Five reasons why marketing-phobic start-ups usually suck

© Rtrembly

We chuckled when we read this piece in Forbes describing why start-ups are reputed for their aversion to marketing.  Not that we find marketing or entrepreneurs especially amusing.  It just seems odd to us, in an age bristling with new tools and techniques to quantify such things, we still hear “wanna-preneurs” whining about their inability to measure the marketing function.  Hello? With folks like Eloqua and Marketo so visible and prominent, not to mention the abundance of so many online choices for determining if and how your marketing efforts are working out, the old fears about wasting-half-your-money-but-not-sure-which-half should seem archaic, right?  Apparently not to everyone.  Here’s a brief summary of the alleged fears, and our responses:

1.  Start-ups don’t understand it.  Only the business-challenged ones. The best and brightest young entrepreneurs share this in common with their seasoned elders: they “get” marketing.  They know that a company eschewing it will very likely struggle to acquire customers in the necessary volumes.   Or, as we like to say, marketing doesn’t start with a product, it starts with a customer.

2. It costs money.  So does everything else that adds value.  For that matter, useful things are rarely cheap. What did you go to all those meetings with VCs and angels for, their bottled water and coffee? We know damn few investors who are shelling out good money to striplings and greenhorns who’ve not cut their teeth on product launches, rollouts, roadshows and all the “marketing” that those efforts entail. Yes, all this is marketing.  Knowing what people place value upon is marketing. Understanding the difference between a real value proposition and hyped elevator pitch is marketing. One more thing: there’s a lot fizz out there about how to get “free” marketing or publicity and how to make people basically work for nothing besides the pleasure of associating with you.  We say this: the old adage about getting what one pays for is as true today as it was when it was coined. Pun intended. BTW, here’s the real-world definition 0f a value proposition: it’s the dollar difference between the value assigned by the customer to the product’s benefits minus the sum of the product’s price + adoption cost.  The bigger the remainder after the subtraction, the more compelling the value.

3. They don’t see it as a priority. See #1 above. Serial entrepreneur Joel Gascoigne’s thoughts express ours precisely. “I think a very valid fear when starting to consider marketing a start-up is that you only get one chance with people you reach. The idea that someone will make their final decision based on their first impression is very believable. We’ve found out this is far from the case…I believe that what feels like ‘too early’ is in fact a great time to start marketing. Most people have probably delayed much longer than they should”.

4. It’s hard to measure success.  In fact, it’s never been easier. There’s an entire category of software (SaaS) that analyzes your outreach, lead-volume, targeting efficiency, lead nurturing, close rate, time to close, cost-per-close, and revenue-per-new customer — to name just a few metrics — that’s being utilized like crazy today. By start-ups. Gartner expects this category to outgrow  I.T. budgets in another two years.

5. Not knowing whom to hire. A start-up would be wise to outsource some functions, depending on expertise level of the founding team.  As far as vetting, it’s no different from any hiring process. You look for domain expertise, certainly, but savvy (and significant accomplishments) in the specific function you want, e.g., PR, web development, content creation, and social media, in our opinion, trumps technical credentials. Be diligent about reference checking and seeing recent work samples.  Finally you want someone you’d be comfortable and confident sharing a foxhole with. Because in the early going you’ll be in one sooner or later, together.

Remember the old saying on the wall of the dentist’s office: “Do I have to floss all of my teeth?” “Only the ones you want to keep.”  Here’s the marketing version: “Do we have to market all of our products?”  “Just the ones you want people to buy.” 

When Stan DeVaughn is not ranting on this site, you can read him and his comrade-in-communications, Peter Davé, on The Write Stuff, the blog of Write Angle–Silicon Valley’s premiere technology writing and content creation agency for the I.T. industry.

Fred Hoar and the timeless lessons of success in Silicon Valley

© Gkanivets

 

Hard to believe it’s been nine years and a few months since Fred Hoar died. 

