What I learned in the Dirty South?

First off, what did AI say the Dirty South is?

The "Dirty South" refers to the Southeastern region of the United States, primarily associated with the development of a distinct style of hip hop music in the 1990s. Characterized by a focus on Southern themes, a laid-back vocal delivery, heavy use of synthesizers and drum machines, and a gritty production style emphasizing low-end frequencies, the Dirty South sound has had a significant impact on the broader evolution of hip hop, with influential artists such as OutKast, Goodie Mob, Lil Jon, and Ludacris emerging from this regional scene.

So now that those that either live in a cultural alternate or maybe generationally missed this movement, you are up to speed and have context.

When I was building my business in the 90’s as part of the dot.com boom, so was the Dirty South. What that meant was that I was in my 20’s making money and being dumb right along these folks. So, we got to know each other. Funny enough, never really listened to their music much, I was just more into metal and alternative rock. Decades later we still chat and mostly complain about our kids and how everything we care about has been ruined. Yes, bunch of old people sitting around complaining.

Here is a key “hack” that I’m not sure people realized that they did to create momentum. It was a bit of an orchestrated movement and a surprisingly collaborative effort. The issue was that “pre” social media there were only a couple of ways to stay relevant. Release new albums and/or tour. Also, at that time, it took a bit longer to get an album produced.

The hack was new to the music industry, I think mostly most stars have huge egos and aren’t interested in team ball. While the artists that were part of the dirty south had plenty of ego, they also knew that they were a niche market and none were mega-stars. They worked together in what would be described best as a highly organized co-marketing relationship. This was done in a few ways. Being a featured artist on someone else’s album. Not releasing albums during the same time. Being a surprise guest at each other’s shows. The idea was that one of them would have an album drop, the hype would benefit everyone and so there was always something coming out of the dirty south. The key was that it was highly scheduled , orchestrated and deliberate. There was also very little in-fighting in public. They weren’t east coast or west coast. They also tried to keep the tone and brand similar. Fun music from fun artists.

I feel like this can be a key strategy with startups. How do you orchestrate a co-marketing strategy.

1. Create a theme. Maybe it’s ConstructionTech, maybe it’s Multifamily. Building a strong core theme with a fantastic Mission-Vision-Values is important.
2. Competition?! I hear a lot of founders talk about their competition. Then I ask a simple question. “Name the last 10 deals you lost to them?” There is a time to compete, there is also a time to collaborate. Think IBM, Apple, and Microsoft during the early days of desktop computing. Pick your co-marketing partners based on cultural fit and resource fit.
3. Resource Fit - Co-marketing is just that, marketing. A group of firms that decide to do a LinkedIn live together will not be successful if only 1 firm has a great LI following and the team that knows how to promote and execute this. The resourcing needs to compounding, not complimentary. Be VERY obtuse about this. The goal is 1+1+1+1 = 20. That is compounding. Complimentary is 1+A+@+?=… The math doesn’t work.
4. Ready-Aim-Fire. This takes a lot of planning. This co-marketing consortium should have a 12 month plan with all the details and resourcing developed. “Hey, let’s do a webinar together and see how it goes?” Could be the dumbest thing to do. Like a lot of marketing campaigns, this is the long game.
5. Have a direct budget. While utilizing internal personnel resources might be budgeted, also consider pooling a marketing budget outside of that. In the example of a  LinkedIn Live, maybe buy some LinkedIn Ads etc.

These are just a few things that have worked in the past. These co-marketing coalitions can also apply to events, whitepapers, etc.

Events- Booth sharing, lead sharing, etc. Pre-Event marketing. Happy hour events together at a conference. I had some of my portfolio companies throw a Happy Hour (bought out an entire nightclub together) at Saastr one year.

Whitepapers- writing great white papers are a big investment. Collaborate and while the whitepaper may be from one company, a quote from a co-marketing founder who embedded (think Ludacris feat. Lil Jon).

There are so many strategies to get leverage in your marketing efforts and create great marketing ROI.

A few pitfalls to avoid.

This is marketing - not sales. I have never seen co-selling arrangements work for startups. It’s hard enough to keep your sales people focused on your product, much else someone else’s.

Develop at minimum a 1 year plan. No less. This is not a short term strategy.

Look outside your industry for partners. Focus on mutual audience. A drywall contractor targeting GCs, a building product representative targeting GCs, and accounting firm targeting GCs.

While complimentary marketing skills are not helpful, complimentary market segmentation could be. Example- one partner has large GCs and is trying to go down market. Another partner has mid size GCs and is trying to go up market. Remember, IBM did not initially care about the consumer market and Apple did.

Hire a third party to help you develop the strategy, tactics and reporting. Someone needs to be unbiased and ONLY focused on the success of the coalition.

Another aspect that I love about these types of partnerships for startups?
You are not alone. Your Sunday scaries may be less scary when you are doing some things in a team dynamic. Beyond the co-marketing, being able to build relationships with other founders becomes a sort of group therapy.

Co-marketing is something that I have focused on for the last 5 years when I realized…
1. I can’t be in every geography. Our industry can be hyper local. I can’t be everywhere.
2. I can’t have a deep understanding of every market. Multifamily, CRE etc etc.
3. I can’t keep up with horizontal technologies like robotics, AI, materials science.
4. I can’t be at every event/conference.

If you want to learn more, ping me and we can chat.