One by-product of having so many early stage incubators and accelerators in the startup ecosystem is that most young founders have done a lot of pitch training very early in the life of their companies. Maybe too much. Many founders I meet have completed more than one incubator program before…

Scroll down for a template — but I recommend you read the post before you try to use it. I’ve been a marketing executive at a half dozen successful startups and I’ve been a consultant and advisor to dozens more. I’ve also worked with a handful of massive global companies…

No product exists in isolation. Every offering is presented to potential customers within a context or a frame of reference, whether we set one deliberately or not. That context helps them understand what it is, who it is for and why they should care. A great product, presented within a…

For SaaS companies with a somewhat complicated sales model (i.e. sales process that involves a person talking to a prospect in order to close a deal), the sales process should evolve as the company grows. The best way to move through this evolution is to relieve the congestion that naturally…

I was one of the judges in a pitch contest last week (thanks for having me Innovate Manitoba) and listening to the pitches it struck me how for most products, the answer to the question, “What are you?” could be answered in multiple different ways. …

Positioning a product today is radically different from what it was when the concept was first introduced. Anyone who has read Ries and Trout’s “Positioning — the Battle for Your Mind”, would be understandably left thinking that Positioning is an exercise completed by the marketing department (or marketing agencies) for…

I frequently talk to startup founders with innovative products that struggle to explain why their offering is really exciting. I frequently think the problem is really one of improper context setting or framing as I like to call it. What’s framing and why should you care? Framing is the act of providing context to help prospects understand…

Positioning as a concept has been around since 1969 when it was first introduced by Jack Trout. The idea became mainstream marketing knowledge after Ries and Trout published “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” in the early 80’s and marketers have been taught this style of positioning ever since. Ries…

When I ask startup folk if they have a “Marketing Plan” I get a range of reactions from a slightly embarrassed “Yeah we probably should have one but we aren’t doing much marketing so…” through to the more assertive, “We don’t do plans, because we’re like, you know, a startup!” …