This was a three-hour lecture presented to participants in the BizTec technology entrepreneurship competition, held at the Haifa Technion in December 2010. When participants were invited to the lecture, they were directed to a survey about their marketing knowledge, and what they hoped to gain from the lecture. This served as the market research that was analyzed throughout the lecture.

1. Rebecca Steinberg Herson
1
Marketing for Early Stage Start-ups
Copyright © 2010 Rebecca Steinberg Herson

2. 2
A bit about me

3. So this is marketing…
3

4. Promotion – just one of the 4 Ps
4
 TV ads
 Magazine ads
 Public Relations (“PR”)
 Web sites
 Catalogs
 Telemarketing
 Billboards
 Point of purchase
 Trade Shows

5. 5

6. 6
4Ps

7. 7
Product
Price
Place
Promotion

8. Product
8
 Yay! The part you know best, right?
 This P is not about knowing the product. It’s about
knowing your CUSTOMER
 Your target customer is not YOU

9. The greatest thing since….
9
Adapted from Seth Godin’s presentation at The Business of Software, 2008,
“Why Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department”

10. 10
Adapted from Seth Godin’s presentation at The Business of Software, 2008,
“Why Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department”

11. 11
Adapted from Seth Godin’s presentation at The Business of Software, 2008,
“Why Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department”

12. What is the PAIN?
12
Customers don’t always speak “engineer-ese” – you may
need to translate
Adapted from MIT Sloane School Marketing Manaement Course Lecture
Customer says: Engineer must translate into:
Must clean my dishes well Surfactants, bubbles
Need a quick response Number of rings, time
on phone
Should be easy to read Pixels, refresh rate,
size

13. Who suffers from this pain?
Build your marketing personas
13
 Customer company size / end-user demographic
 Vertical industry – finance, medical, retail,
automotive, etc.
 Geographic location
 Who is my potential buyer? What is his/her job title?
 Who are my influencers? What are their job titles?
 What is the total addressable market?
 Who competes in this market already?

14. Today’s Product: The Lecture
Who is the Market? You 
14

15. Knowledge of Marketing
15
Slightly more than half have
zero to intro course level
marketing

16. # Startups Involved In
16
The majority have been
involved in at least 1
startup (24 vs. 13)

17. Student Status (not all answered)
17
•Evenly divided between undergrad/graduate
•Surprisingly we have 4 humanities participants

18. Methods to Get to Know Customers
18

19. How to get to know your customer
19
 Old days
 Focus Groups
 Phone surveys
 Analyst Reports
 Trade Shows
 Today

20. Market Surveys
20
 Use surveys to
 test product ideas
 confirm your instincts
 refine your message
 discover new potential customers
 Google docs - its completely free
 Can be edited collaboratively (whoever you allow)
 Lots of available designs, or embed in your own web page or blog
 LinkedIn Polls
 Survey your own network for free
 Survey specific demographics for a fee (~$1/response)
 Other tools
 Industry analysts – more costly
 TechTarget (and similar)– pay per response, min. number of responses –
this is great if they have your demographic

21. Learning @ LinkedIn
21

22. 22
Copyright (c) 2010 Rebecca Steinberg Herson

23. 23
Copyright (c) 2010 Rebecca Steinberg Herson

24. Our Survey Assessed Your Pain
24

25. Survey Says Your Pain Is…
25
In other words, everyone wants everything
Ideal product: a lecture series, an e-book with multiple chapters

26. More customer pain
26
 General idea of key issues
 The basic approach - how to think and
what to look for
 What is effective marketing
 Doing the right marketing
 Management
 How to build marketing strategy?
 How to use minimum of marketing
resources for a maximum effect
 Techniques to maximize marketing
results with a reasonable budget
• How to understand potential customers.
• How to design the product with customer
in mind.
• Tips of "good" and "bad“
• Case Studies/Examples
• Practical tools
• Learn from mistakes
• Marketing ideas for my Startup
• Get ideas for marketing in my current company
• I want to learn who is a marketer?
am I a non-marketer?
• How to breathe marketing
• The gold way to saxses (?????)
Know the customer
Tachlis
Tachlis on a budget
• New aspects regarding marketing
• How to market through Facebook
• Get more customers
Philosophy

