1. The
of M Overl
arke ooke
t Sh d Im
are port
ance

2. 2
The Icebreaker:
the starr conspiracy
Why We’re Having This Party,
the Kool-Aid We’re Serving
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
A sustainable marketing The sad result is that the fear of alienating someone drives many
of these companies to disregard bold and wonderful brands and
strategy absolutely messages. At The Starr Conspiracy, we believe that if you’re not
alienating someone, you’re doing something wrong. But we’ll get to
demands a compelling that later in this paper.
visual brand and an
Compelling visual brands are important because they help build
awareness for your business. Awareness is not a fuzzy concept that
effective message is difficult to measure (like love is, for example). Brand awareness is
the extent to which your brand is recognized by potential customers
framework. But most and drives market share. And market share, over all else, is the most
important goal for any company in any emerging or young market
enterprise software and segment. Period.
services companies fail This paper from The Starr Conspiracy makes the case not only for
why your brand should alienate most of the market (or, conversely,
to produce either. Why? unequivocally appeal to a small but high-value segment of the
market) but also why it should scare you at least a little. Oh, and why
They’re afraid to take most companies get it wrong and how you can get it right.
risks. Worse, they’re
afraid to be afraid.
“If you’re not alienating
someone, you’re doing
something wrong.”
– Bret Starr, Founder, President and Partner,
The Starr Conspiracy

3. 3
1. Brand Awareness: Use Polarizing
the starr conspiracy
Visual Brands and Messages to Inspire
the Radical Buyer
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
Brand awareness is part of an established marketing The Starr Conspiracy works with a similar theory. It’s based on
the Hierarchy of Effects, and we call it The Active Path.
theory in the Hierarchy of Effects.
The Active Path is made up of four quadrants:
»» Suspects — All of the people in the universe you could possibly
The Hierarchy of Effects is a simple marketing do business with. They don’t know you or receive regular
communications from you.
theory model that has been around since the 1930s. »» Prospects — Suspects who have agreed to receive regular
communications from you. This is often referred to as your
You may also know it as the Purchase Funnel. As you “house list.”
can imagine, it’s called a funnel or a hierarchy »» Opportunities — Suspects who have moved into your company’s
sales process. While this quadrant looks different from one
because you lose potential customers as they move company to the other, the opportunity zone typically refers
to prospects who have agreed to a face-to-face meeting or
through the process; you have a boatload more presentation.
»» Customers — Opportunities who have purchased your product
potential customers at
do
or service.
+ PURCHASE
the Awareness level than + CONVICTION No matter what you call it — Hierarchy of Effects, Purchase
you’ll end up with at the
feel
Funnel, The Active Path — two things are undeniable:
Purchase stage. + PREFERENCE 1. Your sales infrastructure follows some version of this
winnowing process
+ LIKING 2. The core foundation of this process is brand awareness
+ KNOWLEDGE
+ awareness think
Marketing Theory’s Hierarchy of Effects

