What links these individuals?

And who is the odd one out

The Candle Problem

You have a candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a book of matches, and are tasked to affix the lit candle to the wall so that it will not drip wax onto the table below.

The innovation in the dual-cyclone vacuum cleaner came from applying

industrial dust extract technology to domestic vacuum cleaners.

James Dyson had the idea when he installed an industrial dust extraction

system incorporating a large, 30 foot high cyclone dust extractor to

remove excess powder from the atmosphere in a powder coating plant.

As James Dyson himself describes it: “It occurred to me at that moment

that there really was no reason why it should not work in miniature –

using a cyclone about the size of say a Perrier bottle”.

James Dyson and the vacuum cleaner

Sources of new ideas

Sources of new ideas

Customers

(Unmet needs)

Gaps in the Market

New Technologies

Performance Failures

New insights and ideas

Cost and Efficiency Savings

George de Mestral was a Swiss engineer. Returning from a walk in the forest one

day he noticed cockleburs sticking to his dog’s coat. Intrigued, he put a cocklebur

under a microscope and noticed that the surface consisted of thousands of tiny

hooks that readily stuck to tiny loops in his clothing. Having noticed that zip

fasteners often had a habit of sticking he wondered if the principle of tiny hooks and

loops could be used to develop a new type of fastener for clothing. It took him eight

years and resulted in “Velcro” which is now used throughout the world.

George de Mestral and Velcro

Ideas

• Look to the bigger picture

− Political

− Economic

− Social Cultural

− Technological

− Environmental

− Legal

Ideas

• That said ideas do not have to be:

− Imaginative

− Unique

− Different

There is nothing wrong with delivering something that already exists

The key is to have a USP and a CVP

Let’s start – what’s your idea?

You have 10 mins to develop a quick pitch to the group.The pitch should be no more than 30 secs long

Pitch

You now have 30 secs to tell us about your idea

Piecing it together

Value proposition

• How are we going to create value?

• Which one of our customer’s problems are we solving

• What’s different about our idea?

• A value proposition creates value for a customer through a distinct mix of elements specifically catering for their needs:

− Newness

−Some value propositions satisfy an entirely new set of needs that customers previously didn’t perceive

− Performance

− Improving product performance is traditionally a common way to add value

− Customisation

−Tailoring products and services to specific needs of customers.

Value Proposition

− Design

−Design is an important but difficult element to measure – Apple

− Brand / status

−Customers may find a value in the simple act of using and displaying a specific brand – brand aspiration

− Price

−Offering similar value at a lower price is a common way of satisfying needs.

− Risk reduction

−Businesses add guarantees to generate value through risk reduction, e.g. car warranties

− Convenience / Usability

−Making things more convenient to buy or easier to use is a good value proposition. Apple again is a good example

Customer segments

• Who are you creating value to?

• Who are your most important customers?

• Mass Market – for example Coke – no real differentiation

• Niche – a specific and defined target audience

• Segmented – a few different niches who have different needs

• Diversified – two very different and unrelated customer segments

Channels

• How do your customers want to be reached?

• Channels are touch points that play an important role in the customer experience.

• Channels serve several functions:

− Raising awareness among customers about a company

− Helping customers evaluate a company’s value proposition

− Allow customers to purchase specific products and services

− Delivering a value proposition

− Providing post purchase support

Customer relationships

• What type of relationship does each of our customer segments expect us to establish?

• How costly are they to establish?

• Personal assistance – email, phone, non specific

• Dedicated personal assistance – specific one to one service with a named individual

• Self service – no direct relationship with individuals

• Automated services – more sophisticated version of self service – recognising individual preferences

• Communities – Many companies are utilising on line communities to allow users to exchange knowledge and solve each others problems.

• Co-creation – Wikipedia, You Tube, Amazon (through reviews) – co create value

Key activities

• What key activities do we need to do?

• These are the most important things a company must do to make its business work

− Production

−These relate to designing, making and delivering a product

− Problem Solving

−Coming up with new solutions to individual customer problems

− E.g. consultancies, hospitals, physios etc

− Platform / Network

−Ebay, matchmaking websites for example

−Visa with its payment platform

−Key activities in this area are platform management, service positioning and platform production

Key resources

• What key resources do you require?

• These are the most important assets required to make the business work.

− Physical

−For example, manufacturing facilities, vehicles, buildings, specialist equipment

− Intellectual

−For example, brands, patents, copyright, trademark

− Human

−Crucial in knowledge led (consultancy) and creative industries

− Financial

−Start up costs

−Financial resources

Key Partners

• Who are our key partners?

• Who are our key suppliers

• What do we need from them?

• The key partners building block describes the network of suppliers and partners that will make the business work:

Who will we need to make this idea work?

• Key suppliers?

• Joint ventures?

Page

Revenue Streams

• For what value are our customer really willing to pay?

• How are they currently paying?

• How would they prefer to pay?

• A business usually involves one of two different types of revenue streams:

− Transaction revenues resulting from a one off sale to a customer

− Recurring revenues resulting from on going payments to deliver services or to provide post purchase support

Revenue streams

• Different ways to generate revenue:

− Asset sale – standard product purchase model.

