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Business Incubator
Operations

04 Marketing and Stakeholder

Management

Trainee Manual Part 1

infoDev
c/o the World Bank Group
1818 H Street
Washington DC 20433
USA

www.idisc.net
www.infodev.org/businessincubation

[email protected]
Introduction to the
Training Program

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www.idisc.net
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INTRODUCTION TO THE TRAINING PROGRAM

This is the trainee manual for Module 4 Part 1 – out of 11 modules in total - of infoDev’s State-of-the-
Art Business Incubation Training Program for Business Incubator Managers in Developing Countries.

infoDev (www.infodev.org) is a research, capacity building and advisory services program, coordinated
and served by an expert Secretariat hosted by the World Bank Group. It helps developing countries
and their international partners use innovation and information and communication technologies
(ICT) effectively as tools for poverty reduction and sustainable social and economic development.
infoDev is a leader in business incubation of technology-enabled enterprises. infoDev’s global business

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incubation network reaches close to 300 business incubators, more than 20,000 small and medium
enterprises, and has helped create over 200,000 jobs across 87 developing countries.1

infoDev has found that high quality leadership is a key factor determining the probability of success
for an incubator. infoDev therefore seeks to increase the capacity of business incubation managers
– and their stakeholders – through one-on-one technical assistance, regional and topical peer-to-
peer networks, the bi-annual Global Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and its web-based
networking and knowledge-sharing tool www.idisc.net. This training program was designed in direct
5
response to repeated requests from infoDev’s technology entrepreneurship community for an in-
depth business incubation training program relevant to the developing country context.

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

This training program is the first-of-its-kind, drawing from the lessons, models, and examples in business
incubation from across Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America & the
Caribbean, Middle East & North Africa, and South Asia. More than 30 experts contributed directly to
the writing of the training modules, and the materials were tested with more than 300 professionals
in developing countries all of whom provided inputs to the final design.

This training program is designed for business incubation managers and other business incubation
stakeholders wishing to increase their understanding and know-how of the business incubation
process. It consists of 11 training modules ranging from basic introductory topics designed for
professionals new to business incubation, to specialized topics such as Technology Commercialization
and Virtual Business Incubation Services.

_____________________________________________________________

1
Source: infoDev activities from 2002 to 2009 - http://www.infodev.org/en/Article.473.html
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The modules include:

Suite 1 – Business Incubation Basics

Module 1 – Business Incubation Definitions and Principles

This module provides an introduction to business incubation. It introduces key definitions and
presents the main principles and good practices of business incubation. It aims to equip current and
future incubator managers and policy makers with the knowledge, skills and understanding of the
fundamentals of business incubation in order to effectively foster and encourage businesses.
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Module 2 – Business Incubator Models, Including Success Factors

This module aims to illustrate various business incubator models based on practical examples of
incubators from all over the world. The ultimate goal of this module is to empower current and future
incubator managers with a thorough understanding of the various business incubator models and their
critical success factors as well as to help them identify the best model to adopt for their own incubator
to be successful.

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6
Module 3 – Planning an Incubator
This module, which divided in two parts, covers assessing the feasibility and designing the business
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

model for an incubator. The first part is aimed at providing a thorough understanding of developing
a feasibility study. This includes the steps to undertake a pre-feasibility study, the components that it
should address, as well as how to gauge the market need and decide whether an incubator is the most
appropriate solution. The second part of the module focuses on business planning to establish the
incubator business model.

Module 4 – Marketing and Stakeholder Management

This module is designed to support efficient and effective communication of the incubator with
key customers and other stakeholders based on a good understanding of the market place. This is
important since it will help the incubator to establish and increase its reputation as a sustainable
organization that fulfils its mission.

The first part of the module focuses on identifying, assessing, and reaching customers/ stakeholders, as
well as potential ally organizations providing business support services to enterprises; while the second
part is dedicated to defining the incubator’s value proposition and engaging marketing channels.

Module 5 – Financing an Incubator

The first part of this module aims to guide current and future business incubator managers through
mastering the incubator’s financial data (such as costs and revenues) in order to enable them to
identify the financing needs of the organization as well as to explore potential sources of financing.

Building on the first part, the second part of the module is dedicated to demonstrating, to current
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and future business incubator managers, how to develop a fundraising strategy and to monitor the
financial performance of an incubator.

Module 6 – Managing the Incubator

This module provides current and future business incubator managers with an overview of sound
management practices for a successful incubator.

The first part addresses the topics of incubator policies and governance and the second part is
dedicated to operations and human resources management.

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Module 7 – Monitoring, Evaluation and Benchmarking
This module aims to provide incubator managers with the required information, skills and insights to
develop their own monitoring and evaluation system and to carry out benchmarking activities.

The first part of the module is dedicated to helping the incubator manager understand the added
value of monitoring and evaluating the performances of his/her incubator; defining relevant and
adequate performance indicators; and exploring how to monitor and evaluate, notably by studying
existing tools and methodologies.
7
The second part focuses on empowering the business incubator manager to use the data collected
through monitoring and evaluation activities to compare the business incubator’s performance with

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

those of similar organizations.

Suite 3 – Advanced Incubator Management

Module 8 – Implementing a Mentoring Program

This module provides, in its first part, a conceptual framework for gaining a thorough understanding
of the mentoring process and its purposes from three perspectives: that of the business incubator, the
mentor, and the mentee.

The second part of the module focuses on how to implement a mentoring program.

Module 9 – Deals and Financing for Incubator Clients

This module aims to provide a thorough understanding of the alternative sources of financing for
incubator clients by notably describing programs and processes that will enable the incubator manager
to assist his/her clients in accessing financing.

The first part focuses on preparing incubatees to engage in the process of accessing financing while
developing the capacity of the incubator to assist incubatees in accessing financing. The second part of
the training module explores financing from the perspective of both the incubatees and the incubator.

Module 10 – Technology Commercialization through Incubation

This module describes technology commercialization divided in two parts. The first relating to
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challenges and lessons learned associated with this process as well as how to manage expectations
regarding the results of technology commercialization. This part also concerns the role of the incubator
in facilitating technology commercialization in the pre-incubation phase.

The second part of this module focuses on the role of the incubator in technology commercialization
in both the incubation and the growth phases.

Module 11 – Setting Up Virtual Services

The first part of this module provides a conceptual framework for understanding virtual services. It is
designed for current and future business incubator managers who are considering virtual incubation
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either as a stand-alone business model or as part of their overall incubator service portfolio to extend
their current service offering.

In its second part, the module aims to guide current and future business incubator managers and help
them to decide if virtual incubation is the right solution for their incubator. The module then explores
the most common challenges and how to address them.

8 Figure 1 groups the modules by preferred level of experience and suggested module sequence.
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
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Module 1 - Business Incubation

These modules Definitions and Principles
are for incubation Suggested to
Less practitioners who
Experienced Module 2 - Business Incubator Models, be done
are “beginners” sequentially
Including Success Factors
or incubator
stakeholders Module 3 - Planning an Incubator

Module 4 - Marketing and Stakeholder

Management

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Module 6 - Managing the Incubator
Don’t need
to be done
Module 7 - Monitoring, Evaluation and
sequentially
Benchmarking
These modules
More Module 8 - Implementing a Mentoring
are for incubator
Experienced Program
managers and
their staff
Module 5 - Financing an Incubator Suggested to
be done
Module 9 - Deals and Financing for sequentially
Incubator Clients

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These modules
are for incubation Module 10 - Technology Don’t need
Stand Alone managers Commercialization through Incubation to be done
Modules dealing with high
sequentially
tech or looking at Module 11 - Setting Up Virtual Services
extending their
service offering

Figure 1 – Module Selection and Sequence

Acknowledgements

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Acknowledgements

The training curriculum was developed by the following consortium under the direction of infoDev:

European Business & Innovation Centre Network

• Robert Sanders, Head of International Projects

• Julia Brethenoux, Project Manager

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Babson College
• Mark P. Rice, Frederic C. Hamilton Professor for Free Enterprise

Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação, S.A.

• Augusto Medina, President

• Mark Spinoglio, Senior Consultant 13

• Douglas Thompson, Senior Consultant

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• Nuno Gonçalves, Consultant

infoDev wishes to thank its innovation and entrepreneurship community, including those who provided
material for and whose names appear in the case studies. In particular, infoDev wishes to thank the
following individuals for their contributions to developing this training curriculum:

• Seth Ayers ICT – Policy Specialist, infoDev

• Michel Botzung – Business Edge Manager, International Finance Corporation

• Alistair Brett – Cottingham Associates LLC, Consultant Member of the Science Technology
Innovation Global Expert Team, The World Bank

• Raimund Broechler – Senior Delivery Manager, Intrasoft

• Valerie D’Costa – Program Manager, infoDev

• Heinz Fiedler – infoDev Regional Facilitator for the Middle East and North Africa

• Han Fraeters – Manager, The World Bank

• Steve Giddings – infoDev Regional Facilitator for the Africa region

• Stephen Hampson – Managing Partner, Powerhouse-Ventures

• Jane Hill – Venture Partner, Powerhouse-Ventures

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• Sheila Jagannathan – Senior Education Specialist (E-Learning), The World Bank Institute

• Natasha Kapil – Private Sector Development Specialist, The World Bank

• Anthony Lambkin – Task Manager, Low-Carbon Innovation Program, infoDev

• Gideon Maas – Co-Director of the Institute of Applied Entrepreneurship at Coventry University,
United Kingdom

• Kiragu Maina – Senior Operations Officer, International Finance Corporation

• Siobhan McQuaid – Project Director, ABÚ International Project Management

• Mustapha Mezghani – infoDev Regional Facilitator for Africa

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• Mark Nielsen – Senior Advisor, Business Edge Management Training, SME Management
Solutions, International Finance Corporation

• Ellen Olafsen – Operations Officer, infoDev

• Edward Rubesch – Director, Technology Licensing Office National Science and Technology
Development Agency, Thailand

• Tania Saba Mazraani – Director, Technology & Health, Berytech, Lebanon

14 • Jill Sawers – infoDev Innovation and Business Incubation Consultant

• Stefan Schandera – infoDev Regional Facilitator the East European and Central Asian region
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• Julian Webb – infoDev Regional Facilitator for Asia

• Cesar Yammal – infoDev Regional Facilitator for Latin America and the Caribbean

• Krzysztof Zasiadly – infoDev Innovation and Business Incubation Consultant

• Sylvia Zulu – SME Toolkit Program Manager, International Finance Corporation

Module Index

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INTRODUCTION TO THE TRAINING PROGRAM 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11
MODULE INDEX 15
TABLES AND FIGURES 19
MODULE OBJECTIVES 21
INTRODUCTION TO THIS MODULE 25

COMPONENT 1 (PART 1 TRAINING): IDENTIFYING, ASSESSING AND REACHING CUSTOMERS AND

STAKEHOLDERS 29

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COMPONENT INDEX 31

COMPONENT OBJECTIVES 31

SECTION 1.1: IDENTIFY KEY CUSTOMERS 32

SECTION 1.2: IDENTIFY ADDITIONAL STAKEHOLDERS 36

SECTION 1.3: ASSESS THE NEEDS OF THE CUSTOMERS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS 38

SECTION 1.4: ATTRACTING AND RETAINING CUSTOMERS 40

SECTION 1.5: SEGMENTING THE MARKET WITH RESPECT TO POTENTIAL INCUBATEES 41

17
SECTION 1.6: FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 42

SECTION 1.7: MARKETING MIX – THE 7 P’S 45

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COMPONENT CONCLUSIONS 53

COMPONENT 2 (PART 1 TRAINING): IDENTIFYING AND ASSESSING POTENTIAL COMPETITORS AND

COMPLEMENTORS 55
COMPONENT INDEX 57

COMPONENT OBJECTIVES 57

SECTION 2.1: RECOGNIZE AND ASSESS OTHER ORGANIZATIONS SERVING THE SAME CUSTOMERS 58

SECTION 2.2: DETERMINE HOW THE INCUBATOR CAN COMPLEMENT RATHER THAN COMPETE WITH

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS SERVING THE SAME CUSTOMERS 60

COMPONENT CONCLUSIONS 62

CASE STUDIES 63
PROMOTING AN INCUBATOR 65

BUSINESS INCUBATOR BRANDING 72

A NEW APPROACH TO PROMOTING AN INCUBATOR 80

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 87

ANNEX 1: BERYTECH TECHNOLOGY AND HEALTH MARKETING PLAN 91

ANNEX 2: WHAT’S IN A PRESS KIT AND PRESS RELEASE? 103

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Tables and figures

FIGURE 1 – MODULE SELECTION AND SEQUENCE 9

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19

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Module Objectives
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The overarching objective of this module is to support the incubator in efficient and effective
communication with key customers and other stakeholders based on a good understanding of the
market place. This is important since it will help the incubator to establish and increase its reputation
as a sustainable organization that fulfils its mission.

The first part of the module focuses on identifying, assessing, and reaching customers / stakeholders,
as well as potential ally organizations providing business support services to enterprises, while
the second part is dedicated to defining the incubator’s value proposition and engaging marketing
channels.

