Dude, It's Marketing

Getting Started: Using the 5 Ws to Build Your Elevator Pitch

The last few posts in the Getting Started series have focused on naming and messaging which are crucial to any start-up. I find that many companies don't spend enough time creating their elevator pitch and then constantly change it which hurts the process more than helps it.

Recently, we looked at the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, why) that are behind your key messages and also explored how and why to come up with a short descriptor (3-5 words) that explains what bucket your business is in. These are the cornerstones of your message.

But ultimately, what you need is an elevator pitch for your company so today's post will look at how we put these other elements together into something that you can use across your website, collateral, presentations and all communications about your company.

I thought it would make the most sense to use an example to show you how I take the answers to the 5Ws to build the elevator pitch for a start-up. And, I'm going to use this blog as the "company" in this example. To get started, I answer the 5 Ws as succinctly as possible which I did in the chart below:

To start, I created my short descriptor as part of the answer to the "who am I?" question. It clearly puts me in a bucket that everyone understands, which is that of a marketing blog, but it also creates a niche in a very noisy market by showing how it is focused on start-ups.  

Then you can weave these answers into a paragraph like I've done below or if you need a shorter option just choose the most appropriate questions to answer which are likely the first 3 and covered by the first sentence:

Dude, It’s Marketing is a start-up marketing blog that helps founders and marketers at technology start-ups launch new products and build awareness for the comapny. We look at marketing strategically and show how to implement the right tactics, within the limited resources of a start-up, to generate qualified leads, which result in a strong pipeline for sales.

As you can see, by starting with the answers to the 5 Ws it is quite easy to build your elevator pitch or boilerplate. These answers also give you the talking points to consistently respond to key questions about your business in a simple and consistent manner that your audience will remember.

Let us know any tips you have picked up to create an elevator pitch or if you have any similar framworks that you use which have proven helpful.

Getting Started: What Bucket Are You In?

One of the crucial questions you need to answer for your start-up, and maybe the most difficult, when you are getting started is "who are you?". I don't mean this to be philosophical but you need to answer this question so you know what business you are in or as others put it "what bucket are you in?"

There are many reasons why this is so critical but the ones that stand out for me is that it forms the foundation of your elevator pitch and also defines who you competitors are which helps you to differentiate your solution from them. 

But you not only need to answer the question, you need to answer it succinctly. Coming up with three to five words is likely the hardest part of developing your messaging but it's extremely important. You need to think long and hard about the words you want to see tied to your company name as it will lead to how you are viewed by the public and if prospects consider you for their solution.

For example, when you get coverage for your company, and you will, the media will always want to define the company quickly at the outset so readers understand what the company does. The editor is not going to take paragraphs to do that. They are going to define the company in three words and it's better if you do it for them. 

Also, from a competitive standpoint, and everyone has competitors or the company is in bigger trouble, picking what bucket you are in is better than letting your audience do it, and they will if you don't. By defining what business you are in, you can then focus your messaging to differentiate your solution from your competition.

There is the temptation to try and create a new bucket for your start-up but this has some serious drawbacks. First and foremost, it's difficult for a small company to create a new space. And if it doesn't catch on, then you risk letting your competitor, media and/or others define you.

What makes more sense is to take an existing bucket and reframe it. Quite often, this is best done by segmenting an existing market, which gives your audience a frame of reference but at the same time gives you the benefits of defining a "new" space that you are clearly first-to-market in.

I've seen many rush into selecting their wordss while others change them regularly but how you define your business has long-term implications to your success. So, make sure you think long and hard about what bucket you are in.

Getting Started: The 5 Ws Behind Your Key Messages

One of the main problems I see with startups that are Getting Started is that they are unable to communicate a short simple message about the company. This is oftentimes called the elevator pitch as the goal is develop what you would say to someone in an elevator between floors if they asked what your company does. 

This is not an easy task and these key messages set the foundation for your marketing efforts as they should be used time and time again to communicate a simple and consistent message to the right audience. To help you along in creating the elevator pitch, or boilerplate as it's also called, I wanted to share the 5 key questions you need to answer.

Journalists are told to answer the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, and why) in the first couple of paragraphs of any story. This explains what the story is about early on and also lays out the details that can be built upon in the rest of story. If we think about this for a minute, that is exactly what your elevator pitch needs to do too. 

So we'll use these same 5 Ws as the base questions for developing an elevator pitch and then if the person riding the elevator is interested they will either stop and get out to talk more or setup a meeting where you can explain the how and give them more details. 

