Most Popular
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How should startups approach the media to get them to cover their launch?
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You really want to build relationships with a few key journalists who cover your space, and you want to build those relationships well in advance. One of the best ways to do that is to establish your credentials and what topics you’ve got expertise in by sending them useful information. Write an introductory note, not a mass email but a personal one, with some useful or interesting information. Build the relationship gradually. Then, when you’re ready to launch, you can share that information with them. The key though is knowing your audience and building relationships with the right members of the media and not on a mass scale. 4-5 solid media contacts can have a much bigger impact on your business than a thousand people who don’t know you but get your untargeted press releases.
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Should I advertise my startup before we even launch?
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I generally caution against advertising before you launch, if you are a small business. But contacting prospective partners, customers and your network to let them know that you’ve got something in the works, and building permissioned lists via email and social networks is a great way to get the word out. If you ask the right questions of these people, it can also help you understand if they read advertising, where, and therefore where you’ll get the best return on your advertising investment.
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I am revealing a new and improved website for my business. How do I write/submit/announce a press release?
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One tip I can give you: don’t write a press release titled “COMPANY X ANNOUNCED NEW WEBSITE” unless there is something pretty spectacular or groundbreaking about it. What’s newsworthy about your new site? If nothing, then notify customers and prospects vs the media. If there is something truly groundbreaking, there are excellent online resources for press release formats including (in Canada) www.newswire.ca or there are some good examples here: www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp – good luck!
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Where is the best place to get media contacts?
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I’m not sure how regularly it is kept up to date, but the list of media on twitter is one of the best sources I have come across. The wiki is here: http://mediaontwitter.pbworks.com/ – good luck!
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Do you think that social media is better suited for B2B or B2C?
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Great question! I don’t think there is an either or, but you do have to build your programs differently. Social media is excellent for two things: knowledge dissemination and relationship building, and those align nicely to B2B (knowledge dissemination and thought leadership) and B2C (relationship building). There is some overlap on both, but you can definitely approach both types of audiences with social or community programs.
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Do you see a shift from Twitter to Facebook for building a business community for your brand?
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I’m surprised LinkedIn wasn’t included in this question. There is some B2B activity on Facebook (but our research shows it’s not somewhere most people go to do business). Twitter is excellent for broad engagement and content and visibility, but LinkedIn is the place where you want to look at developing your B2B approach. You could also survey your prospective members and see if a hosted community would be useful to them. Good luck!
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We are seriously considering a pivot (not a 180 degrees but a 90 degrees one) as part of an early stage funding round. Is this a good idea?
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You mean you are planning the pivot immediately before or after you raise the capital? That sounds … dicey. Can you provide a bit more info?
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How do you keep a team of part time workers with sporadic schedules motivated and feel a sense of team.
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Give them a place to connect online. An email list or a hosted employee community or collaboration environment can work wonders to keep people informed and connected. http://basecamphq.com and similar services can help with that. Good luck!
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I haven't been able to find catalogs and databases to populate my shopping-related website... is there something I'm missing or this a genuinely difficult asset to source? Any advice?
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I have zero expertise in this area but I’d suggest you ask @missrogue, Tara Hunt, who is the CEO of Buyosphere about sourcing catalogs – she might be able to help! Good luck!
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When dealing with larger corporations who already have an Agency Of Record and aren't as receptive to smaller vendors, are there any ways to convince them that what you are offering is unique and that your size isn't relevant?
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Are you ever asking this question of the right person ;) yes. Especially in these disruptive times. We at Sequentia Environics are living testimony that boutiques can win high profile, global contracts. But it’s usually a series of incremental small steps, especially if you don’t have a wealth of case studies. What is the business issue? How can you solve that need in a way their existing agencies can’t? Highlight what is unique about you and your focus, and exactly how it will benefit their business – in a dollars and cents kind of way. I’m hearing increasingly that larger corporations are starting to manage ‘constellations’ of agencies who provide specialized services because it’s harder for the large firms to really specialize AND provide great service. So the door is open, but you have to find the right cue that is going to get you the business – and more importantly, deliver consistently excellent service once you’ve won it. And be persistent and patient. It takes time.
