Out to Launch

Jawbone UP Review: Product Launch Do's and Don't's

2011-11-25T14:00:00.000-08:00

I like metrics that are easy. RunKeeper app on the iPhone? Great! iPod Nano with built-in Nike+ for running – with geeky LunaTik watchstrap? So convenient!

So when the Jawbone UP came out 2 weeks ago, I was excited to see how it could help track my non-running daily activities. Like a high-tech Livestrong bracelet, I could theoretically see my sleep patterns and daily steps. I got the UP the day after it launched, and unfortunately, while I really liked the Jawbone UP band, I returned it yesterday back to the Apple Store.

I never had a product die on me twice! I hope Jawbone figures out how to make the UP stay up, but there were some key lessons for anyone trying to launch a new product.

Product Launch Do’s:

Strong marketing: for what I thought was a very niche-y product, the good number of glowing reviews from the media surprised me. Of course, the UP band did have the halo of the Jawbone brand, but still they did a great job. For those curious to learn what the UP band did, the website was clean and easy to navigate. Short videos made it easy to understand all the different features and functions.
Great design: The product is really simple to use. Packaging was well executed too. While it would have been great to have Bluetooth syncing, I realize there are some technology limitations with a 1.0 product.
Community forums: The Jawbone UP community forum has been pretty active, and I’ve found it a great resource to learn more about the product (and troubleshoot unfortunately!).
Customer service: I’ve seen some awful threads in the community forum about Jawbone customer service, but my experience has been the exact opposite. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but the wait times have only lasted about a minute, and the reps have been very helpful. In fact, one rep even called me twice in one day to make it easy for me to ship back a defective UP band – even offering to pick it up at my home.

Product Launch Don’t’s:

Faulty products: There’s marketing, and then there’s reality. Despite all the great marketing anyone can do with a product, if the product is buggy, it doesn’t matter. Just go to the Jawbone forums and you can see all the issues that have plagued the UP band. I managed to make it a week with my original band, and then just 2 days with my replacement band.
Limited communication: There’s been a big stink on the forums, but communication from Jawbone has been pretty limited. I wish they had been more proactive in terms of all the product issues. Email to customers, quicker responses on the forums, etc.
Weak sales training: On the day of the launch, I went to Best Buy to get the Jawbone UP band. The response from Best Buy store clerks – “What’s an UP band?” At least the Apple Store geniuses knew what it was.
Useless features: How accurate is the UP? Who knows? I think it’s a good activity indicator, but I’m not going to bet my life on it. The most useless feature is the Eat tracking capabilities. Take a picture of your food and rate how you feel? Uh ok. That seems so poorly executed, so don’t even do it. Instead focus on engineering a more reliable product.

Maybe next year after all the issues have hopefully settled down, I’ll go buy the Jawbone UP again. But until then, it’s thumbs down for the UP.

You are not Steve Jobs

2010-10-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

Fact #1: Steve Jobs is a great presenter. Fact #2: You are not Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs makes the boring sound "revolutionary!"

In the marketing world, especially the high-tech marketing world, everyone loves Steve Jobs as a visionary and a presenter. With revolutionary news like the first iPhone, he really presents his vision very clearly and convincingly. And even with so-so news like the Apple TV, people admire how he can put lipstick on a pig. Naturally there are tons of articles about how to present like Steve Jobs, and while I'm a strong believer in the PowerPoint wisdom of Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duarte, it's not a good fit for every occasion.

The cold hard truth is that not everyone should try to be like Steve Jobs. Here's why:

The "visionary" presentation is few and far between: There are a few occasions when you should present like Steve Jobs with his beautiful graphics and a smattering of words on the screen - you're a keynote speaker, a product evangelist, or Tony Robbins. Your audience size should be large and expecting to hear a grand announcement from you. If you're doing lots of presentations to audiences of thousands, then a Jobsian approach is the way to go. Otherwise, don't do it.
Internal meetings are the most common use of PowerPoint: While I love the stuff that Garr Reynolds writes about, it's completely inappropriate for an internal meeting. Imagine you're going to present a new proposal to your executive team with just a few slides with great graphics. Good luck with that! I think graphics should be limited and bullet points are perfectly OK. Just don't go crazy with a textbook on each slide.
Find a reasonable middle ground: There's a middle ground between the visionary presentation and the internal slide deck. Sales presentations should have just enough detail, so the sales person can touch on the relevant points, but not so much that he has to know everything cold. If you have graphics, go for it. But lace them with some level of detail that can work when you do a leave-behind. If you have too much detail, the audience will be bored reading your slides or you'll forget some tiny detail on the slide. Keep things to a manageable minimum. Also, since everyone always asks for a copy of the slide, imagine what the printout they're going to get and how it will be shared with others.

In all cases, a clear and compelling story is the most important - whether you're Steve Jobs or John Doe. Good luck with your next PowerPoint!

You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...

2010-08-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

Good ol' Kenny Rogers. (Before his rotisserie chicken and plastic surgery, of course). I've been taking an inventory of what things I've been doing to drive business for TopSprout, and after almost two years of running a bunch of different business development ideas, there are some things that I'm foldin'!

"Now every gambler knows that the secret to survivin'/Is knowin' what to throw away and knowin' what to keep."

Topping my list of what I'm throwing away ... Google AdWords! I know many people will swear by Google. But in terms of the money invested, I think this was the lowest ROI campaign I did. To all the SEO consultants out there, yes, I tweaked ad copy, keywords, budgets, etc., and I did get good website traffic and clicks. But overall, I didn't get any real business from Google. I think the level of investment needed for a successful Google campaign were well above what I or many other small businesses want to do.

#1 on my list of what to keep ... networking. Good ol' face to face meetings, lunches, coffees. I never was a big networker before I started TopSprout, but it's been pretty clear that it has driven most of my business. Either people I know or people that have been referred to me. And instead of a cold dashboard of Google Web Analytics, I do get to establish personal relationships with real people and really understand their needs and challenges. Yes, it's a long process, and now I understand why sales guys need expense accounts (and why there are so many people at Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon!). It's not easy networking, but I think it's worth it. For more info, here's my previous post on networking.

Sorry Sergey and Larry! And thanks Kenny!

How to Ring Up Some Initial VC Funding

2010-07-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

Silicon Valley is always ever-hopeful! Why? I've been getting a good number of requests to help people with their funding pitch for VC's or angel investors. While there's tons of advice out there, here's what I've found works.

Here's my outline for a standard VC pitch.

The VC pitch should contain the following:

Introduction: 1 slide including a company snapshot and your management team
Market & Product: 4 slides including market size, competitive analysis, product description and customer benefits
Demo: 1 slide that simply explains your demo flow
Business Model: 3 slides including your revenue model, roadmap and funding needs

Some basic guidelines you should consider when you're following this outline.

Stick to the point. Keep your VC pitch to no more than a dozen slides.
So what? who cares? Why should a prospective investor care about your product? Why should customers care about you? You should ask yourself these questions - so what? who cares? with every slide you create.
Why are you so different? No, you're not the first/leading/only/next-generation company who does ABC. There are dozens or even hundreds of similar companies like yours trying to do the exact same thing, trying to get funding too. You really need to explain why you should get the money, and not another company.
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!
Have a backup plan. Bad things happen. Your projector doesn't work, your demo server is down, etc. Make sure you have a Plan B and a Plan C and a Plan D.