4. 4
2. be realistic about
So, let’s move on to that brand awareness thing. Your
company’s brand awareness can be quantified by measuring brand
the starr conspiracy
recognition and recall. Here’s why and how:
»» Brand recognition measures the ability of a relevant and
market share
statistically significant group to recognize your brand when they
see it (especially your name and logo).
You get bonus points if the group can also make accurate
functional associations with your brand after they recognize
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
it. For example, it’d be nice if 75 percent of the participants in
an online survey recognized your company name when they Take a moment to get real about your aspirations for To get one in three potential customers in your pocket,
saw it. It’d be killer if 91 percent associated your name with a market share. you’d be much better served by forging a passionate bond with
specific product or service that you actually deliver. »» Do you know what your current market share is? a smaller segment of the market than by trying to create a
»» Have you ever thought about your market share goal? lukewarm relationship with most of the market.
»» Brand recall, on the other hand, measures the ability of a This brings us back to the huge value of having a polarizing
relevant and statistically significant group to remember your You don’t necessarily need to know the answer to either of brand and message: It’s a proven way to build brand awareness,
name with minimal cues. Imagine a survey question such as, those questions to build a successful brand or message. But you clearly differentiate yourself in the mind of your prospect and
“Name all the companies you can think of that provide employee do need to understand basic market share philosophy to give attract a smaller — but more loyal and far more passionate —
performance management software.” If you score well on recall, yourself permission to be bold with your brand and message. segment of the market. Don’t worry. You’ll still hit your most
your brand has arrived. In most enterprise-solution market segments, 30 percent of aspirational business goals.
market share would be considered total market dominance. That’s Let’s use an example we’re all familiar with in the space. In late
Effective message frameworks are extremely important in right — 30 percent. Not 100 percent. Not 80 percent. Not even 2011, SuccessFactors, the market-leading provider of performance
helping you develop your brand and drive brand awareness. An 50 percent. And to tell you the truth, very few companies are able management solutions, was purchased by SAP for $3.4 billion.
effective message framework clearly positions your solution in to achieve 30 percent of market share in any particular segment, That’s a lot of coin. Would you be satisfied with that outcome for
the mind of the prospect and starkly differentiates you from your except for the most mature companies in the most mature your business? Even without knowing more than what we just
competitions’ solutions and approaches. Again, most companies segments. mentioned, $3.4 billion sounds like a very successful payday for
get this wrong. That’s because most of us operate under the The takeaway is this: If your aspiration is to be the market SuccessFactors.
assumption that our message should appeal to everyone, instead leader, you only need to appeal to one-third of the total available
of a subgroup of buyers with deeply held and passionate beliefs. market. One-third.
Messages that seek to appeal to everyone don’t inspire
anyone. And if your company can’t inspire a buyer, you’ll continue
to lose out to better brands.
30% market share
is considered total market dominance in most
enterprise-solution market segments.

5. 5
3. understand the
However, here are a few interesting facts about SuccessFactors
and the acquisition that might surprise you and be even more
the starr conspiracy
meaningful than the purchase price:
»» At the time of the acquisition, the 2011 total worldwide market
radical buyer
for performance management was estimated to be $924
million.
»» SuccessFactors was second in market share in the space, with
only 13.7 percent of the market (Oracle/PeopleSoft was No. 1,
with 17.7 percent).
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
»» SAP boasted the third-largest slice of the pie, with
11.8 percent.
»» If the combined SuccessFactors/SAP entity can hold on to Every buyer is a Contrary to popular belief, it is not our job as marketers to
identify and appeal to every flavor of radicalism in your market
its merged market share, it will have captured 25.5 percent
of the total worldwide talent management market. The next
radical buyer in some segment. It’s only our job to determine which radical buyer we
have the best chance of appealing to. Then we ask if that group
closest competitor will be Oracle/PeopleSoft, the previous top
dog, now 7.8 points behind the merged SuccessFactors/SAP
way. But not every is large enough to meet your immediate and long-term market-
buyer is radical in
share goals. If it is, let’s consolidate your base (and maybe even
market share.
pick up a few independents along the way).
SuccessFactors’ aggressive and polarizing approach to brand the same way. Stop pretending to be someone you’re not. Find your ilk and
let your freak flag fly. Your marketing will be more effective and
and message helped the company clearly differentiate itself in a
efficient. Your sales cycles will be shorter. Your client retention
fragmented market segment that was, and continues to be, largely
rate will be higher.
devoid of inspiring differentiation. They succeeded because they
took clear action to appeal to a defined segment of the total
available market rather than the entire market. the buyer who’s radical about
For example, SuccessFactors took risks with its brand and
message by consistently pursuing C-level executives rather than
culture: the buyer who’s radical about the buyer who’s radical about
price: usability:
HR professionals (a fact that is obvious in the company’s tagline,
“I’ve worked with enough of
“business execution software”). Yes, SuccessFactors certainly
these Silicon Valley frauds.
alienated many HR professionals and lost deals when it went rogue
They care more about investors
and targeted a smaller audience. “In the modern economy, “It’s completely ridiculous that
than customers. I want a solid
But SuccessFactors focused its marketing message and dollars Midwest vendor that still cares software should be cheap, my analytics system is not as
on a higher-value target audience, a radical buyer. For what were about great service!” if not free!” easy to use as an iPad!”
then considered radical buyers of HR talent management systems
— prospects who really cared about the connection between
performance management and business performance, and had the
final say in the purchase decision — SuccessFactors was perceived
as the only business-savvy vendor in the industry. The strategy
paid off.

