"We have been fortunate enough to have worked over the past nine months with Francis Moran and Associates to deliver virtual CMO services for our company, and so far it has been highly effective. With this relationship, we get access to a level of experience and expertise which would be unaffordable to us if we were to hire a full-time equivalent." Dave McIlhagga, Founder and CEO
"When I hired Francis Moran to lead our marketing efforts in 2011, I had very high expectations. We needed to completely rebuild our marketing from the ground up. Francis and his team not only met those high expectations but exceeded them. He brought a very high level of strategic thinking, professionalism and creativity to our organization that will be felt for many years to come in our quest to build a successful IT company."
Marty Hilsenteger, Founder and CEO
This past weekend, my family went to the Canada Science & Technology Museum. I’m ashamed to admit that I hadn’t been there since I participated many, many moons ago in Encounters with Canada, but was pleasantly surprised that some of the things I remembered and liked were still there but that most of the museum had been updated since my last visit, nearly 20 years ago.
My young son marvelled at the train cars and the space exhibits, but the display that most moved me and will always stay with me is that of the Phoenix capsule, the feat of engineering and proof of the power of human determination that carried 33 trapped Chilean miners from over 2,300 feet below ground to the surface as the world watched. The men had survived for a record 69 days underground.
When we initially made plans to go to the museum, we didn’t know that the capsule would be there. It’s a travelling exhibit and kudos to whomever was responsible for getting Ottawa on the tour.
This is the 11th article in a continuing series that examines the state of the ecosystem necessary to successfully bring technology to market. Based on dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, academics, tech-transfer experts and policy makers, this series looks at what is working and what can be improved in the go-to-market ecosystem in the United States, Canada and Britain. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
“Companies that can’t clearly articulate their customer and market are not real serious companies, they are research projects … Engineering and marketing need to work together from the get go.”
We began this series a couple of months ago with this timeless quote from Band of Angels’ Ronald Weissman. It strikes to the heart of what all of us here take as gospel.
Anil Dilawri is managing director of Save it like Sully, an executive presentation coaching and training company.
Have you ever seen a bad presentation before? Of course you have, everyone has. The next time you see a bad presentation, and I’m guessing it will be soon, take 20 seconds and write down three adjectives to describe the presenter. My guess is, they probably won’t be very flattering adjectives. The point here is that when bad presentations happen, the presenter’s reputation suffers. Whether we like it or not, our personal reputations are on the line every time we present.
Dave Fleet, Vice President of Digital at Edelman’s Toronto office, and I sat down after his Social Media Breakfast Ottawa presentation to discuss some of the top social media trends that business can expect to come to fruition in 2011. Among the top trends discussed in this video are influence, content curation, search engine optimization, privacy and the importance of having a crisis communications plan. The discussion also offers important information for government workers and communicators who are working with their organizations to implement social media strategies.
This is post is by Associate Phil Newman, a London-based marketing and commercialization strategist for technology companies. We welcome your comments.
By Phil Newman
“OK. Tuesday at 2:30. Great, see you then. We’ll get our NDA over to you guys … yeah, it’s mutual … we can talk more freely about how things could shape up between us. OK, Tuesday it is.”
Sounds fine, doesn’t it? Countersigned NDA filed in the company’s records, check. Possible collaboration with the guys at XYZ Corp., check. Mutual NDA that states what’s ours is ours, check.
But is the NDA, or Non-Disclosure Agreement, a simple business-process document that’s as everyday as a purchase order, or a legally binding document that opens up the potential of intellectual property (IP) issues later? And what about those IP clauses in your standard employment contract? French car-maker Renault recently suspended three senior execs in what was described as a sophisticated case of industrial espionage. The case revolved around electric vehicle programs and power train and battery technology. Chinese companies have been named, but involvement has been denied.
Francis has always been a stickler about not filling client releases with meaningless buzzwords, and rightly so. There are some words and phrases used to market technology that are overused and virtually meaningless. Chief on this list? “Solution.” His dislike for this word is well documented – even on this blog, in this earlier post […]
Thank you for being with us for the second month of our new blog. In case you missed any posts, here is a recap, beginning with, in chronological order, our special reports on getting technology to market, Incubation, Entrepreneurs with the right stuff and Words of Wisdom […]
As we have said before, entrepreneurs must have a vision that will stretch the boundaries of what they know and challenge what they believe is attainable. They must be willing to seek the outside counsel and feedback that will reveal the weaknesses in themselves, their teams, their technology and their paths to market. It’s difficult to overcome a weakness […]
The acquisition of the social media-monitoring platform Radian6 by enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce for $326 million made headlines this week as a major win for the Canadian venture capital and startup community […]
To grow and maintain market share, companies must constantly look for new ways to grow their business and their people. If they fail, in the short term they’ll meet their numbers. In the long term they’ll lose their best. Their organization will suffer accordingly. In the absence of a leader’s great interpersonal skills […]
Monitoring social media is like drinking from a fire hose. If you don’t abridge the flow, you will get washed away. As a community manager, I have an intimate understanding of what it feels like to be pummeled and drenched by content […]
Here’s the situation: Your development team is busy creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). You have people off in all directions trying to secure some funding. But do you have a Market Validation Plan? Furthermore, are you executing this plan along with all the other activities? In other words, is this an activity that you are currently performing? […]
There is a German proverb that states, “An old error is always more popular than a new truth.” This is often evident in the business of getting technology to market, particularly among nascent entrepreneurs and startup management teams who are coming into the process of commercialization well-versed in the engineering of a product […]
It’s Summertime…and the Networking is Easy? | THE MERRAINE BRAIN : [...] In fact, summer is perhaps one of the times least used to network, yet at the same time has shown to be the most productive time to network. People tend to be in a brighter mood compared to during the gloomy winters-especially where I am from in England! Networking needs to be fun and not approached as another chore, like mowing the lawn. (http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/social-media-strategy-why-meeting-in-the-real-world-matt...) [...]
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Traditional Marketing is Dead – Long Live Bikini Waxer Marketing | Scalexl : [...] pointed out by Alexandra Reid on the Francis Moran website content marketing is becoming more and more like journalism. So, it is not just about the content, [...]
It’s Summertime…and the Networking is Easy? | THE MERRAINE BRAIN : [...] In fact, summer is perhaps one of the times least used to network, yet at the same time has shown to be the most productive time to network. People tend to be in a brighter mood compared to during the gloomy winters-especially where I am from in England! Networking needs to be fun and not approached as another chore, like mowing the lawn. (http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/social-media-strategy-why-meeting-in-the-real-world-matt...) [...]