Contact me at success@topsprout.com if you need any help. And you can always find more info on www.topsprout.com. Happy pitching!

Free PR sites - you get what you paid for

2010-06-16T10:43:00.001-07:00

Are free PR sites any good? They sound awfully appealing, but after some initial tests, I'm not so sure.

I recently posted a press release for a client using PRWeb, a PR site that submits press releases costing roughly $200 for a decent PR package. (You can read the full press release here.) We had wanted to use a more specialized industry PR wire called CSRWire, but it cost $500. I had used PRWeb in past companies I worked at, and it was a pretty decent wire service. For my client, PRWeb produced decent results - improving search results, getting picked up by other wires, etc. Combined with a newsletter to existing contacts, it was part of a one-two punch to get re-engaged with their customers.

We had thought about using some free PR sites, but I didn't want to experiment on my client's time and expense. So I ran an experiment later using TopSprout as a guinea pig. I didn't have earth-shattering news, so I just used a typical customer momentum release and experimented with what other websites had recommended for free PR services: prlog.org, free-press-release.com and 1888pressrelease.com.

My summary: you get what you paid for with free PR services.

PRLog.org (View the TopSprout press release on PRLog): PRLog got a thumbs-up from a colleague at Equilar, so I had high expectations. It's a very easy to use website, and you can include HTML tags in your press release (for search engine optimization). When I first issued the release, it immediately showed up as #4 in the search results for "topsprout." Very cool! But then after 2 days of this, it disappeared. Even searching for "topsprout prlog" didn't get me anything. On the other hand, it did get picked up by another third-party site. So considering it was free, didn't take a lot of time, and was easy to use, it got so-so results.
Free-Press-Release.com (View the TopSprout press release on free-press-release.com): Free Press Release is OK for ease of use, but it doesn't allow you to easily insert HTML tags in your press release. When I issued my release, it showed up #6 in search results for "topsprout." My initial thought was that it was slightly inferior to PRLog in terms of search hits, but as the days went by, I noticed that Free Press Release started showing up more and more. They apparently use subdomains (e.g., consulting.free-press-release.com, marketing.free-press-release.com, etc.) to increase the number of search results you get. On the downside, no third-party site picked up my release. So for the amount of effort this involved, it was probably worth using this service too.
1888press release: simply awful. As I was entering my press release here and clicking the Next buttons, my press release was unexpectedly submitted for review. I had no chance to change or preview it once I sent it in. And search results from 1888pressrelease? Zero. I wouldn't waste my time with this site again.
CSRWire archive: While CSRWire costs $500, they do have a service where you can submit press releases to their archive for free. Simple to do + good search results + third-party pickup = definitely worth the effort. If you can find a industry-specific free PR site for your company, that would be a good way to go.

All in all, free PR seems so tempting, and if you have bandwidth to do it, it's worth doing on at least prlog.org and free-press-release.com. Just don't expect too much from them. If you do have some money to spend and your news is worth it, you should still think about paid PR services.

Get over your fear of networking

2010-06-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

My friend and former co-worker Sheila had just decided to go into consulting, focusing on online and search marketing, and she wanted to get my advice on what had worked for me in getting new business (BTW, if you're looking for a search and online marketing expert, you should contact her at www.frugeconsulting.com). She had some great ideas for search optimization, partner strategies, etc., but I told her I had done a lot of that when I first started TopSprout, and when it came down to it, I found most of my business through networking. Unfortunately, for many businesses, it's a strategy that they don't do enough of.

What's ironic is that Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking websites have made it so easy to stay in touch and reach out to friends and colleagues. I get instant notifications of friends' kids hitting home runs in their Little League baseball games or hearing how someone is sharing carrot bushels in Farmville. But in the business world, I think a lot of people are still afraid of really leveraging and getting the most out of their network.

I'm also a scaredy-cat.

When I started TopSprout, like Sheila I had grand visions of being the marketing consultant that everyone knew and getting business from Google, partners, you name it. But now almost 2 years after starting TopSprout, 100% of my business has been because of my network. For many businesses, I think it's the same story. And I strongly believe that if you leverage your network, revenue will follow.

Why are people scared of networking? Here are the most common things I faced and that I also heard from others:

It takes a lot of effort: there's no doubt about it - reaching out to people and meeting with them takes time. There's time to write or call, set up a meeting, meet and follow up. For just one person in your network, it could take several hours just to have one face-to-face meeting.
Hearing "no:" nobody likes hearing no. And when you're reaching out to your network, this could happen, especially with people's busy schedules.
It seems one-sided: what are you bringing to the table? Sometimes both sides of the network have something that they both can use, but more often than not, it's just you trying to "get" something from your contact.
There are easier things to do: setting up Google AdWords, direct mail, email newsletters are all things that you should invest in. And they seem so easy. Just a few hours here and there, and you're done. So much easier than reaching out to all your contacts.
It sometimes has no immediate payback: so you've met up with the CEO of Acme Industries and had a great chat. Now what? Sometimes there is NO now what.

So what can you do to make the most of your network? Here are 6 steps I took:

Consolidate your contact lists: even in this age of iPhones, Facebook and LinkedIn, I found my contacts scattered all over the place. The first thing I did was consolidate all my contacts so I could figure out who I knew. Yes, I admit it, I used Excel.
Tier your contacts: next I figured out who would be most "valuable" to my work. I used criteria like level of familiarity, seniority, relevance, etc. to determine who made the most sense to reach out to initially.
Determine how you're going to reach out to your network: for each person you want to reach out to, I then figured out how I wanted to approach them. For some, I wanted to meet them in person, so that would involve personal emails and phone calls. For others, I added them to my bi-monthly newsletters to stay fresh in their minds.
Get your story down: when someone asked me what I do, I made sure I got my story down (unless I was meeting them to get their feedback). Otherwise, it leads to confusion and uncertainty on how they could help.
Figure out what you want: before I actually called or emailed anyone, I had to figure out what I really wanted from the interaction. Was it hearing their feedback, finding out more about a potential opportunity, learning more about a company, etc.?
Follow up, follow up, follow up: this is by far the hardest step. People are busy, and to be honest, I'm not high in their list of priorities! Sometimes I think I'm pretty annoying - and I'm sure some people would agree. But I force myself to keep plugging away.

I'm not saying you should ignore other aspects of business development like advertising, search and other activities, but I think if you put some real effort into networking, you'll get very pleasant results. Good luck! success@topsprout.com.

Simple Hoovers tip to get free market research and improve your VC pitch

2010-05-28T11:32:00.001-07:00

If you're a company trying to get VC funding or internally pitch a new product/market to your executive team, one of the key questions you'll get asked is the potential size of the market you're going after. From here, you can show how many customers you expect to get, number of users, estimated revenue, etc. Depending on your industry, this sometimes can be a very tedious process - trawling through government data tables, reading analyst reports, etc. But if you're selling to businesses, Hoovers.com can give you a FREE and FAST way to pull these numbers together for your pitch.

