The document discusses the role of marketing for different types of startups. It summarizes that bootstrapped startups face unique challenges with marketing to attract funding and customers with limited resources. Funded startups often work with marketing firms around launch time but then ignore marketing until growth slows, when they reengage marketing help. The document suggests startups underestimate marketing's value and that its perception is improving as digital marketing evolves, though adoption remains limited among startups for now.
The Power OF Story - 4 Archetypes For Content Creation StrategiesThe Content Advisory
My presentation for Content Marketing World - it's my introductory session to talk about creating processes for the Content Marketing Creation process.
Internet has changed the rule of the game in tremendous way. Its now easier for an university graduate to start business and see it sailing in very short time.Thanks to the simple tools that are available at their disposal. For the big brands with big budgets for marketing, the simple question is what are are we waiting for? lets seize this opportunity and market our brand with most effective way.With internet it doesn't lie it gives you the appropriate numbers.
This book has more incites on how you can ride with internet to market your brand. enjoy!
The Power OF Story - 4 Archetypes For Content Creation StrategiesThe Content Advisory
My presentation for Content Marketing World - it's my introductory session to talk about creating processes for the Content Marketing Creation process.
Internet has changed the rule of the game in tremendous way. Its now easier for an university graduate to start business and see it sailing in very short time.Thanks to the simple tools that are available at their disposal. For the big brands with big budgets for marketing, the simple question is what are are we waiting for? lets seize this opportunity and market our brand with most effective way.With internet it doesn't lie it gives you the appropriate numbers.
This book has more incites on how you can ride with internet to market your brand. enjoy!
How to Use Blogging to Fuel Your Freelance Writing Businessdelonibalusi
Are you struggling to get clients as a freelance writer? Do you want to learn how to get more clients? This 29 pages slide gives some insights on how to leverage blogging to grow your client database.
Designing Strategy: Realign Your Mission and Values With Your Digital PresenceBryan Merica
The idea behind “Designing Strategy” isn’t simply about building a slick-looking website with all the latest bells, whistles, and social media plug-ins. Instead, it’s about asking oneself all of the questions that need to be answered when building an online presence, and using those answers to form an outreach, engagement, or marketing game plan.
Abstract:
In
this
whitepaper
we
present
an
efficient
way
to
research
what
consumers
really
want
for
their
money.
We
have
learnt
from
consumers
that
“The
Number"
is
the
most
engaging
way
to
talk
about
financial
services.
“The
Number”
is
the
amount
of
resources
(financial
and
other)
that
people
think
they
need
to
feel
safe
for
the
rest
of
their
life.
Understanding
how
people
see
"their
Number"
brings
a
fresh
and
actionable
way
to
design
and
communicate
financial
services.
We
developed
our
own
proprietary
connector
research
tool,
eConceptLab.com,
making
use
of
simple
Google
and
Facebook
ads.
Connectors
are
small
sentences/visuals
like
the
ones
used
in
Google
or
Facebook
ads
that
generate
interest
and
create
a
mental
frame
of
expectations
about
a
product
or
service.
They
are,
in
this
sense,
a
great
door-‐opener
to
help
sell
in
a
relevant
way.
Keywords:
Concept
Lab,
online
advertising,
Google
and
Facebook,
Internet
consumer
research,
Address
stated
behaviour
The 30 Greatest Lead Generation Tips, Tricks & IdeasTPG
Generating leads - both high in quantity and quality - is a marketers most important objective. A successful lead generation engine is what keeps the funnel full of sales prospects while you sleep. Surprisingly, only 1 in 10 marketers feel their lead generation campaigns are effective. What gives?
Jody benson sharp how to get your lead generation to work for youJodyBensonSharp
Jody Benson Sharp Most excellent service provider If you own your own business, you know how important it is to find new customers. There are several ways that you can generate new leads that will increase your customers base. This article has several tips to help you get started. You will find that you can create plenty of leads.
Best of Branded Content Marketing 2015: Germany, Austria and Switzerland - Ed...Justin Kirby
What exactly is branded content marketing, and how can you use it in German-speaking countries to improve your business and engage better with customers?
