Marketing in a Start-Up
Spring Faculty Boot Camp
Creating the Marketing
Plan
Process
What is Marketing?
•
•
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
(AMA Definition 2007)
Awareness
Brand
Company
Position
Lead
generation
Customer
Acquisition
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Marketing Begins at Company
Inception
Company
inception
Business
Goals
(#’s/$$$)
Acquire
Funding &
Talent (AFT)
Product
Development
AFT
Identify & secure
first customers
Soft
launch
Product
launch
AFT
Solid initial
Customers
Generate
prospect list
Audience
Investors
Employees
Early adopters
Investors
Employees
Prospects
Customers
Investors
Employees
Revenue
Ramp
AFT
Develop
pipeline
& close
business
Establish
Partnerships
Prospects
Customers
Partners
Investors
Employees
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Developing an Effective Marketing
Plan
Business Goals
Marketing Objectives and Strategy
(Positioning and Messaging)
Refinement
Marketing Plan
Measurement
Customer Acquisition Cost
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Relating Business Objectives to
Marketing Objectives
The End Game
Business Objectives
Marketing Objectives
•Acquire customers
• Trial customers (alpha/beta)
• Revenue customers
• Subscribers
•Acquire partners
•Enter new markets
•technology
•geographic
•customer segment
•Introduce new products
•Establish a position (near term
and long term goals)
•Market education
•Credibility and validation
•Create awareness
• Drive positive opinion
•Communicate value
•Generate sales leads
•Subscriber growth
* Establish * Achieve * Generate * Expand * Change * Evolve * Reinforce *
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Creating the Marketing Plan
Marketing
Objectives
Marketing
Requirements
Deliverables
Programs
Month
1
Month
2
Month
3
Month
4
Month
5
Month
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Sales tools/
collateral
Deliverable
$$
Deliverable
$$
Deliverable
$$
Deliverable
$$
Deliverable
$$
Deliverable
$$
Website
Public
relations
Analyst
relations
Events
Social media
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Positioning
Pay Attention!
Company and Product/Brand
Positioning
• The foundation for all marketing activities
• The magic ingredient in Exit valuation
• Key considerations
– Where do you want to be in 1, 3, 5 years?
– What credible position can you stake out today?
– Where do you have an opportunity for a market
leadership position?
– Who are you talking to?
– How do you differentiate yourself from the
competition?
Don’t start the conversation until you know what you want to say!!!
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The Starting Point: Understand your
Universe
Prospective
Customers
Market
Environment
Media
You
Industry
Experts
Competition
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Is This Differentiable?
Enabling mobile access to any content, on any device, on any
network, at any time
• Competitor 1: Your Video Anywhere
•Competitor 2:Discover, create and share anytime.
Experience anywhere.
•Competitor 3:Engage your consumers anytime anywhere
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Creating a New Market
Category
• “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” – William
Shakespeare 1594
• Unless you have something that is completely new this should be a
last resort option
• Category creation:
• Requires buy-in from customers, analysts and the press
• Is a time consuming and distracting process, requires a great deal
of investment in market education
• Is potentially high risk (you don’t want to be in a category of 1)
• Won’t work if it is just a marketing game
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Company Identity
Equipe
Doink
Vuuch
• Name
•
•
•
•
•
Can you pronounce it?
Can you spell it?
Is it unique?
Is the domain available?
Does it work globally?
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Taglines: This is Not You!
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Product Nomenclature
• Socializing a brand name takes time and money
• Does it make sense for your business to try and socialize two brands
at once?
• Company
• Product
• Chances are your audience will only internalize one brand at a time –
which is more important to you?
• Keep it simple!
ADOBE  Acrobat
The Barking Dog Ltd. 
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Leading with the Product
Brand
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Aggghhhh
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Launch Strategies & the
Marketing Mix
Programs
Stealth
Soft Launch
Full Visibility
Sales tools/collateral
Y
Y
Y
Website
Simple billboard
Y
Y
Search Engine
Marketing
SEO only
Y
Y
Public relations
N
Editorial opportunities
Start ups to watch
Awards
Full engagement
Analyst relations
N
Y
Y
Social media
N
Blog
Full engagement
Direct marketing
N
Y
Y
Speaking Ops
N
Y
Y
Advertising
N
SEM only
Full engagement
Events
Venture?
