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Smarketing How to Market your startup on a Shoestring
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Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

May 31, 2015

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This presentation discusses how start-ups and companies just entering a new market can utilize "smarketing," a hybrid sales/marketing mindset and methodology to generate leads and close sales.
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Page 1: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Smarketing

How to Market your startup on a Shoestring

Page 2: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Agenda

• Entering the market on a shoestring• The problem with sales• The problem with marketing• Smarketing: for “fast start” market entry• Components of smarketing• Case Study

Page 3: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

About me• Provide content marketing services to

technology and other companies• Sales Exec. Almost 20 years• Start-ups, Vignette Corp, Pervasive

Software, Video Equipment• Re-invited myself 3 years ago: from

salesguy to content marketer

Page 4: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Entering the Market on a shoestring

• U.S. Software Mkt Largest in the world– 2008 Global SW Market: $303.8 Billion– U.S.: 42.6 % of this (Wikipedia)

• Most start-ups are risk averse• Too big• Hyper-competitive• Complicated

Page 5: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

The problem with sales

Page 6: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

The problem with sales• Cold-calling doesn’t work anymore• Leads that come in from marketing suck• Hard to establish trust/rapport• Sales methods in use today are out of

touch• Everybody knows everything• Sales people are “weak”

Page 7: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

The problem with marketing: It takes too long!

Source: Hubspot

Page 8: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department
Page 9: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

What is Smarketing?

• “Smarketing is the new one-person marketing/sales/web 2.0 hybrid: sales people acting like marketers; marketers acting like sales people, using content and sales 2.0 tools to generate leads”

Page 10: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

What is Smarketing?

• Use of compelling, relevant content to serve as absentee sales people

• Implemented by sales people or marketing people

• Requires sales 2.0 mind-set• Also requires Sales 1.0 mind-set

Page 11: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

How sales and marketing are similar

Sales Marketing

Opening Pitch Catchy Title

Empathy with customer Knowing your audience

Dig for pain Presentation of problem

Present a solution Show benefit

Explain how it works Proof points

Ask for the order Call to action

Page 12: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

The real purpose of marketing

“The object of advertising is to sell goods. It has no other justification worth mentioning.”

Raymond Rubicam, Young & RubicamExcerpt from “The Copywriter’s Handbook,” Bob Bly

That’s kind of like like sales people, right?

Page 13: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Smarketers are like a one-man band!

Page 14: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Why smarketing?

• Content fulfills prospects’ need to research

• Content can be passed around inside and outside company

• Allows “soft-sell” approach• You can target specific decision-makers• Get faster results

Page 15: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Components of “smarketing”1. Start blogging even before market entry

2. What do you actually sell?

3. Define target market, loosely

4. Get your website right (trash the traditional)

5. Create your buzz piece

6. Create basic Social Media presence

7. Identify your prospects via social media

8. Analyze your LinkedIn connections

9. Have something to invite people to

10. Soft email

11. Warm cold-calls

12. Innovative content tools

Page 16: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Start blogging before market entry

• Dharmesh Shah, CTO/Co-Founder Hubspot: http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/12875/Startup-Marketing-ABCs.aspx

“Many startups today have a blog, but most of them do not start blogging until after they have launched a product.  One of the smartest things the HubSpot co-founders did was start blogging before HubSpot had a product to sell, helping to build an asset ”

Page 17: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

I started blogging at LatinITMarketing.com 3 months before launching my services; I already had an audience

Page 18: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

What do you actually sell?

• Interview customers:

With customer KPI Online– They thought they were seling“Business

Intelligence”

Clients said: they were looking for:–Faster reports and dashboards, not BI–Stop Wasting Time with

Spreadsheets

Page 19: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department
Page 20: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

What do you actually sell?

• Think like Apple–Jobs: Apple does NOT do market

research–100% centered on customer-

centered innovation, but…

Page 21: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Think like Apple

Steve Jobs “I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what’s the next big [thing.]”

Henry Ford: "If I had listened to my customers I would have invented a faster horse.“

Page 22: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

USP

• What is your relevant differentiator?– Overt benefit + Dramatic Difference: sales– High Dramatic Diffence: 50% probability of

success according to Merwyn. Doug Hall, “Jump Start your Business Brain.”

• What if there’s NO differentiator?1. Stress an underpublicized difference

2. Dramatize a known difference differently

3. Dramatize a product name or packaging. Bob Bly, ‘The Copywriters Handbook””

Page 23: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Define target market, loosely

• Look at your track record so far (in your own country, in U.S.)

• Look at about 2-3 niches• Never know which one is really going to

respond

Page 24: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Legal Services Firm

• Food Distribution Firm• Hispanic Business

Page 25: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Get your website righttrash the traditional

• What will you do for me?• Who is it for?• How does it work?• Why your product/service?• What does it cost?• How can I try it?• CALL TO ACTION!• Make it like a landing page• Who’s behind it?

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Create your “buzz piece”

• Foundational content• New concept• Resolve an industry problem• Bold Benefit• Non-commercial: advertising that’s too

good to throw away• eBook, White Paper, Web App, Video,

Top 10 List, Case Study

Page 31: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Create your “buzz piece”

InfoLink

Integrated Product Support: Your New Competitive Weapon in the High Stakes B2B Technology Marketplace

Page 32: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Create your “buzz piece”

IESoft

How Small Food Distributors Can Reclaim Control of their Business: the Surprising Outsourcing Solution

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Page 34: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Create your basic social media presence

• LinkedIn Profile / LinkedIn Group?• Facebook Fan Page• Twitter Account• YouTube Channel• Don’t overdo it!

Page 35: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Identify your prospects via social media

• Google• LinkedIn / LinkedIn Groups• Tweepsearch• Twitter Search• Google Alerts• Jigsaw

Page 36: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Analyze your LinkedIn Connections

• List your LinkedIn Contacts on one column

• Identify your target companies• The intersection of contacts with target

companies can show you where to focus your efforts

Page 37: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Have something to invite people to

• Product webinars• Guest speaker webinars• In person talks• Case study presentations

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Page 39: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Soft Email / Cold-Call

• “Who would you recommend?” or “Permission to connect?”

• Never a direct solicitation• Short and sweet• “buzz piece” offer in signature of email• Offer to help• Offer to send valuable content/demo

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Page 41: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Innovative Content Tools

• Tokbox or Kineticast

Not so new anymore: • Webex or Gotomeeting• Ustream• Slideshare• Etc.

Page 43: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Sonny Johns, Smarketing Practitioner@sonnyjohns @kashmoo

www.kashmoo.com

Case Study: My Friend Sonny Johns

Page 44: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

Sonny Johns and Smarketing• Lean startup: no marketing staff/budget • Uses: Twitter (personal and Kashmoo),

LinkedIn, Google Alerts• Twitter: “Thank you for following me”• LinkedIn: Cruise the Groups; look for

flooring CEOs, etc. free news,• GA: “flooring retailer,” “flooring dealer,”

“flooring sales jobs”• Send intro email / cold calls• “Permission to connect” emails.

Page 45: Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department

How to contact me

Fernando Labastida, Latin IT Marketing

Twitter: @flabastida

Facebook: http://facebook.com/flabastida

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/flabastida

Tel: 512-945-9273

Website: http://latinitmarketing.com

Email: [email protected]