I'm not trying to do an infomercial for Hoovers.com - there are lots of other companies out there providing similar data (OneSource for example). It's just that I've used Hoovers.com in several companies I've worked for, and it's been pretty good for doing company segmentation and basic fact checking. However, it's way too expensive for most young companies. I wish they had a "lower end" version for small companies, but they have something that's almost as good. It's called Hoover's Lead Builder, and it's absolutely FREE! It's supposed to be used to get contacts and companies, but I find it much more useful to estimate your potential market size. You can access it at www.hoovers.com/leads/build-a-list.

Here are the 7 steps to figure out your potential market size:

Click the Arrow next to Criteria Tracker so you can see the query you're building.
Under Company Location, click Browse & Add Locations and select your location. (Please note that my experience with Hoovers has been that they're really good at US and Canada numbers and so-so at best in other regions.)
In the next section called Industries, select which industries you're interested in the most. If you don't know the SIC code, just click on Browse & Add Industries. In this example, I've picked Retail Apparel companies.
Now pay attention to the bottom of your browser, you'll see that the number of companies Hoovers has found is 129,331. As you change your criteria, this is the area that will tell you the number of companies in your target profile.
Let's see how this works with Company Size. If I pick Total Annual Sales between $1M and $10M, I can see there are 2,939 such companies.

If I keep changing these figures, I can get the following type of revenue segmentation for apparel stores, which may indicate that I really want to focus on companies with less than $10M in annual revenue:

$1M to $10M: 2,939 companies
$11M to $100M: 64 companies
$100M+: 16 companies

In my experience, Hoovers isn't so good with reporting companies smaller than $1M in revenues, so you should use caution with the numbers it gives you for that revenue band.
You can keep repeating this for however many industries and revenue bands you want until you get a complete a picture of the market you're going after. Pay attention to the Criteria Tracker as sometimes Hoovers seems to keep old criteria that you thought you had removed.

Here's a market analysis I did using Hoovers to show the estimated number of users a potential client could go after. For each revenue band, I estimated the number of users to come up with these two charts (if anyone can tell me how to combine these into one multi-column chart in Excel with multiple Y-axes, I'll buy you a drink!).

Try Hoovers out for yourself, and good luck with your VC pitch!

I don't have an iPad - why URGENCY matters

2010-05-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

There's been so much discussed about the iPad - especially here in Silicon Valley - and how it's either 1) going to change the world or 2) fizzle in the marketplace. Now almost a month after its launch, I think it's too early to say still. A few weeks ago, I got to play around with an iPad at the Burlingame Apple store and found it very intriguing, but I didn't buy it. Lots of people felt the same way. In fact, out here in tech heaven, I only know one person who has one. So why don't people get an iPad? There are lots of reasons people are writing about - lack of Flash support, no camera, first-generation product, etc. But when it comes down to it, I think there's a strong parallel between an iPad purchase and the corporate buying process. People don't buy an iPad is the same reason people don't buy a whole lot of things in the business world - from enterprise software to professional services to industrial machinery - they just don't feel that urgency, that compelling need to buy things.

I think a good way to think about why people buy things is FUBU. No, not the 90's clothing line from my old hometown of Queens. By FUBU, I mean the concept of Fit, Uniqueness, Budget and Urgency. The first three reasons are self-explanatory. Does the product fit my needs? Is it unique and different enough that I should get this product versus a competitive product? Does it fit within my budget?

Ultimately though, I think buying something like an iPad, or making a change in how a company does business, is all about URGENCY. Do I really need that product NOW? Do I need to change NOW? And in my own work, I've realized that urgency is a tricky thing. Some thoughts:

Urgency and external forces: Sometimes there are huge compelling events that force people to make a change. The passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was a big one in the corporate world - it made companies extremely fearful of the consequences of non-compliance and provided a lot of vendors a compelling event for them to sell their goods. Other "smaller" compelling events can include things like a new product launch, a supplier going bankrupt, losing a big deal to a competitor. They're good reasons that a company needs to do something different now.
Internalizing urgency: Ultimately urgency needs to be internal. One person can see a compelling event as a reason to change: "We lost a big deal. We need to revamp our sales and marketing." But that same event can easily be dismissed by another: "So what that we lost a big deal? There's plenty more chances." If enough people in a company don't feel that level of urgency, nothing's going to change - no matter how great your product is and how much it will do for your customers.
Creating urgency: If people feel urgency, then it's much easier for companies to market and sell their products. But what if they don't? Can urgency be created? I think there are three ways to create some urgency. First, scarcity. You see this in commercials and with used car salesman: "A little old lady was just looking about getting this car" or "Act now. There are only 100 quantities available!" If your claim of scarcity is credible, then you can create urgency. For example, "This is our last purse in that color available. Otherwise, ordering another one will take about 6 weeks." Second, you can create urgency through awareness. Sometimes your customers may not know of certain things that you do, and making them aware of them can create that need for change. For example, "There's a new tax law change that will make it much more difficult for you to manage your filings by yourself" or "Did you know Oracle is going to announce a new Fusion product next week?" Finally, timing can create urgency. "If we don't start working on your kitchen remodel now, we'll have to wait till the spring for the weather to be right" or "Our CEO will be in your neighborhood and has some free time to meet with you."

Is urgency a guarantee that you can get people to buy anything? No, but without it, chances are you won't get them to do anything different at all.

7 ways CEO's create buzz on a shoestring budget

2010-04-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I attended a local SVASE lunch featuring CEO's from Vyatta, Red Condor and Serious Materials who shared what they thought was most useful for creating buzz, especially with a startup budget. Here are 7 key lessons I heard:

SEM and SEO is a must: if people can't find you, you're missing out on business. You need to do Search Engine Marketing (e.g., Google AdWords) or Search Engine Optimization at a minimum. Unfortunately, everyone else is doing this, so be prepared to spend money for good keywords and make sure you have forms and processes to capture these valuable leads.
Get testimonials: get customers or partners to talk about how and why they're using your products. People want to hear from others, not what your marketing department has to say. This can in the form of quotes, case studies, etc. If you can do it with user-generated case studies like videos that aren't so slick and marketing-ish, go for it. One CEO used a Flipcam as an incentive to get people to submit their stories.
Blend new and traditional media: Facebook and Twitter aren't taking over the world. Traditional channels like PR, advertising and analysts still work. However, even if you're a B2B company, you should figure out your social media strategy.
Develop a community: depending on your market, a community may be a great idea for you. It helps promote general interest, best practices and thought leadership. However, don't try to control the community - just facilitate discussion and be honest. Check out Vyatta and Salesforce.com's community forums.
Find an issue: find an issue that resonates with your customers and that they care about. Find an issue and use it to generate buzz. Create some thought leadership articles, blog entries, etc. One CEO used the issue weekly spam threats and his company's ability to find them first as the cornerstone of his strategy.
Own the first page: being first with SEO or SEM isn't enough. You should "own" the first page of search results. Every one of those results should have your imprint - blog trackbacks, articles, etc. One CEO called this technique "carpet bombing" - creating enough content to completely cover the whole first page.
Find something you can be first in: Quote from one CEO: "Who was the first person to cross the Atlantic flying solo? Who was second? Who was the first woman to do so?" No one remembers second place, so find something that you can do that's uniquely first. This is basic positioning 101, but so many companies don't do this.

