This is a great two minute video from Will Smith. I run and agree with his point about conquering the little voice and read as much as I can (but not enough). Take two minutes and watch this (thanks Dan Martell for sharing it).
Forget about B2B and B2C, it’s all about 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.
Some predictions on the future of media from Jeffrey Cole
I had the opportunity to hear Jeffrey Cole of USC's Annenberg Center for the Digital Future present earlier this week at the FT Global Investment Series forum in Seattle.
He did a really nice job covering the current state and future of media. Here are some highlights:
- Newspaper circulation begins to decline when Internet penetration gets to 30%. For comparison, India is currently at 14% Internet penetration.
- The iPad is the "4th screen" in an evolution of TV (1st screen) ->PC (2nd screen)->mobile (3rd screen)->iPad/tablet (4th screen)
- Television and its captive audience have escaped the home with mobile consumption and no longer a predictable audience.
- The amount of time we spend "in front of a screen" has increased from 15 hrs per week in 1975 to 36 hrs per week today and will go to 50 hrs per week two years from now.
- 80% of mobile phone users sleep within arm's reach of their device (I use mine as an alarm clock – do you?)
- On-line news needs to be between 30-60 seconds old requiring constant production. No more printing the paper and distributing it hours after news breaks.
- We don't lose our mobile phones because we rarely get far enough away from them to forget them.
I also met some really nice folks and definitely appreciated the invitation to attend.
Looking for work/life balance? It’s the small things…
An extremely worthwhile 10 minute video about living your life for you. What small things will you do tonight or tomorrow to enrich your life for you?
Best quote "don't wait until retirement to have a life."
Great thinking here from Nigel Marsh.
Markets Don’t 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:
- 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.
- 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
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.
Bad People
You will encounter them during your career.
Some are inherently evil.
Some are created by their circumstances (not victims of..there is a difference).
Some are inadvertently or at least not consciously so (they are selfish vs. selfless).
I have encountered all three types…
Just promise me that if you ever work with a guy like Daniel Snyder you'll contact me so I can help you find a new job. Read this article and you'll see what I'm talking about and why he is suing the City Paper in Washington, DC for their clever and telling piece on him.
Karate Lessons
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
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?
Before you raise money for your startup
This is a great 30 minute video presentation by Naval Ravikant on what to do "before" you raise money. The money is just a step in the process and I would submit you need to be focused on running a company, not just starting one. Some good thinking here so please enjoy!
Venture Vice 