Marketing 101 for Startups
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Transcript of Marketing 101 for Startups
Building a Marketing Mindset Early
Sequoia workshop
SEQUOIA CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL 1
Early? How early?
How early?
• MARKETING BEGINS AS SOON AS THE START UP IS BORN
Really? Even for me?
Even me?
• ALL COMPANIES HAVE CUSTOMERS/CONSUMERS
• ALL COMPANIES HAVE STAKEHOLDERS • ALL COMPANIES HAVE STAKEHOLDERS THEY NEED TO INFLUENCE
What is Marketing?
• POSITIONING YOUR COMPANY AND PRODUCT SO THAT YOU SELL MORE
Critical elements of the Marketing Mix
• THE CORPORATE IDENTITY
• PR
• YOUR WEBSITE
• ATL AND BTL• ATL AND BTL
The corporate identity
The corporate identity
• THE NAME OF THE COMPANY/PRODUCT
• THE LOGO, LOOK AND FEEL OF THE COLLATERAL, THE STATIONARY, THE SIGNAGE, OFFICE DÉCOR
• EVERY SINGLE POINT OF THE COMPANY THAT THE CONSUMER/CUSTOMER WILL COME INTO CONTACT WITH
The corporate identity: Tips
• SIMPLE
• CONSISTENT
• MINIMUM USE OF FONTS
• FEWER COLOURS• FEWER COLOURS
• SELECT ONE/TWO COLOURS THAT THE BRAND/COMPANY WILL IDENTIFY WITH AND USE THEM EVERYWHERE
Go back and check the logos of companies you like/remember and you will
find a surprising number of them ticking the above parameters
PR
PR
• EVERYBODY GOOGLES YOU
• A CLIENT SHOPPING AROUND, A PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEE, YOUR FUTURE CFO, YOUR CURRENT CLIENT…
• IMPORTANT TO BE VISIBLE, GET SPOKEN ABOUT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS
• IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THE KEY MESSAGES THAT YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT ARE WHAT GETS WRITTEN ABOUT YOU
PR: Tips
• HIRE A PR AGENCY PARTNER TODAY
• THIS IS THE BEST INVESTMENT YOU CAN MAKE –PR IS THE CHEAPEST FORM OF MARKETING FOR YOUR PRODUCT/COMPANY
• START THINKING ABOUT YOUR KEY MESSAGES• START THINKING ABOUT YOUR KEY MESSAGES
• WORK WITH YOUR PR PARTNER AND CREATE A CALENDAR OF MESSAGES
• BE AVAILABLE FOR THE RIGHT MEDIA QUERIES
• IDENTIFY YOUR SPOKESPERSON
PR is actually not a short form of Press Release. You can do a lot for very less
with this tool.
Your website
Website
• AN ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL PART OF YOUR MARKETING MIX…
• …AND SURPRISINGLY NEGLECTED BY EVEN ONLINE COMPANIES
• DEPENDING ON YOUR CATEGORY, THIS IS EITHER YOUR SHOWROOM, YOUR ONLINE SALES PITCH, YOUR DISPLAY, YOUR BILLBOARD OR AT THE VERY LEAST YOUR ONLINE BROCHURE
Website: tips
• GET PROFESSIONAL DESIGN HELP
• THINK THROUGH THE SITE MAP, THE USER INTERFACE, OPTIMIZE YOUR SITE FOR SEARCHES
• CREATE AN INTERNAL SYSTEM FOR PERIODIC UPDATING – ITS QUITE TERRIBLE TO HAVE THE PROFILE OF YOUR CTO (WHO YOU SACKED 3 PROFILE OF YOUR CTO (WHO YOU SACKED 3 MONTHS AGO) STILL ON THE SITE
• FOLLOW THE SAME LOOK AND FEEL DETAILED IN YOUR CORPORATE IDENTITY
• IF YOU CREATE A FEEDBACK MECHANISM, PLEASE RESPONDUsually the first point of contact for most outsiders, make sure it represents
the company well.
ATL and BTL
Advertising (ATL)
• EXPENSIVE
• ONLY ON A NEED BASIS
• MAINLY RELEVANT FOR B2C COMPANIES
• VERY USEFUL TO CREATE A BRAND POSITION • VERY USEFUL TO CREATE A BRAND POSITION FOR YOUR COMPANY IF YOU ARE B2C
• VERY LITTLE REASON TO USE THIS IF YOU ARE A COMPANY SELLING ONLINE – IT TOOK MANY MANY YEARS FOR GOOGLE TO AIR A TVCAMPAIGN
Below the line (BTL)
• MERCHANDISING, FORMS, BROCHURES, LEAFLETS, NEWSPAPER DROPS, DISPLAYS, FLYERS, ETC ETC
• KEEP THIS CONSISTENT TO YOUR LOOK AND FEELFEEL
• DRIVE COSTS DOWN – YOU DON’T REALLY NEED YOUR COMPANY BROCHURE TO LOOK LIKE THE KINGFISHER CALENDER
• PRINT LESS – REMEMBER MOST PEOPLE DO WITH THEIR JUNK WHAT YOU DO WITH YOURS
EASY-PEASY?
• I DRAW WELL. AND USED TO WRITE FOR MY COLLEGE WRITE FOR MY COLLEGE MAGAZINE. CANT I DO ALL THIS MYSELF?
Marketing…
• …IS A SCIENCE AND AN ART
• LEAVE IT TO THE PROFESSIONALS
• FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE WHO CAN HELP CREATE THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF THE MIX
• HIRE A PERSON IN YOUR ORGANIZATION WHO • HIRE A PERSON IN YOUR ORGANIZATION WHO IS ONLY DOING THIS
• GET THE RIGHT GUY, IT WILL MORE THAN PAY OFF IN THE LONG RUN
• ELSE YOU WILL FIND ALL OF THIS TO BE WORK THAT YOU WILL GET TO…TOMORROW…
Marketing and Sales
• MARKETING EXISTS ONLY IF IT HELPS DRIVE SALES
• EVERY ELEMENT OF THE MIX WE DISCUSSED SHOULD ULTIMATELY HELP SELL MORE UNITS OF WHAT YOU ARE MAKING
• THE MARKETING AND SALES TEAMS NEED TO BE • THE MARKETING AND SALES TEAMS NEED TO BE STRONGLY INTER-CONNECTED; VERY RARE HOWEVER TO FIND BOTH SKILLS IN THE SAME PERSON
Stickiness…
• AS A START-UP, ONE OF THE PRIMARY CHALLENGES IS TO STAND OUT; THERE IS USUALLY SOMEBODY ELSE YOU ARE USUALLY SOMEBODY ELSE YOU ARE COMPETING WITH
• TO BE REMEMBERED, TO BE CALLED BACK AFTER A SALES PITCH, TO BE ‘STICKY’