You can’t work in a startup these days without doing A/B testing. Multivariate if you are really good. There’s a reason why Optimizely is spreading like digital kudzu. But you can’t just buy software. You need to make testing part of your culture. Here’s how. – TM A/B testing is en vogue. Everyone’s doing it, or at least taking about it. Putting it into practice requires more than talk and tools, though. You need to create a testing culture to really make it work. For those who are unfamiliar … [Read more...]
Startup Marketing Essentials: #4 How to Create a Killer Presentation
Many presentations are, well, not good. If you want to stand out among the other startups and gain more press attention, buzz, investor dollars, and early customers, good presentations can help a lot. And I’m not impressed by war stories about busy execs to create their slides ‘in the cab from the airport.’ Chances are their audience could tell. Do yourself a favor and put in some real prep time and practice. – TM Presentations are used in every marketing program. Your CEO may burnish your … [Read more...]
Six Lessons Learned Managing Agile Marketing Teams
Are you interested in adopting agile marketing, but unsure if it will fit with your organization’s culture? Or, perhaps you started and it’s not working. Having practiced agile for several years now, I can fully recommend it, but there are few gotchas to avoid. For those still not familiar with the concept of agile marketing, which is borrowed from software development, the idea is to create time-bound sets of objectives, prioritize them critically, and measure achievement frequently. Here’s … [Read more...]
Kickstarter for “The Professional Marketer” Launched
Just launched my Kickstarter yesterday. Even though it's relatively small money, it's strangely thrilling. Found myself furtively checking my Kickstarter iPhone app at dinner last night.In addition to raising the money to bring the book to market, I'll be noting along the way what tactics work when it comes to promoting the campaign. When it's done, I'll post them here.Meanwhile, take a look. There's a link to the draft manuscript for anyone who wants a … [Read more...]
SaaS and the Buyer Persona Imperative
I came across something recently that really struck me. In reading Peter Levine's "SaaS Manifesto," I was surprised to learn that half of all SaaS purchasing decisions are now made or influenced by operating departments, like Sales, HR and Marketing. Now, I know Sales VPs have always had a say in which CRM to buy, and I read IBM's study from a few years back on CMOs on track to spend more than CIOs on technology. I am also well aware of (and complicit in) the "consumerization of IT" trend. But … [Read more...]
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