Of course, doing all of this isn't easy. It takes a lot of hard work, day in and day out, to get the buzz you're looking for, so good luck!

How to Waste Money with Consultants

2010-04-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Good consultants can be one of the most important assets for you and your company, so why do some people throw money away once they've hired them? Having been both a client and consultant myself with big and small consulting firms and clients, here are the top 10 mistakes I've seen:

Hiring a consultant in a steady-state business. I think consultants are most appropriate to use when something has shifted in your business - a new product launch, a new business model, organizational changes, new competition - but for many companies, those are rare occurrences. If your company is relatively steady, in a relatively stable market, and you don't think you need to change direction, stay the course and save your money. I know some people will say that there's no such thing as a steady-state business, but I've seen plenty that are profitable and going to stay that way for a while.
Hiring a consultant for a long-term full-time need. If you have a long-term need like demand generation, product management, or sales operations, don't get a consultant. Consultants are best for short-term or sporadic needs - like updating your business strategy, identifying issues with your supply chain or launching a new product. The actual execution of many business initiatives should be done by existing or to-be-hired full-time employees. The trick, of course, is to figure out which of your business needs can be handled by your employees.
Lack of responsiveness. I know you're crazy busy, but when you don't respond in a timely manner to your consultant, you're wasting your money. Your consultant is just waiting for your input to steer his or her work. Even worse, if you don't respond for a long time, your consultant will assume that you're OK with their work and go ahead without getting your input - potentially leading to rework and more billed hours.
Lacking time to work with consultant. You need to section off a good chunk of time to work with your consultant. It's not just "set it and forget it." Schedule periodic one-on-one times to get the latest updates and follow up on their suggestions.
Creating shelfware. One of the biggest complaints about consultants is their "shelfware" - deliverables that just stay on your bookshelf. If you hired a consultant for their ideas, you should get them to be as specific as possible and figure out how to implement them. If you don't agree with them, you should tell them that. If you can't figure out how to implement them, ask them.
Using a consultant to rubber stamp your ideas. If you want someone to rubber stamp your ideas, save your money. I've seen many large companies hire consultants as a way to convince others that the sponsor's ideas are right, but trust me, everyone can read right through that charade.
Setting up the wrong incentives. If you find a consultant that you trust, don't give him the wrong incentives. Most consultants will do what's right for the client, but if you incent them the wrong way, you're both going to be sorry. For example, if you have a very fluid environment with very dynamic scope and deliverables, don't ask for a defined SOW (statement of work). Instead do an hourly contract with financially based incentives to make sure the consultant is billing hours appropriately.
Getting stuck with a different team. You're really impressed with the principal and founder of the consulting firm you just hired, but after just a few days, you get stuck with some junior-level consultants or subcontractors. Make sure you get who you want to work on your project.
Getting consultants involved in office politics. Nuff said. A great way to waste everyone's time. It's your job to figure out the politics, not the consultant's.
Forgetting about a transition plan. You just got the greatest ideas from your consultant, but have you thought about what to do after your consultant is gone? Make sure you have a transition plan. Make sure everyone else is trained on what needs to happen, so you have a sustainable future that's not 100% dependent on your consultant. My favorite thing I used to say to clients when I first started consulting is "My job is to make you not need me any more."

Consultants can be a great resource for you, so use them wisely. Good luck!

Revolutionary or Commodity? The Wrong Messaging Technique Makes a Big Difference.

2010-04-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

I recently completed an engagement with a client who was using a messaging technique called Power Messaging (from the company Corporate Visions). The technique is very similar to my standard TopSprout messaging hierarchy, but focuses more on a product's differentiators and tying them to the target user's pain points and objectives. I think we created some great messaging for an upcoming product launch...but when we tried the Power Messaging technique to a related product, we ended up with so-so messaging.

That got me thinking...how can a messaging approach work wonders with one product, yet be woefully inadequate with another? That's when I realized what should have been so obvious before - different types of products and services need different types of messaging techniques. When I look back at all the different product launches I've been involved in, I can basically group them into 3 key categories - revolutionary, mature and commodity.

	Revolutionary	Mature	Commodity
Definition	A product that breaks so much new ground – you can’t believe it really works!	Nothing earth-shattering but there are significant functional differences between competitors.	Unless you buy and use the product or service, you can’t tell the difference – and even then, you might not be able to tell anyway.
Examples	iPhone, Sakhr live translator	Laptops, marketing automation software	Water, many professional service firms
Messaging challenge	Explaining what the product does in a way that people can quickly understand	Highlighting competitive differentiators and why they matter	Emphasizing one key message that sticks
Best technique	Messaging hierarchy	Power messaging	Basic branding
The technique in a nutshell	Cut through feature “spaghetti” and cohesively group different functions and benefits that your product offers.	Identify target user and pain points that prevent them from meeting their key objectives. Identify unique product differentiators that then address those pain points.	Identify one key benefit (expertise, value, ease of use, safety, etc.) and consistently associate it with your product. The benefit may not be related to your core product features.

Of course, applying the right marketing technique is easier said than done. You have to be as objective as possible in identifying the right category that your new product belongs to. Even though the techniques may vary from category to category, there are still a lot of common things you can do related to grouping ideas, emphasizing benefits and sticking with a small list (usually 3) of themes. And while it's possible to move a product from one category to another, it's difficult to create a compelling story doing that. Try using the right technique with your products, and let me know how it goes.

Yet More Detailed Advice on Company Brochures

2010-03-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended Cloud Connect, a conference in Silicon Valley focused on cloud computing service providers. Besides getting caught up in the latest on cloud computing (it seems like everything is labeled "cloud" nowadays - can I trademark the phrase "cloudwashing?"), I also took some time to see what companies were doing with their brochures and datasheets. Building on the advice from my last blog about company brochures, here are some more detailed tips on how to approach your company brochure:

Benefits vs. features: Once you nail down your messaging hierarchy, make sure you present your products and services in terms of what they will do for your customers. So your product has a Cloud Engine, Cloud Storage and Cloud Manager - what does that mean, and why should anyone care? Here's an excerpt from a decent brochure that needs a little more customer-centric focus.

Instead of listing your key product features, explain what they really do for your customers. For example, "Cloud Manager constantly monitors the uptime of your services and reduces the risk of SLA violations."
A few bullet points vs. a long list: Your product has lots of great features, but you don't need to list all of them! Some strategies for reducing a list of a dozen features: list only the key features that are unique, group your features into appropriate categories, list only the most critical ones, etc. Here are two contrasting examples from Symplified (the simple list on the left) vs. StrataScale (the long one on the right).
Pictures vs. words: Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But only if it's a good one. You can get good stock images from plenty of sites, or hire a graphic designer to make a nice custom one. But don't use a picture unless it really helps. I think this image from Symplified is a good one and the one below from VMOps doesn't really add much to their story:
Brochure length: Say goodbye to long brochures. No one has time to read them. Stick with something no longer than 2 pages. It forces you to be brief and makes it much easier for your customers to understand what you offer. Plus, they're much easier to print.
Printing: Speaking of printing, I saw a lot of Kinkos or laser-printed brochures at Cloud Connect. Unless you've run out of brochures, don't do it. Use a real print shop. It only costs a few hundred bucks, especially considering that you're spending thousands on attending a conference. DIY printing makes your product and company look cheap.

