Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2013

As I visit the websites of many startups, as well as more mature businesses, I still too often see a “contact” page offering nothing but a sterile form for customers to submit, never to be heard from again. Social media connections, if they exist, are buried elsewhere or reserved for monitoring purposes only.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Unless you are a true loner, you need someone like-minded but complementary in skills to help you with the startup plans. Almost anyone can handle this without professional help, and the cost is less than $100 in many states. Use social networking and blogging to get your message out. Get business cards made.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2010

Blogging has come a long way in the past few years, from a social release for narcissists, to today’s required vehicle for promoting your business and gaining valuable online exposure, ultimately bringing in more customers. Here are some tips I’ve gleaned from experience: Make your blog your website. Conversational style.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs. In business, “most important” means time to market, customer service, low cost, and beating your competitors. Make every effort to do things “in house”, rather than rely on outside services, accountants, and law firms. Create intellectual property.

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Tips Help Startup Blogging 102

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2009

Los Angeles-based EQAL , said this morning at Twiistup that the firm is launching a new, social publishing tool it is calling Umbrella, focused on independent producers, celebrity talent, and online personalities. Tags: eqal lonelygirl15 content video hollywood studio social networking software publishing. READ MORE>>.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

Finally, a lot of people asking me about typos on my blog. Assistly “Multi-channel customer support and management service&# – this is another industry I love and I specifically love the team at Assistly. They have done 3 startups in the customer support space and one that wasn’t. Enter Xobni. It sucked.

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2011

Unless you are a true loner, you need someone like-minded but complementary in skills to help you with the startup plans. Almost anyone can handle this without professional help, and the cost is less than $100 in many states. Use social networking and blogging to get your message out. Find a partner.

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Help Startup Social Network Ideas 92

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

Thank you to Tasha for helping to keep me sane by managing the onslaught of meeting requests, board meetings and constant change. Meanwhile while social networking was white hot 3 years ago it is now persona non grata unless your user numbers are insane. Finally, thank you to the readers of this blog. Best, Mark.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

Today I lead a small consultancy that helps advertising supported develop and scale the revenue producing sides of their businesses. Vince: On the consulting side we are working with a unique social network, a new television network and some original video content businesses. I help internet companies make money.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

You help them on stories, act as a source, develop real relationships, read their stories and eventually when you have news they’re more willing to have a conversation. If you feel you need outside help I recommend either going with a small firm local to you or an individual who is working as their own agency.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2013

According to a study of 1700 CEOs last year, only 60% of companies today use social media for marketing, and only 12% of those feel that they are using it effectively. Currently, social media is the least used of all customer interaction methods. Social media demands two-way communication, rather than outbound only.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2010

You hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of customer satisfaction, but customer loyalty is the real win. A satisfied customer is necessary, but not sufficient, to be a loyal customer who will come back repeatedly, refer their friends and family to you, and be faithful even when your price is not the lowest.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. That doesn’t mean you have to be a social butterfly to succeed, or introverts need not apply. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Give and you will receive.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2010

Everyone is talking about how social media can help you jumpstart your business at no cost, and experts are springing up on all sides to help you do it at a high cost. Understand the basic tools – the social media trinity. Blogging (Wordpress), micro-blogging (Twitter), and social networks are the trinity.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Startups should begin by selecting just a few of the vast array of social media offerings out there, and customize based on results. Top social networks are Facebook (1.2 Assess your target customer demographics. Identify your target customer and create customer profiles. billion users).

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2015

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. That doesn’t mean you have to be a social butterfly to succeed, or introverts need not apply. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Give and you will receive.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2014

There are many more, but these should get you started: Create a professional website and blog. A blog is critical, and essentially free (your cost is creating content). Create meaningful content and engage others online (free downloads, white papers, webinars, regular blogging). Do something unique to get customer attention.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

It seems to me that there is abundant proof in the marketplace of the financial returns to both large and small businesses, the low cost of entry, and the ubiquity of social networks. They don’t know if they should move to social networks for lead generation, branding, customer loyalty, or for direct marketing and e-commerce.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2009

Twitter is the new CRM (customer relationship management) channel. The volume of Tweets is enormous and growing at a rapid pace so tools are emerging to help brands manage this information. Tools (covered at the end of the post) are emerging to help us to automate this process given the sheer volume of Tweets we must now monitor.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2013

There are many more, but these should get you started: Create a professional website and blog. A blog is critical, and essentially free (your cost is creating content). Create meaningful content and engage others online (free downloads, white papers, webinars, regular blogging). Do something unique to get customer attention.

