Dude, It's Marketing

Getting Started: Using the 5 Ws to Build Your Elevator Pitch

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:34:01 -0400

The last few posts in the Getting Started series have focused on naming and messaging which are crucial to any start-up. I find that many companies don't spend enough time creating their elevator pitch and then constantly change it which hurts the process more than helps it.

Recently, we looked at the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, why) that are behind your key messages and also explored how and why to come up with a short descriptor (3-5 words) that explains what bucket your business is in. These are the cornerstones of your message.

But ultimately, what you need is an elevator pitch for your company so today's post will look at how we put these other elements together into something that you can use across your website, collateral, presentations and all communications about your company.

I thought it would make the most sense to use an example to show you how I take the answers to the 5Ws to build the elevator pitch for a start-up. And, I'm going to use this blog as the "company" in this example. To get started, I answer the 5 Ws as succinctly as possible which I did in the chart below:

To start, I created my short descriptor as part of the answer to the "who am I?" question. It clearly puts me in a bucket that everyone understands, which is that of a marketing blog, but it also creates a niche in a very noisy market by showing how it is focused on start-ups.

Then you can weave these answers into a paragraph like I've done below or if you need a shorter option just choose the most appropriate questions to answer which are likely the first 3 and covered by the first sentence:

Dude, It’s Marketing is a start-up marketing blog that helps founders and marketers at technology start-ups launch new products and build awareness for the comapny. We look at marketing strategically and show how to implement the right tactics, within the limited resources of a start-up, to generate qualified leads, which result in a strong pipeline for sales.

As you can see, by starting with the answers to the 5 Ws it is quite easy to build your elevator pitch or boilerplate. These answers also give you the talking points to consistently respond to key questions about your business in a simple and consistent manner that your audience will remember.

Let us know any tips you have picked up to create an elevator pitch or if you have any similar framworks that you use which have proven helpful.

Getting Started: What Bucket Are You In?

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:30:06 -0400

One of the crucial questions you need to answer for your start-up, and maybe the most difficult, when you are getting started is "who are you?". I don't mean this to be philosophical but you need to answer this question so you know what business you are in or as others put it "what bucket are you in?"

There are many reasons why this is so critical but the ones that stand out for me is that it forms the foundation of your elevator pitch and also defines who you competitors are which helps you to differentiate your solution from them.

But you not only need to answer the question, you need to answer it succinctly. Coming up with three to five words is likely the hardest part of developing your messaging but it's extremely important. You need to think long and hard about the words you want to see tied to your company name as it will lead to how you are viewed by the public and if prospects consider you for their solution.

For example, when you get coverage for your company, and you will, the media will always want to define the company quickly at the outset so readers understand what the company does. The editor is not going to take paragraphs to do that. They are going to define the company in three words and it's better if you do it for them.

Also, from a competitive standpoint, and everyone has competitors or the company is in bigger trouble, picking what bucket you are in is better than letting your audience do it, and they will if you don't. By defining what business you are in, you can then focus your messaging to differentiate your solution from your competition.

There is the temptation to try and create a new bucket for your start-up but this has some serious drawbacks. First and foremost, it's difficult for a small company to create a new space. And if it doesn't catch on, then you risk letting your competitor, media and/or others define you.

What makes more sense is to take an existing bucket and reframe it. Quite often, this is best done by segmenting an existing market, which gives your audience a frame of reference but at the same time gives you the benefits of defining a "new" space that you are clearly first-to-market in.

I've seen many rush into selecting their wordss while others change them regularly but how you define your business has long-term implications to your success. So, make sure you think long and hard about what bucket you are in.

Getting Started: The 5 Ws Behind Your Key Messages

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:22:05 -0400

One of the main problems I see with startups that are Getting Started is that they are unable to communicate a short simple message about the company. This is oftentimes called the elevator pitch as the goal is develop what you would say to someone in an elevator between floors if they asked what your company does.

This is not an easy task and these key messages set the foundation for your marketing efforts as they should be used time and time again to communicate a simple and consistent message to the right audience. To help you along in creating the elevator pitch, or boilerplate as it's also called, I wanted to share the 5 key questions you need to answer.

Journalists are told to answer the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, and why) in the first couple of paragraphs of any story. This explains what the story is about early on and also lays out the details that can be built upon in the rest of story. If we think about this for a minute, that is exactly what your elevator pitch needs to do too.

So we'll use these same 5 Ws as the base questions for developing an elevator pitch and then if the person riding the elevator is interested they will either stop and get out to talk more or setup a meeting where you can explain the how and give them more details.

Here are the 5 Ws behind your key messages:

Who are you? The name of your business but more importantly what type of business you are in or what bucket would you want your audience to place you in.
What problems do you solve? At a high level, expain the the needs of the people you serve or their pain points.
Where is your target market? Define your market and outline where you sell your product and to whom.
When would your audience benefit? This is your value proposition to your target customers.
Why do they pick your solution? You will not want to mention the names of your competitors but group them and then clearly define what
makes you different.

Remember that the key here is to keep the answers short as you only have few seconds or words to explain what you company does. At the same time, it needs to be compelling though and differentiated so the person you are talking to wants to hear more.

In the next couple of posts, we'll explore your key message in more detail by showing how you create your elevator pitch from the answers to these 5 questions and also how critical it is to choose the 3-5 words that become the label for your company. Stay tuned...

Your Marketing Success is a Long Term Game

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:08:41 -0400

Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), a New York Times bestselling author and social media guru with a widely read blog, talks about how it took him years to become an overnight success. In fact, he recently said it took him 8 years to get his first 100 readers which now number 100s of thousands I'm sure.

Now in fairness to Chris he started his blog before social media and even RSS for that matter. The point is that Chris is just one example of thousands. But I read that stat in Chris's newsletter and it got me to thinking about how marketing is always a long term game.

The reality is it takes time to create content, get found, nurture leads and ultimately convert them into sales for your start-up. Marketing is not something you can turn on at the last minute and expect it to show immediate results. We as marketers even fail to remember this on occassion.

I recently started a series of posts on this blog about Getting Started and that's the key here. You need to start your marketing activities sooner, rather than later, as it takes time to create awareness and build your funnel.

I'm often surprised how marketing can be expected to deliver immediate results when R&D is given time to develop the product and sales is given the time to build a pipeline. It's no different in marketing and PR. It takes time to create the campaigns that generate leads and then move the prospects through the funnel. It also takes time to build relationships and create the stories that result in coverage for your company.

How long does this take you might ask? Well, it's another one of those "it depends" answers. It depends on your target market, the complexity of the product you are selling, the maturity of your market, the competition and many other factors. It will likely take months or years not days or weeks.

But, even though I'm saying you need to be patient to become a marketing success, I'm not for second saying that you should launch a campaign and hope for the best. It's an iterative process and you need to be constantly measuring and analysing to tweak the campaign and increase its effectiveness.

You should also not rest when one campaign is launched but continue to integrate new and different tactics. It's also an ongoing process and one initiative builds on the other. That's why the marketing mix is crucial to the effectiveness as well.

While you hope it doesn't take 8 years to get your first 100 customers, it might, and you need to remember that ongoing marketing activities are the key to not only make this happen but can also be crucial to making it happen sooner.

Your marketing success, even your overall success, is a long term game so prepare for the ride.

Can Tradeshows Still be Effective for Marketing?

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 06:59:15 -0400

You don't need to look too far to see the effect that online marketing, social media and other tactics have taken on the tradeshow industry. Some have disappeared altogether, like Supercomm; many have gotten smaller, like Interop; and others have changed their name to reflect an expanded scope, like VoiceCon to Enterprise Connect.

But despite this changing landscape, some tradeshows, like RSA Conference, have continued to not only live on but thrive. However, after each and every tradeshow, marketers question whether it was worth the considerable investment or is it a must attend event? In fact, it was 2 years ago that I asked if tradeshows were worth it?

Recently, I was at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain (photo above), which, for those of you who are not familiar, is THE event for the mobile industry with over 1,400 exhibitors and 60,000+ attendees. It attracts CEOs and senior executives, which is rare for any tradeshow, from all the major mobile operators.

My company had a demo station in the booth of a major technology vendor. We had committed to the event because we were launching a new offering and wanted to build awareness with mobile operators not to mention the fact that our partner is also a key channel for us so we wanted to get awareness with their sales team too. Despite this obvious fit, I was still skeptical whether the investment, while minimal, would pay off.

As it turns out, the event was very successful for us. We were able to show the demo to hundreds of prospects, we met with key account executives in the sales team, briefed a few media and analysts and got the word out in many other ways. It definitely surpassed all of our expectations.

But when I got back, I started to think about why this tradeshow had been so successful for us whereas a couple of years ago, I was swearing them off in terms of a marketing tactic. Here are my top 5 reasons how this show was, and others can be, effective from a marketing perspective:

Choose the show for your industry: With fewer shows there is one must attend event for your industry. That's the one to do, but...
Make sure your prospective customers are there: If this is not the case, then don't do the event. You need to meet with prospective customers for the show to be effective.
Set up meetings in advance: This is crucial as you then guarantee meetings with some key prospects and do not need to rely on walk up traffic.
Work with a partner: It's a great way to minimize costs but if you are a startup working with a larger, more established company will help you stand out.
Have a great demo of your product: Prospects want to see your product in action and the more compelling your demo the more likely they will remember it.

Tradeshows have fundamentally changed. They really had no choice. The good ones have created an event that the industry must attend. If you can follow some of the tips above and make it cost-effective then the right tradeshow could be a great venue to launch or promote your new product. Now, I'm not saying that you have to do a tradeshow as part of a launch but with the right investment they can be effective.

However, it's not about spending the most money and having the biggest spectacle to stand out. They are still very expensive but to be effective you need to be focused on meeting with prospects. Think of it more around meeting with a lot of different prospects in one place at one time. If the event will do that for you, then it's worth attending as you may even save money on travel in the long run.

How to Quickly Launch a Product

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:25:32 -0500

Product launches are key to your start-up's success both from a development perspective but also from a marketing and sales perspective. We've all seen how Apple does product launches where everything is a secret until the big event and then a master unveiling takes place. This has been very successful for them as they are able to draw a large crowd and create buzz.

However, this is the exception and only a handful of companies can pull it off not to mention the fact that a lot of time and effort goes into these launches that is just not possible in the land of start-ups. For this post, I want to look at how you can quickly launch a product and by quick I mean pulling everything together in a matter of a few weeks, not months.

When launching a product, marketing tends to get brought in later in the process so you will need to take a list of features that have been developed and figure out how to position the product to be successful in the market. Working with developers to create a compelling value proposition is not always an easy task but creating a product brief with them can give you the information you need to build better messaging.

The next key step is to select an event for your launch so that everything can be pulled together at the same time and make an impact. I'm going to use "event" in the broadest sense as it could be something as grand as what Apple does, to a tradeshow or an online launch, to a news release.

Without an event, you risk not getting everything completed and releasing the product and marketing elements in stages which will lose the impact you are after. In its simplest form, the launch event can just be a date where all the elements come together and are made public.

Whatever event you choose, here is a list of tactics that are required for any successful product launch:

Sales tools including educational white papers about the topic, product overviews both high-level and technical, and case studies.
Product demos that capture how the product works. This can be done live, as a video, or animated using screen shots.
Media and analyst outreach will help educate key advocates about the new product and result in coverage which helps to raise awareness.
Web content that is SEO friendly will give everyone a place to find more information about the product. Remember to use video and graphics to make your site more interesting.
Social media can be used to spread the word about the new product and also to collect feedback on it once the product is launched.

There is no doubt that you can do a lot more in each of these areas and use other tactics to launch your product and, depending on time and resources, you may not get to everything on this list. But, you need to provide some substance to your launch and the process above has served me well and can be used as a good baseline for your start-up. Tell me about your launches in the comments below.

Getting Started: Naming Pitfalls to Avoid

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:01:16 -0500

There's no doubt that coming up with a name for your startup is not easy but it's one one of your first big decisions when you're getting started. Last week, I talked about some key attributes to consider when you select a name but probably more important is to avoid the three pitfalls I'll outline below: not securing the domain name, not spelling the name correctly, and using your name inconsistently.

There was a time when naming involved doing a trademark search to make sure someone else in your industry was not using it as well. But now there are so many more searches you need to do as you want to make sure you can legally use it but also make sure the online identity is available.

Pitfall #1: Not securing the domain name

Getting a URL that's available is probably the hardest part today in selecting a name for your company. Most are taken but it's absolutely critical that you pick a name where you can get the URL, as your website will be the cornerstone of your business. Equally important though is to make sure you can get the name on the social media sites you plan to use.

Even with all the new extensions coming out, .com still reigns suprime so I would think long and hard about a name if you can't secure the .com. Even better, if you can come up with a name that has most of the extensions available then grab as many as you can afford but definitely .net and some key country ones if you plan to do business in multiple geographies.

Pitfall #2: Not spelling the name correctly

Because so many URLs are not available, the standard shortcut to take is to choose a name that is misspelled so they can get the URL or to settle for some variation on the URL that is long or difficult to remember when looking for the site. This happens time and time again.

While it may not be an issue in online communictions such as emails or on social media sites where you can link directly to the site, if you have a name and URL that are not spelled in a standard way then your prospects won't get to you site when they directly type in your URL and it may also not come up in search. You need to get found easily so a name and URL that are spelled the correct way are absolutely critical in my opinion.

At the same time, you also need to be careful if using a person's name or word that is difficult to remember or is not always spelled correctly. Even though you are spelling it correctly, if the general population has problems then you have the same issue outlined above. One potential solution here is to also secure the misspelled variations for the URL, if you have the cash and they are available.