Find out all about it in this first ever edition of the international Best of Branded Content Marketing (BOBCM) book series exclusively for, from and about the German, Austrian and Swiss region.
Spearheaded by BOBCM's local editor and partner, renowned branded entertainment consultant, strategist and journalist Sandra Freisinger-Heinl, this book presents the combined experience and wisdom of more than 45 local branded content experts.
Best of Branded Content Marketing 2015: Germany, Austria and Switzerland - Edited by Sandra Freisinger-Heinl
It explains vital aspects of branded content usage specific to the German-speaking market, including legal and research information. However, it's much more than a 'how-to' guide; it also provides insights into experts' daily work with brands, showcasing the best examples, including Deutsche Telekom Familie Heins, Media Markt Rabbit Race and Hasbro NERF Toy Blaster.
Equipped with all the information from this book, you too can use the power of branded content marketing to inspire your work.
Michelle marice mopkins effectively generating and managing leads with mobile...MichelleMariceMopkin
Michelle MariceMopkins Qualified tips provider. You know how much you or people you know love to play games on their mobile device. Whether waiting at the doctors office, riding on a bus, or wasting time at the end of the day, mobile gaming is pretty popular. Now imagine being able to spread your message to these select targets through mobile marketing.
10 Modern Marketing Lessons from Don DraperBahia Nar
After seven seasons, the show came to an end. Despite all the cigarettes, the scotches in the middle if the day and the office romances, Mad Men is a great show and few marketing lessons can be learned from me.
Even if the time is different and advertising is different now, some rules are timeless.
10 special rules from Don Draper, just follow them
India is a Startup economy now. You find the number of startups coming up every year.
This is a great time to be a start-up!
But the Billion dollar question is: How many of these startups will remain standing once the initial set up is done?
How to Use Blogging to Fuel Your Freelance Writing Businessdelonibalusi
Are you struggling to get clients as a freelance writer? Do you want to learn how to get more clients? This 29 pages slide gives some insights on how to leverage blogging to grow your client database.
Designing Strategy: Realign Your Mission and Values With Your Digital PresenceBryan Merica
The idea behind “Designing Strategy” isn’t simply about building a slick-looking website with all the latest bells, whistles, and social media plug-ins. Instead, it’s about asking oneself all of the questions that need to be answered when building an online presence, and using those answers to form an outreach, engagement, or marketing game plan.
Abstract:
In
this
whitepaper
we
present
an
efficient
way
to
research
what
consumers
really
want
for
their
money.
We
have
learnt
from
consumers
that
“The
Number"
is
the
most
engaging
way
to
talk
about
financial
services.
“The
Number”
is
the
amount
of
resources
(financial
and
other)
that
people
think
they
need
to
feel
safe
for
the
rest
of
their
life.
Understanding
how
people
see
"their
Number"
brings
a
fresh
and
actionable
way
to
design
and
communicate
financial
services.
We
developed
our
own
proprietary
connector
research
tool,
eConceptLab.com,
making
use
of
simple
Google
and
Facebook
ads.
Connectors
are
small
sentences/visuals
like
the
ones
used
in
Google
or
Facebook
ads
that
generate
interest
and
create
a
mental
frame
of
expectations
about
a
product
or
service.
They
are,
in
this
sense,
a
great
door-‐opener
to
help
sell
in
a
relevant
way.
Keywords:
Concept
Lab,
online
advertising,
Google
and
Facebook,
Internet
consumer
research,
Address
stated
behaviour
The 30 Greatest Lead Generation Tips, Tricks & IdeasTPG
Generating leads - both high in quantity and quality - is a marketers most important objective. A successful lead generation engine is what keeps the funnel full of sales prospects while you sleep. Surprisingly, only 1 in 10 marketers feel their lead generation campaigns are effective. What gives?
Jody benson sharp how to get your lead generation to work for youJodyBensonSharp
Jody Benson Sharp Most excellent service provider If you own your own business, you know how important it is to find new customers. There are several ways that you can generate new leads that will increase your customers base. This article has several tips to help you get started. You will find that you can create plenty of leads.
