marketing strategy hacks

April Dunford @aprildunford RocketWatcher.com

What to do when all of your

marketing results stink

MARKETING STRATEGY HACKS

Been there, done that,

have a closet full of ugly t-shirts

6: Startups 4: Exits 3: Big Co’s (because, exits) $2B: Exit value 10: Launches 0 - $20M: Budgets

Sometimes it feels like

nothing works

Signs You May Have a Problem Tactical Optimization Can’t Fix

•  Growth is stalled.

•  Your metrics overall kinda suck.

•  Your lead quality is low.

•  Your sales team hates you.

There May Be an Underlying Problem

That’s Holding You Back

Example

Situation: Acquisition - inherited team, programs. Responsible for $300M pipeline, $10M budget

Target: banking and insurance CIO’s

Problem: Flat to negative growth

Hypothesis 1: Lousy execution

Action: Optimization freak out

Result: meh

Hypothesis 2: Stale tactics

Action: New tactics testing

Result: underwhelming

Conclusion: “Dude the Economy blows,

let it ride”

Wait, WHAT!?

Then I sit on sales calls to hear my best rep do calls with IT leads…

Could you pass me to the head of sales?

My best rep Me

All My Amazing Marketing

Stuff

Messaging

Email lists

Content

Events

Call scripts

Web content

Ad Campaigns

Landing Pages

Perfectly optimized

for the WRONG BUYERS

Messaging

Email lists

Content

Events

Call scripts

Web content

Ad Campaigns

Landing Pages

Messaging

Email lists

Content

Events

Call scripts

Web content

Ad Campaigns

Landing Pages

It’s Strategy

Hack Time

Advanced

Easy

Market Strategy: 2 Things To Hack Around With

1.  Target “Buyers”

2. Market

1/ Finding the best marketing target

Potential Marketing Targets (B2B)

Solution End Users

Managers

Functional Execs

Overlay Functions (IT, HR, Finance)

Cross-Functional

Execs

Who is important

shifts as the market shifts

How to Select the Best Target

1.  Who does our value resonate with the most?

2. Who is the easiest to reach?

3. Who has the most influence on a purchase?

4. Which audience is underserved (Where is the competition the weakest)?

Example: Picking a Target

End Users Function Heads

C-Level Execs

Understand the Value

H M M

Easy to Reach H M L

Purchase Influence

L M H

Underserved H L L

Solution: Tool for business analysts to improve requirements management process

Example: Picking a Target

End Users Function Heads

C-Level Execs

Understand the Value

H M M

Easy to Reach H M L

Purchase Influence

L M H

Underserved H L L

Solution: Tool for business analysts to improve requirements management process

Selling Here

Example: Picking a Target

End Users Function Heads

C-Level Execs

Understand the Value

H M M

Easy to Reach H M L

Purchase Influence

L M H

Underserved H L L

Solution: Tool for business analysts to improve requirements management process

But this looks Interesting (and scary)

Can We Really Sell Here?

End Users

Function Heads

C-Level Execs

Understand the Value

H M M

Easy to Reach

H M L

Purchase Influence

L M H

Underserved H L L

Tests:

ü  Marketing Content (making the case to your boss for XX)

ü  Offerings - Free Trial, Free for end users, managers pay later

ü  Pricing Models – per user vs. per enterprise

More deals, higher close rates,

increased pipeline velocity

2/ Finding the best market to position your solution in

Every Product Can be Positioned in More than One Market

VS.

Sometimes the Market You’re

Currently Positioned in

Just Sucks

Market Frame of Reference Signals Many Things to Your Market

1.  Competitive comparable

2. What you are good at (and bad at)

3. What your price should be

4. Who you are for

I know what you

are, you’re a Data

Warehouse

But I thought I was a

database!

Market Repositioning Example

Positioning Comparison

Database Data Warehouse

Competitive Alternative

Oracle, Microsoft Crummy startups

Expected Strengths

Be better than my current database at everything

Be better than my database at running a wicked fast query on a big data set

Expected Price

$$ $$$$

Who is This For?

Pretty much every business

Businesses who need to analyze a big data set

Positioning Comparison

Database Data Warehouse

Competitive Alternative

Oracle, Microsoft Crummy startups

Expected Strengths

Be better than my current database at everything

Be better than my database at running a wicked fast query on a big data set

Expected Price

$$ $$$$

Who is This For?

Pretty much every business

Businesses who need to analyze a big data set

How Can You Tell if Your Market Positioning is a

Problem?

Testing Your Positioning

Symptoms Tests

Prospects don’t get what you do

Test messaging that sets you against a different comparison product.

Your value prop is weak

Interviews/Surveys – why do current customers love your stuff? Does it match your messaging?

Prospects think you’re “me too”

Interview/survey customers – what do they think sets you apart? Does that match your messaging?

Competitors are killing you

Interview/survey customers - what was #1 buying reason? Is there a different market that cares more about that?

What is it As short as possible statement that describes what you are.

Target Segment The specific target market you are targeting in the short term

Market Category The market that you compete in

Competitive Alternatives If your customers don’t use you, what do they use

Key Benefit The biggest benefit that your target market derives from your offering

Primary Differentiation The one thing that sets you apart the most from the competitive alternatives

Capture and Revisit Your Positioning

RocketWatcher.com

Thanks! @aprildunford

RocketWatcher.com