Web 2.0 Startup Marketing Plan
Planning for the Most Important Marketing Execution in the Life of Your Startup
Sean Ellis
Go To Market Advisor for Startups Email: sean (at) startup-marketing.com Blog: Startup-Marketing.com
This Plan Has Evolved Over 5 Startups
Startup Uproar When
1996 - 2001
My Role
VP Marketing
Description
Leader Online Games Leader Remote PC Access
Stage
NASDAQ IPO in 2000, Acquired by Vivendi Universal Filed for NASDAQ IPO in Jan 2008
LogMeIn Xobni Eventbrite Dropbox
2003 - 2008 Jan 2008 Current Aug 2008 Current Sep 2008 Current
VP Marketing
VP Marketing Leader Email VC (A) – Khosla Interim, Advisor Contact Profiles Ventures, FRC Go To Market Advisor Go To Market Advisor Event management Virtual Drive VC (A) – European Founders’ Fund VC (seed) Sequoia
And it’s a work in progress that will continue to evolve.
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Format Like Most Marketing Plans
1) Situation Analysis: Discover Users & Metrics 2) Marketing Strategy: Sync across company 3) Projections: Budget, Team, Sales
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Situation Analysis: Check Assumptions
Interview/survey prospects to validate or refine assumptions Problem
Solutions Comparison
Target Users with $
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Situation Analysis: Key Metrics
Most important metrics Allowable Acquisition Cost
Other important metrics
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Source data Visit-to-registration rate (Or visit to download rate) Registration-to-trial rate Trial-to-transaction rate Average transaction size Transactions per customer Months per subscriber
Lifetime Value
Allowable Acq. Cost
Lifetime value must exceed acquisition cost
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Strategy: Get Free Users Early
Acquiring users for free is definitely within the allowable acquisition cost
Start early with free marketing channels
1. 2. SEO (self), blog, beta sites, etc. Develop viral features
Early user flow essential for discovery and optimization.
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Strategy: Optimize Biz Economics
Increase funnel conversion rates Visit-to-trials Trial-to-transaction
Increase size and frequency of transactions
Expands viable paid marketing options Reduces adoption barriers Increases allowable acquisition costs
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Strategy: Paid Channels after Optimization
Test user acquisition channels most likely to have easy, positive ROI first (start with lowest hanging fruit)
Test and optimize paid channels
1. PR: Great for “innovators” 2. Demand harvesting channels (great for “disruptors”)
Create unique onramps for each usage and user type SEM, directories Get ideas by monitoring competitors and overall trends Widgets, webcasts, sponsorships, banners, radio, trade shows
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3. Demand creation last (challenging and expensive)
Strategy: Demand Creation Sequence
• For demand creation, start with target that is motivated to try and buy solution as is • Synchronize targets with sales and product teams
Target Message New feature Begin needed targeting
Market Segment 1
Market Segment 2 Market Segment 3
Message 1
Message 2 Message 3
N/A
Feature 1 Feature 2
Start Oct 2008
Start Feb 2009 Start May 2009
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Strategy: Dave’s Recommended Channels
Dave McClure has some great slides on acquisition channels worth revisiting.
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Dave’s Other Great Slide on Channels
Projections: Planning Budget
• Start Spending to Discover and Optimize
– Start with many small test buys – Optimize or cut money losers
• Later focus most budget on proven ROI campaigns
But reserve at least 20% of budget for tests each month.
Startup-Marketing.com
Projections: Budget For Max ROI Spend
During planning, agree with CEO on process for increasing budget and need for flexibility
• Budget for highest realistic positive ROI spend
– Spend below budget if not enough testing opportunities and scalability in proven channels – Scale beyond budget if proven channels can scale beyond current budget
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Projections: Hire for Faster Testing
• Hire to improve speed and frequency of tests • Hire to fill bottlenecks that slow testing Early marketing roles to consider:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Marketing Web Designer Copywriter Marketing Data Analyst Marketing Database Analyst SEM specialist Product Marketing Director
Don’t try to hire someone to “figure things out”
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Projections: User/Sales Growth
• Build initial user/sales growth projections based on planned budget and metric assumptions.
– Initial projections are always inaccurate because no historical data to model.
Predictable growth begins when 80% of budget focused on proven ROI campaigns
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What to Take Away
Discover who needs it and why Understand your key metrics early Optimize business economics early Micro test customer acquisition channels
Sean Ellis
Go To Market Advisor for Startups Email: sean (at) startup-marketing.com Startup-Marketing.com