27. Get Business Social
27
 Set up profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter in your real name,
or something that makes sense
 not “surferdude” unless you are selling surf equipment
 Get a “real” email address – (Gmail has lots of add’l
benefits besides email)
 Clean up your act - untag incriminating Facebook
photos, delete offensive wall posts, etc.
 Set your privacy policy – no need for a potential
customer to see anything you forgot to delete

28. Then jump in
28

29. Identify key people in your industry
29
 Search Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook for relevant people, groups,
comments, companies
 Follow, read their tweets, check their blogs
 Retweet relevant content – people appreciate it and it builds
your credibility
 Tweet your own thoughts – be authentic
 Join relevant groups on LinkedIn, Facebook
 “Lurk” for a while before you jump in – think cocktail party
 Then, start discussions (LinkedIn)
 Correspond with people who enter the discussion
 DM influencers (Twitter)
 Reach out to people – they are people, and most want to help
Become part of the conversation

30. Trade Shows – a concentrated learning
tool
30
 If you attend, do your homework
 Check on twitter what people are saying about the event, tweetups planned
 Review all the exhibitors and speakers – who do you want to talk to? Do you
want to meet the exhibitors or the attendees?
 Most of the people in the booths are sales reps – is that who will be most
useful for you? Some companies also send executives, but they don’t hang
around waiting for visitors; you need to book an appointment
 The Press are also there. Don’t bother with them unless you already have a
customer they can talk to
 Lots of analysts attend trade shows, too – they are looking for the big trends –
try to get a meeting; the big ones won’t take you seriously until you have a
customer, although the little ones may wish to be hired by you to write your
first white paper
 Look up the people you want to meet on LinkedIn and memorize what they
look like – you just might run into them in a hotel lobby

31. Increasing Your Influence
31

32. Why you need a blog (or FB Page, or…)
32
 It’s the second thing people will look at when they want to
understand you and your company
 (the first is your LinkedIn profile)
 Great for SEO
 It becomes your own media channel - who needs
ComputerWorld anymore?
 Gives you more credibility with the mainstream media –
you can become a source for them
 Gives you something to tweet, for people to retweet, and
for them to comment on – gets you into the conversation
 Of course, you need to have something to say

33. Start your blog (or FB page)
33
 Blog can be your own personal blog, that is, if you have enough
to say on your own
 If you open a company blog, you will have more options for
contributors
 Facebook pages have lots of blog-ish options; main drawback:
not searchable
 Be authentic
 Talk about issues in the industry
 Comment on newsworthy items
 Offer advice
 Blog at least 6 months before you want to publicize it
 This ensures you know what you’re getting into and can maintain it
 You will have archived content from day 1

34. Industry Analysts
34
 Identify which analysts cover your space
 Paid services like Tekrati exist, or simply search on key analyst sites
(Gartner, Forrester, IDC, etc.)
 Read relevant reports
 Many are available for free on covered company’s sites
 Israel Export Institute has great discounted / joint subscriptions
 Startups get significant discounts when going direct to the analyst firms
(most have reps in Israel)
 Sometimes you have to bite the bullet & just buy the research
 Follow relevant analysts on Twitter, LinkedIn
 Start briefing the analysts when you have something to say – ideally
you will have a customer they can talk to
 Use the briefing as much for listening as for telling
 Brief them every 6 months moving forward
 Update them on key customer wins or other important news

35. More on Industry Analysts
35
 Some analysts will cover you if you subscribe (most
don’t connect this however)
 It’s a myth that people pay to get into Gartner’s Magic
Quadrant
 Some will write white papers for a (large) fee – if it’s
exactly what will help tip your prospects into
customers, then go for it
 You don’t need to be a subscriber to brief the analysts
 If you do subscribe, you can also have “inquiries” with
them on subjects related to your industry