Here are the 5 Ws behind your key messages: 

• Who are you? The name of your business but more importantly what type of business you are in or what bucket would you want your audience to place you in. 
• What problems do you solve? At a high level, expain the the needs of the people you serve or their pain points. 
• Where is your target market? Define your market and outline where you sell your product and to whom. 
• When would your audience benefit? This is your value proposition to your target customers.   
• Why do they pick your solution? You will not want to mention the names of your competitors but group them and then clearly define what 
  makes you different.

Remember that the key here is to keep the answers short as you only have few seconds or words to explain what you company does. At the same time, it needs to be compelling though and differentiated so the person you are talking to wants to hear more.

In the next couple of posts, we'll explore your key message in more detail by showing how you create your elevator pitch from the answers to these 5 questions and also how critical it is to choose the 3-5 words that become the label for your company. Stay tuned... 

Your Marketing Success is a Long Term Game

Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), a New York Times bestselling author and social media guru with a widely read blog, talks about how it took him years to become an overnight success. In fact, he recently said it took him 8 years to get his first 100 readers which now number 100s of thousands I'm sure.

Now in fairness to Chris he started his blog before social media and even RSS for that matter. The point is that Chris is just one example of thousands. But I read that stat in Chris's newsletter and it got me to thinking about how marketing is always a long term game.

The reality is it takes time to create content, get found, nurture leads and ultimately convert them into sales for your start-up. Marketing is not something you can turn on at the last minute and expect it to show immediate results. We as marketers even fail to remember this on occassion.

I recently started a series of posts on this blog about Getting Started and that's the key here. You need to start your marketing activities sooner, rather than later, as it takes time to create awareness and build your funnel. 

I'm often surprised how marketing can be expected to deliver immediate results when R&D is given time to develop the product and sales is given the time to build a pipeline. It's no different in marketing and PR. It takes time to create the campaigns that generate leads and then move the prospects through the funnel. It also takes time to build relationships and create the stories that result in coverage for your company.

How long does this take you might ask? Well, it's another one of those "it depends" answers. It depends on your target market, the complexity of the product you are selling, the maturity of your market, the competition and many other factors. It will likely take months or years not days or weeks. 

But, even though I'm saying you need to be patient to become a marketing success, I'm not for second saying that you should launch a campaign and hope for the best. It's an iterative process and you need to be constantly measuring and analysing to tweak the campaign and increase its effectiveness. 

You should also not rest when one campaign is launched but continue to integrate new and different tactics. It's also an ongoing process and one initiative builds on the other. That's why the marketing mix is crucial to the effectiveness as well. 

While you hope it doesn't take 8 years to get your first 100 customers, it might, and you need to remember that ongoing marketing activities are the key to not only make this happen but can also be crucial to making it happen sooner.

Your marketing success, even your overall success, is a long term game so prepare for the ride.

Can Tradeshows Still be Effective for Marketing?

You don't need to look too far to see the effect that online marketing, social media and other tactics have taken on the tradeshow industry. Some have disappeared altogether, like Supercomm; many have gotten smaller, like Interop; and others have changed their name to reflect an expanded scope, like VoiceCon to Enterprise Connect.

But despite this changing landscape, some tradeshows, like RSA Conference, have continued to not only live on but thrive. However, after each and every tradeshow, marketers question whether it was worth the considerable investment or is it a must attend event? In fact, it was 2 years ago that I asked if tradeshows were worth it?

Recently, I was at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain (photo above), which, for those of you who are not familiar, is THE event for the mobile industry with over 1,400 exhibitors and 60,000+ attendees. It attracts CEOs and senior executives, which is rare for any tradeshow, from all the major mobile operators.

My company had a demo station in the booth of a major technology vendor. We had committed to the event because we were launching a new offering and wanted to build awareness with mobile operators not to mention the fact that our partner is also a key channel for us so we wanted to get awareness with their sales team too. Despite this obvious fit, I was still skeptical whether the investment, while minimal, would pay off. 

As it turns out, the event was very successful for us. We were able to show the demo to hundreds of prospects, we met with key account executives in the sales team, briefed a few media and analysts and got the word out in many other ways. It definitely surpassed all of our expectations.

