Entrepreneur, Philosopher
A while ago I wrote a quick post on what I suppose has become my core economic theory: that Money Is Time. As I’ve recently moved to Central Europe, I’m taking a new look at the world around me, and thinking about the problem of unemployment — particularly the unemployment of the youth.
The epitome of marketing, according to Peter Drucker, inbound marketing is perhaps the least understood subdivision of marketing. In fact, it’s so poorly understood that many modern marketers have started to misuse the term — using it specifically as a synonym for Internet marketing or generally as an antonym for outbound marketing. This couldn’t be … Continue reading “Inbound Marketing”
Over the past year, I’ve worked with about half-a-dozen early stage start-ups as they move on to try and secure series A VC funding. At this stage, though it may need refining, everyone has their elevator pitch. Their biggest problem tends to be with their slide deck.
Building the value of your brand, and building raport with your customers, employees, investors, and the public at large is a critical part of your marketing campaign.
If you run a growing company in any industry, odds are you’re looking at adding additional locations. The new location may be a satellite sales office, and additional retail outlet, or even an off-shore development office. Through a combination of growth and M&A activity each of my last two start-ups ended up with multiple development … Continue reading “Managing Multiple Locations”
There’s a curious thing happening in the world of VC and angel funding these days. Namely, that for a lot of software companies, it’s almost impossible to get a first round of funding without already having a product nearly finished. The reason for this is actually an accident based on the size of venture funds.
One of my credos is that marketing must first and foremost be a science. That’s not to say we marketers are discovering big, universal truths over here, the way mathematicians or physicists might be. But it is to say that we’re using the scientific method to find little, local truths about how you can best … Continue reading “Marketing as A Science”
With over half the people on the Internet using Facebook at least once per month, Facebook has become an extremely important part of Internet life. And they’re using that power to change the web as we know it: they’re driving the “social web”. Being on the cutting edge of that transition can put you in prime position to improve your business through referrals — the best source of customers.
I think I can fairly assume that everyone is familiar with that old chestnut, “time is money”. But I think that phrase’s usage in the vernacular has lost the property of equality. That is, when people say, “time is money,” they mean it in the sense that “the sky is blue”. However, to truly understand … Continue reading “Money Is Time”
Continual Improvement Marketing is only as good as its results. That’s why I strongly encourage both state-of-the-art analytics, and continuous improvement. Every action you take in marketing has a cost associated with it — and hopefully an associated reward. You must treat your marketing dollars very judiciously, and seek to continually get the best possible … Continue reading “Marketing is Measuring”
For the last several years, off-shoring has become all the rage. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where if you’re pitching a VC you had better include off-shoring in your pitch if you want to have any chance of success. But success in your pitch doesn’t necessarily mean success in your business. I want … Continue reading “Successfully Offshoring”
Just What Is Marketing? If you look marketing up in a dictionary, you’ll get something along the lines of, “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” That does give someone who’s never encountered the word before a decent understanding of the notion. But how, exactly, does … Continue reading “Marketing 101”