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Trainee Training Objectives

As a result of completing this module, participants will be able to:

• Identify key customers that will provide the financial resources necessary to sustain the
incubator as a viable enterprise;

• Identify additional stakeholders that must be engaged if the incubator is to fulfill its mission;
23
• Assess the customer and stakeholder needs that must be met to attract and ensure a long-
term and successful relationship between them and the incubator;

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• Recognize and assess other organizations serving the same customers;

• Determine how the incubator can complement rather than compete with other organizations
serving the same customers;

• Define the incubator’s “value proposition”, with appropriate modifications for different
audiences, and ensure that the tactical marketing components support this value proposition;
and

• Identify the channels through which the incubator can convey its marketing messages and
understand how to use them.
Introduction to this Module

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Incubator managers have limited resources for running the incubator. Often, the operating budget
does not allow them to use the services of a professional marketing consultant or executive, let alone
a marketing firm. Furthermore, every hour the incubator manager and staff spend on marketing is one
less hour spent helping incubatees start-up, survive and succeed. The following module will provide
trainees with an appreciation of the value and purpose of marketing in the incubator context and guide
them with regard to the most important aspects to consider. In this way, they will be able to focus the
resources available to them, and better direct their marketing activities at attracting and retaining the
customers and stakeholders necessary for the incubator to become a sustainable enterprise and to
deliver on its mission. Marketing has to be considered as an integral part of the incubator’s business
plan.

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McCarthy and Perreault define marketing as follows: “the aim of marketing is to identify customers’
needs – and meet those needs so well that the product almost ‘sells itself’….. Marketing should begin
with potential customer needs – not with the production process. Marketing should try to anticipate
needs. And then marketing, rather than production, should determine what goods and services are
to be developed – including decisions about product design and packaging; prices or fees; credit and
collection policies; use of middlemen; transporting and storing policies; advertising and sales policies;
and, after the sale, installation, customer service, warranty, and perhaps even disposal policies. This
does not mean that marketing should try to take over production, accounting, and financial activities. 27
Rather, it means that marketing – by interpreting customers’ needs – should provide direction for these
activities and try to coordinate them. After all, the purpose of a business or nonprofit organization is to

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

satisfy customer or client needs. It is not to supply goods and services that are convenient to produce
and might sell or be accepted free”.2

Considering the above definition, marketing is a comprehensive process to get the product/service to
the market and thereby satisfy a client need. The process includes indentifying the potential customer
needs, aligning the products and services of the incubator to address these needs, and developing
and maintaining a relationship with the customer to stay abreast of the needs. Even the small tasks
like writing thank-you letters, socializing with clients or returning calls promptly can be thought of as
marketing.

_____________________________________________________________

2
Source: McCarthy, E.J.; Perreault, W. E. Jr; Basic Marketing, 11th ed; Irwin, Boston, 1993; p 9
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Component 1 presents different aspects of marketing as it relates to business incubators following

a logical progression starting with identifying the customer.3 The component identifies the types of
customers as they relate to each incubator stage of development. It then addresses the importance
of identifying stakeholders4 who may not contribute financially, but may provide non-cash value that
is critical to the success of the incubator. Once the customers and stakeholders are identified a focus
is placed on determining and meeting the needs of these individuals / organizations emphasizing the
necessity for an incubator manager to remain attentive to the expectations of the customers and
stakeholders.

Further critical aspects of marketing as it relates to incubators are also discussed which include
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the importance of understanding the needs of the potential incubatees and the potential financial
contributions from a sponsorship and incubatee perspective. The component closes with a detailed
discussion on how to meet an incubator’s marketing objectives through applying the 7 P’s.

Component 2 discusses the importance of identifying and assessing organizations and individuals
that are supplying comparable services and have similar clients. As addressed by the component,
the challenge is turning potential competitors into constructive complementing organizations and
individuals.
28
Component 3 focuses on how to define the incubator’s “value proposition”, which relates strongly to
the key points of components 1 and 2, re-emphasizing the importance of clearly understanding the
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

customer need and the incubator’s potential role. This leads to the final component, Component 4, that
addresses how an incubator manager can properly promote the incubator and its value proposition.

Component 4 discusses various channels that can be utilized to promote the incubator, which include
networking, testimonials, entrepreneurship days and publications. The component provides helpful
guidelines to maximize the impact of these promotional channels in order to ensure the incubator’s
management team is effective and efficient at promoting the incubator.

Through developing an understanding of the main aspects of marketing as conveyed by the module
components, the trainee will be in a better position to attract and retain the customers and stakeholders
needed for a sustainable incubator that delivers on its mission and graduates successful companies.

_____________________________________________________________

3
Note: For the sake of clarity, in this module we will assume that customers are those individuals and organizations that provide the

cash flow to the incubator, which allows the incubator to cover its costs of operation and thereby to sustain itself as an enterprise.
4
Note: Those individuals and organizations that contribute non-financial value to the incubator that helps the incubator fulfill its

mission will be considered to be “other stakeholders.”

Component 1
(Part 1 Training):

Identifying, Assessing and

Reaching Customers and
Stakeholders

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Component Index

Section 1.1: Identify Key Customers

Section 1.1.1: Foundation Phase
Section 1.1.2 Development Phase
Section 1.1.3: Mature Incubation Phase

Section 1.2: Identify Additional Stakeholders

Section 1.3: Assess the Needs of the Customers and Other Stakeholders

Section 1.4: Attracting and Retaining Customers

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Section 1.5: Segmenting the Market with Respect to Potential Incubatees

Section 1.6: Financial Considerations

Section 1.7: Marketing Mix - the 7 P’s

Section 1.7.1: Product and Service Offering
Section 1.7.2 Price
Section 1.7.3: Place
Section 1.7.4: Promotion 31
Section 1.7.5 People
Section 1.7.6 Processes

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Section 1.7.7: Physical Evidence

Component Objectives

At the end of this component, trainees should be able to:

• Understand the difference between customers and other stakeholders;

• Identify key customers and stakeholders that are necessary for the incubator to achieve
sustainability and to achieve its mission;

• Assess customer and stakeholder needs that the incubator can address in order to attract and
retain customers and stakeholders critical to the incubator’s success;

• Learn enough about the most useful marketing channels in order to begin marketing activities
that can support the early phase of incubator development; and

• Understand the importance of integrating tactical marketing into the marketing strategy (the
proverbial 7 P’s of marketing).
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Section 1.1: Identify Key Customers

As discussed within Module 1 “Business Incubation Definitions and Principles”, business incubators,
like the process of incubation itself, grow in a phased way. Incubator phases are stages of development,
rather than milestones on the path to completing a process. Each stage of development requires
different key customers to be successful and grow the incubator. This section will identify the key
customer profiles associated with each of the three phases of incubator development discussed in
Module 1: foundation, development, and mature incubation.
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Section 1.1.1: Foundation Phase

Incubators typically have one or more institutional sponsors (these can be public as well as private or
public-private entities), which can be particularly important customers in the incubator’s foundation
phase. They may include organizations such as a local, regional, or national government economic
development agency, an NGO involved in economic development; a chamber of commerce or other
local business organization, a university, a local bank, and so forth. It should also be noted that
some incubators are started by professional investors, business services firms, or other private firms
32 interested in engaging in new venture development. Often these investors establish the incubator with
the intention of running it as a for-profit business. The incubator founders may fund the development
of the incubator entirely using their own investment resources until it achieves financial breakeven. It
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may also be possible that they will negotiate an acceptable operating arrangement with some or all of
the usual types of incubator sponsors.

Often the sponsor(s) of an incubator recruit other civic-minded organizations and establish a task force
to conduct some or all the pre-launch activities before the incubator manager is hired, though it can
be a great advantage to engage the incubator manager in the foundation phase. Like the sponsors,
these other organizations may become important customers or “other stakeholders” providing non-
financial support.
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Typical activities in the foundation phase include:

• Conducting a feasibility study, including assessing the need for an incubator and
identifying the relevant stakeholders in the area;

• Defining the scope of the incubator, including industries served, geographic reach,
and range of services offered;

• Writing a business plan;

• Securing financial commitments for the launch and early life of the incubator;

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• Establishing a board of directors involving the relevant stakeholders;

• Identifying, acquiring and preparing a facility to house the incubator except in the
particular case of a virtual incubator; and

• Recruiting an incubator manager.

Note: For an in depth study of the 33

typical activities carried out in the
foundation phase including pointers

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for common mistakes to avoid when
starting an incubator, please refer to
Module 3 of the training program,
“Planning an Incubator”.

It should to be noted that:

1. The perception and understanding of the incubator in this phase will largely be
established by the needs of the potential customers and the incubator sponsor(s).

2. Whenever the incubator manager begins work during the foundation phase, the
initial, and initially most important, set of customers are the sponsoring organizations
and incubator’s champions within these organizations. For a period of time during
the development phase, the sponsors will likely be the primary source of cash flow to
sustain the incubator.

3. If the incubator’s business model calls for an increasing percentage of the incubator
budget to be provided by incubatees and by founders of specific programs with
measurable outcomes, then the importance of sponsors as “investors” may decline
over time.

4. However, the importance of sponsors as key participants in the incubator network

will remain strong, and sponsors will continue to be important incubator customers.
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Section 1.1.2: Development Phase

During this phase, the incubator needs to dramatically change its portfolio of customers.

At this stage, the following is critical for the incubator:

1. Not only must it maintain its current customer base, but now it must attract an
entirely new set of customers: incubatees. These must be attracted in sufficient
numbers to meet the expectations of sponsors and to contribute towards the
incubator achieving its mission’s objectives.

2. These incubatee customers should eventually be spread across a range of types -

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from potential incubatees learning about and then applying to join the incubator to
current incubatees maturing through the incubation process and graduating. They
should also include graduate incubatees taking advantage of post-incubator services
and becoming contributing stakeholders in the incubator network.

Throughout their lifecycle incubatees should be providing the incubator with an amount of cash flow
34
that is appropriate to the value they receive from the incubator.
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Section 1.1.3: Mature Incubation Phase

At the mature incubation stage, the business community’s perception of the incubator continues to
be shaped by the sponsors and their communications, but increasingly the perception is driven by
the incubator’s performance with respect to the achievement of its mission and the effectiveness of
its own communications. In order to retain its customers and continually grow its customer base, the
incubator needs to achieve a performance level that satisfies its customers.

Important aspects of the incubator-customer (and other stakeholder) relationship include

assessing incubator performance and communicating performance outcomes to customers
via reports and presentations, especially success stories. Assessing customer (and other
stakeholder) perceptions regarding the incubator, its activities and how they relate to the
customer or stakeholder needs, is also important. These activities may use a variety of
methods, including face-to-face interviews, phone calls, and surveys.

Note: The importance of monitoring and

evaluating the incubator’s performance
is explored in detail in Module 7 of the
training program, “Monitoring, Evaluation
and Benchmarking”.
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Ideally, once the incubator has reached what is termed a mature incubation stage, the incubator is no
longer dependent on the generosity and political good will of its sponsors for continuing investment.
This is desirable because, the initial excitement and enthusiasm of the founding sponsors may diminish
in favor of other new and innovative programs that warrant “seed investment”. Thus, sponsors may
choose to reallocate resources to these new initiatives. In addition, often the champions within the
sponsoring organizations, who originally drove the involvement of the sponsors in the foundation
and development phases of the incubator lifecycle, move onto other jobs and other organizations,
or may retire. Their successors will not likely have the same passion for a program started by their
predecessors.

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Throughout the history of the incubator industry, there is story after story of incubators that were
launched with great fanfare and with seed financing from sponsors, who after the start-up period (a
year, or two, or three) could not or would not sustain “no-strings-attached” funding. However, it is
important to note that some incubators are able to convert initial sponsors from “donors” or “seed
investors” to customers by delivering specific programs and services (for example workforce training)
to the sponsors under contract. These programs and services should be relevant to the mission of
the incubator. They usually provide value to incubatees and enhance their performance, thereby also
fulfilling one or more objectives of the contracting organization (sponsor).
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Once it has reached the mature incubation stage, the nature of the incubator’s relationship with its
sponsors changes. The incubator is no longer “subsidized” on the basis of the political goodwill of the

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sponsor, but could now also be providing it with contracted services. Typically, the incubator must
be prepared to compete with other service providers for the business and must win the contract on
merit.

In this phase of the incubator lifecycle, customers (those contributing financially to the cash
flow of the incubator) include some or all of the following:

• Incubator center tenants who rent space and pay for services;

• Incubator clients not residing in the incubator who pay for services; and

• Organizations contracting the incubator to deliver programs and services that

satisfy performance metrics and meet the objectives of the contracting organization,
which may, or may not, have previously been an incubator sponsor.

The incubator must not fail to serve the needs and meet the expectations of its paying
customers; otherwise its own financial sustainability may be in jeopardy. It will not have the
opportunity to meet the needs of other stakeholders if it goes out of business because of a
failure to breakeven or maintain positive cash flow.
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Section 1.2: Identify Additional Stakeholders

In addition to identifying paying customers, the incubator also needs to do the same with respect to
additional stakeholders who may not contribute cash, but who may provide non-cash value that is
critical to the success of the incubator.

