Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

You don't.

No one wants to be part of a classic "pump and dump" scam.

Getting paid in shares?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Nope, not getting paid in shares. Actually just looking to help a friend.

Aaron,

You market a "company" the same way you market anything. You define the target customers (segmentation), find out what their needs are, found out how best to address those needs given the core competencies of the company, understand your competitors and how they meet the customers' needs and where they don't, how best to get in front of them your message on how you meet their needs better - in a language that resonates with them. Then, put together a set of activities with goals and measurements to reach those target customers - a marketing plan - and implement it! Marketing grapefruits and marketing companies is all the same process.

Selling is the same also. You appeal to the prospects' emotions. Then, you back this up with intellectual material to allow them to prove to themselves how good their decision is.

In the case of marketing and selling a company, the emotional benefits will range from satisfaction in seeing the wealth come in and that they made a good decision to buy to peace of mind that their children and grandchildren will have an investment that is going to provide for them to ??? The intellectual content is past performance, future directions - within the SEC guidelines, of course. Also, profiles of the management team and why they are capable of leading the company to greatness, etc. Vehicles to use are press releases, events and announcements, etc.

If you are looking to get into the game for September - you should have started last September, by the way. It takes a while to build the "buzz" about a company. Unless you have a crowd of investors outside your door who are already up-to-speed with the company and what it's been doing and capable of doing in the future, your success most likely will be limited.

I hope this helps.

Wayde

Stocks are not generally marketed and sold like any ol' consumer product.

In larger, more established companies, once the shares are sold to the public, it's up to the company to get the word out about what's going on with the company so that investors will take note. But it's not anything like traditional "marketing" because we're dealing with securities here, and they are highly regulated.

Usually a company hopes to achieve a certain size and success where it will get picked up by analysts who then in turn issue buy or accumulate ratings on the stock, and the retail and institutional investors who follow the analysts might take a position.

I am going to guess that your friend's company is not that big and certainly not covered by any analyst. If it's truly even a public company, it probably trades in the "pink sheets," at best. This is not a liquid market, and it's these kinds of shares that you often see in classic "pump and dump" scams, a lot of which are now being fueled by email and fax.

Is your friend trying to get people to buy shares in the secondary market or is he trying to sell shares directly in order to raise capital?

If he's trying to raise money, he would do well to find a broker-dealer who specializes in this kind of stuff and let them handle the sales, marketing, and distribution.

You don't "make" people buy your stock-- you present a compelling reason why its a great investment. Get on shows like Cramer, Motley Fool and other analysts. I get a ton of emails from sites like this https://www.otcjournal.com/ who market the little known up and coming guys. Do your research-- and there is nothing wrong with your friend rewarding your work with stock option.

Yes, what Randall said. That's the "marketing" you do to market a company - just like marketing any other object. Yes, as Paul states, when you market a company, there are regulations to follow - but what industry and product doesn't have regulations concerning how you can and can't market. Like marketing anything else, you develop a strategy and a plan and execute the plan. Press releases become a major component. So are events. You court investors and you court media reporters. Ads in multiple media make a contribution as do blogs today. You have a brand strategy for your entire company and follow it without exception. You release bits and pieces of your plan on cue (as allowed by the SEC), announce you made or beat your plan regularly, and remind people that you gave a plan and met or beat your plan. You show growth and accomplishments and catch investors' and media's attention. Your stock becomed demanded and increases in value.

As I mentioned before, generally, you can't start this in late August expecting returns this September.

Wayde

Great responses! And to some extent some good drama as well.

It looks like this discussion has somewhat shifted from the nature of the venture to the very validity of it altogether. As I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to selling the "company" as opposed to its products, I could use some advice as to the strategy itself. For example, What sort of "events"? What kind of "ads" and in which media mediums?

Anything would be helpful!

Ads: Take a look at the Wall Street Journal and other business and investment periodicals. Position ads about the company versus its products are present. Broadcast media are used as well.

Events: Press conferences; receptions aimed at potential investors, media people), and mutual fund managers; quarterly teleconferences; analyst meetings.

The strategy involves deciding first who the target investors are (not everyone invests in every stock out there - they are segmented by the kinds of business). Also, what it is you want to achieve with the company itself - vision, mission, overall objectives, and brand. Couple this with research to find out what people think you are and then take the input and match it versus the image of how you want to be seen and put actions together to bridge the gap - press releases, ads, your website, etc.

