5 Tips For An Amazing Trade Show Video

Humans are internally wired to notice movement. In fact, vision is the most sophisticated of the human senses with 65% of us being visual learners. This is a compelling reason to use video at your next trade show to broadcast your message and grab the attention of potential buyers. 

Because the trade show video is developed to cut through the clutter, it’s different from videos that are produced for corporate presentations or commercials. It calls for the creation of a concise message that’s delivered quickly while capturing the crowd’s attention and curiosity. Thinking about using a video for your next trade show? Here are five tips.

1.    Be visually engaging. A well-designed trade show video has only seconds to grab the attention of passers-by. So make it heard against the noise of the crowd and the PA system, make it interesting enough to engage the prospect’s attention, and long enough to deliver your message.

2.    Keep it simple.  Use just music and visuals. That trade show din is why you don’t want a narrative. You just want music with lively graphics integrated into relevant content and text on-screen. This is not the place for how-to detail, which is best on a tablet with a salesperson. This is the place for a high-level introduction to your company’s solution.

3.    Keep it short and snappy; repeat. Nobody is going to spend five minutes watching your video while standing in a crowd. So keep it short; one to two minutes’ tops. Also, remember that your audience doesn’t all arrive at the same start time, so the video should loop.

4.    Make it viewable from a distance. Your monitors should be mounted above head height in your booth so that people standing in front don’t block the view for others. A winning scenario is a video on several monitors, attracting viewers into the booth, where your sales team can intercept them.

5.    Use and reuse it. Maximize your investment of time and money to capture as many leads as possible by using your video before, during, and after the event.

•  Before the show, provide a link to it in your email invitations. Publish the show information on a landing page where customers can sign up for special offers or schedule a meeting with your sales team. Drive to this page from every one of your social channels like your LinkedIn company page, and pages on your website, for example. Obviously, your landing page should include your company name, the show’s name, and booth number which all helps with online search (SEO).
•  At the booth, the video is the draw. It intrigues your audience from a distance and up close delivers your company's main message. It's a conversation starter for your salespeople who can give your visitors a USB Memory Stick that includes the video with a complimentary white paper or special offer.
•  After the event, leave a smart impression. Create an email for your customers (versioned for those who attended and who didn’t), with links to the video on your company’s site. For prospects that missed your booth, you may want to send a letter or email that incorporates a message from a selected salesperson along with a special offer.

Video delivers information in a fascinating, eye-catching, and understandable form. At a trade show, a professional video can intrigue and prime your audience to discover more about your company and product. The effectiveness of video is determined by how it’s planned and used. When strategically designed and deployed, video can be an effective method to engage your prospects, drive sales and help ensure that you get the most return out of your trade show investment. 

For some more tips check out this great article from Michael Brenner, Hey Event Organizers: Here are 30 Tips To Rock Your Next Event!

John Lennon's Lost Molar

A dentist bought a molar for over $30,000 at an auction in 2011. What’s so special about this particular molar is that it belonged to John Lennon and the dentist, Michael Zuk, has big plans for this bit of discolored ivory.  He plans to extract DNA from the tooth.  His objective is to clone the legendary musician, as reported in the Guardian.

The story behind this famous molar unfolds like a Gary Larson Far Side cartoon, when in the mid 1960’s, John Lennon reportedly gave the extracted tooth to his housekeeper.  She in turn, gifted it to her daughter, a big Beatles’ fan.  It stayed in the family until November 2011 when it was sold at auction.

At the time of the auction, the tooth was reportedly too fragile to be DNA tested to confirm that it actually belonged to Lennon.  But as reported by Rolling Stone, the owner of the Omega Auction House which listed the item, verified that because it was coming from Dot Jarlett, Lennon’s housekeeper, there was no doubt about its authenticity.  British housekeepers are evidently legendary for their honesty as well as making great crumpets.

This isn't the first time the dental industry has imposed itself on the affairs of the late Beatle.  Paste Magazine reports, that it was George Harrison’s dentist who, perhaps like Quinn the Eskimo, first introduced the two Beatles, and their wives, to LSD when he added the drug into their coffee cups during a dinner party (Strawberry Fields Forever).