These organizations and individuals should be identified from the feasibility assessment stage. They
will become part of the incubator’s extended network and will help it to operate successfully as a
business in its own right and also to assist incubatees to start-up, survive and thrive.
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These additional stakeholders can support the incubator in performing its own enterprise
functions by:

• Participating in the incubator’s board of directors;

• Providing volunteer staff support, for example in managing operations and

managing the physical facility;

36 • Communicating with and conducting promotional activities to current and potential

customers and other stakeholders; and

• Providing services, knowledge, training, mentoring, coaching, and counseling to

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incubator companies. In this way stakeholders can be leveraged by the incubator

manager to dramatically extend the incubator’s reach. This role for stakeholders is
discussed in greater detail in Module 8, ‘Implementing a Mentoring Program’.

Usually, governments are considered to be stakeholders. Even if not direct founders, governments
determine policies that can have an impact on the incubator. Therefore, it is valuable to understand
the government’s expectations and to evaluate these against the incubator’s mandate. Where the
government is considered to be a stakeholder, its needs must be addressed differently in the incubator’s
marketing mix.
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When approaching government entities as potential incubator stakeholders, an incubator

manager may need to highlight the following aspects:

• Job creation potential;

• Economic growth and wealth creation, particularly among SMEs which will enhance
the government‘s tax revenues;

• Human resources development / capacity building;

• Technology transfer and / or commercialization, enabling innovation and increasing

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trade; and

• Turning around rural or disadvantaged areas into hubs for SME development.

37

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Section 1.3: Assess the Needs of the Customers and

Other Stakeholders

Customers will not continue to deliver financial resources and other stakeholders will not continue
to deliver value to the incubator unless the incubator can meet their needs. Hence, the incubator
manager needs to regularly assess their needs and determine if and how these needs can be met.
In addition, there should be a fair exchange of value and engagement with a particular customer or
stakeholder. No single customer or stakeholder should compromise the ability of the incubator to
deliver on its mission.
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Incubatees generally have a much more complex set of needs, reflecting all the components of a
business plan that must be addressed if the incubatee is going to be successful. It is common that the
incubatees may have latent or emerging needs that they are not able to recognize. Hence, it is critically
important that the counselors, coaches, and mentors, including the incubator management team, the
board of directors or advisers, and members of the incubator’s extended network, be sophisticated in
their understanding of the critical success factors for an incubatee.

38 The needs of other customers and stakeholders may be less complex, but will be no less important.
Ideally the activities in which the incubator would need to engage to serve incubatees will largely meet
the needs of the other customers and stakeholders.
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Examples of incubatee needs matching or not matching those of other customers and
stakeholders include the following:

• If the primary need of a particular sponsor is to demonstrate measurable outcomes

with respect to economic development and if the incubator can demonstrate that it
is helping companies start-up, survive and thereby create new jobs, then both the
incubator manager and the sponsor benefit from these outcomes.

• If a university sponsor needs to demonstrate successful technology transfer in order

to justify continued research funding from a government agency, and if the incubator

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can demonstrate that it is helping engineering students and alumni license university
IP and start companies to commercialize technology, then both the incubator
manager and the university sponsor benefit from these outcomes.

• If a local service provider (e.g. accounting firm, bank or law firm) needs to attract
new clients, and if by sponsoring the incubator and mentoring incubator companies
the service provider gains positive media attention that results in new clients, then
both the incubator manager and the sponsoring service provider benefit from the
engagement. Furthermore, in the long-term, the service provider may be able to
39
demonstrate that some incubator graduates become clients.

• On the other hand, a local politician may attempt to engage the incubator manager

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in some sort of public service activity that attracts positive media attention for the
politician and thereby helps with re-election. However, if this engagement delivers
no value to the incubator or its incubatees and instead diverts the attention and
energy of the incubator manager away from the incubator’s mission, then there is
no mutual benefit. The incubator manager must be very cautious about investing in
stakeholders who have no real stake in the incubator and who, as a result, diminish
the performance of the incubator.

Either the activities of the incubator manager should add significant value with respect to the needs
of both the stakeholder and the incubator, or meeting the needs of the stakeholder should be a small
price to pay for the tremendous leverage created by the value the stakeholder can deliver. With
respect to the latter case, a university-based incubator may be asked to provide incubator tours for
visiting alumni who are fascinated by entrepreneurship. Even though this may have little or no direct
benefit for the incubator, the university affiliation allows the incubator to leverage university-facilities
(laboratories, libraries and so forth) and expertise for the benefit of incubatees. In the long-run, the
incubator may also be able to develop an extended network of alumni who can be a valuable resource
to incubatees.
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Section 1.4: Attracting and Retaining Customers

Typically when the incubator manager is hired, the incubator’s initial customer set is already in place. It
may include the sponsor or sponsors who have participated in some or all of the pre-launch activities
and who, as part of that process, have secured the funding required to cover the negative cash flow
until the incubator can achieve financial sustainability. Naturally the attentiveness of the incubator
manager to the expectations of the sponsors is critically important for the survival of the incubator
through this vulnerable stage. The incubator manager should be alert to opportunities while working
with current sponsors to attract additional sponsors who are willing to provide financial support, as
this will give the incubator manager more time to establish a stable and sustainable business model.
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During the development phase, the incubator manager should be proactively exploring the possibility
of converting sponsors from “donors” or “seed investors” into customers who contract the incubator
to provide services. These services should bring in fees that are appropriate to the value they create for
the customer and should have outcomes that address the performance objectives of the contracting
organization as well as support the incubator’s mission.

The incubator manager also needs to identify, attract, educate, and screen potential incubatees. The

40 focus should be on selling the incubator program to those that fit the “admission criteria”.
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At this stage, some ways by which applicants may be attracted to the incubator include the
following:

1) If the incubator’s sponsors have attracted media attention during the pre-launch
phase, it is likely that some potential incubatees will take the initiative to inquire
about admission.

2) However, particularly during the time when the incubator is ramping up its population
of incubatees, it will be important for the incubator manager to proactively seek out
potential applicants. A good place to start is with sponsors, who may have potential
candidates within their own organizations or their extended networks. The incubator
manager should ask for the help of the sponsoring organizations in identifying these
potential candidates, and should also ask them to serve as intermediaries in this
respect.

3) Finally the incubator manager needs to identify non-sponsor organizations that may
be sources of potential applicants. These might include: university business schools,
engineering schools, entrepreneurship centers, government bodies, corporate R&D
centers, business organizations that have SMEs as members, and so forth.

Mechanisms for reaching out to potential applicants are discussed in the context of
Component 4.
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Section 1.5: Segmenting the Market with Respect to

Potential Incubatees

The incubatees associated with an incubator need to match with the key drivers of incubator success.

Incubatees must reflect the incubator’s mission. For example, if it is a technology incubator, then
the incubatees should be developing, and delivering customers technology-based products and
/ or services. Alternatively, if the incubator mission is focused on developing new manufacturing
companies to take over the industrial space vacated when a large manufacturer left the region, then the

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incubatees should have the potential to grow and consume significant industrial space. On the other
hand, if the incubator is sponsored by a university that wants to enhance its educational mission, then
the incubatees should be enthusiastic about engaging with students and faculty in applied projects
and research. In most cases incubators have an economic development component, and the incubator
will therefore probably want to segment potential incubatees into lifestyle businesses versus those
with significant growth potential, and attempt to recruit the latter.

If the incubator intends to establish long-term financial sustainability by depending entirely or to a

significant extent on cash flow from incubatees, then the capacity of the target incubatees to pay for 41
rental of space, services or other income generating activities, such as royalty payments, will need to
be taken into account.

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Generally the criteria for market segmentation are identified very early in the incubator establishment
process and are represented in the incubator’s admission criteria.

Generally the criteria

To illustrate thisfor market
point, onesegmentation are identified
university-based, veryincubator
technology early in the
6 incubator establishment
claimed to have five
process and are represented
criteria for admission: in the incubator’s admission criteria.

1. The proposed product or service to be offered to the market by the incubatee

needed to be technology-based.

2. The incubatee needed to be able and willing to engage with the university in ways
that enhanced the education of the students.

3. The incubatee needed to present a business plan that was developed to a sufficient
level of detail and quality to gain the incubator manager’s acceptance.

4. The incubator manager had to have reasonable confidence that the entrepreneur
and entrepreneurial team could implement the business plan.

5. The incubatee had to demonstrate the capacity to pay the costs associated with
participation in the incubator.

_____________________________________________________________

6
Source: Rensselaer Polytechnic University, Incubation Program, Troy, New York: http://www.incubator.com/
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Section 1.6: Financial Considerations

Sponsorship Financial Contribution: Sponsorship in the form of the initial seed investment will most
likely have been set before the incubator manager is hired and the incubator is launched. Ideally
the financial model will be sufficient to give the incubator a reasonable chance of reaching financial
sustainability. However, as soon as the incubator manager is hired, a careful review of the initial and
ongoing financial model for sponsors should be conducted with particular emphasis on what will be
required for the incubator to move from depending on sponsor subsidies to attaining sustainability.
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The following are some examples of the extent to which sponsorship is provided:

• The sponsors may declare that they are providing seed investment deemed to be
sufficient to cover the launch and ramp up of the incubator, and that thereafter the
incubator must establish a sustainable business model.

• The sponsors may declare that they are prepared to subsidize the incubator in
perpetuity. This is not likely to turn out to be true, but one way to test this commitment
is to front load the funding in perpetuity as an endowment.
42
• Sponsors may provide a facility at no cost or for a nominal rental fee, which may
enable the incubator to use rental of space as a relatively reliable source of ongoing
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cash flow if the facility and the program are well managed.

• Sponsors may be willing to convert from “providers of subsidies” to contractors

of services on a fee-for-services basis. Programs provided by the incubator under
contract may include job training, or management of a networking organization or
another economic development program important to the sponsor. Such services can
be important, not just to the incubatees or other program attendees; they can also
serve the purposes of the sponsors and often benefit the wider community in which
the incubator is located.

Incubatee Financial Contribution: Any part of the incubator’s operating budget that cannot reliably be
covered by sponsors must be covered by incubatees, otherwise the incubator will not survive long-
term. In some cases, incubators believe that requiring incubatees to pay anything significant will make
it difficult or impossible to recruit incubatees. Nevertheless, incubatees need to be able to operate as
businesses. They need to be able to pay their own operating costs and, therefore, should be expected
to pay for incubator services at a reasonable price. If they do not have resources to pay for incubator
services at the beginning, the incubator may be able to help them find seed investors.
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Being able to pay a reasonable price for the benefits they receive from the incubator can be
considered to be a test of incubatee viability and the potential of their business to generate
jobs and economic impact.

Recognizing the difficulties that incubatees may have in paying for services, incubators should try to
operate as frugally as possible in order to minimize the costs they need to pass on to their incubatees.

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Pricing strategies for incubatees may include the following:

• One common pricing strategy is to charge market rates as determined by providers

of similar services.

• Another common pricing strategy is to charge below market rates initially, increasing
them each year the incubatee stays in the incubator until the time at which the
incubator expects the incubatee to graduate, when the pricing for services exceeds
market rates. This approach has two benefits. First, it makes it financially easier for an 43
incubatee to get started when cash flow may be negative. Second, it encourages the
incubatee to plan for graduation in order to avoid paying above market rates beyond

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the normal time of graduation from the incubator.

• It is also common for incubators to charge a base fee for incubator “membership”,
which may include a fixed cost for basic services and a variable cost if space is rented.
Additional fees are then charged for services used on an ad hoc or routine basis
beyond the basic package of services. Naturally the services offered may vary as a
function of the context in which the incubator operates. (Modules 3 and 6 of the
training program, “Planning an Incubator” and “Managing the Incubator”, provide
in-depth studies of how to price the services offered to incubatees.)

continued on following page

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• A minority of not-for-profit incubators have experimented with including equity

in incubatees’ business as part of the pricing strategy. Rarely does this produce
sufficient cash flow in a reasonably short timeframe to have a positive impact on
the incubator. There has been at least one case in which incubatees have filed
legal actions against an incubator that took equity. This occurred since, from the
perspective of the incubatees, the incubator
did not deliver the value it promised. Equity is
Note: A business incubator’s
options for generating income more commonly a part of the value exchange in
through services offered to for-profit incubators. These for-profit incubators
incubatees are explored in often focus on incubatees with high potential for
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greater detail in Module 5 of the generating significant equity value that can be
training program, “Financing an
harvested by the incubator and its sponsors.
Incubator”.

44
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Section 1.7: Marketing Mix – the 7 P’s7

Marketing management takes the strategic aspects of marketing and constructs a set of objectives
called the “marketing mix” that will result in meeting the incubator’s marketing objectives.

The marketing mix can be described in terms of the 7 P’s:

• Offering the right Product and service

• At the right Price

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• In the right Place

• By informing the right people through sound Promotion and

• Involving the right People in the delivery of

• The right Processes

• That have all the elements of Physical evidence to support the brand

45

It is important to note that this description flows in a coherent and integrated manner, which is the

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

essence of constructing a successful marketing mix. Some of these aspects are further explored in
other modules of the training program.

Section 1.7.1: Product and Service Offering

This is the offering made to the target markets and it should be clear that the “product” or “service”
will be multi-faceted – that is, the products / services the incubator offers to a government founder,
which for example could include economic growth, will differ from the underlying products / services
offered to an entrepreneur in the incubator, which for example could include support services or
financial training.

Defining the incubator’s products and services can therefore be quite complex. It involves determining
the combinations of services and facilities the incubator should provide and how they should be
packaged. The adopted incubation processes will also have an influence on the incubator’s products
and services.

