By Hailley Griffis
In this week’s roundup we rail against misconception, with articles from PandoDaily, Venture Beat, Business to Community and Washington Business Journal. The authors are clearly fed up with people thinking demo days are a good idea, becoming a venture capitalist is easy, content marketing is free and doing public relations for startups is simple.
Let’s kill the demo day and replace it with a one-year reunion
Erin Griffith makes a good point in stating that a three-month program with a demo day at the end may not be the best for startups or their investors. Rather, she proposes something closer to a reunion where startups are forced to provide value and truly demonstrate their periodic growth. This eliminates all of the hype that demo days create, as well as a few other things.
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By Leo Valiquette
Summer, as I wrote in my last post, is no time to slack off from a marketing and PR perspective, but this raises the obvious question, what to do through July and August?
Most community business networking events are on hiatus. So too are conferences and trade shows. On any given week key spokespeople and thought leaders in your organization may be on vacation.
It may be a quiet time, a down time, but there are still things you can do.
The most obvious is focus on your social media channels and your blog. Throughout most of the year, busy marketing and communications teams struggle to keep these machines fed and use them as they are intended to engage in valuable dialogue with target audiences on a consistent basis. So use these summer workdays constructively to create and ingrain good social media habits into your organization. And if developing a sound and comprehensive social media strategy is one of those things that just keeps sliding off of the plate, now is the time to tackle the project in earnest so you are ready to pull the trigger when everything shifts into top gear again following Labour Day.
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By Hailley Griffis
Last month’s content lineup featured great posts that shattered common myths about listening to feedback from investors, the future of the tech-world for entrepreneurs and how far a little cleverness can take you in your marketing strategy. We also looked at the International Startup Festival being held in Montreal this month for the third year in a row and the astounding importance that neurons play in our day-to-day lives.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
June 18 : The art of ignoring feedback, by Anil Dilawri
June 04: Where do the next opportunities lie for savvy tech entrepreneurs?, by Denzil Doyle
June 26: International Startup Festival hits Montreal for third edition, by Francis Moran
June 17: A little cleverness goes a long, long way, by Leo Valiquette
June 19: You are what you think, by Bob Bailly
June 12: Why my pony tail ain’t my brand, by Francis Moran
June 06: House renos and the art of customer service, by Francis Moran
June 05: Your local newspaper may be your hardest to crack, and least relevant, media outlet, by Leo Valiquette
June 24: Why confidentiality, by David French
June 27: Running faster is not the solution to Canada’s productivity challenge, by Denzil Doyle
June 10: 4 reasons why you need a mobile website, by Debra Kaye
June 11: With clients, you must sometimes be cruel to be kind, by Leo Valiquette
June 20: Are developers responsible for how their products are used?, by Francis Moran
June 25: Summer is no time to slack off, by Leo Valiquette
June 13: Customer surveys are great. Unless you ask the wrong questions, by Francis Moran
Image: June 2013 Calendar Printable
By Hailley Griffis
As per our usual Friday schedule, we have rounded up some of the best articles we’ve come across in the past week to share with our readers. Front and centre this time around are Startup Professionals, Financial Post and the Huffington Post.
Many entrepreneurs over-think or under-think issues
Martin Zwilling, CEO and founder of Startup Professionals, Inc. assesses the overload of information that today’s entrepreneurs are swimming in, causing them to either over-think or under-think very crucial issues. He bases his points on Daniel Patrick Forrester ‘s book and offers key areas for reflective thinking.
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By Leo Valiquette
Here we are, a few days from the Canada Day long weekend, with Independence Day in the United States not far behind. For many of us, it marks the beginning of a two-month stretch of general slacking as many workplaces downshift in response to mass vacation taking.
Or … maybe not.
I am heading into what promises to be one of the busiest two-month periods I have ever had as several clients ramp up various public relations and marketing efforts. Why? Because these clients understand that, while business may slow over the summer months, it certainly never stops.
It’s a disconnection between perception and reality that we haven’t focused on in a while, but I think always warrants a revisit this time of year.
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By Hailley Griffis