From Lennon’s Tooth to a Lennon

As far as the cloning is concerned, the question is, can it be done?  The answer is yes.  The procedure was first illustrated by a Brit, John Gurdon using frogs; just about the time the Beatles began their career.  Later, in the 1990s, Ian Wilmut of Edinburgh used a similar technique to clone a sheep.  So cloning technology is available and standardized.  The clone of Lennon, produced today, would be genetically the same Beatle, John Lennon.  Still the process is like walking on thin ice.

Setting aside the ethical controversy related to human cloning, there are some additional obstacles. First is the fact that John Lennon was more than a product of his parents.  His experience, education, environment – these all influenced the development of his character, his talents and the legacy he left us.

Second, there are the tricky tasks in preparing for the actual cloning procedure, like harvesting DNA from the tooth, converting tissue cells into stem cells and then transforming those cells into a re-born Lennon.

In light of all of this you’d think the molar owner and dentist, Michael  Zuk, would be dissuaded.  But he remains fixed on his goal, saying that he hopes to “fully sequence” Lennon’s DNA.  He’s seeking headlines by putting out a press release and launching a website revealing that this ambitious dream might just be one of the “best decisions of my (his) life.”

Making a Good Decision

Are you looking to make a good decision about marketing your business?  Give me a call and let's discuss your current efforts and look for additional ways for you to break through the clutter and get noticed by the consumers you want. Contact me today (marion.guthrie@gmail.com).

This blog was originally written by me and published on AFPD Insurance for Professionals' site.

I checked for updates on the status of this cloning endeavor on 11/29/2016, but the most recent is simply a recap of this information by the Washington Times.

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Lost Your Keys? 3-D Printing to the Rescue!

 

For those folks who habitually lose their keys, an insurance company and an advertising agency, both based in Belgium, have partnered to rollout a new service called Key Save.  The brain child of DVV Insurance and its agency Happiness Brussels, Key Save makes good use of specially adapted 3D scanning procedures to capture your key’s image and store it for downloading when your key-loss-disaster strikes.    

Like any good preventative measure, pre-planning or should we say, pre-scanning, is involved.  Once you’ve signed up for the program, they give you of a date and place where you come with keys in hand.  At the session, every pre-registered individual is provided with a certain number of scans. 

The scans are stored in digital form (.stl) in a cloud-based “super secure server, where cyber ninja’s will protect them from any possible kind of theft”, according to the FAQ’s on the Keysave web site.  Once the scan is stored, you can download it from your pc or mobile device using your special user name and password.

Key Save will roll out in September. Of course there are alternatives like keeping an extra set of keys at your Mom’s or hiding them in your garage in the tool box, but 3-D printing is such a cool method of being prepared.

keysave.be / Your keys are always here. from stuffcore on Vimeo.

Source: Advertising Age, Creativity-Online.com,  

Marketing is Like Cooking?

In a cabin by a forest, cooking with quail eggs got me to thinking....

How is marketing like cooking? Well, are you preparing coq au vin or hot dogs?  It depends, doesn't it, on who you're feeding and what's the occasion.  Then sometimes you want to try something new, and other times you combine new elements with traditional ones. Regardless there's a lot of careful determination of past successes, evaluation of viable methods and ingredients, weighing of your audience's preferences, and the actual preparation which includes dicing and simmering (analytics with creative).

As often as you're hungry, you'll be conjuring a meal so you'll be cooking (or choosing a resource for the production of your next meal, a gourmet restaurant perhaps?) at least daily. This planning takes an enthusiastic attitude, which gets you through the tedious parts, like scrubbing data and waiting for results to boil while it drives inspired strategy.  Of course, planning also involves research, evaluation, product selection, project timing, goal setting and schedules, especially if there are other cooks in the kitchen.

Don't forget, at the end to look around the table at your audience, examine their reactions and answer this; "Would you do it again and what would you do differently?"  All these factors play into the execution of a memorable and actionable result. Marketing and cooking, done right, both are planned carefully, done daily and filled with measurement, artistry, and passion.

Viral Bait: Infographics

Infographics are everywhere. You find them on blogs, websites, press releases, social networks, even the weather report. These colorfully illustrated charts break down data into simple pictures and turn complex information into easy-to-understand symbols. By making the difficult digestible (and sometimes fun), infographics catch the attention of your audience. Just as importantly, Google loves them and will reward their delivery with top search rankings.

