ABCs of startup Marketing

1. Kristina McMenamin
AIA 2020
Solving for Pain:
ABCs of Startup Marketing

2. Everyone is in sales and
marketing at an early
stage startup.

3. Why?
Because the biggest mistake a
startup can make is to build a
product or service nobody wants.

4. What pain point are you solving?
Are you morphine or ibuprofen?
Physical Mental Emotional Spiritual

5. What pain points did these companies solve?
Expensive
transportation
Expensive int’l
phone rates
Inconvenience Disconnectedness
& &

6. Who are you solving this pain point for?
Demographics
• Female
• Aged 35-40
• Unmarried, no children
• Annual income of X
• Lives in a big city
• Experiences migraines
Psychographics
• Loves to travel
• Wants to eat healthier
• Favors quality over
quantity
• Finds fulfillment in new
experiences
• Values time with friends
Behavioral
• Spends 10+ hours on
computer/day
• Takes train to work
• Eats vegetarian at home
• Yoga twice a week
• Does all shopping online
Don’t guess. Talk to potential customers.

7. What makes you different?
Pre-vetted
Beautiful
design
Hourly
pricing
Prompt
customer
service
Best fit
Custom fit Simple
Shared
values
Give back to
community
Free
consultation
Broadest
selection
Ease of
purchase
Free
shipping &
returns
Long-lasting Lowest price
Free trial
Money-back
guarantee
Environmen
t-ally
friendly
All natural …

8. Toms: Gives back

9. allbirds: Most comfortable (and all natural)

10. tieks: innovative (and comfortable)

11. These 3 things = your positioning statement
For Target Market
Company X is the
Point of Differentiation
among all Frame of Reference
because Reason to Believe.

12. Amazon’s positioning statement in 2001
Target market For World Wide Web users who enjoy books
Company name Amazon.com is a
Point of differentiation retail bookseller that provides instant access
to over 1.1 million books.
Frame of reference Unlike traditional book retailers,
Amazon.com provides a
Reason to believe combination of extraordinary convenience,
low prices, and comprehensive selection.

13. Why write a positioning statement?
If you don’t know who you’re selling to or why you’re better
than the competition, how can you convince your customers?
How can you build a product that will surprise and delight your
customers if you don’t know who they are?
How will you know where to find the customers you are trying
to target?
It’s your compass.

14. The positioning statement informs your
marketing campaign
Customers
?
Channels
Where you
reach them
Message
How you talk to your
target customers

15. A great message communicates how
you’re a solution to the pain point
Use what your customers have
already told you.
This is marketing gold.

16. Choose acquisition channels based on
what you know about your customers
is not always the answer
neither is Instagram

17. Think about where your customers are
spending time
 Search engine optimization (SEO)
 Content marketing
 Email marketing
 Search engine marketing
(online advertising)
 Social media
 Crowdfunding
 Viral marketing
 Sponsored content
 Offline ads
 Public relations
 Sales team
 Guerilla tactics
 Trade shows
 Offline events
 Speaking engagements
 Community building

18. Take a picture of this URL
https://medium.com/@yegg/t
he-19-channels-you-can-use-
to-get-traction-93c762d19339

19. And then test and LISTEN!
 Who’s pain is greater? Persona A or B?
 Which prototype is getting more interest?
 Which solution are customer engaging with more?
 Are you getting more website traffic from PR or ads?
 Do more people click your AdWords ad with message A or message B?
 Is the website button that says “purchase” getting more clicks than the one
that says “buy now”?
 Is email A getting a higher response rate than email B?
Test what will lead to growth.
And listen to the feedback!

20. So, how do you measure success?
Monthly sales
growth
Monthly
sales/new
customers
Monthly new
leads/
prospects
Number of
qualified leads
Resources
spent on one
non-paying
client
Resources
spent on one
paying client
Customer
lifetime value/
customer
profitability
Lead-to-sale
conversion
rate
Cost per lead
by each
channel
Cost of a new
client by each
channel
Daily, weekly,
monthly,
quarterly,
annual sales
Average
conversion
time
Lead-to-close
rate: all
channels
Customer
turnover rate
Number of
monthly sales
demos
Customer
engagement
level
Number of
abandoned
shopping carts
Shopping cart
abandonment
rate
Number of
monthly
quotes/orders
Average
purchase value
Average order
value
Sales per
representative
Sales by lead
source
Inbound calls
handled per
representative
Outbound calls
handled per
representative
Average
annual sales
volume per
customer
Average
monthly sales
volume per
customer
Monthly new
leads/
prospects
Qualified leads
per month
Marketing
qualified leads
(MQL)
Sales-accepted
leads (SAL)
Sales qualified
leads (SQL)
Cost per lead
generated
Net promoter
score
Cost per
conversion
Cost per
conversion by
channel
Average time
of conversion
Retention rate Attrition rate
Monthly
website traffic
Traffic from
organic search
Returning vs
new visitors
Visits per
channel
Average time
on page
Click-through
rate on web
pages
Pages per visit
Conversion
rate for call-to-
action content
Inbound links
to website
Traffic from
organic search
New leads
from organic
search
New leads
from organic
search
Number of
unique
keywords that
drive traffic
Keywords in
top 10 search
engine results
Rank increase
of target
keywords
Conversion
rate per
keyword
Page authority
Google
PageRank
…

