snapchat logoLooking to beef up your content marketing strategy Silicon Valley style? Check out these three fast growth companies, which use tactics applicable to virtually any business…
#1 Dropcam: Customer & Lead Segmentation
Priced at $149, Dropcam is an HD camera that connects to your home Wi-Fi. Footage is stored in the cloud and accessible from anywhere on your phone or a computer. The camera can also be set on a timer or programmed to turn on when you leave the house and turn off when you come home. Since the company was founded in 2009, Dropcam has raised over $17.8 million in capital.
The marketing secret?
It’s all about segmentation. According to an interview at MailChimp with David Corea (Dropcam’s Marketing Manager), Dropcam has three major segmentation strategies:
- Give out information on a need to know basis. Mass, irrelevant emails are a major turn-off.
- Organize contact information about your brand’s biggest fans. By segmenting these customers ahead of time, you have immediate access to your advocates. Dropcam asks their passionate customers to write Amazon reviews or help evangelize from time to time.
- Use autoresponders. Dropcam saw an amazing 100% conversion rate with customers who received three autoresponders!
#2 Snapchat: Challenging Status Quo
Snapchat is the “real time picture chatting” app for iOS and Android that has probably resulted in several hundred thousand breakups. (What else do you expect from mobile-to-mobile pictures that erase themselves after 10 seconds?) The company has raised $14 million in venture capital and is currently valued over $800 million.
The marketing secret?
A large majority of social apps piggyback on Twitter, Facebook, and other well-established social media channels. The guys at Snapchat are doing their own thing. I’ve searched high and low and found no instances of paid Snapchat marketing. It seems the startup’s success could lie in its complete independence and detachment from other more publicly social “social networks.” By revoking the status quo, Snapchat has cornered its market.
(Not sure just why Snapchat is so successful? This blog post sums it up nicely.)
#3 Square: Let the Customers Sell
Inc. called Jack Dorsey “The Man Who Made the Cash Register Obsolete,” a rather grand epithet that will likely prove to be quite true in the next decade. Dorsey’s Square Card Reader makes it easy for businesses to accept credit cards using an iPad or iPhone. Customers don’t have to have the Square app in order to pay, though the app does make for an even more convenient experience if they do. Square was valued at $3.25 billion last September, and is sure to continue its rise.
The marketing secret?
Square started out on a very small marketing budget. A little less than a year after it was founded, Square had a monthly marketing budget of $3,000. For Square, marketing is all about the inherent value of the product for business owners and for consumers. By highlighting high quality testimonials on their website, Square makes an offer that merchants truly can’t refuse.
What Silicon Valley marketing tactics or content strategies have caught your eye?
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