Their story starts in late February 2011, when Google made a strategic change to their search algorithm in an attempt to stop the use of content farms from manipulating search results. The purpose of the algorithm, called Panda, was to ensure better rankings for high-quality websites that delivered original content, like in-depth research and data reporting. From this evolved the need for websites to improve content in order to deliver higher search rankings and the infographic was born. 

Adding to the infographic’s growing popularity, the following year, in April 2012, Google’s Penguin algorithm was released. Penguin decreases the rankings of websites that buy links from link farms or directories, offer irrelevant content, or worst, employ black-hat SEO (deceptive SEO techniques like using hidden text). 

How your website ranks in Google search results has a big impact on your bottom line. Smart marketers want their sites to perform well with the current Panda and Penguin search algorithms. How? Well, the saying “content is king” has never been truer. Google’s Panda algorithm must "believe" that you are adding valuable content to the web for your site to rank well. So you need to focus on creating good, unique content that viewers will want to share. One way is by using infographics. 

Also something like 65% of us are visual learners and this visual attribute is the reason for their inherent viral potential. Even better than a picture, when you add an infographic to your content, especially one that contains interesting data or challenges your audience’s world view, it makes your topic more relevant and engaging, increasing the chance that your reader will share that graphic across the web.

Here are some examples from Creative Blog with a list of 60 Brilliant Infographics. Another fun example from Visual.ly provides you with a free tool on their website that takes your Twitter profile and turns it into an infographic in 30 seconds. Give it a try at http://visual.ly/twitter.  

If you design and use an infographic, remember that its viral capacity may remove it from your website. This means that you’ll lose your branding. So expect that to happen and be prepared. Like a dog without a collar, you don’t want your infographic to get lost on the Internet with no one knowing it belongs to you. 

Are there any infographics that you've seen recently that caught your eye? Share your thoughts in the comments. Here’s one that inspired this post. It’s from NowSourcing on The State of Infographics.

My post was originally published on Talent Zoo's Digital Pivot.

Stop Blogging, 5 Things Will Happened...

Updating Your Website? Think Mobile.

Why? Because for most of us earthlings, there's just no other way to get to the Internet except via our mobile phones. In fact, "more than a third of the people in the US don't have Internet access at home, but nine out of ten have a mobile phone," Olof Schybergson writes in a recent Fortune article. And of those mobile owners, he estimates that about a third use their phones to access the Internet. If you need more proof, Hubspot sponsored (in September 2011 but hey the numbers are just bigger now) this great research collection, More than Talk: Action in Mobile Marketing.

If you're introducing a mobile strategy and thinking you can simply shrink down your desktop site, think again. Although for those of us who "grow our own" sites in Blogger and Wordpress, there are convenient adjustments that include recommendations as well as template suggestions. But the ability to view your PC Website with a mobile device with an HTML browser doesn't mean that the experience is fun or easy. 

Mobithinking reminds us of some of these basics like the fact that viewing a PC Website on a mobile phone requires scrolling left and right, and up and down. That most web-enabled phones are not smartphones. Also that most mobile phones have small screens. No matter how good the mobile connection, large images will be slow to load. Many technologies, like Flash for example, commonly used on PC sites don't work well on many handsets. Yes, even Apple.

The conclusion is obvious. Mobile users have different requirements than desktop Web users and provide different opportunities for your business. Just re-sizing your web site for a target audience that's mobile first means that you're missing a chance, to offer your customers a mobile environment that is clean, simple and even intimate. Intimate, like the lady in my mobile navigation application or remember Hal in 2001: Space Odyssey? 

Since it looks like the best advice is to tell you to get a reputable design agency to work with you to ensure your site and campaigns are both mobile and web friendly, I asked my friend, Skip Shuda, co-founder of Philly Marketing Labs, what he recommends. He confirmed that some clients are experiencing regular, monthly growth rates of nearly 10% in mobile traffic and suggested auditing mobile traffic as a first step. 

That said, he had two key suggestions. First, your email marketing should be view-able in a mobile friendly format. In 2011, 27% of all email was read on a mobile device. Businesses need to make sure their emails can be ready and acted upon. Skip advises, "Check with your email service provider to make sure they are sending responsive email that adapts to the mobile device. Mailchimp does a great job with responsive email templates that are ready out of the box."