Now I will admit there have been some notable successes that have not followed this rule but I would argue that they are the exceptions and would have had an easier time if they had picked a name that was spelled correctly. My primary school teachers are going to be so proud of me for harping on the value of correct spelling.

Pitfall #3: Using your name inconsistently

Sometimes a descriptive name, which I believe is a good thing, can go too far and become quite long. There is no doubt that this can help when you secure a URL as the longer ones tend to be available. A long URL is far from ideal for a number of reasons but the bigger pitfall here is that the name is often shortened in other communications.

For example, acmeheatingandairconditioning.com (still available) is the URL selected but everyone calls the company Acme or Acme Heating in general conversation and that's the name on their vans and in all their communciations. In this example, I'm not sure anyone would be able to find the company online as the URL is quite different from what the company is known as by its customers.

Or even worse, what if the URL was acmehvac.com (not available but no website) but everyone called the company Acme Heating? This has the issue I outlined above in using a URL that's different from the name but also uses an acronym that may be understood in the industry but may not be well known by its customers.

My point here, which I hope the examples illustrate, is that your corporate name, URL and social media identities need to be consistent and then used that way. If you have a long name, shorten it officially rather than using different variations in different areas. If you can't get a short URL that matches your name then keep looking for a name.

This is not easy, I know, but your name is your identity and will ultimately be the cornerstone of your brand. The name doesn't need to be perfect but it should be distinct, meaningful and memorable plus it's crucial that you avoid these pitfalls.

Getting Started: What's in the Name

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:08:03 -0500

Coming up with a name for your startup is difficult when you consider that this is something you will need to live with for a very long time, especially if you're successful which is the goal of course. Many rush into naming their company without considering how much it matters both when you're starting out and over the longer term.

I don't believe there is a silver bullet in naming your company and you don't need to spend weeks or thousands of dollars to come up with one but there are a few attributes that you should focus on when naming your company. These include making sure the name is distinct, meaningful, and memorable.

Distinct

Picking a name that's distinct is crucial for many reasons but legally you are not allowed to select a name that is similar to others in your industry. You also want to make sure that the name you select is not used by a lot of other companies in a lot of different industries as that will clearly impact where it comes up in a search. You don't want to be one of a hundred "Acme whatever" that comes up when you search.

Being different is just part of it though, a name that is distinct will stand out and be remembered more easily by your audience which will help you with all of your marketing efforts going forward. You need to stand out from the crowd with everything you do and your name is the best place to start.

Meaningful

While some will disagree with me, I also think the name should be meaningful and explain what you do. I will grant you that there are some notable exceptions, like Google and Amazon, where the name initially gives you no indication of their business. But, I'll counter with Apple who in its early days was Apple Computers. The word "Computer" was only removed in 2007 when it was a well-known brand and the addition had actually become restrictive and misleading as it was into many other lines of business.

And this is what I mean, if your name includes what business you are in then it will be more meaningful to your audience and you will not need to waste valuable words explaining what you do each time. But don't make the name too restrictive in case you want to expand into other businesses or markets in the future. Renaming your company may be the only thing that's more difficult than picking a name in the first place.

Memorable

The hardest attribute I mentioned above is to make your name memorable. It's easy with a quick search to see if you name is distinct and if you agree with making your name memorable then figuring out what business you are in should be relatively straightforward too. The issue with a picking a memorable name is that it's subjective so it's difficult to judge if your name is memorable or not.

One test is to show it to a few people (if they are in your industry that's even better) and get their feedback but grow some thick skin here as everyone will have an opinion. But even more important is to sleep on your name ideas for a few days or weeks if you have time. If one of them still stands out you may have a winner and this is also a good test to make sure you won't grow tired of it as you need to live with this selection for a long time (hopefully).

I'm not going to lie and say that picking a name is easy. When you are getting started, this is absolutely one of the most important decisions you are going to make. There are many more factors that you should consider but I wanted to outline a few attributes for you to have in the back of you mind when picking a name. In the next post, I'll look at what not to do when picking a name.

Getting Started: Is There a Market for My Idea?

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:06:18 -0500

A startup begins with an idea for a product or service but this is really only the first step when you're getting started. While you may think your idea is revolutionary, will others? If you want to make a business out of it, you need to make sure there is a market for your product or service. Put another way, will people buy your idea and if so will they buy it instead of other similar ideas?

Before you invest too much time and money in your idea, you'll want to research the market to ensure there is a need for your idea and that you can make money off of it. You will also want to evaluate the competition so you know that you can differentiate your product or service from them.

While some dismiss market research because people don't always know what they want, it's important to talk to some prospective customers to get their insights into what they need to make their life or jobs easier or more efficient. Even if you don't size the market (although you will need to do this if you want to raise outside money) or test the concept with focus groups, these discussions will provide valuable insights that give you a better understanding of your audience which is absolutely critical.

They may not understand your idea in its early stages but listening to your customers-to-be could give you additional thoughts for improvements or refinements that could make the difference between success and failure. Instead of presenting your concept and getting input, have a coversation to see how your prospects solve that problem today.

It's rare that your concept won't have indirect competitors even if you don't see any direct ones at this early stage. If there really is no competition, then it could very well mean you have no market too. That's why these discussions and informal research are absolutely critical. You want to make sure there is a market before you invest substantial amounts of time and money.

But don't take this competitive research too far as you need to forge your own path and make your product or service significantly different that their product. If you follow the competition then you will surely fail. Very few people are going to switch to your solution if you are only 2x better. In many cases, they may not even switch if you're 10x better.

Once you take this valuable input from prospective customers into account and define a product or service that has a clear market and is more compelling than the competition, then you'll need to make sure the messages that you deliver communicate not only the value but how you are different.

We'll talk a lot more about messaging in this startup stage (you can read some previous posts on this topic) but the next post in this series will be some thoughts on selecting a name so stay tuned. In the meantime, if you there are any problems or issues you face getting started, leave them in the comments and I'll try to address them.

Getting Started: Stages of a Startup

Brendan Ziolo — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:22:04 -0500

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about some of the first marketing steps you should take when you start a company as a result of a call from a friend. But then I realized that this is a problem many face and it would be great to talk about what needed to be done, from a marketing perspective, in the early stages of a startup.

Before I get into some of the marketing strategies and tactics that you need to look into, I thought it would make a lot of sense to actually define the different stages that a startup goes through in its lifecycle. This process could last months but will likely take years.

I'll focus on the marketing aspects of each stage in this post as there are obviously product development, financing, sales, support and many other aspects as well to each stage but those are for another blog.

Idea

It all begins with an idea for a product, service or company but this really is only the beginning. Before you invest too much time and money, you'll want to do some market research, informal is fine, to ensure there is a decent sized market for your idea and also evaluate the competition so you know that you can differentiate your product or service from them. This is also the stage where you need to make some hard choices around naming, branding and messaging for your company so that you can set it up properly from the start.

Launch

While the idea is being developed into a product, its time to put the foundation in place for your company from a marketing perspective. At some point you need to get the word out about this revolutionary product. But it's not just a matter of building a website and they will come. You need to launch the company using a variety of tactics from PR to social media to get thought leadership and word of mouth going. You'll also need to have the sales tools ready to answer why anyone needs your product and why is it better.

Validation

At this point, you need to focus and land your first customers. It's absolutely critical that you get this validation from the market and to learn more about what you product needs and how it can be improved. Partners can help a lot in this area from rounding out the solution to bringing credibility with customers. Leverage this validation through PR and other marketing activities as it's a crucial proof point for other prospects.

Growth

But rarely will that first customer set you up for life, so now it's time to build on this success and grow the customer base for your product or service. You need to scale by repeating that first sale tens or hundreds of times depending on the size of each deal. This is where the marketing activities need to scale by doing more of what you've been doing with a focus on lead generation and helping sales drive those prospects through the sales funnel.

Transition

Once your startup reaches a certain size, in terms of customers, employees, or revenue, then it's time to transition to the next phase of your company. This could be anything from selling the company to building it even larger and ultimately taking it public. The main point here is that you are no longer a startup and need to put in place the infrastructure and team to take it to the next level.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to do a series of Getting Started posts that explore these stages but more importantly look at the marketing startegies and tactics in more detail. In the meantime, let me know if these stages and tactics map to your experiences or issues you're facing now with your startup.

Happy Holidays from Dude, It's Marketing

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:14:57 -0500

In this last post of 2011, I want to thank all the readers of this blog for taking the time to visit Dude, It's Marketing. I hope you enjoyed reading the posts as much as I appreciated the feedback I've received on them.

When I wrote this post last year, I said I wanted to blog more regularly in 2010. While I'm still not writing as often as I would like on this blog, I did manage to have 30 posts this year which is a 50% increase compared to 2010. Next year, I hope to post even more often and definitely want to write more in my Getting Started series which was one of my top posts for the year.

For now, I'll sign off 2011 by wishing all my friends and readers a safe and happy holiday and all the best in 2012.

Gift Ideas for the Marketer on your List

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:59:15 -0500

It's that time of year, where we are all scrambling for gift ideas and there is always one person that is difficult to buy for because they have everything. If that person works in marketing, then I may be able to help with a list of books that every marketer should have on their desk. Even better, give them one of these books on an iPad, Kindle or other eReader and they will love you forever, especially if they don't have one of these devices.

New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott

This book is now in it's third edition and it's no wonder as it's used in university and colleges to teach the new principles that marketers need to know in an online world driven by social media. It talks about how companies need to become publishers to reach buyers directly using blogs, social media, online video and other tactics. A great read full of lessons every marketer needs to know.

Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith

It's a classic. While this book focuses on services, there are literally hundreds of lessons a marketer can learn to help them sell their services AND products better. The format makes this a quick read and lots of practical tips can be easily applied the next day. To this day, I haven't seen a better template for writing elevator pitches and positioning statements. Beckwith's other books are also worth adding to your marketers book shelf.

Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout with Steve Rifkin

The subtitle for this book says it all, "Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition". What marketer doesn't need to learn about that to help their company. The second edition has updated case studies that show you how to differentiate your product or services and dominate your market. There are a number of other great books by Trout, like Positioning which is written with Jack Ries, but I wanted to highlight one that fewer people have on their bookshelf already.

Cluetrain Manifesto by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger

It's hard to believe that this book was released over 10 years ago. You definitely won't believe it after you read the book as it talks a lot about how markets are conversations because they are made up of people. Sounds a lot like what we talk about when we refer to social media but the insights of these authors were shared before Facebook, Twitter and the other tools we take for granted today even existed. I definitely want to read this again and look at how it fits with all that has changed.

I hope this list helps both marketers looking for reading material over the holidays or if you have a marketer on your list and need to get them one more little gift. I very specifically wanted to choose books that are still relevant but not initially published in the past couple of years. For more current books, you may also want to check out the books I've reviewed on this blog.

[Images courtesy of the author's website. All book title links go to Amazon.com but order from your preferred site or your local bookstore.]

Top 3 Marketing Lessons from Steve Jobs

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:15:11 -0500

It was 2 months ago, on October 5, 2011, that the technology industry lost a true visionary, Steve Jobs, who revolutionized several industries with his genius.

Published shortly after his death, I recently read the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. The book is very well-written, with deep insights into the man that are not sugar coated so it only presents the good ones. It's one of the best biographies I have ever read and I strongly recommend it to others both in technology and other fields.

However, for this post I didn't want to do one of my regular book reviews as you can find many reviews on the web already. But as I read this book, I did think about what we could learn from Jobs from a marketing perspective and how he used marketing to create one of the world's most valuable companies.

While the lessons are clearly numerous and everyone will have different takeaways depending on their role or industy, I wanted to keep it simple, as Jobs would have liked it, and select what I think are the three top marketing lessons from Steve Jobs.

Focus

Focus was one of Jobs' obsessions and one of the main reasons that Apple is so successful today. It was said in the book that they would start with a list of priorities in a given year but Jobs would quickly cut that down to 1 or 2 things that the company was going to focus on. The thinking behind this was to make fewer products but do them really well. A mission we can all agree was accomplished.

While it may seem like Apple has a lot of products today, if you look harder you realize that they only added more products as they got successful and that there is only ever one big, new thing they launch each year, while the others are iterations. Think iMac to iPod to iPhone and then iPad. These were not all done at the same time but sequentially. And even within these product lines, there are a few different models, not 100s with many more variations like you see with other companies.

Apple started with a focus on personal computers and then moved onto consumer electronics but the focus has always been there and even today as the world's most valuable tech company they are not in 100s of markets. Focus is a lesson that I think all companies can learn and do better.

Simple

There is no doubt that Jobs had a keen eye for design but it was more the fact that he and his team made everything simpler that is the key here. It's not that Apple designs try to be minimalist that make them great, but the fact that anything from a button to a feature that is not absolutely required is eliminated.

The result of removing features is that people are always asking for more which leads to the next iteration of the product but even then anything is added incrementally and sometimes older features are removed along the way.

It's clearly harder to eliminate things than add and Jobs was a master at constantly pushing to do things better with less. In the end, I would argue that rather than invent new products what Jobs and Apple did was to revolutionize multiple industries by simplifying them.

Simplifying everything is what made the products more usable and you rarely see that strength with tech companies today. In fact, because everything just works is Apple's competitive advantage which goes to show that how you differentiate may not be about adding more features, which is another lesson that many companies need to learn.

Brand

It's clear that tech companies don't know how to build a brand. Apple is, without a doubt in my mind, the exception and the best technology brand, and quite likely any market, today. So there are many lessons, in this one area alone that marketers can learn from Jobs about branding.