For newbies in the tech biz, during the formative years of Silicon Valley Fred was the dean of All Things Marketing.  The Toastmaster of High-Tech. And he wore this mantle like a suit of shining armor almost from the time he migrated here during the Vietnam ’60s to be the voice of Fairchild Semiconductor, the seminal force in just about All Things Silicon.  Prior to this he’d worked in mid-town Manhattan during the Mad Men ’50s and early ’60s, applying advertising and PR to RCA (that’s the Radio Corporation of America, for you Millennials — um, look it up) overlooking Rock Center.

I had the honor of delivering remarks at his memorial service, to an SRO crowd in a large church in Palo Alto on a sunny but sad winter’s afternoon.  While the end had not come suddenly, the kick-in-gut news was still a shock, especially for the many of us who’d worked for him at one of his many stops along a glittering career path in Santa Clara County, from Fairchild’s tilt-up in Mountain View to his lectern at Santa Clara University where he regaled eager graduate students right to the end.

Another tribute to his force-of-nature personality and charm: how often so many of us recall his homilies and observations. And what more could a teacher/mentor hope for than to have his apprentices so fondly remember the advice, insights and admonitions of the Master?

Thought of him again recently at this year’s RSA show.  Fred liked these bustling events and made no bones about it, unlike many of us who pretend to dread them even as we sign off on the purchase orders that seem to grow chubbier every year, in any economy. Sometimes I think everything I learned about how to survive and prosper in the Valley I absorbed from my Apple years under Fred — and listening to him for years thereafter.  And what I’m reminded of at an event like RSA, is that that the more things change in this business the more they stay the same. Of course, the techniques of “global communications” may be radically different than Fred’s day — the prominence of social marketing comes quickly to mind — but the basics of value propositions and holding peoples’ interest remain the same. The most obvious differences are superficial: people don’t line up for phones anymore they continually stare into the ones in their hands. Far fewer coats and ties, way more denim. And women’s fashion has, thankfully, lost the shoulder pads. The booths are sleeker and convey more at-a-glance information (necessary for the ADD that’s a universal in business today).  But those marketers who rise above the pack still practice what Fred preached: keep it simple, memorable and worth peoples’ time.  No one was ever bored into buying anything. People never pay real attention to “marketing”, they’ll always pay attention to “interesting”.  Thanks, Freddy.

 

When he’s not ranting on this site, Stan DeVaughn holds forth along with comrade-in-communication Peter Davé on The Write Stuff, the blog of Silicon Valley’s premiere technology content-creation agency Write Angle, where IT vendors go for written content that drives revenue.

As Big Data grows bigger, vendor differentiation grows more important

iStockphoto, scanrail

 

This post appeared today in The Write Stuff, the blog of Silicon Valley’s premiere technology writing service Write Angle.

Communicating what makes you different in the Big Data analytics market has never been more important than right now. The sheer number of exhibitors staking a claim in the Big Data bonanza at the Strata Conference underscores how quickly competition is emerging in this market.

 This week’s conference showcased a veritable Who’s Who in the industry today, including one of our clients, Glassbeam.  Distinguishing itself among the throng of Big Data players, Glassbeam develops big data applications that help companies improve their business and IT operations by intelligently extracting strategic and tactical insights from huge amounts of multi-structured machine data by way of pre-packaged applications.

 To communicate this market position, we helped Glassbeam by preparing fresh web content, creating a product-management solutions brief, a white paper on multi-structured data and a strategic case study featuring Aruba Networks.

 As the competitive landscape become further cluttered with more vendors, claims and counterclaims, credible content  that sets a vendor apart from the crowd will only grow in importance.

 

(When Stan DeVaughn isn’t ranting in this blog, he’s collaborating with Write Angle agency partner Peter Davé in a never-ending quest to purge Silicon Valley of lame marketing content. He approved this message.)

 

What your momma can teach you about writing good content

© Edbockstoc

This post originally appeared on The Write Stuff where Stan DeVaughn blogs on behalf of Write Angle, Silicon Valley’s premiere technology writing agency.

Chances are your mom was a tough customer with a sophisticated BS-detection system.  Especially when it came to shopping and sifting through manufacturers’ claims. Today’s mothers, if we are to believe the studies, are every bit as shrewd.  Difference today is that mom knows her way around the Web and how to find exactly what she wants. Hint: she goes far beyond the brand’s website to find “the friendly neighbor over the virtual fence” who can share the inside scoop on how different products compare.