Ultimately, like all marketing components, the mix of products and services offered, must meet target
market needs in the incubator’s specific context.

_____________________________________________________________

7
Source: Booms, B. and M. Bitner, 7-Ps Extended Marketing Mix:

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_booms_bitner_7Ps.html
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Section 1.7.2: Price

An incubator provides value both to its clients as well as its sponsors. Therefore, it is important to
understand this value and how the price for product, services and sponsorship reflect the perceived
value. Factors influencing the price for the client will first be discussed, followed by for the sponsors.

Pricing products and services correctly for the targeted client is a challenge that businesses face daily.
High prices relative to the underlying costs may mean more profit or may result in fewer sales.

If an incubator is being established to serve start-up enterprises in a poor rural area, it is unlikely that a
“for-profit” business model will be selected, as it will require prices that exceed the costs of incubation
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and this will not attract many clients. On the other hand, venture capital backed entrepreneurs will
not only be in a better position to pay for services, but the need for high quality services, such as
intellectual property consulting, will often require that higher prices be charged.

Covering costs while making the offer affordable are often prime considerations in incubator
pricing. Yet, too often insufficient consideration is given to other more subtle price-influencing
assumptions such as:

46
• What we have to offer is necessary and the entrepreneur will pay for it; and

• The entrepreneur will see sufficient value in the offering to pay the price we ask.
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So in reality, the price an entrepreneur will pay depends not only on their financial circumstances, but
also on their perception of the necessity of making the purchase and the value they will receive. These
are not three independent decisions, as we all know when we buy something we really cannot afford.
We do so because our perception of need is greater than our worry about how to pay for it!

Perceived value is important in the pricing decision because high prices in themselves are often not
the issue. Take cars for example, if a mother believes that it is absolutely critical that she transports her
children in a safe car, and the safest car is an expensive car, she may sacrifice other purchases to ensure
she can afford to buy the expensive car.

The incubator management team must, therefore, not only price in such a way as to meet its operating
requirements, but also position the offer as one that meets the needs of entrepreneurs and convinces
them of its value. They are then far more likely to secure the sale.

The relationship between the business model and the pricing strategy is further demonstrated by the
form that payments for services may take. An incubator to be established in a poor rural area could
conceivably operate as a “for-profit” model and charge prices that exceed costs if it does not insist on
cash payments. Instead it could choose to price its products and services at market rates and payment
could be reflected in:
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• Loans,

• Royalty payments,

• Equity positions,

• Trade exchanges, or

• A combination of the above.

Of course, if the incubator does not have access to sufficient cash flow during the period it will take
to receive payment, which should be well understood in the business plan, it will not survive for long.
Secondly, if the businesses the incubator supports are unable to earn sufficient income to repay loans

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or attract investors, it will also fail to sustain itself.

The potential value an incubator can offer its sponsors will also influence the amount of support the
sponsors will be willing to provide to sustain the incubator. Therefore, it is important for an incubator
to be able to identify and market its value to the potential sponsors. In this regard there are a few main
types of potential sponsors as discussed by Section 1.1, Identify Key Customers: private, public and
public-private entities.

47
Private entities in general are mostly interested in supporting for-profit incubators through financial
(primarily), infrastructure, and/or service support. Their support is justified by the potential financial

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

gains they may receive from the equity positions they acquire from the incubatees. Therefore, the
‘price’ is directly related to the potential equity value of the incubatees.

Public and public-private organizations include local, regional, or national government economic
development agencies, NGO’s involved in economic development, universities, and so forth. An
incubator can provide significant value to these types of sponsors. This value may be in the form of
direct support to government initiatives addressing economical development and social well-being,
and/or delivery of programs and services that support the organization’s objectives.

The potential economic and social well-being benefit of business incubators is first discussed within
Module 1. The benefits an incubator can provide are normally directly related to a government’s
initiatives and, therefore, can be of significant value to the government. Similarly, by delivering specific
programs and services that support the potential sponsor’s objectives, an incubator can provide
significant value to the potential sponsor. For example, a potential university sponsor would see value
in an incubator structured to support applied projects and technology transfer programs / services
that relate to the research and development of the university. Therefore, as is the case with incubator
clients, the incubator must understand what other programs are addressing the need of the sponsor,
how the incubator’s services will differ from these existing programs, the potential value it can provide
its sponsors and the cost:benefit ratio, in order to properly price sponsorships.
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Section 1.7.3: Place

The location of the incubator and its appearance must again be determined by market considerations,
bearing in mind who the incubator is trying to target. Therefore, the incubator must know its market
prior to determining the incubator location. Defining the target market is arguably the most important
element of the feasibility study and critical to selecting the incubator location. How to define your
target market is discussed in great detail within Module 3 “Planning an Incubator”.

Being located where the incubator can best serve its targeted market seems simple enough, but in
reality incubators do not often find themselves in the fortunate position of being located where they
would like to be or have the facilities and appearance that would best match their target market. The
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trade-offs are often complex. For instance, incubators that seek slightly out-of-town locations may
view the lower rentals as savings that will allow them to employ more qualified staff, but if the client
base predominantly relies on public transport or if the client needs to be located closer to the city
center to serve his/ her own customers, this may seriously limit occupancy.

The incubation facility and its appearance also need to match its purpose. Placing a high-tech software
development incubator in a disused downtown building may have financial advantages, but will it
attract the companies that seek promotional benefits from their premises? Will it also mean that the
48 incubator has to spend additional funds at refurbishing the building before it opens for business? And
how will its clients, including incubatees and their customers, feel about the location?
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Incubator managers should also note that as information and communication technologies proliferate,
they have an increasing opportunity to become virtual. The incubation “place” is becoming less
physical as clients are able to source anything from information in on-line repositories to “face-to-face”
mentoring through webcams mounted on desktop computers. The choice regarding the kind of product
and service offering to distribute virtually is another decision that requires a solid understanding of
current and potential clients and the ability of the incubator to provide the products and services that
will both meet the client’s needs and contribute to the incubator’s resources. (For a more detailed
overview, please refer to Module 11 of the training program, “Setting up virtual services”).

Section 1.7.4: Promotion

All incubators, be they facilitators of agricultural co-operative development or second round venture
capital raising, should promote themselves and their clients. While promotion is often the most popular
focus for incubator management when they think of “marketing”, the match between promotion and
the other 6 “P’s” is often overlooked. There can be dramatic consequences if the “message” is not
integrated with the objectives of the incubator and these aspects are not considered sufficiently. For
example, an incubator with the objective of supporting start-ups in the biomedical industry would
want its promotional materials to emphasize the unique product / service offering (e.g. industry expert
mentoring, equipment, and laboratory infrastructure) and pricing it is able to provide incubatees in
this particular industry. The response from potential incubatees would be dramatically lower if the
promotional material emphasized the incubator’s generic product / service offering (e.g. basic front
and back office support services), thus not distinguishing the incubator in the market.
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An incubator can promote itself through various activities, such as networking, and available
communication channels, such as the internet. These activities and tools are discussed further within
this section.

Networking
In order to build the incubator’s extended network, as well as to identify potential incubatees, no
channel is more productive than networking – assuming the incubator manager is skilful in conducting
this activity and dedicates sufficient time to it. Since this is very important the existence of networking
skills and a passion for networking should be part of the incubator manager selection criteria.

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How does networking occur? In many ways, for example through:

• Ad-hoc and routine outreach to key members of the incubator network via email,
mail, phone and face-to-face meetings;

• Presentations at meetings of the organizations in the incubator’s ecosystem;

• Networking events sponsored by the incubator and / or other stakeholders; and

• Tours of the incubator. 49

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The incubator manager who is a strong contributor to creating and sustaining the network can gain
great leverage from the goodwill, advocacy and referrals generated by other members of the network.

Internet
Increasingly, in most parts of the world, individuals and organizations are using the Internet to publicize
key promotional messages to target audiences who use search engines. This promotion channel has a
variety of components, which the incubator should implement in ways that reflect available resources
and promotional targets.

Promotional activities that use the Internet might include some or all of the following:

• The incubator’s own website. (Creating a simple and attractive website is important
in the early phase of development. It can provide a brief vision of the development
plans, profiles of key stakeholders, and contact information)

• Blogs and discussion fora can be used to address and discuss issues facing
entrepreneurs;

• Websites of partnering organizations;

• E-mail campaigns; and

• Online social and business networks that are frequented by potential clients and
stakeholders.
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Telecommunications
A new promoting trend that has emerged since the early part of this century is the use of mobile
technologies. For example, some incubators use SMS and MMS to promote their incubator and services
to clients and other stakeholders. This novel promoting opportunity was reinforced by the arrival
of smart phones and other innovations in mobile communications. The arrival of such innovative
promotion channels may well suit incubators with promotional activity targeting start-ups and young
entrepreneurs, in particular, and is likely to be a fast evolving trend.

Testimonials
Testimonials from clients and stakeholders will become increasingly important as the incubator
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matures, but in the early phase of development, public statements of support made by sponsors and
key partners can help build interest.

Conferences and Trade Shows

Attendance, participation in panel discussions, and representation at a sponsor’s stand may be possible
and productive.

Public Relations
50 Public relations can be an incubator’s “best friend”. Unpaid advertising could be one of the most
powerful forms of promotion, as long as there is credibility in the message. In the early phase of
incubator development, it may be possible to leverage media contacts of sponsors and key partners,
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and thereby gain an audience with writers, editors and publishers in the traditional and on-line media.
It is well known that people give more credibility to editorial content than to paid advertisements.
Anyone can claim that their own product is the best, but editorial content suggest that someone
else has endorsed the product or service. Therefore, the incubator should seek advertorials, which
are advertisements written as objective articles, while offering valid information to the incubator’s
prospective clients. Advertorials can be very effective ways of promoting the incubator.

Publications
Given the increasingly common use of the Internet for communication, any publications that are
printed will ideally be short, concise, crisp and compelling, and will encourage the reader to go and
visit the incubator website for additional information. In the early phase of incubator development,
a simple but attractive one-page fact sheet may be all the printed media that is needed, useful and
appropriate.

Component 4 discusses in further detail how to identify and engage promotional channels.

Finally, in deciding on how to best promote the incubator, the incubator management also is advised
to think about what should be promoted and where it should be promoted. Integrating these key
questions will certainly simplify the decisions.
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Section 1.7.5: People

Just as ‘location, location, location’ is considered to be important for successful property speculation,
‘people, people, people’ could be considered to be the most important aspect for successful businesses.
Incubators are no different and, in fact, this aspect may even be more important to an incubator given
that not only are internal staff selected on their merits, but in effect so are its clients. Staff recruitment
issues are addressed in more detail in Module 6 of the training program, “Managing the Incubator”.

The selection of staff for an incubator needs to be linked to its mandate, the clients it serves and their
needs. This may be glaringly obvious, but as an illustration how many university based incubators have
staff with entrepreneurial business experience? Secondly, the level of expertise is often not matched

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correctly with the client need. For example an experienced patent lawyer may spend time explaining
the basics of patenting, or worse yet an inexperienced staff member may help the developer of a
complex technology to define the patent descriptors. Thirdly, when selecting staff one needs to make
sure the incubator staff has the leadership, empathy and soft skills to interface meaningfully with
entrepreneurs who may be young, inexperienced or difficult to manage. Finally, one needs to consider
whether potential staff have any real commitment to working with entrepreneurs who may require
flexibility and assistance at odd hours.

Finding staff with all of these qualities may well be difficult, but from a marketing perspective where 51
giving clients what they need is critical this will have tremendous advantages and ultimately lead to
success. Conversely, an incubator that does not have the staff to meet the needs of its clients will find

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

that either those clients disappear or opt not to use the services that do not add value. Either way, the
output of the incubator will be sub-standard.

Another interesting aspect of incubators is their need to select their clients! Once again, people issues
are really important here. A great business plan with a poorly motivated person is probably worse than
a mediocre business plan with a real champion. Incubators must determine how they will evaluate not
only the plan, but the person as well. Entrepreneurship is a tough discipline and ultimately it is the
person involved who makes the difference.

Section 1.7.6: Processes

We often overlook processes from a marketing perspective because they are perceived to be internal
activities. While many are in fact internal activities, some have external consequences.

Take the incubator client selection procedure for instance - if an occupancy request is received by
email and this is routed internally to the receptionist who monitors the application@incubatorname.
org mailbox, the situation could arise in which he/she is so busy that these emails get distributed once
a week to the business development manager who then a few days later schedules it for discussion at
the monthly management meeting, which happens to be in three weeks time. In this case, the process
has not provided any feedback to the entrepreneur who has no idea why he/she is not receiving a
response and may perceive this as a sign of rejection. At this point the entrepreneur may also consider
whether such a result makes them feel confident about the incubator’s capacity to support their
business, which may encourage them to look for support elsewhere and in this way a potential client
is lost.
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In relation to business incubators, processes also have internal consequences as well. Incubators are
very unique in that they have clients working inside the organization. In this way, the processes of the
incubator are transparent to its resident clients. The processes can have a considerable influence on
the resident clients and, therefore, the incubator needs to ensure that business processes involving
clients are especially responsive, rapid, available when clients need them, include self-help procedures,
automated where possible and have approval pathways that are appropriate.