21. So, how do you measure success?
Monthly sales
growth
Monthly
sales/new
customers
Monthly new
leads/
prospects
Number of
qualified leads
Resources
spent on one
non-paying
client
Resources
spent on one
paying client
Customer
lifetime value/
customer
profitability
Lead-to-sale
conversion
rate
Cost per lead
by each
channel
Cost of a new
client by each
channel
Daily, weekly,
monthly,
quarterly,
annual sales
Average
conversion
time
Lead-to-close
rate: all
channels
Customer
turnover rate
Number of
monthly sales
demos
Customer
engagement
level
Number of
abandoned
shopping carts
Shopping cart
abandonment
rate
Number of
monthly
quotes/orders
Average
purchase value
Average order
value
Sales per
representative
Sales by lead
source
Inbound calls
handled per
representative
Outbound calls
handled per
representative
Average
annual sales
volume per
customer
Average
monthly sales
volume per
customer
Monthly new
leads/
prospects
Qualified leads
per month
Marketing
qualified leads
(MQL)
Sales-accepted
leads (SAL)
Sales qualified
leads (SQL)
Cost per lead
generated
Net promoter
score
Cost per
conversion
Cost per
conversion by
channel
Average time
of conversion
Retention rate Attrition rate
Monthly
website traffic
Traffic from
organic search
Returning vs
new visitors
Visits per
channel
Average time
on page
Click-through
rate on web
pages
Pages per visit
Conversion
rate for call-to-
action content
Inbound links
to website
Traffic from
organic search
New leads
from organic
search
New leads
from organic
search
Number of
unique
keywords that
drive traffic
Keywords in
top 10 search
engine results
Rank increase
of target
keywords
Conversion
rate per
keyword
Page authority
Google
PageRank
…
KPIs
Key Performance Indicators
or Key Metrics

22. Don’t be fooled by vanity metrics.
Choose KPIs that drive your business’s growthChoose KPIs that drive
your business’s growth

23. What did Uber need to grow?
Drivers Passengers Usage

24. What are some possible KPIs
(from Uber’s early days)?
Drivers
• # of new
driver
signups
• Time to first
ride after
signup
Passengers
• # of new
passenger
signups
• Time to first
ride after
signup
Usage
• Avg # hours
driven /
week
• Avg # rides
taken / week

25. So, tell me: which is better?

26. You guessed it.
It depends…

27. At the end of the day: what revenue / users
does each generate?
10,000 website visits
100 form fillouts
30 positive sales
calls
5 paying
clients
$1,000
? website visits
5 form fillouts
3 positive sales
calls
1 paying
client
$10,000

28. And at what cost?
It costs money to
make money.

29. 2 KPIs most businesses should measure
• How much money are you
spending to acquire each
customer?
Customer
Acquisition
Cost
• How much revenue will
that customer generate
you over time?
Lifetime Value
Is it worth it?
Do the
economics
work?

30. Now which is better?
10,000 website visits
100 form fillouts
30 positive sales
calls
5 paying
clients
$1,000
? website visits
5 form fillouts
3 positive sales calls
1 paying
client
$100 $1,000
$10,000
Campaign cost:
Revenue:
For each campaign, you received $10 back per $1 of spend.

31. Is it worth spending $1,000 to acquire a
customer?
It depends…
As a rule, if that customer generates 3X ($3,000)
in revenue over their lifetime as a customer…
then YES.

32. Before I wrap up…
a short startup story

33. 2 years at aVC-backed startup

34. 2 years at aVC-backed startup

35. 2 years at aVC-backed startup

36. Don’t forget to listen to feedback and
ITERATE!
Started as a
podcast discovery
company
Started as a
prototype built to
learn how to code
Started as a
dating site

37. 5 key takeaways
Everyone at a startup is in marketing
Solve for (and market to) pain
Understand what drives your business
Test and iterate
Keep doing ↑ over and over again
1
2
3
4
5

38. Let’s connect!
LinkedIn: Kristina McMenamin
Instagram: @krissmac
Email: krissmac@gmail.com