how startups are changing marketing as we know it

Amrita Chandra @amritachandra

www.shapeandsound.com

How startups are changing marketing

as we know it

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/dnguy3n  

When I graduated from university in the early 90s, the best jobs for marketers were in big companies. I was one of the lucky ones, managing to get hired by one. Life was good.

In order to rise through the ranks I did what every ambitious big-company person did at the time – I went back to school to get my MBA. I was drawn to a place known for fostering entrepreneurs.

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/Dave  Catchpole  

Even though I was tempted to start my own company, I chose the safe route, continuing to work for big companies.

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/ll_bly_ca  

At the time, working in a startup or small company seemed like the cheap imitation of the real thing. Doing great marketing required great budgets, which startups didn’t have.

In the late 90s, things started

to change.

Source:  Wikipedia  

My first tech startup job

But even back then, you needed

money to make noise.

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/Filiola  

Ads Buying lists Direct mail Custom creative PR agency Trade shows Image  credit:  FlickrCC/Filiola  

Source:  Wikipedia  

Sucked to be a startup marketer

Eventually, the dot-com boom turned into the dot-com bust. It was a terrible time to be a startup marketer. It was tough to find work and budgets were tight.

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/t  Theatre  

A noticeable shift started happening around 2007. That set the stage for how marketing is being done today. A few market changes lay the foundation for startups to excel at marketing.

Shift #1:

The social web created affordable

channels of communication

Shift 2:

SaaS + cloud = affordable marketing

technology

Shift 3:

Our expectations around work

changed

Prestige

Impact

Corner office

Remote work

Security

Possibility

Stability

Flexibility

Resources

Resourcefulness

5 areas where startups are transforming marketing

as we know it

#1:�Customer insights

Pressly is a startup that makes a platform that allows marketers to turn various streams of content into an interactive experience ideal for mobile devices.

When you sign up for an account, you get this message from Pressly’s CEO. Try replying. It’s really him on the other end. He wants you to have the best experience possible using Pressly.

The CEO of TripLingo blogged about the importance of CEOs doing front-line customer support. He said he mans their live chat account so I thought I’d see if he was telling the truth… J

As Asigra’s head of marketing I made a point to talk to customers every single day. In fact, everyone on my team did. We got customer insights beyond anything traditional market research provided.

# 2: Marketing operations

Planning in short sprints

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/l  Robertson  

Daily standup meetings

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/il  Crosby  

(iDoneThis built their company around this)

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/_mdanys  

Teaming up marketers with

their design and developer

counterparts.

Startup Zapier has a distributed team, with marketing sitting in a different state than the folks he works with every day.

Startup marketers can now access tools that allow them to collaborate in ways they couldn’t in the past.

# 3: Hiring

Getting a marketing job used to require:

1.  Degree* 2.  Upward progression through

traditional marketing tracks 3.  Demonstration of “stability” *bonus if from a good school

Startup marketing job description

In other words: 1.  Know how to get shit done 2.  Have a great attitude

GROWTH HACKER FRONT END DEVELOPER

CUSTOMER EVANGELIST

CONTENT CREATOR

New roles inside startup marketing teams

#4:

Measurement

In the old days we were measured by how many leads

we generated, how many press mentions we got, and how much budget we secured.

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/M  Taylor  

Today, this is a typical dashboard

for a startup marketer.

Startup marketers are fluent in data analysis in ways marketers weren’t in the past. Here’s a blog post from startup Uberflip

Tools like Woopra, MixPanel and Kissmetrics give startup marketers real-time visibility into marketing results. In the past this was unaffordable or unavailable.

That’s not to say that we no longer need storytellers, content creators,

creativity…

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/fireflythegreat  

But even those folks use data to help

them make decisions…

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/fireflythegreat  

The availability and affordability of SaaS marketing technology leads to frequent

experimentation

Image  source:  www.unbounce.com  

#5: Re-imagining

Marketing

Customer Service

Social Media Interaction

User Experience

Employee Experience

Vendor Experience

Marketing is now the sum of all experiences someone has

with your company

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/GabPRR  

Buyers are communicating with other buyers in ways marketers can’t control.

“In the absence of communication among your customers, advertising rules. But when customers talk to each other, it’s the way customer experience works for each one that counts.” @Martha_Rogers Founder, Peppers & Rogers Group Author, Extreme Trust

This is marketing

This is marketing

This is marketing

Asigra took something as “boring” as backup and fostered a community of customers who felt like Backup Heroes. They asked for capes, we delivered!

This is marketing

Maptia moved their team to Morocco …This is marketing

Image  credit:  FlickrCC/heatheronhertravels  

This is marketing

37signals promote remote working and give their audience a glimpse inside their employees’ work spaces.

Sugru tapped into the passion of DIYers and created a cult following around their product.

Trying to out-spend your way to your customer is an arms race

that’s hard to win.

Instead, startups are perfectly positioned to:

Out-know Out-teach

Out-inspire Out-hack Out-solve Out-love

their way into the hearts and minds of people.

Just ask Johnny Cupcakes…

@amritachandra www.shapeandsound.com

Thank you, HPX!

p.s. If you liked this presentation, I would love it if you’d share it.