Startup Marketing 101
I gave a keynote talk at DemoCamp Toronto last night that I call Startup Marketing 101. In it, I covered the three phases of marketing for a startup within the context of a lean startup doing customer development. Here’s the summary of my talk (scroll down for the slides):
1. Customer Development involves testing your offering assumptions and validating that a minimal set of features meets the needs of a specific market
2. Those assumptions are about much more than just product and include: customer, sales, demand creation, market type and competitive assumptions
3. Product/Market fit is about finding a match between a product and a market
4. From a purely marketing perspective, there are three phases to a startup: pre-product, early adopters and scale
5. Pre-product marketing is about starting a dialogue with your market, sharing your expertise, building relationships and building a list of people who may be interested in your product when it is available.
6. Once you have achieved product/market fit with a set of early adopters you need to worry about the following things before you invest in scaling the business further: The Ecosystem (training, support, software), Economics (pricing and sales channels), Pipeline Tuning (testing to make sure you are maximizing the effect of every marketing dollar you’ll spend), The Visibility Foundation and Messaging.
7. The Visibility Foundation – is about figuring out how non-users will observe that others are using the product.
8. Your messaging needs to highlight differentiated value for your segments. You need to describe in very simple terms what you do and the benefits for folks in your segments. Storytelling is important and so is handling objections and giving reassurances.
9. Once you’ve done all that then you can invest in sales, lead generation, PR and marketing staff. This may be a good time to raise money.
10. Once you have established yourself in a market you can move into adjacent markets but you first need to validate a new set of assumptions for those markets.
11. Product/Market fit can be lost – markets aren’t static so things can change. You can also lose it by failing to scale your customer service or by inadvertently changing the product in a way that destroys part of your key value for your market.
Category: Startups
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For those who missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night – Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
RT @RedCanary: For those who missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night – Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
@aprildunford's Startup Marketing 101 slides from last night's #democamp http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
RT @randymatheson: RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW My slides from last night's #democamp
RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW #democamp
For those who missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night – Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
Great stuff April (a must read) thanks for sharing! RT @aprildunford Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
I like this concept by @aprildunford around pre-product marketing-getting out and in front of your market – http://bit.ly/aDsOsq #prodmgmt
For those who missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night – Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
@jrodgers Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW | wee bit on the complicated jargonistic side… |
Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW My slides from last night's #democamp /via @aprildunford great talk! check it out
Great presentation on Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW (via: @aprildunford)
RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW My slides from last night's #democamp
RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW My slides from last night's #democamp
RT @aprildunford Perhaps the clearest presentation of lean Startup Marketing out there… http://bit.ly/cYpKqW #sprouter
for those of you who missed it.. @phileasc @will_la RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW slides from #democamp
RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW My slides from last night's #democamp
RT @aprildunford: my Startup Marketing 101 presentation http://bit.ly/cYpKqW #leanstartup #prodmgmt (if you missed it)
She was gr8 yest at @democamp!! RT @FusionPoint: RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
If you missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night you need to read her post about Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
RT @erin_bury If you missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night you need to read her post about Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
RT @erin_bury: If you missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night you need to read her post about Startup Marketing101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
RT @erin_bury If you missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night you need to read her post about Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
RT @erin_bury:If you missed @aprildunford at #democamp last night you need to read her post about Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
RT @sehlhorst: R @aprildunford love the startup #marketing 101 preso! http://bit.ly/cYpKqW thanks #leanstartup #prodmgmt
Startups should read this: Startup Marketing 101 by @aprildunford http://bit.ly/9mm18n
blog post Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
"Startup Marketing 101" http://bit.ly/9c6MGr ^at
RT @aprildunford: my Startup Marketing 101 presentation http://bit.ly/cYpKqW #leanstartup #prodmgmt (if you missed it)
RT @aprildunford: my Startup Marketing 101 presentation http://bit.ly/cYpKqW #leanstartup #prodmgmt (if you missed it)
R @aprildunford love the startup #marketing 101 preso! http://bit.ly/cYpKqW thanks #leanstartup #prodmgmt
RT @aprildunford: my Startup Marketing 101 presentation http://bit.ly/cYpKqW #leanstartup #prodmgmt (if you missed it)
I love this! Your talk was great – thanks so much for sharing this.
Jon
Thanks Jon – I’m glad you liked it!
April
Great post as always April. Will you be doing some blog posts on some of these points?
Thanks! Yes, I think I will do a deeper dive on some of this stuff over the next couple of weeks.
April
Last one in is a rotten egg
Here’s my deep dive, specifically on the ‘minimum feature set’ / minimum market acceptance you touched on in the presentation.
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2010/03/31/minimum-market-acceptance/
Hey Scott,
I loved your post – sorry this comment is getting approved so late (for some reason it was stuck in my spam bucket….)
April
RT @betaspring: "Startup Marketing 101" http://bit.ly/9c6MGr ^at
RT @betaspring: "Startup Marketing 101" http://bit.ly/9c6MGr
RT: @betaspring "Startup Marketing 101" http://bit.ly/9c6MGr ^at –great basics. To elab, reaching critical mass using tech celebs is key
RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW My slides from last night's #democamp
If you missed @aprildunford at #democamp she has written a great post about Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
RT @aprildunford: My Startup Marketing 101 presentation http://bit.ly/cYpKqW #leanstartup #prodmgmt (thx for sharing @BilalJaffery!)
RT @aprildunford: Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
http://tinyurl.com/ycexurj
Startup Marketing 101 | Rocket Watcher by April Dunford
One smart woman: @aprildunford startup marketing 101 keynote from #democamp 26 http://bit.ly/br76qO
Tyner Blain: Minimum Market Acceptance http://bit.ly/9E0ZKV a #prodmgmt deep dive from @aprildunford 's http://bit.ly/cwtaRU
RT @alisohani Presentation: #Startups #Marketing http://bit.ly/cYpKqW /by @aprildunford #leanstartup #prodmgmt #custdev #marketfit
RT @spjacinto: If you missed @aprildunford at #democamp she has written a great post about Startup Marketing 101 http://bit.ly/cYpKqW
Startup Marketing 101 | Rocket Watcher by April Dunford http://ff.im/-iuD39
Startup Marketing 101 – key considerations (and slides) from @aprildunford http://ow.ly/1t32z
Startup Marketing 101 | Rocket Watcher by April Dunford http://bit.ly/csU85j
Startup Marketing 101 | Rocket Watcher by April Dunford http://ow.ly/1tOL2