6. 6
4. find your niche, attract your
the starr conspiracy
high-value radical buyer
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
Without going into the intricacies of market Before you send us an angry email, understand that many of
these are false dichotomies. That’s not the point. The point is to
research, we’re going to lay out an over-simplified get you thinking about the true personality of your company.
process for finding your niche. It really comes down
It’s time to be very honest; birds of a feather flock together. If you
feel that most of your company doesn’t share a dominant set of
to three observations, each of which is deeply attitudes, behaviors and beliefs … maybe you are the outlier. It’s
kind of like the old adage, “If you didn’t have a weird roommate in
grounded in attitudes, behaviors and beliefs. college, you were the weird roommate.”
It’s critical that you capture the true personality attributes of
(For you marketing wonks out there, this is a your company. They are fundamental to creating an honest brand
psychographic approach to discovering your brand and message. It may seem trite, but people buy from people they
like. And most people like people who are similar to them. If you’re
personality.) offended by any of these statements, let’s hope you’re not in
marketing, because this is the substance of our work.
What are the most important cultural issues
Those three observations are: What are the dominant attitudes, behaviors and relevant to your solution?
1. What are the dominant attitudes, behaviors and beliefs beliefs of your company? Life is bigger than the typical enterprise solution’s value
of your company? The key word in here is “dominant.” Outliers and exceptions are proposition statement. Sure, your customer relationship
2. What are the most important cultural issues relevant not only irrelevant, they are damaging. We’ll deal with why that management (CRM) system probably increases your company’s Net
to your solution? is in a moment. For now, think about how you would describe your Lifetime Value (NLTV) by 10 percent. But really, that’s the sort of
3. How can your solution change the world? company culture. Here are a few dichotomies to consider: message someone forgets as soon as they leave the office.
»» Conservative or Liberal The point? NLTV is an important work issue but a totally
If you take the time to answer these three questions, and do it »» Young or Mature unimportant cultural issue. The New York Times is not filled with
without pulling any punches, you are well on your way to creating »» Analytical or Intuitive articles about NLTV. NLTV is not casually referenced in movies.
a polarizing brand and message. Let’s take a look at each one. »» Professional or Unconventional You’ve never heard NLTV discussed on the radio. NLTV is boring;
»» Pragmatic or Visionary it’s a work thing. No one talks to their spouse or cat about NLTV.
»» Religious or Secular
»» Diverse or Homogenous

7. 7
the starr conspiracy
“Sure your company’s net lifetime value is important. So is having a firm grasp
of Reichheld’s cost-and-revenue elements as they relate to your NLTV. But
does any of that stir the hearts of the people you’re selling to or who are
selling for you? Does it matter at the core of who they are or what they care
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
about? Is any of it culturally relevant to them … or to you?”
– Bret Starr, co-founder, president and partner, The Starr Conspiracy
You know something that’s both an important cultural fine if the product ships late, is the wrong color or doesn’t quite How can your solution change the world?
issue and relevant to CRM? This is: Customer service has match the online description — as long as the item does what it is Ask yourself this question: “How can our solution change the
totally deteriorated in the United States. No one cares about supposed to do. world?”
delivering great service anymore. After screaming “agent!” at our But others believe the continual degradation of customer Got no answer? You may know how your solution can change a
smartphones five times before reaching a live person (or finally service in America is a symptom of something more business, but not the world. Keep digging. Keep peeling away the
hanging up in surrender), we are almost always disappointed by substantial and even sinister. Our country is going to hell in a layers of answer after answer until you unearth your true passion
the treatment we receive at the hands of one more disenchanted handbasket. China is going to take over the world. People need to (or discover that you don’t have one).
customer service rep who is working for yet another bankrupt buy guns and bar their doors. And it’s all because America has lost What follows is a story from our own experience, told by Bret
company. Let’s take this concept even further. It’s not just about its passion for boundless, caring, effective customer service. Starr, co-founder, president and partner of The Starr Conspiracy.
service; it’s about loyalty … and gaining or losing it. If customers See the difference? NLTV is a boring business concept. It has It illustrates how crucial it is to go deep into this stuff, to be
don’t feel that the companies they choose to do business with its place. But that place is not in your brand or your message. The able to state the reason your company exists. It also shows the
are loyal to them (if companies fail to at least act like a decent decay of customer service is a polarizing issue that causes importance of finding alignment among the answers when you ask
neighbor), why should customers be loyal to them? people to project their own biases on a complex chain of what identifies your niche in your market — if you want to create a
Now, some people will tell you that business has entered circumstances. polarizing brand and message.
the era of customer self-service. They say that great customer If you want to create a brand and message that people notice
service is no longer practical, profitable or even relevant. Or they and react to, stop reading business books and start reading the
spin techno-social theses about great customer service now being newspaper (especially the op-ed section). Tying your brand to an
a function of how good a company’s software systems are and important cultural issue will get people thinking about your brand
about the ease of use of mobile apps. These are folks who do all outside of the boundaries of their workday … and may even trigger
their shopping online, have an app for everything and generally an epiphany that what they do for a living really matters in a way
accept the fact that service delivery is an impersonal act, so the they had not considered before.
customers shouldn’t expect too much. These people argue that it’s

