Building a Marketing Mindset Early

Sequoia workshop

SEQUOIA CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL 1

Early? How early?

How early?

• MARKETING BEGINS AS SOON AS THE START UP IS BORN

Really? Even for me?

Even me?

• ALL COMPANIES HAVE CUSTOMERS/CONSUMERS

• ALL COMPANIES HAVE STAKEHOLDERS • ALL COMPANIES HAVE STAKEHOLDERS THEY NEED TO INFLUENCE

What is Marketing?

• POSITIONING YOUR COMPANY AND PRODUCT SO THAT YOU SELL MORE

Critical elements of the Marketing Mix

• THE CORPORATE IDENTITY

• PR

• YOUR WEBSITE

• ATL AND BTL• ATL AND BTL

The corporate identity

The corporate identity

• THE NAME OF THE COMPANY/PRODUCT

• THE LOGO, LOOK AND FEEL OF THE COLLATERAL, THE STATIONARY, THE SIGNAGE, OFFICE DÉCOR

• EVERY SINGLE POINT OF THE COMPANY THAT THE CONSUMER/CUSTOMER WILL COME INTO CONTACT WITH

The corporate identity: Tips

• SIMPLE

• CONSISTENT

• MINIMUM USE OF FONTS

• FEWER COLOURS• FEWER COLOURS

• SELECT ONE/TWO COLOURS THAT THE BRAND/COMPANY WILL IDENTIFY WITH AND USE THEM EVERYWHERE

Go back and check the logos of companies you like/remember and you will

find a surprising number of them ticking the above parameters

PR

PR

• EVERYBODY GOOGLES YOU

• A CLIENT SHOPPING AROUND, A PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEE, YOUR FUTURE CFO, YOUR CURRENT CLIENT…

• IMPORTANT TO BE VISIBLE, GET SPOKEN ABOUT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS

• IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THE KEY MESSAGES THAT YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT ARE WHAT GETS WRITTEN ABOUT YOU

PR: Tips

• HIRE A PR AGENCY PARTNER TODAY

• THIS IS THE BEST INVESTMENT YOU CAN MAKE –PR IS THE CHEAPEST FORM OF MARKETING FOR YOUR PRODUCT/COMPANY

• START THINKING ABOUT YOUR KEY MESSAGES• START THINKING ABOUT YOUR KEY MESSAGES

• WORK WITH YOUR PR PARTNER AND CREATE A CALENDAR OF MESSAGES

• BE AVAILABLE FOR THE RIGHT MEDIA QUERIES

• IDENTIFY YOUR SPOKESPERSON

PR is actually not a short form of Press Release. You can do a lot for very less

with this tool.

Your website

Website

• AN ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL PART OF YOUR MARKETING MIX…

• …AND SURPRISINGLY NEGLECTED BY EVEN ONLINE COMPANIES

• DEPENDING ON YOUR CATEGORY, THIS IS EITHER YOUR SHOWROOM, YOUR ONLINE SALES PITCH, YOUR DISPLAY, YOUR BILLBOARD OR AT THE VERY LEAST YOUR ONLINE BROCHURE

Website: tips

• GET PROFESSIONAL DESIGN HELP

• THINK THROUGH THE SITE MAP, THE USER INTERFACE, OPTIMIZE YOUR SITE FOR SEARCHES

• CREATE AN INTERNAL SYSTEM FOR PERIODIC UPDATING – ITS QUITE TERRIBLE TO HAVE THE PROFILE OF YOUR CTO (WHO YOU SACKED 3 PROFILE OF YOUR CTO (WHO YOU SACKED 3 MONTHS AGO) STILL ON THE SITE

• FOLLOW THE SAME LOOK AND FEEL DETAILED IN YOUR CORPORATE IDENTITY

• IF YOU CREATE A FEEDBACK MECHANISM, PLEASE RESPONDUsually the first point of contact for most outsiders, make sure it represents

the company well.

ATL and BTL

Advertising (ATL)

• EXPENSIVE

• ONLY ON A NEED BASIS

• MAINLY RELEVANT FOR B2C COMPANIES

• VERY USEFUL TO CREATE A BRAND POSITION • VERY USEFUL TO CREATE A BRAND POSITION FOR YOUR COMPANY IF YOU ARE B2C

• VERY LITTLE REASON TO USE THIS IF YOU ARE A COMPANY SELLING ONLINE – IT TOOK MANY MANY YEARS FOR GOOGLE TO AIR A TVCAMPAIGN

Below the line (BTL)

• MERCHANDISING, FORMS, BROCHURES, LEAFLETS, NEWSPAPER DROPS, DISPLAYS, FLYERS, ETC ETC

• KEEP THIS CONSISTENT TO YOUR LOOK AND FEELFEEL

• DRIVE COSTS DOWN – YOU DON’T REALLY NEED YOUR COMPANY BROCHURE TO LOOK LIKE THE KINGFISHER CALENDER

• PRINT LESS – REMEMBER MOST PEOPLE DO WITH THEIR JUNK WHAT YOU DO WITH YOURS

EASY-PEASY?

• I DRAW WELL. AND USED TO WRITE FOR MY COLLEGE WRITE FOR MY COLLEGE MAGAZINE. CANT I DO ALL THIS MYSELF?

Marketing…

• …IS A SCIENCE AND AN ART

• LEAVE IT TO THE PROFESSIONALS

• FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE WHO CAN HELP CREATE THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF THE MIX

• HIRE A PERSON IN YOUR ORGANIZATION WHO • HIRE A PERSON IN YOUR ORGANIZATION WHO IS ONLY DOING THIS

• GET THE RIGHT GUY, IT WILL MORE THAN PAY OFF IN THE LONG RUN

• ELSE YOU WILL FIND ALL OF THIS TO BE WORK THAT YOU WILL GET TO…TOMORROW…

Marketing and Sales

• MARKETING EXISTS ONLY IF IT HELPS DRIVE SALES

• EVERY ELEMENT OF THE MIX WE DISCUSSED SHOULD ULTIMATELY HELP SELL MORE UNITS OF WHAT YOU ARE MAKING

• THE MARKETING AND SALES TEAMS NEED TO BE • THE MARKETING AND SALES TEAMS NEED TO BE STRONGLY INTER-CONNECTED; VERY RARE HOWEVER TO FIND BOTH SKILLS IN THE SAME PERSON

Stickiness…

• AS A START-UP, ONE OF THE PRIMARY CHALLENGES IS TO STAND OUT; THERE IS USUALLY SOMEBODY ELSE YOU ARE USUALLY SOMEBODY ELSE YOU ARE COMPETING WITH

• TO BE REMEMBERED, TO BE CALLED BACK AFTER A SALES PITCH, TO BE ‘STICKY’