Second, make sure your landing pages are optimized for mobile. He said that, "Most people can fill out a form easily enough with their phones. However, if they have to scroll around to do so, the completion rate will plummet." Skip recommended Hubspot's landing page tool. "It lets you toggle between the mobile and web version of your page - so you can see both formats. That kind of tool is becoming critical to marketers."

Another trusted resource, Rick Simmons, president of Dinkum Interactive, pointed out that at the end of the day, " While many look at their site on a phone and say it looks fine, mobile requires a different experience for the user and you better be prepared to provide it. It is all about giving the users what they want when they want it and in most cases they are using the phone for different reasons than PC or a tablet.”

And Forrester's research agrees. The report entitled "The Future of Mobile Application Development" (with thanks to Mobile Marketer's, Lauren Johnson) found that marketers and developers need to have a grasp on a user's total mobile experience.

It's clear that gone are the days when talking to someone was the reason to use the phone. Emerging best practices indicate that if you want to build sales and retain customers, as you update your online dialog, you need to be including mobile in your repertoire. But take a look at your current customers first. They won't steer you wrong.

Be Mine, Zombie Teddy Bear!

As Valentine's Day approaches, an English artist, Phillip Blackman, can't make his zombie teddy bears fast enough. On a whim or perhaps after a disappointing day, he got the urge to tear out the guts of an old teddy bear and transform it into a zombie. It took him two days employing his special effects talents, but he ended up with a gore-soaked teddy holding it's bleeding heart, torn from it's own furry chest. (I know, it's sad.)

His bears, which he sells on line for between $70 and $140, have become increasingly popular. In fact  CNN Money reported one being auctioned on eBay with bids reaching nearly $400. Zombie enthusiasts from across the globe are frantically requesting Blackman to make more. But he has a bit of a supply dilemma since he uses previously owned bears and wasn't really prepared for this instant success.  He just can't keep up with demand.  

These Zombie teddy bears are more than a cottage industry started by a smart English artist, they're another indicator of a growing consumer interest in all things Zombie, even in the toy business where earlier this month, the toy maker Mattel reported that its Monster High dolls drove sales up 57% in 2012. Zombie bears are also another good lesson in how a product becomes a brand overnight with the power of the Internet to drive consumer awareness and purchase.  Nothing un-dead about that!

The Marketing Organization

Most people believe that marketing is advertising. You take what the factory creates and sell it by screaming about it on TV or by emailing everyone. Frankly, many companies do just that. That's where they start, and that's unfortunately where they stay, right in the outer circle of this organizational chart. They guess at and implement these tactics and when their advertising doesn't work, they don't know why. But go in just one layer of this diagram and real marketing starts to happen.

This is where you realize that not everyone is a good fit for your product. You bring in researchers and strategic talent to define and find your users and followers. You start looking at your product through your customers' eyes. You and your team develop the product’s story. You examine and network into industries that would benefit from your product. You look at pricing. For example, maybe a subscription is better than a one-time purchase. You evaluate your ROI to determine which tactics result in profits and find out why. Most importantly, you take a hard look to see what the customer experience (with the product as well as the sales cycle) is all about. You understand it and you improve it.
 

Not surprisingly, the next layer in is about creating amazement; recognizing what your customers want before they know they want it. A great example of this type of product design in action is the intuitive features on a tablet; then, so is something as simple as a restaurant having clean silverware. Here’s where you use champions to focus on support and usability. These champions examine and measure customer relationships, and, based on data, improve the product.  They create and implement collaborative sales methods that educate and engage your customers. These methods also recognize and exploit regional and culture-specific opportunities as the world becomes your marketplace. 

At the center of it all is the Chief Marketing Officer. The CMO is responsible for the relationship between your customer and your product. This leader is the customer guardian and the product advocate. The CMO knows that for the product or service being sold to be remarkable, it has to have this organizational structure built in. When business practices are aligned with customer-centric research and focus, revenue opportunities are exposed and your team will change the marketing agenda.  

Marketing becomes easier because it is based on facts. It is no longer a shouting match at the customer, but a dance with the prospective customer while existing customers become partners and even advocates. When you build your business from the inside out, starting with the CMO and moving out to staff implementing tactics, a significant transformation happens. Your marketing team sees your customers' expressed and unexpressed needs, and these are the opportunities that are satisfied by your product.

