Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Well, marketing is crucial, but do you also have a good sales person?

Since you are a small startup, I would expect you would start your sales staff with one really, really good sales person.

That sales person would also be the point person on responding to RFP's, etc.

As for Online marketing, there are lots of good online marketing techniques, such as Google AdWords, that you should consider. You should probably get go to Amazon and look at reviews of books on online marketing and pick a high ranked book or two.

What exactly do you mean by database marketing? Different people seem to have different ideas on what that means.

I have been through this many times with high tech start-ups. The very first challenge to the marketing team is convencing the Engineer/Scientist based company leadership that the old adage "build a better mousetrap and world will come knocking at your door" only applied to mousetraps in the 1800's and maybe not really then.

Here are some steps in getting things rolling:
1) Creating a Target List.. this is a multi-step process for finding the right people for your product. Dont skimp on this or you will waste money.
2) Once you know who the best of the best prospects are down to the color socks they wear, you need to figure out what your value to them would be. Better performance doesnt equate to value - there is a 6 thousand year old method of measuring value - its called money. Translate the advantage you offer into money.... if you can't do that - you may want to re-think things.
3) Now you know who you can add value and the nature of your value- you need to figure how to get to them. What do they read, where do they hang out, etc.
4) Sales - Marketing alone will not drive sales. Oh, the engineers will argue this - they will point to companies that have done well without sales and ignore the thousands that failed without sales. You need to insist on this point. Bringing in business is everybody's job but somebody has to be responsible for taking care of the specific details.

Database marketing- works but only if you can do a really good job on number 2.... the who part.

contact me via my profile if you want to chat in detail.

Frank Hurtte

All businesses, whether they're high-tech start-ups or not, need two other things: a solid marketing plan and a well-conceived business plan.

Without those, they're probably not going to get funded, and their chances of success are very limited. (That's why 90% of new businesses don't survive more than a year or two.)

Did you create the product before you created your marketing plan? If so, you already have two strikes against you. You should always start by understanding the target audience, what they want and value, how they make purchase decisions, what their most important unmet needs are, etc. That's why PRODUCT is part of the marketing mix.

Now that you've done whatever you've done, it's probably time to get to know your target audience better. That will lead you to the answers to your questions.

You have some excellent feedback above. Smart folks here, eh?

BTW, you might want to check out the MarketingProfs seminar titledWhy Most Small Businesses Fail. It has a lot of information that's relevant to your situation.

Far too many high-tech startups become enamored of a technology and find themselves with a solution in search of a problem. As others have mentioned, a marketing strategy is vital to identify who you're targeting and what problem you're solving of theirs (that they would pay for).

Just because engineers can't speak the marketing language doesn't mean they can't contribute to the message. In fact, they may be vital in selling B2B technical solutions, since they may be their own market. You'll need someone who can take the technical solution and look at it from the perspective of a prospect, and not an in-house developer.

This question is the reason I started my consulting company 16 years ago. Tech companies understand their technology and need help relating their messages and building in benefits that prospects want vs what features the engineers would like to put in. You may enjoy my short video about building a better mousetrap on mywww.hazelwagner.comweb site.

Having herded engineers for many years I have found many software products have been well down the path to completion before marketing has even been acknowledged let alone notified. This said all the preliminary work of primary and secondary research, target markets and pricing schemes must be done after the fact and how you taccomplish this determines how any funding source or potential buyerwill review your product(s).

Remember that both a funding source and new customers look at new products through the net worth of the Team and the product comes in a distant second. An "A" level Team can make adequate revenue margins with a "B" product many times. Yet a "B" level Team can often fail even with an "A" level product. When you have a new product both VC and customers want a tried and tested Team that has delivered many times successfully in this space. Your marketing message to both customers and funding sources has to take all the above into account and frame your positioning to address their fears and accent your strengths. Admit to short comings in early research and target markets. Show how your current pricing schedules and channels distribution was based on actual customers in you beta groups and how thought leaders from key targeted verticals (once again from beta cycles) are ready to sign on and be references for new accounts.

Since many large software products such as data bases take years to develop they are sometimes obsolete when they are launched so engineers slide new features (feature creep) into alpha and even beta testing cycles to alay this problem. Usually this tactic only exacerbates the problem be lowering product focus and operational dependability (how many .9's can your product guarantee??) which then marketing has to address somehow.

This is just the tip of the iceberg that you face. But by truthfully addressing these both funding sources and customers will be willing to take a chance on your Team and possibly your product.

My best,

Mark Walker
Head Coach
Marketing Whisperers, Ltd.

One of the keys to balancing your marketing efforts is whether you are offering technology for enterprise clients vs. free users. For enterprise clients you'll want to establish the credibility of your company, possibly through research studies, participating in panel discussions, and showcase any key wins in press releases. These will also help to optimize you for search and ultimately generate leads.

Paid search and SEO are important, as are networking in relevant forums. Contests can be great to drive visibility to free or lite users so long as they are creative. But if you run a contest you'll need to have dedicated marketers to viral seed it or help spread among your target demographic without being overtly "spammy" because people within forums will quickly call you out.