If you want to see some of the brochures from Cloud Connect, download them here. Good luck with your own brochure!

A Manifesto for Agile Marketing

2010-03-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

I'm wrapping up a client engagement involving agile software development - a software methodology that emphasizes frequent iterations instead of the traditional and sequential approach of design-develop-test-deliver. Agile is generally considered a huge success - for example, salesforce.com, one of the most successful software companies in recent years, shifted to agile in 2006 and since then has grown by 4.5X to a $1.3B company!

I learned a lot more about agile than I thought I ever would, and I realized there are a lot of similarities behind the original agile software principles and what marketers should do for their customers (sales, executives, end customers, etc.). With apologies to the original authors of the Agile Manifesto, here's my take on how marketing can adhere to the 12 agile principles:

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable ~~software~~ deliverables and campaigns.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in ~~development~~ production. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
Deliver ~~working software~~ frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
~~Business~~ Sales people and ~~developers~~ marketers must work together daily ~~throughout the project~~.
Build ~~projects~~ strategy, campaigns and deliverables around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a ~~development~~ marketing team is face-to-face conversation.
~~Working software~~ "Good-enough" collateral and copy is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable ~~development~~ marketing strategies and campaigns. The ~~sponsors~~ company executives, ~~developers~~ marketers, and ~~users~~ salespeople should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Continuous attention to ~~technical excellence~~ marketing fundamentals and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done - is essential.
The best ~~architectures, requirements, and designs~~ strategy, content, campaigns and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Agile has helped software developers tremendously, and I hope marketers can learn from their experience too. "I <3 Agile!"

Vertical Response and TopSprout Offer $10K in Customized Sales Collateral

2010-02-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

I recently partnered with Vertical Response, a marketing automation solutions company, to offer a TopSprout Marketing Starter Kit, valued at $10,000, as a prize for a lucky Vertical Response customer. If you're a Vertical Response customer focused on B2B, this could be for you.

Here's the offer that appeared in their newsletter today:

"Enter to win a TopSprout marketing starter kit, valued at $10,000, which provides you customized sales collateral to help you close deals! It includes market research, messaging hierarchy, sales PowerPoint and company datasheet.

TopSprout helps greentech, high-tech and services companies launch new products and services into the marketplace. They create crystal clear messaging that makes your products stand out from a crowded market, and develop the collateral and campaigns that help you start generating revenue. You have to enter to win, so click here to enter and to view the official rules. The winner will be announced in the March newsletter so watch for your name!"

Questions or not a Vertical Response customer? Contact me at success@topsprout.com.

Marketing Ain't Rocket Science, So Why Don't Businesses Do It Well?

2010-02-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

You don't need to be Apple or Coca-Cola to be a marketing machine. There are some "no duh" rules of marketing I think any company should follow. But in recent conversations with two otherwise savvy company founders, I realized that sometimes people just don't have the time or resources to execute these "no duh" basics:

"Good enough" website: you should have a somewhat decent website. No, you don't have to spend months and millions of dollars being the next Apple or Amazon, but your website should be "good enough" and professional enough that potential customers and investors don't feel like you're a fly-by night. I think the TopSprout website is "good enough." It won't win any design awards and there sure could be a lot more I could do, but at the end of the day, it's good enough. Read more about my "good enough" website philosophy in a previous blog post 9 Steps to an Affordable Web Launch.
Periodic PR: I've run into so many companies that are pretty interesting and have great solutions, but no one's ever heard of them (I sometimes feel like that too!). It's also embarrassing when people go to your website, and your last press release was from 2004. A simple way to get your name out is to issue some press releases. It may make sense for you to engage a professional PR firm, but for about $100 per release (or less if you shop around), it's a simple way to start getting your name out. There are also industry-specific PR wires that for just a little more money, could reap substantial benefits. Your press release should be informative and useful and not just fluff.
Newsletters: don't forget about your contacts. The contacts and customers that you've met are one of your company's most valuable assets. Don't let them forget about you - they may actually buy something from you. Send them regular communications that keep them in the loop of what you're up to. I like informal newsletters the most, but even a simple email is good enough.
Google: a lot of executives I meet keep talking about SEO, and I agree that search engine optimization is a good long-term strategy, but for short-term results, nothing beats Google AdWords. How to find the right keywords? Check out your competitors' websites, especially if you think they do a great job with search. Right-click on their home page, and click "View Page Source" to see the keywords listed. For example, salesforce.com's keywords are listed in this code: <meta name="Keywords" content="crm, crm software, crm solutions" />. And of course, Google offers their advice on keywords, but be careful about buying keywords from a company that makes money when you buy more keywords!

Toyota, Tiger & Marketing 101

2010-02-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm fascinated by train wrecks, and Toyota and Tiger Woods have been recent spectacular disasters. Both Toyota and Tiger are great examples of how you should NOT manage public relations. And while there's lots of good advice on how you're supposed to manage a crisis, I realized that there are some basic marketing lessons that any business should remember from the Toyota and Tiger debacles:

Be clear and honest: this is the number one rule for good marketing. Unlike Toyota's confusing and changing stories about floor mats and sticking accelerators or Tiger Woods lacking any coherent story, businesses should be straightforward about what they're marketing and selling. Customers have a great way of sniffing out lies and false claims. For example, if you're a SaaS company and you're promoting high availability, you better be able to back up your claim of 99.99% multi-tenant uptime.
Know your audience: when you're figuring out your story, you have to identify and relate to your audience(s). Ask yourself if your marketing message passes the "So What? Who Cares?" test. You'll likely have multiple audiences, so go through the top ones first. Avoid the bias of talking about yourself and why you're so great - instead focus on what that means to your audience and why they should care. For example, if you want to tell the world about your new CEO, don't focus so much on why he's so great, but rather on what that means for your customers.
Communicate often: posting an obtuse messaging statement on your website isn't going to cut it. Once you've figured out your audience(s), outline all the different ways you can reach them, and then communicate on a regular basis. Don't just send out a press release and think you're done. Use your website, e-mail, customer newsletters, direct mail, and social media. If you have partners, try to use their channels too. If you have some news to share with your customers, do it! You need to get your message out before others create it for you.

Leading with "What If?"

2010-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Marketing products in the B2B world can often be a rational process - Product ABC can help you save $1000/month, bring in 25% more revenue, and by the way, here are some customers to prove it. But with brand new products, you often need something a little more emotional and visionary to break through people's preconceived notions. That's where leading with "What If" can help you win more deals.

