Do You Need Marketing Help?

The hardest job for most companies is marketing, but specifically how marketing can drive sales growth. This evening Tom Simon showed us tips on how to market products or services to ensure campaigns are supporting sales goals, which in turn generate much needed revenue. Tom Simon is a seasoned product marketer, who is deeply passionate about consumer experiences and the data behind it. He was the founder of Source 3 that was acquired by Facebook. Today, Tom joined forces with Justin Miller to start Zookies Cookies. ​

Here is my take on top wisdom points shared this evening:

• Be open, ready, and willing to pivot. If market development is not happening fast enough or demand not there or market shows interest in different area, then accept what is not working, make fix, and address new area asap. Move beyond. Pivot!
• Have the right people and right team around you to be able to make the company alive and thrive. Build on team excitement and ability to make changes to fuel momentum to achieve growth.
• Qualities to look for in person when hiring to be successful in tech start-up: Surround yourself with people who are smarter then you. Don't be smartest person in the room. You can have vision, but need smart people to support building everything and get you there. Have people who have passion, grit, and are ok with grinding in start-up lean and mean environment.
• Focus on solving real problems and innovative to address problem in better way. Gain leverage by being expert in solving unique problem.
• Acquisitions can start off by working with big companies on projects. Just get some work going and open up dialog with hot companies. Overtime if you prove yourself in solving problem your company becomes ripe for acquisition.
• Brand is important. It's who you are and what you stand for. Your team and vision on the product, audience, and plan. Think your brand through and then shout it loud & proud.
• Focus on market that has biggest pain point and give that channel your focused messaging, positioning, and product offering. Team up with other channel partners who have vested interest in reaching your target market that has the biggest need and partner with others to market to these customers. Don't go at it alone.
• Use marketing strategically to communicate value of your product and the problem you solve. Focus on a niche of people and companies who care to buy-in and evangelize your product for you. Focus on product adoption. Get people using and loving your product.
• Marketing can help magnify the problem and put "fear" into what can happen if situation is not addressed and how your product offers solution to solve it quickly and easily. Then go after companies that need problem solved in which you have great solution for. Hyper-Target.
• Get attention. Prove product value. Tell compelling story. Convince people they need your product and there is real problem they need to worry about. The show them how your product is the solution. Be clear and be loud!
• Know what your good at and how to communicate your greatness and communicate with passion that you're the best choice!
• Important to have your people feel they're part of something big and different. Have your people bought in with equity to feel special for being part of company that is marching toward gigantic things!
• Best quote related to what it is like launching a start-up tech company, "Jumping off a cliff and building an airplane on the way down"
• Best advice in marketing, "Align yourselves with the sales team. Sales is the lifeblood of company so need to be 100% in touch with the pain points of sales to address with marketing support. Get in room with sales team, listen to the needs of clients, and then build strategies with sales team that deliver results. No matter how pretty your marketing is or sounds, if it doesn't convert for sales then not effective.
• Know your message that can cut through the clutter and resonate with people per addressing problems on their mind. Show them your simple solution. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Focus on strategy that delivers your unique messaging in a compelling way and follow-up to double down on messaging so you stand out and are remembered.

Great session in the heart of downtown Raleigh! Special thanks to Mark Bavisotto from Startup Grind for leading discussion, Tom Simon for great presentation, and HQ Raleigh for hosting event. Great beer from LONERIDER Brewery and food from Al's BBQ too. Looking forward to the next Startup Grind event this May!

---