Zero to Hero: Marketing for Startups and Growing Companies

FROM ZERO TO HERO:

MARKETING FOR STARTUPS &

GROWING COMPANIES

#ACC2015 Lily Leung

Twitter: @LilyLeung

From Zero to Hero: Marketing for Startups & Growing Companies

“I haven’t been everywhere, but

it’s on my list.” –Susan Sontag

55

visits

155,364

visits

Jan 2012April 2010

exploreforayear.com

YOUR

VISION

THE PIT

Despair, doubt,

anxiety, fears

CHALLENGES: No Leads, Customers :( BREAKTHROUGH:

New Strategies, Tools

Tactics

ACHIEVEME

NT

CELEBRATIO

N!Marketing

Hero’s Journey

Today’s Agenda

1. Marketing: Then vs Now

2. Buyer’s Journey

3. Getting Started with SEO

4. Getting More out of Social Media

5. Email for Conversion

6. Your Marketing System

7. Closing Thoughts

8. Questions

Who currently does any type of

online or digital marketing?

MARKETING: THEN AND NOW

Source: Corporate Executive Board,

Gartner, Forrester, 2015

vs.57%

80%

2015 2020

% of the way through the buying process before a customer

engages a sales person

Now:

Buyer-Centred,

Buyer In Control

Then:

Seller-Centred

VS.

Now:

Buyer-Centred, Multi-

Channel, Multi-

Dimensional

Source: Dimensional Marketing,

Deloitte University Press, 2015

Then:

Seller-Centred

vs.VS.

Now: Data-Driven,

Targeted Offers, Low Cost

and Attribution & ROI

Then: Spray &

Pray, Expensive

for Small

Business

VS.

Cold Calling

Direct Mail

Mass/Ads

Website Analytics,

Email Analytics,

E-Commerce

Now: Google – top 5 search

results account for 67.6% of

all clicks

Source: Google Organic Click-Through

Rates in 2014, moz.com

Then: Directories,

Yellow Pages,

Encyclopedias

vs.

Do Have a Website?

Is It Only About Your Products?

Image: useronboard.com

People Don’t Buy Products,

They Buy Better Versions of Themselves.

Definitions: HubSpot.com

Buyer’s Journey

Prospect is

experiencing a

problem or

opportunity.

Prospect researching

options and approaches

to solve

problem/opportunity.

Prospect is compiling

list of products to

narrowing down

options to make a

purchase decision.

Image/Definition: HubSpot.com

Buyers go through 57% of the

buying process before

engaging a sales person!

Neutral:

• Educational Blogs

• Reports

• Whitepapers/Guid

es

• Tip Sheets,

Checklists

• Case Studies

• Live interactions

• Product

Brochures

• Comparison

Guides

• Webinars

• Comparisons

• Free Trial

Consultation

• Demos

• Price Estimates

• Offers

Wants… Wants… Wants…

Example: Where Should I Go On Vacation?

e.g. Top Trips to Take

in 2015; Trending

Vacation Spots; Must-

See Places in Europe

e.g. G Adventures

Brochure; Air Canada

Vacations Brochure;

Sample Itineraries

e.g. Price of XYZ Trip;

Specific Flight Prices;

Book Flight & Hotel and

Get % Off; Extra Reward

Points

Google Keyword Planner

(free):

https://adwords.google.c

om/KeywordPlanner

Finding Topics People Care About, Driven by Data

Content Ideas for “Boring Industries”

(That Are Also Easy and Fast to Write)

1. Answer commonly questions or

objections from customers

1. Create a checklist

2. “25 Resources/Links For…”

3. “Common Problems With X & How

to Solve It”

1. Upcoming market trends

Content Ideas for “Boring Industries”

(That Are Also Easy and Fast to Write)

1. Answer commonly questions or

objections from customers

1. Create a checklist

2. “25 Resources/Links For…”

3. “Common Problems With X & How

to Solve It”

1. Upcoming market trends

2. Topic Generator Tool

What Do Real Estate Agents Do?

How is a Condo Different From a

House?

