5 Things Marketers Can Learn From HBO’s Silicon Valley
By Aj Agrawal on Startup Grind
The HBO show Silicon Valley has been hailed as an accurate representation of Silicon Valley. But whether you’re watching or hiding from your TV to work on your startup, marketers can actually learn a lot from the storylines presented on this show. It’s more than mere entertainment. This guide is going to introduce you to some of the main takeaways from this show.
Think Bigger
When the protagonist’s company Pied Piper was created, it was designed to help songwriters figure out if their creations had infringed on the copyright of others. But the compression algorithm used in their app had the potential to do everything from make cancer smaller to eliminating world hunger.
None of these things have actually been accomplished, but they illustrate the importance of scaling for successful entrepreneurs and marketers. If you have a target market, think about how you can continue to expand this market to drag more people into your net. Dream big.
Trust Feedback from Users
Always trust feedback from users — they are the ultimate judges of your marketing campaign. Since 74% of buyers now conduct more than half of their research online, you can trust it’s a good source of information. In the show, Pied Piper received a tepid response when they initially launched. As they changed up their business offering, their customers started to respond in a positive manner.
This goes to show that trusting feedback from users can pay huge dividends. Failure to do so can make it difficult to defend yourself. For example, Hooli hired an online reputation firm to defend Gavin Belson’s image. By removing negative results from public view, they were able to essentially press the reset button.
Either way, trusting in feedback from users as a marketer can give you infinitely better results.
Don’t Fear Your Competitors
It’s easy to fear your competitors in a niche as competitive as marketing. In Silicon Valley, the focus is on the app industry. The main characters had to deal with copycats all the time, but it didn’t deter them. All it required was for them to innovate again and again in order to stay ahead of their rivals.
When you are marketing a product and you feel like you are getting nowhere, it’s tempting to give in and quit. You may decide to look into another niche, but this isn’t a reason to give up. There are few lucrative niches that lack competition these days. Competition is just a fact of life — and it can be a sign that you’re working on something valuable.
Nothing is ever done in marketing. You are in a race that never ends. If something isn’t working, figure out why and then implement it. Take a look at what other companies are doing and learn from them. The competition provides you with an opportunity to improve not to run away.
Do Better at Meeting the Needs of Customers
Pied Piper decided to innovate the Dropbox concept by making it easier to upload video and audio files. The reason why this gained the attention of investors was because it solved a major problem that had plagued the industry for many years. It shows that marketers need to focus more on how they are meeting the needs of customers, rather than using fancy language and clever marketing techniques.
You have to do better at meeting the needs of customers if you are going to gain any traction in your chosen industry. It’s the job of the marketing team to illustrate how what they are selling brings a range of benefits to the table.
Excelling at making the customer come first is crucial to the very survival of your company. You need to go out of your way to serve your target market in a superior way.
Learn from the Ones Who Came Before
The main character Richard, who owns Pied Piper, turned down a lucrative startup offer for his company. Instead, he accepted funding from a venture capitalist, along with mentoring so he could learn how to grow his business. Of course, this decision was taken for TV purposes, but it shows that sometimes knowledge can be far more powerful than money.
Some marketers don’t talk to people more successful than themselves, but they are making a mistake. Attending a marketing conference or asking a senior marketer for help should be at the top of your list.
The best marketers are always learning. They are reading books, tracking the trends in their industry, and taking a look at what other companies are doing.
Conclusion — Become a Better Marketer Today
Silicon Valley has a lot to teach marketers who want to get better at their jobs. These key areas show you exactly where you need to get started in becoming a superior practitioner of your trade.
How will you improve today?
