Marketing Plan For Web 2.0 Companies
Get Predictable Startup Growth
Sean Ellis
Go To Market Advisor for Startups Email: sean@startup-marketing.com Blog: Startup-Marketing.com
What to Take Away
Discover who needs it and why Understand key metrics early Optimize business economics early Micro test channels
Startup-Marketing.com
Three Key Parts of the Plan
1) Situation Analysis: Discover Users & Metrics 2) Marketing Strategy: Sync across company 3) Projections: Budget, Team, Sales
Startup-Marketing.com
Situation Analysis: Check Assumptions
Interview/survey prospects to validate or refine assumptions Problem
Solutions Comparison
Target Users with $
Startup-Marketing.com
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
Startup-Marketing.com
Strategy: Get Free Users Early
Free acquisition cost is definitely below 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.
Startup-Marketing.com
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
Startup-Marketing.com
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
Startup-Marketing.com
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
Startup-Marketing.com
Strategy: Dave’s Recommended Channels
Dave McClure has some great slides on acquisition channels worth revisiting.
Startup-Marketing.com
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
Startup-Marketing.com
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”
Startup-Marketing.com
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
Startup-Marketing.com
Reminder: What to Take Away
Discover who needs it and why Understand key metrics early Optimize business economics early Micro test channels
Sean Ellis
Go To Market Advisor for Startups Email: sean@startup-marketing.com Startup-Marketing.com
Searching for Users:
SEO as an Engine for Customer Acquisition
Stephen Spencer, Netconcepts http://Netconcepts.com