For Early-Stage Companies, Less (Marketing) is More
The biggest marketing challenge for early-stage companies is…..establishing priorities.
It is easy to get distracted by the number of choices.It’s tempting to use a wide variety of channels and, in the process, water down your efforts.
For early-stage B2B and SaaS companies, less is more.
In fact, you could argue that less is critical because most early-stage companies don’t have the resources (people, time or money) to do a lot of marketing.
Here’s a recipe for identifying the marketing that matters:
Learn as much about your customers as possible (aka marketing 101).
Talk to them (ultra-important but not done nearly enough), conduct surveys to better understand what they do, feel and think, do competitive research (you’re one of many, many options in the market), and trawl through social media (it’s amazing what people will say about the product that they’re using).
You want to discover the key channels they use to discover and learn about new products.As important, how can you engage, educate, and entertain them?
Then, it’s all about marketing that moves the needle, whether it’s contact and demo requests, leads, or sales.
I’m working with a new SaaS client, and we’ve landed upon this marketing recipe:
* Updated Website that educates and inspires. It’s about demonstrating what’s possible. A Website needs to educate, showcase the product (how it works and who uses it), and enable prospects to become comfortable with the idea of having a conversation or requesting more information.
* Social proof assets (case studies and testimonials) to encourage and build confidence. You may think that case studies and testimonials are self-serving, but prospects want to see people or companies like them. They want to understand how a customer benefits from your product or service.
* One-pagers to quickly educate prospects and support internal advocates. I’m a big fan of one-pagers because they deliver a quick, shareable overview of what a company does, the value delivered, its customers, and social proof. They’re also more user-friendly than immediately sending someone to your Website.
* Accelerate activity and engagement on Instagram, a high-potential channel. The company has 3,000 followers on Instagram but needs to focus on creating different types of posts, actively engaging with target audiences, and attracting more followers.
It’s a marketing mix that may appear modest, but what matters is focusing on what matters and, as importantly, effective execution with available resources.
Lesson: successful marketing is about discipline, structure, and doing what matters right now to serve the right people.
If you’re a B2B or SaaS company looking to do marketing that moves the needle, book a free 30-minute call.
Originally published at https://www.marketingspark.co.