But for me, the core lesson that we can learn from Jobs is that a brand is not the logo or a tag line but every interaction with the customer. That's why Jobs believed it was crucial to own the entire experience, from devices to OS to apps to content to buying and storage. That's why whenever you use an Apple device, go to one of their stores to buy something, or download the latest music online, it feels the same and is very much... Apple.

When Jobs returned to run Apple, they re-launched the company with a new Mac but probably more importantly with the Think Different campaign. While many select Apple's 1984 ad as the best of all time, it is this Think Different campaign that really is the epitome of the brand and positioned it for the future.

One blog post cannot do justice to the legacy of Steve Jobs. One book can't either, but I strongly recommend that you read the book by Walter Isaacson to get a better picture of Jobs. As I read the book, I couldn't help to think about how startups and every company can learn so much from him. He had his faults and made some mistakes, everyone does, but the world would not be the same without him.

R.I.P. Steve Jobs.

Don't Forget to Always Have a Call to Action

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 07:16:12 -0500

I am still surprised that to this day there is one aspect that is missing from many marketing tactics that could make the campaign much more successful. In particular, this one element is absolutely critical to lead generation and nuture campaigns -- it is a call-to-action.

A call-to-action is an image or text that grabs the visitor's or prospect's attention and directs them to what you want them to do. In the case of a lead gen campaign, the call-to-action would direct the person to a landing page where you can collect their info in exchange for the offer. There are many different calls-to-action and the place where it directs them will depend on the goals of the campaign.

While this may seem obvious to some, take a look around and see how many emails, web pages, blog posts, ads, etc. don't tell the reader what to do next. This simple element is so often missing and it will make the difference between a successful marketing campaign and a failure. Studies show that tweaking this element properly can make the difference between a good and a great campaign.

So where do you start? For a call-to-action to be successful, you need to make sure it links to a compelling offer. That's why it's important for you to look through your most recent campaigns and see which offers did the best in terms of conversions and create more calls-to-action for them. Or, you may need to develop a new offer for a new campaign.

You'll also want to have multiple offers that map to the different stages of the sales funnel so that you can continue to have calls-to-action through subsequent follow-up and lead nurture activities that directs those prospects to new content that will continue to move them along the sales funnel.

Once you have these offers lined up then you need to add calls-to-action in as many places as possible, as it's difficult to have too many calls-to-action. Some obvious pllace are on your website, on your blog or in blog posts, in presentations, in emails and as part of ads, direct mail and other offline activities. You should also include calls-to action in the content itself, in videos, in your email signatures, and using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

It is this last one, social media, where you do need to limit the number of calls-to-action as many will stop following you if that's all you do is promote in your social media stream. But don't go to the other extreme either and not use it for calls-to-action either.

All of this work around creating offers and placing the calls-to-action will be for naught if your calls-to-action are not compelling enough so your prospects will click on the link or button and convert. There are a few key aspects to a compelling call-to-action including:

Make it clear in terms of what the visitor needs to do and what the offer is if they do it.
Make sure it stands out whereever it's placed and that people don't need to scroll on the web page or in the email to get to it. If people don't see it, then it won't be clicked on.
Make sure the call-to-action is relevant to the page, where they are in the sales funnel and that the offer is the right content for that call-to-action. Remember the key is to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

If you follow this process, then you will be well on your way to some compelling calls-to-action that convert but after you've gone this far you will want to continue to optimize the call-to-action and the landing page. That's why it's equally important to measure the effectiveness of the call to action including the click-through-rate (CTR) and click-to-submission. With these results you can experiment with and keep testing different offers, landing pages and different aspects of the call-to-action including text, colors, images, etc.

The call-to-action is a pivotal part of any marketing campaign. While your objective may be different for the call-to-action, in this post we focused on using them for lead generation, the need to have them never changes. If you don't have them, then you might as well skip doing the campaign in the first place and not waste the time and resources.

Getting Started: What Do I Do First?

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:33:04 -0400

A month ago I got a call from a friend who is starting his own company and he wanted to know what some of the first things were that he needed to do to market his company. He was very excited about the new opportunity and I was very impressed that he was looking at marketing so early in the process.

This got me to thinking about what to tell him and where to point him for more resources. But I quickly realized that most books and blogs about marketing assume you have already started your company and want to take it to the next level. Even this blog, which is about helping start-ups do marketing better, assumes that the company has already been in existence for a short period of time. I'm going to fix this with some new blog posts on getting started.

So what would you do if you were given a blank canvass on which to build a marketing plan? If you had to list the very first marketing tasks to do, where would you start? Obviously, he needed to develop an overall marketing strategy but he is just starting out so there is limited to no budget or resources. Therefore, I wanted to give him a few marketing tactics to focus on out of the gate.

The first thing, quite clearly, was that he needed a name and to secure that name for his website and other social media properties. Getting a URL that's available is probably the hardest part today in selecting a name for your company. Most are taken but it's absolutely critical that you pick a name where you can get the URL as your website will very likely be the cornerstone of your business.

Too many shortcuts are taken here and founders choose a name that is misspelled so they can get the URL or have to settle for some variation on the URL that is long or difficult to remember when looking for the site. You need to get found easily so the name and URL are absolutely critical first steps.

In this case, he actually had already selected a name and developed a logo so it wasn't a totally clean slate... but almost. I did suggest, if there was the money, to invest in branding and design as the more professional you look the better it will be for your business.

We talked some more about building a website and creating some collateral, in particular a Powerpoint presentation, that he could deliver to prospects. These elements are required as you begin selling to prospects. But the first thing I said he should do after the name was to develop key messages for the company before he undertook any other activities.

I explained how crucial it was to create a simple message which differentiates your product to the target audience and is used consistently. I sent him a template for how to develop an elevator pitch, value proposition and boilerplate that can be used consistently on his website and in all his sales tools. Communicating the value your offer to customers is key which is why taking the time to develop messages is one of the key first steps in getting started.

Best of luck to my friend and all of those starting new companies. I'll continue to blog more on the topic of getting started to help you along the journey. For those that have companies which are already launched, what are the first steps you took from a marketing perspective? What would you do differently?

Don't Rely on Social Media for Lead Generation

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 06:57:12 -0400

There is little doubt that social media is one of, if not THE, buzzword in marketing. But, as I've written about before, social media is still only a tactic and not the only tactic you should use. Recent findings show how crucial it is to build an overall marketing strategy that uses multiple tactics if you goal is to generate and nurture quality leads (and who doesn't want to do that).

As reported by ZDNet, a recent study by Demandbase and Focus.com showed that corporate websites were the top online lead source and second overall to personal connections and referrals. But even more telling is that corporate websites were 7x more effective than social media. Here's the breakdown of top lead sources:

41% - Personal connections and referrals
23% - Corporate website
14% - Email
7% - Advertising (banners and search engine marketing)
3% - Social Media (including video)
12% - Other

Some may be surprised by these results but it shows that social media is not always the best tactic and for B2B lead generation other tools are better. So despite the buzz around Twitter, Facebook and Google+, you need to look at all the tactics and carefully select the right ones to meet your marketing goals and objectives.

Hopefully, less surprising, was that your corporate website still is one of the most important sales tools that you can build and is crucial to your lead generation efforts. I believe some have moved on and focused their efforts on social media rather than their website which as you can see does not make sense if you goal is lead generation. You need to continue to invest in your website and build targeted messages and landing pages for each audience in order to engage prospects and move them along the sales funnel.

Now it could be argued that social media drove the traffic to the corporate website and isn't getting proper credit for generating the lead. This wouldn't surprise me in the least as I do believe social media is a good tool for sharing information and taking prospects back to your website for even more compelling content is a great approach.

The important point here is that relying only on social media, especially if your goal is to generate leads, will clearly lead to failure on the marketing front. You need to pick the right tactics for the job. It is only by integrating multiple tactics that your marketing strategy will deliver results.

Book Review - Content Rules by @MarketingProfs and @cc_chapman will Ignite your Marketing

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:09:00 -0400

For those that read this blog, you know I'm passionate about creating compelling content as the cornerstone of your marketing plans. That's why I was excited to finally read Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business by Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) and C.C. Chapman (@cc_chapman).

In the book, Ann and C.C. start by presenting the case for why content is important but they don't dwell on that as most reading this book, I would assume, are already convinced of it's importance. The first part of the book is the best part as they provide a framework for content marketing with the 11 content rules which include Speak Human; Share or Solve, Don't Shill; and Play to Your Strengths, among others.

The rules I found particularly important and insightful in this section, although Ann and C.C. say they are all equally important, were Insight Inspires Originality and Reimagine; Don't Recycle.

With Insight Inspires Originality, they talk about how a good content strategy starts with the story and how the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where and why) taught in journalism school will help you focus on your customers and their needs. In my opinion, this is a great way to look at it and more importantly they argue that you need to start with the why: why are you creating the content you're creating, which is basically the goals of your content strategy.

In Reimagine; Don't Recycle, they talk about how you create 10 pieces of content out of 1 piece which is obviously crucial to a start-up with limited resources. To do this, you need to think of each piece that you create as part of a larger whole or if you start with a longer white paper or eBook think about how you can break it up into smaller chunks. Where you start doesn't matter, but creating content is an ongoing process and you need to take a broader view of the content you create. Building a publishing schedule, or editorial calendar, as Ann and C.C. outline in the book, is the key to making this happen.

It's no secret that many of the books out there talk about marketing from a B2C perspective. There are obvious exceptions and this book is one of them as they do dedicate some space to talk about how B2B is different for content marketing. I think this approach is great, and I was glad to see it, as I've always maintained you can use B2C concepts for your B2B marketing but you just need to tweak them for that audience. They explain how to do that for content.

The second and third sections in the book are about how to create the different content types and case studies. I'm sure there is value to content marketing beginners in the How-To Section but for me the Success Stories were awesome. In that section, you got to see how companies from the U.S. Army to Cool Beans and Hubspot to Boeing approach content marketing with great examples and even better Ideas You Can Steal. There is no doubt you'll grab 1 or 2, or even 10, new things you can try in your content marketing from these examples.

There is definitely a movement in the marketing world that strongly believe content is absolutely critical to your marketing success, including yours truly. It was great to see a book dedicated to this topic written by 2 authors who are experts and that can teach you both fundamentals and inspire. It's also worth noting that the book is very well-written and with a sense of humor so it's an easy read that you'll enjoy while you learn. I strongly recommend it for anyone about to start using content marketing or those that have done it for years. You'll learn, be inspired and ignite your marketing.

[Image courtesy of the Content Rules Book website]

Mapping your Content to the Sales Funnel

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:50:29 -0400

Over the last few posts, I've looked at how creating content and getting found are the most important components of any start-up marketing plan. In the last post, I added how you also need to nurture the leads through the sales funnel. In this post, I wanted to tie these concepts together by bringing in the sales funnel.

Producing compelling content on a regular basis is the key ingredient that you need to nurture leads and mapping the content to the sales funnel will help you know what to create and when to move your prospects along.

For example, you don't want to send detailed technical specs to the prospect nor do you want to send an introductory eBook when you are in the call-to-close phase. Equally important is that you don't want to send all of your content to the prospects at the same time. Delivering the right content at the right stage is abolutely cricital to nurturing leads.

There are many variations of the sales funnel and the one illustrated here is just a sample to illustrate how you can map content to the sales funnel. Your sales funnel may be different as the most important part of any sales funnel is that the stages are agreed upon by sales and marketing in your company. This sales funnel can be used as a template to map the content you are creating against the stages in your funnel.

Generally speaking, you will want to send more educational content at the earlier stages of the funnel and not send the more detailed product information until the much later stages. I've placed social media, like blogging, Twitter and Facebook, at the top of the funnel as they are also key content vehicles for getting found but social networking could be used throughout.

In some cases, it's the scope of the content that would dictate where it is placed. For example, I mapped webinars and white papers at the prospect stage as they are also good for getting found and can help you determine the more qualified leads through a registration process. However, if the webinar and white papers are more detailed and technical then they could just as easily be used at the qualified lead or opportunities stage.

You may not produce all of the content outlined here and certain pieces of content may be at different or multiple stages. I don't believe that this mapping can and should be set in stone. What is important is that you have different pieces of content at each stage and that you continue to deliver new and compelling content regularly to nurture the leads through the funnel.

Generate and Nurture Leads After Getting Found

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:12:48 -0400

I wrote a blog post a few months ago that the start-up marketing plan can be summarize in four simple words: create content, get found. While I was trying to really simplify the marketing plan for companies that don't have a lot of resources, in looking back I was missing a key part of the equation. Once you get found, what's next?

So, I want to add to the start-up marketing plan the concept: generate and nurture leads. To generate leads, you can use tactics like the get found tactics I outlined previously so for this post I want to focus on lead nurture and revise my simple marketing plan to be: create content, get found, nurture leads.

I've seen many companies that are good at generating leads and sometimes have thousands in the sales funnel but then nothing is done with them. They either pass them immediately over to sales and when the prospect is not ready to buy, the lead gets discarded and the company never talks to them again. Or, even worse, they don't get classified as a qualified lead, so they are not passed to sales, and languish as a prospect forever.

It's no secret that a certain percentage of these initial prospects and leads that get passed to sales but quickly discarded will eventually need and buy a product that solves a problem similar to the one you offer. The sales cycle for some companies, especially in the B2B space, can be very long so the time between identifying them as a prospect and when they buy can be months or even years. That's why nurturing leads is so critical.

The good news for start-ups is that many of the tactics we discussed in creating content and getting found can be leveraged to nurture leads. In fact, compelling content is absolutely critical to nurturing leads and mapping that content to the sales funnel will help you know what to create and when to move your prospects along. I'll explore this mapping in an upcoming post.