I recently was on a sales call with one of my clients, and pursuing the "rational" sale almost killed the deal. During the product demo, one of the client's potential customers said, "I simply don't get it. I can already do what you're showing me, it just takes a little longer. I can already see which of my products are making more money." We spent what seemed like forever trying to convince him that this new product was amazing, but the deal looked like it was going to fall off a cliff. But luckily/skillfully/randomly (you circle the right word), we started exploring a previous statement this person made, and we realized they had no easy way to figure out which specific SKU's and retailers were making them money. In other words, they knew the US was more profitable than Canada, but didn't know whether Nordstrom or Costco were the real breadwinners. They knew women's boots were more profitable, but not which color or style. Even though we said the product could do that detailed analysis, they couldn't connect the dots. Shame on us!

That's when I realized we needed to paint a more "new world" picture of what the product could do because sometimes people can't break out of business as usual and think differently. I just wasn't sure of the best way to do it. Then at another client, I stumbled upon a very simple but powerful way to get customers thinking:

"What if...?"

Using the phrase "what if" is a great way to appeal to people's imagination and emotions. You see it all the time in consumer ads. What if you could be prettier? Faster? Stronger? What if you could be pain-free?

Of course, you need the right phrase to add after "what if?" It needs to address your prospect's needs. And the simplest way is to ask So What, Who Cares? Whatever you say you can do, keep asking yourself, "So what? Who cares?" And don't forget my related PUSH rules of marketing too.

Here's some examples of what if's:

What if your top salesperson quit your company today?
What if you could predict which new products will be failures?
What if your primary supplier went bankrupt?
What if, instead of spending months trying to find a VP of Sales, you could have an instant sales team working deals now?
What if you could stop being the "bad guy" to your engineering team?
What if you could know what all your stakeholders most cared about?

Of course, once you lead with "what if" you need some stuff to back it up and convince your potential customer that your product can help them. Don't forget to use my messaging hierarchy to help back up your what if statements.

So go ahead and try "what if" in your next sales call. What do you have to lose? Because what if it works?

9 Steps to an Affordable Web Launch

2010-01-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

With the average cost of a basic website design ranging from $7000 - $10,000, I've seen many companies try to save money by creating their website themselves but end up creating god-awful websites. The truth is you only need to spend a few hundred dollars to create a professional website. If you want to put up a website that establishes you as a "legitimate" company and you're not doing a complex website involving e-commerce or other technical wizardry, here are some basic tips that you could implement right now:

Borrow good ideas: before you embark on a new website, you should go take a look around at other websites that you'd like to emulate. A few of my favorite are apple.com, aramidesign.com, landor.com and salesforce.com for their clean and simple interface. Remember that these people employ real web professionals, so keep in mind that web design on the cheap has its limits!
Free web templates: if you have your URL hosted by a company like 1and1 or Go Daddy, you should just use the dozens of free web templates they offer. Keep in mind that these templates aren't very flexible and aren't easy to customize, but if you just want to put your company up on the web, I highly recommend you go with their free templates, or get one from the web (just search for "web templates" in Google). The TopSprout website is based on the below template from 1 and 1:

I just changed the header image, which brings me to my next point...
Logo design: there are a good number of websites that sponsor logo design contests. I wrote about one in a previous blog. This will cost you a few hundred bucks, but spells the difference between plain text in a colored box and something that looks like a real company.
Stock photos: once you have your logo, you can just put it on one of the thousands of images from iStockPhoto to create a very professional banner image. I love iStockPhoto, and I use their images all the time. You have to buy number of "credits" that can then be used to buy the photos, illustrations, videos or audio. A small image can cost 3 credits (about $3), while a larger one or a set of icons can cost you 10 credits. Compare this to a stock source like Getty Images, where images can cost you several hundred dollars each! And please stay away from the cheesy pictures (there are plenty of those too)! Here's a sample of what I got when I searched for "steps":
Design tools: putting your logo on a stock image or modifying pictures requires you use a tool like Adobe Illustrator. However, I don't recommend you get this unless you're a graphic designer since it costs a few hundred bucks. I really like Illustrator but couldn't justify purchasing it, so instead I got a $70 illustration package called Vector Designer. Not as smooth as Illustrator, but it was good enough to get me going.
Web layout: now that you have your logo, templates and images set, the next step is figuring out what the content for your website should be. I recommend just 3 tabs for starting out - What You Do, Who You Help and Who You Are. You can create sub-tabs under the What You Do to detail out specific things. And the Who You Are can use sub-tabs for your management team and your contact information.
Content: if you can, hire a copywriter to write the text for your website. But if you're a decent writer, you can do it yourself. Just stick to the PUSH and KISS principles, and you should be OK. I like to keep content short and crisp, especially on a website, and you should write as much as you think your audience would read.
Flash: everyone loves Flash and animation on their website, but you should avoid the temptation. Flash is great, but it's very expensive and time-consuming to create a good Flash animation. And if your company is still finding its way with your message and core services/products, you'll have to sink more money into updating your Flash.
Google Adwords: you can spend thousands of dollars on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but I'd avoid that when you first start your website. SEO does pay off in the long run, but you gotta know what you're doing. Instead, invest put a few dollars in Google Adwords. It's cheap and can get you going right away. I spend about $50/month and the results have been OK enough for me to keep funding.

Thinking about doing a new website? Ping me with your specific questions at success@topsprout.com.

Make Your Events Eventful

2009-11-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

I just stopped by Dreamforce, salesforce.com's annual user conference, and found some examples of good, bad and ugly event marketing. Many companies spend a large portion of their marketing budget on trade shows and events, so you want to make sure you do an amazing and memorable job. For example, starting prices for a Dreamforce booth ranges from $55K to $280K! Throw in the costs of additional sponsorships, entertainment, personnel costs, and travel - and this amount can end up to be $100K - $500K...or much more.

Because of the huge amount of money involved in trade shows, I think companies must still adhere to the PUSH principles more than ever - and keep their story Personal, Understandable, Simple and Honest. That said, I found most of the Dreamforce booths to be definitely Understandable and Simple, but not very Personal - and not very exciting.

With that in mind, here are some examples of what I considered the best and the worst from Dreamforce:

The Good (Xactly Corporation): Xactly is an incentive compensation management company. Not a very exciting topic, but they sure know how to describe what they do very clearly, and I think they did a great job in being memorable and sticking to the PUSH principles. Their tag line was "Get Smart, Incent Right," and in the middle of the booth they were raffling off a Smart Car. Great gimmick, good message, easy to understand = lots of foot traffic at the show.

The Bad (Deloitte): Oh Deloitte! I'm not picking on them because I used to work at E&Y, but is there anything more un-marketing with a $280K Platinum sponsorship than an eye chart of the firm's views of shareholder value?! Seriously, Deloitte. There's some major brainpower in the firm, but something went wrong in one of those marketing planning meetings! I must admit it was entertaining watching people walk by and try to decipher the life-size value chart.

The Ugly (Unnamed): I won't name the company for this booth, but they had a multi-colored sales territory map as their main booth graphic. The good thing was that when I saw the map, I had a decent understanding of what they were pitching. It's just that their graphics and execution were horrendous. The weird thing is that this company's website and collateral aren't that bad, but for a show like Dreamforce, you need to step it up. If you're already spending $55K for a booth of this size, spend another $5 - $10K for some graphics whiz to take you to the next level.