In other words, today’s moms’ behavior in their marketplace is identical to that of the hardest-nosed prospects in yours. So what lessons can you as a B2B marketer draw from the most successful consumer brands when it comes to building credibility among their most skeptical customers — those prove-it-to-me moms who guard their family’s budgets with a fist as tight as any corporate controller’s?

1. Redouble your efforts to make everything you present specifically relevant and timely to the target. Successful brands understand that today’s e-customers turn first to experts and respected peers, never the brand spokespersons.  And just as moms go right to the blogosphere for tips and guidance, B2B buyers increasingly go straight to the alpha opinion leaders in their categories.

2. Try harder to instigate only those discussions about your industry and technology that the opinion makers and thought leaders want to have. This is a subtle shift from a time, not so long ago, when marketing departments and their various agencies would look for issues that a company might be able to “own”.  The trick today is to pinpoint specific hot buttons drawing the most buzz and then to weigh in with your perspective based on the experiences of your users. If your brand message is delivered in harmony with the hottest issues, over time, you enjoy the halo effect. This inspires direct conversations with more of the hottest prospects and the trials that convert to sales.  From there the credibility spreads and accelerates.

3. Constantly test your material.  A/B testing among various customer segments can reveal surprising data about user sentiments and product usage. Expose different messages that emphasize a different spin and compare the responses in terms of the activity they draw.  Then craft the next wave of content accordingly. Your mom would be proud.

Why content creators must insist that engineering delivers.

© Stelogic

 

What can the Grammys teach B2B marketers? That if you’re promising something, you’d better deliver it. There’s a simple lesson that content creators and all marketing-communicators (listen up, PR people) can learn from the way  last week’s Grammy Awards, ostensibly a tribute to Bob Marley, fell short.  And then heard about it.  We understand that engineers don’t report to marketing but the fact is that whatever is pushed and touted in the mediasphere today must be realized in the marketplace.  The penalty for failure is swift and severe as never before.

You take a certain amount of ownership when you create the content that customers and prospects consume. There’s a social contract here. And never underestimate the enforcement power of the digital culture in which those customers/prospects live. In other words, don’t get “Grammy’d”. Or, engineered. Get on the delivery track to fulfill your content’s promises — insisting on real proof points and testimony from satisfied users/beta-testers willing to speak up on your behalf. Even if they’re not in a position to testify, you’ve done diligence just by verifying.

When he’s not ranting on this blog, Stan DeVaughn can be read on The Write Stuff, along with Peter Davé. Write Angle is Silicon Valley’s premiere agency for technology writing and content creation and where the unofficial motto is Trust But Verify. At least when it comes to product claims.

Elon Musk is smart enough to know the black art of media relations

Not exactly the image an exec wants to project

 

I love the whole idea of sleek, powerful electric cars. And I was impressed as hell one evening last month when I heard Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, hold forth at the Computer History Museum. One smart guy, to say the least. But “smart” is rarely the problem when it comes to CEOs, especially the media-savvy ones. Sometimes they can’t help stubbing their toes. Over the years I’ve seen a clear pattern. Big shots who’ve basked in the glow of an adoring press hit a rough patch for one reason or another and the Valentines stop coming. Reaction? They insist that they’ve been bamboozled by the media. Which is basically Musk’s complaint today over John Broder’s thumbs-down review of the new Musk-mobile, the Model S.  Good Morning Silicon Valley spotlighted it today, along with Musk’s astonishing attack on Broder’s integrity, going so far as to insist that the NYT conduct an investigation.  Such grievances made in public usually get rich and famous executives nothing but more grief.  Take it from this media-relations veteran. Far better to work the issue privately, behind the boardroom doors in mid-town Manhattan.  Musk, who has led a charmed life when it comes to PR, and who should know better, has the juice (pun intended) to do exactly that. He’d be well advised to put it to work.  Public excoriations of the press make you look and sound like the antithesis of what you need to project.