Even though compelling content is critical, the cornerstone of lead nurturing is an email list. Even in this age of social media, email communications is how you build on the relationship in a more private setting and take the prospect through the funnel. If I had to collect one piece of info from every prospect it would be their email address. That's why you need to create many opporunities for the prospect to give you this critical piece of information.

Once you have this email address, then you can follow-up on an ongoing basis with eNewsletters, links to new content, updates from your blog, industry news that would be of interest, and the list goes on. However, this content needs to be valuable to your prospects and educate them through the buying process or give them additional advice to solve their problems. It cannot in any way be perceived by them as Spam or they will unsubscribe and be lost forever. So avoid product pitches and plan your timing of emails carefully.

Many marketing plans focus on generatng leads but some of your best leads may be prospects from previous compaigns where enough time has passed that they are ready to buy. If you don't nurture your leads though, when they are ready to buy it will be a solution from your competitor. That's why nurturing leads is as important a concept as creating content or getting found to the start-up marketing plan.

Fundamentals of Marketing: Has Positioning Changed?

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 07:29:38 -0400

Almost 40 years ago, Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote a series of articles in Advertising Age that introduced the concept of Positioning which became their ground-breaking first book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, a marketing classic. As part of my series of posts on which fundamentals of marketing have really changed or are no longer relevant, I wanted to look at the concept of Positioning to see where it fits.

Before we look at how the concept may have changed, I want to define positioning so we are all on the same page. Ries and Trout define positioning as "...not what you do to the product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect." Or, put another way, "positioning is an organized system for finding a window in the mind."

When Ries and Trout wrote the book, they argued that previous strategies were no longer working because there were too many products and too much noise. If that was the case 30 years ago, then you can easily see how much more important positioning is today as the number of products, noise and distractions have increased exponentially.

So what were some of the key elements of effective positioning and do they still apply today? First and foremost, to do positioning properly you need to look at it from the perspective of your prospect not your product. It's all about the mind of the prospect and what word or words they remember or associate with your product. Starting with your product will not work here, and while many companies do that today, if they start with their prospects mind then the positioning will be more effective.

The second key element is that you need to simplify the message so that it can find and keep a spot in the overcrowded mind of your prospect. Ries and Trout argue that the best way to do this is to be first. There are good examples on both sides of how you can remember the first to do something versus whether the company that created a product first is the one that was the most successful. However, if you think of the goal here as being the first to own the concept or category in the mind of the prospect then you understand how effective postioning works.

The last positioning element that I want to explore in this post (there are others in the book) is that it's very important to look at your competition when developing your positioning strategy. You need to understand what position they own in the mind of your prospects so that you can find another position to be first in or find a way to reposition your competition. Trying to be like your competition will never work as the mind won't remember you or in the very best case rank you behind the competition.

Unlike the 4 Ps which need to change or be used differently today, positioning is a fundamental of marketing that is still very much needed today and the way to do it effectively can be easily adapted for the new tools and communications vehicles we have today. In fact, Trout published Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis a couple of years ago to update and retool the strategies. The main issue I see with positioning today is that fewer companies are doing it well so this is one fundamental that every company would be wise to revisit.

Working with Developers, Creating a Product Brief

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 07:29:58 -0400

Recently, Pam, a Dude, It's Marketing reader, sent me an email asking if I had a template or suggestions for a product brief format to help developers draft a detailed document that will help her marketing team create better sales collateral. I realized in answering this email that it would also make a good blog post as I'm sure many have faced this same issue.

When launching a product, marketing tends to get brought in later in the process. While that's not ideal, it is a reality and quite often you will need to take a list of features that have been developed and figure out how to position the product to be successful in the market.

Working with developers to create a compelling value proposition and turn features into benefits is not always an easy task. Creating a product brief with them can give you the information you need to build better sales collateral if you gather the right information.

Pam had created a great outline for her product brief with many key areas covered including a section on defining your audience and an emphasis on benefits and value to the audience. Here is an outline I've used in the past to build a product brief:

Elevator Pitch - Overview of the product in 50 words or less.
Target Customers - Who are you selling this product to?
Value Proposition - What problem are you solving for your customer?
Key Features and Benefits - Develop a chart as explained below.
Other Functionality - Any other key facts including benchmarks, speeds and feeds, for example.
What's New - More important for new releases of an existing product. Highlight what's changed.
Roadmap - Any features coming up that are committed but didn't make this release.
Key Competitors and Your Advantages - Who else solves this problem and how are you better?
Successes - Any customers already using this product, how, and can you reference them.

While some of these sections may be filled in by marketing afterwards, when working with the technical team, the key section to get them to complete with you is the key features and benefits. In the past, I've done this by building a chart that has the key features of the product or release in one column that the developers list for you. Then you have a column that explains what that feature does in simple terms and then a column that outlines the benefit of that feature. It is this last column that is the toughest to complete but critical. You need to translate all the features to benefits so your customers and prospects understand how you are helping them solve their problems and not making them figure it out.

One other key section is competition and your advantages over both indirect and direct competitors. Again, you can work on this section with the technical team as it helps you come up with key messages that are different than what your competitors are claiming. If your list of features and benefits is similar to the competition, then your audience can't differentiate you from them. If you look at their messages and figure out how you can position the product differently, that will make your messages much stronger.

All good sales collateral needs to define the problem and then explain how your product solves that problem. Working with your developers to create a product brief helps you get the info you need to communicate the value of your product. It also forces your technical team to figure out the importance of any given feature rather than the fact it's cool or makes things better.

Working with the developer to build a product brief is invaluable in creating your collateral. It can also be used as a tool to training your sales team as it lists important information that they need to know as well. Try creating a product brief with your developers before the next product launch.

Have the Fundamentals of Marketing Changed?

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:34:01 -0400

For the last couple of years there has been a lot written about how marketing has changed and there is no doubt this is true. SEO and social media are just two examples of new tactics that didn't exist a decade ago. Other new strategies, such as content marketing, are key to your marketing but I would argue that creating good content has always been a key strategy to educate your market and it's the term 'content marketing' that's new.

All of these new concepts have led many to move away from what is now called traditional marketing to try the latest and shiniest marketing tool. But which fundamentals of marketing have really changed or are no longer relevant? Should we just disregard the proven marketing strategies of the past? Is any book or paper published before 2008 or 2009 no longer relevant and not worth reading?

Over the next few months on this blog, I thought it would be worthwhile to review some of the marketing fundamentals from the past to see which ones are no longer relevant, which ones need to change and be more current and which ones still hold true and should not be ignored by companies large and small. It's been said "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" so let's see what marketing history can teach us.

While I was sketching out this blog series, David Meerman Scott (@dmscott) who literally wrote the book on the New Rules of Marketing and PR recently posted on his Web Ink Now blog about Why the 4 Ps of Marketing do not work on the Web. The fundamental he writes about is the four Ps of marketing -- product, place, price, and promotion – from the 1960s and he concludes, "get away from the Ps if you want success on the Web."

I agree with David on his points in the post, especially the ones about creating content that helps educate your audience rather than talking about your product and that content is more than a check box in your plan. However, I'm not sure the answer for this fundamental is to "get away" from it as these aspects still apply, although promotion should not be the advertising campaigns of yesteryear.

The issue is that the 4 Ps are too limiting and outdated to be THE fundamental you use to create your marketing strategy. Any marketing plan that only addresses product, place, price and promotion is doomed to failure today. Adding a 4th, 5th or 6th P is not the answer either or changing what each P represents is not a framework I think makes sense.

Even when I learned the 4 Ps of marketing in university, it just didn't make sense to me as the overall framework that would drive your marketing activities. I also can't remember when I've written a marketing plan that only talked about the 4 Ps. Having said that, I do think the concepts are in the back of my mind when I develop a plan and that should be the case even today.

My conclusion on the 4 Ps is that this fundamental should not be the cornerstone of your marketing strategy today and I'm not even sure it ever should have been. Product, place and price are still concepts that need to be addressed as one piece of your plan. Promotion is the one that needs the biggest change as it's not just advertising but could be one of many tactics that help you educate the market about new ways to solve their problems. And, more importantly your strategy needs to be a lot more than the 4 Ps.

Which fundamentals do you think have changed, should be ignored, or which ones need to be a key part of your strategy? Stay tuned as I look at a few in some upcoming posts.

The Importance of Language to Credible Marketing

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 06:40:25 -0400

For anyone who follows this blog, you know that I think it's extremely important to make your marketing more credible. Language and words play a key role in making your message credible and engaging to your audience. In fact, credible marketing is about many things but it starts with words.

It's always surprising to me that so few companies spend a lot of time and money on crafting the messages and communications they use for their business. Or, they change the words so frequently that no one remembers them, including employees. Yet, it is these words that can make or break a company. It's not a lot of extra effort to pick better words that will make your marketing more credible so why don't companies spend the time?

I'm sure you've heard expressions like "say what you mean and mean what you say" or "underpromise and overdeliver" but how many companies actually take those expressions to heart. If they did and selected their words carefully to express that promise then their marketing would immediately be much more credible.

Think of your communications as a promise you make to your customers and with each word you set an expectation. This seems simple enough but you need to remember that the words you select may mean different things to different members of your audience. Plus, your customers are skeptical as companies have broken promises to them many times in the past.

This means you need to set expectations carefully and you must use language where what you are saying is what your audience believes. Basically, you need to be authentic.

Michael Maslansky in his book, The Language of Trust: Selling Ideas in a World of Skeptics, outlines Four Principles of Credible Communications that I believe are the key to developing language that makes your marketing more credible:

Be Personal - Your language needs to be personal. You should talk about why your audience would want to buy, or what's in it for them, not what you want to sell.

Be Plainspoken - The words should be clear and simple. Complicated language will intimidate your audience or confuse them. Don't use jargon or acromyms they will not understand.

Be Positive - You communications need to highlight the benefits. Using fear to sell your product or service will destroy any trust that you may have built with your audience.

Be Plausible - What you are saying needs to be believable but not too good to be true or your audience will dismiss it. It's a fine line but don't oversell or don't be extreme.

Making your marketing credibile with the language you use is simple: use words that clearly tell people what you will do for them and then be that rare company and do what you said you would do.

Sharing Compelling Content to Get Found

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 07:10:21 -0400

I've talked about how a start-up marketing plan can be summarize in four simple words: create content, get found and outlined the most important elements of compelling content. But that's only part of the story. Now that this content is created you need to share it to get found.

Most would automatically associate that with search engines which is the most powerful way but there are others as well which I want to explore, including social media sharing on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others, posting to more industry-specific site, working with other bloggers, and other "traditional" marketing techniques. Let's look briefly at each.

Search Engines

A recent study reported on Search Engine Land that nearly 60 percent of cases that end in a purchase begin with search. There is no question that ranking high in a search result is key to getting found so his is a great way to share your content. Putting some precious time into search engine optimization or even buying ads on search engines can be very effective. But it's not just a matter of producing the content, you need to build links from reputable sources to help you rank higher.

Social Media Sharing

Social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, can make sharing very easy and the tools are free or inexpensive. You can also look into sharing your content on other sites such as Slideshare, YouTube and others, depending on format. It's easy to add links to, or within, your content so that people can share it with their friends and colleagues. The Share This button makes is easy to share your content across many different sites. Make use of Tweet This, Facebook Like and other similar buttons throughout your site, blog and content.

Industry-specific communities

Many industries have sites built around a certain technology or vertical market. Quite often you can post content to these sites for free while for others you may need to pay. These sites though can be an effective way to share your content and get found by a very focused audience. However, not all of these communities are created equal so you'll want to check out how much traffic they will get for your content. One of the best ways to do that would be to see if they rank highly on Google searches.

Blogging

Creating a blog is one of the more common ways to publish content but don't forget to leverage blogging as a way to share your content too. You could write many posts on how to get more traffic to your blog but one of the best ways to share you content is to do guest posts on other blogs related to yours or that target your market. This will expose your content to a new, and hopefully, bigger audience while also adding more links back to your blog and site.

"Traditional" marketing

While this one may fall outside of the budget for many start-ups, you don't want to forget "traditional" marketing tactics as a way to share your content and get found. By "traditional", I'm talking direct mail, advertising and email marketing (although I think it's too early to call this last one traditional). Many dismiss these tactics in the age of social media but they have been proven through time. In particular, start building an email list today so you can leverage it going forward to share content. But don't forget to use a strong call to action for your content in order to make these effective.

Combining these tactics, and others, to share your content and get found will ultimately drive more conversions. Also, make sure it's easy for your audience to subscribe to your content using RSS and email. There are other techniques that I didn't cover above but it's important to start using these to share all the valuable content you created. How else have you shared content to get found?

Transparency is a Cornerstone of Credible Marketing

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 26 May 2011 07:25:20 -0400

Earlier in May, Burson-Marsteller, a top PR firm, launched a smear campaign against Google. For a while this was a big mystery in the tech world, as the client wasn't named but eventually Facebook confirmed that it was them. Burson-Marsteller even went so far as to offer to help a blogger write a piece bashing Google which backfired when Chris Soghoian posted the email exchange.

Since then, there has been a lot written about what happened and even more editorials about whether this was right, wrong or just happens. This post is not going to be another editorial on the topic but instead I wanted to use this example to show how crucial it is to be transparent for credible marketing as I think we can all agree that what happened here is not an example of that.

This case proves, what I've said before, that in the age of social media it's difficult or even impossible to conduct a campaign like the one Burson-Marsteller tried to do with Facebook without the client being found out. All it takes is one blogger, as you can see above, to publish what was sent to him and then a few reporters to dig a little deeper to get all the details.

Looking at this from a more practical angle, if your product does not do what you claim, a customer is not taken care of, or you're trying to hide something, it will be found out and everyone will know. That's why it's important to be credible in your marketing, treat your customers right so they act as brand ambassadors rather then destroyers, and be as transparent as possible.

