Marketing

Forget about B2B and B2C, it’s all about B2P

/ Robert Pease / 6 Comments

Businessprofessionals_B2P

B2P = Business to Professional

The broad definitions of defining a target market for a technology product or service have a new addition and it is you.

Traditionally, consumer products were Business to Consumer (B2C) and business products were Business to Business (B2B) primarily based on who and how the decision to purchase is made.  Consumer traditionally via an individual and Business via procurement or the like.

Now that products can be delivered via the web, apps, app marketplaces, mobile, etc. a new way to look at how and who you market to has emerged.  

Businesses have employees and those employees are people.  People who now are able to find, try, and even purchase products on their own and bring them to the workplace.  They can then share them with others without central coordination or control.  While not always perceived as a good thing from a IT risk management perspective, this is driving a whole new level of innovation inside businesses.

B2P requires consumer marketing savvy combined with enterprise marketing reality.  Solve a problem but do so in an interesting and even entertaining way that matters to the individual first.

What do you think?  Leave a comment below or send me an email.

 

Markets Don’t Compile

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

Compile

In the small but noisy universe of technology startups, there has been a growing chorus of voices about the utility and value of marketing.  

This peaked over the last few days with Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures eviscerating the function and its practitioners followed by a similar post from Foundry Group's Brad Feld – Why a New Startup Shouldn't Have a Marketing Budget.  Fred went on to issue a 'bug report' on the first post with some amendments but of similar negative tone and smart folks like Rand Fishkin and Ben Casnocha weighed in with thoughtful counterpoints.  Also, be sure to read the comments across all these posts.  Lots of opinions from all sides.

I have enjoyed Fred's writing for many years and always respect his point of view including this post.  I have also worked with Brad and didn't notice him vomiting in his mouth in my presence although I must admit I wasn't specifically looking for it (to be clear: Brad is one of the best VC board members I have ever worked with and I am a huge fan).

But even before all of this, I had been thinking about it after reading Rebecca Lynn's post about why engineers make better marketers.

People, developers + designers do not equal a business.  Just ask the gnomes.

What I find most distracting about all of this is that it is devaluing the role one group of people play in a startup.  If marketing folks aren't worth the air they breathe, what about financial-types, HR folks, or even salespeople?

I am not trying to defend the marketing profession or those who profess expertise in it.  I disdain experts.  And yes, there is no shortage of morons that want to sell you marketing services or any other business or technical service for that matter.

I do believe this conversation needs to elevate a bit beyond job function to skill set.

The best and most effective marketers have an analytic approach – numbers, spreadsheets, metrics, etc. I have a degree in finance, an MBA, worked as a consultant for many years, and never sought a career path to become a Vice President of Marketing.  I was intellectually curious about the problems the products I was part of were trying to solve and managed to be somewhat good at explaining what it did and why you should care (product marketing).

I have written code.  Yes, it was many years ago and no it was not my life calling but I have done it.  And, more importantly, I respect the people that do it. It is a very, very different role in a startup compared to those who have to take what is developed to market, find the people who care about it, and extract payment.  

Writing code definitely requires brains but also delivers immediate feedback in a highly controlled environment – it compiles or it doesn't. If it doesn't work, debug it line by line until there are no more bugs.  Then figure out a way to improve it by doing it with less lines of code.  This is a focused activity where you are working to a definitive answer where no ambiguity remains.

Taking a product to market couldn't be more different..especially a new product. Create a hypothesis (these people will care), figure out a way to test it (ask them/create an offer), and measure the results.  

Oops, we were wrong.  Let's debug it and compile again. Oh wait, we can't.  Was it the wrong audience, the wrong message, was the offer not compelling, too many alternatives, not a big enough problem, missing features, wrong time, etc., etc?

Marketing in a startup is about two core things:

  1. Awareness – getting the word out so people will try your product and getting those same people to describe their own experiences with it.  These days it is definitely harder to keep someone's attention than to get it so new approaches and engagement models are essential.
  2. Distribution – how do you get more traffic, more download volume, more registrations, more referrals, etc?  Building it is only the first part, getting it into people's hands at scale is where you need to focus.

What is most ironic about Fred is that he is really, really good at what he clearly doesn't respect – marketing.  He has an audience, interacts with it often to promote what is important to him, and pushes his message to the market.  His post even lays out an eight step startup marketing plan.

So, let's stop with the marketing bashing, agree that an analytic approach is best, and understand that we are all trying to build great products and make them market successes.


Sales = Support

/ Robert Pease / 1 Comment

Help

If you sell an on-demand product (SaaS, web app, etc.) you need to get your head around this.

Buying decisions will be made not on how good or efficient you are at selling but at how amazing you are at support.  In a world of monthly subscription business models, lots of alternative products, and relatively low switching costs, you are in the renewal business. Happy customers renew.  