 

(When he’s not ranting on this blog, Stan DeVaughn creates non-controversial content at Write Angle writing agency for early-stage technology companies who want more quality leads and higher conversion rates.)

The only things you need to know to create effective B2B website content

© Alexeys

You’ll notice that there’s no shortage of “best practices” tips online today. And the guidelines for how to write/create content for websites that real people (as opposed to web-crawlers) actually read is no exception: today on Google there were nearly 78 million results. So, why are we weighing-in?  To briefly enunciate our philosophy: when it comes to what should go up your site, there is a deceptively simple tried-and-true golden rule. Less is More.

“Deceptively simple” because anyone charged with web content knows the burden on the gatekeepers who do the vetting.

The point is, whatever makes your cut must be better than ever. More compelling, more readable, more useful and stickier. Because your visitors insist. The most recent studies reveal a sharp decrease in the amount of time spent by website visitors.  It’s now less than half a minute. Not a lot of time to drone on about your product-as-hero. Or wax eloquent about your leadership and heritage. With this kind of attention deficit, everything a visiting skim-reader sees must be ultra high-return. It must instantly attract, impress and hook.

With this in mind and with so much recycled stuff out there, here is our condensed list of must-do’s as commonly practiced by the best-seller vendors:

1.  Know your reader. Exactly the same as the ancient marketing tenet of “knowing your customer” to the greatest extent possible. What do your buyers want to know about your value proposition? What were they really buying when they cut a check? Why do they turn away from one thing and lean toward another? What are those things? We are constantly amazed at how many marketers are still in the dark when it comes to reader familiarity.  It all begins right here.

2.  Put yourself where they are. See #1 above. Chances are you lean toward video and everything visual when it comes to learning and gathering information. Ditto your prospects. The national and regional news sites figured this out long ago.  Try to find one today worth its pixels that has no video or streaming on their home page, or every section  That intriguing screen capture with the arrow inviting the click is irresistible.  Use video to showcase brief product descriptions, short clips of your people sharing insights, and/or a customer or two (or five) endorsing you with a brief problem/solution testimonial. Caveat:  ALL video has the shortest shelf life of anything on your site. You have to be committed to this. Which reminds us to tell you to…

3.  Think like a baker. It’s all about freshness.  You don’t see the same, stale stuff in the pastry case while your barrista is putting the cap on your low-fat mocha every morning.  Maybe not exactly the same thing but the underlying principle is, absolutely. You make your site a destination for a larger audience when you respect the value those folks put on fresh (AKA new) information, tidbits, tips, and news they can use: precisely what people are looking for and the best way for you to rise through the rankings. Last but not least: give something away, like a free sample at a bakery.

4.  Write in chunks.  There’s a bit of controversy today about “linear” writing styles vs. the “chunky” approaches.  Linear = feature stories, magazine articles, novels.  Chunky = headline news, wire-service dispatches and police blotters.  Which category do you think a stressed-out, short-attention span customer falls into?  Chunking does three things to improve your site content: more efficient conveyance of information, helps readers speed things up to find what they’re looking for, and it presents page-to-page information more consistently which makes your site easier to navigate

5.  Ask for the order.  More honored in the breach than in the observance. What do you want your reader to do, think, say to peers, or act upon? Your call to action is right up there with your contact page as the key element(s) of your site.  Make it clear, compelling and memorable.  Above all, make it brief.

(When he’s not ranting on this site, Stan DeVaughn holds forth on The Write Stuff, the blog of Write Angle where this post was also published today. WA, a Silicon Valley-based technology writing service, preaches the Five Commandments above.)

 

We need more hype-worthy products, not more hype.

In the Seinfeld comedy series, the Elaine character had a running gag about whether a guy was or wasn’t “sponge-worthy”.  Based on the buzz at CES this week, the hype-worthiness of the offerings is equally problematic.  Seems that killer products are, not unlike truly great athletes or musicians (or sponge-worthy partners for Elaine), pretty rare.  Wired magazine’s Mark McClusky makes the point in a recent piece about the apparent dearth of outsize ideas in Silicon Valley today.  And who can argue? Those of us who can recall the advent of personal computers, the dawn of networking, and the emergence of search engines and smartphones can’t help looking back in awe at those breakthroughs.  They seemed to happen with a regularity and frequency unknown today.