But when I got back, I started to think about why this tradeshow had been so successful for us whereas a couple of years ago, I was swearing them off in terms of a marketing tactic. Here are my top 5 reasons how this show was, and others can be, effective from a marketing perspective:

1. Choose the show for your industry: With fewer shows there is one must attend event for your industry. That's the one to do, but...
2. Make sure your prospective customers are there: If this is not the case, then don't do the event. You need to meet with prospective customers for the show to be effective.
3. Set up meetings in advance: This is crucial as you then guarantee meetings with some key prospects and do not need to rely on walk up traffic.
4. Work with a partner: It's a great way to minimize costs but if you are a startup working with a larger, more established company will help you stand out.
5. Have a great demo of your product: Prospects want to see your product in action and the more compelling your demo the more likely they will remember it.

Tradeshows have fundamentally changed. They really had no choice. The good ones have created an event that the industry must attend. If you can follow some of the tips above and make it cost-effective then the right tradeshow could be a great venue to launch or promote your new product. Now, I'm not saying that you have to do a tradeshow as part of a launch but with the right investment they can be effective.

However, it's not about spending the most money and having the biggest spectacle to stand out. They are still very expensive but to be effective you need to be focused on meeting with prospects. Think of it more around meeting with a lot of different prospects in one place at one time. If the event will do that for you, then it's worth attending as you may even save money on travel in the long run.

How to Quickly Launch a Product

Product launches are key to your start-up's success both from a development perspective but also from a marketing and sales perspective. We've all seen how Apple does product launches where everything is a secret until the big event and then a master unveiling takes place. This has been very successful for them as they are able to draw a large crowd and create buzz.

However, this is the exception and only a handful of companies can pull it off not to mention the fact that a lot of time and effort goes into these launches that is just not possible in the land of start-ups. For this post, I want to look at how you can quickly launch a product and by quick I mean pulling everything together in a matter of a few weeks, not months.

When launching a product, marketing tends to get brought in later in the process so you will need to take a list of features that have been developed and figure out how to position the product to be successful in the market. Working with developers to create a compelling value proposition is not always an easy task but creating a product brief with them can give you the information you need to build better messaging.

The next key step is to select an event for your launch so that everything can be pulled together at the same time and make an impact. I'm going to use "event" in the broadest sense as it could be something as grand as what Apple does, to a tradeshow or an online launch, to a news release. 

Without an event, you risk not getting everything completed and releasing the product and marketing elements in stages which will lose the impact you are after. In its simplest form, the launch event can just be a date where all the elements come together and are made public. 

Whatever event you choose, here is a list of tactics that are required for any successful product launch:

1. Sales tools including educational white papers about the topic, product overviews both high-level and technical, and case studies.
2. Product demos that capture how the product works. This can be done live, as a video, or animated using screen shots. 
3. Media and analyst outreach will help educate key advocates about the new product and result in coverage which helps to raise awareness.
4. Web content that is SEO friendly will give everyone a place to find more information about the product. Remember to use video and graphics to make your site more interesting. 
5. Social media can be used to spread the word about the new product and also to collect feedback on it once the product is launched.

There is no doubt that you can do a lot more in each of these areas and use other tactics to launch your product and, depending on time and resources, you may not get to everything on this list. But, you need to provide some substance to your launch and the process above has served me well and can be used as a good baseline for your start-up. Tell me about your launches in the comments below.

Getting Started: Naming Pitfalls to Avoid

There's no doubt that coming up with a name for your startup is not easy but it's one one of your first big decisions when you're getting started. Last week, I talked about some key attributes to consider when you select a name but probably more important is to avoid the three pitfalls I'll outline below: not securing the domain name, not spelling the name correctly, and using your name inconsistently.

There was a time when naming involved doing a trademark search to make sure someone else in your industry was not using it as well. But now there are so many more searches you need to do as you want to make sure you can legally use it but also make sure the online identity is available.  

Pitfall #1: Not securing the domain name

Getting a URL that's available is probably the hardest part today in selecting a name for your company. Most are taken but it's absolutely critical that you pick a name where you can get the URL, as your website will be the cornerstone of your business. Equally important though is to make sure you can get the name on the social media sites you plan to use.

Even with all the new extensions coming out, .com still reigns suprime so I would think long and hard about a name if you can't secure the .com. Even better, if you can come up with a name that has most of the extensions available then grab as many as you can afford but definitely .net and some key country ones if you plan to do business in multiple geographies.

Pitfall #2: Not spelling the name correctly

Because so many URLs are not available, the standard shortcut to take is to choose a name that is misspelled so they can get the URL or to settle for some variation on the URL that is long or difficult to remember when looking for the site. This happens time and time again. 