Best of Branded Content Marketing 2015: Germany, Austria and Switzerland - Ed...Justin Kirby
What exactly is branded content marketing, and how can you use it in German-speaking countries to improve your business and engage better with customers?
Find out all about it in this first ever edition of the international Best of Branded Content Marketing (BOBCM) book series exclusively for, from and about the German, Austrian and Swiss region.
Spearheaded by BOBCM's local editor and partner, renowned branded entertainment consultant, strategist and journalist Sandra Freisinger-Heinl, this book presents the combined experience and wisdom of more than 45 local branded content experts.
Best of Branded Content Marketing 2015: Germany, Austria and Switzerland - Edited by Sandra Freisinger-Heinl
It explains vital aspects of branded content usage specific to the German-speaking market, including legal and research information. However, it's much more than a 'how-to' guide; it also provides insights into experts' daily work with brands, showcasing the best examples, including Deutsche Telekom Familie Heins, Media Markt Rabbit Race and Hasbro NERF Toy Blaster.
Equipped with all the information from this book, you too can use the power of branded content marketing to inspire your work.
Michelle marice mopkins effectively generating and managing leads with mobile...MichelleMariceMopkin
Michelle MariceMopkins Qualified tips provider. You know how much you or people you know love to play games on their mobile device. Whether waiting at the doctors office, riding on a bus, or wasting time at the end of the day, mobile gaming is pretty popular. Now imagine being able to spread your message to these select targets through mobile marketing.
10 Modern Marketing Lessons from Don DraperBahia Nar
After seven seasons, the show came to an end. Despite all the cigarettes, the scotches in the middle if the day and the office romances, Mad Men is a great show and few marketing lessons can be learned from me.
Even if the time is different and advertising is different now, some rules are timeless.
10 special rules from Don Draper, just follow them
India is a Startup economy now. You find the number of startups coming up every year.
This is a great time to be a start-up!
But the Billion dollar question is: How many of these startups will remain standing once the initial set up is done?
38 experts share How to use Web Push NotificationsHelvijs Smoteks
Adam Houlahan, Sam Hurley, Erik Qualman, Ritchie Pettauer, Mandy McEwen, Tim Hughes and more - in total 38 Marketing Superstars, share their insights on how to use Browser Web Push Notifications to get the best results.
To see the full article click here -> https://maxtraffic.com/blog/web-push-notification-roundup/
Get Scrappy: A (Small) Business Owner's Guide to Marketing on LessMichelle Fitzgerald
Get Scrappy is a pared down, practical guide about how to incorporate marketing into the heart of any business plan.
Packed with expertise from Fortune 500 marketers and SMB consultants, Get Scrappy provides real-life examples on how organizations, even those on less time and money, can make seemingly tactical objectives become strategic initiatives that generate results.
Do more on less. GET SCRAPPY.
“From The Money and The Maker” : The relationship between Product Management and Fundraising
This talk will reveal the secret of how much (if at all) is it important to communicate Product Vision when fundraising and will present both investors and entrepreneurs perspectives of the fundraising process for startups.
Moving from NOW to NEXT in the Marketing of Insights FortuneCMO, LLC
Insights Marketing Day | #IMD15 | 9-21-15 | by Steven Cook
Every business vertical today is experiencing rapid disruption of business models, value propositions, products and services & customer expectations. The Market Research industry is similarly facing big changes. It is more important than ever for insights businesses to understand & use state-of-the-art marketing & brand building approaches to better engage with customers, prospects & strategic partners.
Major League Marketing on a Minor League BudgetIsaac La Buguen
Whether you're an entrepreneur, small business or freelance contractor, you understand the importance of allocating budgets and dialing up big results on limited resources. Discover how to build your brand, get found and spread influence in the marketplace without breaking the bank.
Startup Selling: How to sell if you really, really have to and don't know how...SalesQualia
Are you a start-up CEO? A technical founder with a great product that you need to start selling now? An engineer at a start-up that's been asked to pitch in with the company's sales? Then this book is for you.
