Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department
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This presentation discusses how start-ups and companies just entering a new market can utilize "smarketing," a hybrid sales/marketing mindset and methodology to generate leads and close sales.
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Smarketing: the one-person sales / marketing department
- 1. Smarketing How to Market your startup on a Shoestring
- 2. Agenda Entering the market on a shoestring The problem with sales The problem with marketing Smarketing: for “fast start” market entry Components of smarketing Case Study
- 3. About me Provide content marketing services to technology and other companies Sales Exec. Almost 20 years Start-ups, Vignette Corp, Pervasive Software, Video Equipment Re-invited myself 3 years ago: from salesguy to content marketer
- 4. Entering the Market on a shoestring U.S. Software Mkt Largest in the world 2008 Global SW Market: $303.8 Billion U.S.: 42.6 % of this (Wikipedia) Most start-ups are risk averse Too big Hyper-competitive Complicated
- 5. The problem with sales
- 6. The problem with sales Cold-calling doesn’t work anymore Leads that come in from marketing suck Hard to establish trust/rapport Sales methods in use today are out of touch Everybody knows everything Sales people are “weak”
- 7. The problem with marketing: It takes too long! Source: Hubspot
- 9. What is Smarketing? “Smarketingis the new one-person marketing/sales/web 2.0 hybrid: sales people acting like marketers; marketers acting like sales people, using content and sales 2.0 tools to generate leads”
- 10. What is Smarketing? Use of compelling, relevant content to serve as absentee sales people Implemented by sales people or marketing people Requires sales 2.0 mind-set Also requires Sales 1.0 mind-set
- 11. How sales and marketing are similar
- 12. The real purpose of marketing “The object of advertising is to sell goods. It has no other justification worth mentioning.” Raymond Rubicam, Young & Rubicam Excerpt from “The Copywriter’s Handbook,” Bob Bly That’s kind of like like sales people, right?
- 13. Smarketers are like a one-man band!
- 14. Why smarketing? Content fulfills prospects’ need to research Content can be passed around inside and outside company Allows “soft-sell” approach You can target specific decision-makers Get faster results
- 15. Components of “smarketing” Start blogging even before market entry What do you actually sell? Define target market, loosely Get your website right (trash the traditional) Create your buzz piece Create basic Social Media presence Identify your prospects via social media Analyze your LinkedIn connections Have something to invite people to Soft email Warm cold-calls Innovative content tools
- 16. Start blogging beforemarket entry Dharmesh Shah, CTO/Co-Founder Hubspot: http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/12875/Startup-Marketing-ABCs.aspx “Many startups today have a blog, but most of them do not start blogging until after they have launched a product. One of the smartest things the HubSpot co-founders did was start blogging before HubSpot had a product to sell, helping to build an asset ”
- 17. I started blogging at LatinITMarketing.com 3 months before launching my services; I already had an audience
- 18. What do you actually sell? Interview customers: With customer KPI Online They thought they were seling“Business Intelligence” Clients said: they were looking for: Faster reports and dashboards, not BI Stop Wasting Time with Spreadsheets
- 20. What do you actually sell? Think like Apple Jobs: Apple does NOT do market research 100% centered on customer-centered innovation, but…
- 21. Think like Apple Steve Jobs “I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what’s the next big [thing.]” Henry Ford: "If I had listened to my customers I would have invented a faster horse.“
- 22. USP What is your relevant differentiator? Overt benefit + Dramatic Difference: sales High Dramatic Diffence: 50% probability of success according to Merwyn. Doug Hall, “Jump Start your Business Brain.” What if there’s NO differentiator? Stress an underpublicized difference Dramatize a known difference differently Dramatize a product name or packaging. Bob Bly, ‘The Copywriters Handbook””
- 23. Define target market, loosely Look at your track record so far (in your own country, in U.S.) Look at about 2-3 niches Never know which one is really going to respond
- 30. Create your “buzz piece” Foundational content New concept Resolve an industry problem Bold Benefit Non-commercial: advertising that’s too good to throw away eBook, White Paper, Web App, Video, Top 10 List, Case Study
- 31. Create your “buzz piece” InfoLink Integrated Product Support: Your New Competitive Weapon in the High Stakes B2B Technology Marketplace
- 32. Create your “buzz piece” IESoft How Small Food Distributors Can Reclaim Control of their Business: the Surprising Outsourcing Solution
- 34. Create your basic social media presence LinkedIn Profile / LinkedIn Group? Facebook Fan Page Twitter Account YouTube Channel Don’t overdo it!
