#HIGHLINEtalks is about supercharging your weekday afternoons with a themed talk, entrepreneurial minds, and lots of free coffee. Come to HIGHLINE for a dose of inspiration and return to your work refreshed and ready for some more hustle. Mark Evans of ME Consulting discussed what an early-stage startup needs in their sales and marketing content portfolio. Mark Evans helps startups tell better stories (aka marketing). He works with startups to articulate how they’re unique and the value customers get from their products. Mark is focused on three marketing "buckets": marketing strategies, core messaging, and content creation. Before starting ME Consulting, Mark worked with three startups (Blanketware, b5Media and PlanetEye). He also spent more than 10 years as a tech reporter with the National Post, Globe & Mail and Bloomberg. Mark writes a blog about startup marketing and a weekly newsletter featuring hand-picked startup content.

1. What’s in Your Startup’s
Marketing and Sales Portfolio?

2. Toronto’s Startup Marketing Landscape
Lots of excited, enthusiastic entrepreneurs
Startups that have built product
Startup with traction and/or
cash
Startups that want
to do marketing
Startups that
do marketing

3. What I Do
Marketing Strategies Core Messaging Content Creation

4. Clients
(startups and fast-growing companies)

5. Low Hanging Startup Marketing Fruit

6. Effective Website
Clear messaging
– What do you do?
Value propositions
– What it’s in for me?
Easy navigation
– How do get more info?
Strong calls to action
– What do I do next?

10. One-Pagers (aka Sales Sheets)
• Provides a
“slice” of what
your company
does and its
products

11. One-Pagers (aka Sales Sheets)
• Answers key questions:
oHow will your product benefit me?
oWho are your customers?
oHow can I contact you?
• Multiple roles as advance marketing, leave
behind or an education/nurturing tool

14. Competitor Comparisons
• Effectively positions your company against rivals
• Highlight key differences and advantages:
o Features
o Benefits
o Price point
o Great UI/UX
o Better customer support
o Target vertical
o Integrations

17. Battle Cards
• Internal cards to educate sales
people on the best approaches.
o Key elements:
o Product overview
o Key benefits and features
o Differentiation
o Points of pain
o Case studies
o Pricing
o FAQ

19. Case Studies
• Tell stories; not the traditional boring rinse &
repeat approach
• Tell different kinds of stories to connect with
potential customers with different needs
• Embrace the power of design to engage

24. Newsletters
• Deliver value-added
information, not sales and
marketing pitches
• Build a regular (monthly?)
relationship; stay top of
mind
• Build and nurture an
email database

25. Celebrate
the
customer
The “Soft
Sell”
Section
Value-added
content

27. Blogs
- Thought leadership
- Value-added insight
- Answer customer
questions
- Nurtures corporate
culture
- SEO

32. Thanks!
www.markevans.ca
@markevans
mark@markevans.ca
http://bit.ly/startupscanada