Advanced Brand and Marketing for
Early Stage Companies

Tomás Puig Sr. Director, Labs
at WP Engine @tnpuig Paul Dery Executive Creative Director at R/GA @pauliedery #AdvBrand

The Landscape House of Mirrors
Action Framework Your Turn The Pitch

The Landscape House of Mirrors
Action Framework Your Turn The Pitch

This workshop was first given
at SXSW 2015 as “Advanced Brand and Marketing for Early Stage Companies”. The Example of SaaS was chosen as an economic model to explore with and these slides were the guide we used to explain the topics. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

What is SaaS? @tnpuig @pauliedery
#AdvBrand

Two kinds of SaaS business:
MRR Those with primarily monthly contracts, with some longer term contracts. In this business, the primary focus will be on MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) ARR Those with primarily annual contracts, with some contracts for multiple years. Here the primary focus is on ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue), and ACV (Annual Contract Value). this section via David Skok

There is two things a
SaaS should focus on. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

First. Cash Flow.

Single Customer Cash Flow (Skok)
-7000 -6000 -5000 -4000 -3000 -2000 -1000 0 1000 Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12 CAC (Cost to Acquire the Customer) Subscription Payments * GM% http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics-2/

http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics-2/

Two Key Guidelines for SaaS
Startups LTV CAC Months to recover CAC >3x 12 Months< @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics-2/

http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics-2/

http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics-2/

What does awesome look like?
http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics-2/

Activity: Write down three SaaS
companies you admire. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics-2/

Second. Users.

The quickest way to gain
users is to have a product that disrupts the market. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

A disruptive innovation gives new
consumers access to product historically only available to consumers with a lot of money or skill. (Andreesen)

It's a fabricated myth that
disruptive innovation is about destruction: It's about creation (Andreesen)

Disruptive innovation shrinks inequality, by
bringing to lower-income consumers things that only richer consumers had. (Andreesen)

Rich people always had books,
music, clean clothes. Disruptive innovation made these things available to many more people. (Andreesen)

Printing press disrupted books from
scribes; recorded music disrupted live concerts in homes, washing machines disrupted live-in maids. (Andreesen)

A new product for a
previously underserved market it is typically cheaper than existing product. (Andreesen) http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/02/marc-andreessen-teaches-startups-what-disruption-is-really- about-in-17-tweets/

The Landscape House of Mirrors
Action Framework Your Turn The Pitch

What does this mean for
me? @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

The Simplicity Filter @tnpuig @pauliedery
#AdvBrand

What ONE problem does the
product solve? Does my product solve one problem amazingly? YES MOVE ON NOPE

Who is the ONE person
my product solves this for? Does it solve the problem for a specific niche? YES MOVE ON NOPE

What level of customer service
does the product provide? HIGH (Humans) LOW (Automated)

Case
Studies

CASE STUDIES BirchBox Delivers a
box of beauty samples each month to your door for $10 - 30 a month. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

CASE STUDIES Hubspot Provides a
cloud service for inbound marketing that acts as an all in one technical marketing tool for $200 – 2500+ a month. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Activity: For the three companies
you chose answer these three questions. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

The Experience Exchange Marketing cannot
make your product better. What the brand says and what the brand does must be ONE. Match culture to brand essence Does your product deliver on what your marketing says it does? YES MOVE ON NOPE

TARGET

Total Available Market This is
the most ignored analysis in early companies. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

What is TAM Total Available
Market Or stated as: The revenue opportunity available for a product or service. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Niche in Business Terms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_addressable_market

Two ways to calculate: Bottom
Up: Manual Counting Top Down: Secondary Market Research (analyst reports) @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Niche is a subset of
TAM that are your base (or evangelists) @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

How to activate
your niche

STARTING WITH SOCIAL Social is
a great place to start. A low entry barrier to build your brand. Your singular focus comes through in social. You mightn’t have a million followers, but your singular purpose comes through. 4 3

For years, we’ve one had
one figurehead broadcasting to many people.

Today we have many.

4
6

4
7

4
8

A couple of rules to
social

01 Social is the sponsoring
of a community.

02 Nobody wants to be
your friend, they already have their own.

03 Talk to your followers
like they are your friends. A good friend doesn’t try to sell you, they help you.

04 No need to be
always on, but do be always relevant.

SUCCESSFUL CONTENT IS ALL ABOUT
CONTEXT. Who will see it? When will they see it?Where does it live? These are the questions that will help us reach the audiences we want with the messages we want them to see (and the messages they want to see from us).

Be content driven.