− Usage fee – mobile phones – the more you use something the more it costs

− Subscription – gym membership for example

− Lending / Renting – Temporarily using an asset

− Licensing – Image rights – music / sport

− Brokerage fees – Go Compare etc

− Advertising – fee generated by allowing advertising

Page

Cost structure

• What are the most important costs in our business?

• Which resources are most expensive?

• Are any prohibitive?

• This area describes all of the costs that the business is likely to be charged:

− Cost driven

−Lean delivery such as Easy Jet / Ryan Air

− Value driven

−Some companies look in the opposite way to cost driven businesses.

−Their focus is on value creation – for example luxury hotels

There are 2 further characteristics

− Fixed Costs

− Variable costs

Business structures

• Sole trader, freelance or self employed

• Partnership

• Limited company

Sole Trader

• Convenient when just one person will own the business and will have complete responsibility for it.

• For example

− Graphic Designer

− Advantages

− No registration

− Less paperwork

− Owner entitled to all company profits

− Owner keeps overall control

− Disadvantages

− Unlimited liability

− Level of finance available is limited

− Limited company status is more prestigious

Partnership

• Good vehicle to use when the business involves two or more people

−Advantages

− Flexible structure

− Less paperwork

− Partnerships cannot be taken over by other businesses

−Disadvantages

− Unlimited liability

− Each partner is responsible for other members negligence

− Disagreements between partners

Limited Company

• Main advantage is that its owners have limited liability for the debts of the business

−Advantages

− Liability is limited to initial cost of shares

− Finance can be raised by selling shares

− Limited company has a separate legal identity to that of its owners

−Disadvantages

− Compliance with a wide range of complex legislation

− Public disclosure of accounts

Creating value

Where to start

Create a new gain creator for a given customer profile

Imagine a new product or service

Create a new pain reliever for a given customer profile

Focus on your customers’ most essential unrealized gain

Uncover a new unsatisfied job

Solve your customers’ most extreme unresolved pain

Step into your customers shoes

Select customer segment

Identify customer activities

Identify customer

pains

Identify customer

gains

Creating value

Customers (potential customers)

• Customer Jobs –(activities)

Jobs describe the things your potential customers are trying to get done. These could be tasks they are trying to perform, problems they are trying to solve or needs they are trying to satisfy

It is important to acknowledge that not all jobs / activities have the same importance

Angle Tip

When carrying out potential customer research its important to first identify who your potential customers might

be. Don’t waste your time asking people their views on products or

services that they will not buy.

•For example, mowing the lawn, playing a sportFunctional

Jobs

•When a customer wants to look good or gain power status

•For example – brand aspiration – Ferrari, Hugo BossSocial Jobs

•When customers seek a specific emotional state such as peace of mind or feeling secure

•For example – private healthcare

Personal jobs

Supporting Jobs

• Buyer of value – physically choosing and purchasing

• Cocreator of value – those that leave feedback

• Transferrer of value – reselling a product, upcycling a product

Jobs / activities

What are your customers jobs?

• Customer pains

− Anything that annoys customers before, during or after trying to get a job (activity done).

− Pains also describe risks –potential bad outcomes related to getting a job (activity) done badly

• Function – this does not work properly

• Social – I look bad in this

• Ancillary – its annoying

Undesired outcomes,

problems and characteristics

• These are things that prevent customers from starting their activity – I can’t afford it, I don’t have the time

Obstacles

• Example trigger questions:

− How do your customers define too costly? Too much time, money or effort?

− What makes your customers feel bad? What are the frustrations or annoyances?

− How are current products / services underperforming? What features are missing? Are there performance issues?

− What are the main difficulties and challenges your customers encounter?

− What risks do your customers fear?

− What’s keeping your customers awake at night?

− What are the barriers your potential customers face when adopting your product?

Pains

What are the potential pains?

• Customer gains

− Gains describe the outcomes and benefits your customers want. Some gains are required, expected and some are desired and some would even surprise them.

•These are gains without which the solution would not work

•For example, a smartphone making a phone call

Required gains

•Relatively basic gains that we expect

•For example – an iphone being well designed and looking good

Expected gains

•These are gains that go beyond what we expect

•For example – our smartphone to sync with other areas of our life – e.g. email

Desired gains

Unexpected gains

• These are gains that go beyond customer expectation and desire

Gains

• What are the:

−Required

−Expected

−Desired

−Unexpected gains

The value map

List all products and

services

Outline pain relievers

Outline gain creators

Value Map

Products and Services

Gain Creators

Pain Relievers

Products and Services Gain Creators Pain Relievers

• Products and services

− This is simply a list of what you offer

− Physical (products)

− Intangible (services)

− Digital

− Financial

• Gain creators

−Describe how your products and services create customer gains

−Focus on the most relevant and important gains where you can make a difference

−Typically saving time, money, effort

• Pain relievers

−Describe how your products or services alleviate customer pains

−Again focus on the most relevant ones

−Typically

−Underperformance

−Cost, time, effort

Value map

What are your:

−Products

−Pain Relievers

−Gain Creators

Fit

Are you addressing essential customer gains

Are you addressing essential customer pains

You achieve fit when customers get excited about your value proposition, which happens when you address important jobs, alleviate extreme pains, and create essential gains that customers care about.

