Marketing

Solving the full problem by focusing on the target market

Got an idea for a startup? Great!  Now, tell me, what problem does it solve?

Well, if you are having trouble articulating that, or, if you want to improve your chances of succeeding… Read on!
So many ideas solve nobody’s problem.  And so many ideas solve a problem only partly; or barely.
If you want to succeed in: your Kickstarter, your indiegogo, your launch, your business – you need to be thinking – what is the full problem!
Here are 3 tips to help you think about the problem you are solving.
1. Target market!  –  really try to narrow down on whom is the target market!  Gender, age, and psychographics!   As specific as possible.  Remember, nothing can solve everyone’s problem, but something can solve someone’s problem completely and make them very happy!
2. Think solve problem, not your idea.  Probably your great idea helps solve the problem, but most likely you can add 2 or 3 components (even if it’s just documentation) to really completely solve the problem.
3. Cut out anything that is not truly necessary to solve the problem for the specific target market you have in mind!
Now, get out and solve something!

The Lean Startup Toilet Bowl Trap of Getting Nowhere Slowly

Progress.  That’s a nice word.  “We’re making progress…”, says the workers cutting the road through the forest.   Then, a wise leader climbs a tree and says “but you’re going the wrong way!”

That’s all fine and good, and a good lean startup does this often.  It’s called “Pivot” and it’s central to the Lean Startup concept.  But what happens when you just keep pivoting?  Aren’t you chasing your tail?  Suddenly, you have a road to nowhere, or worse, a road that goes in circles.

This is a TRAP!  Your “lean startup” just got into a slowly dieing spiral of doom.  Your dream is getting flushed in the toilet because you keep climbing that tree and realizing that you’re going the wrong way!

Here’s an example of the Lean Startup in the Toilet Bowl Trap:

  1. You build a website and collect some preorders (yeah, progress!)
  2. You ship the preorders and get feedback from customers that they love/hate certain features (yeah, progress!)
  3. You fix the product based on the feedback, and nobody buys it (yeah, progress!)
  4. You PIVOT to a new product and collect some preorders (yeah, progress!)
  5. Jump to step #2, repeat, all the way to the toilet’s flush.

So, how do you get out of this toilet bowl trap?

First, remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting different results.

You have to do something different!

In many cases, the problem is not ‘your product’ or ‘your idea’, but the marketing instead!

Instead of constantly pivoting on “product” you might need to pivot on some of the other 4 P’s of Marketing:

  1. Place: Maybe your lack of orders is because it’s not available where the customers are… and particularly where the customers are that are in the buying mood for what you offer!
  2. Price: Maybe your lack of orders is related to the pricing or pricing structure of your product.  Maybe you need to sell it in parts, or with different options.  It could even be too low!
  3. Promotion: Maybe your lack of orders is related to how you are attracting customers.  Sure, you’re getting a lot of ‘views’, but are those customers: the right ones, in the right mood (buying), with the right goals, with the right problems, with enough education about your solution, etc.?  Or Maybe, your just not reaching your right audience, or just not ‘appealing’ enough to their needs (messaging).
So, avoid the Toilet Bowl Trap: run Lean Startup Experiments on more than just ‘the product’…
Enjoy!

7 Key Lessons Entrepreneurs Should Learn from CES 2016

I just got back from my 10th year of CES the biggest consumer electronics show in the USA.  Here are the things entrepreneurs messed up heartily!
1. Lesson one
Be prepared for success. At least a dozen startups in Eureka park (the startup area of CES) had run out of fliers and business cards by day 3.  Seriously?  There are investors walking around as well as buyers and distribution and you have no card for them?  (P.s. See our website is not an answer). Kinko s is an answer.
2. Lesson two
Not everyone is important. In fact most of the joes walking around cannot help you.  So, what do you do?  You have to ask people about them before you tell them all about you.  If you learn they are a reporter, great! Share the vision.   If you learn they run a recipe website (like me) maybe you don’t need to share your founding story, just tell me what you do and be polite.
3. Lesson three
For goodness sakes make it easy for people tonl figure out what you do!  I should not have to read your entire wall and your brochure before I it out.   Make it a one line statement, big and bold and in front of me.  This will help a lot with 1 and 2 above by the way…  The important people will find you. Others who figure you out may not need that flier you ran out of.  And for goodness sakes don’t make it a goal to hand out fliers!
4. Lesson four
Have a goal!  Many of the 200’or so startups I spoke to had no goal for the show, none.   “We’re just here showing our stuff off” is not a goal.  Get Press, sales, investment, leads, those are goals.
5. Lesson five
Let people know your goal and do stuff that will help you get that goal.   An hourly giveaway is not going to attract investors.  A party?  Hah!   How about setup meetings in advance?  How about have a “investor area” of your booth to chat with any that come
by?
6. Lesson six
Do not drink on the job.   It’s sloppy and shows a lack of selfcontrol.  If you drink, do so after the meetings and don’t overdo it… CES is a long show, and being late to open just looks really really bad!
7. Lesson seven
Don’t hire or bring show workers who know nothing about your products or services.  Especially don’t leave them alone.  “Im sorry, nobody is here who can answer that” is not a good answer.  You just lost a huge sale, forever.
So, was CES a good show for me?  Yes!  I leave CES 2016 feeling great about technology!  The future gets cooler every year, and it is no surprise nor secret that it’s startups leading the charge!