While it may not be an issue in online communictions such as emails or on social media sites where you can link directly to the site, if you have a name and URL that are not spelled in a standard way then your prospects won't get to you site when they directly type in your URL and it may also not come up in search. You need to get found easily so a name and URL that are spelled the correct way are absolutely critical in my opinion. 

At the same time, you also need to be careful if using a person's name or word that is difficult to remember or is not always spelled correctly. Even though you are spelling it correctly, if the general population has problems then you have the same issue outlined above. One potential solution here is to also secure the misspelled variations for the URL, if you have the cash and they are available. 

Now I will admit there have been some notable successes that have not followed this rule but I would argue that they are the exceptions and would have had an easier time if they had picked a name that was spelled correctly. My primary school teachers are going to be so proud of me for harping on the value of correct spelling. 

Pitfall #3: Using your name inconsistently

Sometimes a descriptive name, which I believe is a good thing, can go too far and become quite long. There is no doubt that this can help when you secure a URL as the longer ones tend to be available. A long URL is far from ideal for a number of reasons but the bigger pitfall here is that the name is often shortened in other communications.

For example, acmeheatingandairconditioning.com (still available) is the URL selected but everyone calls the company Acme or Acme Heating in general conversation and that's the name on their vans and in all their communciations. In this example, I'm not sure anyone would be able to find the company online as the URL is quite different from what the company is known as by its customers.

Or even worse, what if the URL was acmehvac.com (not available but no website) but everyone called the company Acme Heating? This has the issue I outlined above in using a URL that's different from the name but also uses an acronym that may be understood in the industry but may not be well known by its customers.

My point here, which I hope the examples illustrate, is that your corporate name, URL and social media identities need to be consistent and then used that way. If you have a long name, shorten it officially rather than using different variations in different areas. If you can't get a short URL that matches your name then keep looking for a name.

This is not easy, I know, but your name is your identity and will ultimately be the cornerstone of your brand. The name doesn't need to be perfect but it should be distinct, meaningful and memorable plus it's crucial that you avoid these pitfalls.  

Getting Started: What's in the Name

Coming up with a name for your startup is difficult when you consider that this is something you will need to live with for a very long time, especially if you're successful which is the goal of course. Many rush into naming their company without considering how much it matters both when you're starting out and over the longer term.

I don't believe there is a silver bullet in naming your company and you don't need to spend weeks or thousands of dollars to come up with one but there are a few attributes that you should focus on when naming your company. These include making sure the name is distinct, meaningful, and memorable. 

Distinct

Picking a name that's distinct is crucial for many reasons but legally you are not allowed to select a name that is similar to others in your industry. You also want to make sure that the name you select is not used by a lot of other companies in a lot of different industries as that will clearly impact where it comes up in a search. You don't want to be one of a hundred "Acme whatever" that comes up when you search.

Being different is just part of it though, a name that is distinct will stand out and be remembered more easily by your audience which will help you with all of your marketing efforts going forward. You need to stand out from the crowd with everything you do and your name is the best place to start.

Meaningful

While some will disagree with me, I also think the name should be meaningful and explain what you do. I will grant you that there are some notable exceptions, like Google and Amazon, where the name initially gives you no indication of their business. But, I'll counter with Apple who in its early days was Apple Computers. The word "Computer" was only removed in 2007 when it was a well-known brand and the addition had actually become restrictive and misleading as it was into many other lines of business.

And this is what I mean, if your name includes what business you are in then it will be more meaningful to your audience and you will not need to waste valuable words explaining what you do each time. But don't make the name too restrictive in case you want to expand into other businesses or markets in the future. Renaming your company may be the only thing that's more difficult than picking a name in the first place.

Memorable

The hardest attribute I mentioned above is to make your name memorable. It's easy with a quick search to see if you name is distinct and if you agree with making your name memorable then figuring out what business you are in should be relatively straightforward too. The issue with a picking a memorable name is that it's subjective so it's difficult to judge if your name is memorable or not.

One test is to show it to a few people (if they are in your industry that's even better) and get their feedback but grow some thick skin here as everyone will have an opinion. But even more important is to sleep on your name ideas for a few days or weeks if you have time. If one of them still stands out you may have a winner and this is also a good test to make sure you won't grow tired of it as you need to live with this selection for a long time (hopefully).

I'm not going to lie and say that picking a name is easy. When you are getting started, this is absolutely one of the most important decisions you are going to make. There are many more factors that you should consider but I wanted to outline a few attributes for you to have in the back of you mind when picking a name. In the next post, I'll look at what not to do when picking a name. 