Checklist for Buying Your First

Home

25 Resources for 1st Time Buyers

Closing Costs People Forget & How

to Estimate Them

5 Real Estate Trends in Toronto for

2015 and Beyond

hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator

(Download spreadsheet)

EXAMPLE: REAL ESTATE

Use Content to Capture Leads &

Move Prospects Down the Buyer Journey

• Email forms on blogs

• Email forms on downloadable guides

• Start sending consideration stage content

• Email forms on blogs

• Email forms on downloadable guides

• Start sending decision stage content

• Decision stage content

• Offers, Quotes

• Follow-up/contacted

BUYER JOURNEY SALES FUNNEL

Example: Salesforce.com

1. Awareness

2. Consideration

3. Decision

Example:

Buffer – Getting Traction With Content

• Bufferapp.com &

blog.bufferapp.com

• Signed up 70,000 users in 1st

year. Content marketing

accounted for 70% of signups

• No “sales” team, but has a

content team

MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS:

YOUR WEBSITE

• Wordpress.org (not Wordpress.com)

• 1-Click installs on HostGator, GoDaddy, Bluehost, etc.

• Add & edit content

• Add & edit forms

• Email forms, forms for guide downloads

• Tracking: Google Analytics (free)

• www.google.com/analytics

• Wordpress plugin: Google Analytics for Wordpress

Website Basics & Must-Haves

Google Analytics (Free)

www.google.com/analytics

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

If you make a website and no

one sees it, does it still exist?

QUIZ: What % of people online use search

for purchases (B2B)?

a) 45%

b) 60%

c) 75%

d) 90%

90% of B2B researchers who are online

use search to research business

purchases. 71% start on a generic query

first.

Source: ThinkWithGoogle.com

Google Rankings: 100’s of Ranking Factors

Source: SEO Ranking Factors 2014 Study, searchmetrics.com

Quality Content: Write for the Reader First

Formatting Tips:

• Heading for page title (<h1>), heading for sub-headings (<h2>)

• Bolding, bullets, images, links to other pages and external sites

• 3-5 sentences per paragraph; 40-55 characters wide

47% of Consumers Expect a Web

Page to Load in 2 Seconds or Less

Page Speed Tools

• https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights

Source: How

Loading Time

Affects Your Bottom

Line,

KissMetrics.com

Don’t Forget Meta Tags & URL Formatting

Meta Tags Tools:

• Wordpress: Yoast SEO plugin

• http://www.portent.com/serp-preview-tool

• Page/Blog Post topic should be in the Title & Description

Title (Not the Same as Page Title!)

- About 55 Characters

Description (SERP)

- About 150 Characters

Social Signals

• Positive correlation between shares & rankings

• Enable buttons on your content

• Wordpress: AddThis, Digg Digg

Authentic and Relevant Backlinks

• Ideas: Alliance/Industry Groups, Guest Blog on Related Sites

• See who links to your competitors for ideas:

https://moz.com/researchtools/ose

• Don’t buy links!

Changes to Mobile Search Results

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

• www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobil

e-friendly

Mobile search results changing April 21,

2015

Search results on smartphones already

show “Mobile-friendly” icon indicator

Source: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.ca

Example: “office supplies toronto”

“office supplies toronto”

From 5+ page to 1st page

Google Business

Google My Business (Free)

• https://www.google.com/business

Google Business – Step 1

• Adding your business: Free but Gmail account required

Google Business – Step 2

• Fill out details; wait for confirmation call or postcard/mail with code

SOCIAL MEDIA

Quiz: What’s the ROI of Email Marketing?

Source: HubSpot Inbound Certification, 2014

Source: HubSpot Inbound Certification, 2014

Major Social Networks

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

Google+

Instagram

Pinterest

Slideshare

YouTube

Vimeo

Free, But Cool Social Media Tools

Scheduling

• Buffer.com (web + app) – “buffers” updates; schedule same tweet

multiple times

• Hootsuite.com

Twitter

• Followerwonk.com – advanced Twitter search

• Tweriod.com – best time to Tweet

• https://ritetag.com/hashtag-search – #hashtag volumes

Built-in Analytics

• http://analytics.twitter.com

• Facebook, LinkedIn page analytics

QUIZ: How many people make purchases each

month based on blog content?

a)1 in 20

b)1 in 10

c)1 in 4

d)1 in 2

Source: ResearchNow.co.uk, 2014

1 in 4 people buy something each month

based on blog content.

