Startup Marketing Lessons from the Everywhere Else

Brandery,Startup Branding,Mike Bott, Startup Tips, Guest Post

Mike Bott GM of The Brandery and former P&G Brand Manager talks about Branding for startups at everywhereelse 13 (photo: Allie Fox for NMI)

By Joe Recomendes, Command Partners 

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Everywhere Else conference in Memphis, TN to meet and learn with many promising startups from across the country – Dan Rogers of Millenium Search, LLC has outlined some of the most promising companies in attendance on his blog – but I was there to focus on marketing for the startup community. The conference was founded to provide a networking opportunity for startups not based in the hubs of New York or Silicon Valley, but rather those entrepreneurs cutting their own paths “everywhere else” in the country.

I was there not as a startup, but as a marketing agency looking to see what startups are doing to market themselves and learn from other successful founders. Scott Case, the CEO of Startup America, provided a crucial wake-up call to the founders in attendance – “It’s not ‘if you build it, they will come,’ it’s ‘If you market it,  they will come.” Startups everywhere need to pay attention – you may have a great idea, but if no one knows about it, it will not work as a business.

A branding session by The Brandery outlined the following steps that every startup should consider when beginning a marketing strategy and build a brand pyramid, the foundation of all marketing messaging:

  • Brand Promise – The essence of your brand, and the highest-level benefit that your company or products contributes to the consumer.
  • Brand Positioning – The value statement of your company or product, similar to an elevator pitch. Why does anyone need the idea that you are bringing to market?
  • Brand Character – The portrayal of your idea that should convey truth and inspiration while demonstrating the need for your idea.
  • Brand Attributes – The base level of your brand, which should illustrate points of difference and points of parity between your product or idea and your competitors.

Once you have your brand defined, it’s time to consider how you will market your idea, and through which channels. Startups should consider the following strategic marketing initiatives:

  • A Website – Absolutely, a must have for traffic, leads, and information about your company. This should be the foundation of your marketing channels, and should be optimized to capture and convert leads. All other marketing efforts should drive people to the site. While I won’t go into detail here, it is also important to support your website through SEO, PPC, email marketing, and other website marketing efforts.
  • Public Relations – Depending on the quality of your media outreach efforts and the potential importance of your idea or business, public relations can either be a huge boon or wasted time. As a technology startup, getting coverage in Mashable, Techcrunch, VentureBeat, etc. can catapult you into the public sphere, but the chances of getting this coverage without properly curating your pitch and relationships are slim.
  • Social Media – While time-consuming, a well-groomed presence on social media can give an air of credibility to your brand, while allowing for communication distribution and engagement with your key audiences. Start with a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Angel’s List. These four networks will allow you to engage existing consumers, find new leads, and show a presence to potential investors.
  • A Pitch Deck – For getting new investors, a pitch deck will be a crucial piece of your marketing mix. Ensure that it is short but impactful by providing the information that investors need, and consider revising your deck for each pitch based on the conversations that you have had with the investor prior to your meeting.

Marketing a new startup can be time-consuming, but is of paramount importance to achieve awareness, recognition, and success. If you’re unsure where to start, hire a startup marketing agency to help define your brand and business goals, and execute your marketing strategy for you.

What have you found to be the most valuable channel for marketing your startup, or what other advice would you give? Let us know in the comments.

Command Partners is a Charlotte based internet marketing company with a passion and love for startups. Find out more at commandpartners.com

Don’t miss everywhereelse.co 2014 more information can be found here

Branding For Startups With Brandery GM Mike Bott At Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Mike Bott, Brandery, Cincinnati, everywhereelse.co The startup conference, startup, startup event, branding for startups

Brandery GM Mike Bott is speaking on “Branding For Startups” at everywhereelse.co (photo: videonomics)

As we get into the home stretch before the largest startup conference in the U.S., everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference, we continue announcing more and more exciting news. Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference is happening February 9-12th in downtown Memphis Tennessee and nearly 2000 people have already purchased tickets from all over the United States and around the world (in fact less than 15% actually zipcode to Tennessee).

The conference is offering unparalleled access to speakers, curriculum, information and networking for startups “everywhere else”.

Startups from “everywhere else”face many of the same challenges. One of those challenges is access to mentoring and information about branding.

Branding is what makes Cincinnati accelerator The Brandery one of the top accelerators in the country. While many people associate things like branding with New York City, Cincinnati is actually the epicenter for branding. It’s home to the largest branded company in the world Proctor & Gamble (P&G), Macy’s and Kroger are also based in Cincinnati.

The Brandery was founded by branding experts like Dave Knox of RockFish, and Rob MacDonald who’s father is the current CEO at P&G.

The Brandery’s General Manager is no stranger to branding either. Prior to joining The Brandery as General Manager, Mike Bott was a brand manager for one of P&G’s most widely known brands, Olay. It was under the supervision of Bott that country music sensation and American Idol, Carrie Underwood became the face of the brand.

Through the three month cohort based accelerator program, startups chosen to participate in The Brandery get access to branding experts like Bott and several others from Cincinnati and across the globe.

Bott will be participating in the Accelerator MD’s (Managing Director) panel highlighting accelerators from across the country on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday though he’ll be giving a lecture on branding for startups.

Attendees, and Startup Village startups will learn tips, tricks and best practices for starting to build the brand for your young startup. Bott’s lecture will feature the things he’s taught as GM at The Brandery and lectured about across the country. He’ll draw from his Brandery experiences and from his experience building brands at P&G.

This can’t miss lecture will be held in the main ball room on Tuesday morning at 11am.

You don’t want to miss out on Branding For Startups, or any of the other panels, lectures and discussions as part of everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference. There are currently less than 200 tickets remaining. There are also 9 startup village booths left which include 3 conference tickets, booth space and 3 different contests worth $50,000 in cash plus prizes.

This is one of the hottest startup tickets ever. You can get an attendee ticket or sign your startup up for the Startup Village below: