Marketing and building awareness can be very expensive, hear hacks for your startup
(Recorded Live on Clubhouse July 23, 2021)
In this OpenMic session, we discussed with the audience our favorite ways to market and promote our businesses that don’t break the bank. We touched on guerilla marketing tactics to drive awareness and sales via trade shows, SEO, press releases, PR, and more hacks to raise brand awareness!
Moderators:Colin C. Campbell, Michele Van Tilborg, Jeff Sass
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Especially in a competitive market, it is essential to seek out new methods of differentiating a product. How can you modify and transform your product so that you positively stand out from all of the “me-too products” that today’s busy market is compiled of? Innovation is your key to success!
Did you know that it is estimated that China creates 500 new millionaires every day?!
This is because many are jumping on the “me-too product” bandwagon.
How can you be unique and make your mark through product innovation?
Come up with an idea
Most successful entrepreneurs innovate products around a passion of theirs whether it is fashion, fitness, or even a specific occupation. Your passion can be your first clue!
Begin researching other similar products on the market
How can you mold your idea to create different and better results for people, compared to the results that people encounter from competitor products?
Time to bring your product to life
Draw out your design so that you can analyze and evaluate a visual, to then influence further changes. From there you can continue with the production of a prototype.
Remember, it is of the utmost importance to focus on the customer. You can have an amazing product of untouchable quality, but what you truly need are people to rally on your side and believe in you and your product.
Be open-minded during the product development process so that you can create a product that is remarkable and satisfies the customer. Don’t even be frightened to launch a product simply to gather data. Learning leads to experience, which leads to confidence!
So what are some specific ways to get eyes on your product? To dive deeper into this topic of product innovation and have a better understanding of its importance in society today, listen to this full session above!
Everybody is a public speaker. Just by opening your mouth, you are a public speaker. However, to be a good quality speaker that lands gigs, it is your knowledge, authority, and such factors that pave your path to speaking requests.
What actions can influence the possibility of becoming a valuable speaker and landing a gig?
Show people you can speak
Demonstrate what you know rather than just saying it. Put content together to show your strengths as a speaker, such as by recording a five-minute speech on your mobile device.
Recording your speeches can accommodate you in evaluating your strengths and weaknesses as you listen to yourself back. You can learn to pace yourself and find importance in talking slower yet louder as you transform fear into excitement.
Build a network
Believe it or not, we live in a small world today, so it is of great value to remain in good connection with other speakers. Building a network helps you build authority as a speaker.
Remember: When establishing advantageous connections, don’t aim your focus on what they can do for you, but what you can do for them.
If you can create authoritative content, as well as connect with other speakers in the industry that endorse that content, you will grow authority as a speaker and therefore organizers will book you for gigs. You want people to get people to reach out to you!
It is important to acknowledge that event organizers are not seeking the most creative and jaw-dropping speaker. They’d rather book a solid, low-risk speaker that is reliable and has a good standing with other speakers, in which they receive positive feedback.
Listen to this full session above to achieve greater knowledge and understanding of such actions that you can take to excel as a public speaker!
Chaos is unavoidable and something that all entrepreneurs come to endure due to the stress of finances, clients, and other factors. Today we discussed some useful tips relating to dealing with chaos and the challenges that accompany it.
First of all, it is important to understand that chaos is not necessarily a bad thing because…
“If you’re not nervous, you’re not going fast enough.”
Everyone needs at least a small amount of chaoticness in their life because if you are calm every second of the day then you are not pushing yourself hard enough. As entrepreneurs, we must learn to manage the chaos in our lives and sometimes even embrace and enjoy it.
What are some ways that we can cope with chaos?
Just start!
It is common to get deadlocked in our own thoughts but it is vital to push forward and keep moving onward as we deal with issues one at a time.
Pick your focus
The opposite of chaos is focus. Zero in on the priorities within the chaos, and direct your focus on those. The power of saying no and implementing prioritization can prove to be quite powerful.
Delegate responsibilities, not tasks
Attempting to continue pushing through every task can become overwhelming. Delegating responsibilities can allow you to greater focus your attention on what you are presently doing, and better focus on how to effectively resolve any issues.
No matter how stressful your days may become, as chaos continues to develop along your path, it is essential to focus your mindset on priorities that you strive to accomplish as you continue to ignite that entrepreneurial drive to move forward.
Today we live within a crowded marketplace where there is a constant battle for the attention of potential clients, investors, etc. If you have a notable company name that still accurately identifies your company’s purpose, then you have an advantage. Receiving feedback on your name/domain can aid in the success of your business, and that is what this game is all about!
If you haven’t played this participative game with us before, then here’s the basic gist…
We invite you up on stage
Tell us the name and domain of your company
Our goal is to guess exactly what your company does as well as provide beneficial tips and feedback on your company name/domain
We heard a range of creative names this week, such as…
Pepster- Well this name can develop to become quite catchy. Maybe it is a catchy name for an energy drink that can uplift energy levels?
Stop Creeps- Is this a business that supplies someone with beneficial tactics that can be utilized to stop cyberbullying and similar actions related to harassment?
App Cyclers- Is it possible that this company takes old apps and upgrades/modernizes them?
You may be surprised to hear the ultimate goal for some of these companies!
We strive to provide entrepreneurs with as much constructive advice/criticism as possible, so that they can feel nothing but confidence in the name/domain that they put forth to the public…
Heiphen- This is where the radio test plays a key role in the selection of a company name! When someone hears the name “Heiphen,” they may confuse the spelling and think it is “Hyphen.”
To hear all of these companies’ true goals, as well as receive some valuable feedback, listen to the full session above!
For this SE Club session, we held an open mic session in which we allowed members, of both the panel and audience, to share a valuable growth hack in 30 seconds or less. Some hacks that were shared include the following…
To attract attention, try adding some graffiti to your office building! Allow this visual to express the concept of your brand to those who pass/drive by.
Find your “x factor.” What is that one unique and/or different aspect of your business that you have, but nobody else does?
Organize daily huddles with your company’s team so that you have designated time slots to assess KPI’s and other important matters.
Be your own customer! Especially for an eCommerce business, it is essential to your success to order your own product and get a feel for your customer’s experience with purchasing a product, having it shipped and receiving it.
Have a clear understanding of your core values. Core values resemble the guard rails of your business. They help create a distinct culture, and you will hire and grow a successful team under the DNA of that culture.
Invest in your brand!
Build a community around your business. The members of that community become your greatest mentors and advocates!
Think about possible partnerships. Partnerships can lead to investments and help jumpstart fundraising for your startup.
Obtain a domain, consisting of your keywords, that best suits both your business and target audience.
These are just some of the numerous growth hacks that were mentioned. Our goal was to compile a list of 99 hacks by the end of this session.
Do you think we were able to reach our goal? To find out, as well as hear even more enlightening hacks that can assist you in growing your business, listen to the full session above!
Many startups experience an abundance of stress over cash as they struggle with the reality of bills and other factors that have a great influence on the growth of a company. However, is cash the king of your business?
“Cash is oxygen and you must have enough cash to breathe”
…But is it possible to have too much cash? Well, it is important to have a clear understanding of the fact that not all problems in the workplace can be resolved by simply throwing money at them. Sometimes when you have less money to operate with, it pushes a company to seek out more creative and innovative ways to solve issues.
It is essential to not only know how to manage money coming in but also understand the strings attached to the money you may raise.
Cash is of great importance as it provides you with different options that can drive you in different directions.
Now no matter what direction you take with the cash that your company attains, be smart with your expenses!
Many entrepreneurs tend to confuse revenue with cash. Remember that the only thing that sticks to your hands is not the cash coming in, but the profit!
So, is cash truly the king of your business? Is it necessarily terrible to have too little cash? How can cash essentially steer you in the wrong direction?
Nowadays, negotiating and selling is mostly around manipulation, around FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), or ways of trying to trick people into buying because of scarcity, as opposed to building a long-term relationship without skipping important steps.
In this week’s session with Coach Yu, we did some role-playing to show how to effectively communicate and get on the same page. Because selling is really just about communicating, negotiating, and actively listening.
Some important tips about selling in 2021:
Actively listen! Let them tell you what they actually need or what they’re looking for instead of you pitching your capacities. Start by asking a simple question: What is your number one goal?
As they’re answering your questions, take notes of what they’re saying so you can build up your next question or even your pitch around their goals and expectations. Follow up with another question based on their answer: So, based on what you said…
Tell them about your process, usually, the way you do things is your most unique and important asset. Be aware of your own process/step-by-step and keep that in mind for when someone asks you: why should I hire you?
Don’t sell what you can do, go for the outcomes! You’ll most likely stand out if you focus on their goals and how you can solve their problems. Focus on what success means to them: What does success look like for you? What would be a success story?
We did some fun role-playing for an hour, some were agency owners, consultants, others were clients. Listen to the full session above and check out different ways to get your deal!
We are back with another round of “The Name Game!” If you haven’t played this participative game with us before, then here’s the basic gist…
We invite you up on stage
Tell us the name and domain of your company
Our goal is to guess exactly what your company does as well as provide beneficial tips and feedback on your company name/domain
This game not only provides you with the opportunity to attain feedback on your company name/domain, but it additionally gives you the opportunity to practice your pitch. It is also beneficial to test how your company name sounds over the radio, compared to how it should actually be spelled.
We heard various unique company names this session, like…
The Next Gen Africa- Maybe this is a social network of next-generation entrepreneurs located in Africa?
Lawficient- Well this domain combines two words. This company’s purpose could depend on whether the “-ficient,” is in regards to “efficient” or “deficient.” Could it be an efficient software solution for law firms?
Not So Thoughtful Gift- Could it possibly be a returning company to assist people in the process of returning gifts?
You may be surprised to hear the ultimate goal for some of these companies!
We were able to provide entrepreneurs with helpful constructive criticism on their domain suffixes, such as for…
Antisearch.org – The domain suffix of “.org” is valuable in the sense that it can better support that this company’s true goal is to do good for people.
To hear all of these companies’ true goals, as well as receive some valuable feedback, listen to the full session above!
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