1. Awareness

3. Decision 2. Consideration

3. Decision

Brands Are Increasingly Working With Bloggers &

Social Media Influencers

Tips for Approaching Bloggers

1. Bloggers who are your ideal customer or influencer

2. Follow and connect

3. Offer something worth sharing/mentioning

What Not To Do

“We ship you our fabulous sim card so you can stay online in Europe

while traveling with 20/30 EURO on it. No roaming charges, no juggling

SIMs, no more hunting for WiFi and it's fast. Where should we ship it

btw?

Then you write 2 posts (1 tweet and 1 Instagram/your blog or Facebook)

about ordering a sim card. When you get a sim card, you make 1 tweet

and 1 Instagram post – ready to travel, all set up Then you'll get a

voucher for 20 OR 30 EURO. And then you hit the road and make 5

tweets while traveling with a link to @[website] or to [url], at least 3

Instagram or Facebook/blog posts. Of course we'll RT and repost your

posts too! How does this sound?”

Be Delightful

“Hi Lily,

I saw you're based in Canada (we just launched there!), so I’d love to send you

ChargeKey & ChargeCard review units. What’s the best address to send it to?

ChargeKey & ChargeCard are the world's smallest, most portable USB charging

cables.

They integrate seamlessly into your on-the-go life so your phone never runs out

of battery :)

Keep smiling,

Anna”

EMAIL MARKETING

a) 2x

b) 10x

c) 25x

d) 40x

Quiz: What’s the ROI of Email Marketing?

Quiz: What’s the ROI of Email Marketing?

Source: Direct Marketing Association, 2014

d) 40x (!)

Why Does Email Work?

1. 3.2 billion email accounts (more than Facebook + Twitter)

2. Click-through rates > Twitter

3. 95% of online customers use email; 91% check at least once a day

4. Longer lifespan than social media

5. 77% of consumers prefer email for marketing communications

6. Email lets you be targeted

Source: ExactTarget, Direct Marketing Association, 2014

• Quality, not quality. DO NOT BUY LISTS, DO NOT SPAM

• http://fightspam.gc.ca

• Website slide-in’s, popovers, forms

• We 15x signups with SumoMe Scrollbox (free,

http://sumome.com/app/scroll-box)

• MailChimp

• Offline: events & tradeshows

Getting Subscribers

How to Send?

• MailChimp.com (freemium)

• Campaign Monitor, SendGrid ($9+/month)

What to Send?

• Follow the Buyer Journey

• Monthly General Newsletter

• Birthday/Anniversary

How to Send Email Campaigns

How does email help?

• Who opened, clicked on what, how many times

• Test offers, subject lines, sender name, time of day

• Resend to people who didn’t open/click

Tracking Results & Converting Leads

Rapportive (Chrome plugin)

• Looks up social profiles

• https://rapportive.com

Late in the Buyer’s Journey:

Better One-on-One Emails

Sidekick by HubSpot (Chrome, Gmail Plugin & Mobile App)

• http://www.getsidekick.com

Late in the Buyer’s Journey:

Better One-on-One Emails

TRACKING & TROUBLESHOOT

RESULTS: SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Start With the End in Mind

Website

Visitors

(#)

Leads

(#)

Customer

s (#)

10%

closed

5%

conversion

2,000/mo

nth

100/mont

h10/month

Revenue

($)

$10K/mo

nth

$1K/custo

mer

“You Can't Improve What you Don't Measure”

CRMs (free):

• hubspot.com/crm

• insightly.com, zoho.com/crm

Closing Deals & Tracking Follow-Ups

RECAP

1. Marketing: Then vs Now

2. Buyer’s Journey

3. SEO Basics

4. Social Media & Bloggers

5. Email Newsletter

6. Marketing Process

Recap

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Marketing: 10 Hours a Week

A marathon, not a sprint.

Results in 4 – 6 Months

• Week 0-1: Setup Infrastructure

• Week 2-4: Jump-In

• 1 Blog Post/Week, Share on Social Media, Check Analytics

• Week 5: Plan Future Content, Social, Offers

• Week 6+:

• 1 Blog Post/Week (Or Infographic, Video)

• Share on Social Media

• Offers

• SEO, Email Newsletter

Portfolio of Digital & Marketing Assets

SocialAll Digital/OnlineAll Sales/Marketing

Build Your Audience,

Before You Build Your Product

“A rising tide lifts all boats.”

John F. Kennedy

“A rising tide lifts all boats.”

John F. Kennedy

QUESTIONS?

#ACC2015

lilyleung.ca/accmarketing

Lily Leung, @lilyleung

[email protected]