Marketing for Startups - Crafting Your Story

@WebbJS © John Webb 2013John Webb

Marketing for Startups:Crafting Your Story

© John Webb 2013

@WebbJS © John Webb 2013

“Great stories happen to thosewho can tell them.”

Ira Glass


Determine YourWHY

Define The PROBLEM

Build Your PROPOSITIO

N

Create Your CONTENT


DETERMINE YOUR WHY

“Let him who would move the worldfirst move himself.”

Socrates


WHY

HOW

WHAT

Simon Sinek: Start With Why

Traditional, product-led marketing

OUTSIDE - IN


Innovators / Early Adopters engage with beliefs first

WHY

HOW

WHAT

INSIDE - OUT

Simon Sinek: Start With Why


What

Compaq 1996

IBM 1997

Why

Apple 1997


When your WHY is seen as a“Noble Cause” people will follow


Getting to your WHY?

CulturalContext

AudienceInsights

BusinessMission

BrandValues

WHYEXTE

RNA

L

INTE

RNAL


Keepgoingbacktofirstprinciples

Why?Why?

Why? Why?

Why?

Why?Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

(Image: Shutterstock)


To make tools for the mind that advance humankind.

To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.

To provide the best customer service possible.

A world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge

Transforming how products are built and launched

To make it easy for people to do themselves some good (whilst making it taste nice too)

Where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online


DEFINE THE PROBLEM

“If I had one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.”

Albert Einstein


Whoare

yousolving

for?



Problems worth solving for are usually for you

What problems do you understand uniquely well?


WHY?YOUYOUR

DESIREDCUSTOMERS


What’s the nature of the problem?UTILITY

(Need to complete a task)

GRATIFICATION(Need to gain emotionalsatisfaction or pleasure)

IDENTITY(Need for expression

or recognition)

RESPONSIBILITY(Need to be accountable)


Customer Intertia

• Cost / effort

• Satisfaction with existing solution

• Apathy

• Lack of awareness or comprehension

• Perceived risk



• Cost• Time• Effort• Attention• Reputation• Risk

• Satisfaction• Enjoyment• Time• Achievement• Social

recognition• Revenue• Reputation• Competitive

advantage• Security



BIGProblems

=

BIGOpportunities

Pick aBIGFIGHT


Qualifying the problem

• Is it addressing a real and valid pain point?• Is it a problem that lots of people have?• Is this a discrete group that you can delimit and effectively target?• Can you reach and serve these people?• Are these people willing or likely to spend money to solve this

problem?• Is the problem likely to remain or even grow over time (on a

universal level)? Is the market sustainable?• Could someone else easily solve this problem? Is it a defendable

space?• Is it easy to articulate what the problem is and how you can solve it?


Startup ideas fall into 2 groups

NEW-MARKETDISRUPTION

LOW-ENDDISRUPTION

Clay Christensen: The Innovator’s Dilemma


• Don’t disrupt for disruptions sake• Look at real-world contexts• Consider the ecosystem as a whole, not just

your slice• Products and technology do not disrupt,

business models do• See different problems



BUILD YOUR PROPOSITION

“The meaning of a proposition is themethod of its verification.”

Moritz Schlick


ANSWER

AUDIENCE – Who are you solving for? Target Audience

NEED – What need are you fulfilling / problem are you solving?

SOLUTION – What’s your elegant solution to this need / problem? What are you providing to the customer? What value are you adding?

WHY IS IT BETTER? – Than what the customer is currently doing / using? How do you differentiate versus the competition?

EVIDENCE – How are you credible? Why should customers and partners believe you?

REDUCE IT DOWN – To first principles and express in it’s basest form. Keep it simple and succinct


Reduce It Down

Audience

Need

SolutionWhy is it better?

Evidence

TheValue PropositionFramework


Does your business model support thevalue proposition?



CREATE YOUR CONTENT

“Traditional marketing talks at people.Content marketing talks with them.”

Doug Kessler


Content is the raw material of stories

Bringing it to life…storytelling



CONTENT

Pull People In


The Content Deluge



Where’s your audience gone?





Standing out takes time,

energy, focus& perseverance

“The instrument that I never learned how to play was my fans. You know, they are the part of the story that nobody teaches you. I just want to do the right thing; I want to be a voice with them, among them.”Lady Gaga


High quality content, make it…

• Problem-solving

• Unique

• Shareable

• Compelling

• Topical


CONTENT

Pull People In

Be Relevant & Compelling

CONTEXT


CONTEXT is being redefined

Social Data Location Data

Human “API” DataSensor Data


CONTENT

Pull People In

Be Relevant & Compelling

CONTEXT

MASS Personalisation


SegmentsofONE



Crafting Your Story Checklist

Determine your WHY? by going back to first principles

Define the problem you are solving for

Build your Value Proposition and ensure that your Business Model is aligned

Create a Content Strategy focusing on ‘quality’, shareable material that adds value for your audience

Understand how the context of that content is being redefined for your audience, and look to create ‘Segments of One’ in its delivery


John Webb

Startups Lead @ Rackspace

[email protected]

@WebbJS

uk.linkedin.com/in/johnwebb

slideshare.net/johns_webb