8. 8
From #shitbretsays:
the starr conspiracy
How to Save America
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
I got a call once from The CEO was coming off a bad year. Sales were down and customer retention was slipping.
All year they had been losing bake-offs to the same upstart competitor. The executive
the CEO of a medium-size team came to the anecdotal conclusion that they were losing because the American
workforce had fundamentally changed, and that their combined brand and
software company (about message was no longer appealing. To be more specific, they believed that the
world was now ruled by Generation X and Y employees, and their company
$300 million in annual was simply not hip enough to win deals anymore. They asked The Starr
Conspiracy to sex up their brand and message.
revenue). This company We met with them on a cold morning in December. The
provides software and
meeting took place at an off-site conference center; the
organizer was afraid we wouldn’t dress nice enough for
services to manage corporate his offices. About 20 of the company’s top executives
were there. Guess what. They were all rich old white guys
incentive programs. These (ROWGs), all wearing suits (for an informal, off-site retreat).
And they were really nice suits, too.
are the guys you hire when Before we started the meeting, I milled around the room
eavesdropping on as many conversations as I could. It was a presidential
you want a sustainable election year, so many of the conversations were about politics. It didn’t take
long to realize we were in a room full of hard-core conservatives. Then we all sat
process for recognizing down to get to the real meeting.
We always start big meetings by “going around the room,” as they say. That’s what we
and rewarding employees. did here. Each person introduced himself, described his role in the company and talked about
Think “membership rewards”
what he hoped to achieve that day.
but for workers instead of
customers.