36. Getting the First Customers
36

37. Segmenting the market
37
 Different segments will require different marketing
strategies
 May require slightly different product features
 Try to limit yourself to the quickest acting segment at
first – for first customers
 Later, focus on the most profitable segment

38. The secret to getting the first customers
38
 There is no secret
 It’s all the hard work you did in getting to know your
customers in the first section
 You probably are already linked to them in LinkedIn
 Or they are following you on Twitter
 Or they are a colleague of a friend of your uncle’s sister.
Seriously. Use all your personal connections.
 Word of mouth and personal connections are usually key
to landing your first accounts
 Try to get an influencer and/or well-connected person onto
your advisory board who can evangelize and make
introductions

39. That first (second or third) customer
39
 Revenue is important, but in the early stage these are even
more important:
 Feedback that can help improve the product
 Testimonial - a customer approves a quote for your web
site or other marketing materials
 “This product is great because it solves such & such
problem…”
 Case study – customer goes on the record with before/
after data and quotes
 Reference – customer agrees to talk to other potential
customers, journalists or analysts about how great you are

40. Marketing Promotion
40

41. Promotion
41 MIT Sloane School Marketing Management Course Lecture

42. Value Proposition, Elevator Pitch
42
 The unique value you offer to your customers
 Boil it down into a very short, medium and long
statement
 Literally try saying it in the elevator – it’s hard
 Test it out on others, especially outside your company
 Polish this before you start officially
promoting, to maintain consistency

43. Public Relations
43
 Keep track of articles that cover your industry – these are most likely
the journalists you will want to contact when the time comes
 Journalists look for newsworthy stories:
 Timely
 Conflict
 Unexpected
 Meaningful
 Craft your “pitch” based on what you’ve learned about the journalist –
what kinds of stories does s/he write?
 You should have at least one customer willing to talk before you ever
talk to the press
 Try for the less obvious publications – you may find coverage easier to
achieve

44. Product Reviews
44
 Once your product is stabilized, try for a formal review
 Try for a standalone review for the first time
 Pursue a “friendly” reviewer, a “friendly” publication
 Over-prepare
 Write a detailed reviewers guide, walking the reviewer
through exactly what you expect them to do, and
what they should see as a result
 Stay in constant contact with the reviewer throughout
the process

45. Trade Shows/ Conferences
45
 You don’t necessarily have to exhibit (expensive!!) – try visiting the first time,
and making appointments – great research tool
 Apply for speaking engagements even if you don’t exhibit
 If you do decide to exhibit, go minimalistic
 Basics you will need:
 “Backwall” type booth – summarizes how you solve the pain in big letters
 Small amount of brochures (most people will prefer that you email them)
 Short demo or presentation on laptop
 Check with the organizers if they have any matching-type services to bring
relevant people to you
 Request the press list in advance and reach out to relevant journalists before
you get there
 Tweet that you’re going; update your LinkedIn profile; Facebook
 Don’t expect the relevant leads to show up just because you are there. You
need to bring them to your booth

46. Qualifying Show Visitors
46
 Majority of visitors will be tire-kickers
 Come up with 3 questions that immediately lets
you know if the visitor is qualified
 Track the answers with the visitor’s business card
(badge scanner or staple the card to a lead sheet
with the 3 questions pre-printed)
 Send a follow up email to everyone who attended,
highlighting your key positioning statements

47. 47

48. How to Know What’s Working (ROI)
48

49. How to Measure What’s Working?
49
 SALES (of course)
 Divide your pipeline into specific stages, and track opportunities
throughout
 For example:
 1-Qualified suspect – meets our criteria
 2-Initiated contact
 3-Interest expressed – potential opportunity identified
 …
 9-Verbal commitment to purchase
 Closed Won
 Closed Lost
 Stalled/Postponed