Otaku Marketing Plans

Otaku is a Japanese term, now used throughout the marketing world, to mean a person or group of people obsessed with a particular topic/problem/or interest.  Recently, I was astonished to learn that there is an Otaku group who are obsessed with a specific kind of ice – nugget ice.   I learned this from doing a deep analysis of what causes IndieGogo campaigns to succeed or fail.  You see, there is an Opal Ice Maker, which does 1 thing ~ makes nugget ice ~ that recently raised $2.5 Million dollars on indiegogo.  And this got me thinking….

Who in their right mind would PRE-ORDER a $450 ice machine?
Clearly, I’m not an Otaku for nugget ice.
But also as clear, this marketing plan worked.  And it was a pretty simple plan really, and had almost NOTHING to do with advertising or promotion.  I’ve written extensively in the past about marketing plans, and how marketing is SO MUCH MORE than just advertising.  This Opal Ice Maker is clearly a perfect example.   So, what made this successful? And how can you build a marketing plan just like it?
  1. The Opal Ice Maker is targeted specifically and exclusively to people who love nugget ice, and would die to have it at home… Clearly, there is a passionate following of nugget ice, and this entire product was built EXCLUSIVELY for that audience.  (I would never buy one, for example).
  2. The Opal Ice Maker ‘completely’ solves the problem of making your own nugget ice at home…. it does exactly what it says it will do, and most people cannot even imaging using 24 pounds of nugget ice at their home, even at a party!
  3. They went after and got people who love nugget ice, targeting people who ‘like sonic drivethru’ (who have the nugget ice), and other chains where people frequent just to get their ice fix.
  4. It’s not a low price, but a high price… because Otaku people would pay it, and a high price signals quality.
So, to replicate this marketing plan all you need to do is:
  1. Find a problem that a very specific small Otaku group have, and are extremely passionate about.
  2. Completely solve the problem.
  3. Target and reach out to that group directly (ads, PR, gorilla marketing).
  4. Charge a high enough price to signal quality.
Now, go out and market!

Is your product idea good? Top 3 Ways to Know for Sure!

Ever had a product idea and wondered if it was any good?  Whether you are an engineer, an MBA, or a stay-at-home mom, these 5 tips will help you answer definitively whether your idea is good… or not!

Tip #1: 
What is your goal?  Do you want to build it for yourself or friends or sell it as an idea?  Do you want to start a full business or just make some for side-money?
Depending on your answer, good has different meanings… And tip #1 is essential to answer before you go any further.
Three possible answers make your product idea good:
Sell the idea!   Stop.  Nobody buys ideas.
Start a real business.  Yep, step 2.
Make some for side-income?   Okay, but tread carefully to step 2.
If this is a lark, stop now and proceed to hobby lobby!
Tip #2:  
Who cares?
Really, is there anyone who cares about your idea?  Does it solve someone’s problem or is otherwise desirable by some specific kind of customer?
If not, stop.   Someone, some specific demographic, the smaller the better, must care, have the problem, or otherwise desire the product, or else, stop.

Tip #3:
Can you sell one and for how much?

I don’t mean build one then sell one.. I mean sell one!

The best way to know if your product idea is good, and the TOP TIP to know for sure if your idea is good is to PRE-SELL it!

Literally, setup a 2 page website where page 1 introduces the product, page 2 accepts a pre-order.  If you can get a few pre-orders, go ahead a build *a few*…
You could also do this with Kickstarter or Indiegogo, but those services expect bigger ideas and a real budget for video/marketing/etc.  Instead take the money you make on the first few orders to build some…. then build a few more… once you’ve sold 100, go ahead, do your kickstarter!

Good luck!

Go out and SELL!  Sales is the only way to know if your product ideas is good or not.

Now, back to my Smart Watch idea….

CES 2015 Marketing Fails (World’s Best!)

I greatly enjoyed CES 2015… Perhaps most of all, the startup corridore (some of which was sponsored by indiegogo.com ).  However startups, big and small, seemed to fail at several key marketing elements.  Here are some of my favorite marketing fails from CES 2015.