While you’re sitting at your desk coding or productizing, the phone might ring every so often or you receive occasional "request for information" emails from your website. Perhaps you’re lucky enough to gain an introduction from your venture capital partner or friends in the industry. What do you do with that new prospect? How do you move from product development to revenue?
This book teaches your about the basic aspects of the sales process, and provides everyday sales strategies you can utilize immediately in your business. It's practical advice that you can start using right now. In the next 20 minutes. Today. This book will make a difference in your business. You will immediately see how inbound callers respond differently and how you're able to decode the decision process. Before you know it, you might actually begin to like sales...
The author is a 10-year veteran in Silicon Valley with more than 15 years of sales experience. You'll love his candid writing style - loaded with specific questions to ask on sales calls and example conversations that you can implement immediately into your customer interactions.
Get Scrappy A (Small) Business Owners Guide To Marketing On Lessmfitzgerald0705
Get Scrappy is a pared down, practical guide about how to incorporate marketing into the heart of a business plan. In a three-step process, Get Scrappy breaks down how to create meaningful, brief marketing plans, outlines the tools and resources available to getting it done and describes how to leverage Marketing to learn more about your business.
Packed with expertise from Fortune 500 marketers and SMB consultants, Get Scrappy provides real-life examples on how organizations, even those on less time and money, can make seemingly tactical objectives become strategic initiatives that generate results.
Do more on less. GET SCRAPPY.
*Contributing authors includes individuals from ExactTarget, Hubspot, iLoop Mobile, Swanberg Associates, Communicate Value and the David Marketing Group.
Marketing for Startup: 14 Things You Shouldn't MissLukas Obdrzalek
I focused on 3 topics
- What should you know when setting up your marketing
- How you should build your marketing team
- How you should choose your agency and how to work with it
How To Launch A Product: 7 Tips To Drive DemandDrift
Whether you're a product marketer, growth marketer or customer marketer, you'll be able to use the 7 steps in this guide to nail your next product launch and drive demand.
The ultimate guide to affiliate marketing. With the growing age of technology and the ease that comes with it in more departments, more and more people are looking for ways to use it as a source of income and find ways to work from it without having to leave their houses remotely! One
field of work that provides this feasibility is Affiliate Marketing, and it has grown mainly in the few previous years. It has grown so massively that it has shifted from being a secondary source of income to a primary source of income for many people.
6 awesome steps to promote your businessKickoffLabs
Learn how to promote your online business using lead generation techniques to build qualified web traffic. Cover the use of landing pages for viral growth and high conversion rates. www.kickofflabs.com
The 10 Most Influential Leaders Guiding Corporate Evolution, 2024.pdfthesiliconleaders
In the recent edition, The 10 Most Influential Leaders Guiding Corporate Evolution, 2024, The Silicon Leaders magazine gladly features Dejan Štancer, President of the Global Chamber of Business Leaders (GCBL), along with other leaders.
An introduction to the cryptocurrency investment platform Binance Savings.Any kyc Account
Learn how to use Binance Savings to expand your bitcoin holdings. Discover how to maximize your earnings on one of the most reliable cryptocurrency exchange platforms, as well as how to earn interest on your cryptocurrency holdings and the various savings choices available.
Tata Group Dials Taiwan for Its Chipmaking Ambition in Gujarat’s DholeraAvirahi City Dholera
The Tata Group, a titan of Indian industry, is making waves with its advanced talks with Taiwanese chipmakers Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) and UMC Group. The goal? Establishing a cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication unit (fab) in Dholera, Gujarat. This isn’t just any project; it’s a potential game changer for India’s chipmaking aspirations and a boon for investors seeking promising residential projects in dholera sir.
Visit : https://www.avirahi.com/blog/tata-group-dials-taiwan-for-its-chipmaking-ambition-in-gujarats-dholera/
Building Your Employer Brand with Social MediaLuanWise
Presented at The Global HR Summit, 6th June 2024
In this keynote, Luan Wise will provide invaluable insights to elevate your employer brand on social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. You'll learn how compelling content can authentically showcase your company culture, values, and employee experiences to support your talent acquisition and retention objectives. Additionally, you'll understand the power of employee advocacy to amplify reach and engagement – helping to position your organization as an employer of choice in today's competitive talent landscape.