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Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 106

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Now, thanks to social media, you don't have to outspend. Putting customers first. Legendary customer support. They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said. Innovative.

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Eric Greenspan

MAY 7, 2013

Mommy bloggers are one of the most influential social networking resources that lead to increased awareness and sales. They even gave us a bonus that will help us prioritize contact with the individuals on the list. About me: I’m a dad, a social research marketer, customer service champion, closet chef, TEDster.

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IBM IBM Email Research 154

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2013

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. That doesn’t mean you have to be a social butterfly to succeed, or introverts need not apply. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Give and you will receive.

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Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 108

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

One of the firms launching this week there is Los Angeles-based NativeTung (www.nativetung.com), which is developing tools to help web sites translate and create multilingual versions of their sites. We've essentially provided a customer a single interface, where they can create and analyze their international presence.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2011

I suggested that he add some social network marketing initiatives, and his answer was he is “too busy.” He is not alone, according to a recent study , which concludes that only 47% of companies use social media today for marketing, despite the fact that 78% of executives polled feel it’s critical for success. What’s the problem?

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Social Media Media Marketing Social Network 104

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. And if you are – what on earth are you reading such a boring blog as this?!? You fish where your customers are. I knew this from day one.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2017

In today’s customer context, you can foster rapport by dressing like them, making every effort to look attractive, offering compliments, and listening intensely. Customers need to believe that you are one of them. Highlight your interest in helping and giving back. Show your ability to build customer consensus.

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Social Media Customer Custom Entrepreneur 58

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

Customize your website using one of the tools above, selecting one of the standard templates for design and layout. The menu should include a link to your blog, separately set up on Blogger, Wordpress, or TypePad – all free. Now the real work begins – promotion, marketing, blogging, and all types of search engine marketing.

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socalTECH

MAY 27, 2010

For this morning's interview, we have an interview with Kieve Huffman , the co-founder of Dather (www.dather.com), a new Los Angeles startup which has created a tool which helps to aggregate social networking web sites and media. I helped launch Columbiahouse.com, which started my career path in a whole new way.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2012

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. That doesn’t mean you have to be a social butterfly to succeed, or introverts need not apply. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Give and you will receive.

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Startup Tips Social Network Networking 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2015

Unless you are a true loner, you need someone like-minded but complementary in skills to help you with the startup plans. Almost anyone can handle this without professional help, and the cost is less than $100 in many states. Use social networking and blogging to get your message out. Explore finding a partner.

Startup 101

Startup Social Network Activity Ideas 101

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

This blog post originally appeared in serialized form here on TechCrunch. I recently spoke at Caltech at the Caltech / MIT Enterprise Forum on “the future of social networking,&# the 30-minute video is here and the PowerPoint presentation is here on DocStoc ). And so it goes with social networking.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

Having a set of metrics that you watch & that you feel are the key drivers of your success helps keep clarity. 4 times / 100 means if a customer uses your app frequently (say 10-20 times / day) then they are crashing nearly every day. Customer Acquisition. Do you have a customer referral program? Is it 4/1,000?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2010

I suggested that he add some social network marketing initiatives, and his answer was he is “too busy.” According to this study from last year, over 65% of existing small businesses still ignore social media for marketing, so he is still the rule rather than the exception. Start social networking with peers.

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Social Media Media Marketing Startup 88

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. That doesn’t mean you have to be a social butterfly to succeed, or introverts need not apply. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. Give and you will receive.

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Entrepreneur Tips Startup Social Network 96

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2017

Social media as a marketing tool is here to stay, and is now widely accepted. According to a recent social media industry report , 92 percent said that social media is important to their businesses, and more than half report it helped them improve sales. These give good customer connection and SEO.

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Media Marketing Social Media Resource 59

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2010

There are many more, but these should get you started: Create a professional website and blog. A blog is critical, and essentially free (your cost is creating content). Create meaningful content and engage others online (free downloads, white papers, webinars, regular blogging). Do something unique to get customer attention.

Marketing 94

Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 94