A VC in Vacationland

Last week, we covered the basic marketing strategies for a start up company.  This week we will focus on the primary capabilities and technologies you will need to successfully implement the strategy in your company.

There are six key capabilities behind a successful start up program:

1. Clean Lead Database–most companies, no matter how small, have some sort of customer and potential customer database. Usually, it is not very up to date and often does not reflect the interests of the member, such as products/solutions used and/or interested in. Developing a decent database is a critical first step in designing a marketing program.  You can learn a lot from the list, even more as you add permission based members. You can develop targeted marketing programs to vertical or solutions based on what members want to receive. I have seen small companies with thousands of mailing list members–most of which have no interest in their products.  Don’t waste your money or their time sending them stuff they do not want. Even if your first list is only a few hundred people, fine.  As long as they are interested and have indicated what information they would like to receive, you have a good start.
2. Ensure Website Readiness–You have spent a lot of money on designing a great website, full of product/solution information, client testimonials and white papers. But can people who are interested in what you do find you?  We often see the companies have either ignored or poorly designed web site analytics–tools designed to drive relevant searches to your site.  Ask your web master how they designed your analytics. At minimum, they should be using Google Analytics. There are many other tools available a minimal cost to build site traffic.  Make sure your web master has a strategy to maximize relevant traffic flow to your site.
3. Re-purpose Content Data Base –The best web sites and extra-nets are currently being designed around content management systems.  Such systems allow marketing professionals to easily re-purpose white papers, blogs, product information, etc. into new materials that can be sent out to the mailing list members.  Companies often have loads of good written materials that can be used again and again, both with current and prospective customers.  Mine the mother load , or contract with a good academic to produce some leading edge papers that can be sent out to mailing list members.
4. Add Permission-based Marketing Technologies–Next, you will need a technology platform to use drive your marketing program.  There are a number of players in this space, but only a few do a good job in the B2B space.  Check out Vtrenz and Eloqua.  I have used them both in my portfolio companies and both do a great job in helping you manage marketing programs.  You can easily spend $50K for the first year software license and a consultant to get it up and running, but it will pay for itself in the first year of operation. You can also add other capabilities, such as leadlander, to track how people are visiting your website.
5. Link to Sales Force Management Software–you need to develop a direct feed from the permission-based tools to your sales management software. Most current tools link directly to salesforce.com and similar software systems.  Make sure that you provide a step for lead processing by a pre sales person to ensure only highly qualified leads enter the sales force management tool.
6. Develop Engagement Model–The final step is to develop your marketing campaign/engagement calendar for your market, vertical and geographic segments.  This would list webinars, white paper distributions, newsletter, etc. distributions that are planned over the next year.  You can set these programs up to run automatically in the permission-based software, reducing the time spent in managing individual programs.

There are many more nuances in developing a successful marketing program for your start up, but the above capabilities will get you going along the right path.  Let us know how you are doing, or if you have any questions.