Recruiting in the Digital Age: A Social Media MasterclassLuanWise
In this masterclass, presented at the Global HR Summit on 5th June 2024, Luan Wise explored the essential features of social media platforms that support talent acquisition, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok.
Company Valuation webinar series - Tuesday, 4 June 2024FelixPerez547899
This session provided an update as to the latest valuation data in the UK and then delved into a discussion on the upcoming election and the impacts on valuation. We finished, as always with a Q&A
Top mailing list providers in the USA.pptxJeremyPeirce1
Discover the top mailing list providers in the USA, offering targeted lists, segmentation, and analytics to optimize your marketing campaigns and drive engagement.
Anny Serafina Love - Letter of Recommendation by Kellen Harkins, MS.AnnySerafinaLove
This letter, written by Kellen Harkins, Course Director at Full Sail University, commends Anny Love's exemplary performance in the Video Sharing Platforms class. It highlights her dedication, willingness to challenge herself, and exceptional skills in production, editing, and marketing across various video platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Taurus Zodiac Sign: Unveiling the Traits, Dates, and Horoscope Insights of th...my Pandit
Dive into the steadfast world of the Taurus Zodiac Sign. Discover the grounded, stable, and logical nature of Taurus individuals, and explore their key personality traits, important dates, and horoscope insights. Learn how the determination and patience of the Taurus sign make them the rock-steady achievers and anchors of the zodiac.
2. I own a company called The Barbarian Group. We are a “digital marketing services
company.”
Hi there. I’m Rick Webb.
3. And what’s it got to do with building startups?
What does this mean, “digital
marketing services?”
4. “All skills necessary in service to provide comprehensive digital marketing to anyone that
needs it.”
We’re not talking just “online PR” or “SEO” - things startups tend to have a bit more
experience with - but also full-blown traditional marketing and advertising.
Our company was founded with a
unique, singular mission:
5. Sometimes we operate like an ad agency, to brands, yes.
Doesn’t that make you an ad
agency?
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. We also help other entities with their digital marketing needs. Brands, yes. But also
television networks, technology companies, rock stars, magazines, story tellers...
But we don’t just work with
“brands.”
15. We’ve worked with maybe 40-50 startups in some formal capacity - everything ranging from
board of advisors capacity to full site builds, launch marketing, viral marketing, custom ad
unit creation... the works.
BTW I looked and we’ve only worked with one of your startups - and it was 6 years ago. We
were just getting started.
Startups are a big part of our
clientele.
16.
17. And I thought it would be fun to talk to people who deal in startups about some of the
challenges, quirks, insights and anecdotes we’ve picked up.
So all this work on all these
startups has learned us a thing or
two.
18. We’ve worked with entrepreneur-funded startups, venture-backed startups, bootstrapped
startups, sweat equity startups - you name it.
Each offers a few unique insights - indulge me while I try to weave a narrative.
I’m going to run this presentation
through the prism of sources of
funding.
19. Funding Sources
I think for simplicity we can break down our startup friends into two groups
The Bootstrapped: Going it alone (for now). Would be open to funding but want to get the thing off
the ground, either because investors want to see progress first, or because they think they can pull it
off on their own.
The Funded: The company has some funding, and needs to get the thing off the ground and turned
into a success.
I’ve found these two approaches offer two different constructive sets of learnings.
21. The Bootstrapped
Recently stumbled upon this quote by Jon Steinberg of Google’s Small Medium Business
Partnership Team:
People on the business side of internet software, constantly bemoan their inability to code. I’ve been guilty
at times of the frequent refrain, “My kingdom for the ability to code.” However, I’ve found over the past year
that the emergence of APIs coupled with eLance (or oDesk or one of the other contractor platforms) have
made this expression of exasperation largely hot air.
