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MenuWhat would be the most important things to pay attention to for a one person marketing team?
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There are so many answers to that question, but the critical thing is that you have to be tuned in to your organization's strategic goals. You have to know what the organization wants to accomplish -- and why --- before you can offer guidance on the best way to get there and how to measure your success.
As an example...your marketing initiatives would be different if your organization's main goal is to increase your share in an existing market vs. expand your offerings in an existing market vs. enter a brand new market.
At the risk of seeming overly promotional, I think you might find some of your answers in my content marketing blog. My focus is on cutting through "best practice" hype and focusing on what actually matters to the business. It's www.patttipodnar.com/blog/, and feel free to contact me with questions.
Sales, which you are noting. Coming from being a developer to business development is not easy because you lack real-world experience in sales and marketing. The key components are who is your core customer? What pain point(s) are you solving for your core customer? Who are your competitors? What differentiates your product/service from competitors? Your product/ service has to have a purpose in the marketplace and your marketing must communicate the purpose and value to prospects. Indirect marketing pales in results compared to direct sales. I've built and led 3 successful sales teams and I have been first in national sales and entered the list at fifth. On a call I could quickly assess what your company offers, where it fits in today's market and what advantages you can take. Finally, no, a chief marketing officer would not face your dilemmas because a CMO would need experience and a successful track record to get hired.
I am Priyanka...
First things first, take a deep breath. Okay. Now, ask yourself one question, “What are you currently spending your time on?” Be honest. If you feel like inbound is taking way too much time, you may be falling victim to one of two things.
You are spending more time thinking about your marketing than you are actually doing it. Unfortunately, this won’t help drive results or ROI.
You are focusing on the wrong activities to the results you want. This is also not good.
To be successful with inbound marketing, it’s essential to be conscious of how you are spending your time. Once you can do that, you are on your way to being a more productive inbound marketer. With such awareness of your time spent, it is easier to decide what to stop doing, what to start doing and what to continue doing.
Before we can reach inbound marketing bliss, let’s talk about the habit-breaking and habit-making that can get us there.
1. Keep Track of Time Spent on Training & Research
To understand this have to go in detail.
. Plan Ahead
If you are already setting aside time to plan ahead with your marketing, give yourself a pat on the back - this can be tough to stick to! If you are not yet scheduling planning sessions, it’s time to start. A planning session is not just designed to help you plan out your blog titles for the next 4 weeks, but also to give you an opportunity to see what has been working and what has not.
. Get Comfortable with the Imperfections
Worrying about publishing only the most perfect marketing pieces? Give yourself a break! For many marketers, aesthetic perfection in the final product of their work is almost non-negotiable. That might make this hard to hear, but seeking perfection is the top killer of being productive.
Organize Your Inbox
These days, there are many theories about improving email and inbox productivity. No matter what methodology you believe, what's most important is that your inbox works for you, but does not dictate your day. Grouping content together by type, and even going so far as to setup filters, can alleviate the crippling feeling of a growing inbox and way too much content to feasibly read in one day. This also allows you to find your content when you have the time to digest it, not necessarily the second it appears in your inbox.
For further queries you can consult me.
Proactive BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT outreach, hands down, no questions about it, period, full-stop.
One-to-many leverages your time and resources the absolute most you possibly can... especially as you begin to master the process for your specific niche.
Question #1: WHO do your prospects already trust?
Question #2: WHY would they promote you?
Question #3 (since I'm an SEO guy at heart): HOW can you get them to link to your website?
To get the big picture right, pick up a good book on strategy. I highly recommend reading Good strategy bad strategy. It might not seem applicable to marketing directly but it will help you put together a strategic framework you can use to solve any problem and how to think strategically.
Once you have done that, put together all the high level questions you need to figure out in a doc: What problem are we solving? Who are we selling to? Are they looking for something like this or do we need to educate them about this product? What triggers/events lead them to look for something like this? Why are they buying from us? Where do they go when they are looking to buy something like this?
Once you have put these larger questions down, your day to day will help you figure these questions out and the more clarity you have on them, the more you will be able to focus on doing the right things instead of just doing a lot of things marketing blogs might ask you to do.
Hi, Andy Jacob here...Make sure your customers like your product or service!
Identify how/where/why you're getting closed business and hammer that channel/method.
Then build a team of specialists and operate as a GM/coordinator.
What's your ICP? How do you find them?
1) The best way to look at your data. Depending on what platform you use for example: Google Analytics first take a look at your GA account. Pay close attention to top pages, referring sources, time on site of those and bounce rate etc.
2) Find someone with similar niche and discuss these issues.
3) Use FREE tools like AHREF, Majestic SEO etc.
4) Similar web is a good website also.
Unfortunately, it's impossible for a single person to focus properly on multiple big pictures, and many of the things you list here each belong in their own photo album. I've never met a stellar marketer who is also stellar at SEO.
Your best bet is to choose your real niche and then surround yourself with great players who also need people to bounce things off. I bring in other people all the time because - newsflash - you can't be great at everything. Focus on too much and the best you can hope for is mediocrity across the board.
Related Questions
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How does my startup hire an affordable marketing expert?
I don't even know how to answer this. Do you know what the difference between McDonalds and the local burger joint that is filing for bankruptcy is? It's marketing. McDonalds is worth billions of dollars not because of the quality of their food, but because of their marketing. Marketing is not an expense. A janitor is an expense. Your computer is an expense. Marketing is an INVESTMENT. Would you shop around for the cheapest heart surgeon? Of course not. Because you would likely end up dead. Why, then, do you shop around for a marketing expert? Are you ok with your company going bankrupt? Is that worth the small savings to you? No. Of course not. Hire someone who is good at marketing. Hire someone who knows what they are doing. Buy yourself a Lamborghini with your profit the first quarter. Get a beach house in hawaii. Grab a yacht. Or, try to find your business the cheapest heart surgeon you can and then spend the next five years wondering why such a solid business idea failed in the first 6 months. I'm passionate about this exact topic because all those statistics you read about "70% of businesses failing in two years" are solely because of horrible marketing.AM
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How much equity should I ask as a CMO in a startup?