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We are working on a cloud solution for issue based print publisher to move online... it's WordPress based and am looking for any ideas on how to reach magazine publishers.
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We have found that something called “the law of content attraction” works very well in this case. What is the business problem you are trying to solve? Where does your audience currently go for this information? What technology tools do they use to get it? Find out those answers, create compelling content that addresses that business issue, and then make your content available in the places that audience already participates via those tools. You can also work through industry associations and other umbrella organizations that will have your prospective clients as members. Good luck!
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Jen, I have a startup which is currently being develop. A "Pre-launch" sign up Web page is up this weekend. Launching in January. My question is, should I go full bore to market it now in order to gain as many sign ups or should I take a slower pace and ramp it up to full bore once we are closer to launch time? My gut tell me there are many advantages to gaining the max number of signups now but others have suggested holding off for a bigger splash when launch time come around. Your thoughts?
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As much critical mass as you can garner before public launch is a good thing. It’s a fine balance though because if you get people to sign up and can’t deliver anything for weeks and weeks you’ll lose interest. Timing is critical. You can mitigate this by communicating with people during the pre-launch period. Good luck!
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How big a role does SEO (ie- having a #1 search result for relevant queries) play in your business?
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Very little currently in my business. In fact, I am far from an SEO expert! (if you’re interested in learning from one, I’d suggest following Rae Hoffman at @sugarrae, one of the women who runs Outspoken Media). But depending on what business you are in, having highly ranked search results can be a huge boost, even critical to success. Most of our business currently comes in through referrals, partners and relationships. If you’re wondering if it’s important to yours, I’d suggest doing two things: 1. assess how your customer relationships have originated to date and invest further in getting more of those 2. try a paid search test and see how well it performs. Getting highly ranked organic search results is a combination of many factors and not something you can simply flip a switch on and make happen overnight.
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We are a startup that is just launching in beta this week. We have had a Facebook page for months, but are having a hard time getting members of our target market to "like" our Facebook page. Our target market is moms, so they are definitely on Facebook. No one is seeing the content marketing that we are churning out. We have had very little success with Facebook ads. Should we try to do a sweepstakes to get people to "like" the page? Any other recommendations? Thanks.
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Talk to some moms. Take them out for coffee. Listen to what they have to say about your presence and your content. And then act on that feedback. This is a classic scenario of disconnection from an audience and you need to bridge that to gain traction. Good luck!
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What are the biggest factors you look for when you're hiring? I want to hire a team of rockstars.
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… and everyone else wants to hire the B players … ;)
The biggest factors in our space are first and foremost the ability to take initiative. Then, adaptability, excellent written and verbal communication skills, curiosity, a passion for technology, and (particularly important for what we do) a strong sense of empathy. (Because we focus on customer communications, it’s critical for our team to be able to put themselves in the shoes of the customer or consumer who is on the receiving end of community communications and experiences).
The age old debate is experience or potential. I’m not sure anyone has resolved that yet but if you have any insights love to hear them! Good luck with finding those rockstars!
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How do you push yourself forward during those "lows" period in building sequentia environics?
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Oh, such a great question. There are many, many long dark teatimes of the soul moments as an entrepreneur. When I first told my parents I was starting a business they asked me why I didn’t go get a job. :) For me it is about taking the moments of breakthrough and accomplishment and using those as motivation and leverage to get to the next one. If you are not the kind of person who can draw on your own energy and inspiration, even when the rest of the world seems to be saying it’s hopeless or it can’t be done, then you will find entrepreneurship challenging. Having a great support system helps a lot too. Most of all – keep things in perspective. Non-attachment to outcomes may be the entrepreneur’s greatest gift. Good luck!
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Once a company has identified the key differentiators of their brand/services, what's the best way to development/nurture business development? Being innovative and different can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to sales messaging. Advice?
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What a fantastic question. I personally relate very directly to your observation that “being innovative and different can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to sales messaging” …
The best way to overcome sales hurdles is to address a real customer pain. I have found over the years that what you want to say about your services is far less important than the problem a prospective customer wants to solve. We get very, very caught up in how we describe our businesses and our offerings. The key is to use language that echos how your customers talk about their challenges, and the closer your solutions reflect the very problems they are trying to solve, and the more insight you can provide around process and results, the likelier you are to get into a productive selling conversation. In other words, to put it simply (deceptively simply because 99% of marketers fail to do this well) – it’s not about you, it’s about them.