For $500 and four weeks of late night emails to eLance developers, you can basically spec and build simple,
rough apps that knit or build upon open APIs to create things that are interesting and potentially valuable. To
be clear, you can’t build complicated apps or the next Salesforce.com on this kind of shoestring, but you can
achieve the kind of learning, vetting, and experimentation that is left undone if you don’t.
22. They’re out there. Many of us in the room, if we had nothing else to do, could pull it off. It’s
not fun, and funding makes it easier, but it’s doable. We know this.
The real problem is in the marketing.
We’ve all heard of the
entrepreneur savvy enough to
bootstrap their startup into
existence.
23. Bootstrap vs. Seek Funding
The entrepreneur savvy enough to bootstrap their launch marketing is a far rarer breed.
If you’re not networked into the entrepreneurial blog world, this can be a huge challenge.
You’re actually essentially marketing to two different audiences:
Possible funding avenues
Possible customers
This often gets confusing, since they need two different messages.
The social media challenges are intense - being connected or having someone connected on your side can
help immensely both with getting the attention of VCs and getting the first few users using your product.
24. A past successful entrepreneur can garner interest in a new
project...
25. But the rest of the bootstrappers have to do it
themselves
26. The ethos of the internet tells us that a great product will be found and grow, and eventually
thrive, and all we have to do is hammer away at making the best product we can. Oh and
maybe a little PR.
How many bootstrapped startups do
you know that are great but never
gained traction?
27. In the old days, we’d make a cool minisite at a new cool
URL, and everyone would find it.
We used to deal with the same
things in online “advertising.”
28. Our middle years are filled with examples
of this - great sites that no one saw
because there wasn’t any awareness
marketing - the same is true for products.
Nowadays, though, the market is saturated -
we know all too well the risks of building
something and not thinking of the marketing
side of it.
29. In all our years and all our startup projects
we find it curious that while we’ve been
offered equity to build the product for free or
at a discount dozens of times, we’ve never
been offered equity to effectively launch or
market a startup.
30. Let’s put that aside for a second
and talk about funded startups
31. The Funded
Typically, funded startups work with us at two distinct points:
Launch
Somewhere around their 60th employee, usually their second in the “marketing department,” probably
the first employee with an MBA focusing in marketing
33. The Launch is an interesting time. There’s still a lot of the funding laying around, and there
is palpable concern about getting the word out about the site. People are often interested in
hearing ideas at that point about marketing “the launch” of the site.
The Launch
34. The Launch
I always find this interesting because as “internet people,” we’ve all been indoctrinated
that a site and a product is, these days, being constantly iterated upon. And yet the desire
persists for people to get the word out about the site “at launch.”
I also find it interesting because usually we end up doing this in tandem with a site build or
branding project - no one really wants to spend money on the launch marketing.
But boy are we all thinking about it.
We all want our new baby to succeed, so typically we @ TBG do a little extra to get the word out. It
usually ends up being gratis, however.
35. The Launch
Then there’s the whole “hire vs staff” debate - do I hire a CTO to oversee some vendors? Do
I hire a company to build the initial build of my project? Do I build a whole company?
This could be a whole presentation into itself, and I debated having that presentation, but
instead I’m leaving you with three big learnings on that one:
36. Lesson 1: If you DO hire a company to build your site
while you staff up, be acutely aware that every new
hire you make will have an impact on the build process
- we’ve seen all too often the number of stakeholders
grow precariously on the client side while the build is
already in motion. Avoid revisiting too many past
decisions, and prep the new hires on the decisions that
have already been made.
37. If you don’t do this, the platform decisions will then impact the CTO search, and the reverse
may even be true - we’ve built product sites on certain platforms simply because that will
make the CTO search easier.
Lesson 2: Decide up front if the product your vendors are
delivering is expected to last a long time, and if it is, try to
have your CTO in place first, or at least make sure
someone technical has vetted the platform decisions they
have made.
38. Almost every good vendor will offer discounts for equity. Decide up front if the amount and
terms of that discount are the most important thing, or whether hiring the best qualified
vendor is the most important thing - both are valid approaches, but know up front which
you’re going for.
Lesson 3: Decide up front if you’re
hiring a vendor based on their
qualifications or their price.
39. Put them on your advisory board. Ask them to help interview staff. Keep them apprised of
hiring decisions. Be frank with them when you’re hoping to not need them any more. A good
vendor knows they’re not going to be there forever, and wants to make the transition as
smooth as possible.
Lesson 4: Keep the vendor around and
ask their opinions, even if you don’t like
hearing them.
40. The Launch
Picking the thread back up... a few final thoughts on launch marketing.
PR, Marketing, Consumer Relations - they’re all merging. We all know this. Be aware of who you are
trying to market to with your “marketing” - to get users? To draw the attention of investors? The press?
Align the goals and clarify the roles between the inevitable “startup PR” company and your marketing -
much online marketing is social these days, and so is much PR. They’ll overlap if you’re not careful.
Consider doing the marketing after launch when the product’s worked out some of the kinks.
41. It’s funny how almost no startup calls us
between launch and that fateful TechCrunch
story. We always find that interesting.
And then there’s the gap.
Interest
in
Marketing
Time
Launch
TechCrunch headline about
growth having peaked and
investors getting nervous, or
the 70th or so employee
OMG WTF?
42. The Gap
If marketing is useful to small startups and large startups, why is it so ignored by medium
startups?
I think there are two common causes:
The belief that marketing is “expensive.”
The belief that marketing is unneeded in this day and age - that “earned media” make traditional
marketing unnecessary.
43. The Gap
Marketing is “expensive.”
There is, of course, some potential truth to this. And the dot com 1.0 bust taught us we shouldn’t be
blowing investors’ money on Super Bowl ads.
Web 2.0 changed not just web development and entrepreneurialism, but marketing as well
Viral marketing has exploded
Social media and earned media have become harnessable
Successful web companies that have marketed on small budgets (Zipcar, Zappos) have done so by:
Tightly integrating their marketing with their business processes
Harnessing positive customer word of mouth
Web marketing is often more of a consulting affair with selective production gigs as necessary - it’s not about
“hiring an agency” or “doing a big campaign.”
44. To me, this is the proof. Almost every successful
startup, when it hits a certain point, learns of
the limitations of their current efforts and
inevitably turns to marketing.
Then there is the “Mature
Startup”
Interest
in
Marketing
Time
Launch
TechCrunch headline about
growth having peaked and
investors getting nervous, or
the 70th or so employee
Redemption!
45. All of these startups have had “pitches” or hired a
marketing firm recently
46. Were the marketing needs not there previously? Of course they were - they needed those
additional customers just as badly a month earlier, right?
Was the money not there? In some cases, such as Digg, the answer is no, but often the
answer is yes.
To me, this is curious
47. I believe these firms “hit a wall.” Rapid, unsupported growth started to slow, and the
economics of paying a marketer began to be perceived as more compelling. Did these
economics actually change? In many of the situations I’m personally familiar with, the
answer was no.
So. What changed?
48. I do believe, however, that marketing is getting a bad rap with startups and VCs. Given the
history of monkeys and Super Bowls, this is understandable.
I’m not so naive as to think that all
startups will suddenly start
marketing.
49. The gulf between the advertising world and the technology world is fairly astonishing to me.
Even in firms that are building products whose revenue is derived from advertising.
Finally, I find it doubly curious that so many
websites base their revenue models on
advertising, while acting as if they believe
advertising doesn’t exist or work.
50. The advertising world is in full blown revolution at this point as it works to unlock the worlds of
social media, earned media, viral marketing and word of mouth. And they have made enormous
strides.
And as web publishers and properties struggle to sell more custom and premium advertising
solutions, they’re beginnig to understand agencies more.
But things are improving on both
sides.
51. ...but I am hoping and I believe that soon, advertising and marketing will once again become
a viable tool for startups.
Small, digital-focused shops are cropping up all the time. A whole generation of advertisers
have reached maturity on the internet. And a new slough of respected startups are turning
to advertising in smart new ways.
Perhaps we’re not quite there
yet...
52. And in the meantime, thank you for your time!
So maybe we’ll all talk in a year or
two!