Inspired by a blog post by Seth Godin, The Circles of Marketing
Motivation from Jay Yarow's The Org charts Of All the Major Tech Companies (Humor)

Warm Bodies and the Rise of Zombie Marketing

The recently released film, Warm Bodies, is a romantic comedy told from the point of view of a zombie. It's a story of a unique friendship between Julie, a young woman, and "R", a zombie and we should add it to a growing list of TV Shows like The Walking Dead and celebrated movies like Dawn of the Dead and the cult classic Shaun of the Dead, that film makers have used to encourage our curiosity with Zombies. Whatever is at the root of our infatuation, by tapping into it, companies are using the undead to breath life into an existing brand.

For example, look in your local toy stores for Zombie themed products, from Legos (check out the LEGO Zombie Apocalypse page on Facebook) to dolls.  The gaming sector is no exception. Resident Evil, Siren, House of the Dead and Dead Space among others have built their reputations upon some form of undead.  Late last year, the US streetwear brand, Rocawear, got into the act by introducing tattooed model, Rick Genest, also know as 'Zombie Boy' as the look to star in the label's Spring/Summer 2013 campaign.  His ghoulishly striking urban youth presence may challenge your personal perception of Zombies. 

Then there is the story about a government agency that is a great resource on survival information during a catastrophe but no one was visiting its website. So the Center for Disease Control decided to take all of its information for surviving in a disaster and wrap it within the context of how to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. The approach helped the agency to resuscitate its message and tap their existing fans to improve their online visibility. 

So Zombies are more than previously human, gory, stumbling, villager-chasing creatures; they're also part of a lucrative trend that over the past four years has generated $5.74 billion to the global economy.  Check out the infographic below from Wish.co.uk to see just how much they're worth.

Courtesy of: Wish.co.uk

Americans Spend $8 Billion on Halloween!

That's right, Halloween retail shopping is expected to reach $8 billion this year. This discovery was a result of the annual survey from the National Retail Federation conducted by BIGinsight,  A record 170 million people plan to celebrate, the most in NRF's 10-year survey history.  

That 170 million translates into seven in 10 Americans who on average will spend $79.82 on the holiday with about a third, ($24.25 to be exact) being used to buy candy.  Interestingly, on candy purchases, men will outspend ladies by an average of $4.58.  Of course that doesn't mean the ladies won't be eating their share. Snickers and Reese's are the top rated candy favorites with the survey respondents exhibiting a great deal of psychological conflict over whether to actually give the candy to the treaters or eat it themselves.  Can I get an "Amen!"

The survey also found that 45 percent of consumers plan to dress up.  And the net average amount spent on costumes this year is up a few dollars from 2011 ($28.65 compared with $26.52).  For costume inspiration, survey results revealed that while retail stores, online searches and ideas from family and friends are still king, social media sites such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter are gaining an edge. 

Of the people celebrating Halloween, more than half (51.4%) will decorate their home or yard, up from 49.5 percent last year,  More than one-third (36.2%) will throw or attend a party and 33.2 percent will take children trick-or-treating. Additionally, 15.1 percent will ensure their furry friends are part of the fun too, by dressing their pet in costume.

Pet owners are projected to get into the Halloween spirit in a big way, spending $370 million on animal costumes.  That's a 19 percent increase from 2011. The top pet picks include a pumpkin, a devil and a hot dog.  Even Martha Stewart is getting in on the action. 

Despite record spending figures for this year’s Halloween holiday, one-fourth of U.S. consumers (25.9%) say the state of the economy will impact their Halloween plans. To compensate, most say they will spend less overall (83.5%), while others will make a costume instead of buying one (18.0%), and over one-third (36.1%) will buy less candy.  Good luck with that. 

Ever wondered how we got started with this holiday in the first place.  Here's a fun and quick animated explanation. 

Accidental Heroes

When it happens you're in a conversation with friends, or attending a seminar, or reading a random article.  You're unexpectedly introduced to someone whose perspective changes yours.  At that moment you know you won't be able to see the world in the same way again.  I call these people Accidental Heroes or AH. Frankly AHA would be a better acronym since that's what you say when this hero brings you to an enlightened view point.  You know, the natural reaction is to say "a ha!".  You’ll see what I mean once I share a couple of personal examples.  

