Marketing

Engineers hate “Pre-launch” activity.

Never tell an engineer that you are doing “pre-launch” marketing.  You will get anger, pleading, and hatred in ways you cannot imagine.  Why is this?  Why do engineers hate “pre-release” marketing activities?  And why do marketers love it?

Engineers hate it for an obvious reason: “what if that feature doesn’t work or live up to the hype?”  Fear of under-delivering is a healthy fear for your engineers, but it is also irrational.  If the product under-delivers, you’ve got bigger problems, usually, than the fact that you made bigger promises early.  My advice: deliver! Also commonly, engineers can’t understand the need for pre-launch buzz and hype. 
Marketers want pre-launch buzz and hype.  Why?  Three simple (and one sad) reason.
1. Sad reason: because many don’t know how to add much value in “pre-launch” phase.  It’s sad because there is much that can be done: competitive analysis, pricing studies, etc.  Those are not the sexy parts of marketing however, so they get “not done”, and pre-launch becomes the exciting focus.
2. Simple Reason: Economics.  Increase demand!  If you can get an early start on “creating unfulfilled demand” than when the product does launch, there will be a rush to buy and be proud you got one!
3. Simple Reason: Measure Demand.  If you do the buzz marketing, and get no buzz… you may have an issue (or need to tweak your marketing/positioning).
4. Simple Reason: Press.  Getting press involved early means getting 2 stories instead of just 1.  Without a pre-launch story, all you get (often) is the “launch” story.
Now get out there and “pre-launch” something!

Got Marketing Questions? I’ll answer them here!

I know a lot of my blog readers already are marketers… but I would welcome questions from you or anyone.  Feel free to be specific with your situation/example.  If I’ve ever encountered a problem like yours (likely) I will answer it with an example from my past.  Are you an engineer-type?  My answers will be logical (hopefully), and use an engineering problem-solving methodology.   So, ask away.  Comment below, or message me… I’d love to learn more about your specific marketing challenges.  And remember, Marketing INCLUDES product design and development… so those questions are welcome too!

Positioning your Company or Product in the Minds of the World.

What is Positioning?  The outstanding book by Al Ries and Jack Trout should be your FIRST stop on the topic.  Those excellent narrators bring to life a concept that can seem boring; but is truly vital to the success of a product.  If you do not have a “Position” for your product… you are almost certainly doomed to fail.
Consider, when you go shopping, say for a new car, how do you choose what to buy?  If you are interested quality? Toyota.  Great Driving? BMW. Amazing Safety?  Volvo.  
In order to properly market your product, you must find a position for your brand… this means finding a place “in the mind of your target customers” for your product to live.  Imagine your target customer has a limited capacity for remembering things (certainly true)..and you get 1 shot to ‘place your product in the filing cabinet of your prospects mind’… what do you want them to remember?  The idea of positioning is that IF you can get it into their mind WITH a position; it will be easier to file away.  (rather than into the ‘misc’ category, your prospects file it in the “Safest” category or the “Best Value/Cheap” category or the “Highest Quality/Expensive” category or the “Funnest” category or whatever.
With my good friend Barry Raskin, I have adopted a formal sentence structure that helps guide the development of a “positioning statement”… can you fill out this sentence?  Can everyone on the product team?
” _(  YOUR
COMPANY/PRODUCT/BRAND  )_  is a _______  that does ____________ for
________.

UNLIKE OTHER _____________ we do _________________________.”

Having trouble?  You are not alone.  About 90% of the start-ups I encounter have never thought of their products in this simple and critical way.
This will FORCE you to put a position on your product.  This sentence is not something you share with the world (necessarily).  It is an internal guide to keep marketing focused and what you want to ‘imprint’ on people who encounter your product/brand.
There is a whole bunch more psychology and tips that the book (below) goes into.  I’ll leave you with 1 final tip from my own experience.  When you sit down and do this exercise, you’ll realize quickly that the “for ____” is a vital part.  If you are not TARGETING a well define market… your POSITIONING will fail.  Start with the target market first… then find a position in their minds you can occupy.
It is even better when you can occupy a position that nobody else has claimed yet.  The “Most, Best, Fastest” or similar terms are what you are shooting for!
Read more from the experts:

How to Market a Bad Product

There are Classic Bad Products, such as “New Coke” and “Ben-Gay Aspirin”.  There are also horribly bad Tech Products, such as “RealPlayer” and “SoftRAM”.  There are few things they have in common:They often “borrow” from another brand (Brand/Line extension), such as Ben-Gay Aspririn.