Section 1.7.7: Physical Evidence

The physical evidence component of marketing cuts across all other aspects of the marketing mix. It is
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the “face” of everything the incubator stands for and includes everything from the appearance of the
incubator and its clients, through to the quality of reporting forms and progress reports to founders, as
well as brochures and even displays at events.

It is sufficient to say that the incubator management team must continually monitor the physical
evidence to ensure that it does not compromise the aims of the incubator. Ultimately the physical
evidence should include graduating tenants and growing enterprises.

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Component Conclusions

The incubator network encompassing customers and other stakeholders will require a tremendous
investment of the time and energy of the incubator manager to establish and maintain. In fact, there
are numerous cases in which incubator managers have been so consumed by serving the needs of
members of the stakeholder network that they had nothing left for incubatees. Hence, it is critically
important to carefully assess and screen both customers and stakeholders in order to optimize the
network. This cautionary note does not diminish the need for the incubator manager to recruit
customers and other stakeholders.

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The primary audience for promoting the incubator must be customers and stakeholders who can
add the most value to the incubator manager’s process for achieving incubator sustainability and
maximizing success towards the incubator mission. The secondary audience includes those other
individuals and enterprises that have a significant influence on the primary audience. Even in the very
early stages of incubator development, it will be important to invest in marketing as a way to shape
the development of the incubator and its product and service offer, and as a way to attract supporters,
resources, and potential customers. Incubator managers must also understand the importance of
integrating the 7 P’s, not only in the marketing strategy, but also in staff selection and administrative
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processes.

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Component 2
(Part 1 Training):

Identifying and Assessing

Potential Competitors and
Complementors

www.infodev.org
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Component index

Section 2.1.: Recognize and Assess Other Organizations Serving the Same Customers

Section 2.2.: Determine How the Incubator Can Complement Rather Than Compete with Other
Organizations Serving the Same Customers

Component OBJECTIVES

This component is designed to ensure that trainer and trainees explore the incubator marketplace

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with respect to organizations and individuals that are supplying comparable services and have similar
clients to those envisioned for the incubator.

At the end of this component, trainees should be able to:

• Assess the incubator’s marketplace to identify organizations that could be competing with the
incubator for customers; and

• Develop and implement a plan for turning potential competitors into constructive complementors. 57

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Section 2.1: Recognize and Assess Other Organizations

Serving the Same Customers

Except in areas that have had essentially no entrepreneurial activity in recent decades and where
the incubator is the pilot project by one or more sponsors in order to begin to build an innovation
and entrepreneurship ecosystem, it is likely that there are other organizations whose mission includes
providing potential incubatees with services that may be similar to those the incubator offers.
The incubator sponsors and managers could opt to see these organizations as competitors or as
complementors. The latter is a more constructive perspective.
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During the pre-launch phase of the incubator lifecycle, the feasibility study should have revealed the
extent to which the needs of potential incubatees are already being adequately served by existing
organizations. If their needs are being largely fulfilled, it would most probably be advisable not
to go forward with the development of the incubator. If needs are not currently fulfilled by other
organizations, then the feasibility study should identify gaps in services provided to prospective
incubatees and focus first on developing and implementing programs that provide those services.

58 For established incubators seeing opportunities to collaborate with potential complementors, the first
step is identifying those organizations and appropriate points of contact.
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Possible ways to identify and make contact with complementors include:

• Consulting with representatives of incubator sponsors and directors. These

individuals often have extensive knowledge about the network of organizations
supporting entrepreneurs. They can help the incubator manager identify these
organizations, and will most likely be willing to facilitate interactions between the
incubator manager and points of contact within the potential complementors;

• Reviewing the local media and the internet for stories about entrepreneurship
development and support programs;

• Questioning potential and current incubatees about support they have received
from other organizations in the community during interactions with them;

• Meeting with leaders of highly visible business organizations, for example

the Chamber of Commerce, business clubs, networking organizations, and
business schools, and asking for help in identifying and connecting with potential
complementors; and

• Interviewing business service providers, such as accountants, lawyers, bankers and

consultants.
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These market outreach activities will enable the incubator manager to understand the ecosystem of
entrepreneurship support organizations and to identify potentially productive points of contact for
exploring the possibility of collaboration. The outreach activities will also help the incubator manager
build the incubator’s own network.

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Section 2.2: Determine how the Incubator can

Complement Rather than Compete with Other
Organizations Serving the Same Customers

Note: This activity is discussed in greater

detail in Module 8 of the training program,
“Implementing a Mentoring Program”.
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It is useful for the incubator to maintain a “relationship management” database to support activities
related to creating complementors. This will allow the incubator manager to track interactions with
current and former clients, prospects (future clients) as well as members of the incubator’s extended
network of business development service providers, service companies and individuals, non-
government organizations (NGOs) and institutions that can assist in achieving the incubator’s mission
and improve the delivery of the incubator’s services. The database can also be used to record details of
all people and organizations that contact the organization as an outgrowth of participation in events,
60
trade shows and so forth. An incubator must have a list of key local government representatives,
technology experts, business practitioners, successful entrepreneurs and graduate clients who could
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potentially act as mentors to nascent entrepreneurs and start-up companies in its database. Effective
management of the database on an ongoing basis can support the incubator manager in assessing the
promoting / networking performance of the incubator’s team and in making decisions about which
individuals and organizations should be maintained, which should be phased out, and which should
be pursued to join the network. Furthermore, the database can support decision-making about the
frequency and nature of interactions.
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Here are some key steps the incubator manager should take in order to develop and
implement a plan for turning potential competitors into constructive complementors.

• Step 1: Identify the highest priority needs of incubatees.

• Step 2: Assess all identified organizations that provide services to this segment and
determine the extent to which complementor organizations meet incubatee needs.

• Step 3: Confirm that complementor organizations are willing to help incubatees. If

yes, proactively refer incubatees to the appropriate complementors, facilitate their
engagement, and follow up to ensure desired outcomes are achieved.

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• Step 4: Where appropriate collaborate with complementors in offering services to
incubatees, as well as to non-incubatees already being served by the complementors.
This can enhance the efforts of the incubator manager to develop a pipeline of
potential incubatees.

• Step 5: While recognizing the capacity limits of the incubator management, support
complementors in the delivery of their services.

61

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Note: Sign posting potential clients to
other business development service
providers may hold disadvantages,
such as giving away a potential
source of income for the incubator.
Hence, making sure that the different
business support organizations from
the area, including the incubator,
offer complementary services is of the
utmost importance to enable each of
these to operate in a sustainable way.
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Component Conclusions

If this process is not done effectively and efficiently, the incubator manager may find that collaborating
with complementors can be a major distraction from fulfilling incubator duties and supporting
incubatees. However done well, this process can dramatically leverage the capacity of the incubator
and result in much better outcomes for incubatees. As in everything else the incubator manager does,
being successful in the process of collaborating with complementors requires the incubator manager
to make careful choices about who to collaborate with, when to collaborate, how to collaborate, and
at what level of intensity.
 
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Case Studies

www.infodev.org
www.idisc.net
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Promoting an Incubator

Incubator Name: Berytech Technology & Health (BTH) Marketing Strategy by BTH, Beirut, Lebanon
Sector: IT, Health and Services focused Business Incubator
This Case Study Examines: BTH incubator’s Marketing Strategy
Date: September 2009

PART I

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summary

Problem
A newly established incubator needs to quickly attract clients (start-ups as incubatees and SMEs as
business clients) who will use its services. The clients will not just “walk through the door”. A proper
marketing strategy needs to be defined to support the organization in achieving its business objectives
and in most cases to position itself competitively with regard to the other business development
service providers already operating in the area.
65

Solution

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A robust marketing strategy, which is delivered when an incubator is first established should:

1. Reach its target audience quickly, which consists of potential clients including nascent
entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs;

2. Increase general awareness of the incubator’s mission and activities, to ensure that the full
range of services offered and the added value brought by its stimulating and vibrant community
are promoted and acknowledged widely; and

3. Promote entrepreneurship to foster employment, and the relocation of companies in the

stimulating environment offered by the business incubator.

PART II

Background

Berytech Technology and Health (BTH) Incubator was established in 2007 in the center of Beirut,
Lebanon.

In 2002 the first incubator, Berytech, was established in the suburbs of Beirut, on the Science &
Technology Campus of Saint Joseph University. This was the first incubator in the region. This business
incubator, meeting the needs of companies in the suburbs, reached its total capacity within its first
3 operating years. More incubation space was needed in the center of Beirut to meet the needs of
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the rising number of start-ups. Berytech Technology & Health was established, with the support of
the European Union, on the Medical Science Campus of Saint Joseph University, as a not-for-profit
organization. In addition to offering fully serviced office space to incubatees BTH developed new
programs and initiatives that were not proposed in the first incubator. For example, BTH launched
“MAP” training, the Micro-enterprise Acceleration Program initiated by Hewlett Packard (HP) to train
micro-enterprise owners on how to use information and communication technologies to develop their
business.

BTH suffered initially from not implementing a robust marketing plan and underestimated the need to
have a proper strategy in order to attract suitable incubatee tenants to fill the available 3000 square
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meters of incubation space. Its target audience was not-fully aware of its existence, its mission and the
services it offered to entrepreneurs. Moreover, the political and economic instability at that time led
to a severe “brain drain” of qualified Lebanese people, who were potential entrepreneurs. BTH had to
promote entrepreneurship in this challenging environment. Their target audiences were considering
starting up businesses outside the country.

1. BTH Tactical Marketing Strategy

The incubator’s management needed to react quickly and defined BTH’s marketing strategy by
66 adopting a tactical approach, an event-oriented and service-oriented approach with the following
elements:
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1.1. BTH Launch Event

BTH’s team applied their marketing strategy from the outset by organizing a Launch Event that
was promoted as widely as possible to secure the support of high-level actors as well as their
target, potential clients. Overall, the Launch Event attracted more than 1000 people including
officials like the Lebanese Minister of Economy, the Head of the European Commission
Delegation in Lebanon, a representative of the United Nations, and also key actors of the
business support environment such as presidents of banks, financial companies, university
professors and existing entrepreneurs.

1.2. Promotion of BTH Initiatives

Since the outset, the BTH marketing strategy focused on promoting every specific initiative the
incubator launched in a timely fashion (in most cases at least 6 weeks before the date of the
event/initiative).

Examples include:

• “Summer School for Entrepreneurs” training, a two-week intensive program dedicated

to individuals and groups of individuals willing to explore their entrepreneurial potential
and assess whether their project is a potential business opportunity worth pursuing. The
trainees have the opportunity to develop their business plan, marketing strategy, financial
projections and so on.
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• “Berytech fund” is a start-up fund that has been launched by BTH and its partners to
invest in early growth ICT companies in exchange for equity ownership.

• “BizSpark” is run in partnership with Microsoft, allowing early stage start ups to enroll
for free in a 3 year program giving them access to Microsoft applications and technical
support as well as funding opportunities from Microsoft contacts.

These initiatives are marketed to the target audiences via internet and mailing campaigns (BTH
and partners’ websites and e-zines). BTH uses press conferences as a wide promotion tool
when launching a new feature as well.

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1.3. BTH USP and Key Messages
Since the very beginning, BTH defined their Unique Selling Proposition (USP): BTH is “the place
to go”, the only SME support structure that can provide physical and virtual incubation in
central Beirut.

BTH USP is conveyed through key messages to increase the entrepreneurs’ confidence in
slogans such as “what BTH can do for you” and “trust that your ideas and company are safe
with BTH”. BTH uses various channels to get these messages across that include the BTH’s
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website and media.

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2. The Proactive Implementation of BTH Marketing Strategy
The business incubator staff implemented BTH’s Marketing Strategy by carrying out the following
activities:

2.1. BTH Marketing Campaigns

BTH ran marketing campaigns to promote training programs and events organized by BTH and
its partners to the incubator’s current and potential clients. BTH used cost-efficient promotion
tools such as e-zines and other electronic means, including exposure on partners’ websites,
as well as traditional marketing support such as posters to be displayed in the incubator, the
universities and partners’ premises.

These actions were supported by BTH public information sessions organized to raise awareness
about training seminars (e.g. MAP), programs (e.g. BizSpark) and events (e.g. the Incubation
Award). Session attendees included the target audience (entrepreneurs), and also media
contacts who would then act as multipliers by relaying the information to other companies
and entrepreneurs.

2.2. Attendance to and Promotion of Strategic Events

BTH attended other events organized by strategic stakeholders.

• The incubator staff attended relevant national high-level entrepreneurship, innovation,

and capacity building related events (e.g. a UN workshop on promoting innovation in
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the Arab world). In attending such events organized for instance by the EC Delegation in
Lebanon, or the Ministry of Economy, the incubator staff was often given a speaking slot to
present the incubator, its missions and activities.

• The incubator staff attended peer group meetings for incubator and Science Park
managers to interact and share experience regarding their activities in order to learn
from each other and to transfer best practices. These meetings helped BTH to create new
partnerships and enhance the existing ones - partners can become a useful promotional
tool to relay the key messages of the incubator and promote its activities in the community
it operates.

