc. Not to show our impressive it is on the tech side HOW - Screenshots, Demos, Video Walkthroughs, “How it Works” Traction WHY - Show them that we are already doing it, that others are trusting us, and that there is value in paying for it HOW - Numbers, Client List, Case Studies Press Mentions WHY - Show more “social proof” and what others are saying about us HOW - Links to articles, Interviews Team WHY - Raise confidence, put faces on project, more expectations about service HOW - Team section, introductions, culture
32. What assets do we have? Testimonials WHY - Let the user see their potential outcome and feeling when the job is done HOW - Quotes from happy users (with photos), videos Partners / Integrations WHY - To meet their requirements (if an integration), to let them know they can get started, to build confidence HOW - List of available partners and integrations Support WHY - To give them answers to extra details and doubts, to set expectations about customer service HOW - FAQ, Chat, Knowledge Base, Phone Number Pricing WHY - To establish a value, to create scarcity and urgency, to guide a user to pick a certain offer HOW - Pricing pages, comparisons, discounts, billing options
33. What assets do we have? Unique Content What stories, experiences and immediate value can we share with our users / sector that others don’t have access to? WHY • Let people see if they want to get involved in your story • Give the audience an exclusive reason to be here • Establish your brand and team as a “thought leader” • Extend reach for SEO HOW - Blogs, live demos, e-books and reports, simulators, infographics, transparency in offers, etc. Community WHY - To centralize the mechanics of an entire community, to foster peer to peer sharing and feedback, to give a sense of “belonging” HOW - Slack Channels, Github, Facebook Pages, Twitter Lists, Spotify Playlists Content Marketing Examples: Zillow - How much is my home worth? Hubspot - Inbound Marketing Blog Jason Lemkin (Investor) - Saastr / Blog Intercom - Product Management Blog CityCop - Statistics
34. Channels and Tactics
35. Why? The economics just don’t work
36. Value Proposition Online How far can you go? Mobile App Website / Platform E-Commerce Consumer Goods Offline Customer Segments Hardware Installation Digital Services / Goods Offline Services Generating Leads Sales & Full Delivery Online
37. Questions for every marketing channel • Do we need to have this? ◦ How deep into my value proposition can clients get? ◦ Is this easily replaceable by another channel? • Who is my primary audience for this? • What are core messages / “jobs to be done”? • What do we want visitors to do on our this? • What does success look like? • If successful, how can I take more advantage of this?
38. Landing Pages
39. What assets do we have? What do we need to have?
40. Make Sure You... • Get the most important stuff above the fold ◦ Clear messages ◦ Calls to Action (CTAs) • Make them skimmable, easy to digest, and naturally flowing • Get necessary confidence builders and social proof in there • Set user / client expectations on next steps • Don’t use one landing page for every campaign ◦ Must match messages with campaigns (bad expectations, lazy marketing) • Have an idea of your market baseline • Start with just good enough, then iterate to optimize https://blog.optimizely.com/2015/12/21/landing-page-best-practices-debunked/
41. Analyze your competition • See how they prioritize their content / assets • What are they showing above the fold? ◦ Ask yourself why? Does that mean it’s important for their clients? • What are their calls-to-action? • Core messages? • What are they showing that you aren’t?
42. Examples Good References • Wistia / Sign Up • Slack / Why Slack • Airbnb / Host Sign Up • Transferwise • Robinhood • Intercom / Early Stage Company https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/landing-page-examples-list https://medium.com/early-stage-startup-validation/how-to-setup-a-landing-page-for-validating-a-business-or-product-i dea-d72c35fc012c https://wistia.com/library/video-inspiration/demonstrating-the-perfect-landing-page https://www.useronboard.com/onboarding-teardowns/ More Local UY references (mixed) • CityCop • Hipotecalo / Landbay • Sagal / Producteca • Grial Kit • Quiena • PetHelp
43. More Channels and Metrics Coming Up...
44. Thanks @rilinho