Does yours match?

−What is left on the customers side?

−What is left on your side?

−Are any of them important?

Customer development

Customer discovery

Customer validation

Customer creation

Company building

Get out of the office to learn about your

customers’ jobs, pains and gains. Investigate what you could offer

them to kill pains and create gains

Run experiments to test if customers value how your

products and services intend to alleviate pains and

create gains

Start building end user demand. Drive customers to your sales channels and begin scaling the

business

10 characteristics of great value propositions

1. Are embedded in great business models

2. Focus on the jobs, pains and gains that matter most to customers

3. Focus on unsatisfied jobs, unresolved gains and unresolved pains

4. Target few jobs, pains and gains but do so very well

5. Go beyond functional jobs and address emotional and social jobs

6. Align with how customers measure success

7. Focus on jobs, pains and gains that a lot of people have or that some will pay a lot of money for.

8. Differentiate from competition on jobs, pains and gains that customers care about

9. Outperform competition substantially on at least one dimension

10.Are difficult to copy

10 testing principles

1. Realize that evidence trumps opinion

2. Learn faster and reduce risk by embracing failure

3. Test early, refine later

4. Experiments = reality

5. Balance learnings and vision

6. Identify idea killers

7. Understand customers first

8. Make it measurable

9. Accept that not all facts are equal

10.Test irreversible decisions twice as much

Do you have evidence?

Which gains matter most to your customers?Which ones are most essential?

Which pains matter most to your customers?Which ones are most extreme?

Which jobs matter to your customers?Which ones matter most?

Which one of your gain creators customers really need or desire?Which ones do they crave most?

Which one of your pain relievers helps your customers with their headaches?Which ones do they crave most?

Which one of your products and services customers really want?Which ones they want the most?

Testing your value proposition

1. Select a value proposition to test

2. Select factors of competition

3. Score your value proposition

4. Add competing value propositions

5. Score competing propositions

6. Analyse your sweet spot

Benchmarking Supermarkets

Use experiments to test

Willingness to pay

Priorities and Preferences

Interest and Relevance

Provide evidence that potential customers are interested enough in your value proposition to pay. Deliver facts that show they will put their money where their mouth is

Show which jobs, pains and gains your potential customers and partners value most and which ones they value least. Provide evidence that indicates which features of your value proposition they prefer

Prove that potential customers are genuinely interested. Show that your ideas are relevant enough to them to get them to perform actions that go beyond lip service

Experiments

• Lab studies

− Minimum viable products

− Prototypes

• Sales actions

− Mock sales

− Presales

− Crowdfunding

• Tracking actions

− Ad and link tracking

− Landing page

− A/B testing

• Participatory design and evaluation

− Speedboat

− Illustrations, storyboards and scenarios

Lab studies

Minimum viable product• Make your idea real as quickly as possible

• A MVP is a representation or prototype of your product

• Not finished or polished

• Goal is to design and produce a MVP to explore customer interest

• How

− Storyboard

− Drawings

− Renders

− 3D prototypes

Questions to ask of a MVP• Which MVP’s create value for you?

• Which ones should we progress with and which ones should we ditch?

• What is missing?

• What would you like to see?

• What should be left out?

• What should be added?

• Could there be other options?

Sales actions

Crowdfunding• Crowdfunding is one of the best ways of attracting pre sales

and analysing initial interest

• Its also a way of raising funds at the same time

• Look at sites like Kickstarter

• Kickstarter allows you to advertise a project and if people like it they will pledge money in exchange for the item itself

• The project receives funds only if you reach your predefined funding goal – all or nothing.

Pre sales• Main objective here is to explore initial interest not sales

• If there isn’t enough interest to produce the end product the sale can be cancelled and the customer reimbursed

• It’s a good way of funding the first round of products without using your own money

Tracking

Ad tracking• Select search terms that best represent what you want to

test, i.e. pains, gains or the value proposition

• Design your ad / test with a headline, link to a landing page and blurb. Make sure it represents what you want to test

• Launch your campaign. Define a budget for your campaign and launch it. Pay only for clicks on your ad which represent interest

• Measure clicks. Learn how many people click on your ad. No clicks may indicate a lack of interest

Unique link tracking• Fabricate a unique and trackable link to more detailed

information about your idea with a service such as goo.gl

• Pitch and track your idea to a potential customer. During or after the meeting give the person the unique link and mention it points to more detailed information

• Learn about genuine interest. Track if the customer used the link or not. If the link wasn’t used it may indicate a lack of interest or more important jobs, pains, and gains than those that your idea addresses

Link Tracking

Landing page

• The goal of a landing page is to validate one or more hypotheses, not to collect emails or sell, which is a nice by product of the experiment.