  1. They often “do not perform as advertised”, or are otherwise misleading such as SoftRam
  2. They sometimes are just so annoying to use and so invasive that they are not worth the hassle, such as RealPlayer.
  3. Often, they are all 3!
So, can you market a bad product?
Can you get someone to buy it???
Yes.  All you have to do is figure out “who” the product is really meant for… and a ‘fair’ price for the product delivered (not dreamed).
Is it ethical?  Yes.  You have to change the price (to what is truly delivered), and you have to choose the market (to those that actually need a solution), and if yo do those two things, and make a sale, it is fair.
Can you make a lot of money?  Probably not.  Depending on how bad the product is, you will have to narrow the market to be quite small and reduce the price to where it may not make money (and may actually cost you money to sell it).
How do you market a bad product?  You tell the truth.  Be what you are.  Know who you are for.  And HIDE NOTHING.
Ironically, some people may find that refreshing and buy your product anyways… certainly if you can “find the niche” that the product has some use for.
Here are some examples from some Classic Bad Products:
  1. New Coke.
    1. this is a ‘brand extension’…  and uses the new coke brand…. unfortunately Coke tried to make “ALL MARKET” accept this as a brand replacement. (Bad Idea!)
    2. As a brand extension though, New Coke, could have been marketed beside “Coke” as a different flavor, a flavor targeted at younger folks, or targeted at Pepsi lovers.
    3. Given that kind of target market, it might have found a niche.
  2. Microsoft Zune.
    1. Microsoft COULD have carved out a DIFFERENT target market or audience with Zune.  E.g. perhaps Zune was an MP3 Player for Senior Citizens?
    2. Ironically, marketed like that you might have charged “more” for the Zune.
  3. SoftRAM.
    1. Yes, it mislead folks about that it was… but… it also kinda-worked!
    2. SoftRAM could have priced itself as a $0.99 utility to tweak Windows.
    3. They might have sold Millions!  (and not been the target of FTC investigations).
    4. The could have targeted people with extra HD capacity…. or perhaps Housewives… or ‘old PC owners’….
    5. Being HONEST about what they are and are not would have been key
So, my top list of “Bad Products”…  here you go… 
  1. Canned Chicken  –  It’s disgusting.  I am not in the target market.
  2. Windows Mouse – It was terrible, and required a driver install.  Utter fail.  Not worth the price.
  3. Thin Black Socks – They are uncomfortable and do not last long.  Hate those socks  (I’m not the target market)
  4. Playstation 3 – Horrible quality.  Breaks so easy.  Not worth the price.
That’s just a few…. but every one of those DOES have a market somewhere, and a price.
(you just may have to PAY ME to wear those thin black socks).

What Martial Arts can teach you about Business.

I love martial arts.  I’ve practiced some form since I was 10 years old.  Martial Arts can teach you may things about business… some very interesting concepts from the business of martial arts, and some from the philosophy of martial arts.  Read on for the scoop.

The Business of Martial Arts:

  1. At it’s core, the business of Martial Arts is a franchising operation.  The difference is that you must EARN the right to franchise.  That’s just good business sense.  Don’t let anyone with a buck sell your product, make them earn the right.
  2. Bill monthly, encourage use.  By billing monthly, martial arts keep you “captive” to your pocketbook (a tactic known to 24-hour gyms).
  3. Make me feel special.  As a consumer of martial arts, I love it that you make me feel special, unique, and desired.  It’s a club that not just anybody can join: e.g. the best kind… and a kind that breeds long-term customers.
  4. Don’t be what you are not.  You don’t have weights, snacks, movie nights, or popcorn.   You don’t offer massage, swimming lessons, or dance…. you are martial arts.  You are what you are, and you never break your contract with me about what you are. Good for you; this too keeps me loyal, not overly demanding, and keeps your costs down too!
The Philosophy of Martial Arts:
  1. Only for Defense, never for Offense.  This may not be all martial arts philosophy, but it is most of their core principles.  How does this relate to business?  Simple.  DO NOT abuse your customers.  If they are your customers, you don’t need to FIGHT them for goodness sakes.  Also, don’t go after your competition… it’s better to find your NICHE and defend from a position you own, then to go on OFFENSE and try to take their position.
  2. Goals.  This is a core tenant of Tae Kwan Do (my current marital art of choice)… and for business it is essential.  If you have no goals, you are going nowhere.  If you don’t set “Practical goals” you can “Actually measure”.. you are drinking your own Kool-Aid or setting yourself for failure.  No matter what you do in business, set goals… try to reach them.. analyze if you fail… celebrate if you win. Then set another goal now that you are wiser of your limitations (for more or less).
So you see, Martial Arts can teach you much about business.. and keep you healthytoo!  Get to it!  We can spar any time (the image at top is of me sparring a partner during black belt testing…  I’m the bug guy leaning forward.. perhaps a tad too aggressively).  I need to work on #1 of the martial arts philosophy… I attack too much!