9. 9
Everyone said the same things: And this was a company that wanted to change its image to It was all about “loyalty” and “traditional American business
»» The market has changed because Gen X and Gen Y now sync up with newfangled management trends and generational values, like hard work, integrity and service.” But mostly, it was
the starr conspiracy
comprise most of the U.S. workforce. shifts in social behavior? Really? about connecting with a group of radical buyers who believe that
»» Alphabet generation workers aren’t like baby boomers — This was — and still is — a conservative company that values the new generation of workers is getting away with murder.
they don’t stick around as long and really have to be coaxed loyalty. They don’t now and didn’t then believe it’s OK for kids This was a polarizing brand. People either loved it or hated
into delivering their best effort. to jump from job to job. On the contrary, they believe in the old it. But the people who loved it bought it. And when they bought
»» It’s more about what the company can do for them than declaration that a kid could come out of college, start a new job it, they were happy to find themselves working with a group of
what they can do for the company. and work at that company the rest of his life (as many of them at people who shared their own values. And it turned out that plenty
»» Our incentive solutions are perceived as old-school compared this company had done, in fact). Further, they believed that all of of people out there believe that companies should be loyal to
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
with the new management philosophies. the pandering to this flaky new alphabet-generation workforce was employees and employees should be loyal to companies. For these
»» We keep trying to make ourselves relevant to the new generation hurting America. people, it’s not about what one can do for the other; it’s about
of managers, but we haven’t quite nailed the message. The belief system at the heart of that company is what this what they can achieve together.
»» We need to let companies know that we understand this client needed to pitch to the market. Based on the three-pronged Do I even need to mention that the company increased sales
generational shift that’s occurring and that our incentive attack to identifying your market niche: and that customer satisfaction went through the roof? Of course
solution is just as good at increasing performance for Gen Y »» Attitudes, Behaviors and Beliefs: Values-based conservatism they did. For once, people got what they were promised. And that,
as it is for the old guard. »» Relevant Cultural Issue: Baby boomers replaced by the dear reader, is how we can save America … from itself.
alphabet generation
Every one of the conservative ROWGs in the room talked about »» How Their Solution Can Change the World: Rebuilding loyalty
changing the company’s image to become more relevant, but it
between companies and employees
was incredibly obvious their heart wasn’t in it. They were in the
room talking about things they didn’t believe in and considering
changes they didn’t really want to make.
So I took the meeting in a different direction. I asked them
For this company, we created a
whom they were going to vote for.
Folks were stunned that I had asked such an impolite question.
There was a long and uncomfortable silence. Then the vice
brand and message that would
president of sales said he was voting Republican. I then asked for
a show of hands of everyone who was going to vote Republican.
Every hand got raised. Everyone was a Republican.
have made Ronald Reagan weep
So I turned the session into a town hall meeting. I asked
why they identify with the Republican Party. I’ll summarize
the consensus here by saying they all viewed themselves as
tears of joy.
conservatives. To them, conservatism was a way of life that
harkened back to better, simpler days. After more questioning, it
became clear that the entire executive and senior management
levels of the company shared similar attitudes, behaviors and
beliefs about America, conservatism and character. And not only
was the company’s executive culture incredibly aligned around
these attitudes, behaviors and beliefs, it turned out that the
employees apparently were, too; no one apparently ever left the
company. It had practically zero voluntary turnover.

10. 10
conclusion
the starr conspiracy
In emerging market segments, the war has always been
The Overl ooked Importance of Market Share
won by companies that have attacked the market with
a compelling visual brand and effective message
framework. By definition, that means their brand and
message shook things up, keenly differentiated them
from their competitors, and clearly and undeniably
announced the buyer they were targeting.
The Starr Conspiracy knows that the battle to get early control of market share, in any emerging-market war, can be distilled to
three truths:
1. Marketing is more important than product or customer support.
2. Brand recognition is more important than lead generation.
3. Industry media sources don’t provide sufficient access to market.
To put those three truths into practice, your brand should alienate most of the market (or, conversely, unequivocally appeal to a
small but high-value segment of the market) and scare you at least a little. The proof is there, yet most companies get it wrong. In a
nutshell, you can get it right, through:
»» Brand awareness — using polarizing visual brands and messages to inspire the radical buyer
»» Being realistic about market share
»» Understanding the radical buyer
About The Starr Conspiracy
»» Finding your niche and attracting your high-value radical buyer
You shouldn’t have to pay an agency for the privilege of learning about your
industry. The Starr Conspiracy already knows your market segment, who you
It’s a proven method for building brand awareness, clearly differentiating yourself and attracting a smaller — but more loyal, far are and where you fit in. We are a strategic marketing and advertising agency
more passionate and more valuable — segment of the market (while also achieving your most aspirational business goals). devoted exclusively to enterprise software and services. When you partner
with us, it’s to build market share, multiply brand awareness and drive sales
leads – not to bone up on the basics. We’ve been “out there” for more than a
decade so that you can hit the ground running. Founded in 1999 and located
in Fort Worth, The Starr Conspiracy has won eight best places to work awards,
countless creative awards and maintains a net promoter score of 90% (higher
than Apple). On the web at www.thestarrconspiracy.com.
Contact us today:
marketing@thestarrconspiracy.com or 817-204-0400.