After these "scandals" are discovered then this news spreads and fast. Social media has made it nearly impossible to contain any sort of "bad news" about your company or product, which direcly impacts your brand. Once your brand is damaged and the credibility in your company is lost, it's hard to get back.

Do you think this had an impact on the Facebook brand? Maybe for some, but probably not to the larger Facebook crowd. But what about Burson-Marsteller? There is no doubt this will impact their brand in a big way. Clients are likely going to think twice about hiring them because editors may not trust their stories or sources now.

That's why it's better to be transparent in the first place and have credible marketing to avoid these issues. If you need to deal with one, do it fast and be transparent or it will just get bigger. How do you think this example would have played out if Burson-Marsteller had been up front with who the client was when they pitched the story? I'm pretty sure none of us would be writing about it then.

Leverage Industry News for Real-time PR

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 19 May 2011 07:24:19 -0400

One of the main goals of a PR program is to get coverage. In the early days of a start-up, it can be difficult to get coverage for your company because you are unknown, you may not be able to talk publicly about your initial customer case studies and you likely won't draw a crowd like Apple for your product launch. So how can you get coverage?

Having your company quoted in industry trend stories so your brand is seen in conjunction with others in the space is one of the best forms of coverage at any time. This helps to build not only awareness of your company but also credibility as a thought leader. Being part of these industry trend stories puts you on the list of companies for buyers to check out when they are looking to solve a problem.

But how do you get quoted in these stories if you are still an unknown start-up? The key is to react quickly to news and events by reaching out to reporters writing these stories and offer your help and expertise when they need it most. David Meerman Scott (@dmscott) calls this real-time marketing and PR and has written a book about it that's on my reading list.

One approach I've used to find the stories that editors may write about is to follow the news for your industry. Then, leverage these news items by looking for trends that are happening and pulling them together into a bigger story, think up a new angle, or when news breaks figure out what it means in a larger context.

While this may sound like PR 101 (ok maybe PR 201), the key point is that you need to react quickly, or in real-time, and not spend a week or 2 writing and publishing a news release on the topic. You need to reach out to editors when they are working on the story and before it's old news. You should also blog or tweet your throughts on this news or post to Facebook and your website about the topic as it's happening.

For example, news breaks of an online attack or database breach at a large company. If your company is in the enterprise security space, then you could reach out to editors at other security or enterprise-focused publications and give them insights into how this could have happened, what it means to other companies in this space and how companies can protect themselves. Don't make it about your product though but instead help the editor tell a better and more complete story.

Editors are always looking for resources to give insights and explain the news. If you follow the news and trends in your industry and then react quickly to add a valuable new angle to the story that the editor is working on, you'll either be quoted or remembered as a resource for the next story. When you don't have your own news to tell, leveraging industry news in real-time can get you coverage.

Features versus Benefits, A Case Study

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 12 May 2011 07:17:05 -0400

Last week I talked about how many companies list features about their products but nothing about how it benefits their customers. While this seems like one of the basic rules that everyone should follow, I wondered why I keep seeing this rule broken time and time again. I thought it may help to look quickly at a couple of examples.

I could have picked any product to look at but tablets are all the rage so I thought we should look at the Motorola Xoom versus the Apple iPad, to see if one promotes benefits more than features. When I went to the web pages for both products (which was my only resource for this comparison), I was actually surprised to see that there were no links on either overview page called Benefits. This is not looking good in terms of promoting benefits over features. I was a bit surprised about Apple on this front.

The Motorola Xoom didn't even have a features page but only had Tech Specs. I clicked on the Overview link hoping it would go into some benefits but I was hit right away with the dimensions of the product, the processor speed and the operating system. Feature, feature and feature.

I went back to the Experience page, which was the first one I visited, and it just had more text about the same features (OS, camera resolution, display resolution). The only screen on this page that hinted at a feature was the one about multitasking which was labelled Flexibility. The Compare tab within the Experience page also listed benefits when they compared the Xoom to the iPad but that's a bit late and buried, don't you think?

I was a bit suprised that Apple didn't have a benefits page eitehr but the iPad features page talks about how it is thinner and lighter, 2x faster, has fast graphics for gamers and longer battery life so I can keep going. While the page is talking features, the text clearly illustrates how each of these features will help me rather than going into the technical specs which were on a different page for anyone that really wanted them. The iPad overview page did an even better job of summarizing these features as benefits so not having a benefits page is forgiven as the other pages do a good job of illustrating these.

My quick review of how 2 tech giants approach features versus benefits confirms that selling benefits is key, especially to a consumer market, but not everyone does it. Unless I missed another section of the Motorola site, they have a lot of work to do in this area. Motorola needs to promote the benefits of their tablets and make it obvious. Apple did do a significantly better job in the content to talk about how the features help me or why I care and were specific too, including 2x faster, 9x better graphics performance, or enough juice for one flight across the ocean.

Now, is there any question as to why the iPad is outselling Xoom by a huge margin? Before you slam me in the comments, I'll admit there are many reasons but showing how your product helps people rather than listing a bunch of specs is definitely one of the factors and Apple is one of the best at it.

Features versus Benefits, Why is this so Hard

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 05 May 2011 07:15:36 -0400

This shouldn't be so hard but time and time again you see companies list features about their products but nothing about how it benefits their customers. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a feature as "a prominent part or characteristic" or "a special attraction" whereas benefits are defined as "something that promotes well-being" or a "useful aid".

Looking at this another way, the feature is what the product does whereas the benefit is how the feature helps them or why the customer should care about that particular feature. Even the most techy person among us, despite their strong objections, will buy benefits not features.

For example, listing the speed of the processor, the amount of memory, the resolution of the display, etc. are all features. The fact that you can do things faster, store more data, watch better quality videos are some of the benefits of the above. What do you think someone is more likely to buy, 16 GB of memory or the ability to store thousands of songs or photos?

Remember back when Apple launched the original iPod. The main marketing message was "1,000 songs in your pocket". Benefit. No mention of the size of the hard drive in the unit which is the feature that made this possible. Do you think the iPod would be where it is today, if Apple had talked about a 5GB MP3 player? (OK, I can hear the objections already, there was more to the iPod success than this tag line but it played a key role. Everyone understood how the iPod would help them.)

So here's how you develop the benefits of your product or service. Believe it or not, you start with the features. Write down all the key features for your product and, if you need to, add a short explanation for each. Now, think about how each feature helps the user of your product. This is not why you think it's cool but how it helps your potential or existing customers. Does the feature help them do things faster, do more, save money, make them money, etc.?

But you're not done yet, these are pretty general statements that many can claim. Make these benefits more specific, for example, can you now store 10x as many photos, can you save 20%, can you make $10 per subscriber. Apple didn't just say you could take songs with you but it was 1,000 songs in your pocket which was a lot, at the time, if you think that a portable CD player, which was larger is physical size, held a single CD which had 10-15 songs. More songs, meant more CDs and more size.

And that comparison between the iPod and a CD player illustrates another step too. Once you have your first list of features. Look at your competitors (direct and indirect) to see if your benefits are significantly different and better. If your benefits are not 10x better or something they do not offer then think about another way to position that feature or maybe it doesn't make the list at all.

You're almost there, with the final step being to simplify the list and the language you use so the prospect can quickly and easily see how it helps them. Following this process, you should have 3-5 key benefits for your product. That's all you want to talk about. The features are now relegated to some spec sheet someplace for the techy that needs to know (There is a time and place for features).

Now was that really so hard? So why don't all companies do it?

It is NOT About the Features, Creating a Solution Overview

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:00:00 -0400

In content marketing, we talk a lot about creating valuable content to get found and how that content needs to be educational and not product focused. However, there will come a time and place where you do need to create content that talks about your products as prospects will look for and need that information before they make a purchase.

But, the imporant thing to remember when developing this more product-focused content is that you still can't just talk about your product features but instead you must talk about how your product solves a specific problem for your industry. I call this piece of content a solution overview and I know from past experience that it can be a very powerful sales tools. Others may call it an application note or a product white paper. The name doesn't matter but the questions it answers does.

I was writing a solution overview this week and it reminded me of how the format for this collateral can be similar regardless of the product or service you are trying to sell. If you put yourself in the shoes of your buyer then it's easy to figure out the questions they are asking or thinking about when it comes to your product. Now there will be a more technical audience that may be more concerned with the features (that's a different piece of collateral) but you need to show the value of your solution before you get to that step.

Here's my standard outlined for a solution overview:

The Problem:
Define the issues that your audience face in their terms. At a high level, this could be the need to generate revenue, save money, minimize risk, etc. Find out what is keeping your prospects awake at night and show that you understand in this section.
The Solution:
This is not where you list a bunch of features. Instead, explain how your product solves the problems you defined in the previous section. More importantly, explain how it solves these problems differently or better, and it must be significantly better, than other products.
How it Works:
Depending on your audience or product, you may need a more technical section. This is it. Sometimes it may make more sense as an appendix so this section doesn't break the flow of the document. Talk about how your product works using diagrams and other visuals. Walk the reader through the steps so they can see how your product will help them solve the problem at a more detailed level.
The Advantages:
While you should have covered why your solution is different and better throughout the paper, this is the section where you summarize why a company should work with you and use your product or service. Make sure you talk benefits and not features. You may also want to present some corporate background if that helps to build the case. In many cases, this section works as a great conclusion to the paper.
The Results:
Ideally, this section is a case study of how a similar company has implemented your solution and solved a similar problem. In the early stages of a start-up this may not be possible so see if you can do a "blind" case study where the results are from an actual company but it's not named. If that's not possible then illustrate the expected results, but the more real or proven your results are the better.

As you read this outline, do you think it will work for the solution overview for your product or service? It may not be exactly right but with the appropriate tweaks, I'm sure it forms a good foundation. The biggest difference between solution overviews is the detail that you go into and this is more a function of your audience rather than the content.

As I've said many times on this blog, you need to know your audience and develop content for them. In many cases, you can create 2 different solution overviews of different length and detail to address these different needs. Wouldn't this type of collateral help you market your product?

The Most Important Elements of Compelling Content

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:11:00 -0400

Last post, I talked about how a start-up marketing plan can be summarize in four simple words: create content, get found. And, while I touched on some of the tactics that can be used in both of these areas, I thought it would be valuable to explore each in more detail.

I'll start with content as I believe that needs to be the cornerstone of your marketing efforts. However, you can't just put up any old content to address this need. The content needs to be valuable to your audience. Great content that people are compelled to share will do wonders for your start-up.

I recently discovered the Internet Marketing for Smart People podcasts by Copyblogger Media and listened to a recent episode called How to Constantly Create Compelling Content which was very timely given my topics recently.

This got me to think about what the most important elements of compelling content and I came up with three: Relevant, Educational and Interesting. There are no doubt others but these are the top three in my mind. Let me explain.

Relevant

First and foremost, your content must be written for your audience. This may seem obvious but I've seen cases where technical content is presented to a business-focused audience and I'm sure vice-versa. The content must also be relevant to the problems your audience is facing or need to solve. Timing is also important to the relevance of your content. Whatever you write, it must be relevant for your audience first and foremost.

Educational

Not only does the content need to be relevant but it must also be educational. The content you produce cannot always be about your products and services. It needs to show how problems are solved, talk about market trends or explain difficult concepts. Your audience wants to learn and you need to position yourself as a subject matter expert and thought leader. There will be a time and place for product-focused content but that is not what will be shared or help you get found. Educate your audience and they'll reward you for it.

Interesting

I almost had well-written as my third element but thought that would go without saying. However, you do need to make sure your content reads well and is not written as a colleague of mine once said "like a 2-year old". But let's assume the content is well written, at which point the third element is that it needs to be interesting. There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing an ebook or white paper or some other piece of content that uses a story to explain a concept.

A friend of mine once wrote a technical white paper and added a sex scene to make sure it was read by the reviewers. It worked because it was interesting and explained the concept in a novel way to say the least. Unfortunately, if memory serves, the scene was too graphic and got cut in the published version. Too bad. You may not want to, or be able to, add a sex scene to your content but remember the best non-fiction books are not only interesting because of the topic but also because how it is presented and how the story is told. Your content should be no different.

Brian Clark (@copyblogger) asked on the Copyblogger Facebook page recently "What’s your biggest challenge when creating compelling online content?" and found that the two elements that lead to reader engagement are meaning and fascination. As you can see, there are some similarities between these and my elements of relevant and interesting. What do you think are the most important elements of compelling content?

Create Content, Get Found

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:26:25 -0400

In the last post, I wrote about how social media is not your only marketing tactic which raises the question as to what marketing tactics are best for any start-up to pursue. The answer, unfortunately, is "it depends".

It depends on your target market, objectives for the marketing campaign, the product and service you are trying to promote and the big one, budget. With start-ups, more times than not, it is this last one, budget, that ends up determining the tactics and that's why social media is so appealing. But, let's take a step back and figure out what would be most effective and cost-efficient rather than follow the crowd.

For me, I think the start-up marketing plan can be summarize in four simple words: create content, get found. I believe this is the cornerstone of most marketing initiatives today and there are tactics that you can use to make this possible without breaking the budget.

I talked about how creating valuable content can make your marketing more credible in the past but it's more than that. Content can and should be the foundation for all your marketing campaigns. Creating compelling content can position you as a thought-leader in your industry and helping prospects solve their problem with educational information will lead them to your product.

This content can take many forms and in a lot of cases you can reposition the same content in multiple formats to appeal to a wider audience. Obviously, a website that is deep in content is a good place to start and a blog can go a long way to help accomplish this goal. You can also publish eBooks, white papers, videos and tutorials that are even more detailed. Writing these will take some time but the tools are available to publish these very inexpensively.