Working in the Blind

Do not work blind.  It is dangerous.  You can hit yourself, stab a friend, or even fall off a cliff.  Doing Marketing without Analytics, is working blind.  Imagine running an ad without measure its effect.  Imagine building a product, without any user input.  Imagine running a TV ad without any information about who watches it, what your goals are, or how to measure those goals.

My approach: Hypothesize, Test, Measure  –>  repeat.

Austin Technology Incubator SEAL team Presentation

Occasionally, I am invited to speak at The University of Texas or at the Austin Technology Incubator (part of U.T.).  I love giving talks, guest lecturing, or speaking, and this weeks topic was for the SEAL program on “Startup Sales & Marketing”… an expertise of mine.  I usually just “wing it”, but today I brought slides.  And here they are attached below for your convenience and reference!

If you have ever wanted a 1-stop reference for Sales & Marketing advice at a Startup, I hope you enjoy theses slides.  Feel free to share with reference to the author (Harlan T Beverly) and my blog (tytusblog.blogspot.com).

Enjoy the Slides -> Click Here!

Proving a Marketing/Sales Model.

How do you prove anything?  Very,very difficult from an engineering perspective.  Instead, how about “verifying a hypothesis”.  In other words… create an H0 hypothesis about your sales & marketing strategy… then; test that hypothesis, and most importantly measure the results closely.

If you can say that your hypothesis works, then do the hard part: try to scale it up!  (wow, that can be tough).

So many companies think: well I’ll get X customers, and then I’ll be at a critical mass and then my model will be Y.  The problems… how do you get to X customers?  How do you know what will happen when you get there?

Instead, I focus on getting to x customers (note the smaller x), and prove that the model works at x.. (e.g. the business is profitable at x).  Then, I slowly scale up towards X.  If Y happens, great… but my X is still my x and that’s good enough for a profitable business.

Go x yourself.

7 reasons to Fail Early & Cheaply

Since everyone knows 19 out of 20 start-ups will fail… why not fail as soon as you can and as cheaply as you can?  In fact, recent evidence suggests that the #1 reason start-ups fail is trying to scale up too quickly/too soon.  Here are 7 reasons to FAIL as quickly as possible, and as cheaply as possible:

  1. Whenever you fail, you almost always learn more than if you succeed… especially if you start out with the goal of learning/deciding if a hypothesis will work.
  2. If you can fail quickly, you will likely have time and energy enough to try again!  (not necessarily a ‘new’ start-up, but instead another “hypothesis”/product variation to test in the current one).
  3. If you fail cheaply, you may have money enough to try again!
  4. If you fail early, you avoid spending too much time on a bad idea.
  5. If you fail cheaply, you haven’t invested too much “sunk costs” into the idea, and can let it die more quickly.
  6. If you can fail quickly, it means you have wisely set criteria for failure (a rare thing indeed!)!
  7. If and when you succeed, you KNOW you have something, because you have defined (wisely) what success is, and your past failures prove that the current situation is “Worth” scaling up!
Final word of warning: Scaling up itself is a difficult challenge, so use the term literally, and slowly increase the rate of growth, rather than step function.

Know how you plan to grow!

Here’s the deal.  If you have a business, and you don’t have a plan for how to grow.. you are already failing.  You need to at least have a hypothesis by which you believe you can achieve SCALE-ABLE GROWTH.  And there is not reason to not grow.. here are the top strategies.. the key is always test (“Is your strategy working?”):

  1. you will grow by viral behaviour.  Once you get a boost of new players, you will auto-grow because your virality is above 1.0.
  2. you will grow by advertising.  You make enough profit $$ per item/customer (after acquisition costs) that it justifies continued ramped up investments in advertising.
  3. you will grow by retention and word-of-mouth.  Similar to virailty, but more personal.  you will retain your customers so well, they keep buying more and more and even bring friends occasionally.
  4. you will grow by ‘free’ marketing.  People are searching for what you got, and your SEO will help them find you in a scalable fashion. (p.s. this is very difficult)
  5. you will grow by hiring a sales-force and hunting out the best customers.
What’s your strategy?
Got any others to add to this list?