JUMPSTART: THE GUIDE TO GROWING
A STARTUP WITH INBOUND MARKETING v 11-14-08-19

Some entrepreneurs think marketing is
A NECESSARY EVIL.

Others think it is an
AN UNNECESSARY EVIL.

Why care about marketing?
1

Hi, I’m @dharmesh

There are only two things
I know something about…

Founded Angel invested in 50+
startups. Created OnStartups.com (400,000+ entrepreneurial community) The first is startups. ($75 million+ in revenue)

Wrote the book on it,
so to speak. The second is inbound marketing. inboundbook.com

So, lets start with WHY
entrepreneurs often avoid marketing. (not you, of course, those other entrepreneurs)

WHO NEEDS MARKETING? I’m building
something people will LOVE.

AWESOME! Marketing can help you
find people to love it.

“I’m just going to hire
a PR agency.” (I’m all set)

Stealth mode is for fighter
jets, not startups.

Stop worrying that somebody will
steal your idea. (Start worrying that nobody will care about it)

“I’m just not ready. I
believe in marketing. Just not right now.”

I UNDERSTAND. But you should
start marketing the day you start building your product. (Waiting until you are “ready” is too late)

“Marketing
seems really
unpleasant.”

YOU’RE NOT ALONE. The marketing
has a problem. Less Trusted More Trusted Stockbrokers LawyersCar Sales Lobbyists Marketers Gallup Poll, 2013

But, that’s old-school marketing. When
done right, marketing isn’t unpleasant. (more on this a bit later)

“I’ve raised funding. I’ll just
buy my way through.”

CONGRATS! (on the funding) But,
there are a few issues with buying your way through.

You’re not really buying attention,
you’re renting it.

Ads are TEMPORARY. When you
stop paying the “rent”, you stop getting the attention.

Your well heeled competitor has
a massive marketing budget. And you… not so much. .

Startups shouldn’t get into the
arms race for attention.

You can’t out-spend the behemoths.
Not only do they have more money, they have fewer brain cells.

Oh, and one last issue
with interruptive marketing…

NOBODY wakes up and thinks:
“I hope I get spammed today.”

95%of people don’t like being
interrupted.

The other 5%
hate it.

33 “OK fine. I don’t
want to annoy people. What’s a better way?”

INBOUND
MARKETING

What’s Inbound Marketing?
2

Inbound takes the marketing people
know (and hate)

It focuses on attracting people
instead of annoying them.

It also helps startups get
long-term leverage. you

“I like the sound of
that… …tell me more.”

It’s simple. (but not easy)
It’s about providing value instead of pushing your way in.

And the most common way
to do that is to create content that’s helpful.

You’ve heard of
product/market fit?

You can always feel when
product/market fit isn’t happening. The customers aren’t quite getting value and word of mouth isn’t spreading. MARC ANDREESSEN (he coined the term in 2007!)

Inbound marketing starts with content/market
fit.

Some types of content you
can create… Blogs Photos & Infographics Videos & Podcasts Presentations & eBooks Software / Tools (This deck is a good example. HubSpot sells a marketing platform.)

Software / Tools = content
Free tools can be exceptionally effective marketing content. (example: see grader.com)

= What’s even better than
free tools? Tools powered by proprietary data. +

This is great news if
you prefer Programming over PowerPoint.

While we’re on the topic
of building product…

Build your marketing machine just
like you build your product.

Release early, release often. Publish
early, publish often.

And, validated learning applies here
too. Publish MeasureLearn

Now, back to the types
of content. ONE word of advice.

In short…

CREATE
KICK-ASS
CONTENT

So that’s a bit about
strategy and philosophy. Now, let’s dig in to some details.

To better understand this, here’s
a typical flow…

Blogging CMS Social SEO Email
Nurturing Landing Pages Calls-to- action Sales Analytics CRM Typical applications needed for marketing.

Blogging Website Pages Social SEO
Email 2.0 Landing Pages Calls-to- action Analytics CRM “Top Of The Funnel” is about pulling visitors to your website.

Blogging Website Pages Social SEO
Email 2.0 Landing Pages Calls-to- action Analytics CRM “Middle Of The Funnel” is about converting people after they visit your site.

How do I attract visitors?
3

Did you know there are
5.9 BILLION searches on every day? (me neither, had to look it up)

Maybe a few of those
people would be interested in your product?

You need to know at
least the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

“Wait. Can’t I just buy
pay-per-click (PPC) ads?”

Yes, you can. PPC ads
are a great way to learn what works.

But a couple of issues.
#1: You’re still renting attention. #2…

Why pay to reach the
10%, when the other 90% are free low marginal cost?

Outbound Marketing

So, invest in organic search.
As ye SEO, so shall ye reap.

ONCE UPON A TIME, SEO
was about clever tricks to get a web page to rank.

Smart SEOs will tell you:
Don’t try these tricks, they can be toxic. (I’ll tell you the same thing)

Before you do any SEO,
you’ll need to pick the search keywords you will focus on.

Be careful about the keywords
you pick.

You want keywords that have
decent search volume (people search for that word)

Don’t pick keywords that are
so competitive that you’ll never rank. (Don’t pick a fight with a ninja)

There are tools available to
help with keyword discovery and selection. HubSpot includes a tool for this. (Just sayin’. Click the rocket)

Here’s what it looks like…

Now, prepare for the advice
on SEO you will ever hear... (at least from me)

Solve for the searcher not
the search engine. Happy Humans = Happy Google Happy Google = Better Rankings

Relevant, useful content makes humans
happy.

Fast web sites make people
happy.

Clear, well designed sites make
users happy. Invest in great design and user experience.

Mobile friendly websites make people
happy.

Once you’ve created content, and
optimized it. The next step is to spread it.

That’s where social media can
help.

Make it dead-simple to share
your content. Put sharing buttons on your site. The easier it is to share, the more people will share it.

For social to work, you’ll
need followers (social marketing is not much fun without it)

What’s the best way to
get fans? Create value for the connections you hope to get someday.

Don’t try and automate getting
fans or followers.

Numbers may go up, but
your brand goes down.

How do I convert visitors?
3

So, you’re creating a bunch
of great content, rockin’ on social and people are starting to visit your website.

It’s not a torrent of
traffic, but everyone starts somewhere. Now, you need to start converting these random visitors.

Based on your business, you
want them to become: 1. users/trials 2. leads 3. customers

First thing you should do:
Implement “Calls To Action” CHECK OUT JUMPSTART FOR STARTUPS

Other examples SIGN UP FOR
FREE 30-DAY TRIAL SCHEDULE A DEMO BUY NOW (30 day money back)

Now, a life-changing question you
may be asking yourself…

Who do I hire for
marketing? 4

In a startup, everyone should
be selling. And, everyone should be marketing.

Who is going to do
all this? What kind of person do I need?

You want someone that’s going
to jump in and start helping your future users/customers.

Digital Citizen Content Creator Reach
Builder Analytically Driven D A C R

Where can I learn more?
5

It’s like Hacker News for
inbound marketing (27,000+ members) Community you should join. inbound.org

Book you should read It’s
short and painless inboundbook.com

The event you should attend.
visit inbound.com Come see Guy Kawasaki, Simon Sinek, Rand Fishkin, Sean Ellis…and me.

Oh, and you should Check
out HubSpot DO all your marketing on one system (blogging, SEO, social, landing pages, etc.) KNOW what’s working (and what’s not) GROW your company by focusing on your customers – instead of cobbling together your own platform. hubspot.com/jumpstart

THANK YOU! Hope this was
helpful and fun. Want to discuss this deck further? Ask Me About It On inbound.org

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