Once this content is created you need to make it easy for your prospects to share which is a key way for you to get found. Social media, including Facebook, Twitter and others, can make sharing very easy and once again the tools are free or inexpensive. You can also look into sharing this content on other sites that are specific to your industry or depending on format Slideshare, YouTube and others are a good platform to consider.

But most important to getting found is search as illustrated in a recent study reported on Search Engine Land that nearly 60 percent of cases that end in a purchase begin with search. I've read where that percentage is even higher but the point is that ranking high in a search result is key to getting found so putting some precious money or time into search engine optimization or even buying ads on search engines is a very effective way to getting found. The good news is that producing new content helps you rank higher so one leads to the other.

At the same time, combining tactics to help you get found will also drive more conversions. This same report found that “40 percent of consumers who use search in their path to purchase are motivated to use social media to further their decision making process” so combining search with social media is a win-win proposition to turning the prospects you find into purchasers of your product.

The idea of creating content to get found seems so simple yet many start-ups focus on the latest tactics or feel compelled to try more expensive marketing initiatives and break the budget. Don't do it. These tactics are a good foundation for any marketing plan. Let me know what low-cost and effective marketing tactics you have used successfully with your start-up.

Social Media is Not Your Only Marketing Tactic

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:16:23 -0400

More and more organizations are using social media for marketing and in many other ways. It's becoming quite common for a company to have a blog, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn page, a Twitter account, etc. This is great as it allows the company to reach out and communicate with its customers and prospects effectively (if used properly) and without a lot of expense (which is really imporant for a start-up).

However, I've recently read some blog posts asking whether companies should not have a web site anymore and use their Facebook page instead. Some have even said social media is killing marketing as Brian Clark (@copyblogger) and Robert Bruce discuss on this episode of Copyblogger Radio.

In other cases, companies become obsessed with social media and it becomes their entire marketing program. I'm sure it is possible that there are companies where this works and it may even be the best plan for them but I believe these companies are few and far between and would argure that most companies cannot use social media as their only marketing tactic.

There are many marketing tactics that can be used to communicate your message, build awareness, generate leads, move prospects through the sales funnel or reach whatever objective you have set for your marketing program. Some of these tactics include media relations, analyst relations, email marketing, webinars, tradeshows, direct mail, advertising, SEO/SEM, content, AND social media, etc.

One of the most important things in marketing is to develop the appropriate mix of these tactics to reach your audience and meet your objectives. To do that though, you can't start with the tactics but you need to develop your message, know your audience and define your objectives so you can select the right tactics for that program.

For example, imagine you need to generate some leads for a new product that targets an audience which is not on Facebook or Twitter. If you start with the tactics and decide you are going to use social media for this program I will guarantee that it will not be successful as no one who may be interested in your product will ever see your message and offer. By knowing your audience and objective, you can see that something more traditional like direct mail, advertising, tradeshows (if the audience attends), or maybe email, will likely be more effective in this example in generating leads.

I'm not saying companies shouldn't use social media. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and others can all be very effective marketing tools. They may even be the cornerstone of your next marketing program. What I am saying is they can't be the only tactic in your marketing mix and they won't kill marketing.

As John Jantsch (@ducttape) puts it in his post The Social Media Party Is Over, "Marketing fundamentals have not changed, the tools available to both marketer and consumer have changed." I couldn't have summarized this any better. Use marketing fundamentals to develop your next plan and then decide on the tactics that will work best.

Trying to be Like Your Competition Means You've Lost

Brendan Ziolo — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 07:05:11 -0500

It should be obvious that companies need to develop their own strategy and products and not copy what others are already doing. Otherwise, you are left competing on price which is a no win proposition. But more and more, we are seeing copycats out their that don't even try to differentiate their product through innovation but instead continue to be just like the leader in their field.

Case in point, are the slew of iPad competitors that have, or say they are going to, hit the market this year. Apple revolutionized a product category, which is something they do extremely well, when they introduced the iPad last year. Not only did this send consumers rushing to buy this latest gadget but it also sent Apple's cometitors rushing to create a competing product.

In late 2010 and earlier this year, HP, RIM, Samsung, Motorola and many others introduced iPad competitors that in many cases had better specs but last week Apple introduced the iPad 2 that now make these competing tablets seem old or in need of a refresh. And to drive the knife in harder, Apple will start shipping it's second generation iPad later this week while most of the first generation iPad competitors have not shipped yet. How will they ever win if they try to be like Apple?

Another example, is Groupon, a company that is all the rage in the daily deal space, which now sees copycat sites on a weekly or maybe even daily basis. In the past few months, Google, Microsoft and the New York Times among others have launched competitive products that are virtually the same. In this space, it's scale, relationships and the ability to offer the best deals that will win so while Groupon is firmly entrenched in many markets the competitors face an uphill battle.

You can make an argument that larger companies may need to build "me too" products in order to protect their existing markets or round out their portfolio so they can be a one stop shop. But a start-up building "me too" products is as good as dead. Start-ups need to innovate quickly, solve customer problems significantly better and create new markets or product categories. None of these aspects call for a "me too" product.

I wrote a post a while back about how having no competitors means there is no market but I want to be clear that this post does not contradict that one. You need competition and then you need to create a compelling message that differentiates you from them and communicates how you are better. If you can't do that and decide to copy them instead, then, as a start-up, you have big problems.

Om Malik (@om), the founder of GigaOm, wrote a post called You — Not Your Competitors — Define Your Destiny in which he states "If one sets the rules, then there is a distinct advantage when it comes to winning." He's absolutely right.

To win, start-ups need to focus on how their products and services better help their customers solve problems not on the competition. You look at your competition so you can better differentiate your product or service not to be like them. Trying to be like your competition means you've already lost.

B2B and B2C Marketing Are Different or Are They?

Brendan Ziolo — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:17:09 -0500

Last month, Paul Gillan (@pgillin) wrote a blog post exploring the differences between B2B and B2C marketing as well as launched his new book, with co-author Eric Schwartzman, Social Marketing to the Business Customer. I read Paul's earlier book The New Influencers a while ago which is why I continue to follow his blog since both have lots of great information and insight. I haven't read this book yet but based on this post I've added it to my reading list. However, I didn't want to wait until I did read it before looking at the differences between B2B and B2C marketing.

In the post, Paul talks about how he came "to realize how really different these two flavors of marketing are" and outlines six major areas of divergence:

Value-driven decision-making.
Group consensus.
“Bet the business” decisions.
Long-term relationships.
Knowledgeable buyers.
Intense need for information.

But, in reviewing the list, I'm not sure I agree they are as different as Paul outlines. There is no doubt that there are differences but I think it's a matter of degree in the areas above rather than absolute. For example, group consensus exists in B2C marketing as for many purchases a couple or a family are involved in the decision. The number of people may be smaller than in B2B but the notion of consensus still exists. And, while you may not "bet the business" on a consumer purchase, most of us still have a budget and going over that or making a poor purchase decision will have repurcussions.

Or, put another way, the priorities may be different in B2C but most of the elements outlined above still exist. For example, value-driven decision-making occurs in the B2C space but there are times and items where this can be thrown out the window because the consumer must have the latest trend or gadget. I'm sure it also happens in the B2B space but to a much lesser extent so they will tend to put value higher on the list than consumers.

It's the size and scope of the sale that makes B2B and B2C marketing different and this is reflected most clearly in the sales cycle which is measured in weeks and months on the B2B side versus minutes or days in the B2C case. Businesses are spending millions on very large purchases which very few consumers can do and it's because of that scope that knowledgeable buyers need more information which in turn drives the length of the sales cycle. Smaller purchases by business, such as office supplies, will be more like a consumer purchase.

Despite the fact, I may not 100% agree with the differences outlined above, Paul's main point was that the tools and tactics must be applied differently. To that point, I totally agree. Many of the tools used by marketers will work in both spaces but they must be used differently and the mix of tools will absolutely change. That's because the audiences are different or at the very least in a different frame of mind.

So are B2B and B2C marketing different? The short answer is Yes but they are also similar in many ways. In the end, it's about knowing your audience and using the tools effectively to reach them that will make your marketing successful in both areas.

PR is like Sales

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:13:42 -0500

So I know my friends and readers in PR will likely be offended by the title of the post and may not agree with what I’m about to write but please read it and then tell me if you think I’m off my rocker in the comments below. In this post, I want to explore whether PR and Sales have more in common than anyone cares to admit and if you think of PR as a sales process then it may help you better reach your goals.

One of the goals of PR is to generate coverage for your product or service whereas the goal for sales is to sell more of your product or service. These goals are similar in that you need to convince someone to do something - buy or write about - your product or service and the more sales or coverage you get, the better. But it's not the similarities of the goals that I want to focus on.

I want to look at the process you follow to get the sale or obtain coverage. Well, first off, you need to generate interest in your product or service and stand out from other companies trying to do the same thing. Your prospects and editors both receive hundreds of requests for briefings or pitches about new and exciting products or services. Why do they want to hear more about yours?

To get their attention, you need to be different and stand out from the crowd. You need to clearly explain how you solve the problems faced by other companies so that the editor will write about you or the prospect will consider buying you. Clearly communicating your value proposition may get you the meeting but it won’t get the close.

In that meeting, whether it’s a PR briefing or Sales meeting, you need to explain your product in more detail and answer questions about how you are better than your competitors. In both cases, you may also give a demo of your product to show it’s real as both editors and prospects have been burned by vaporware in the past. Do they sound similar yet?

If there’s interest in this meeting, then you need to convince the editor that your story is more important than others they are working on and in the case of sales you need to convince them that your product is more important to spend money on than other priorities. This process may involved sending more information, answering additional questions, providing references, etc.

Throughout this process you are trying to build a relationship with the editor or prospect by establishing credibility so they trust what you are saying about your product or service. These relationships are crucial to both PR and Sales. In the end, if you’re successful, then you will get the sale or secure the story and reach your goal.

I’ve been asked numerous times in my career, why we didn’t get coverage from a certain publication or why we didn’t get a briefing with a certain editors after the first attempt. I always ask if they expect the sales guy to come back with a deal each and every time. More often than not they understand this reference because these processes are similar and this analogy works.

We talk about a sales funnel when it comes to closing deals so if this parallel is true then is there a PR funnel too? Does this analogy hold true? Let me know if you agree or disagree.

The Keys to Your Marketing Success

Brendan Ziolo — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:34:26 -0500

Last week, Om Malik (@om), the founder of GigaOm, wrote a post called What Makes a Hit (Consumer) Internet Service where he outlines the three things that are common across many successful consumer Internet services:

They have a clear purpose.
They are simple to use.
They are fun to use or facilitate some type of entertainment or both

Now Om argues that you do not have to have all three but your chances of success are much higher if you do. He looks at Google, Netflix, Yelp, Groupon, Skype, Facebook while wondering if Quora and Foursquare have what it takes. As you can see, the case is compelling for these elements being the key to a hit Internet service.

As I read the article, I immediately realized that a clear purpose, being simple and having fun are also the keys to your marketing success. There will come a time and place where you will need to launch your product publicly and run a marketing campaign that generates leads or builds awareness of both for your start-up. It is then that you must remember these three elements (purpose, simple, fun) as the keys to making your marketing a hit. Let's take a quick look at how each element applies.

Your marketing efforts must communicate your clear purpose consistently through the value proposition for your product or service. Without your audience understanding how your company is different and how it will help them, then your product or service will be one of many and not a hit.

Too many products, web sites and marketing material are difficult to understand or use. Making things simple is difficult and a lot of work but it's worth it. You need to ensure your message and everything you do in marketing shows your product or service as simple to use and easy to understand.

Now having fun should come naturally to marketing but make sure your marketing is also fun for the audience. No one wants to read an eBook that's boring. No one wants to watch a video that doesn't grab their attention. It's not about you having fun, it's about making your marketing fun for your audience.

It shouldn't be surprising that the keys to a hit Internet company are the same as the keys to your marketing success. But Om boiled it down so well that I wanted to share these points and show how they needs to be apply to your marketing as well. The successful companies don't lose site of these elements so neither should you.

Being Credible Leads to More Sales

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:28:31 -0500

Over the course of the past year or more, I've written a series of blog post on the importance of credible marketing and how you can make your marketing more credible. While I haven't covered this topic in the past few months, it's still extremely important to me and should be to you as you build your start-up.

Last week, I read a post on Michael Maslansky's Language of Trust blog, which is also the name of his great book by the same name, called What's Your Credibility Quotient written by Brittany Glenn. This post looks at how your chances of closing a sale are much higher if you have credibility with the customer which is really the flip side of the same coin I've been talking about when I explore the importance of credible marketing.

The reality is that buyers are less loyal today and "buyers can fact-check everything you say and they can always find another choice" as Maslansky points out. So if your sales or marketing aren't credible or you overpromise and underdeliver then the buyer will find out and not only refuse to buy from you but also tell others using social media and other tools on the Internet.

In both sales and marketing, the power rests with the customers because it's so easy to weed out the companies that aren't being entirely true about their product or themselves. If the prospective customers senses anything with the company or people that represent it that is not credible, they will take their purchases elsewhere. It may sound old-fashioned but honesty really is the best policy.

Credibility in sales and marketing is not just about honesty and the truth, although both are a big part of it, you also need to do the little things. In the post, Jean Kelley, author of Get A Job Keep A Job Handbook, agrees with something I wrote about last week in that “It’s the small things, like not returning e-mails promptly, that tarnish a reputation more so than the bigger issues.”

Kelley adds these other behaviors that you need to focus on to build credibility:

Don’t overpromise. Do what you say you will do.
Be open about your motives behind a directive or decision.
Fess up to mistakes.
Keep people’s confidences. Get permission before divulging sensitive information.
Treat others consistently and fairly.
Listen to others.

