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Clarity

Mark Evans

Toronto, Canada Area

I work with fast-growing B2B and SaaS companies looking to attract and engage better prospects.

My areas of expertise include brand positioning and messaging, strategic planning, and tactical execution oversight.

Many of my clients are struggling to make their marketing work or they're not much marketing at all. At the end of the day, I help companies make the right marketing decisions.

$2.50/min

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23 Reviews

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Digital Marketing Startup Marketing Storytelling

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Startup Marketing

I help startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses tell better stories (AKA marketing). My focus is:
1. Core messaging and brand positioning. What do you do, how are you unique, why do you matter.
2. Marketing strategy to identify the right channels and target audiences. The right story to the right people at the right time.
3. Content marketing - strategy and development - drive the sales funnel; Websites, videos, case studies, blogs, etc.)

http://www.markevans.ca/services

Storytelling for Startups

A book that shows entrepreneurs the value of storytelling (aka customer-centric marketing) and how to make it happen tactically.

Answers 7
Reviews 23

Answers

Mark Evans answered

If I don't have the expertise for sales/marketing and I am a 2 man startup, and I have a chicken/egg issue, how am I ever going to make money?

In the short-term, it comes down to the basics:
1. What makes your product unique or different?
2. Who are your target audiences?
3. How can you solve their points of pain?

From there, you craft a story (aka marketing) that meets the needs of potential customers. You need to make it easy for people to recognize that you can meet their specific needs, and there are clear benefits.

Once you've gone through this exercise, it's a matter of applying it to different channels (e.g. Website, direct mail, email, advertising).

Mark

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Sales Process

Early-stage Startups

Startup Consulting

Mark Evans answered

How do I grow from a one man startup when I don't have the money to hire & don't have skills or time for investors?

You need to start by identifying why your product is unique or different, and the reasons customers would be interested. This provides the foundation for your Website, and sales and marketing collateral, elevator pitch, etc.

Next, I would focus discover your core customer - who's going to buy it, what are their needs and points of pain, what's the buying cycle, where do they find information, etc.

Third, you try to get business traction by combining your story with your customer personas. Hopefully, this starts to get your business traction, which could attract investors.

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Growth Hacking

Raising capital

Lean Startups

Mark Evans answered

What are the best internet marketing strategies for a niche market?

It starts with strong messaging and being able to differentiate yourself from similar service. I would explore the idea of using Facebook ads given the ability to micro-target.

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Marketing Strategy

Online Marketing

Golf

Mark Evans answered

Would you re-launch an old blog, if you had decent traffic?

It depends on what you want to get out of re-investing your time in the blog. It's not about the traffic but whether it meets your goals - e.g. love for writing, business development, etc. The reality about blogging is doing it well takes time, effort and creativity so think hard before diving back in.

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Blogging

Mark Evans answered

What's the best way for a non-technical person to create advanced forms easily?

There are plenty of options, including WordPress plugins: Gravity Forms is powerful.

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Databases

Web Applications

Survey Design

Mark Evans answered

What are some marketing strategies we can use to reach new customers?

How about creating content that provides insight and advice about cellphone maintenance and repair, as well as apps that people can use to get more value from their cell phones. This is "soft selling" as opposed to trying to get people to make a purchase. You could also use social media to solve problems and answer questions.

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Marketing Strategy

Social Media Marketing

Digital Marketing

Mark Evans answered

If an existing company that never tried marketing online wants to try it, where should they start?

Before you do anything, start with identifying why you want to do online marketing and your goals. Then, you should explore target audiences - how do they make purchase decisions, where and how do they get information online, etc. And a key part of marketing online is having a Website that performs (e.g. drives lead, sales, downloads, etc.) if you online marketing performs well - you're wasting your time otherwise.

