By Hailley Griffis
This week’s article round-up starts off with more great pieces about entrepreneurship and startups. First, we have a post from Entrepreneur that talks about why right now is the perfect time to be an entrepreneur and a post in the Huffington Post’s Small Business section all about startup hiring and more specifically, the kind of people that you do not want working at a startup. We picked up some great marketing stories this week as well. In the Social Media Explorer, we found an article that talks about the incredible fragmentation of the online marketing world, why that is a problem, and how to fix it so that your online media is gaining as much traction as possible. Finally, in Small Business Trends, we read a great piece all about how to make sure your marketing efforts don’t come across as a sales pitch. Hope you enjoy our weekly roundup, let us know what you think in the comments.
3 reasons it’s the perfect time to be an entrepreneur
Just today, Jim Joseph published an article talking about why right now is the perfect time to be an entrepreneur. And it’s true, never before has there been so much collective support in favour of startups and entrepreneurs. This is beneficial for everyone because startups are the backbone of the economy, and with so much support, startups are much more likely to succeed. The last point that Joseph makes adresses social media as an important and accessible tool for startups to use in order to propel their marketing efforts
Read More
By Leo Valiquette
Back in the day when I was a full-time journalist, I would often rouse the ire of hired PR guns by daring to contact their clients directly.
I mean, the sheer gall I displayed by responding with such enthusiasm to whatever pitch or media release they had sent my way.
As a busy hack trying to pump out a dozen news briefs a day, it only made sense for me to take what seemed to be the most direct route to get a source on the phone as quickly as possible. If I had to go through a middle man, then fine; if not, why bother?
And here I am today, one of those PR guns, often sharing the bottom of a client’s media release with one of the client’s own communications people. Who should the media call? Either one of us is fair game. In the end, it’s the result that matters. I am much more concerned with the thud value of a pile of media coverage than nitpicking over who the media called to arrange the interview.
Read More
By Hailley Griffis
Last month’s lineup featured dueling posts from Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette about Ottawa’s future innovation complex and how the thing just needs to get done. And as always, we had excellent content from our associates and contributors on effective and engaging presentations, getting an app to market, entrepreneurship, and marketing and customer service lessons that are universal.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
August 14: Ottawa’s new innovation complex needs lots of parking. And maybe a few other things, too, by Francis Moran
August 08: Ottawa’s proposed innovation complex suffers Ottawa’s familiar inferiority complex, by Francis Moran
Read More
By Hailley Griffis 
We found no shortage of amazing startup articles to share this week. One challenge that startups often face is getting media coverage and one of the posts in our lineup today addresses this issue for startups, even if they are from small towns. Next, we have advice from investors like Mark Cuban on how to pitch, as well as startup tips from the founder of ScaleOut and comments from Y Combinator’s Paul Graham. This week’s posts come from TechVibes, The Washington Post, The Telegraph and Ventureburn.
How to make the media care about your startup — no matter which city it’s from
This subject is relevant, even in a city like Ottawa. Despite the fact that Ottawa does not suffer the same disadvantage as startups in Atlantic Canada, startups in Ottawa often talk about being overlooked in favour of those from Toronto, Waterloo or Montreal. Shaun Markey makes a great point about the need to reach out to individual editors and reporters if you want media coverage for your startup, because they will not come to you.
Read More
By Leo Valiquette
In this socially enabled age, it could be argued that “try before you buy” has become as anachronistic as a laptop case with pockets for floppy disks.
As a consumer, why bother to waste the time when you can simply turn to product review sites and customer review ratings?
Because opinion is seldom objective, that’s why.
Many negative reviews say more about the reviewer than they do about the quality or performance of the product. It’s impossible to appreciate and factor in all the variables that could be influencing another buyer’s reaction. They may have had unrealistic expectations, their needs may not have not have been an appropriate match, or they could have been looking for features and functionality that were not present and are not relevant to you.
Read More
By Hailley Griffis 