• Elements

− Traffic – generate traffic with ads, social media or existing channels

− Headline – Craft a headline that speaks to your potential customers and introduces the value proposition

− Value proposition – ensure your value proposition is clear and tangible to potential customers

− Call to action – get website visitors to perform an action that you can learn from

− Outreach – Reach out to people who performed the call to action. Investigate why they were motivated to perform the action

Total audience addressed

Visitors to website

Visitors who performed the

action

Visitors who are willing to talk to

you

Features Advantages Benefits

Buy groceries online Saves going out to supermarket • Makes supermarket shopping possible• Don’t face the ordeal of shopping with

toddlers• Keep your limited leisure time for

yourselves

Twenty four hours a day seven days a week

Can shop outside of normal hours • Shop when feel like it• Concentrate when kids are asleep• Sort out at weekend with no

pressure

Remembers your previous list Can make amendments rather that starting from a blank sheet

• Tend to need the same things• Head start to make the job quicker• Save lists for different occasions

Total price clear before getting to till

Useful for budgeting • Save money –limited income• Possible to delete a few treats • Know exactly what’s going on the

credit card

Selling the benefits

Innovation Games

Product box1. Design. Invite customers to design a cardboard

box for the product they would buy. Ask them to feature key marketing messages, main features and key benefits they would expect

2. Pitch. Ask them to now pitch the box to you.

3. Capture. Observe and note which messages, features and benefits customers mention on the box and in the pitch. Relate this back to your initial value proposition

Lets try them

You have 20 mins to develop your own product box

The testing process

Build

Measure

Learn

1. (Re)Shape your ideas 2. Extract your hypothesis

3. Design your test

4. Enter the learning loop

5. Capture the results

6. Measure progress

Financials

Pricing

Sales Forecast

Profit and Loss

Cashflow Forecast

Pricing Checklist

Know your real costs for each product /

service

Work out the minimum at which its

worth selling at all

Find out from your customers what each product or service is

worth to them

Check your competitors prices

If their price is lower than your worth selling at price THINK AGAIN

Be prepared to make range and pricing

changes

Keep checking that you price is right

Pricing methods

Pricingmethods

Cost

MarketingCompetition

• Cost Orientated Pricing

− Full cost pricing

−A way of including all the costs that are directly and indirectly associated with the product or service

− Increase cost with decreasing sales!

−Sales are estimated before a price is set

−Focuses on internal costs rather than customers and customer value

− It does however give an indication to the minimum cost to make a profit

Year 1

Direct costs £2

Fixed costs £200,000

Expected Sales 100,000

Cost per unit

Direct costs £2

Fixed costs £2

Full costs £4

Mark Up 10%

Price plus profit £4.40

What are your direct costs?Labour?

Materials?Sub-contract costs?

Direct Costs

(Per item) Cost of materials

Direct wages

Subcontract charges

Packaging and carriage

Total Direct Costs

What are your fixed costs?Rent?

Salaries?Marketing?

Overheads

(for 12 months) Staff Salaries / wages

Business Rent 0.00

Business Rates 0.00

Water Rates 0.00

Light / Heat / Power 0.00

Repairs and Renewals 0.00

Business Insurance 0.00

Travel and Vehicle costs 0.00

Phone and Postage 0.00

Printing and Stationery 0.00

Marketing 0.00

Professional Fees 0.00

General Expenditure 0.00

Total Overheads 0.00

Year 1

Direct costs £2

Fixed costs £200,000

Expected Sales 100,000

Cost per unit

Direct costs £2

Fixed costs £2

Full costs £4

Mark Up 10%

Price plus profit £4.40

Year 1

Direct costs £2

Fixed costs £200,000

Expected Sales 100,000

Cost per unit

Direct costs £2

Fixed costs £2

Full costs £4

Mark Up 10%

Price plus profit £4.40

Sales forecasting next

Sales forecasting

• Your sales forecast should be based upon any historical sales, your marketing strategic and your market research.

• It is a month-by-month prediction of the level of sales you expect to achieve.

• Every year is different, so you need to consider any changing circumstances that could significantly affect your sales

• These factors - known as the sales forecast assumptions - form the basis of your forecast.

• You may wish to do two

1. A best guess – what you really expect

2. A worst case – your lowest estimate no matter what

Typical examples of assumptions:

− The market you sell into will grow by 2 per cent.

− Your market share will shrink by 2 per cent, due to the success of a competitor.

− Seasonality – how sales will change depending on the time of year

− You will spend 50 per cent less on advertising, which will reduce the number of enquiries from potential customers.

− You are launching a range of new products. Sales will be small this year and costs will outweigh profits, but in future years you will reap the benefits.

− You have new products that have the potential to increase sales rapidly.

Sales Forecast

MONTH SALES a SALES

b

SALES

c

TOTAL

MONTH

MONTH CUMULATIVE

MONTHLY

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

YEAR

Can you forecast your sales?

You should now have enough information to complete your

Profit and Loss forecast

Annual

Sales Income

Sales a £0.00

Sales b £0.00

Sales c £0.00

Sales d

Total Sales Income £0.00

Direct Costs

Cost of materials £0.00

Direct wages

Subcontract charges

Packaging and carriage

Total Direct Costs £0.00

Gross Profit £0.00

% GP Margin

Overheads

Staff Salaries / wages

Business Rent 0.00

Business Rates 0.00

Water Rates 0.00

Light / Heat / Power 0.00

Repairs and Renewals 0.00

Business Insurance 0.00

Travel and Vehicle costs 0.00

Phone and Postage 0.00

Printing and Stationery 0.00

Marketing 0.00

Professional Fees 0.00

General Expenditure 0.00

Total Overheads 0.00

Net Profit / Loss £0.00

Profit and loss

Now that we have our costs and our sales – what are your costs per

unit?