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Online Marketing

Digital Marketing

Online Advertising

Reviews

Mark Evans was one of the organizers of the Mesh Conference on Web 2.0 here in Toronto, which was a smashing success. I attended it and learned a lot from the sessions--and even more from the attendees! His blog (http://mapleleaftwo.com) is a great way to keep on top of Web 2.0 in Canada. Kudos for great writing!

Sacha Chua Source: LinkedIn

Mark is a true gem! As Directory of Community, he constantly stays in touch with all of the freelance members of his team - which speaks volumes about his work ethic given the number of writers spread across the globe that he manages. His enthusiasm is contagious and it is always a pleasure to hear from Mark about his next grand idea.

Andy Hayes Source: LinkedIn

Mark took our vision and value proposition and re-shaped our language into a core messaging document we can use for our marketing collateral. His research into the subject and detail notes were highly valued. I would highly recommend Mark for startups shaping their messaging.

Amit Jhas Source: LinkedIn

Mark is a thought leader, and one of the utmost experts on the startup ecosystem in Canada. His marketing advisement and implementation can't be matched! I've seen his advisement, consultation, and mentorship bring young companies phenomenal success. I have benefited greatly from his consultation and direct advisement on my marketing efforts. I recommend him as an utmost expert in his field.

Arthur Traviss Corry Source: LinkedIn

Mark helped us navigate the complicated messaging and content process of a big data solution. He was fast to learn the industry, attentive to our needs, and very flexible on his work schedule. I would recommend mark to anyone looking for clear, fast, and concise messaging.

Kerry Liu Source: LinkedIn

Mark is a wonderful person to work with and for. He is a great team player - incredibly personable, kind, fair and smart. We were in a situation where he managed me remotely, and was always accessible when I needed him. His job managing a large and swiftly growing blog network was difficult and stressful at times, but he was always calm and able to look at the larger goals and work with us all to reach them.

Christina Jones Source: LinkedIn

In the spring of 2012-Mark helped myself and our Ideal Advisor Software management team zone in on producing our best software application and commercialize it as our flagship offering---and assisted us with core messaging work. A very skilled, capable, experienced and responsive digital marketing business consultant.

Craig Hunt Source: LinkedIn

Mark has a great ability to think both strategically and tactically about marketing and positioning. He quickly grasped the Zillidy business concept and created a comprehensive strategic and tactical marketing plan, and then helped to execute on the plan. His in depth knowledge of his field and useful third party resources made my life easier and reduced the costs associated with executing on the plan. He always made himself available as a sounding board and adviser on issues directly related to his engagement, and also on many areas for which he was not specifically engaged. I would highly recommend Mark for other companies looking to hire a marketing consultant.

Steven Uster Source: LinkedIn

Mark worked with the Powernoodle team in developing our core market messaging. The majority of our work was completed virtually and he was flexible in morphing his approach to using Powernodle as the the platform for his requirements gathering with us. Probably the greatest asset he brought to the team and project was his collaborative nature. We worked through many scenarios and he even guided us through two very large pivots in our thinking. We will be engaging him again on another project shortly.

private private Source: LinkedIn

As a rapidly growing startup in Toronto, ScribbleLive never had time to hire anyone to build a marketing plan. After over 3 years we decided it was time.

So, how do you jump start a new marketing department in your office when none existed before? Hire Mark!

He took total control of the situation and began with a deep dive into our business and emerged with a multi-threaded plan that included messaging, case studies, crisis management, a new site and full social media strategy.

He helped me hire a fantastic Social Media Coordinator and eventually replace himself with our new awesome Director of Marketing. Its not every day that you hire someone that will fire themselves.

If you are a startup and need help, hire Mark now!

Michael De Monte Source: LinkedIn

With a consistently engaging and inquisitive approach our group quickly bought into Mark's methodology and we were able to surface both the framework and key attributes that would become our core messaging. Throughout our process Mark was always intellectually available, a strong working partner for us and others looking to enhance their core, community and general media messaging.

Byron Lee Source: LinkedIn

Member since September 2012