Getting Started: Is There a Market for My Idea?

A startup begins with an idea for a product or service but this is really only the first step when you're getting started. While you may think your idea is revolutionary, will others? If you want to make a business out of it, you need to make sure there is a market for your product or service. Put another way, will people buy your idea and if so will they buy it instead of other similar ideas?

Before you invest too much time and money in your idea, you'll want to research the market to ensure there is a need for your idea and that you can make money off of it. You will also want to evaluate the competition so you know that you can differentiate your product or service from them.

While some dismiss market research because people don't always know what they want, it's important to talk to some prospective customers to get their insights into what they need to make their life or jobs easier or more efficient. Even if you don't size the market (although you will need to do this if you want to raise outside money) or test the concept with focus groups, these discussions will provide valuable insights that give you a better understanding of your audience which is absolutely critical.

They may not understand your idea in its early stages but listening to your customers-to-be could give you additional thoughts for improvements or refinements that could make the difference between success and failure. Instead of presenting your concept and getting input, have a coversation to see how your prospects solve that problem today.

It's rare that your concept won't have indirect competitors even if you don't see any direct ones at this early stage. If there really is no competition, then it could very well mean you have no market too. That's why these discussions and informal research are absolutely critical. You want to make sure there is a market before you invest substantial amounts of time and money.

But don't take this competitive research too far as you need to forge your own path and make your product or service significantly different that their product. If you follow the competition then you will surely fail. Very few people are going to switch to your solution if you are only 2x better. In many cases, they may not even switch if you're 10x better.

Once you take this valuable input from prospective customers into account and define a product or service that has a clear market and is more compelling than the competition, then you'll need to make sure the messages that you deliver communicate not only the value but how you are different. 

We'll talk a lot more about messaging in this startup stage (you can read some previous posts on this topic) but the next post in this series will be some thoughts on selecting a name so stay tuned. In the meantime, if you there are any problems or issues you face getting started, leave them in the comments and I'll try to address them. 

Getting Started: Stages of a Startup

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about some of the first marketing steps you should take when you start a company as a result of a call from a friend. But then I realized that this is a problem many face and it would be great to talk about what needed to be done, from a marketing perspective, in the early stages of a startup.

Before I get into some of the marketing strategies and tactics that you need to look into, I thought it would make a lot of sense to actually define the different stages that a startup goes through in its lifecycle. This process could last months but will likely take years.  

I'll focus on the marketing aspects of each stage in this post as there are obviously product development, financing, sales, support and many other aspects as well to each stage but those are for another blog. 

Idea

It all begins with an idea for a product, service or company but this really is only the beginning. Before you invest too much time and money, you'll want to do some market research, informal is fine, to ensure there is a decent sized market for your idea and also evaluate the competition so you know that you can differentiate your product or service from them. This is also the stage where you need to make some hard choices around naming, branding and messaging for your company so that you can set it up properly from the start.

Launch

While the idea is being developed into a product, its time to put the foundation in place for your company from a marketing perspective. At some point you need to get the word out about this revolutionary product. But it's not just a matter of building a website and they will come. You need to launch the company using a variety of tactics from PR to social media to get thought leadership and word of mouth going. You'll also need to have the sales tools ready to answer why anyone needs your product and why is it better. 

Validation

At this point, you need to focus and land your first customers. It's absolutely critical that you get this validation from the market and to learn more about what you product needs and how it can be improved. Partners can help a lot in this area from rounding out the solution to bringing credibility with customers. Leverage this validation through PR and other marketing activities as it's a crucial proof point for other prospects. 

Growth

But rarely will that first customer set you up for life, so now it's time to build on this success and grow the customer base for your product or service. You need to scale by repeating that first sale tens or hundreds of times depending on the size of each deal. This is where the marketing activities need to scale by doing more of what you've been doing with a focus on lead generation and helping sales drive those prospects through the sales funnel.

Transition

Once your startup reaches a certain size, in terms of customers, employees, or revenue, then it's time to transition to the next phase of your company. This could be anything from selling the company to building it even larger and ultimately taking it public. The main point here is that you are no longer a startup and need to put in place the infrastructure and team to take it to the next level.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to do a series of Getting Started posts that explore these stages but more importantly look at the marketing startegies and tactics in more detail. In the meantime, let me know if these stages and tactics map to your experiences or issues you're facing now with your startup.