Knowing obscure marketing terms can give you an advantage as a founder … [+]
You don’t need to be fluent in the language of business to be a successful entrepreneur, but it can be helpful for two main reasons. The first is the most obvious reason: it makes it easier to communicate with others in the business world. The second is less obvious: different concepts and terminology act as mental models, helping you see different situations and problems from different perspectives.
As a result, knowing non-normative startup and marketing terminology can give you an advantage as a founder by helping you think about problems outside of “normative” as defined as common sense among most startup founders.
1. Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional, low-cost marketing strategy designed to maximize exposure with minimal resources, often resulting in creative, memorable campaigns that generate significant buzz and viral attention.
A famous example of guerilla marketing is “The Blair Witch Project.” The film’s producers used a viral marketing campaign, including a fake documentary and a website filled with “missing persons” posters, to build interest and anticipation. This strategy helped the film achieve box office success on a shoestring budget.
For startup founders, guerrilla marketing can be a way to stand out and get noticed without investing a lot of money. It inspires creativity and, if executed well, can lead to a high return on investment.
2. Dark Social
Dark social refers to the sharing of content that is difficult to track using traditional analytics because it happens through private channels such as email, messaging apps, and private social media groups.
Dark social is important for startup founders to understand because it’s an often overlooked, yet important, channel that drives traffic and engagement. According to research from RadiumOne, 32% of users only share content through private (or dark social) channels. This means that a significant portion of your potential audience may be engaging with and sharing your content in ways that can’t be easily seen or tracked.
To leverage dark social, startup founders should focus on creating high-quality, shareable content that encourages private sharing. Implementing easy-to-use share buttons in email and messaging apps can also help encourage this type of sharing. Additionally, using tools such as UTM parameters in URLs can provide more detailed information about traffic sources and help identify dark social sharing patterns.
3. Groove
The chasm is a concept introduced by Geoffrey Moore in his book “Crossing the Chasm,” which refers to the gap between early adopters and the early majority in the technology adoption lifecycle. Crossing the chasm is essential for startups to achieve mainstream success.
An example of a company that successfully crossed the chasm is Tesla. Initially, Tesla attracted early adopters with its high-performance electric vehicles. By focusing on building infrastructure (such as charging stations) and reducing costs, Tesla was able to attract the early majority and achieve widespread market acceptance.
Understanding chasms is important for startup founders because they highlight the need to tailor marketing strategies to different segments of the market. Successfully navigating a chasm can lead to exponential growth and market dominance.
4. Evangelist
Evangelists are loyal customers who enthusiastically and spontaneously promote your product or service. They are valuable because their genuine advocacy can have a huge impact on others.
A notable example is the way Apple’s customers promote the brand. Apple has a strong group of loyal evangelists who frequently share their positive experiences and essentially act as unpaid marketers. This word-of-mouth marketing is powerful and helps build a solid brand reputation.
For startup founders, nurturing evangelists leads to organic growth and increased credibility. Encouraging and rewarding customer advocacy can turn satisfied customers into raving advocates, expanding the reach and impact of your marketing efforts.
5. Growth Hacking
Growth hacking is a marketing technique that focuses on rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most effective ways to grow a business. Coined by Sean Ellis in 2010, the term emphasizes lean, scalable, and cost-effective strategies customized for startups.
One example of growth hacking is Dropbox’s referral program, which offers extra storage space to users who refer their friends. This strategy helped Dropbox grow from 100,000 to 4 million users in just 15 months.
For startup founders, growth hacking is essential as it allows them to accelerate growth in innovative and resource-efficient ways, which is often necessary when operating on a tight budget.
