Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2011

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a couple of years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Develop viral content. Seed viral activity.

Marketing 90

Marketing Startup SEM Blogging 90

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Social media is now one of the key marketing tools, but not the only one, so the challenge is to manage the resource tradeoffs effectively by constantly assessing payback versus cost. Create an integrated conventional marketing and social media strategy. Manage your expectations, and analyze every marketing channel.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

They are tasked with “getting deals done&# so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. You have a marketing department with three people.

Startup 323

Startup Press Development Team Review SEM 323

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2010

Every time I see a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends.

Marketing 56

Marketing SEM Blogging Design 56

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

I was recently talking with a startup company who wanted me to try their product. I’m a big believer in product stability & performance before adding too many features. How many through SEM? If you have multiple versions of your product, how many are web vs. mobile? Only one guy in the room knew – their tech lead.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 24, 2013

For about 50 years, (…cough M) Ad Men, or marketing and sales individuals, have been the kings of organizational hierarchy … and then came the Internet of things and engineers took over the throne. If you build it, they may not come : So, you’ve launched your product, and people use it and seem to like it.

Hulu 111

Hulu Startup Social Media Organization 111

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

Social media marketing. Search engine marketing (SEM). This popular form of Internet marketing seeks to increase website ranking in search engine results. No SEM plan means you are missing a huge marketing opportunity. Viral marketing. Viral marketing costs real money, but is often worth it.

SEM 95

SEM Search Engine Optimization Blogging PPC 95

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2010

Search engine marketing (SEM). This popular form of Internet marketing seeks to increase website ranking in search engine results. No SEM plan means you are missing a huge marketing opportunity. Viral marketing. Viral marketing costs real money, but is often worth it. Streaming video. Crowdsourcing.

Entrepreneur 89

Entrepreneur SEM Search Engine Optimization Blogging 89

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

One of the investment themes I’ve been focused on in the past 3 years has been Performance-Based Marketing. When I started investing the US advertising market was $300 billion with only 10% of it ($30 billion) of it being online and measurable. I believe that many social networks confused this idea. Early evidence is good.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2013

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on paid search results (appear on the first page of search results, right hand column, despite low SEO rank). This is NOT the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Cost per click (CPC).

Paid Search 90

Paid Search PPC Organization SEO 90

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

When polled 88% of marketing professionals said they couldn’t accurately measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and the majority said lack of ROI measurement is their single greatest frustration with social media (Forbes). Here’s a screen shot of my home page on awe.sm. End of story. Today awe.sm

Marketing 307

Marketing Technical Review Startup Tool 307

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

You can visit the official event page here. This panel, featuring Sean Percival, Tony Adam, Alex Becker, Josh Ochs, and Erica Forette, will discuss how the idea of “search is social” will affect online marketing strategies. Tuesday - Sept 21st - 6PM - Location-Based Marketing: To Check-in or Not to Check-in? You are in Luck!

Social Media 65

Social Media Media Tech Coast Angels Orange County 65

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

I was in advertising and marketing, working in Newport Beach on the Mazda account. Billy Fried: We first tested it in California, which was our launch market a year and a half ago. The idea was to have tent poles up in the most important leisure markets. Bill Fried: I'm a serial entrepreneur. It's down in Laguna Beach.

Activity 164

Activity Startup Sites Web 164

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

The idea actually came to him from the Yellow Pages business. He took out an ad in the Yellow Pages (it was the early 80′s, pre Internet), which cost him $1,000 / month for a half-page ad. So the Yellow Page business was always “pay for placement.&#. If it worked in the Yellow Pages, why not on the Internet?

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We discussed in the video why they don’t price this money but give it as convertible debt) they don’t make announcements to the market. They also avoid Reg D.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285