Back to pricing

Year 1

Direct costs £2

Fixed costs £200,000

Expected Sales 100,000

Cost per unit

Direct costs £2

Fixed costs £2

Full costs £4

Mark Up 10%

Price plus profit £4.40

You now have a cost orientated price

Pricing Checklist

Know your real costs for each product /

service

Work out the minimum at which its

worth selling at all

Find out from your customers what each product or service is

worth to them

Check your competitors prices

If their price is lower than your worth selling at price THINK AGAIN

Be prepared to make range and pricing

changes

Keep checking that you price is right

Breakeven Analysis

Step 1Sales £4000Less variable costs £2000Gross profit = £2000

Step 2Gross Profit £1600

÷ X 100 = 40% % GPSales £4000

Step 3Fixed Costs

÷ x 100 = Breakeven Point% GP

Step 4Fixed Costs £1200

÷ x 100 = £3000 % GP 40 Breakeven Point

Pricing Checklist

Know your real costs for each product /

service

Work out the minimum at which its

worth selling at all

Find out from your customers what each product or service is

worth to them

Check your competitors prices

If their price is lower than your worth selling at price THINK AGAIN

Be prepared to make range and pricing

changes

Keep checking that you price is right

Competitor orientated pricing

− Focus on the competitor rather than the costs

− Going rate pricing

− In situations where there is little product differentiation a producer may have to look at going rate pricing.

−Goes against traditional marketing theory which seeks to deploy differential advantage, such as delivery time, after sales service and price accordingly.

− Competitive bidding

−Sealed unseen bids from other companies

−Used in both public (price plus quality) and private (usually just price) sectors

• Competition

− At the very least you should know who your competitors are and what they charge

Immediate competitors,

e.g. Blockbusters

Technically similar products

Secondary competitors,

eg. Lovefilm / Netflix

Different products solving the same

problem in a different way

Tertiary competitors e.g.

Sky Movies

Different products solving or eliminating the

problem in a different way

Can you accurately create a competitor based price for your

new product / service?

What’s the difference?Is it feasible?

Pricing new products or services

High

High

Low

Low

Promotion

Price

Rapid Skimming

Rapid

Penetration

Slow Skimming

Slow

Penetration

Premium products

Gradual entry

Premium products

Quick entry

What has your organisation used in the past?

What will you use now?

Cashflow

−Cashflow forecasting enables you to predict peaks and troughs in your cash balance.

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12

Income

Sales a

Sales b

Total Income £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00

Expenditure

Materials

Subcontract Charges

Packaging and Carriage

Wages

Business Rent

Business Rates

Water Rates

Light / Heat / Power

Repairs and Renewals

Business Insurance

Travel and Vehicle costs

Printing and Stationery

Marketing

Professional Fees

General Expenditure

Total Expenditure £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00

Monthly net inflow / outflow £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00

Cumulative monthly flow £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00

Financials

Pricing

Sales Forecast

Profit and Loss

Cashflow Forecast

What is social media?

Awareness

Interest

Desire

Action

Attract

Engage

Nurture

Engage

Before we start lets consider the journey

ModernVsTraditional

•Sites are interactive – it is not a business speaking to its customers, it is a two way communication

•NEED customer interaction in order to truly succeed

•“It is not what you say, its what they say that matters”

Why should you care?

Good news for small business

•Social media has afforded everyone with the tools to publish, broadcast and compete on a more level playing field

•No longer dependent on big budgets

•Starting a business and marketing a business has never been so easy

Key differences from traditional marketing?

•Puts the human back into marketing – it allows a business to show its own personality.

•Talking with your customers, not at your customers. It’s a two way conversation –remember customers should be at the heart of everything you do.

•Not about you.

Losing control

You must realise and accept that you do not control your social media activity. Your

audience does.Relax

6 Golden Rules of Social Media

1.Listen

2.Add value

3.No hard selling

4.Engage and interact

5.Be real, be nice, be honest, be grateful

6.Focus on quality, not quantity

What are the different types of social media?

Blogging and Microblogging

•A shared on line journal

•346,000,000 people regularly read blogs

•Establishes you as a thought leader in your industry

•Linkbacks and fresh, relevant content help website search rankings

•Take more time and requires a commitment to regularly blog

5 Blog tips

1.Make your content easy to share

2.Build relationships with other bloggers, share their content, comment on their content

3.Do not, do not spam

4.Use keywords, tags and links

5.Make your content easily available

Twitter

•Allows you 140 characters per “tweet”

•Other people can follow you, you can follow others

•Fast paced, real time.

•Average tweet lasts 6 seconds

Twitter speak

• DM

−Can only send DM’s to those who follow you

• #Hashtags

−The secret to increased exposure

−Allows people to organise and search for key subjects

• Hootsuite, Tweetdeck – applications that allow you to manage your twitter and other accounts.

−Key to these is that they allow you to schedule posts for the best effect.

Video and photo sharing

Video

•Keep it short

•How can you make a video go viral?