- 35. Identify your prospects via social media Google LinkedIn / LinkedIn Groups Tweepsearch Twitter Search Google Alerts Jigsaw
- 36. Analyze your LinkedIn Connections List your LinkedIn Contacts on one column Identify your target companies The intersection of contacts with target companies can show you where to focus your efforts
- 37. Have something to invite people to Product webinars Guest speaker webinars In person talks Case study presentations
- 39. Soft Email / Cold-Call “Who would you recommend?” or “Permission to connect?” Never a direct solicitation Short and sweet “buzz piece” offer in signature of email Offer to help Offer to send valuable content/demo
- 41. Innovative Content Tools Tokbox or Kineticast Not so new anymore: Webex or Gotomeeting Ustream Slideshare Etc.
- 43. Case Study: My Friend Sonny Johns Sonny Johns, Smarketing Practitioner @sonnyjohns @kashmoo www.kashmoo.com
- 44. Sonny Johns and Smarketing Lean startup: no marketing staff/budget Uses: Twitter (personal and Kashmoo), LinkedIn, Google Alerts Twitter: “Thank you for following me” LinkedIn: Cruise the Groups; look for flooring CEOs, etc. free news, GA: “flooring retailer,” “flooring dealer,” “flooring sales jobs” Send intro email / cold calls “Permission to connect” emails.
- 45. How to contact me Fernando Labastida, Latin IT Marketing Twitter: @flabastida Facebook: http://facebook.com/flabastida LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/flabastida Tel: 512-945-9273 Website: http://latinitmarketing.com Email: fernando@labastida.com
Editor's Notes
- SMARKETING: To me it’s the best way to enter a new market quickly. It’s the strategic use of compelling content used by people actually doing the selling to move break down barriers and move the sale forward, whether they’re there in person or not.
- Sales 1.0: people won’t pick up the phone anymore. Calls go straight to voicemail. Even the assistants don’t answer the phone, and it’s so hard to get a call back.Cold emails don’t work anymore, especially when they’re direct solicitations.
- Sales 1.0: people won’t pick up the phone anymore. Calls go straight to voicemail. Even the assistants don’t answer the phone, and it’s so hard to get a call back.Cold emails don’t work anymore, especially when they’re direct solicitations.
- Marketing is sales without accountability.Awareness doesn’t pay the bills.
- Content: feeds the need to learn, research
- Sales people have very similar traits to direct marketing. One of the things that the modern “sales 2.0” movement has done, however, is to weaken sales people.Sales people, even in a sales 2.0 or smarketing mind-set, have to gain commitment and ask for the order. All the large “social media” software companies still use a direct sales approach: Bazaarvoice, salesforce.com,
- Use example of KPI Online Interviews, ShipServe, Tom Myers, Copywriting Handbook by Bob Bly
- …also,Users of multiple acctg. sysMulti-entity companies
- Call to action: newsletter, free trial, webinar, event, download
- Don’t know what they doDon’t know who it’s forConfusingBoringNo call-to-actionTraditional navigation
- Who it’s for is very clearWhat they do is very clear too…Clear calls-to-actionCorporate information if you want, but doesn’t distract
- Addresses a problemGood strong call-actionVideo: what it does and how it worksLooks like a landing pageNavigation focused on helping you learn more about the product
- TheWealthyFreelancer.com
- Your buzz piece is what you’re going to use to put your stake in the ground.Create a new concept, state a problem you solve or a bold benefit you offer in a non-commercial way. It’s an informative special report. It’s the foundational content that forms the basis of all the rest of your content: blog, newsletter, webinars, videos, PowerPoints, speeches
- Your buzz piece is your “absentee sales person”
- It can be an eBook, a web app, a white paper, a video, a “Top 10 list”
- Places to spread content: blog posts, video, buzz piece. Don’t spend too much time here. You’re supposed to be SELLING!
- Google: Industry Associations, Top 10, 50, 100, 500 listsLinkedIn Groups: Find Industry Associations, groups dedicated to certain industries,Tweepsearch: keywords in profile
- Contrarian Effect: Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall
- Tokbox or Kineticast
- Thank them for followiung me, I look forward to learning from you, strike up something in common with them. I know geograph8cal informaitonaout them, probl been there, or know a story. Memphis: "did you go to Gus' fried chicken for lunch? That's my fave place in Memphis." That will open up some dialog, etc., let's them see I'm a real person.“If you need anything for your busines let me know. Schedule a demo, close the deal“What does Kashmoo do?” “What does flooringsoft do?” Send message: if there’s anyway we can work together, let me know.Permissiom to connect email. Don't really spell out what you do, call to action to see the demo. Very targeted. Drive them to the website, make them click "request a demo", I call up to scheudle the demo. Everything to do on the next step.