We’ve arrived a moment when “outsize ideas” and the innovations they spawned have given way to something far less hype-able.  In economic terms the old model of building a company, taking it public and then striving to churn out killer products happily ever after has been supplanted by the current era in which the new, new thing is essentially the new add-on or the new social game.  While cloud computing and Big Data have re-made the digital world in which a lot of people have grown extravagantly wealthy, how sustainable is it?  How much real wealth and how many jobs will more apps and add-ons actually create for the rest of us? In McClusky’s view: “Sooner or later, we’ll have more add-ons than things that need to be added on to, and more solutions to small problems than there are small problems”.

The world has never been in greater need of changes-for-the-better.  It’s time for some outsize thinking about how to product-ize these changes.  Now that would be worth the hype.

When Stan DeVaughn isn’t venting in this blog, he and Peter Davé at Write Angle ensure that technology companies prove it — as opposed to hype it — in all marketing content.

Advice to PR folks: Tone it down and beef it up

© Peanutroas…

 

This piece on the CES extravaganza in Las Vegas prompts us at Write Angle to caution our fellow marketers on the PR front — at least those who can’t help hitting the hype keys on their notebooks, desktops or tablets as their clients launch new offerings. Says Benny Evangelista of the San Francisco Chronicle: “…So for the past few weeks, public relations representatives have been sending a deluge of press releases on behalf of their clients, whether they make iPhone cases or Ultra HD monitors. One press release, for example, breathlessly alerted us that a client would be showing ‘the biggest product of 2013 at CES and this would be a great opportunity for you to get special sneak peak before it goes public!’ That is, of course, if it ever does go public.”

Fact is, customers are up to here with technology today.  They’re skeptical of gaudy, breathless claims.  As never before, we’re in a time when people want marketers to prove it, not hype it. Buyers will always reward the manufacturer who finds a real need and fills it.  The key is to communicate a genuine value proposition in language that is straightforward and compelling.  As we’ve seen time and again, value is determined by users, not the horn-blowers at showtime. How does your marketing team purge hype from proof?  How do you vet language in marketing content? How does your brand ensure that it doesn’t become grist for reporters’ humor mills?

Quality content comes from quality writers and creatives, not bots and SEO techniques

© Leoblanche…

 

As a technology writing service, Write Angle does business in the heart of what’s become known as “content marketing”.  Frankly, we have never been entirely comfortable with that term. It’s always seemed like a redundancy — another gimmicky buzzphrase.

Marketing has always been about “content”. Written, illustrated photographed and now uploaded and downloaded on video and podcasts. All of it made even more ubiquitous — and downright intrusive at times — with the rise of the Internet and digital marketing.

It was the advent of search that made “content is king” a trendy concept — specifically search engines and search-engine optimization (SEO) . SEO has become its own industry category. But this past year has not been so good for a lot of SEO firms because of algorithm updating by Google to thwart efforts to game the rankings with low quality or “scraped” content, keyword stuffing and link schemes. Much of this content is stunningly low quality, which is not surprising since much of it is created by bots, not lazy writers. SEO consultancies collect data from Google and other sources and use the information to track site rankings. There was a time when Google gave a pass to companies using low-quality content and the scraped data they used to plump their ratings.  Happy to report that day is past.

Write Angle is in the Entrepreneur Magazine camp when it comes to SEO strategy in content marketing which is simply this: focus on the quality of your site in terms of visitor interactions, content value and other on-site elements — and lighten up on complex SEO techniques designed to boost rankings.

What we see going into 2013 is clear: Content quality will grow in importance. Don’t be among those who still rely on keyword-optimized or scraped (copied and pasted) content to fill your pages. Seek creators of top quality content to stock your site with real value.

“Getting your content quality up now,” said Entrepreneur’s A.J. Kumar, “offers one of the best opportunities to protect your site from future algorithm changes”.  It’s also a tried and true means of attracting and engaging qualified visitors you can convert into customers.