(Your Money Machine) Go To Market - Russell Colbourne

Programming Fact Sheet
Russell Colbourne : Your Money Machine

Season 5 Episode 8 – Go To Market

24 May 2021

INTRODUCTION
Your business is Your Money Machine.  Starting or growing a business has been likened to assembling an aircraft midway through its first flight. Having started and exited from a number of businesses including an Airline, I know what it takes to get your business off the ground. In this show, I’ll share some of the stories and lessons I’ve learned over my 30 years of entrepreneurial business experience as a Chartered Accountant with companies like Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.  During season 5 we’ll be following a structured path to building a globally scalable, investable business based on the Founder Institute Pre-Seed Accelerator flagship program that will create a logical roadmap to success.  I’ll take you through some real life business building examples including my recipes for creating high performing organisations and we will take a look at some the mistakes I made along the way and the lessons I learned from them.

This show won’t build your business for you – only you can do that, but I will show you how to build your business efficiently and effectively, so you won’t have to waste time and money doing things out of sequence, back tracking over work already done or making the same mistakes I and many others have made before you.

Summary
It’s important to prioritize your go-to market initiatives at the beginning of your business. We will discuss how you can evaluate different models for growing the business, the ways you can develop marketing messages that resonate with your target customers and the best techniques to test messaging and customer acquisition channels. 

What You Need to Know - The What

#1 (Marketing Messaging) Test your Marketing Messaging. 
#2 (Marketing Tools) Implement Marketing Tools. 
#3 (Email Capture) Set up a system for Email Capture. 
#4 (Customer Acquisition Channels) Identify your Customer Acquisition Channels. 
#5 (Conversion Rate) Test your Customer Acquisition Channels. 
#6 (Unit Economics) Complete an analysis of your Unit Economics. 
#7 (Growth Goals) Set ambitious customer acquisition Growth Goals. 
#8 (Growth Plan) Develop a process to track and hold yourself accountable for your Growth Goals. 

What You Need to Do - The How

• Listen to the Show
  
• Download the Show notes
  
• Follow the Podcasts and 
  
• Apply the principles to your business
  

#1 (Marketing Messaging) Test your Marketing Messaging. Write a series of at least three separate Marketing Messages for your solution that are 140 characters or less. Use distinct words and concepts in each Marketing Message and provide a unique link for each message to your site or Landing Page. Distribute the Marketing Messages on social media and in paid advertising that targets your Customer Archetype. Ensure that you secure at least 100 clicks across all three messages. Measure the link clicks and engagement for each of your target messages, and provide a synopsis of the data below each Marketing Message. Rank order the Marketing Messages from most popular to least popular. Update your Landing Page or online presence with any Marketing Messaging insights, and ensure that you have a prominent email sign-up form. 
#2 (Marketing Tools) Implement Marketing Tools. Provide a bulleted list of a couple common marketing optimization tools for your solution per major category, which may include analytics, email management and A/B testing solutions. Consult with your supporters for best practices. Familiarize yourself with the various categories and the most relevant tools per category. Select and implement at least a couple of the tools, even if just on a Landing Page. 
#3 (Email Capture) Set up a system for Email Capture. Develop a messaging flow for potential customers that provide you with their email address. Assume that every potential customer that gives you their email will receive a welcome email, a follow-up email and at least a couple notifications or reminders to try your solution. Write each of the required emails. Implement a Marketing Tool to manage the email and track open rates, click through rates and other engagement metrics.
#4 (Customer Acquisition Channels) Identify your Customer Acquisition Channels. Identify at least five major marketing Channels to acquire customers that are appropriate for your solution. These can include social media, content publishing, public relations, online advertising, offline advertising, affiliate programs, email marketing, direct sales, trade shows and community building, and others as outlined in the Resources. Research the effectiveness and the costs of each Channel. Update your online presence or Landing Page with lessons from the Marketing Messaging work, and ensure that you have a prominent email sign-up form. 
#5 (Conversion Rate) Test your Customer Acquisition Channels. Choose at least three of your Customer Acquisition Channels that can be implemented and measured quickly. Push as much traffic to your Landing Page or online presence as possible from each of the three chosen channels, and measure everything from each channel, including any expenses and email signups. Divide the number of email signups by the amount of traffic, and see what Customer Acquisition Channel has the highest percentage Conversion Rate. 
#6 (Unit Economics) Complete an analysis of your Unit Economics. Research any data on the standard Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) and standard Lifetime Value (LTV) for your industry and segment, and create a bulleted list of links to any resources that you found with information or analysis on the specific cost and revenues. Create a Unit Economics spreadsheet that provides details on the anticipated cost of acquiring a customer (CAC) and the anticipated revenues from that customer (LTV). In the Unit Economics spreadsheet, create a second column where the costs increase by 1.5 times and a third column where the costs increase by 2.0 times, while the revenues remain the same. Discuss your Unit Economics analysis with any relevant Advisor Candidates, and create a bulleted list of notes from the discussions. If your CAC is less than half of your LTV in the initial analysis or the analysis with 1.5 times the costs, then re-evaluate your Customer Acquisition Channels or product pricing. 
#7 (Growth Goals) Set ambitious customer acquisition Growth Goals. Set a monthly Growth Goals for the next year. The goals should include a quantifiable increase in the top of the funnel from the Steps to Revenue, as well as an increase in the bottom of the funnel, which are paying customers. If your solution is not ready and if you can not take pre-sales, then focus the short-term Growth Goals on the top of the funnel. Create an easily edited spreadsheet with your Growth Goals.
#8 (Growth Plan) Develop a process to track and hold yourself accountable for your Growth Goals. As a startup leader, you need to do actual work, manage people and ensure that goals are being met. Find someone to help keep you accountable, such as a peer or Advisor, and set a schedule for a regular weekly or bi-weekly call with this person. 

Shows 

• Previous: Episode 7 – Legal and IP
  
• Next: Episode 9 – Product Development
  

 
Written by Russell Colbourne, FCCA, GAICD
Your Money Machine
Russell is a CFO and Entrepreneur who has worked across a diverse range of industries over the past 30 years.  After a short service commission as a pilot flying Seaking Helicopters in the British Royal Navy, Russell studied business and qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) in the UK. Since then he has been integral with the start-up of many successful companies and operations within larger organisations.  He has bought, sold and spun off business operations in the UK, Australia and the US. 
In 1994 Russell joined Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airlines where he was responsible for a number of innovative services that were, at the time, ground breaking and helped revolutionise air transport.  From launching the world’s first limo boat on the River Thames to developing the world’s first handheld check-in device and implementing drive through check-in booths around the world, Russell has helped the Virgin Group deliver unparalleled customer service. In 2000 Russell was the first of the Virgin team to arrive in Australia to start a new low cost Airline, and within 8 months had built a team operating flights between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Russell now works as a Part Time CFO for a number of SME businesses in South Australia.  He is the owner of www.chiball.com.au a health and wellbeing business, and www.feesable.co a crowdfunding website for educational costs. In 2019 Russell and his business partner Peter Hattam created Feesable which graduated from the Founder Institute Program in 2020.  He is one of the local Directors of the Founder institute Program in Adelaide where he lives with his wife and 3 teenage sons.  
To find out more about the Founder Institute program and how you can take your idea to a globally scalable, investable business, please see www.fi.co  The material used in this show is based on the Founder Institute program and is used with permission.

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