• BTH took part in “road shows” for students which showcase the best student entrepreneur
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projects. BTH staff first promoted the road shows at meetings with university students (up
to 100) and secured their participation in the road shows by proposing they take part in
a business idea competition. The best student projects are showcased and provided with
awards at the road shows. Taking part in the road shows also gave BTH the opportunity to
promote the incubator to students with interesting start-up projects which could be future
clients for the incubator. The BTH staff carefully recorded the students’ contact details to
promote their services to them after the road shows.
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Promoting strategic events is a key element of BTH’s marketing strategy. Promotion before the
event is crucial, but promotional activities are also required after the event, for example via
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press releases to highlight the outcomes of the events and demonstrate the role of BTH.

2.3. Organization of Events

BTH organized innovative and entrepreneurship related events at both national and regional
levels such as the 1st Entrepreneurs Fair in Lebanon, partnering with another incubator in the
area, Berytech, and a Foundation from Dubai. BTH and its partners ran a national campaign
including: radio advertising, direct campaigns via mobile text messages, poster displays, articles
in business magazines, and even participation in a local TV talk show. The Entrepreneurs Fair
attracted 1500 visitors over 2 days. The TV talk show was less efficient than expected as it was
broadcasted in the morning and could not reach the target audience of entrepreneurs at work
at that time of the day.

2.4. Maintenance of an Interactive and up-to-date Website

The BTH bilingual website (in English and French) is hosted on the same portal as Berytech
(the first Beirut based incubator) and the Berytech fund (mentioned above). The website is
structured using the sections listed below:

• “About us” displays the incubator’s partners, its mission, and objectives as well as the
Health and Technology poles of excellence.

• “Services” describes what is offered by the incubator and includes incubation, hot-
desking, company hosting, business counseling, training, special programs, soft-landing
services, and Microsoft BizSpark.
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• “Business Facilities” includes information about meeting rooms, a video conference

facility and a function room.

• “Enterprises” providing a directory of the incubated companies.

• “Admission guidelines” providing information about how to apply for incubation, hot-
desking, hosting or accelerator.

• “Testimonials” where an interview with an entrepreneur supported by BTH is featured

on a monthly basis.

• “SME resources”, which gathers useful links.

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• “News” includes recent as well as archived news and newsletters published every 3
months.

• “Search” function.

• “Contact us” displays a map and contact details of the incubator.

• “Job Seeker” holds a CV bank for people looking for jobs in the companies incubated by
BTH as well as a public service advertising job openings in the incubatees.

69
When organizing an important event, BTH creates a specific website for this event in order to
gather all related information as well as blogs in one unique place to increase the promotional

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impact.

2.5. Creating and Enhancing Strategic Partnerships with Public and Civil Society Stakeholders

• BTH signed Memorandums of Understanding with relevant institutions, such as the

United Nations or business development service providers, to support each other in their
mission of promoting entrepreneurship.

• Strategic alliances with key stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Economy, help BTH
support entrepreneurs by providing experts as trainers for the Summer School for
Entrepreneurs.

2.6. Incubation Grants and Awards

BTH runs an annual campaign to attract the best projects for the Incubation Award via banners
on websites, e-zines, and radio campaigns. Three innovative projects are usually selected and
awarded BTH’s hosting and support services free for 6 months or 1 year. The award ceremony
takes place just before Christmas, within the context of the incubator’s annual event gathering
all clients and partners. This event also presents an opportunity for BTH to honor a Lebanese
entrepreneur with an Excellence awarded for its contribution to the country.
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Timeline of Events

The BTH marketing strategy was developed and implemented between 2007 and 2009.
Please see Annex 1 for the detailed BTH Marketing Plan 2008 – 2009.

Outcome and Conclusions

Since its establishment in 2007, BTH has implemented specific initiatives aimed at promoting through
a dynamic marketing strategy using various promotional tools. BTH has achieved the following to date
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(mid 2009):

• 35 incubatees on any given year, with 15 to 20 in the early growth stage;

• The creation of 150 jobs within the incubator;

• 100% occupancy rate in accelerator and hosting parts of the incubator;

• 100 entrepreneurs trained by the incubator’s staff and the incubator’s strategic partners’ experts;

• 100+ meetings with nascent and existing entrepreneurs for guidance, coaching, and so on;
70
• 75% occupancy rate of the incubator’s hot-desking space;

• Attendance to / organization of 100+ entrepreneurship oriented events; and

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• 8 women entrepreneurs.

In order to achieve the above stated results, BTH has 10 staff members of which 3 are senior executives
focused on promotional activities: Incubator Director, Business Advisor, Marketing Manager. The
remaining 7 staff members include the Financial Manager, IT Administrator, Welcome Desk Hostess,
Site Manager, and Facilities & Maintenance Manager.

PART III

Links

• Berytech Technology and health incubator: www.bth.berytech.org

• Berytech incubator: www.berytech.org

• Berytech fund : www.berytechfund.org

• Entrepreneurs fair : www.entrepreneurs-forum.org

• Cluster funded by EU(with some incubatees): www.lebanonsoftshore.com

• Technology association (business and events partners): http://alsionline.org/;

• Professional Computer Association of Lebanon: www.pca.org.lb

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• Lebanese Incubator: www.biat.org

• Lebanese Incubator: www.southbic.org

• Loan Guarantee Company (strategic partner): www.kafalat.com.lb

References

The material for this case study was contributed by the former Communication & Business
Development Director and current Incubator Director, Mrs Tania Saba Mazraani. The information
above is extracted from firsthand experience and personal involvement in the development of the

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previously mentioned tools.

Contact details:
[email protected]

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Business Incubator Branding

Incubator Name: Business Incubator’s Branding Model by SODBI, Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Sector: Generalist Business Incubator
This Case Study Examines: The branding model of the incubator is its key to position itself in the
entrepreneurial landscape of the region.
Date: October 2009

PART I
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SUMMARY

Problem
In areas where the population is not aware of the concept of business incubation, a business incubator
may struggle to operate. Indeed, not being recognized and acknowledged by the population, the
incubator may be very limited in its actions, not being able to reach its target audience.

72 Solution
For the incubator to position itself in its market, it must define its own branding model. The brand of
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

the incubator must allow the population to:

• Recognize the incubator and its mission;

• Acknowledge its activities;

• Understand what the incubator can do for them; and

• Approach the incubator when they need business support.

PART II

Background

When starting its operations in April 2000, SODBI Business Incubator staff identified a major issue:
the population they aimed to support was not aware of the business incubation process and hence of
what SODBI could do for them.

The key challenge for the incubator was then to position itself in the market and make sure its target
audience was aware and would acknowledge its existence and activities.

1. SODBI Mission Statement, Objectives and Positioning:

1.1. Mission statement: SODBI Business Incubator strives to improve the economic situation of
Southern Kazakhstan through providing consistent support to small enterprises, start-ups, and
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innovative ideas, as well as the stimulation of entrepreneurial thinking and corporate social
responsibility.

1.2. System of objectives:

Mission • Stimulating the establishment

of new businesses
• Supporting small businesses
• Stimulating innovation development

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Positioning
• Knowledge
• Professionalism
• Innovative thinking

12 top goals • To be proactive within the city / region;

• Focus on client groups;
• Powerful and attractive product and services;
• Synergies amongst units, projects and products;
• Information management and databases; 73
• Effective system of commitments towards clients;
• Broad and positive awareness within the city / region;

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• Strong and effective organization system;
• Financial sustainability and success;
• Staff motivation and development;
• Strong regional and international networking; and
• Stimulation and building on functional networks.

1.3. Positioning mechanism of SODBI in South Kazakhstan: the graph below demonstrates how
the business incubator influences the economy of the southern region and small businesses
within.

The positioning is the key element of SODBI’s promotional communication and highly influences its
corporate identity.
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• KNOWLEDGE
- Information
- Methodology and Services
- Contacts and Networking

• PROFESSIONALISM

SUCCESS
• New clients, new projects
• Of a client
• "Multiplier effect"
• Of a business incubator
• Improvement of business ethics
• Of the projects
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GOOD PRACTICE

2. SODBI Target Groups:

74
All client companies are sub-divided into eight target groups (see table below).
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• By the sphere of activities into two groups (group A and group B).

Group A clients:

• Production

• Agriculture

• Technologies

• Tourism

• Subsidiary services to production, agriculture, technologies and tourism

• Workshops

Group B clients:
• Trade
• Public catering
• Service activities and other

• By maturity into four stages:

1 – Potential entrepreneurs
2 – Start ups
3 – Medium-maturity
4 – Mature companies
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A B

4 A4 B4 Mature

3 A3 B3 Medium-Maturity

2 A2 B2 Start-Ups

1 A1 B1 Potential Entrepreneurs

The priority groups for SODBI are companies from the A1-A3 groups. However, since the priority

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groups constitute less than 10% of the total market, considerable focus has been given to attracting
clients from all groups – A1-4 and B1-4. By taking this approach, SODBI can generate revenues
which it invests in the incubator’s development and services at favorable conditions to groups
A1-A3.

3. Clients’ management:
SODBI defined a standard practice for managing the clients at different stages of development.
The whole process starts with the attraction of the company, thanks to the incubator’s promotional 75
actions.

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Promoting and the 1st contact

BI Client (Rent, consulting, etc.)

Goal: efficient "system of commitments" towards the clients

4. Branding = the key element of SODBI’s marketing strategy:

4.1. Key challenges for SODBI:

• To raise awareness about incubation within the SME community (as the concept of
business incubation was relatively new in the Kazakhstani market): the main activities
were aimed at building trust in the incubator’s products and services among SMEs through
international cooperation, in particular with incubators from Poland (the Polish model of
incubation has been adapted in SODBI).
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• To raise awareness of SODBI’s mission and activities among government bodies (at local,
regional and national scales): positioning SODBI as an effective instrument to support the
business community (serving as a bridge between the local governments and SMEs in
order to address the local SMEs’ information and training needs).

• To raise awareness of SODBI among the donor community: positioning SODBI as a local
NGO focusing on SME development, well aware of the local needs, having strong links with
key decision-makers at local level and hence a valuable partner worth collaborating with.

• To promote SODBI among the mass media: building strong partnerships with local and
national media to be acknowledged and recognized as the contact point for expertise in
SME-related fields, and as the source of information about business-related activities and
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SME-oriented local events.

4.2. The answer = SODBI’s marketing strategy:

The main activities carried out by SODBI’s marketing team include:

• Market analysis;

• Strategic marketing plan development and modification;

76 • Monitoring and evaluation of promotional activities;

• Information gathering and dissemination of new product and services development;

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

• Development and implementation of the Corporate Identity System (including corporate

culture, corporate design, corporate behavior, corporate communications) and brand; and

• Advertisement and PR

4.3. SODBI’s branding objectives:

The brand is the key tool to enhance the information task of both internal (incubator employees,
project staff, etc.) and external target groups to strengthen SODBI’s outreach. The external
communication target groups also include potential donors and business development service
providers within regional and global incubator communities/ networks.

The specific objectives of SODBI’s branding include:

• A lean and effective Public Relations and Outreach structure requiring as little resources
as possible;

• Efficient internal/ external communication through branded instruments and channels;

and

• Raising awareness amongst the stakeholders’ community in order for SODBI to be

recognized and acknowledged as the business development service provider in the region.

Components of SODBI’s branding:

• Image: to achieve and to maintain a positive image amongst the key target groups;
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• Positioning: to act as and be recognized as a trustful and knowledgeable local partner

having strong international partnerships, information and knowledge about local
and international markets, implementing activities that improve the local business
environment.

• Awareness building: to widely disseminate activities implemented in cooperation with

local and international partners, as well as through partnerships with local, national and
electronic media.

4.4. SODBI’s branding instruments:

Information management:

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• Information and knowledge management database

• Intranet

• CRM System

Visual means:

• Corporate design

• Navigation system within the incubator territory 77

• Information stands

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

• Sign-board

Corporate website:

• Background information on the incubator

• Information about the incubator’s products and services

• Information on the incubator’s partners

• “Virtual business cards” for incubator residents

SODBI internal newsletter:

• Quarterly

• Internal PR towards staff and incubator residents

SODBI external (donor/partner) newsletter:

• Bi-annually/ needs basis

• Incubator news and publications

• Project summaries (case studies, reports, and so forth)

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Events:

• Local/regional working groups, round tables, conferences

• Competitions (such as a business plan competition, tenant of the year, etc.)

• Research publications (such as incubator benchmarking, market research, etc.)

Print:

• Press folder (brief)

• Information lists/ Fact sheets

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• Flyers (Printing is done within synergies with events)

Press:

• Events

• Press folder

• Press releases

78 • Publications

Direct promoting:
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

• Personal contacts/ meetings

• “word-of-mouth” information

Timeline of Events

• 1999: Director Kairat Sugurbekov studies business incubator concepts in Poland and Germany.

• April 2000: SODBI business incubator officially starts operating on the basis of the Polish model.

• 2000-2002: the Business Incubator building is reconstructed and the information resource center
is set-up with GTZ, EURASIA Foundation and SOROS Foundation Kazakhstan‘s support.

• September 2002: official opening of the reconstructed building of the business Incubator on
Zhandosov Street, Shymkent.

• September 2002: SODBI business incubator organizes and hosts the 2nd International Conference
on Business Incubation in Central Asia.

• January 2003: SOROS Foundation Kazakhstan awards the business incubator a grant to reconstruct
the premises on the adjoining area for production space, equal to 1,000 square meters.

