{"id":2357,"date":"2024-04-30T10:09:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T10:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/?p=2357"},"modified":"2024-06-02T11:07:24","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T11:07:24","slug":"lesson-13-running-marketing-experiments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/30\/lesson-13-running-marketing-experiments\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 13: Running marketing experiments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Navigating Small Business Accounting: A Beginner&#8217;s Guide<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-1-color\">Save the date: Final Group Session<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">May 28 &#8211; 15:00 &#8211; 16:00<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Feedback, Pitch your progress, evaluate together<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hate to break it to you, but\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2358\" style=\"width:346px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-3-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-3-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people don\u2019t like sales or marketing. If you are doing a startup, every co-founder will do these tasks. Whether you like it, or not. Having a solution build unfortunately is not enough, unlike the image below claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2359\" style=\"width:719px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-4.png 600w, https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-4-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So what is <em>marketing<\/em>?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Marketing is bringing your solution to market. You do this via a marketing channel. There are two big questions for any startup:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What is the best channel for us?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How can we best use this particular channel?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview of marketing channels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many marketing channels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Cold calling<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Website and Blog<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Email Marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Content Marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social Media Marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Word of Mouth Marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Influencer Marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>SEO<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Networking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Events<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Podcasts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Community-Based Marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Online Advertising<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Video Marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Affiliate Marketing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>More examples <a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=d44e08f974365aa4796b3c524&amp;id=ae1d0b4b1f&amp;e=a6b0ad6095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=d44e08f974365aa4796b3c524&amp;id=abdf72b4e9&amp;e=a6b0ad6095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Note<\/em>: Not all marketing channels are relevant for B2B. If you sell \u20ac10M machinery, influencer marketing is likely to not be very effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Spaghetti Strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You need to learn what works for you. There is no rocket science. You can try each marketing channel, and see if your message stick. Try one by one, and learn what works. Like throwing semi-cooked spaghetti on a wall, and seeing what sticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About social ads &amp; influencer marketing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You might do social media ads, but targeting \u2018administrative workers in municipalities that are concerned with sustainability and have budgets of over \u20ac50k\u2019 might be impossible. There\u2019s just not a very large amount of them out there to begin with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cold outreach from the start<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, if you do B2B or B2G sales, your marketing will often rely for 90% on cold outreach. You can do this with LinkedIn, phonebooks, Googling on particular municipalities, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having a webpresence online, such as a landing page or a LinkedIn page might increase your credibility when someone googles you. However, such website doesn\u2019t generate traffic by itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About search ads and SEO<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of people assume they can market on Google, either with making content that will hit high and get free visits, or buying adspace. This is a strategy that is hard for early-stage startups, especially B2B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"382\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-5-1024x382.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-5-1024x382.png 1024w, https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-5-300x112.png 300w, https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-5-768x286.png 768w, https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-5-1536x572.png 1536w, https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unnamed-5.png 1664w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many keyword analysis tools you can use, <a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=d44e08f974365aa4796b3c524&amp;id=d5dea7c884&amp;e=a6b0ad6095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">I used this one<\/a>, but I\u2019m not a SEO expert. \u2018WA verzekering\u2019 is a type of insurance, which gets over 10k searches a month. Bikelock in Amsterdam doesn\u2019t get nearly as much hits. Marketing a bike lock via search ads might not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But even then, 12k hits might sound like a lot, but it is not. Let\u2019s assume 5% of people click on your ad (which is very high), that brings 600 visitors to your website. 600 visitors on a website that converts on average 1% gives you 6 conversions. Depending on the cost per click, these 600 visitors might cost you \u20ac1200. That means that every conversion cost you \u20ac200. Can you spare that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SEO is a long-term strategy that takes 3-9 months to be effective, and a lot of time and money. Therefore, this strategy is ill-advised for early-stage startup that need quicker returns on their startup investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Messaging &amp; Copywriting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If a channel doesn\u2019t work for you right away, doesn\u2019t mean the channel sucks. Depending on the channel you pick, you need to create content. If you do billboards, you need to design visuals. If you do cold calling, you need to have a good conversation. If you do search ads, you need good copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For some channels, you need to do 5 to 10 experiments to figure out what type of content works best for this channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asking ChatGPT to help with your copywriting is a great way to generate ideas on how to pitch your idea. Tell Chat what you are trying to do, and instruct the AI to help you generate many copywriting ideas. Add prompts such as \u2018Make it clickbaity\u2019 for some fun results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Do things that don\u2019t scale<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As much as you don\u2019t like marketing or sales, trying to setup a fully automated sales funnel with ads is overdoing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, try out by hand what works. Don\u2019t worry about how you are going to scale this. Focus on effectiveness first, than on efficiency. Make it work, then ask yourself: how can I do this cheaper or faster?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>More content to consume<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=d44e08f974365aa4796b3c524&amp;id=3fdf1f5080&amp;e=a6b0ad6095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Identifying your launching customer<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=d44e08f974365aa4796b3c524&amp;id=5b45ebfdc0&amp;e=a6b0ad6095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Understand your startup\u2019s positioning and how that influences copy<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=d44e08f974365aa4796b3c524&amp;id=580f8219f2&amp;e=a6b0ad6095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Make sales not suck<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=d44e08f974365aa4796b3c524&amp;id=895fe6381b&amp;e=a6b0ad6095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">B2B sales in SaaS<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=d44e08f974365aa4796b3c524&amp;id=92c73253d6&amp;e=a6b0ad6095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Inspiration on bottom-up marketing from healthcare<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Navigating Small Business Accounting: A Beginner&#8217;s Guide Save the date: Final Group Session May 28 &#8211; 15:00 &#8211; 16:00 Feedback, Pitch your progress, evaluate together Hate to break it to you, but\u2026 Most people don\u2019t like sales or marketing. If you are doing a startup, every co-founder will do these tasks. Whether you like it, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lessons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2363,"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions\/2363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilizingphd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}