TopSprout Turns One - Thank You!

2009-10-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

TopSprout is now one year old!

When I started TopSprout last October, I had no idea how the next few months would turn out. Some people called me crazy for starting a new business in such a bad economy. I have to admit I had my doubts as well. One year and a number of clients later, I can say it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I've learned and matured a whole lot, and I hope my clients have enjoyed the work I've done for them.

I just want to thank everyone who helped - professionally, emotionally and spiritually. Thanks for having a latte with me, for introducing me to different people and resources, for giving me good ideas, for giving me a chance. Without your help and advice, I would have never made it this far. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

To commemorate TopSprout's one-year birthday, I thought it'd be helpful to compile all the bits of marketing advice I've gleaned over the past year into a "Marketing Self-Help Kit." A lot of it is re-purposed from my previous blogs, but I've tried to make it easier to follow.

The Marketing Self-Help Kit includes:

Basic Instructions: simple tips to get you going
Messaging Hierarchy Template: this helps you really understand what your company offers to customers and helps you position yourself against your competitors
Company brochure template: a template to create a simple yet compelling leave-behind you can use in all your sales calls
Company PowerPoint Template: a short and sweet way to present your story to potential customers
Datasheet and PowerPoint samples

You can download the TopSprout Marketing Self-Help Kit on www.topsprout.com/blog or by clicking here.

Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you - and happy birthday!

Protect Your Pricing with Better Positioning

2009-09-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

I recently attended a local start-up event where many attendees had questions about how they should pitch their products in an ongoing recession. While limited budgets and competitive pricing continue to be a big factors affecting lots of deals, here are some key things I’ve picked up with my clients that should help you differentiate yourself, protect your pricing and close deals.

Know your audience: In good or bad times, this is THE number one rule you should always remember when pitching your product. First, who are you specifically selling to? While everyone talks about selling to the CXO, you need to be more specific than that. Who do you really help? Is it the CFO, VP of Marketing, Director of Operations, Customer Service Manager? Once you identify your key target, how does your product address a key problem they’re personally feeling? Why is your solution SO much better than what they’re doing now? And why should they even spend 5 minutes to talk with you? You need to avoid high-level generalities, state why you matter, and be as laser-focused as possible. If you can really help address a specific and substantial pain point, pricing will be much less of an issue.
Know your enemies: Chances are, your competitors are already pitching to your prospects and probably even your current customers. To keep them at bay, you really need to understand their strong points and how they’ll go after the market. It’s impossible to know every competitor, so you should categorize them into logical buckets and list the strengths and weaknesses for each category of competitors. Keep in mind that the most common "competitor" you'll run into is "Do Nothing" - where your prospect is seemingly content with what they're already doing and don't get why they should invest any more time with you. Regardless of whether it's a similar company to yours or a prospect's mentality of Do Nothing, the approach to competitors is the same. What can they do that you can’t? Which markets are they good at? What land mines will you run into? What’s their pricing structure? For competitors that you keep running into, you need a more detailed approach. One effective approach is to list the top 10 ways they will attack you and your response to each of those attacks. Also list the top 10 ways you should position your strengths against them. And always keep in mind what makes you really unique. If you can’t stand out from your competition, you’re going to end up in a discounting battle.
Make preemptive strikes: You should know what the most common objections you’ll be hearing from prospects, especially with Do Nothing. But instead of waiting for the same objections to be raised over and over again, bring them up yourself and then shoot them down. Be careful that you only raise an objection that you're sure you'll hear; otherwise, you're complicating your sales cycle. For example, one of my clients kept hearing the Do Nothing mentality from their prospects and how they were perfectly fine using Excel. This always seemed to put my client in a defensive posture where they were always responding with why Excel wasn’t good enough. But instead of waiting for someone to bring up the Excel objection, one sales rep raised the issue immediately and then preemptively shot it down with a customer example of why Excel wasn’t good enough for them. This gave them instant credibility with the prospect, and sales calls went much better after that.
Show traction: In today’s economy, there are more followers than leaders, so convince wary buyers that other people have felt secure enough to buy from you. Talk about your recent customers, common issues they faced, and why they felt it was so necessary to do business with you. If possible, discuss the financial benefits your customers have gotten from you. Real customers + positive financial benefits will make your pricing much more defensible.

Hope these tips help protect your prices! Good luck selling, and let me know how it goes at success@topsprout.com.

A Template for Your Company Brochure

2009-08-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

As part of helping with new product launches or company messaging engagements, I often get asked to create a company brochure or product datasheet. Based on what I've done for my clients, I've uploaded to the TopSprout website a one-page mar keting datasheet template in Microsoft Word that you could customize for your own product or company. Click here to get the template.

This template has guides for you to start filling in information like product features, benefits, customer quotes, product diagrams and more. Just use the basic tools in Word to move things around or change colors.

But before you start filling out this template for your datasheet or brochure, you should follow these important steps:

Create your marketing messaging hierarchy with your core marketing messages - or else you're going to waste a lot of time with unnecessary revisions.
Consider whether you really need to do a datasheet or company brochure. It's OK to just post information on your website, and this is more often the case with companies who target consumers.
Take a look at what other companies have done with their datasheets - including those who are in your space and those who aren't. I recommend you take a look at the datasheets of salesforce.com, Marketo, Xactly and box.net, so you can get an idea of what others have done.
Think about how you're going to distribute your brochure or datasheet. If possible, just stick to an electronic copy. Only print out if you have to - for example, if you do trade shows. And even then, only print what you have to. You'll have to pay more per copy, but it's better than getting stuck with thousands of out-of-date datasheets.

Happy writing and good luck with your company brochure! Feel free to contact me at success@topsprout.com with any questions.

How to Create Killer PPT's

2009-07-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

In my first TopSprout blog on DIY Marketing, I provided some sample templates for creating a marketing messaging hierarchy and an overview PowerPoint. But what I've found in talking to new clients is that there's still a good deal of uncertainty when it comes to converting their messaging hierarchy into a killer PowerPoint deck. They know why they need to create a messaging platform, but they can't see how that will turn into something that they can use in real sales situations.

I recently read two books on creating killer presentations - Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds and Slideology by Nancy Duarte - that can help. I highly recommend Presentation Zen though I think it sometimes takes things to the extreme and assumes you're Steve Jobs addressing a crowd of thousands. Slideology has some good points too, but I think it's much more geared for graphic designers.

