Even world-class products can fail if they are presented within a lousy context. No product exists in isolation yet we rarely deliberately set context for our products. Here I give an example of a product with a weak context, how we fixed it and how it transformed our business.
Many products can be positioned in more than one category, yet few product creators really explore more than one frame of reference for their product. This is an example from a pitch contest I judged last week.
We have been taught that Positioning is an exercise in creativity, executed by the marketing department and pushed out to unsuspecting prospects. The world has changed and so must the way we do Positioning.
Most startups don’t deliberately frame products to help prospects understand what they are and why anyone should care. They should. Here’s how.
The past 8 months has been a whirlwind of action for me. In October I acquired Sprintly – an agile project management tool for startups, along with the original founder, Joe Stump. It’s been an incredible experience so far and definitely the most fun project I have worked on in my career yet. As part of getting Sprintly re-started, I’ve been out doing some talks and podcasts about my experience in running the business so far and I thought I should share those here for folks that have been wondering what’s new.
One of the big differences between selling to businesses vs selling to consumers is the buying process. Most Consumer products are lower priced and purchased quickly because if you make a poor choice, you aren’t out much more than beer money. In B2B not only is there more money on the line, buyers often have to justify a purchase to their boss. A poor choice can cost the company big dollars and (often more importantly) damage the buyer’s reputation.
This is precisely why a Buyer’s Guide is such a powerful piece of marketing content. It is designed specifically to meed the needs of a prospect that has been tasked with making a purchase decision. It’s a piece of marketing content aimed directly at the hottest prospects in your pipeline.
If growth is stalled and all of your marketing metrics kinda stink – it might be time to look at your underlying strategy. How you would test the underlying assumptions around which buyers you are targeting and what market you are positioned in.
Startup marketing plans contain 3 key components: The inputs to the plan (Positioning and Messaging), the tactical work plan, and the results/revenue model.
Is it possible that your marketing strategy is killing your startup? It could be. Here are 4 marketing strategy hacks to try to get your startup unstuck.
As a startup you don’t have enough people or budget to sell to everyone. You need to sell to those special few that are willing to take a chance on you right now. Here’s how to find them.