diy marketing, branding and digital for cash-poor startups

23 March @ DEFY VENTURES WORKSHOP

DIY Marketing, Branding & Digital for Startups

• “Time is Money”: Describe your biz to customers < 30 secs - Maritza Reveron• “Your 1st Logo”: Get smart about logos, and get it done < 5 mins - Pebble• “Get your business online yourself in 60 mins” - Vijay R• “You can market your own Startup from $10/mth. Year round” - @SulinLau

Describe your product/ service to customers

in < 30 secs

Impossible?

Elevator Pitch

What can you do in 30

Showtime for your business

“So, Robin…what do you do?”• Your elevator pitch is:

–A short summary of your service, product, or company and how it adds value to customers

– A useful tool for communicating core information quickly

–A tool that will hopefully lead to a longer conversation with potential clients down the road

7 Tips for Developing Your EP• Have a goal• Know your audience• Focus on what you

actually do• Tell a brief story• Throw in a couple

numbers• Make sure you have a

hook (Value Prop)• Be conversational

Startup Logo in Under 5 mins

Impossible?

Thinking smart about startup logos These are the ONLY things you need to remember - listen up!

Web Presence in an hour

Building web presence in an hour for less than $100

Impossible?

Really? Just one hour?

Probably like 2 to 3 hours, but 1 hour sounds good for the title :)

Really? Just 100$?

Yes, Really !!

Let's get started

Total Cost so far : $0

Ingredients for a basic website

• Domain Name• Logo / Tag Line• Design• Content (Text)• Images and Videos• Contact Information

Domain NamePhysical Address:12345 King StreetBrooklynNew York

Online Address:http://www.joespizza.com

Where to buy a domain name?• Namecheap

• Gandi

• Name

• Go Daddy :(

Total so far

$11

Domain name tips• short

• easy to remember

• indicative of your business

• .com instead of .org, .net, .us etc

• Whoisguard subscription

Ways to build a website• Hire a agency

• Hire a freelancer

• Hire a high school kid

• Build an about.me page

• Do It Yourself, using website builders

Website builders

• About.me (good start, might not be enough)

• Weebly

• Wix

• Strikingly

• Squarespace

etc

Strategy?Get started with About.me - very quick and easy

BUT

Use weebly (or wix or squarespace) to build a multi page website

Tips for efficient design

• Decide number of pages

• Decide what goes into each page

• Make the pages short, simple and easy to read

• Write the outline of the website on paper before starting to build it

"Assembling" a website

Editing a weebly page

How much did we spend?For one year:

Domain Name - $11About.me - $0Weebly.com - 4.08 * 12 = ~49

Total : $60

Next Steps

• Poke around wix, weebly etc• Pick one• Buy a domain name• Make an "About.me" page• Make a complete website

Need help? We're here :)

Think about ...

• Email Marketing (Mailchimp, SendGrid etc)

• Tracking (Google Analytics etc)

• Social Media (Twitter, Facebook etc)

• Coupons (Groupon, Living Social etc)

• Memberships for your customers

Marketing Your Startup for Next to Nothing

Impossible?

....Which kind of entrepreneur are you?

the kind with more cash, less time/sweat

the kind with less cash, but more hustle

2009-2012

$57mil p.a. A&P budget

2009-2012

$57mil p.a. A&P budget

2013

$14.95 for4 months

(200 namecards)

How?

Paid + Owned + Earned

Paid + Owned + Earned

(Not “Free”, just paid for in Hustle & Heart)

(in $$ cash)

Big Company

Startup

0 25 50 75 100

Paid Owned Earned

Paid + Owned + Earned

Paid + Owned + Earned• Namecards (B/w @ $5)• Print Flyers $15• Location-specific biz: Small ads/classifieds• Very niche/specialized: Google Adwords $30-50/mth• Web $0-10 month

Paid + Owned + EarnedTHINK: What ‘Marketing + Media Assets’ do you already own?• Your own friends and family, and their connections• Your knowledge/expertise/experience in your head - just needs to be written down, documented • Website• Your physical space and/or location - walls, windows, counters, toilets• Your products (their packaging, receipts, bill statements, sizing tags, stickers)• Your happy customers• Your future employees • Your everyday comms: emails and letters and envelopes• Your vehicles (and your friends’ ad families’!)• You! (your apron, cap, notebook, wristband, even your famous catchphrases)

Paid + Owned + EarnedTHINK: Which areas can you out-sweat, out-perform others?• Video/Music - YouTube• Long-form Writing/Blogging • Short form Writing - Tweets, Tumblr• Pictures/Visual design/style - instagram, Pinterest• Humour/Comedy/Acting• Public Speaking• Proving logically/ proving efficacy• Networking/ Connecting in big rooms• Networking/ Connecting online• 121 persuasion/selling• Story-telling• Getting people to do favours for you• In-depth/specialist area knowledge and experience - slideshare• Local area/community contacts no one else has - googlegroups• Making customers say nice things about you - Youtube• .... or have friends that will gladly help you out for free

Basically, whatever it is you do well, make something

shareable and ask help to share it

e-flyers + piggyback media- free!

Piggyback media??I ASK people i meet to piggyback on their networks and connections and fans

• people who belong to large, relevant Google groups (invite me or post for me)

• Personal networks (write me an intro or allow me to say “Shana dressler recommended we speak”)

• Mailing lists/ Newsletters (help me blast this out)

• Association/Club Member lists (help me blast this out)

• Large facebook following >1000 (share this link or share this photo or share this blog)

• Twitter following >1000 (retweet me)

• Active Message or Bulletin boards (help me post or allow me to post)

• Events / Panels / Conferences / Meetups (let me plug, help introduce me to so and so)

• Board or Roundtable meetings (let me plug, help introduce me to so and so)

• Business Plan Competition (let me observe or judge)

• Those scheduled to speak to small biz financing (include 2 slides from me about Kiva Zip)

Invade events your customers are likely to attend.

Business Cards

so... based on a list our your business concepts....

Marketing for startups is only 1% cash, 9% luck, 90% sweat.

The more stuff you put out, the more people you ask to piggyback,

the more “sweat” you put into good content, the more attention you put into tagging content well.

....the luckier you will get.

If you’ve got questions:Sulin.lau@fellows.kiva.org

Thank You& Questions