Small presence
Full engagement
Viral marketing
N
N
Y
Mobile
N
N
Y
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Remember this…….
• There is no magic formula!!!!!!!!
• Always ask
• Does this program serve my business
objectives?
• Can I afford to do this? Does the
expected return justify the cost?
• Is this right for my company?
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Elevator Pitch
May 2011
Ian Mashiter
Executive-in-Residence
The Elevator Speech
•
•
•
•
What Is It?
Video
Why Is It Important?
How Do You Develop?
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What Is An Elevator Speech?
• Imagine You Get on an Elevator
– …With an Important Person…
• What Is Your Objective?
• What Do You Say?
• Example
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Must Be Clear, Concise,
Engaging
• They Should Understand Your Business
Concept
• They Should Become Interested
• They Should Want to Hear More
• Example Video
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Why Is This Important?
• Sometimes, Your Only Chance
• Average Investor Listens for Only 90
Seconds
• Process Forces You to Clarify Your
Concept
– Usually You Understand More Clearly
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How to Develop?
• Describe the Business
• Ask Yourself “What Must They
Remember?”
• Answer the Key Questions
– What’s the Problem?
– How Will You Solve It?
– Can You Do It?
– Will They Make $ By Helping You?
• Practice!!
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Elevator Pitch Components
• The Hook: Grabs the listener's attention
• The Connection: Make a connection
• The Benefit: What’s in it for them
• The Ask: Request for next step
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Try This Sample
• Let me introduce to my company______ We do
__________We solve the problem
of__________(Hook)
• We have put together a team that includes ____
and _____, who have ______. Our Advisory
Board includes ______.
• Your background in ______ would be ideal as
an ________. (Connection)
• We have raised _____ thus far and are now
seeking _____ to finance _______. (Benefit)
• Would you be interested in meeting to discuss
this in greater detail? (Ask)
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Key Ingredients
• It’s Not Just the Words!
• Don’t Forget:
– Eye Contact
– Pace & Voice
– Body Language
• You Want to Convey
Confidence and Passion!
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Preparing the Pitch
Ian Mashiter
Executive-in-Residence
Lecturer, Strategy & Innovation
Making your pitch
The Goal
• To Make Your Points…
– Clearly
– Professionally
– Memorably
• Which requires…
– Thoughtful Planning
– Careful Preparation
– PRACTICE!
– Video
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Preparation
• Know your audience
– Technical or Not
– Known vs. Unknown (to You)
– Why are they here?
• Define your purpose
–
–
–
–
–
To Inform?
To Entertain?
To Motivate?
To Persuade?
What Would Be a Good Outcome?
• Consider time
– Understand your constraints
– Be respectful & appreciative of audience’s time
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My Outline
• What is your business?
– Elevator Pitch
• Why would anybody need it?
• How are you going to market and sell it?
• How are you going to make money
– Business model
• Why is this team qualified to do it?
• How much investment is needed?
• What are the deal terms?
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Presentation DOs
and DON’Ts
NOT this . . .
Measure
This . . .
Time
Variable B
Run Chart
Variable A
Frequency
Scatterplot
Measurement
Histogram
Unit
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Tim e-1
16
18
14
17
16
14
16
20
19
16
17
14
15
18
18
16
17
15
17
16
16
19
22
Tim e-2
43
58
52
62
44
47
52
44
50
49
48
49
52
57
40
44
47
48
53
55
57
49
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Tim e-3
35
35
38
35
36
38
32
32
33
38
39
35
36
36
29
33
33
30
36
36
37
37
35
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PRACTICE!
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•
•
•
•
•
Review for Clarity
Review for Flow
Review for Impact
Manage Pace / Timing
Prepare for Q&A
Dress Rehearsal
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Style - Be Professional
• Dress & Appearance
• Know Your Audience
• Try to Match Their Dress Code or
dress better
• Definitely Match Each Other
• Language
• (Avoid “Ummm” and “Ya Know”)
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Role of the executive
summary
• Important document to distribute
– E.g. email
• Make sure it looks visually stimulating
– Magazine not term paper
• One or 2 pages
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What Now?
• Networking
– Boston as a great entrepreneur eco system
www.greenhornconnect.com
– linkedin
• Use a mentor (s)
– BU now has the excellent Kindle mentoring
program
• Enter Business Plan competitions
– BU has 1k and 50K competitions
– More info on bu.edu/ITEC
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