• June 2003: SODBI business incubator wins World Bank infoDev grant competition along with co-
funding from SOROS and EURASIA.
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Outcome and Conclusions

SODBI has achieved the following up to 2009:

• Hosts 32 tenants with over 450 employees;

• Establishes a local partners’ network (government/ NGO/ academia);

• Establishes a national partners’ network (government/ NGO/ incubator);

• Level of overall awareness within the target audience in the region is 83% whereas 20% are well
aware of the organization; and

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• 72% of respondents treat SODBI as a source of business consulting services, 30% - supporting
SMEs through provision of office and production space, 20% - supporting SMEs with searching for
finance, 14% - training for small business, 10% - supporting innovation development. More than
70% of respondents have indicated a high level of trust in SODBI.*

* (according to the most recent research “Consulting and training services market within the Southern Kazakhstan
region”, performed by BISAM Central Asia, September 2009)

79

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Links

• SODBI website:
Http://www.sodbi.kz/php/modules.php?name=main&menu_id=0&newlang=2&lm_img_flag=0

• SODBI infoDev profile: http://www.idisc.net/en/Incubator.36.html

References

The material for this case study was contributed by the project manager, Mrs Tatyana Shpuling.

Contact details:
Telephone: +7 (7252) 48 95 78
Fax: +7 (7252) 48 90 19
E-mail: [email protected]
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A New Approach to Promoting an Incubator

Incubator Name: in.Q.ba Formación de Emprendedores

Sector: General
This Case Study Examines: How in.Q.ba promotes a new approach of business incubation in Mexico
Date: October 2009

PART I
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Summary

Problem
In a challenging business environment where entrepreneurship is only really considered when one is
unemployed or retired, and the survival rate of enterprises is low, a business incubator might not have
a sufficiently positive image for its target audience.

80 Solution
A strong and innovative marketing strategy aims to effectively communicate the right message and
attract the right target audience, ready to change their mindset and approach business incubation
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

differently, such as adopting a business success oriented approach.

PART II

Background

Following market research in Mexico, it was identified that the business support services were mainly
provided by universities and institutions, of which only a minority implemented training as a support
service for entrepreneurs.

In 2008, a new business incubator was established in Mexico with the aim of reducing the percentage
of Mexico-based companies that are only in existence for a maximum of 5 years. In fact, at the time,
95% of Mexico-based companies did not survive more than 5 years. Hence, in.Q.ba presents itself
as an alternative to the current business support services to provide more effective coaching to new
businesses and entrepreneurs.

The team from in.Q.ba believed in a different business support approach based on three elements:

• Courses

• Coaching

• Incubation
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This represents a “facility for coaching and mentoring” that contributes to the acquisition of knowledge,
abilities and attitudes needed for creating and developing successful businesses, in particular via a
close relationship with business owners and entrepreneurs contributing to the program by providing
coaches, mentors, or hosting trainees in their structures.

in.Q.ba focused on what it considered the key issue which was to change the mindset of the whole
population, with a focus on high school pupils in order to enhance their entrepreneurial culture and
skills.

In this regard, in.Q.ba implemented an efficient innovative marketing strategy to raise awareness

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among the population and get the right message through.

1. To raise awareness:
in.Q.ba displayed messages on the city’s billboards.

81

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

“You can get there – you just have to ‘entrepreneur’ your way there”

2. To communicate the message:

The second campaign displayed on the city’s billboard was an answer to the first one, giving the
solution to the questions the first campaign may have raised within the population.
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82
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

“In-Q-bate your destiny – Study Creation & Management of Companies!”

“Entrepreneurship is written with a Q (from In-Q-bator)”

“Study Creation& Management of Companies!”
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3. To communicate the offer:

For the third campaign, the offer of further study / degrees, was presented clearly and displayed
using various types of communication channels.

Bill board:

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83

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

“Studying to be an entrepreneur? Only in an In-Q-bator!”
“Degrees in Creation & Management of Companies!”

Brochure with more details of the courses which are run by the Incubator:
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Poster:
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84
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

“The training of an entrepreneur never ends…”

“Degrees in Franchising Development, Family Business Management, and Strategic Sales for SMEs.” “Training in
Innovation for Companies Growth”

E-mail:

“The training of an entrepreneur never ends… “

“Courses in a variety of subjects:”
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Timeline of Events

• April 2008: Development of in.Q.ba’s Business Plan.

• August 2008: Setting up of the business incubator.

• December 2008: First promotional campaign.

• January 2009: Start of incubation operation (59 entrepreneurs registered for the courses
offered).

• February 2009: Second promotional campaign.

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• May 2009: Third promotional campaign.

• December 2009: 162 entrepreneurs participated in the incubation program, including coaching
sessions.

Outcome and Conclusions

By implementing an innovative and attractive marketing strategy in 3 steps, in.Q.ba managed to 85

raise awareness within the population and begin changing the population’s mindset to enhance the
entrepreneurial spirit and skills of the potential entrepreneurs in Mexico.

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

PART III

Links

• in.Q.ba website: http://www.inqba.org.mx/

• Article: http://www.elartedelosnegocios.com/2009/09/inqba-formacion-de-emprendedores/

• Article: http://noticias.pateandopiedras.com/?p=30726

• Article:
http://www.negocius.com.mx/inqba-dictara-diplomado-en-desarrollo-de-franquicias_wv1708.
html

• Article:
http://www.tormo.com.mx/noticias/1951/In.Q.ba_anuncia_diplomado_en_desarrollo_de_
franquicias_a_partir_del_11_de_septiembre_.html

• Article :
http://www.comunicacionsocial.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article
&id=32766%3A64-de-la-poblacion-ocupada-en-puebla-labora-en-mipymes&Itemid=11
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References

The material for this case study was contributed by the team from in.Q.ba.

Contact details:
Ms Paola Ochoa
[email protected]
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86
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
Bibliography

www.infodev.org
www.idisc.net
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Content References

Booms, B. and M. Bitner, 7-Ps Extended Marketing Mix

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_booms_bitner_7Ps.html

Entrepreneur Media Inc.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

European Business & Innovation Centre Network

http://www.ebn.be/

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infoDev
http://www.infodev.org

infoDev - An ICT Center and Business Incubator for Mozambique: Stakeholder meeting held in Maputo
http://www.idisc.net/en/Article.38627.html

infoDev - The Global Network

89
http://www.idisc.net/en/IncubatorsMap.html#

International Finance Corporation (IFC), Business Edge:

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

http://www.businessedge-me.com/cms.php?id=about_be_what_is_business_edge

International Finance Corporation (IFC), SMEToolkit – Develop your website marketing plan
http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/content/en/551/Develop-Your-Web-Site-Marketing-
Plan

International Finance Corporation (IFC), SMEToolkit – Email, Web Marketing

http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/category/950/Email-Web-Marketing

International Finance Corporation (IFC), SMEToolkit – How to Network Effectively

http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/content/en/894/How-to-Network-Effectively

International Finance Corporation (IFC), SMEToolkit – Public Relations

http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/category/954/Public-Relations

International Finance Corporation (IFC), SMEToolkit - Trade Shows

http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/category/956/Trade-Shows

Kotler, P.; Armstrong, P.; Wong, V.; Saunders, J.; Principles of marketing (5th ed.), Pearson Education
Limited, 2008, p. 7

McCarthy, E.J.; Perreault, W. E. Jr; Basic Marketing, 11th ed; Irwin, Boston, 1993; p 9
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National Business Incubation Association

http://www.nbia.org/

PIXELearning Limited, Coventry Innovation Village, UK

http://www.pixelearning.com/

Rensselaer Polytechnic University, Incubation Program, Troy, New York:

http://www.incubator.com/

The Associated Press, 2010 AP Style Book, AP Books

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http:// www.apstylebook.com

Suggested Further Reading

Beckwith, Harry (1997) - Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing, New York: Warner
Books

90 Colbert, Corinne (2997) - A Practical Guide to Business Incubator Marketing, Athens, Ohio: NBIA
Publications
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Goldstein J., Noah, Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini (2008) - Yes! : 50 scientifically proven ways to be
persuasive, New York: Free Press

Kim, W. Chan and Renée Mauborgne (2005) - Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market
Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press

Kotler, Philip (1984) - Marketing for Non-profit Organizations, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall

Lenthorne, Tony and Philip Kotler (2008) - Principles of Marketing, 12th Edition, Upper Saddle River,
N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall

Levinsion, Jay Conrad (1998) - Guerrilla Marketing, Completely Revised and Updated Third Edition,
New York: Houghton Mifflin

McKenna, Regis (1991) - Relationship Marketing: Successful Strategies for the Age of the Customer,
Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Publishing Company

Ries, Al and Jack Trout (1986) - Bottom-Up Marketing, New York: McGraw Hill Inc.

Ries, Al and Jack Trout (1986) - Marketing Warfare, New York: McGraw Hill Inc.

Ries, Al and Laura Ries (2000) - The 11 immutable laws of Internet branding, New York: Harper Business
Annex 1:

Berytech Technology and

Health Marketing Plan

www.infodev.org
www.idisc.net
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I. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Berytech Technology and Health (BTH) has been created to provide support for start-ups and
developing enterprises.

Berytech Technology and Health business goals are:

• To provide hosting services to SMEs;

• To provide business advice and training services to their client SMEs;

• To focus on the following catchments areas: Beirut and suburbs; and

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• To position itself competitively by applying market rate prices for hosting (in addition to the
provision of added-value services offered in addition to hosting) and under market average rates
for the business support services provided to their clients.

1. PERCEPTION OF BTH
Thanks to the previous experience with Berytech, BTH is well recognized as a center that hosts and
supports entrepreneurs.

92 However “virtual incubation” such as support services to entrepreneurs located outside the Business
Development Center (BDC) is not yet acknowledged. BTH is recognized locally as well as internationally
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

by Lebanese people around the world thanks to its website.

BTH is acknowledged by NGOs and public authorities as a reference for SME support, but there is a
misunderstanding amongst a segment of the public that BTH provides property services.

2. POTENTIAL CLIENTS
2.1. Mid-career executives whose needs can be answered by BTH, such as:
a) A location from where to start up a business;
b) Moral and technical support to do so; and
c) Access to financing.

Factors influencing their decision are:

a) Features of BTH space (different sizes for different needs);
b) The business center (meeting rooms, IT equipment, etc.);
c) Trust that there is added value in being hosted or associated with Berytech;
d) Availability of on-site and tailor-made advice and support; and
e) Possibility for networking.
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2.2. Existing SMEs aiming to relocate in a stimulating environment or looking for advice to develop
their business.

Factors influencing their decision are:

• Features of BTH space (different sizes for different needs);
• The business center (meeting rooms, IT equipment, etc.);
• Trust that there is added value in being hosted or associated with Berytech;
• Availability of on-site and tailor-made advice and support; and
• Possibility for networking.

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2.3. Graduates with projects offering potential. They need to validate the commercial viability
of their project and they also need hosting, moral support, entrepreneurial skills, access to
stakeholders and funding.

Factors influencing their decision are:

• The possibility to be hosted or even subsidized – low cost access to business space;
• The access to business advice and training as well as networking through Berytech; and
• The credibility that Berytech validating their projects brings to them.
93

04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

3. COMPETITION
There is no competition to date in terms of a BDC that provides hosting premises and business support
services to entrepreneurs. However there could be 2 types of indirect competition:
• Executive business spaces (Regus, Dora Gate, Liberty Tower) that provide hosting with certain
services; and
• Business consultants at large who provide business advice services.

However both are very difficult to access for start-ups due to the associated costs.

4. STRENGTHS
BTH has four years of experience in the incubation and entrepreneurship process obtained via
Berytech. The management team states: “We know the product and we know the market. We have
an established network (universities, private companies, counselors, and other strategic allies of the
BDC) that we can draw in our operation. We understand the needs of entrepreneurs and try to address
them. We offer comprehensive services and spaces tailor-made to the needs of growing start-ups
(from hot desk to self-contained modules). We have meeting and conference spaces that allow for
networking, training and conferencing, therefore creating a dynamic hub around our center.”

5. OPPORTUNITIES
The SME Unit from the Ministry provides BTH’s team with capacity building opportunities by
contracting short term and long term experts. The SME Unit also supports the BDC by providing the
BDC’s team and their client SMEs with counseling services.
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There is more and more public and international (NGOs) interest in supporting SMEs, hence the
opportunity to fund and provide support to more entrepreneurs. Berytech can rely on the background
of its first incubator operations and present ties with the EU-funded SME program to funnel or channel
some of these funds so that they reach their client SMEs.

The incubator raises and fosters awareness on the subject of entrepreneurship thanks also to other
programs (Bader, MIT business plan competition, etc.). The MIT Arab Business Plan Competition is
designed to encourage all entrepreneurs in the region to start their own company and, ultimately,
create a nest of leading firms in the Arab world. It also brings to the Arab world all the MIT expertise
in entrepreneurship and in running such competitions. The equivalent of the MIT Arab Business Plan
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Competition in Boston is called the MIT 50K Entrepreneurship Competitions and has created a number
of leading firms and thousands of jobs (www.mitarabcompetition.com/aboutmit.php).

The incubator enhances the capacity of SMEs to grow and survive by catering to international markets.

