Marketing

for Start-

Ups

Part 1By

Sumedha Chatterjee

1

23

Your start-up is up & running

Your product is ship-worthy.

Do You Need Marketing?

Do you really need

marketing?*

*Note This question is for skeptics only

Credit: Do I Need It? or Do I Want It?: Making Budget Choices by Jennifer S.

Larson

Marketing helps you

connect the dots...

& keep the dots

connected

ProductCustomers

Why Marketing?

I don’t need

no

marketing!

Well, we come to that later.

Questions To Ask

What is your budget?

Who is your customer?

What is your business life-stage?

Who is Your Customer?

Single women

Single working women

The Magic of Micro-

segmentation

Single working women with income > $ xy

Single working women with

income > $ xy in the age group 20-25

Single working women with

income > $ xy in the age group 25-30

1

2

3

4

Is this your

target

segment?

What is Your Budget?

Can haves

Must haves

Good to have

Segment your activities with

your budget in mind

Your Budget

Must haves

No recommendations here! What is must-have for you may be good-to-have for someone else.

Website Customer Support

Product Marketing

Product messaging, USPs,

features & benefits, develop

white papers, presentations

Your Budget

Can haves

Demand generation

Marketing qualified leads, through inbound/outbound

No recommendations here! What is must-have for you may be good-to-have for someone else.

Your Budget

Good to have

Social media marketing, viral marketing

No recommendations here! What is must-have for you may be good-to-have for someone else.

What To Do When?

Expensive to do in early-stage start-

up, sub-optimal ROIDemand

generation

Customer Support

Product Marketing

NOW LATER

The Start-up Marketer’s Toolkit

Marketers Toolkit

So what should be

the start-up marketer’s

toolkit?

What is Your Business Life-stage?

Infant Teen Adult

Where is your business in this lifecycle?

Product marketing Product + brand/PR

marketing

Evangelism

Demand generation

Business Life-Stage: Infant

Primary business need: Nurture

Invest in:

• Product website• Customer Support• Word-of-mouth• Social• Demand generation

Taking baby steps

Business Life-Stage: Teen

Primary business need: growth/support

Invest in:

• Product evangelists

Now we are cool!

Business Life-Stage: Adult

Your business needs: Brand building

Invest in:

• PR

• Brand

To do what?

• Increase share-of-voice & wallet

You Also Need Marketing For

Keeping track of competition

Customer Feedback

Next is What?

There is more to start up marketing than what you have just seen!

We just got started …wait for Part 2!