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We have a great product but we're struggling with how to brand ourselves - including how to come up with a name! Any suggestions on how to approach this?
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Oh, the great naming deb ate … I’m of two minds about names. The first is that the name itself isn’t the thing that matters, it’s how you promote and build a brand around it (blackberry for a digital communications device? amazon for a bookstore? not exactly intuitive …) the other part however is that a memorable name can really help you with recognition, which can obviously be huge to companies just starting out. Some companies hire agencies who specialize in product names and branding, or you can go the bootstrapped route we employed when naming our product – we held an internal contest and the best name suggestor got a prize. Make a decision about how much a name matters and how much you want to invest … but my counsel would be at this stage to not obsess about it too much, your service offering and quality is more important to building a business than the name itself. Hope that helps and good luck!
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I own and run a web design & development company and my question is how do you ramp up your employees or team when you haven't landed a significant amount of contracts to ensure steady payroll? Freelancers are great, but at some point I'd like to get great employees who are in it to grow with the company.
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This is the challenge of business growth. Growth is the goal, but what no one ever tells you is how expensive growth is. I started Sequentia Environics with $11K in cash and a $15K line of credit, and we are now a 20 person + business. Over the first few years there were MANY times when we either didn’t make payroll and I had to personally fund it or were waiting on client cheques to cover at the last minute. It is not an undertaking for the faint of heart! If you have a solid business growth plan you can sometimes attract external investment but that can take a lot of time. The key is having a VERY clear understanding of your cash needs and timing your hiring … and frequently that means filling the gaps yourself as the owner operator or with freelancers. Good luck!
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Is it okay to "cc" reporters on Twitter when you're announcing big news?
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I’d suggest you take the time to invest in a 1:1, tailored communication (even a tweet) vs ccing someone you want to cover your news on something intended for a general audience.
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Any thoughts on timing of initial product launch and big PR push? Ramp up first or just put it out there?
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I always suggest big PR pushes wait until you have actual customers using and ready to speak about the product. You can launch anytime. Having said that, novelty does appeal to media, so you might want to go stealth until you have those customers and then have your launch with the big PR push. Good luck!
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Hi Jen!- What would you say would be the most important thing to do before starting a business?
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Make sure you are cut out to be an entrepeneur! There are many, many tests out there that can help you understand your appetite for risk, your resilency, and your resources and resourcefulness. These are three critical ingredients for business success. If you’re coming from a corporate job, the realities of what entrepreneurship involves can be a harsh awakening. Talk to a few entrepreneurs about the early years too. Good luck!
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Hi Jen - I am operating an event planning & staffing business part-time in Toronto. We've done about 150 events in our 2.5 years of operation, and recently launched a branch in Vancouver. Eventually, it's something I'd love to pursue full-time but I can't figure out any low-cost advertising strategies for getting my name out there (apart from the very obvious, which I've already done). My main area of expertise is event planning, so I need marketing help! Any suggestions?
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Well, you are in a competitive space in the event management business. What’s your unique take on it? Last minute events? Digital/social event integration? I think you need to figure out what makes you memorable and then develop marketing strategies and plans based on where your target audience spends its time and attention. Good luck!
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Do you think people should still do press releases?
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Absolutely – there is a time and place for press releases. They certainly need to be part of an integrated program that includes multiple media, but they aren’t dead yet!
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Name one thing no good entrepreneur should ever forget.
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Perspective! Some days are really challenging. Others you feel like the world is at your feet. Both are false perceptions … there’s a great line in kipling’s if: “if you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same …” despite how it feels at times, this too shall pass, and sometimes, remembering that will save you from a bad, reactive decision. :) good luck!
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I'm a student and I am thinking about starting up a small advertising agency at my university run by students. What's should be looked into first?
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I love that idea! Love the entrepreneurship too. I think it’s a great idea. I’d approach a couple of prospective clients who would like to have a better understanding of the student market and understand gaps in what they are currently offered. Then, hustle! Good luck!
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