With such little friction to try your product, form an opinion, and measure your value, you are left with differentiating on how you support those efforts.  Support is not an afterthought or a cost center.  It is now the way you will engage, amaze, and retain customers.  

Gone is the sales pitch and scripted demo.  We live in a world of instant access and "let me try it first, I'll contact you with any questions." 

Listen to what people are saying, engage quickly, resolve problems diligently, and make support the core of your selling activities.

Karate Lessons

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Karate

I use to work with a guy who taught karate in his spare time.

He explained that the approach to the business was to have an introductory class that was low cost (the offer) then identify students and parents who would be easy targets for private lessons (the upsell).  After finding a worthy target, he would explain the potential that could be unleashed with some one-on-one coaching (the pitch). Essentially preying on the "you want the best for your child" desire (the emotional hook).

This is wrong on so many levels and is completely devoid of ethics but is a worthy example of how you can be hustled without knowing it.  Think the best, until you are given a reason to think otherwise but please don't be a sucker.

Who is selling you "karate lessons?"

Note:  I have nothing against karate, karate instructors, or any business as long as it is a legitimate business with ethical business practices.

The Missing Piece in Social Selling

/ Robert Pease / 2 Comments

Megaphone
Is me..or you depending on how you look at it. 

There has been a huge amount of innovation and early adoption of social technologies across ages, professions, geographies, and technical aptitudes.  All this social sharing is noisy and many, many tools have emerged to make it easier to listen, some to help you engage, but pretty much none to help you actually engage in social selling.

Selling has changed in terms of who has the leverage – it is all about the buyer.  Easy access to information about your company, your products, your competitors, and even YOU has changed the way products and services are bought and sold.

I think we are still in the early innings of this transformation where individuals are laying out their unique ground rules about how to sell to them, when to sell to them, and what to sell.  This takes tradtional sales pipeline approaches and turns them on their head.

Some companies get this but most are still trying to figure out what to do with all the banter, accolades, and trolls that populate Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and many, many other sites and forums (Quora anyone?)

If any of you actually pay attention to my various status updates, you'll know my dissatisfaction with the battery life in my Droid Incredible.  At least three separate tweets that included "battery", "Droid", and "Incredible" plus lamenting my switch from my BlackBerry all made me a target rich opportunity for anyone who sells batteries, better devices, etc. I was broadcasting a need and I was ready to buy given the right offer.  No one reached out.  No one.

I've tried it with Saab service around Seattle, a database application for my Mac, and many other products all resulting in silence.  This has nothing to do with how many "followers" you have (my numbers aren't huge) as this is about the reach beyond your social graph to the broader on-line population.  Try it and see if anyone picks up on your stated need.

A qualified sales opportunity is a thing of beauty and very hard to find so why isn't anyone picking up on this and taking advantage of it?  Maybe traditional approaches to sales pipeline development don't embrace social outreach as a worthwhile endeavor? 

Some tools are emerging that help identify the questions being asked and organizing them in a marketing/sales framework.  I started using InboxQ last week.  It is very much aligned with what I am talking about letting you seek out words/phrases present in questions that you can organize as "campaigns."  Add a tracking mechanism for the person asking the question and one more piece of the social selling puzzle is complete.

What do you sell?  Do you know if anybody is asking for it?  What are you doing to understand more about how people are telling you what they want versus how you track your current sales activities?

Timely is a great tool for the social marketing playbook

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

Timely_twitter_logo

We have been using Timely in its early stages for a while at Gist and I can't say enough good things about Dan and Ethan and this product.

We continue to look for "marketing hacks" using new tools, techniques, and approaches to become super efficient in getting the word out and attracting the attention of new users.  What is great about Timely is that is a way to quickly grab and then post great content through a Twitter account without having to load in a specific time. 

There are lots of studies and opinions out there about the best time to post social updates and Timely is designed to do this for you.  Unlike Cotweet which we used early on, you don't have to manually schedule a tweet with a content input.  Just add the Chrome browser extension, read something worth sharing, and then auto-schedule it with Timely.

They then provide useful analytics like clicks, retweets, reach, etc.

I am a huge fan of new technologies and approaches and Dan and Ethan have made me a huge fan of Timely.  Definitely check it out for your social marketing needs.

Twitter provides self-organizing psychographic market segments

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

3buckets
 
Wow, that's a mouthful huh?  Ok, so let me explain…

The follow/follower model in social technologies creates self-organizing communities where those who "follow" someone or something are publicly stating a preference or interest in what that person says/does or what that brand provides.  This is not limited to Twitter but also applies to Facebook fan pages, LinkedIn company pages, etc.

Psychographics are "attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles" and cut across traditional demographic segments (industry, role, geography, etc.). 

Reaching a target segment based on psychographic attributes can be tricky as that is not what the traditional marketing playbook is designed to support.  The key is to identify where those with these attributes gather, share, and collaborate with each other and then to engage in a way that utilizes the same attributes.  In other words, don't be stupid once you identify who you want to reach and engage with shallow ads, cheesy promotions, etc.  Know your audience and what makes them tick – that is why you are doing psychographic segmenting in the first place.