1.) Worlds First:   Several startups made this claim proudly on banners, some of which not more than 100 feet from a similar product, also the worlds first.
Why a marketing fail?  Not what you think… Its not the claim itself that fails (maybe its true, maybe not). The problem is WHO CARES!  Marketers must train themselves to think from the customer point of view….   And tell them the benefit of your product, from their perspective, not a useless claim!
2.). World’s “whatever” (smartest, best, smallest, whatever).
Why a marketing fail?   This one is the reason you think…  How can you verify this claim?  Unless it is self-evident, you cannot back it up.   And anyways, its not from the customers perspective… so again, who cares!
  Can you find the claim?
3.) No Idea What You Do…   Too much clutter!
Why a marketing fail?  This is the most common problem.   I just want to scan your booth and see what you do or make or your product… If I cant figure that out in 5 secs, i am gone.

   What is this selling exactly?

4.) No Goal! No point to even be there!
Why a marketing fail?   If you don’t have a “MEASURABLE GOAL” how can you know if you achieved it (or anything).  I’m not picking on my UT friends, but I’m not sure what it is they are trying to do… maybe looking for partners?  How will they know how many they met?  If I go to a show like this, I would have a specific goal and agenda, and a way to measure it.  Give-aways/raffles are a great way to do this.
What fails did you see at CES this year?

If you build it, they will come. Bad advice? Or maybe good!

The old adage that “if you build it, they will come” is usually considered very bad marketing advice.  In recent times, however, I actually think it has become Good advice, especially if reworded just slightly…

“If you build it, they MIGHT come” is probably some of the best marketing advice I can give.
In this world if lean startup, minimum viable product (MVP) and bootstrapping entrepreneurship, one of the most important things to do is to”ship it” and see if customers come and like it, and iterate quickly based on that feedback.
At Key Ingredient we recently formalized these concepts and declared ourselves an “Agile Company”.
What will you ship this year?
My thought?   See photo I took at CES 2015 below!

7-Step Results-based Marketing for Startups Harlan’s 2014 Captivate Conference Slides

I hope you enjoyed my talk this year at the Captivate Conference on Marketing for Start-ups (and specifically game startups).

Here are my slides from the talk, and as always feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn (see sidebar) or Twitter ( @harlanbeverly ).

Comments, email, and feedback welcome.

Slides Follow:

7-Step Results-based Marketing for Startups by Harlan T Beverly from Harlan Beverly

All of marketing should be about results! When you are a startup this is even more important, because you have no money to waste on “brand”… you certainly don’t have the time to waste. Harlan T. Beverly, 3-time Start-up Founder & CEO, will present a 7-Step process to create an effective Results-based “marketing engine” that will drive results for your startup. Harlan will give specific examples from marketing campaigns he has created from: Bigfoot Networks, Harlan’s video game hardware company, Night Owl Games, where Harlan developed marketing that attracted more than 1,000,000 players, INGZ games, where Harlan created marketing campaigns to drive users to install mobile games, and Key Ingredient, where Harlan is currently CEO and drives 3,000,000+ visitors/month to http://www.keyingredient.com

How to do Facebook Marketing – a Primer for Engineers

Dear Engineers and Other People who Think Logically,

Here is how to “do” Facebook Marketing.  It’s pretty simple, and it also explains the fundamentals of Marketing.

The analogy I use in the presentation is that of a Fair or Carnival…  it’s a good analogy, use it forever to explain marketing.  Imagine yourself selling a product or service (cotton candy or a carnival game) on the streets of a Fair!  How can you be successful?

See the presentation to learn:  How to DO Marketing on Facebook.  How to use Facebook Insights (e.g. Facebook Analytics).

Enjoy!

How to Do Sales & Marketing for Startups

Today I got to present to The University of Texas Austin Technology Incubator SEAL program. This is my favorite presentation to give: Sales & Marketing for Startups.  It was a lot of fun as always, and my favorite part was yelling at one of the attendees that he should NOT buy my Nissan Minivan!

Why would I do that?  Because (in my fictional example) he has 4 teenagers and I am NOT a slimy car-salesman… this minivan (fictional) will NOT fit his teenagers!  He should go to Toyota instead.

Remember, true sales-people are NEVER slimy.  They always want to sell ONLY if the sale will create value…  e.g. that the price is lower than the value that the product/service delivers AND that it solves the problem you are trying to solve.

So buy Toyota….

Anyways, here are the slides from my talk… I greatly enjoyed it and love almost any opportunity to talk about Sales & Marketing for startups (or non-startups).

Feel free to contact me @harlanbeverly