−Good content

−Make your video easy to share

•Integrate on other platforms

•Create and brand a Youtube channel

Photo sharing

•Effective use of tagging and captions

•Great way to showcase new products

•Post high quality pictures

Instagram takeaway

• Keep your content fresh, interactive, and aligned with the brand attributes you want your fans to notice.

• Photos allow you to connect with customers in a different way.

• Fans and followers are more than happy to respond and take part if they are interested in the information you are sharing.

• Make sure the pictures you post have meaning to your customers and induce shares.

• If you don’t get excited about the picture you just took, neither will your fans.

• Take the time to think about what pictures your fans want to see from your brand and how to present them in an interesting way.

Social networks

Facebook

• Aligned more to B2C and products

• Over 350 million users worldwide

• Would be the fourth biggest country

• 50% of its users log in each day

• Over 700,000 businesses have business pages

LinkedIn

• Aligned more to B2B and services

• Over 50 million members worldwide

• Average user spends 6 mins a day

Facebook

• Use pages not profiles

• Welcome and encourage fan content and sharing

• Don’t spam your fans

• Keep search in mind

• Consider facebook ads

LinkedIn

• Keep your profile up to date

• Create a business page

• Get recommendations

• Ideal for finding key individuals in target organisations

• Join and participate in groups

• Consider LinkedIn ads and sponsored updates

Travel agency Intrepid Travel has put together a great Facebook Page --complete with a special tab that shows trip and tour reviews, and one that lets users search and book trips without having to leave their Facebook Page.

• Tough Mudder, an organization that runs hardcore obstacle course events focused on teamwork and camaraderie, leans on social media sites like Facebook to help recruit and pump up participants.

• They do a great job of keeping their Facebook content fresh and up-to-date, which is especially important for an events company.

• Not to mention, each event they run has its own Facebook Event -- which shows up in an "Events" feed on their Page -- so participants can connect, ask questions, and share event-specific photos with the community.

How can social media help my business?

•Streamline and improve customer service

•Carry out efficient and effective market research

•Connect with new leads and resources

•Increase your website search rankings

•Develop credibility within your industry

•Find employees and partners

Is traditional marketing dead?

Social media is anADDITION

to your marketing plan – not a replacement

PaidYou have paid to leverage

this

Paid advertising (print, TV, Radio, Sponsorships)

Awareness and stimulation

OwnedYou own and control this

media

Websites

Company Blog

Corporate Brochures

Build longer term relationships with existing customers and potential

customers

EarnedCustomers are the

channel

Word of mouth

Viral

Social media

Listen and respond

Use traditional marketing to:

− Link to your social networks from your website

− Let potential customers experience your products

− Engage with customers in a slightly different way

−Networking

−Exhibitions

−Email marketing

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How do I know if its working?

• Analytics tools

− Google Analytics

− Facebook analytics

− Twitter analytics

− LinkedIn analytics

Lets get started

Listen

Goals

PlanExecute

Analyse

• Find out what your audience is saying

• Where are they spending their time?

• What are your competitors doing?

Listen

Goals

PlanExecute

Analyse

• Determine what it is you want to accomplish

• Make the goals as tangible as possible

Page

• Determine your target audience

• Develop your plan / strategy

• How does this tie in with all of your marketing?

Listen

Goals

PlanExecute

Analyse

Page

Listen

Goals

PlanExecute

Analyse

• Execute and monitor your campaign

• Reply to comments, feedback, questions

• Look through your analytics reports

• Measure success• Repeat!

Listen

Goals

PlanExecute

Analyse

Wider world

Industry

Competition

Customers

Customers

• Who are they?

• What do they want?

• Where do they want to buy it?

• How do they want to buy it?

• When do they want to buy?

Angle Tip

When carrying out potential customer research its important to first identify who your potential customers might

be. Don’t waste your time asking people their views on products or

services that they will not buy.

You

Who

What

WhereWhen

How

Consumer Segmentation

Behavioural Psychographic Profile

BenefitsSought

PurchaseOccasion

PurchaseBehaviour

UsagePerceptions

AndBeliefs

Lifestyle PersonalityDemo

graphicSocio

economicGeo

graphic

Organisational Segmentation

Microsegmentation Macrosegmentation

ChoiceCriteria

DecisionMaking

Unitstructure

DecisionMakingprocess

PurchasingOrganisation

CompanyInnovation

Companysize

IndustryGeo

graphic

Who are your customers?

Competitors

• Who are they?

• What do they sell?

• Where do they sell it?

• How do they sell it?

• When do they sell it?

How are YOU different?

Angle Tip

When carrying out potential customer research its important to first identify who your potential customers might

be. Don’t waste your time asking people their views on products or

services that they will not buy.

You

Who

What

WhereWhen

How

Identifying competition

• Who offers the same products or services and delivers them in exactly the same way as you propose to do? (direct competition)

• Who offers similar products or services as you but delivers them in a different way? (indirect competition)

• Who offers slightly different products or services as you but delivers them in the same way? (indirect competition)

Who is your competition?

