Amrita Chandra @amritachandra www.shapeandsound.com How startups are changing marketing as we know it
Sep 05, 2014
Amrita Chandra @amritachandra
www.shapeandsound.com
How startups are changing marketing
as we know it
Image credit: FlickrCC/dnguy3n
When I graduated from university in the early 90s, the best jobs for marketers were in big companies. I was one of the lucky ones, managing to get hired by one. Life was good.
In order to rise through the ranks I did what every ambitious big-company person did at the time – I went back to school to get my MBA. I was drawn to a place known for fostering entrepreneurs.
Image credit: FlickrCC/Dave Catchpole
Even though I was tempted to start my own company, I chose the safe route, continuing to work for big companies.
Image credit: FlickrCC/ll_bly_ca
At the time, working in a startup or small company seemed like the cheap imitation of the real thing. Doing great marketing required great budgets, which startups didn’t have.
In the late 90s, things started
to change.
Source: Wikipedia
My first tech startup job
But even back then, you needed
money to make noise.
Image credit: FlickrCC/Filiola
Ads Buying lists Direct mail Custom creative PR agency Trade shows Image credit: FlickrCC/Filiola
Source: Wikipedia
Sucked to be a startup marketer
Eventually, the dot-com boom turned into the dot-com bust. It was a terrible time to be a startup marketer. It was tough to find work and budgets were tight.
Image credit: FlickrCC/t Theatre
A noticeable shift started happening around 2007. That set the stage for how marketing is being done today. A few market changes lay the foundation for startups to excel at marketing.
Shift #1:
The social web created affordable
channels of communication
Shift 2:
SaaS + cloud = affordable marketing
technology
Shift 3:
Our expectations around work
changed
Prestige
Impact
Corner office
Remote work
Security
Possibility
Stability
Flexibility
Resources
Resourcefulness
5 areas where startups are transforming marketing
as we know it
#1:�Customer insights
Pressly is a startup that makes a platform that allows marketers to turn various streams of content into an interactive experience ideal for mobile devices.
When you sign up for an account, you get this message from Pressly’s CEO. Try replying. It’s really him on the other end. He wants you to have the best experience possible using Pressly.
The CEO of TripLingo blogged about the importance of CEOs doing front-line customer support. He said he mans their live chat account so I thought I’d see if he was telling the truth… J
As Asigra’s head of marketing I made a point to talk to customers every single day. In fact, everyone on my team did. We got customer insights beyond anything traditional market research provided.
# 2: Marketing operations
Planning in short sprints
Image credit: FlickrCC/l Robertson
Daily standup meetings
Image credit: FlickrCC/il Crosby
(iDoneThis built their company around this)
Image credit: FlickrCC/_mdanys
Teaming up marketers with
their design and developer
counterparts.
Startup Zapier has a distributed team, with marketing sitting in a different state than the folks he works with every day.
Startup marketers can now access tools that allow them to collaborate in ways they couldn’t in the past.
# 3: Hiring
Getting a marketing job used to require:
1. Degree* 2. Upward progression through
traditional marketing tracks 3. Demonstration of “stability” *bonus if from a good school
Startup marketing job description
In other words: 1. Know how to get shit done 2. Have a great attitude
GROWTH HACKER FRONT END DEVELOPER
CUSTOMER EVANGELIST
CONTENT CREATOR
New roles inside startup marketing teams
#4:
Measurement
In the old days we were measured by how many leads
we generated, how many press mentions we got, and how much budget we secured.
Image credit: FlickrCC/M Taylor
Today, this is a typical dashboard
for a startup marketer.
Startup marketers are fluent in data analysis in ways marketers weren’t in the past. Here’s a blog post from startup Uberflip
Tools like Woopra, MixPanel and Kissmetrics give startup marketers real-time visibility into marketing results. In the past this was unaffordable or unavailable.
That’s not to say that we no longer need storytellers, content creators,
creativity…
Image credit: FlickrCC/fireflythegreat
But even those folks use data to help
them make decisions…
Image credit: FlickrCC/fireflythegreat
The availability and affordability of SaaS marketing technology leads to frequent
experimentation
Image source: www.unbounce.com
#5: Re-imagining
Marketing
Customer Service
Social Media Interaction
User Experience
Employee Experience
Vendor Experience
Marketing is now the sum of all experiences someone has
with your company
Image credit: FlickrCC/GabPRR
Buyers are communicating with other buyers in ways marketers can’t control.
“In the absence of communication among your customers, advertising rules. But when customers talk to each other, it’s the way customer experience works for each one that counts.” @Martha_Rogers Founder, Peppers & Rogers Group Author, Extreme Trust
This is marketing
This is marketing
This is marketing
Asigra took something as “boring” as backup and fostered a community of customers who felt like Backup Heroes. They asked for capes, we delivered!
This is marketing
Maptia moved their team to Morocco …This is marketing
Image credit: FlickrCC/heatheronhertravels
This is marketing
37signals promote remote working and give their audience a glimpse inside their employees’ work spaces.
Sugru tapped into the passion of DIYers and created a cult following around their product.
Trying to out-spend your way to your customer is an arms race
that’s hard to win.
Instead, startups are perfectly positioned to:
Out-know Out-teach
Out-inspire Out-hack Out-solve Out-love
their way into the hearts and minds of people.
Just ask Johnny Cupcakes…
@amritachandra www.shapeandsound.com
Thank you, HPX!
p.s. If you liked this presentation, I would love it if you’d share it.