These are all generalities. Without specifics of what this company is and its present situation, it's pretty hard to map a specific strategy. If you want to see this in action, take a look at any publicly traded company's website and look specifically at the Investor Relations section. This is aimed at marketing of the company.

Wayde

Research similar businesses that trade on the stock market. Look at their press releases, financials, get their annual report. It'll be a blueprint for success. Follow them daily, read market headlines. It'll all be good info. Good products are key-- but its all about how much of the sales you take to the bottom line.

Great insight. It seems the overriding consensus is that this venture would take 6-9 months at the very least.

Any results expected sooner might in fact, coincide with Paul's assertion. Does that seem accurate?

Hi, Aaron,

You are correct - the efforts will take AT LEAST 6 to 9 months. I'm saying a year minimum.

Efforts to raise money sooner through venture capitalists or Angel investors could be accomplished sooner - 6 months. This would involve different efforts than I was describing above. It's relationship building with potential investors, finding out what they look for in terms of payback and characteristics of the business, and then putting together business plans and presentations to them. It helps to find an "in" to the venture capitalists and angels - someone who has a relationship - so get you in the door. This is a different tact than the general investment realm. Again, I'm talking a bunch of generalities because I don't know specifics. If you would like to discuss specifics, you may feel free to contact me off forum - if you click on my name, you can find contact info.

Wayde

Its a journey not a destination-- and will continue to be. And that is a good thing. People don't invest on a whim especially in these times. So start now. Life is won more by base hits than home runs.

Once you start making positive momentum, you can attract a large investor who might buy a major share in the company. Your post doesn't say anything about angel investors-- and Venture Capitalists. I sat thru many VC meetings with my ex, a Fortune turn around guy-- don't go there unless you have to. In fact, knowing what I know, I'd close down first.

Your goal should be as the one stated-- create interest around individual shareholders. Try and attract a portfolio manager and get some institutional sales. I'd look to spin it off to a major player.

Great, thanks.

I haven't heard anyone mention the Internet-trading sites - Etrade, Scott trade, Schwab, etc. Can any headway be made through marketing to them?

Thank you again, you've been of tremendous help.

Aaron,

The online trading companies in general provide a DYI service. If you know what you want to trade, they help you to do so cheaply. However, they do have fund managers also. These are people who put together a market basket of stocks and manage that fund for you versus you having to follow all stocks and divide your money between a diverse group of stocks. These fund managers are people to who you want to market. However, just as you do with a product, you select the fund managers to market to which will provide you with the most return on your marketing investment. ETrade and the rest have fairly small funds and number of investors compared to other funds. You have to trade off your time and investment to these smaller guys versus the time that you might get with them because the big companies probaby ignore them.

Wayde

These companies -- other than working with their fund managers (and not all of them have them) only provide basic stock info and do not recommend.

I understand the sites themselves cannot recommend. But is there any way to market to those people that actually trade on these sites?

Aaron,

Take a look at these sites. There is no advertising. It's probably illegal for them to have sponsored ads on their site - although I'm not sure. But it makes sense that it would be. I am almost sure you can't purchase lists of their users either - privacy issues. The best you could do is find some demographics on the users of these sites and market to the demographics. Or, as I stated, there are numerous periodicals that cater to the investor. Advertising is available through them. Take a look at any daily issue of Wall Street Journal, for one.

Wayde

I trade on two of those sites. One is my quicker plays, the other my SEPP. I get my investment info from research on sites like msnmoney, cramer, yahoo money, aol money, quicken money and too many more. I hone in on an industry or general opportunity and research several stocks in that sector for hours before I buy. Quicken and MSN money have great "scorecards" that are my bibles-- once I hone in on a sector. I do not buy just cause some guru says its a hot stock-- because they are often wrong. I make my own luck.

Click on any of them and see what research they provide. See who their analysts are. See the kind of stories they pick up and play off. Send your press releases, etc to those analysts, look for ways to make contact with them. If they do a article on a related industry, use that as an opportunity to present yours. I will warn you too, these guys are like food critics. If you get to them and your stock isn't all you say it is, you'll be panned like a restaurant selling pork and calling it veal.

You can also track the fund managers of mutuals-- find several who buy in your related industry, or emerging markets and make your presentation.

While I firmly believe its all about the financials -- marketing does have a play. I am thinking of Enron, going down the toilet-- and "experts" still saying "buy".

Great, thanks. This will still take at least a year or so. My initial thought was that my friend and his business partner are delusional for expecting immediate results. But I didnt want to say anything - especially with not much experience in that arena. But you seem to be reinforcing my assertions.

Thanks.