Finding a niche

Wider world

− You’re doing business in a wider world so factors such as

−Political

−Economic

−Social

−Technological

−Legal

−Environmental

Could all play a big part in your success

Industry / Market

Market analysis

Market size

Market risks

Competition

Customer needs

Market Size

Market size

Total available market

This is the entire universe that could ever buy your product, for your niche – anywhere

Addressable market

This is revenue represented by the market segments that you intend to sell and service in the time covered by your plan available

money

Market Size

A B CMarket

Size

Number of customers

Average transaction size

Number of transactions per

customer per year

Market risks

Risks

Competition

Product

Financial

Technological

How

• Gather your own data

−Questionnaires

−Online

−Offline

−Focus Groups

−Informal feedback – social media

What is marketing?

Who

What

Why

When

Your customers

Your product / service

Is there a pain?

Purchase occasion?

What is marketing?

How

How will your product be used?

How will you let people know?

How will people buy it?

Product as branding

Product as branding

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Meat packaging

Page 192

Juice bottle design

Page 193

Spaghetti packaging

Price

• Price your product or service at the level which your customers expect to pay for the quality you are delivery

− Does not mean high price means high quality

− Nor high quality will justify a high price

• Pricing directly affects sales revenue

− Relate sales revenue to costs – cost of sale, production, raw materials, transport and promotion

• Product – Price Mix

− Good after sales service or a brand well-supported with advertising may attract a higher price

Pricing methods

Pricingmethods

Cost

MarketingCompetition

• Cost Orientated Pricing

− Full cost pricing

−A way of including all the costs that are directly and indirectly associated with the product or service

− Increase cost with decreasing sales!

−Sales are estimated before a price is set

−Focuses on internal costs rather than customers and customer value

− It does however give an indication to the minimum cost to make a profit

Competitor orientated pricing

− Focus on the competitor rather than the costs

− Going rate pricing

− In situations where there is little product differentiation a producer may have to look at going rate pricing.

−Goes against traditional marketing theory which seeks to deploy differential advantage, such as delivery time, after sales service and price accordingly.

− Competitive bidding

−Sealed unseen bids from other companies

−Used in both public (price plus quality) and private (usually just price) sectors

Pricing Checklist

Know your real costs for each product /

service

Work out the minimum at which its

worth selling at all

Find out from your customers what each product or service is

worth to them

Check your competitors prices

If their price is lower than your worth selling at price THINK AGAIN

Be prepared to make range and pricing

changes

Keep checking that you price is right

Promotion

Page

WhenPurchase occasion?

Promotion

How - Promotion

Publicity

Direct Marketing

Personal

selling

Advertising

Sales Promotion

Internet/websit

e

Online

marketing

Face to face

(Trade

shows)

Examples - Good

Examples - bad

Page

Which methods would you use to market?

Handmade Cushions Graphic Designer

Promotion

Which methods would you use for your business?

PaidYou have paid to

leverage this

Paid advertising (print, TV, Radio,

Sponsorships)

Awareness and stimulation

OwnedYou own and control

this media

Websites

Company Blog

Corporate BrochuresBuild longer term relationships with

existing customers and potential customers

EarnedCustomers are the

channel

Word of mouth

Viral

Blogs

Social Media

Listen and respond

Owned Media

• Take ownership of the different channels

• Reduce marketing spend on paid media

• Reach out and engage with customers to build lasting relationships

Possibly the most successful campaigns this century?

Page 214

18,300,000 Media impressions870% increase in facebook traffic

260,000 new donatorsRise from $1.7 mill to $13.3 millTotal given now over $55 mill

Awareness

Interest

Desire

Action

Attract

Engage

Nurture

Engage

The journey

ModernVsTraditional

Page

What is the journey for your clients?

Can you map it out?What media are you going to use at each

stage?

Lets piece it all together with a pitch

Pitching

Presentations

SalesWritten pitch

Presentations

Page

Definition

• A presentation is a means of communication which can be adapted to various speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team.

50% Content 50% Delivery

• Following are the steps include in preparing effective presentation:

Plan

Prepare

Practice

Present

Planning

• Planning usually include following questions:

• Who is your audience?

• Why are they there?

• What is your goal?

• How long will it be?

• Where will it take place?

Prepare

• Following points must keep in mind while preparing:

Structure

Prompt

Visual aids

Voice

Appearance

Style

Questions

Structure

• Write your presentation in this order:

Objective

Beginning or introduction

Main content

Summary, conclusion and recommendations

Questions

Structure

Introduction

Main theme

Summary/Conclusion

Get AttentionGrab the audience attention

Content should be relevant to

topic

Key message

Prompt

• Short bullet points, key words only.

• Put your entire prompt onto your power point slides.

• These prompt are for you.

Visual aids

• Use simple fonts, colors and graphs.

• Use images and clipart.

• 3 to 7 bullets per slide.

• Don’t over crowd your slides, it will not look professional.

• New or different visual aids

wake people up.

Voice

• Louder and clear than your normal pitch.

• Vary pitch and volume.

• Over emphasis

Appearance

• Dark colors read as businesslike.

• Wear comfortable shoes to weight your feet evenly.

• Allow yourself to move a bit.

• Look confident.

Professionals vs. non professionals

Style

Creative

Showman

Charismatic

Intelligent

Expert

Just be YOU

Questions

• Sketch an idea of what kind of questions audience may ask.

Practice

• Rehearse all points what you prepare.

• Rehearse with all visual aids and handouts.