There is a strong interest among expatriates to return to Lebanon to bring in new technologies, ideas
and means. They have strong linkages with export markets – and, given local political instability, there
is high interest in export markets.
94
Berytech is setting up its own seed fund to finance promising start-ups.
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

6. THREATS
• Political instability hindering local and foreign investment
• Lack of deal flow
• Desire of graduates and young executives to find job placements abroad
• Lack of confidence in independent support structures such as BDCs

7. UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION

BTH is the only SME support structure that can provide physical and virtual incubation in Beirut and
the region.

BTH has a not-for-profit mission to support as many entrepreneurs and SMEs as possible and offer the
following features:
• Managed work space from hot-desking to self contained modules
• Business center
• Formal and informal meeting places
• Broadband internet access at subsidized rates
• In-house business advisors
• Access to independent and international experts through the SME support unit
• Periodic training and conferences
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• Networking to favor interaction among peers, potential business partners, local and international
business community
• Access to funding: Kafalat, seed-fund, etc.
• Access to incubation grants from own funds and from partners
• Access to technical assistance through other NGO support programs (IESC http://www.iesc.org/;
USAID http://www.usaid.gov/; ELCIM http://elcim-lb.org/, etc.)
• Access to a network of BDCs in Bekaa, Tripoli and Saida

This array of comprehensive services is beyond the reach and capacities of competitors who remain
space providers or consultants proposing above market rate prices for their services.

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II. COMMUNICATION /MARKETING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

• To create awareness about BTH in Beirut and the services provided for both hosting companies
and business support services
• To explain to potential entrepreneurs the concept of incubation/ incubators and their benefits
95
• To promote BDC as a center of entrepreneurship excellence, which will also impact positively on
the tenant (credibility, visibility, etc)

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• To promote entrepreneurship as an alternative to employment

These communication goals need to bring about the following changes in attitude:
• BTH would like their target audience to overcome any inhibitions about contacting the incubator
by phone or through a visit, in order to enquire about the services provided.
• To convince potential entrepreneurs that this BDC is the best environment to start up their
business.
• To convince potential clients that seeking the BDC’s counsel will bring added value to their
business.
• To convince young, qualified Lebanese people to become entrepreneurs and bring added value/
business to the country.
• To overcome the suspicions of entrepreneurs who often believe that:
a) In Lebanon there are no high ethical standards/ no opportunities;
b) The incubator might steal their ideas; and
c) There must be a non communicated interest from the BDC that might prejudice the company
in the future (e.g. stealing of IP).

These communication goals need to bring about the following changes in behavior:
• To generate a substantial number of inquiries per week – in 2006, the number of enquiries was
of 1/ week. A target of at least 5 inquiries/ week was set for the end of 2007.
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• To attract entrepreneurs to business advice services: to provide at least 8 hours of counseling/

week.
• To attract at least 10 start-ups for incubation/ year.
• To support about 50 structures (project, start-up, SME) overall during their first 3 operating years.
• To mobilize those from Lebanon across the world, to involve their networks and incite expatriates
to:
a) Establish outsourcing centers in Lebanon;
b) Provide linkages to foreign markets; and
c) Provide counseling services to local SMEs.
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1. TARGET GROUPS
• Primary

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS AS FAR AS THEY ARE

WHO ARE THEY?
CONCERNED?
Executives in existing companies locally and in the
To think of entrepreneurship as an alternative to employment/
Lebanese population across the world (between
96 exile. To stop the brain drain. To incite them to take the leap of
27 – 35 years old) who have experience, personal
setting up their own business.
funds and desire to establish their own company
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To establish high value companies in the health sector (high

Doctors/ executives in the health sector
potential sector).
To encourage them to grow beyond their borders and their
SMEs offering added value products/ services
potential. To think of ways to improve what they are currently
looking to expand and grow
doing and how they are doing it.
To consider Lebanon as a destination for outsourcing. To bring
Entrepreneurs from Lebanon across the world their technical know-how home to participate in the capacity
building process.

University graduates from technology/

To take a direct route to entrepreneurship without going
engineering/ business school owners of projects
through employment.
with commercial success potential

To encourage them to take an active role in the professional

Women in all of the above criteria
world. To become entrepreneurs.
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• Secondary

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS AS FAR AS THEY ARE

WHO ARE THEY?
CONCERNED?
Stakeholders in the Lebanese economy: banks,
To become advocates for the support of SMEs, to enact
chambers of commerce and industry, ministries,
favorable measures for SMEs.
etc.
To direct their students to the incubator. To collaborate with
Faculty staff in Universities them on projects. To detect entrepreneurs amongst the
students.
NGOs managing support programs for Lebanon

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in general and SMEs in particular; trade attachés To provide funds, technical assistance, aid programs where
in foreign consulates on the forefront of all aid applicable to SMEs benefiting from the incubator’s services.
programs dedicated to Lebanese SMEs
Policy makers in relevant ministries (Ministry of To promote favorable policies for SMEs and the commercial
Finance, Ministry of Economy & Trade, Ministry interests of SMEs abroad. To provide market openings for
of Industry, etc.) SMEs through government lobbying.

2. IMAGE & PERSONALITY OF THE BUSINESS INCUBATOR

97
BTH needs to communicate its position of being “the place to go” for business support. Features /
messages are designed to foster the entrepreneur’s confidence in “what BTH can do for you” and

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inspire “trust that your ideas and company are safe with BTH.”

The communication will be implemented through strong statements / promises / benefits to be

expected. The choice of words, images, layouts, etc. is crucial to communicate BTH’s key messages.
Some examples include:
• “You are in good hands”
• “Your ideas are safe with us”
• “We can help you meet your goal”
• “We know your needs”
• “We have the structure, resources and know how to train you and advise you properly”
• “We host companies in the forefront of technology, services, etc.”
• “Come in anytime, call, email. We will respond to you.”
• “Don’t be afraid to ask”
• “You can test the worthiness of your ideas/ business plan with us/ our experts”
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3. KEY MESSAGES
BTH IS YOUR LOCATION & GATEWAY TO ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS
In the sub-message for these different target groups, BTH is using the following strategies:
• BTH describe their infrastructure, know-how and the services offered to hosted or virtual
incubatees.
• BTH encourage entrepreneurs and SMEs to access their services through incubation grants
(which subsidize their hosting, training, counselling, etc.) and the competitive advantage of getting
access to high standard business advice at subsidized rates.
• At the media level, BTH regularly publish and broadcast their activities aimed at training,
informing, lobbying or networking.
TRAINEE MANUAL PART 1

• For product/ service advertising, BTH describe their dynamic, service orientated environment
which allows hosted tenants to benefit from the synergy and networking opportunities created.
For virtual clients, the emphasis is on the availability of a broad range of services/ expertise in one
shop.
• Emotionally BTH underlines the importance for Lebanese entrepreneurs to stay in Lebanon
and create added value and jobs for the local economy. BTH also stresses that they are on the
entrepreneurs’ side, accompanying them during the crucial early years of company creation and
98 operations. To illustrate this statement, BTH use the success figures for accompanied companies
vs. unaccompanied ones.
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

4. CHANNELS AND ACTIVITIES

Below is a table showing each activity undertaken, as well as the scope, target audience and staff
member in charge of the task.
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Business Incubator Operations

MEDIA TARGET AUDIENCES KEY MESSAGES/CONTENT OBJECTIVE

To communicate its position as “the place to go” for business

Corporate design All stakeholders Professional image and recognizable identity
support
To inform about services and activities.
Comprehensive information about the mission, role and features of the To persuade visitors to contact BTH.
All stakeholders, especially potential clients
Website business incubator. It emphasizes the services that can be provided and To highlight the importance of BTH as a key economic player
locally and among the Diaspora
keeps visitors up to date with the news and activities for SMEs

Logo with a description of BTH’s role and mission have been posted
Promotion of website
on partners websites such as Bader (www.baderlebanon.com),
through banners, features All stakeholders and potential clients To entice visitors’ curiosity and direct them to BTH’s to website
Saradar Foundation (www.fondationsaradar.org), Netcommerce
etc. on all partner websites
http://www.netcommerce.com.lb)
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

To familiarize entrepreneurs with all aspects of business. To

Through capacity building, entrepreneurs can acquire the skills required
Workshops Client groups enhance their skills in crucial areas: finance, Human Resources
and enhance chances of success. 99
management, marketing, etc.
Stakeholders, potential clients and existing Information and tips about how audiences can improve the way they do To promote BTH as recognized experts and leaders in the
Expert appearances
clients business. business community.
To encourage clients to think of BTH as a very informed
source of useful information. To tell clients that we know their
Conferences, workshops, tips, relevant economic news, promotion from
Direct e-mailings Potential and existing clients needs and that BTH caters for them by channeling important
partner organizations, etc.
information, organizing conferences of relevance to them,
etc.
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Media relations 1. Role and importance of BTH for the local economy To raise broad awareness of BTH aims.
(press briefings, press General public, potential beneficiaries, key 2. Success stories, human interest stories To encourage target groups to learn more and resort to
conferences, releases, press economical and political actors figures 3. New economic trends, etc. services.
packs) 4. Activities of BTH To create an impact at policy level.
To draw attention to the BDC’s development milestones, high-profile
To inform people of important milestones and achievements
events are organized to which high level representatives of all stakeholders
High profiles events and encourage stakeholders to lean more.
General public, stakeholders, potential are invited (Ministers, Ambassadors, key economic players, policy makers,
(BDC official launch, Attract aid programs.
clients companies’ CEOs, etc). The events use visual and other materials to draw
entrepreneurship events) To reach policy makers.
attention to the opportunities and encourage potential beneficiaries to
learn more.
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Business Incubator Operations

5. WORK PLAN (EXAMPLE)

NR ACTION EVALUATION TASK DEADLINE

INDICATIVE
PERFORMED
BUDGET OUTPUTS OUTCOMES 1 QR 2 QR 3 QR 4 QR
BY
Central Information tools
Development of Corporate design Visibility guidelines properly used and materials and
Visibility guidelines developed and
1 and printed material, building signage $9,000 activities readily recognized by clients. (recognition as per TS X
used in all materials
internally and externally survey results)
Nr of hits
Website in place and regularly
Nr of downloads
2 Development of Web site $5,000 updated TS/HA X
Level of perceived usefulness from stakeholders/clients (as
Web address widely promoted
per survey)
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Regularity and comprehensiveness Client groups are always responding to up-to-date and
3 Maintaining and updating the website $1,000/yr TS/HA X X X X
of updates current offers, messages.
100
1 Corporate brochure Survey results indicating level of familiarity with and
4 Information material (Brochure) $3,900 TS X X
1 Informational leaflet perceived usefulness/influence of brochures
Posters, Outdoor panels, exhibition Recall of ads
5 Advertising $10,000/yr TS X X X X
material Reaction to ads (as indicated in survey)
1 press release/term; 2press
Nr of potential beneficiaries who have seen materials and
conferences/year 1 interview
were encouraged to learn more (survey).
every two months in TV show/
6 Media relations Nr of members of public who can recall seeing stories TS/MNC X X X X
daily or monthly; regular interview
about BDCs and have formed a favorable opinion.
TRAINEE MANUAL PART 1

with entrepreneurs and features

published.
Nr. of persons who have seen/heard speaker and learned
Number of appearances; popularity, more/formed a favorable attitude/or been encouraged
7 Guest/expert appearances influence of forum amongst target to contact BTH as a result of appearance. (survey results/ MNC/NR X X X X
groups applications sheet indicating this as source of info about
BDC)
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Business Incubator Operations

NR ACTION EVALUATION TASK DEADLINE

INDICATIVE
PERFORMED
BUDGET OUTPUTS OUTCOMES 1 QR 2 QR 3 QR 4 QR
BY
Central Information tools
8 Professional and career exhibitions $6000 NR/TS X X
Annual survey of key targets to assess
knowledge of, attitude towards and
Survey of the intended audience
experience of BTH and its services Nr. of persons who know BTH, are willing to use their
9 $2,000 during trade shows, events, or TS/GM X X X X
and of exposure to and perceived services
through targeted mailing
usefulness of different types of
information activities
To ask people who contacted
Information indicating source of
10 BTH about the source of their Defining channels of information that work best for BTH. TS/GM X X X X
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

knowledge about BTH.

information.
Source of requests for information
11 Defining channels of information that work best for BTH. TS and team X X X X 101
(web, meetings, shows, etc)
To develop evaluation report
To test and refine marketing Focus on channels that work best, identify new/innovative
12 and recommendations for future TS/NR/MNC X X X X
strategies, discard failed attempts ones
marketing plans
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Annex 2:

What’s in a Press Kit

and Press Release?

www.infodev.org
www.idisc.net
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Business Incubator Operations

I. What’s in a press kit?

When preparing a press kit make sure to include all of the following items:
• Your business card
• Fact sheet with basic info: one page (preferably), a maximum of two pages.
• Your brochure if available
• List of clients/ partners
• Your press release
• A page of client testimonials
TRAINEE MANUAL PART 1

• Reprints of magazine articles about your services

• Photos

II. What’s in a press release?

The press release should include the following elements:

104 • Current date
• Date for release
04 MARKETING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

• Contact info of the person who prepared the release or the marketing manager
• Headline
• Introduction (1st paragraph & summary – basic facts)
• Body: make sure it is newsworthy
• Closing: restate the main point or news, tie it to the headline.
infoDev
c/o the World Bank Group
1818 H Street
Washington DC 20433
USA

www.idisc.net
www.infodev.org/businessincubation

[email protected]