learnings from founding a computer vision startup: chapter 9 marketing and sales
Post on 19-May-2015
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9. MarketingGetting people to buy your product
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Product
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Price
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Promotion
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Place (Distribution)
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The Marketing Mix (4P)
ProductAlready discussed in previous chapter
Promotion TV? Newspapers? WOM? Blogs? What works. What doesn’t.
PriceChallenging (especially for software and on-line services)
Place(assume mostly web-based)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix
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Flickr:jamesjustin / dexxus
Focus is onconsumerin this talk
Not so much on businesscustomers
Promotion
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Some Promotion Options
OnlineBlogs, Google Ads, Social Media, App Stores
TVPrint Media
WOMWord of Mouth
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Traditional media might not be effectiveespecially in the early stage
Press Releases are Spam - ReWork
Forget about the Wall Street Journal - ReWork
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Technology-Adoption-Lifecycle.png
Promotion: Blogs
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Behind each blog are people
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Behind each blog are people
Try to connect to them. At events. By calling. By knocking on their door. Be personal. Don’t spam.
Which blogs to target?Only the big ones? Most blogs have only one reader - the author
Warning: Early adopters and tech blog readers might not be your customer group (e.g. women/shopping (like.com), art lovers (plink.com), kids, ...)
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Ferris which blogsTimothy Ferriss at LeWeb 2009
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/12/13/how-to-create-a-global-phenomenon-for-less-than-10000/
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Blog yourselfbecome an authority
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Promotion: WOM
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Events
Meet early movers at events. Getting the first users can be hard work. But getting the right ones may pay off.
Partners can also help promote.
Talk to people on the bus ...If that’s not your strength hire somebody ...
Pricing
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Pricing
One of the biggest challengesEspecially for new products and digital services
Free vs. “a price” (see business model chapter)Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free
Thoughts on pricing for software by Joel Spolskyhttp://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckies.html
Place: Platforms
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Place
New distribution platforms on the web/mobileIf you play those right you will be very successfulThese are really new ecosystems with incredible reach.
ExamplesFacebook: the social graph as multiplier. Example: zynga (Farmville)The iPhone App Store: easy usage fuels distribution
Still lots of learning to do how to play those platforms What are the success factors? What drives usage?
What is special about Vision?In Terms of Marketing
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What’s special about Vision
Products may need explanation
Products may fuel fears (face recognition)
Customers may have no (or incorrect) expectations on performance
B2C or B2B or both?Often, when there is traction in B2C, there is also traction in B2B (not vice versa)
So maybe you have to generate some initial B2C traction yourself (huge task)
Or a competitor does it for you.
How we did it
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How we did it
Biggest effect: blogposts and print mediaTV appearances had nearly no effect (same experience as ReWork)
Building network of personal contacts to bloggersE.g. just knocked at Michael Arrington’s door 2 years ago.Still building network. Geographic targeting as challenge.
App store distribution really importantFirst visual recognition app on the app store worldwide was kooaba
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How we did it
Huge attention in press from time to timeWe contacted influential writers directly (traditional media & blogs)
Generated discussions and attention but not users/traffic
“Provoking” releasesE.g. Recognizr (700k YouTube views, TV networks and press spinning stories)
Through partner integration“Partner’s users are our users”
Now: direct sales (licensing)
Q & A
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ResourcesMarketing Mix 4P http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix
Technology Adaption Lifecycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Technology-Adoption-Lifecycle.png
Timothy Ferris: How to Create a Global Phenomenon for Less Than $10000
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/12/13/how-to-create-a-global-phenomenon-for-less-than-10000/
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