SEO – For a start
up only five things mostly govern position. 1. Domain authority 2. High quality of inbound links 3. High quantity of inbound links 4. High quality page content 5. Site speed @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Instead of going into channels
deeply here is some tips and tricks. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Earned media often refers to
“PR” or getting someone to write about you. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Only two things cause narrative
in the press: Controversy or Novelty @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Paid. Instead of going deep
lets just look at some tips. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

The more mature the paid
channel the less likely you are to have cheap wins. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Adwords Protect your brand but
you aren’t going to outbid the big boys. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Social Paid Useful but limited
budgets should be saved for blowing up your earned media wins. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

YouTube Paid Wonderful for marketing
directly to niche’s on specific channels. But watch your budget. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Affiliates…. Explore them. Can run
10- 30% of revenue acquired. But remember they are motivated by payout. Think lead generation mercenaries for hire. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Display I wouldn’t touch display
with an earlier stage company. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

A word on churn.

Churn is the loss of
an ARR or MRR customer. This is bad.

Customer Nurture: Look after the
customers you have. They’re easier and cheaper than acquiring new customers. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

The Landscape House of Mirrors
Action Framework Your Turn The Pitch

Your Brief.

Now that we’ve the applied
simplicity filter to the product. Now that you’ve found your niche. We need to communicate. @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

The smaller you are the
bigger the purpose you must have

THE BRIEF CUSTOMER BRAND MESSAGE
What does the customer want? What does the product deliver? What do you want to say?

THE BRIEF – BIRCH BOX
CUSTOMER BRAND MESSAGE It’s a big investment to try out different products. A little sample every month based on your preference. The smartest way to shop for beauty and grooming.

THE BRIEF – HUB SPOT
CUSTOMER BRAND MESSAGE Inbound marketing is really $ and very technical for my SMB. A suite of tools that cheaply lets you grow your SMB. Let us handle the hard things so you can focus on what you do.

THE BRIEF – NETFLIX CUSTOMER
BRAND MESSAGE

NETFLIX CUSTOMER BRAND MESSAGE It’s
Blockbuster or bust. A huge library of unique titles delivered to your door. Movies delivered to your door without a late fee.

THE MODERN
MARKETING
DEPARTMENT

SaaS Marketing in a start
up primarily consists of three activities. 1. Acquisition 2. Sales Enablement 3. Customer Nurture @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

Lets say you have four
people.

THE MODERN MARKETING DEPARTMENT Strategy
Creative Comms Data KPIs and OKRs Research Positioning A/B Testing Plans International Copy (selling) Content (informing) Design (emotion) Public Relations Community Relations Analyst Relations Social Ad Campaign Planning Analytics Lead Evaluation Conversions and ROI Organic Search Rank Reports Evaluating and Enacting A/B Tests Each group will need to use both online and offline channels to perform their functions.

The Landscape The Brief The
Thought Your Turn The Pitch Groups You Pitch @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

The Landscape The Brief The
Thought The Goal The Pitch @tnpuig @pauliedery #AdvBrand

The Landscape The Brief The
Thought Appendix The Pitch

Digital Ecosystem Branding and content
must feel consistent across all channels that exist within the digital ecosystem PAID SOCIAL CONNECTIONS CONTENT DRIVEN Ad Networks Partner Programs Sponsorship Facebook Twitter Google+ Marketers “In the Wild” Events SEO Blog Newsletter PR

Site Activities RESEARCHING WORKING PARTICIPATING
CONNECTING Audience Users looking for a solution Existing Customers Community and Activity Owners Stakeholders Industry Participants / Special Interest Groups Relevant Content Service Benefits FAQ Contact Product Mix Offers Testimonials Support Login Resources Platform Status Blog White Papers Case Studies News Social About the Company Careers Contact Team News Social

Strategy It is broken up
into seven key activities: 1) KPIs and OKRs 2) Audience Research 3) Channel Research 4) Messaging and Positioning 5) Strategic Planning 6) A/B Testing Plans 7) International territory management Each group will need to use both online and offline channels to perform their functions.

CREATIVE COPY (Selling) 1) Ads
2) Landing Pages 3) Brochures 4) Product Descriptions Content (Informing) 1) Blog Posts 2) E-books 3) Podcasts 4) Infographics 5) Webinars Design (Emotion) 1) Brand Guidelines 2) Amazing Company Swag 3) Quality Control of All External Assets 4) Build of Assets for Ad Network

Communications It is broken up
into eight key activities: 1) Public Relations 2) Publicity 3) Government Relations 4) Community Relations 5) Analyst Relations 6) Social Influencer Relations 7) Speaker Pitches 8) Ad Campaign Planning

Data It is broken up
into nine key activities: 1) Analytics 2) Lead Evaluation 3) Media Hits and Readership Reporting 4) Sales Numbers Following Ad Campaigns 5) Conversions and ROI 6) Follower Growth 7) Negative SEO Checks 8) Organic Search Rank Reports 9) Evaluating and Enacting A/B Tests