50. Sample Pipeline by Lead Source
50
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Stage 6Stage 7Stage 8Stage 9 Sold
Trade Show London
Twitter
Google Ads
Webinar on Security
Articles
email ad -
Computerworld

51. Interim Results, Prior to Sales
51
For each lead source calculate:
adjusted revenue = ∑ (Expected deal size x % likelihood to close)
Temporary ROI (until deal closes)= [(adj. revenue - cost)/cost]*100
 For cost, include your time – if you spend 3 days at a trade show this
adds to the cost of the show
 Likelihood to close is (typically) based on sales stage – stage 6 = 60%;
stage 7 = 70%, etc.
 For us, a lead doesn’t even become an “opportunity” until it hits stage 4
 You can start by tracking in a spreadsheet
 Once you are dealing with over 20 opportunities simultaneously (at all
stages) you will need a CRM system
 Bear in mind that each account will probably have multiple contacts,
further complicating your record keeping

52. How did you hear?
52
2.8%

53. Measuring Conversion Rate
53
?
94
41
Unique page views
Respondents
Attendees
4700
Invitations Sent
Invitations Opened
2% of invited
44% page conversion

54. Iterate, Iterate and Iterate Again
54
 Build in feedback models
 A-B testing
 Track opens, clicks, event attendance, registrations, etc.
 Do it better the next time
 Adjust your message
 Adjust your demo
 Adjust your home page
 Adjust your marketing channel
 Try to improve the # of leads coming into the funnel
 Track and improve your conversion rate at every step in the
funnel

55. Typical Marketing Mistakes
55
 Identifying your target market as YOU (and people just like
you)
 Not segmenting the market
 Not including a measurable call to action
 Not tracking “how did you hear” – on the Web this can
often be done automatically (referrer URL)
 Showing up at a trade show & expecting qualified visitors
to show up at the booth without doing any prior outreach
 Focusing too much on the competition, and not enough on
the customer
 Listening too much to the customer and getting confused,
instead of leading
 Believing your own hype

56. 56

57. Our Lecture “Product”
57
 What next? Let’s take this on the road
 Can gather feedback (another survey) for product improvements
 Testimonials (part of feedback survey; request reactions on Facebook,
recommendations on LinkedIn)
 Gather attendees’ contact info to invite to the next lecture; invite to
download an e-book, etc.
 Why didn’t I collect email address on the first survey? too “valuable” to
request up front – now you’ve had a taste of the “product” & in order
to get the slides (something of value) you may be willing to give up your
address
 This is a way of filtering the “important” leads from the more
ambivalent ones – you don’t necessarily want every single lead if
they’re not qualified
 Alternatively, I can rely on my distribution channel (i.e. BizTEC) to send
out the feedback survey, the slides, etc. But I lose the direct access to
the customer
Note: this is all theoretical – I’m not taking this on the road 

58. What would I have done differently?
58
 Drop the complicated grid question (I fell in love with
the technical capability – it was overkill for what I
needed), OR
 Force people to choose ONE important item from the
grid, rather than enabling multiple choices for
“important” or “must have”
 Indicate “First and Last name” for the name field
(what happens if there are two Yakovs?)
 For fun - set up separate URLs (or tracking
parameters) for each email blast, Facebook & LinkedIn
to track each marketing channel’s effectiveness

59. Useful Marketing Resources
59
http://bit.ly/marketing-resources

60. Rebecca Steinberg Herson
rherson@gmail.com
rebecca.herson@commtouch.com
60
Thank You!

61. Price
61
 “Freemium” model? (AVG Antivirus)
 Free trial? Pay for the full version?
 Service model? (e.g. LiveU)

62. Place (aka distribution)
62
 Channel strategy
 Direct
 What other pieces to this puzzle? Is there an
ecosystem? (e.g. SAP Business One users;
Salesforce.com users, etc.)