Only 43% of businesses in the UK survived their first 5 years between 2008 and 2013. That's a low mortality rate for fledgling businesses.
With 500,000+ new businesses registered at Companies House in 2015 we need to start focussing on helping startups and early stage businesses to survive the early years.
In this deck I go over a number of different tactics and strategies to help startups to survive the early years and to hit growth.
3. Who is this guy?
General Manager of
Talent Cupboard
(more on this in a minute)
I’m an “accidental
entrepreneur”
Comp Sci w/ Business grad
but have since morphed into a
jack of all trades.
Find me on twitter:
@AdamJBall
4. What is Talent Cupboard?
Talent Cupboard is an online marketplace connecting
businesses with the best student and graduate digital talent for
freelance projects and jobs.
How it works:
Post a project -> set a budget & deadline -> pick a freelancer
We’re passionate about helping businesses to grow and
young people to gain vital work experience. It’s a win:win.
9. The problem
500,000+ new businesses registered with
Companies House last year.
Only 43% of businesses survived their first
5 years between 2008 and 2013.
A lack of growth is part of the problem.
13. What I want to talk to you about
Some fundamental marketing tactics to help you
through the early years and achieve growth.
- Metrics - define success for you
- Targets - make a commitment
- Audience - pick your tribe
- Channel - make some noise
- Track - fail fast & learn
19. Make your target weekly
Weekly Yearly
1% 1.7x
2% 2.8x
5% 12.6x
7% 33.7x
10% 142.0x
http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
Growth becomes the
compass that guides you.
“Will this meeting help me hit
my growth target this week?”
22. Your audience
Have a firm idea of who you want to be selling to.
Create user personas to help you do this.
Read this:
http://marketingbeforefunding.com/2
013/02/26/complete-guide-to-
creating-a-customer-persona-for-
your-startup/
27. Where to start?
It’s 2015 and every business needs to
have a strong online presence in
order to survive.
That’s why we’re launching a new
initiative that gets businesses online for
a low monthly fee rather than a huge
upfront cost.
We handle the design, build and
hosting.
Email website@talentcupboard.com if
you need help with a website.
31. Content
The normal responses to “Do you produce content?”
“I don’t understand content”
“I just don’t have time to write a blog”
“Where do I even start?”
32. Content in 4 steps
1. Plan 2. Execute
3. Distribute 4. Learn
33. Content in 4 steps
Plan
We write for our customers.
Figure out what problems &
challenges they face and help by
writing great content on the
subject.
Come up with 15-20 different
blog post titles.
We use Trello to organise ideas
within the team.
34. Content in 4 steps
Figure out what’s worked for others
35. Content in 4 steps
Carve out time for blog writing.
Come up with a schedule for when content
should be live and stick to it.
36. Content in 4 steps
Execute
You need to build a content habit.
Whether that’s 500 words a day over a few days or a
Sunday spent writing 2000 words in one go.
37. Content in 4 steps
Pro-tips
Make content 2,000
words+
Use
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
48. Email
Social is awesome for connecting with people.
But there is a shift towards getting you to pay for eyeballs as
social networks monetise.
49. Email
Email lists let you keep control.
Use a service like Mailchimp to
help you manage subscribers,
grow your lists and send mobile
responsive emails easily.
53. Some final tips
Do what you do best, outsource the rest
- Bloggers
- Coders
- Designers
- Animators
- Copywriters
- Marketers
Head on over to talentcupboard.com