While Kelley was talking about sales people, these behaviors could, and should, just as easily apply to marketing and all the people in your company if you want to build a credible brand. I've seen and heard of too many start-ups that may not follow these behaviors and eventually pay the price.

If you want to build a company that has lifelong customers who want to do business with you, then you need to ensure both your sales AND marketing are credible by doing the little things well and being honest. This may sound like motherhood and apple pie but your customers will spread the word about your credibilty and how everyone should buy from you.

Respond Now... What are You Waiting For?

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 07:02:32 -0500

I'm still completely shocked at the number of organizations that don't answer emails sent to them from their website or to the contacts listed on their website. Do these companies realize that in all likelihood they just lost a customer by not responding or did damage to their brand?

A case in point was that almost a year ago I was conducting a search for a PR agency. I created a short list of 5-7 agencies through recommendations, Google searches and looking at who got coverage for other companies in our space. Seems like a typical process that many would use in such a search. I reached out to these firms by contacting them through their website to get additional information and to see if they would make the short list of 3 firms that I'd like to meet face-to-face.

I was worried at the time that I had started with too many agencies and that my search would drag on for too long. To my absolute surprise, 2 or 3 of these agencies never responded making the creation of the short list much easier than I thought as they were immediately removed. My thinking was that if they couldn't respond to an email interested in hiring them then would they ever respond to an editor who wanted to cover us in a story? These were PR firms who are paid to communicate. Imagine that!

This is just one of many examples of companies I can think of that did not respond to emails that I sent to them. I'm sure all of you don't need to think back too far to come up with other examples in either your personal or business life. Why does this happen? Would a business ever not pick up the phone if it rang? Why does the company even bother to put an email address on their website?

While part of this post is clearly a rant brewing in me from last year, I did want to write the post still because I continue to experience a lack of response and know there is an obvious lesson that some companies have failed to grasp. A potential customer that reaches out to you, either by phone, email or other means, is far more qualified than someone that you cold-called.

So you need to follow-up and respond to them as quickly as possible because that person is clearly interested in your company and could buy your product, write about your company, or help you in some other way. By not responding or waiting a long time to respond, you have lost that opportunity and you may have even damaged your brand as they could spread the fact that you are unresponsive.

The simple lesson in all of this is that if someone takes the time to send you an email then you need to respond to that email within a couple of business hours. If not, then don't bother having an email contact on your website as it's doing more harm than good. Respond to those emails now, what are you waiting for?

Perception is Reality

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 07:13:06 -0500

I know this may be obvious to some of you but I think we often forget how crucial it is to take the statement "perception is reality" into account when it comes to marketing and communications. I was reminded of that recently when I had a coffee with Todd Defren (@tdefren), blogger at PR-Squared, and we were discussing how consumers and the media may brand a company a certain way despite the companies best efforts to change that. We looked at each other and said "perception is reality" at exactly the same time.

This is so true and we need to realize that what our customers think of us is always their reality even if it's 100% false. And changing that can be extremely difficult if not impossible. This is why it's so critical to get your message simple and consistent and ensure that your marketing is credible. If you don't start in the right place with your audience in terms of your brand then it may never change.

In the early days of many start-ups, they think they can control the messages their audience associates with their company. This may be the furthest from the truth when you think about how easily information spreads in our online, social media driven world. You need to realize that things have changed and that people can talk about your company 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and it's this perception that becomes the reality for your company.

Even if the media is not talking about you, then it's important to understand that your own employees or product could be doing or saying something that creates the wrong perception. For example, what if your brand was all about simplicity but getting an order placed is extremely difficult. Then the reality for your brand would not be simplicity. For many start-ups the perception created by your employees and product is the bigger contributor to a different reality than what is communicated online by the media and others.

I've also seen quite a few companies that have the issue where everyone does not communicate the same message consistently. Different members of the team answer the question about what you company does and why it's better in multiple ways which confuses that potential customer but also contributes immensely to creating a different perception of the company.

For example, and this is a bit abstract, what if some of your employees referred to your product as an apple, while others called it an orange and one person insisted on calling it a banana. Now in this scenario, the right answer is apple by the way, what would your customers call your product or would they use a different word? I think you can see where this could go, especially depending on the last person they spoke to.

In the end, to help create the right "reality" for your company, start within to ensure everyone is using the same messages when they talk about your brand and make your brand attributes a key ingredient in everything you do from product to company culture. While you can't control others perceptions of your company, control what you can to help create the reality you strive for with your brand.

Nobody Cares About Apple Products Either

Brendan Ziolo — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 07:09:01 -0500

Last week, David Meerman Scott (@dmscott), author of Real-time Marketing & PR (on my to read list) and blogger at Web Ink Now, wrote a post Apple is Not Different as a follow up to his Nobody Cares About Your Product post. Basically, he states that organizations should not talk incessantly about their products or services because buyers "care a great deal about solving their problems (and are always on the lookout for a company that can help them do so)". As a reader of his blog and hearing him speak, I know this is not a new perspective from David but people are not listening.

Quite often to refute this idea, people use Apple as an example. At first glance, you may think they have a valid point as Apple has produced a string of very successful products from the iPod to the iPhone and the revamped Mac lineup that is quickly taking market share from Windows PCs. However, David once again deconstructs this argument quickly by showing how it's not about each of these products but how they solve the user's problems.

I couldn't resist weighing in on this debate as I have writter about the importance of explaining how you solve the problems of your audience better than others and also how you need to look at how others solve similar problems when you define your competition.

What I think everyone is missing from David's point is that products are important but it's not the features and benefits that companies talk about which will convince people they need your product. Members of your company care about these things because you have invested a lot of time, money and effort into making your product the best.Your audience does not care about these things.

They care about what they need to do that particular minute, hour or day. They want to make their life easier, better, reach some goal, etc. If your product can help them do that then you have a chance at making a sale. Nine times out of ten they will not buy your product because it's cool. In the other case, they are buying it to solve "the problem of dorkiness in people" as David points out when the coolness of Apple products is raised.

To be successful in your marketing and communications, you need to clearly and simply explain how your product solves the problem that user is facing and how you are better than others at solving it. The long list of features on some web sites just won't do it. And, it's not just a matter of translating these features to benefits although that's an improvement.

You need to talk to both your customers and your non-customers to find out what problems they are facing. Don't invent problems or just listen to your loudest customer. When you listen first, ideally before developing the product, and clearly understand the problem you are solving then marketing in this fashion is easy and will be very successful. It's all about solving problems not the product itself.

What Generation 2020 REALLY Wants and other Insights from @FrankLuntz

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 07:06:13 -0500

Happy New Year everyone. I'm back and going to try and post regularly (hopefully once a week) to Dude, It's Marketing in 2011. My first post of the year will be a review of a book I just recently finished.

The book, What Americans Really Want... Really by Dr. Frank I. Luntz (@FrankLuntz), has been on my list for quite some time and I finally got around to reading it over the holidays. I learned a lot from his previous book, Words that Work and have been looking forward to similar insights here.

Instead of a how-to make your communications work like the previous book, this one leverages research from a decade of face-to-face interviews thousands of people and telephone polls and surveys of millions more. This data provides valuable information about what makes Americans tick and Luntz's insights turn several key assumptions on their head.

While many of the sections apply more to polictics and what people need to understand if they are running for office, one chapter that jumped out at me as a marketer was the one that looked at what the 2020 Generation want and how they think. There is a similar chapter on what people over age 60 really want out of retirement which would be equally valuable to anyone marketing to that demographic.

In the chapter, Living at the Speed of Light: The 2020 Generation, Luntz defines this group as individuals born between 1980 and 1991, that have also been referred to as Millenials, have already lived a life more fundamentally different than their parents than any other generation.

He then goes on and outlines the attitudes and behaviors, using date from surveys, where Gen 2020 is different from the rest of America including immediate gratification, ongoing happiness, decreasing importance of religion, value of equality, and no news. He also talks about a study called "Studio U" that involved studying what 50 people from Gen 2020 did online for 20 days and nights 24/7. What the sponsors learned from the study was a key contributing factor to the creation of Hulu.com.

Luntz also outlines what this group offered as advice to advertisers: make the ad a 30-second show unto itself, make it interactive, connect it with the content they're waiting for, make is a seamless experience, and make it special with bonus clips. And he developed 5 distince Gen 2020 web profiles and discovered the four pillars of the perfect website (innovation, fluid in form and function, deep vaults of content, and a breakthrough viewing experience) all from the actual audience many marketers are trying to reach and do so poorly today.

While I'm just scratching the surface of the insights Luntz explains in this chapter and the book overall, I hope you now get an idea of how looking at this type of data can be applied to and help your business. Conducting focus groups and surveys are crucial to gaining these insights but can be an expensive proposition and out of the reach of many start-ups. However, the information exisits in other forms that you can leverage and this book is a great place to start. I definitely recommend anyone looking to understand their audience better to read this book or at least the chapters that apply to their target market.

[Image courtesy of Frank Luntz's The Word Doctor's website]

Merry Christmas from Dude, It's Marketing

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 10:10:13 -0500

I realize it's been a while since I posted to this blog but it's been a busy few months. I've moved back to Canada ending my 5 year adventure in the US. I also have put a lot of time and effort into launching Kindsight's social media efforts including a blog, focused on identity theft, online threats and how to make your identity and home network secure, and Twitter feed.

I do plan to start posting regularly again in the new year and have a few posts sketched out in my head based on these efforts and other marketing lessons learned from launching a start-up. I did think briefly about doing a recap of 2010 but that's been done by so many others already. Therefore, I'll sign off 2010 by wishing all my friends and readers a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2011.

Should You Market for Social Norms?

Brendan Ziolo — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:30:00 -0400

I started reading Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (@danariely) recently which has actually been on my reading list for some time. For those that don't know, this book uses behavioral economics to explore the forces that shape our decisions. I realize that may not be for everyone but it is a good read so far and does not go into long, technical explanations to illustrate the point but uses interesting examples instead.

I will try to post a full book review later but I was reading the chapter on "The Cost of Social Norms" and wanted to discuss a concept that Ariely touches upon and that's how companies have tried to market themselves as social companions. He uses the State Farm campaign "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" as an example but goes on to say that companies may spend billions to create social relationships but they don't really understand the risks.

I read this and immediately thought about how start-ups, and companies of all sizes for that matter, need to really think about the implications of taking this approach to marketing as more and more companies jump on the social networking bandwagon. And more importantly, should they even bother to take this approach at all or stick with marketing their value proposition?

Before I continue let me step back for a minute and explain what is meant by social norms. Ariely states that "social norms include the friendly requests that people make of one another" where instant paybacks are not required such as helping a friend move. Social norms are all warm and fuzzy compared to market norms which are not. Market norms are where you get what you pay for and "imply comparable benefits and prompt payments" or paying movers to help you move.

What I hope you can see is that the approach you decide to take must be carried throughout your entire organization in support of your brand. If you want to create a social relationship with your customers and prospects then do it but realize that you can't then switch and make it about business all of a sudden.

The example Ariely gives is when a customer bounces a check. If the bank is following market norms it will charge a fee and the customer will likely just pay it. However, it the bank has tried to build a social relationship, then a response should be a call from someone at the bank to explain the issue and likely waive the fee. If a fee is charged in this scenario, then the relationship would be damaged or killed and the money invested in marketing for the social norm will be lost.

The lesson I took away from Ariely that I wanted to share was that start-ups need to think long and hard about how they use social media to portray themselves. Social networking has quickly become a major part of many marketing campaigns as it's a great way to build these relationships with your customers. But you need to understand the pros and cons of it so you don't harm your brand when things get tough.

Building these social relationships with your customers can be extremely valuable but realize they will expect social norms to carry through going forward. Switching to market norms once a social relationship exists could damage or kill it and the customer is likely to share this negative experience with family and friends doing additional damage to your brand. Sometimes is may make sense to stick with market norms as there won't be the same expectation.

What's your approach and why?

Marketing Lessons Learned in Wine Country

Brendan Ziolo — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:54:56 -0400

As it turns out I do take my own advice... at least some of the time. I mentioned in my last post that you should take a vacation to help your creativity so I headed up to California Wine Country for a long weekend escape recently.

Sure enough while I wasn't expecting to think about marketing or work at all in wine country, I learned, or was reminded of, some marketing lessons that should be applied to your start-up that I wanted to share with you. Here are three of them:

Free Trial or Samples

As we checked in to our B&B, we got a package that included information about where we were staying, things to do in the area and a few coupons for free wine tasting at wineries that were close by. I believe it's safe to say that the majority of people who visit wine country will frequent a few wineries so why not make that visit free for them. It worked for us as we did go to one of the wineries with the free tasting and even bought a bottle from there so they made a sale because of this free sample. This may seem like an obvious lesson but does your start-up offer something for free or make it easy for someone to try your product? Think about how you can give away a trial of your product to interested users and I guarantee you'll move the sales process along and convert many to customers.

Special Events to Showcase Your Product

Each evening at the B&B, appetizers and wine was provided for all the guests to enjoy. It was a nice way to relax and regroup from your day before going out for dinner. I've seen this done before at many places but the B&B we stayed at also invited a winery to do a tasting of their wines during this time too. It was a great way for these wineries to get exposure and to meet prospective customers in a relaxed setting while not taking a lot of time, effort or money. Bringing your product to your customers so they can try it in a friendly environment definitely puts them at ease. For your start-up, you should think about how you can take your product to your customers by conducting a road show and hosting special events in a relaxed environment. Allowing your customers to touch and feel your product when there is no pressure and no distractions is a great way to take that relationship to the next level.