Greater risk = greater equity. How likely is this to fail or just break even? If you aren't receiving salary yet are among 4-6 non-founders with equivalent sweat investment, all of whom are lower on the totem pole than the two founders, figure out: 1) Taking into account all likely outcomes, what is the most likely outcome in terms of exit? (ex: $10MM.) Keep in mind that 90%+ of all tech startups fail (Allmand Law study), and of those that succeed 88% of M&A deals are under $100MM. Startups that exit at $1B+ are so rare they are called "unicorns"... so don't count on that, no matter how exciting it feels right now. 2) Figure out what 1% equity would give you in terms of payout for the most likely exit. For example, a $10MM exit would give you $100k for every 1% you own. 3) Decide what the chance is that the startup will fail / go bankrupt / get stuck at a $1MM business with no exit in sight. (According to Allman Law's study, 10% stay in business - and far fewer than that actually exit). 4) Multiply the % chance of success by the likely outcome if successful. Now each 1% of equity is worth $10k. You could get lucky and have it be worth millions, or it could be worth nothing. (With the hypothetical numbers I'm giving here, including the odds, you are working for $10k per 1% equity received if the most likely exit is $10MM and the % chance of failure is 90%.) 5) Come up with a vesting path. Commit to one year, get X equity at the end. If you were salaried, the path would be more like 4 years, but since it's free you deserve instant equity as long as you follow through for a reasonable period of time. 6) Assuming you get agreement in writing from the founders, what amount of $ would you take in exchange for 12 months of free work? Now multiply that by 2 to factor in the fact that the payout would be far down the road, and that there is risk. 7) What percentage share of equity would you need in order to equal that payout on exit? 8) Multiply that number by 2-3x to account for likely dilution over time. 9) If the founders aren't willing to give you that much equity in writing, then it's time to move on! If they are, then decide whether you're willing to take the risk in exchange for potentially big rewards (and of course, potentially empty pockets). It's a fascinating topic with a lot of speculation involved, so if you want to discuss in depth, set up a call with me on Clarity. Hope that helps!RD
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I just opened a small, upscale, boutique style hair salon. Any ideas on how to market?
I have no experience with salons, but marketing is my thing. So I'll give you some suggestions of what to think about, followed by what to do. Do you have clients already (let's say from your working days at another salon)? If so, you can start profiling them. You can ask them to fill out a form in exchange for a free gift (maybe one of those creams you use in the salon), or an entry to a raffle (where the prize is valuable). In the profiling, you want to look out for which neighborhoods they live in, what kinds of activities they like to do, what kinds of social events they love to do, and their occupations. Then, using each of those profile data, you can market to more prospects who share the same characteristics. For example, - You can set aside a budget to send flyers to specific neighborhoods. In order to get people into the door, maybe you can offer a certain procedure for free in exchange for opportunities to win new regular customers. (You could theoretically do this with Groupon too, but you have less control of who comes into your door) - You could set up joint venture relationships with organizations like ball room dancing schools, professional associations, etc. You could offer an exclusive discount with those groups to entice potential customers to try out your service. More opportunities for you to win regular customers. - With certain demographic data, you can probably make the same offer by advertising on Facebook. If you target specific enough, you can get the price of acquiring the lead to be pretty cheap. You would have to figure out your typical lifetime value of your customers before deciding whether advertising on Facebook would be worthwhile. One last thing, you can offer gifts for your existing customers if they refer you people. If you have any more questions, I'm happy to chat with you. Hit me up on this platform.SL
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What is the most creative way to introduce myself (and therefore my service) to 100 key decision-makers without selling or pitching anything?
You've answered your own question. Reach out to your prospects with the question, such as "How would you...". Ask what people want then give it to them if you can with integrity and thoughtfulness.DI
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How was SnapChat able to grow so quickly?
I'm answering your question assuming that you hope to be able to replicate it's own success in your own mobile app. There are a couple of factors responsible for it's growth that are instructive to anyone building a mobile app. "Leveraging the intimacy and privacy of the mobile phone." We now have an *intimate* relationship with our phone like no other device in the history of technology. Every internet company that started before around 2010 has built their core interactions around "the old web" one which was accessed primarily via a browser on a computer. Companies that start with a clean slate, should be building their interactions around how to do whatever the app is supposed to do while leveraging what is unique to people's relationship to their mobile devices. Photo-sharing has become a core part of the way we communicate now. Snapchat built something that provided an experience that leveraged the feeling of privacy and intimacy that is unique to mobile. "Provided an escape from the "maturity" of other online services." Too many parents, aunts, uncles and other "old people" have encroached into the social networks of teens and young people. As a result, they've had a desire to find places to express themselves in places inaccessible by older generations. An important distinction is that it's not just parents and relatives that young people are trying to avoid, but also employers & colleges who are increasingly using "mature" social networks to review applicants. "Leveraged PR even bad PR" The fact that the app got so much press about it being used to sext was perfect PR for the company, as it essentially reinforced the brand experience that it has today. Essentially, "if it's safe enough to send a sext, it's safe for any kind of communication I want to have." And although the safety and security of Snapchat is actually not as advertised, it still enjoys the reputation of having less impact than any primarily web-based service. Building a successful mobile application is one of the hardest challenges to face designers, programmers and entrepreneurs in the history of writing software. Happy to talk to you if you're considering building a mobile app, about what I've learned about the "table stakes" for success.TW
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