My presentation at the April 29 DC Lean Startup meetup. Great seeing everyone. My workshop this Fall: http://workshop.sohelpful.me/dc.html

1. You have to FIND customers to
develop them
Helpful MarketingTM for Lean Startups
by Kevin Dewalt
DC LeanStartup

2. Founder
SoHelpful, 3 previous
Angel Investor
Collabspot (JFDI), Power Supply
(500 Startups), Vericant (???)
Mentor/Advisor
1,000s, mostly Lean Startup
Ruby Programmer
Former VC
kevindewalt.com
@kevindewalt
Beijing, China

3. 3rd Major Marketing Shift
Before 1995
Mass Advertising
1995 - 2012
Niche Marketing
Today
Helpful Marketing

4. You ignore 99% of your inbox
and 99.9999% of your ads

5. I hear …
“We can’t FIND customers to DO Customer Development”
“I have paying customers … and they STILL won’t talk to me”
“Nobody reads our blog … or opens our email”
Finding Customers + Winning Trust = EVERYTHING

6. Worse yet … what works in SV doesn’t
work everywhere …

7. Your Lean Startup stories?
• Challenges finding customers?
• Getting users to return your emails?

8. Helpful Marketing
A strategy for winning customers by
proving you help them solve problems.

9. Prove you are helpful and customers will …
• Find you
• Trust you
• Buy from you
• Tell everyone about you
And most importantly for Lean Startups …
TELL YOU THEIR PROBLEMS

10. Fail to win trust?
You product or service needs to be transformative

11. About … Help

12. This is what
struggling business do …

14. Case Study # 1 – Customer.io
“The CEO who writes email copy”

17. Case Study # 2 – Klinify
“The CEO who will sort your email”

18. “Do you need help with your email?”

20. Help them through…
Blogging … Speaking … Newsletters …
Face-to-Face … 1-on-1 over Skype or
Hangout … Webinars … Hangouts on
Air … Drip email … ebooks … courses …
workshops … organizing meetups …
hackathons … office hours

21. But … how do I … ?
… identify WHO is my customer?
… know WHAT problems they have?
… know HOW to solve them?
… WRITE something?
… get them to READ it?
… use this trust to SELL to them?
… create EVANGELISTS?
… get customers to CALL ME for help?

22. Let’s Do Helpful Marketing!
1. Create a Target Persona
2. Identify a key problem/solution
3. Write helpful content
4. Get them to find it
5. Develop your 1-on-1 help strategy
6. Get customers to call you for help
7. Take what you learn to develop products
& content that sells

23. Target Personas bring focus
A fictitious caricature of the most important
person your business needs to influence.
(usually the paying customer)

24. My “Dave” Target Persona
Dave is a 35-year-old American who
lives in Wichita, Kansas. He has a
family, is college educated, and a full-
time job. Dave’s life dream is to
become an entrepreneur and sell
web and mobile products online. He
doesn’t live near a startup hub - and
thus he has a hard time getting
startup advice.

25. Let’s hear some of your targets!

26. Name & Demographics
Dave is a 35 yo American
living in Wichita … college
educated
Behaviors
Follows regional tech scene
… uses twitter for news …
reads TechCrunch … read
Running Lean …
Dreams or Needs
Wants to become a
web/mobile entrepreneur &
make a living selling online
Challenges or Obstacles
Doesn’t have active startup
community locally, no way
to get advice
Target Persona

27. Target Persona Tips
• Based on a REAL person
• Have 1 Target – or at most 2
• Don’t sweat details

28. How to use your target
• Use it to give FOCUS.
• Pick your Target’s PROBLEMS and help her by
providing a SOLUTION.
This is how Gary wins trust …

29. Example Problem/Solution
Problem
Need to do Customer Development but don’t
know where/when to find customers.
Solution
Engage people immediately when they sign up
at your landing page

31. Let’s hear some problems/solutions
for written content
My Target Persona’s name is .... XXXXX …
… he/she has a problem …. XXXXX
… I can help her by writing the solution ….
XXXXX

32. Problem/Solution Tips
• Pick a REAL Problem!
• Solution just needs to be helpful.
(tangentially related to your product is ok)

33. Bad: “problem” that needs your product
Polly Lou lives in a trailer park - loves lobster but
can’t afford it.

34. A Bad McBlog
“Lobster on a
budget!!!!”

35. Bad Idea
Writing about a “problem” …
… that needs your product as the “solution”
This isn’t helpful …

36. Hey Kevin …
… can we do Helpful Marketing on
MY startup … ?

37. <shameless plug>

38. Help them through…
Blogging … Speaking … Newsletters …
Face-to-Face … 1-on-1 over Skype or
Hangout … Webinars … Hangouts on
Air … Drip email … ebooks … courses …
workshops … organizing meetups …
hackathons … office hours

39. SoHelpful.me/BruceMcCarthy

40. </shameless plug>
try.sohelpful.me

41. Helpful Marketing Workshop DC
This Fall … only 25 spots

43. Updates & discounts:
1. workshop.sohelpful.me/dc.html
2. To: kevindewalt@kevindewalt.com
Subj: Workshop
3. Just give me your card …
Helpful Marketing Workshop DC