• Practice again and again to manage time.

• Rehearse in front of mirror or a friend.

Present

• Make a strong start.

• Engage the audience in first 2-3 minutes.

• Show your passion through your movements and gestures.

• Make an eye contact.

• Don’t forget to smile as well,

unless your topic is very grim.

Flaws in presentation

Flaws in presentation

• Lack of experience.

• Lack of enthusiasm.

• Lack of practice.

• Lack of related material.

• Lack of confidence.

• Hesitation.

• Ambiguity in the results

that you want to conclude.

Written pitch

Page

Pitchdecks

A pitch deck is a brief presentation, often created using PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi, used to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business

plan. You will usually use your pitch deck during face-to-face or online meetings with potential investors, customers, partners, and co-founders.

11 slides of a pitchdeck

Pitchdeck

Introduction

Team

Problem

Advantages

Solution

ProductMarket

Competition

Business model

Funds required

Contact details

Pitchdeck Do’s

1. Tell a story & engage people emotionally

− Everyone loves to hear stories, even the investors. So tell an exciting story about your startup.

2. Limit each slide to expressing one idea

− You want to keep your entire audience on the same page

3. Prepare to make a great first impression

− First impressions are powerful. Believe it.The first 2-3 minutes are the most important

4. Show the people behind your idea

− Focus on a significant, relevant accomplishment for each person in a team that identifies that person as a winner

5. Keep a consistent look in presentation

− Use the same font, size, color and capitalization format across all slides of your investment pitch deck.

Pitchdeck Don’ts

1. Don't use too many bullet points

− Limit the bullets. Too many bullet points will kill a presentation.

2. Don't make it too long

− Average entrepreneur pitch: 38 slides. Average VC attention span/cranial capacity: 10 slides. Do the maths.

3. Don't read word by word from your script.

− You will sound like a robot and missthe all-important eye contact with the audience.

4. Don't create a text-rich, picture-poor presentation.

− People cannot read and listen at the same time. Great visual inspire and engage people emotionally.

6. Don't use small fonts

− Always use a font large enough to be seen by all audience members. Use 32- to 44-point for titles and no smaller than 28-point for the text or bulleted items.

Sales Pitch

Page

Where would we use a “Pitch”?

Lets try

• Its your turn

• Create an initial 30 second pitch for your idea that you are happy to present to everyone.

50% Content

What should it include

Beginning Middle End

Beginning

• Catchy title

• Grab attention

− Amuse

− Shock

− Ask a question

• Catchy hook

What do you do? The one liner

First introduction

Hi, my name is……… I / we ……………

For example

• We help companies maximise their growth potential

• Companies say we help them to achieve their growth goals more quickly

• We support companies to develop and implement their growth

What are your one liners?

Do we know what we are selling?

Features Promises

Business Pain Benefits

FeaturesSpecific details about the product or service

Promises

Promises can be made about what benefits the features could deliver

Business Pain

The quantifiable business drivers that relate to issues such as cost, income, profit margin, reputation etc

Benefits

Specific benefits from the promise list that relate to the prospect and their business pain

Features Advantages Benefits

Buy groceries online Saves going out to supermarket • Makes supermarket shopping possible

• Don’t face the ordeal of shopping with toddlers

• Keep your limited leisure time for yourselves

Twenty four hours a day seven days a week

Can shop outside of normal hours • Shop when feel like it• Concentrate when kids are asleep• Sort out at weekend with no

pressure

Remembers your previous list Can make amendments rather that starting from a blank sheet

• Tend to need the same things• Head start to make the job quicker• Save lists for different occasions

Total price clear before getting to till Useful for budgeting • Save money –limited income• Possible to delete a few treats • Know exactly what’s going on the

credit card

Selling the benefits

Creating value

Elevator Pitch

The next step

Prospect Pain / Capability Gap

• Many Companies are trying to grow and are experiencing difficulties with lack of finance, ability to innovate or the internal capacity to deliver

What’s my role

• My role is to help companies to overcome these barriers by providing the support they need either in the form of workshops or one to one coaching

Why it’s unique

• What’s different about this is we work with a wide variety of high quality coaches with a number of different specialisms

Supporting Facts

To back up your elevator pitch it is useful to have facts you can follow up with:

For example

• We have delivered support to over 450 companies to date

• On average businesses engaged with us have grown by 105%

• 97% of businesses would recommend us to other businesses

Case Studies

To back up your elevator pitch and your supporting facts have to hand a number of supporting reference stories.

For example:

An example of what we have done in a similar situation was to work with the directors who were having difficulty gaining access to new markets in the food and drink industry.

10 steps to sales pitch success

Ask people to buy things

Don’t waste opportunities. If the

customer starts asking questions this is a

buying signal

Selling is not only about talking. A good

sales person is an active listener

Understand your customers journey

Leaving brochures behind is a wasted opportunity to sell!

Asking about the past is a good idea – it’s a

great icebreaker

What your customers want to buy is value. Our job is to create and communicate

value

Don’t sell by email or text.

Remember there is no need to be aggressive.

Lets put it all together

• Your turn.

• Lets create a two minute presentation on your idea.

• Think about

− the pain

− What your role is

− Why are you different

• Include evidence if possible