Based on some of the ideas from those two books, as well as my own experience, I've listed my top rules for creating a killer PPT that will help you close more deals:

So what? Who cares? The most important part of any presentation is to stay relevant. How many times have you listened to a presentation where you had no idea what the speaker's point was? When I worked at Oracle, I attended an interesting sales training workshop. One day we were given an index card that said "So what?" on one side and "Who cares?" on the other. When someone would practice their sales pitch, someone else would hold up the index card and show them either "So what?" or "Who cares?' each time the presenter would say something off-point. I made this mistake of not staying relevant when I first launched TopSprout. I would talk to prospective clients and describe what TopSprout could do, and after I was done, I would wonder why they couldn't understand what I offered was so important. Afterward I realized that I spent too much time talking about me, and not enough talking about why my services mattered to them.
Tell a story. If you have a great story or example to tell, use it. People remember stories and examples more than anything else. Otherwise, I recommend using the basic Minto approach of Situation (what's the problem?) - Complication (why can't it be solved now?) - Resolution (how do you solve it?) to describe what you can do for your prospects. You can use the PPT template in my DIY Marketing blog post to see how it would work in a PPT.
People like pictures. Use pictures to communicate your messaging in a relevant and easy to understand way. Your situation-complication-resolution flow should use the same graphical images to tell your story. Don't just copy your messaging hierarchy verbatim into your slides. On the other hand, don't just add extraneous graphics. If a graphic doesn't help explain your story, leave it out. I'm not a professional designer, so I go to iStockphoto to get some ideas or to buy some inexpensive icons and photos. Below are some slide graphics I've used to explain my clients' stories (with dummy text to protect their identities). Just click on the images to see them enlarged.
Talk to your slides, don't read them. I addressed KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) vs. PUSH (Personal, Understandable, Short & Honest) in a previous blog, and both concepts hold true in creating a killer PowerPoint as well. Way too often, people put too much text on their slides, and just read them out loud. Garr Reynolds makes a great point in that 1) your audience can read faster than you can speak, and 2) if they're busy reading, they're not listening to you. As you can see in the slide graphics above, text is pretty minimal, and they rely on the speakers' explanations. Be careful in being too extreme though - your sales people may need a certain amount of text to help them walk through the slides.
Practice, practice, practice. The one part of presentations people always forget to do is rehearse. Creating the PPT is great, but if you don't rehearse it, you'll waste everyone's time and lose the deal. Think about how you can customize a generic PPT into something specific to your audience while staying true to your messaging and competitive differentiation. Rehearse each slide, especially if it has any timings or animation. And think carefully what you want the next steps to be to move the deal along.

Now go create some killer slides! Contact me at success@topsprout.com and let me know how it goes.

Don't Forget Your Customers

2009-06-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

During some recent conversations with three company founders, I told them about a free and easy way to bring in more money to their business. But so far, they were all hesitant, and none of them have followed my advice. Was I asking them to start a Bernie Madoff scheme or finagle some government bailout money? No - all I told them was that they should reach out to their customers and contacts, and they would then get more money for their business.

Reach out to your customers. Sounds simple, right? But I've seen both ends of the spectrum - where some companies don't reach out to their customers at all vs. companies basically spamming their customers. So what are the rules you should follow to make sure you work with - and not against - your customers? Here are the top 3 rules I try to follow for making sure I connect with my customers:

Be Useful: Tell your customers something they want to hear. Just came back from a trip with some new products that may be interested in? Or hired a new head of operations that can dramatically improve their uptime? Or have some great advice? Tell them about it! Whatever it is, make sure it's something they can use or would love to hear about.
Get Out There: Don't be shy. You need to reach out to your customers periodically. If you have something to useful to say, you don't need to worry if you're emailing them too often. Once a month is definitely NOT too frequent, and as you know, I reach out to my customers and contacts every two months.
Be Different: Emails are a great way to reach your customers and contacts. A basic text email is the bare minimum, but don't be afraid to be different. Postcards, online videos, blogs, etc. are all good and unique ways to get your message out. Partnering with someone else may be something you should consider too.

After you reach out to your customers, you might be lucky and someone will immediately place an order. But more likely than not, you may not see an instant hit to your top line. You have to trust me though - if you continue to send out useful information, you'll soon see the fruits of your labors. By sending out useful information, you'll continue to stay on top of your customers' minds, and when they're ready, they'll give you a call. It's worked for me!

Now, about those company founders I mentioned - you know who you are - as well as everyone else who's hesitating, go out and reach out to your customers! Good luck, and let me know how it goes at success@topsprout.com.

Snail Mail Success

2009-05-13T18:22:00.001-07:00

I'm tired of marketing. At home, at work, on the road - I'm constantly deluged with companies trying to get my attention with bad marketing that doesn't break through the clutter.

So what are you supposed to do if you're trying to launch your company or a new product? Most companies do the same old stuff - press releases, trade shows, analyst briefings, emails, internet ads, and so on. Of course, these are an important part of getting your message out, but I've found that people are starting to return to good old snail mail to get their point across - and it works if you do it right.

I recently tried my own postcard experiment for TopSprout, and was pleasantly surprised by the results. To be honest, I was crossing my fingers that anyone would respond at all! Since I've been having some good engagements with on-demand software companies, I wanted to send a very targeted postcard test to some Salesforce.com partners. Here's what my postcard looked like:

The results? I spent $68 to mail 86 sample contacts. My contacts are just starting to get their postcards, but I've already gotten 3 responses, which is a 3.5% response rate. I've heard experts say that the typical response rate for any direct mail is about 2% - 5% (assuming there's not some kind of offer like getting a $50 gift card). I know - not the world's greatest, but 3 more than I was expecting! And for a cost so far of $23 per lead (so far), I think it was worth sending out as a test. Hopefully, I'll continue to see more responses, but I'll likely expand this to a bigger list just based on the 3 responses so far.

So what were the key lessons I learned with my direct mail campaign? Here are the 5 key rules I followed with the TopSprout direct mail campaign:

Know your audience: The first thing you need to figure out is who your target audience is. You need to be as laser-focused on your target audience - otherwise, you're going to waste money sending out mail to people who aren't interested in you. Do a test first! In my test, I specifically chased down the CEO's and heads of marketing for small to mid-size Salesforce.com partners. It was a small targeted group who I thought would get the postcard, and based on the success of the test, I could then expand my mailings to a bigger audience size.
Make an offer they can't refuse: You need to offer something that addresses an acute pain point for your audience, and it has to be something that you can afford. In my example, I offered a free assessment that would hopefully boost my audience's quantity of leads. I also made sure they knew that I had done this before with other Salesforce.com partners.
Keep it short and simple: Your offer, messaging and differentiation need to be as clear and simple as possible. Remember - it's a direct mail piece that is only going to get a few seconds of your audience's attention. Make it stick! Don't forget to apply my PUSH rules of marketing to make sure your messaging is crystal clear.
Figure out your ROI: With a single-digit response rate, you need to figure out whether it's worth sending out direct mail. It might not be. It takes time to develop and execute a well-thought out direct mail piece. So consider the money AND time that could be used for something else.
Outsource what you can: Unless you're a master jack of all trades, you should leverage as much outside help as possible. I used Vertical Response to send out my postcards, but there are plenty of other companies out there who do custom postcard mailings. Also, check out the simple, affordable and eye-catching graphics and pictures at iStockphoto. Many direct mail companies will have their own graphics, but I haven't found one that matches the quantity, price and quality of iStockphoto.

Now go try your hand at your own direct mail campaign. Follow these rules and good luck! Email me at success@topsprout.com and let me know how it goes.