howtostartup.com

Stop for a minute and consider what needs to be done for a "new entity" One that, to date, has no track record, no customers (or referrals).

How many brilliant people, with brilliant ideas, and brilliant plans have failed at this step.

Let's step back a minute and talk about marketing. When it comes to marketing, people often say the best way to measure the success of a marketing program is by the number of sales it has generated. Well, sort of...It's true that the end goal of marketing is sales, but the purpose of a marketing campaign is to create opportunities to get in front of prospective clients to whom you can sell. You can't measure a campaign's success only by sales. Particulalry for a startup.

Often a marketing initiative may just get you build the marketing pipeline. The opportunity to sell may not come until much later. What do I mean by a marketing pipeline? Imagine for a minute a giant funnel. At the top of the funnel is all the activity you would do to create awareness. Particularly if you have limited dollars.

At the bottom of the funnel is sales.....that translate into revenues. Money in the bank.

Marketing and sales are completely different subjects - yet related. It requires the small business entrepreneur to wear many hats.

What's the process that can ultimately lead to an opportunity to sell. What behavior creates this pipeline, and how do you generate it? The process starts before you even enter the pipe.

You need to know who is at the other end of the pipeline – why do people buy? And then it's essential that you know what to market, what your points of differentiation are, and what that means to your client. What pains or gains does your business solve.

Then you need to have your key discussion points or rather questions that help a propect discover this pain. ( We will talk more about this later)

Most sales processes emphasize the  importance of selling benefits, not features. I suggest that you need to take this one step further and understand a person's Pains.

Features>>>>>>>>>>Benefits>>>>>>>>>>more importantly.... Pains!

Pains are what really motivate a prospect to buy, but it's important for you to understand that you are marketing/selling solutions to a prospect's pains.

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Depending on your situtation, most successful small businesses follow some form of the following equation.

Create awareness +  Educate  + Remind = Sales

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Awareness 

The first stage of the pipeline is creating awareness of you and your business. Awareness does not immediately lead to sales. The idea is to get people to feel comfortable selecting you as a business partner because they've heard of you. I call this filling the crevasse. If you are not a known quantity, then how do people get comfortable with you. Awareness increases the chances that when someone mentions your business or service to a colleague, they will feel more comfortable because they've already heard of you. Note: You are only as good as your last project, or first project - if you are new to the field.

There are several ways to create this awareness. Depending on your marketing plan and budget, start up businesses typically combine methods but you can try one alone. Advertising, for example, is a way of creating awareness. Professionals often question the need to advertise. They say no one chooses a lawyer or accountant based on an ad. Whether or not this is the case, advertising makes your prospects aware of your solutions and the services it offers. Advertising doesn’t typically produce with one time runs. If done often enough, it creates and reinforces awareness in the minds of its prospective clients but many startup businesses just don’t have the capital it takes to run frequent ads.

Another way to create awareness is by sponsoring events, conferences, trade shows, etc. While it may not have your phone ringing off the hook immediately, it creates and reinforces awareness. It keeps your name in front of your market. You can also create awareness through visibility. Examples are publishing articles, answering questions on-line and speaking to audiences of your target markets. Here you're tapping into the power of third-party credibility and creating the power combination of visibility and credibility. In the eyes of the public, if you're in print, on TV or speaking in front of a group, you must know what you're talking about. It legitimizes you as well as creating awareness. The Internet and Blogs can be great tools for creating awareness.

Keep in mind that you are creating relationships. It can happen through networking or when a relationship develops based on the awareness you created. Maybe you gave a talk and someone came up to you afterwards. You exchanged business cards and it led to lunch. The goal is to get a toe hold. Remember, referrals are a great tool for filling the crevasse and new business.

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You are only as good as your last project.

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Educate

To become a trusted resource or a trusted advisor, many have found they can add value through an educating your prospects. As you develop your pipeline, the goal is to stay in front of those who know you. In some business it takes multiple contacts with a decision-maker over time to lead to the opportunity to sell. You can keep your name in front of contacts by leveraging your marketing activities through education. If you're giving a talk, for example, you can draft a letter citing the salient points and send it to prospective clients. When you publish an article, you can send reprints. Adding a personal touch to everything you send out will give it more impact and make it more memorable. Hand-written notes of congratulations if you hear that a prospect has won an award. Send birthday cards. Call to say a brief hello.

Remind

Maintaining frequent contact is not just something you do for prospective clients. You'll also want to remind your current clients that you are still here. No matter how strong a relationship you may think you have with them, there is someone right now looking for a chink in the armor so they can slip in.Sometimes it takes a little longer to develop the funnel. Maybe your firm didn't get selected the first time around. The key is to keep up the contact until another opportunity arises. Eventually you'll land one. The point is that you doing the behavior that builds the pipeline. You may not know how much awareness you've actually created or how much impact your initiatives have had. Even if your efforts don't lead directly to sales, over time, they will.

Now stop and think for a minute...are you hesitating?

Most startups have theories and images in their minds of bringing in dollars.

Want to own your own business?  Be you own boss?

Are you technically strong in your business or area of expertise, but struggle with marketing, and  sales?

Can you do the behavior to generate leads?

Can you expose yourself to failing more quickly, to find out what works?  

We'll talk more about this "Small Business Marketing" in future posts.