Appearances by the Founder

One evening while we were out for dinner, a winemaker from one of the local wineries came to our table and offered us a sample of his wine and explained a little bit about his winery. We found out from our waiter that this was a regular feature in the restaurant on Friday nights. Again, we got introduced to a new wine and met the person who creates it as well. Now, some start-ups do this better than others, but do you use the "winemaker" for our product (i.e. founder of your company) in a similar fashion? It can be a very effective way to build credibility for your solution to let your prospective customers see the passion and genius of your founder. If that founder is also a thought-leader or industry luminary then you can't underestimate how successful these meetings can be to closing deals. It will be an honor for many to meet the person behind the product.

In the end, my trip to wine country was valuable for a few reasons: I got some time away to relax and recharge my creativity; I also learned or was reminded of some campaigns that start-ups can do to promote their company and sell their product; and, oh yeah, I got to taste a few good wines.

Take a Vacation... Your Creativity Needs It

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:16:11 -0400

I have a confession to make. I've been finding it difficult, the past few weeks, to think of compelling topics for blog posts. As a result, I've been posting less frequently to Dude, It's Marketing which is not my intention but then again I only want to post valuable content. This got me to thinking about whether my recent struggles are because of other priorities, because it's summer, or worse yet that this blog had run its course. My conclusion is that it's mainly because of other priorities but also because I need a vacation. I need to recharge my creative juices.

But, I'm clearly not the only one that needs a vacation and I know many others that just keep pushing themselves to do more and more, especially anyone involved in a start-up. However, you need to ask yourself what impact does going at 110% and not taking time off have on the start-up? Are you jeopardizing the longer-term success of your start-up by pushing too hard in the short-term?

These are important questions that any owner/founder/employee at a start-up needs to ask. Remember that building a start-up takes time and you need to be in it for the longer term. While some of us may not want to admit it, as it is sometimes perceived as a sign of weakness, but we can only push ourselves so long without taking a break. Everyone needs a rest.

If you take a break, even a short one such as an extra long weekend, you would be surprised what you could learn, what new thoughts you can have when you're away from it, and maybe you'll even discover the solution to that unsolved problem in the most unlikely place.

For a number of reasons, there is the culture in many US companies that taking time off is not acceptable and you are given a hard time when you go away for a week. Vacations are an important part of employee morale and we all know a happy employee is a productive one. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised what impact a vacation will have on your own and your employees productivity and creativity.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for working hard and in a start-up environment there are time where you DO have to push yourself and your team beyond its limits. But, don't forget once you've reached a significant milestone to take some time to recharge your creativity. Take a vacation. Give your employees a break. You've earned it and your creativity needs it.

The Elegance of Simplicity

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:09:53 -0400

There is an ongoing rush for most start-ups to add more and more features to their products. In fact, the ability to add new features quickly in response to customer demands is quite often what sets a start-up apart from it's more mature competitors. But, when adding these features, you must be careful not to make your product too complicated, especially if it targets the consumer market.

I'm always amazed how many companies, large and small, claim their products are easy-to-use but don't back it up in the design and user interface of the product. In fact, the term "easy-to-use" has basically become meaningless over time as most product don't meet that expectation. However, there is a certain elegance with simple and intuitive products that more and more start-ups should pursue.

One needs to look no further than Apple and its recent string of successful new product introductions (iPod, iPhone, iPad). Apple wasn't first in any of these product categories but they did change how you used and interacted with the product. In this case, you can see how a company, when dedicated to making its products simple, can revolutionize an entire product category (or in the case of Apple many product categories) with design and an efficient, intuitive user experience.

But can all start-ups aspire to be the next Apple? Maybe, maybe not. But they should all aspire to make their product simpler. Case in point is Twitter, especially in the early days, when it was all about 140 characters. Their focus on enabling conversations with short, simple messages created a new category in social media that they now dominate. But as Twitter adds more feature has it lost its simplicity?

One company that has steadfastly held to its beliefs to keep things simple is the Google home page and its obsession with the search box. As Google continuously adds products, many of which don't live up to this mantra, they have not lost site of what made them into the powerhouse they are today. One look at google.com and it's obvious that search is what it's all about.

It's easy for a start-up to add new features and I'm not saying any of you should stop. What I am saying is that there is elegance in simplicity and you need to ensure each new feature doesn't make your product more complicated. Just one more button is not the answer all of the time, or maybe any time. Remember to keep it simple and it can become a key differentiator for your product. It may even make you the "Apple" of your market.

Creating the Message in Your Time of Crisis

Brendan Ziolo — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:27:43 -0400

For the last couple of weeks, I've been writing about the need for start-ups to develop a crisis communications plan and also the steps you should take to create your plan. While I'm on this topic, I wanted to dive into a bit more detail on what could be the most crucial past of your crisis communication plan: the message.

It's crucial that you should always communicate the right message, to the right people, at the right time. I've written about this before but this concept is even more critical, if that's possible, during a time of crisis. So what is different about creating the message in your time of crisis?

Basically, you need to build upon the messages you used before the crisis to specifically address the issue in a clear, credible and consistent way. All great attributes of your message at any time. However, in your time of crisis you also need to add the appropriate context to your message and that's where things are different.

Depending on the crisis, your message needs to show concern for those that have been affected and assurance that you will address the issue in a timely and satisfactory manner. As you can see, this is very different than your marketing message which is all about creating awareness.

As well, you need to ensure that the content is accurate during a time of crisis. Not that this isn't something you need to always do, but we all know the truth has been stretched from time-to-time in a marketing message. This cannot be the case during a time of crisis. You need to be accurate in what you communicate as further mistakes, which will be found out, can only make the crisis worse. In fact, using respected third parties to validate facts is very important.

Unlike your main marketing message which is about differentiation and value, your crisis message must be accurate, clear, credible, consistent and delivered within the appropriate context. This is not radically different than you message during normal times but the subtleties are important and you must be aware of them at all times.

Since you already have the groundwork in place for your main messages, you really have no excuse but to spend some time building your message for a potential crisis as we all know time is of the essence for you to respond when something bad happens. Are you prepared?

Creating your Crisis Communications Plan

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:00:00 -0400

Last week, I wrote about the need for a crisis communications plan and later that same day, Intuit suffered a crisis of their own as many of their key websites went down. Now, obviously I can't say that I predicted this crisis for Intuit but the coincidence just goes to show you that a crisis can happen at any point in time.

So if you are now convinced that you need a crisis communications plan, the timing of this blog post is perfect for you as I'll run through how you should build this plan. Now, I'm not going to say that this post covers everything you should do but as I mentioned in my last post, I want to give you some steps so you can develop a plan quickly which is significantly better than nothing at all.

Behind every good crisis communications plan are 3 underlying concepts:

You need to be proactive. The more you can prepare and do in advance, the better off you will be in the time of crisis. The fact you are reading this post and starting to develop a plan is a huge step in the right direction.
You need to be transparent. If you try to hide anything, chances are you will be found out so be as up-front as possible from the outset. And the worst thing to say is "No comment".
You need to respond quickly. Speed is crucial as the longer you wait the more others will tell the story in terms that you cannot control and will not like.

Now while many crisis are unforeseen, you should try and identify potential crisis that could affect your company and then develop a plan to address these issues. By putting your plan in context, your efforts are more focused and you are in a much better position when and if that crisis happens.

In terms of the plan itself, you should first and foremost figure out who should be part of the crisis communications team so that you can pull this key group of people together at a moments notice. You should also figure out who the spokesperson will be, usually the CEO or a senior executive, and ensure they are trained to handle the tough questions that will come to them.

With the team in place, then you can work on the following areas of the plan:

Define the various targets for your messages in the time of crisis. For example, it's important to identity the stakeholders in your company which may include employees, customers, prospects, suppliers, investors, partners, media, analysts, and other members of your community. And, if there is anything you can do to build a better relationship with your audiences and/or tell parts of the story in advance then you should do it.
Develop tools to reach these targets quickly. For example, draw up a list of your targets and how to reach them so you can get the word out quickly. More importantly, prepare an area on your web site which can be launched, at a moments notice, and be the base for communicating all your information in the time of crisis so everyone has one place to go to get your side of the story.
Create messages that are pre-approved. While each situation will be different it's always a good idea to prepare several key messages in advance and then adapt them to the situation. If you don't do this then you won't be able to respond quickly which is crucial.
Implement an early warning system to measure and monitor what is being said about your company. All of the planning above is for naught, if you don't know what is being said about you before, during and after the crisis. There are a number of tools that can be used to automate much of this process but the key is to keep you eyes and ears open at all time, especially online.

Obviously, this is a very high-level overview of the crisis communication plan. In the coming weeks, I'll try to look into each of these aspects in more detail. In the meantime, let me know what I've missed or better yet, let me know what you've done in your time of crisis.

Crisis Communications Plan: Necessary evil or waste of time?

Brendan Ziolo — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:00:00 -0400

For most of the past 2 months, BP has been bombarded by negative press regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Imagine working in PR or communications at a company where everyone can see a live feed of oil gushing into the ocean and images of birds and other wildlife coated with oil.

You would assume that they had a crisis communications plan in place before this happened but I wouldn't blame you for thinking that this was not the case or question how much thought was put into it. I know much has been written about how BP has responded to this crisis and I'm certain it will become a case study for many PR, communications and crisis management courses in the future.

However, this blog post is not about BP or the disaster in the Gulf but it's about the question of whether a crisis communications plan for a start-up is a necessary evil or a waste of time. It's easy to dismiss the need for a crisis communications plan when you assume that your start-up will not face a disaster on the scale of BP but that would be missing the point.

A crisis does not need to be on such a large scale for it to affect your brand and your sales. For example, last week an iPad security breach that unveiled 100K+ email addresses was discovered and received a lot of publicity. This negative PR will affect AT&T, and maybe even Apple, not on a large scale but it will still have an impact and a plan needed to be implemented to respond to that crisis.

These are just 2 examples of crises that have happened recently that differ in scope but both required an immediate response. And that's the thing with a crisis, you don't have time to plan your response after the crisis happens. You need to respond immediately or the negative publicity could spiral out of control in this new age of social media.

If something bad happens to your company, you need to tell your side of the story before everyone else does it for you. That's why it's best to think through your response, or if you won't respond, in advance of the crisis and also to lay the groundwork needed to communication this response to your different stakeholders.

So while, your start-up has a thousand things to do on any given day, unfortunately, you need to add the development of a crisis communications plan to the list. Now this may not be at the top of your list but it has to be there. In some cases, it may even need to be at the top if you're making a controversial announcement for example. I'll talk more about how you can develop this crisis communications plan quickly in an upcoming blog post.

The plan doesn't need to be long and detailed but you do need to think about what negative things could happen to or be said about your brand and have a way to respond quickly so that all your audiences hear your side of the story.

Is there a crisis communications plan in place for your company?

Book Review - Delivering Happiness (@dhbook) Can Build Your Brand

Brendan Ziolo — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:00:00 -0400

If you were asked a few years ago if you could build a brand through customer service, or if focusing on your culture is the best way to build a brand, chances are you would have answered "No" or "Maybe". But you can be forgiven for thinking that, since that would have been before you knew the story of Zappos and its CEO, Tony Hsieh (@zappos).

Because of what I had heard about the Zappos story, I was happy to receive a free advanced copy of the book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose by Tony Hsieh to review for this blog. The best way to summarize the book is that it's part autobiographical, part a history of Zappos, but most importantly part blueprint for how Zappos has focused on its culture and customer service to build a very successful brand and company that was ultimately acquired by Amazon.

The first section about Tony's life and his first successful company, LinkExchange, is not what I was looking for out of this book but it does give you some insights into what led Tony to take the approach he did with Zappos. And since it's a quick read, I was able to breeze through that section.

I was more interested in the next section about how Zappos started and some of it's early successes and failures as I find you can always learn from what others have done. Surprising to me, as I didn't know the details, Zappos almost went out of business a few times as it was running out of money. If Tony had not had a successful exit prior to Zappos it may not be here today as he invested a lot, almost all, of his own money into it to keep things going for the first few years. While this was interesting, I had no idea that the real insights lay ahead.

The chapter called a Platform for Growth is the best part of the book by far as it goes into the why and how Zappos decide to make their brand about customer service; how they determined the core values of the company; and how they used the Zappos culture to build the brand. While I'm the type of person to read a book from cover-to-cover, if you are not, I strongly encourage everyone at a start-up, and larger companies too, to read at least this chapter and think about how you can use these critical lessons from Zappos to build your brand.

In this chapter, Tony shares the 10 core values that define the Zappos brand and explains the importance of each in detail. Stories from real Zappos employees are used as examples of each value throughout this chapter. Now to be clear, and I believe Tony says this too, you can't just take these 10 values and apply them to your company but you can look at the model and figure out what makes sense for your company.

In the end, the important takeaway for me was a reminder that your brand is really the essence of what your company is all about. And while Tony uses the notion of "delivering happiness" to build the Zappos brand, you can make your brand about whatever you want but you need to ensure that it is instilled in the core values of your start-up.

While I've written about simple and differentiated messaging and credible marketing a lot recently in this blog, it is all part of the larger and very important concept of the brand you want to build for your company. You can learn a lot about one way to build your brand in the book Delivering Happiness.

The Delivering Happiness book team (@dhbook) was kind enough to give me an extra copy of the book to giveaway to a reader on this blog. To make things interesting, I'll give the book to the person who offers up the best story about how they, or their company, went above and beyond to deliver happiness to one of their customers and build their brand. Please leave your story in the comments below or a link to where I can read about it. I'll decide on the best story received by June 15 and let you know.

[Image courtesy of Delivering Happiness ]