So back to the title of this post and "self-organizing psychographic market segments" for a moment.  Let's say you have a productivity product that will completely revolutionize task management – the "next generation to do list."  That's awesome.  Who uses "to do lists?"  Well, just about eveyrbody so demographic segmentation will not be overly effective.

Try this – go to Twitter search and identify a few folks who talk about productivity, discuss workplace efficiency, or preach David Allen's getting things done (GTD) gospel.  How?  Start with searching on #gtd, #productivity, and #work and see where that takes you. 

Using David Allen as an example, he has over 1.3 million Twitter followers who cut across demographic segments but who have self-organized around an influencer and possess the psychographic attributes you are seeking.

DavidAllen_GTD_Twitter
This is, of course, only the beginning of the process with reach and engagement being the next and more quantifiable activity.  A topic for another post.

Hope this is helpful and happy to discuss further.  Email me, leave a comment below, or reach me on Twitter @ReplyToAll.

Photo from Flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/florianpainke/4500254335/

 

It’s not just about the technology

/ Robert Pease / 1 Comment

I have been wanting to create an animated video with Xtranormal for some time and finally got around to trying one out.  This is a really easy and clever way to produce animated clips with a script you write.  It is still a bit clunky in translation but that adds to the entertainment. 

Here's mine on the startup sales pitch to a business focusing on how it works vs. what it does and value delivered. 



This technology will only improve as time goes on making creating something like this easy for anyone and the end product polished like it was done by a professional.

Putting political attack ads in historical context

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

The volume and rhetoric is going full speed as we stumble towards election day.  As the attacks become more personal between candidates and the accusations more absurd – both direct and coordinated via interest groups and interested "media," there is a great deal of discussion about how nasty things have become and how we need to return to civility.

Think it really use to be more dignified and kind?  Thank again.  Although broadcast TV, cable "news," and Internet communciations seriously amplify it, the rhetoric and venom that has flown through campaigns in the past is epic.  Check this well done video that highlights the election of 1800 – Thomas Jefferson vs. John Adams.  This was a sitting Vice President running against the sitting President.  Think about that scenario today…

 

Four steps to getting started with social media

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

Agent Reboot Logo

I had the opportunity to be part of a panel discussion on social media at the most recent Agent Reboot event in Washington, DC.  It was great to be back to a place I lived for several years "back in the 90s."  Lots of familiar places and was able to reconnect with some friends while I was in town.

I framed my comments at the event to take a step way, way back from the hype and excitement around social media and explain what it is and that everybody can, and already does, do it.  Learning all the tools, tricks, and tips is another issue but there really is very little mystery surrounding it.

Here's why:

Fundamentally social media is about communicating with people.  Something we all know how to do and do every day in a variety of ways – meetings, phone calls, emails, etc.  The "social" piece of it focuses on participation.

More people from more places can come together and share, interact, and get updated all at one time or, more importantly, on their time complete with links, pictures, and a threaded view among other things. 

I suggested the following four steps to get started and this has been a recurring theme of ours in all of our presentations.

1.  Listen

You don't have to have anxiety about your writing, if you can be witty, or even spell correctly.  Start out by reading what others are sharing.  There is probably already somebody in your neighborhood doing this.  In Kirkland, WA (where I live) there are two local blogs I read that keep me informed about what is going on in my community – Kirkland Weblog and Kirkland Views.  Beyond where you live, find others writing about your interests, skills, or hobbies.  It is really easy to use Google to find these types of bloggers and you can also use Twitter search.

2.  Share

Now that you are reading interesting things by people in your neighborhood or written about your interests, you will no doubt want to share those with others.  Enter email.  Copy a link and paste it into the body of an email or share it directly via email from the post. You'll probably even add a bit of commentary on it as you share with friends or co-workers. Congratulations, you have now shared content. 

3. Comment

Now it is time to come out of the shadows and share some of that commentary you are adding to the emails with the world.  Read a post and comment directly on it.  The comments on a blog, especially a heavily trafficked one, are where the real conversation and insight unfolds.  Remember, do not self-promote.  Add something of value to the discussion…like you would if you were talking to a group of friends at a coffee shop.

4.  Contribute

If you have made it this far and really want to strike out on your own by publishing yourself, you have a variety of choices to make about tools, costs, time commitment, etc.  The tools are cheap, easy to learn, and just put yourself on a schedule to write a blog post a week.  Carry a notebook and write down random thoughts.  If you find yourself answering the same questions over and over for friends or co-workers, write a post and share that link next time (see #2 above).  Simplify your broadcasting by linking your blog to Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn.  Or don't and control it.  It is your call and you are in control.

Even if you never move past Step 1 you will be better informed in your job or even at your next cookout.