We Bring Technology to Market.

Do not try to convince me that bread is the new broccoli

• Posted by Leo Valiquette
• October 08, 2013
• Leave a comment

By Leo Valiquette

There are times when I just can’t bear it anymore and must out the egregious examples of advertising I see on the Boob Tube. While the culprits are often not selling B2B technology products or services, I still believe there are cautionary tales that are relevant for this blog. (Maybe it’s because I am a writer of fantasy genre fiction in my spare time, where metaphor is often used as a vehicle for social and political commentary.)

Now don’t get me wrong. I enjoy as much as anyone, clever and amusing commercials that deliberately redefine “absurd” and couldn’t possibly be taken seriously.

But for this installment, I will aim both barrels at the habit some big brands have of taking their consumers for unsophisticated idiots. Granted, a certain percentage likely are, but that doesn’t mean you should base an entire marketing or advertising campaign on that premise. The likely result, is that you will annoy and alienate a substantial portion of your target audience.

Read More

Leo Valiquette

Posted in:

• Content marketing
• Product marketing
• Random thoughts

Is your app ready for social media marketing?

• Posted by Peter Hanschke
• October 07, 2013
• Leave a comment

By Peter Hanschke 

Every where you turn, there’s an article, blog piece or tweet expressing the importance of using social media to market your product or service. You get the feeling that if you do not embrace social media to market your product or engage with current and future customers, you’re doomed to failure. In principle, I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, but I question whether it’s a “must-do at all costs” kind of scenario. My worry is that businesses — new or established — launch head first into a social media plan without really thinking about whether the timing is right. I suspect in many cases that the timing is too early. In other words, is your product or service ready to handle the potential outcome from the social media cauldron?

To outline what I mean, I’ll use my experience writing and bringing my iPhone app, myFabWines, to market. On August 1, myFabWines was live in the iTunes App Store. Sales to date have been decent, and I have not done any real marketing other than creating a web site and talking to friends and family. During this time, I’ve had some suggestions about what the next version of the app should contain. Many of these requests are actually quite brilliant, others are rather run of the mill. Nonetheless, I realized that in order to satisfy a larger market — i.e. appeal to a wider audience — I need to implement some of these brilliant suggestions.

Read More

Peter Hanschke

Posted in:

• Content marketing
• Social media

Great articles roundup: Branding, entrepreneurship and startups

• Posted by Daylin Mantyka
• October 04, 2013
• Leave a comment

By Daylin Mantyka 

It’s Friday — which means that it’s time for the weekly roundup. Over the past five days, we’ve read some great content from the thoughtful and creative folks who published on Fast Company, Under 30 CEO and Ventureburn.

First up, we’ve got an interesting read about using effective branding to connect people and products, followed by a post by an aspiring entrepreneur who wanted to share his top takeaways from an internship with Seth Godin. Third, we’ve got another excellent read on brand-building and fourth, we’re talkin’ cool startups and whether or not it can have an impact on success. Enjoy!

Read More

Daylin Mantyka

Posted in:

• Product marketing
• Startups
• Technology marketing

The only thing worse than not investing in marketing

• Posted by Francis Moran
• October 03, 2013
• Leave a comment

By Francis Moran

I’ve had more than a few conversations recently with startup and young technology companies — and with folks like me who try to get them to do marketing well — where the objection to hiring my services or those of other seasoned marketing strategists seems to come down to a question of affordability. It’s true, the services of an experienced technology marketing pro with a healthy track record under her or his belt do not come cheaply. But here’s the thing: Most of these companies are already spending considerable sums on marketing; they’re just spending them in a random and uncoordinated way with no coherent planning and no idea if they’re working or not.

The only thing worse than not investing in marketing is investing in the wrong marketing.

Read More

Francis Moran

Posted in:

• Commercialization ecosystem
• Marketing strategy
• Startups
• Technology marketing

Brain fame: Will technology redefine how our brains are wired?

• Posted by Bob Bailly
• October 02, 2013
• Leave a comment

By Bob Bailly

Over the last several months, I’ve been heartened to see that my obsession with how the human brain functions is becoming part of mainstream thinking. I’m referring to the incredible amount of media attention this organ has received recently from TV, newspapers, magazines and blog articles that extol the virtues of applying neuroscience knowledge – running the gamut from Jason Silva’s National Geographic Channel’s Brain Games, to the Globe and Mail’s or New York Times’ series on the way digital culture affects the way we think, learn and live.

If that were not evidence enough, one need only to look at the incredible array of brain games available through a Google search to realize that the educational industry has learned how to positively apply neuroplasticity – or the ability of the brain to be molded by our thoughts and actions.

I believe a great part of this educational interest in exercising our mind stems from an aging population’s obsession to keep our brains healthy into old age, as well as a new generation of parents and teachers looking to improve their students’ academic success. Increasingly, however, neuro-practitioners are popping up in fields such as sports and business as sports trainers or sales, marketing and communications practitioners see the merit of applying findings from the field of neuroscience into their athletic or business practices.

Read More

Bob Bailly

Posted in:

• Random thoughts