On my top ten list is Wilbur Schramm.  Often called the "father of communication studies," he continues to have a great influence on the development of communication research.  His famous model of "shared fields of experience" rocked my grad student world because in examining human interaction he diagrammed what happens when two people are talking to each other.

I've recreated it here and it may not look world transforming to you, but for me it was confirmation that the important action I can take in understanding another person is to find where there are common experiences and build the dialog on those "shared experiences".   

In fact, social networking services like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+, are based on this principal that shared experiences are necessary for understanding. (Where to you think the idea for those circles originated?) This is why it is so much easier to talk to a friend than with a stranger.  Your common experiences make it possible to comprehend each other.  The dialog with a stranger is more of an adventure as it starts with speaking the same language and then evolves as you discover you have similar interests, skills, or friends.  

Another of my accidental heroes is Hugh MacLeod.  He is a cartoonist, who succinctly reveals our true nature in an Occum's Razor kind of way.  His value to me is his daily work, where he offers up insights into human behavior and the psychology of marketing like this one for example (used with permission -gapingvoid.com). 

Good stuff, sometimes funny but always forcing me to take a look beyond my normal parameters.  In both AH examples, Hugh and Wilbur, their discoveries become part of my journey as I strive to solve my favorite riddle, the buying behavior puzzle.

Last thought is that you just never know where or when new folks with new ideas will surface.  You need to keep your eyes open, read things you don't agree with and look in places that challenge your comfort zone. Your Accidental Heroes are waiting, do me a favor and let them in,

https://youtu.be/zEGJLXxkds4.

So You’re Looking for Investors: The Why and How of AngelList

According to credible sources like Forbes, Mashable and TechCrunch, if you’re an entrepreneur or if you’re an angel investor and you haven’t heard of AngelList, it’s time to get a clue. It seems that AngelList has single handedly dragged the back-room world of venture capital screaming into the light since its 2010 launch.
 
At first, people wanted to dismiss the potential, saying that only loser companies would want to share data and broadcast fundraising plans so publicly. Then, some Venture Capitalists said they’d never invest in an opportunity that didn’t come through traditional channels. Other VCs swore they’d have exploratory dialogs privately or not at all. They’d never do something as prosaic as leaving comments on a company’s profile.
 
But AngelList trounced those objections and found traction in 2011, with 500 start-ups and 2,500 investors who joined the community, resulting in a total of 12,500 introductions and subsequent fundings.  Trounced and then did the Happy Dance!
 
In fact, AngelList has proven to be a remarkably effective way for investors to connect with entrepreneurs. The hybrid social-network platform offers a greater degree of visibility to start-ups that might not otherwise have access to investors, and, on the flip side, has become an important resource for investors looking to boost deal flow and as well as connect with other investors.
 
After an afternoon of limiting my research to information published this year in order to stay current with upgrades to the platform, the definitive guide is Brendan Baker’s "How to Hustle with AngelList," updated this past April, 2012. This is a great article since in addition to the basics, it covers how to make it on to AngelList, how to set up profiles, and some proven tactics. If you have time to read only one article on AngelList, this is the one.
 
Two other essential articles are Raising Money On AngelList: 21 Tips From Two Active Angels by Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot creator fame and an article by a prolific angel investor, Joshua Bauer, co-founder of Otherinbox, entitled 9 Tips for Raising Startup Funds on AngelList. 
 
This brings us to my laundry list of articles on different aspects of AngelList. 

• If you’re wondering which influential angel investors to target here’s a Forbes Article from May of this year on The Most Influential Angel Investors On AngelList

• Does your pitch deck measure up? There is an explanation and links to winning a pitch deck in this article: “AngelList Takes A Shot At Standardizing The Startup Pitch Deck”

• AngelList is unique because it attempts to level the playing field for start-ups. How to use AngelList to Raise Money has the start-up perspective.

