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How to position your company to go to market successfully right from the start. Early stage branding plays a key role in attracting investors, partners and licensees as well as customers. This PPT targets "New Ag" and cleantech but can also be applied to any company that wants to reposition itself in changing market.
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Early Stage BrandingThe key to attracting partners, investors and licensees for USDA & NIFA CATP companies
Farida Fotouhi [email protected]
© Copyright 2009 Reality2 LLC
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This isyour time
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3 Ene
rgy
Water
Foo
d
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Fix the economy, fix health care, plus:
The environment: preservation, remediation
Health: people, livestock, & produce
Reduce Ag dependence on cheap oil (quotes Michael Pollen)
Sustainable Ag: environmental impact, productivity
Food and water supply: safety, availability
Reform of food system
Alternative energy: a national security issue
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Your world is bigger than you think
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Food science, nutrition, food safety
Crops, aquaculture, horticulture, pest control
Alternative energy & materials: biomass, wind
Forestry, timber
Health : people & livestock
“New Ag” & cleantech : sustainability.
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The “new Ag” is the place to be today.
But, to reap the rewards you need to: Build a brand Align yourself with the big picture vision Define the roadblock you remove Educate Demonstrate a good business case Show a clear benefit for each audience Keep it simple
Your brand = the sum of experiences at every point of contact.
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You have a brand whether you know it or not. Take control and make it work for you.
“What X stands for”
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A brand is both facts and feelings.
What you stand for
–Left brain: logical
–Right brain: emotional
The “takeaway”
Market savvy?
Credible?
Cutting edge?
Am I in love?
Pain relieved?
Why is it better?
$ Potential?
Market traction?
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The Reality-Based branding and positioning triangle.
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Your customer.
The customer POV: what’s important to each segment?
–Greatest pain = greatest opportunity
Drivers & barriers. What’s changed or changing
Why choose you over status quo...or competitor
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Your competition.
What do they say they do?
What do they really do?
Who knows this?
Be sure your communications set you apart (Signal-to-noise ratio)
For game-changing technologies, toughest competitor is “the old way”
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Position your brand where your strengths are most relevant. Your window of opportunity.
Anchor your brand at the intersection of:
Customer need or pain
Gap in competitive offering and message
–Roadblocks your technology removes
The value you deliver
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Define and express your brand personality consistently, everywhere.
Helpful?
Friendly?
Compassionate?
Businesslike?
Solution-focused?
Technologically cutting-edge?
Align yourself with the big picture vision and be specific about the roadblock you remove.
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ALIGN WITH BIG PICTURE
SPECIFIC ROADBLOCK YOU REMOVE
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NEW WAY
OLD WAY
EDUCATE (SIMPLE, CLEAR)
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“Roadblocks” in search of solutions from the new Ag – a few examples.
Food safety: better threat detection
Biofuels that take too much fossil fuel, land, or food crops to produce
New feedstocks: economics of conversion
Waste products (ways to process, transform, recycle)
Energy storage and distribution; intermittency of wind & solar
Paradigm shifters: educate! Own the solution as thought leader.Change perceptions and behavior.
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EDUCATE: CHANGE PERCEPTIONS
BE A THOUGHT LEADER
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OWN THE SOLUTION AS THOUGHT LEADER
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Make a good business case.Sustainability alone isn’t sustainable.
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Businesses buy sustainability when it also fixes pain, adds value and impacts the bottom line.
1) Sustainability
2) Affordability
3) Quality
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THE BUSINESS CASE
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
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THE BUSINESS CASE + GREEN BENEFIT OLD WAY - NEW WAY: QUALITY
OLD WAY - NEW WAY: SAVINGSOWNERSHIP OF SOLUTION (IP)
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A value proposition for each target audience (within unified brand)
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Example: The “Early Stage” target audience includes partners, licensors, investors.
Early adopter high-profile customer/partner for co-development and credibility
Strategic partners: contractual relationship with big company
Licensors: all or part of your IP. Fund operations without giving away the store
Acquisition by big company
Investment capital
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Early Stage Branding™: the key components.
A branding strategy
A clear market-focused value proposition
Professional startup package (not home-made)
Name/logo
Website
Brochure
Presentation
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How about social media? Rule of thumb for B2B: Blog and LinkedIn.
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Be where your target audience is networking and conversing. First step: search your topic.
Use the social network’s “search” function and Google Reader:
Blogs: who is blogging in your field?
Linked-in: prospects? Competitors? Individual and by company.
Twitter: generally not as applicable for B2B
Facebook: intersection of personal and professional. Do your contacts have pages?
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Tips for your Blog.
Research: Google Reader, Google’s blog section, & Bloglines
Setup: Blogger template easier than Wordpress
Name it after topic not your company, but link to your website
What to post: opinions, how-to’s, industry issues, problems solved, interview somebody. No obvious promo. Casual and playful are OK
Post at least once a week
Link to LinkedIn profile
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Tips for LinkedIn.
At Early Stage: create individual not corporate profile
Import your contact list into LinkedIn
Update your status - engage your network - goes to email
Look for shared contacts, ask for introductions
Recommend people and ask them to recommend you
Join groups or create your own
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Courtesy of Robin Frank
Keep it simple.
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You’ve developed a technological breakthrough.
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Commercialization, branding and selling involve an entirely different skill set.
Ours is better!
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Can you explain your product to a six-year-old?
The challenge for technology companies
Simplify
Educate
Benefits
Whatis it you guys
again?do
Sowhat?
Your positioning statement can also be your elevator pitch.
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The first sentence: define product, customer, and pain/need.
We have a / we are a (category of product; name your space)
for (type of customer; target segment)
who (pain dissatisfaction: is dissatisfied with)
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The second sentence: define benefit and uniqueness.
Our product (main benefit)
unlike (old or competitive way and disadvantage)
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Third sentence: quick hook or summary for this audience.
Here, your summary depends on the audience. General end user? Investor? Prospective licensor or partner?
Workshop: position this product!
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The Wheel.
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October 28, 2008
Early Stage Branding The key to attracting partners, investors and licensees for USDA & NIFA CATP companies.
Farida Fotouhi [email protected]