• Raise your spirits with a success story. It’s not every day that you get 200 emails in one hour offering you money:  “Take That Crowdfunding Cynics! Rally Raises Largest AngelList Deal Ever”

• Want to know more about the vetting process for AngelList? Check out the video in this article, AngelList Heats up as Angel Investing Sizzles (note date is February 2011)

• Ongoing good advice for start-ups on these sites on OnStartups, Venture Hacks, AVC, Ask the VC, Both Sides of the Table

What I took away from doing this online secondary research, aside from being entertained on a rainy afternoon, was that AngelList has really brought another avenue to the way entrepreneurs can seek out funding. It can cut down on the amount of prospecting involved in raising funds and it’s an immediate confidence booster when potential investors see other prominent Angels/VCs investing in your company.  AngelList takes the limited time an entrepreneur already has and optimizes it to seek out funding, and it’s a great digital tool that VCs use to scan through potential companies quickly. 
 
Bottom line: It connects VCs and Angels and is an important method for showcasing your start-up company to investors. Also remember that my point of view is based on what I’ve read. I’m not an investor or launching a start-up (at least not yet). But if you are, share your perspective as the rest of us would love to know what you think.

Building a Marketing Plan? 10 Questions to Answer.

Building a marketing plan? Here are 10 questions to get you started.

1. Do you have a clear definition of your target market?  Perhaps you're considering expanding your target market so you can close deals that otherwise would not have come your way. On the other hand, you might narrow your definition of a target, putting your focus on those prospects most likely to become customers, maybe in a specific niche where your company has good market share. Either way, your decision will drive your other marketing decisions.  

2. Is your current marketing mix delivering results? Most companies measure results by the number of qualified leads generated and the amount of visibility gained for their company, brand, and products. For example, email or snail mail lists tend to score low on both lead generation and visibility because they push your message out at a single moment in time to people who may not be interested. Conversely, specialized search engines and banner ads on targeted websites provide consistent presence and engage interested prospects who are actively searching for products like yours.  

3. How visible are you? While having a robust website is essential, it isn’t enough. Your audience uses multiple online resources to locate products and suppliers. Specialized search engines, online ads, presence on the right social channels, and email newsletters all are important considerations. 

4. What are the benefits of your current media choices? By evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of your media choices, you’ll understand the true value of your marketing program. For example, trade shows help raise your brand’s visibility and generate press and leads. But the number of leads is limited and events can be expensive when you factor in registration, promotion, travel, and other expenses. The moral is: know the ROI of your programs. 

5. Will you reach your target audience at the right time? Like selling umbrellas when it’s raining or bathing suits when it’s hot, you want to reach your target audience while they are motivated and actively searching.  Develop a calendar for what content you’re pushing out, how, and when. It will be a huge help. 

6. How will you maintain frequency? If you disappear off your customers’ radar screens for any length of time they will forget about you. So a consistent presence online and off is key to being their choice when they need you. 

7. How will you measure lead quality? Not all marketing programs deliver quality leads. As any sales person will attest to, the quality of the sales and marketing opportunities generated by your marketing plan is a better indicator of potential sales than the quantity. Look for programs that provide leads in a timely manner with contact information and area of interest, helping set the stage for your response and follow-up. 

8. How will you ensure brand exposure? The concept of branding is often pushed aside during weak economic times in favor of lead generation, but if you abandon it, you dig a hole for your sales team, forcing them to start from the beginning with every sale, introducing your company and explaining your value proposition. Many programs offer both lead generation and branding. Sponsorship of industry e-newsletters, online banner ads, and reward programs are some ways to build your brand and engage qualified leads. 

9. How do you measure marketing success? Before you commit to any marketing programs, you should establish metrics to measure performance. Direct and online marketing programs deliver impressions, clicks, leads, sales and customers which make measuring which programs are working easier. Brand programs aren’t so easy to determine. But in all cases, you need to create the valuation method as well as set the performance metrics before you launch.      

10. What can you expect from your media partners? With every marketing dollar precious, it’s essential that you establish a trusted relationship with media partners who understand your customers and know how to help you reach new ones. They should continuously introduce you to a targeted audience and recommend new channels to market your products as well as provide comprehensive reporting. That reporting should show the number of leads, demographic information, and be delivered as close to real time as possible so you can determine the best channels for the most leads. 

If you’ve got these covered you’re in good shape to put together a viable and productive plan. In getting the best answers, don’t work in a silo. Make sure to involve your company’s key players. The benefits will be not only in a great plan, you’ll gain consensus, and enhance your own business credibility as well. Bet you’ve thought of other concerns. What are they? Share your thoughts here!

Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

Remember Adrian Monk in his detective series? He was a tidy freak, but it was his obsessing over details that helped him solve those murder cases. Like Mr. Monk, I’m feeling persnickety, and just as Monk wisely points out that the dead guy in the dark room couldn’t have turned off the lights, it bugs me that people using LinkedIn don’t take advantage of the ability to have a personalized URL for their profile. To me it seems obvious and it’s so easy to get one! When you sign on to LinkedIn, you get an elongated URL that’s automatically generated. You — yes, you — can customize this URL so it is simple to remember and supports your personal brand. In my opinion, claiming your name here is key, but my preference shouldn’t stop you from inventing something else. Like coming up with a personalized license plate, you just need to think it through. If you were a tattoo artist, you might use “inkbeneaththeskin” or if you were the CEO of a bakery chain, maybe you’re “dollars4donuts”. For a straightforward solution, take my LinkedIn URL as an example. At the time I set up my account I was able to customize the last text to "marionguthrie", my name. If you have a common name like Tom Smith or Cathy Jones, you may need to add a middle initial or a code, or you may decide to go the customized route with a word that reflects on your competency. Then you can use your LinkedIn URL in your signature line or any place where you want to direct interested people to a summary of your professional accomplishments; i.e. your LinkedIn profile. It’s a value added!  While we’re talking about LinkedIn, another pet peeve of mine is this: please try to get at least three recommendations. Three is LinkedIn’s suggested minimum. Recommendations are your ad; your third-party endorsement. They humanize your profile and make you more appealing and credible. Superman’s list of jobs outlining him as a reporter and sometimes superhero become so much more colorful and engaging when there’s a recommendation that says, “He leaps tall buildings in a single bound.” Don’t you think? Also be “in with the in-crowd” and take advantage of the three website links on your LinkedIn profile. Include links to your personal website as well as your company’s. Be creative. Since I haven’t finished my company website yet, one of my links provides a list of my Talent Zoo articles written to date, which gives me a chance to showcase some of my writing. If you’ve joined Tumblr or Gust or any other community, you can use that URL too. (With Facebook, use with caution; ask yourself, "What would Mary Poppins say?") These links help build up your persona as a business executive who is participating in the digital age, not just standing on the sidelines. Last but not least, there is great value in generating content on LinkedIn that can also be published (if you check the birdie box) on Twitter. Why bother? Aside from the fact that you might learn something (oh, I sound like my Mom), the updates you write and post in that little LinkedIn box at the top of your profile are a great way to stay top of mind with your LinkedIn contacts and it helps build your credibility when you share interesting news stories or blogs or opinions. In addition, when you check that Twitter box, your LinkedIn update will post automatically to your Twitter. And voila, you’ve amplified your message’s reach. It’s not like Facebook, Twitter, About.Me, or Google+ (although I’m not sure any one has figured out Google+ quite yet). LinkedIn is a distinctive social media tool and it’s all about business. So use it to find opinion leaders in your field, to locate your next speaker for that association meeting, or to uncover the heads of those companies you’re targeting for your next sales effort. Or use it to discover who to network with to find that next project or that next job. Just do me a favor and personalize your LinkedIn URL. When you attach that URL to your communications, you’re creating a link to your profile where folks can see just how good you really are. As far as being a bit compulsive, it gives me solace that Mr. Monk was far worse. Here’s some proof!

Is Your Brand Like P&G or More Like Rubbermaid?

Before you start building your marketing plan for 2013, have you decided whether your company's identity is more like Procter & Gamble or if it's more like Rubbermaid?  It's an important distinction.  You see, P&G's attention is on their products and they have developed unique brand identities for each of them.  But Rubbermaid's brand approach defines all of their products as sturdy, durable, and the right solution for my storage problems.  So what about your company? Another way to think of it is, if Apple equals Innovation and Disney is Magic, what is your brand? Is it unique products, each with its own identity? Or is it one name and what that encompasses? Just like the guy in City Slickers, before you go running off deciding which social media campaigns to launch and whether or not you need a mobile app, you’ve got to decide on that “one thing", and that is the voice of your brand and the focus of your strategy across every network, and in every channel.

Now that I've got you thinking about your brand, check out this post by Greg Satell on The Brand’s New Open Architecture http://p.ost.im/p/dJB5pH