We Bring Technology to Market.

Ignore your evolutionary history at your peril

• Posted by Bob Bailly
• February 03, 2011
• Leave a comment

This is the first contribution to this blog by Associate Bob Bailly, a Calgary-based neuro-marketing practitioner.

By Bob Bailly

If you are interested in why people do what they do, why they buy what they buy, or why they behave like they do, then my contributions to this blog may be for you.

If you are interested in learning what science has to teach about the best ways to convince, communicate and motivate people, then you should also see benefit in future posts.

Or, if you’re intrigued with why the so-called smartest species on earth, whose rational thought is capable of glorious invention and sophisticated insight, is also prone to individual and group behaviour that is at times mind boggling, my posts will definitely interest you.

This is really all about you and how evolution has contrived you to be who you are, acting and feeling the way you do. It’s also about how to improve your business performance.

Ten years ago I thought knew a fair bit about marketing, I had studied brand management and, because I had spent 23 years in the advertising agency business, I believed I knew a lot about communication theory as I practiced my craft.

Ten years later, I’m not so sure.

Read More

Bob Bailly

Posted in:

• Marketing strategy

What does it take to bring technology to market?

• Posted by Francis Moran
• February 02, 2011
• Leave a comment

This is the first in a continuing series of articles that examine 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.”

So said Ronald Weissman in a recent interview. And Weissman should know. He is chair of the Software Special Industry Group at Band of Angels, Silicon Valley’s oldest angel investment organization. The Band has seeded over 200 companies in the past 16 years, yielding more than 40 profitable exits via acquisition and nine via initial public offerings on Nasdaq.

Read More

Francis Moran

Posted in:

• Commercialization ecosystem
• Marketing strategy
• Product marketing
• Startups
• Technology marketing

Great technology deserves great marketing

• Posted by Francis Moran
• February 01, 2011
• Leave a comment

By Francis Moran

For too long now, I have been painfully aware of just how dimly acquainted technology is with marketing.

I’ve heard all the usual reasons; hell, I’ve even subscribed to most of them myself at one time or another. But these excuses simply don’t hold up to scrutiny.

Technology companies tend to be engineering-driven and gears just don’t get marketing, goes perhaps the most common refrain. It’s true that most technology ventures are engineering ventures but I think marketers are letting themselves too easily off the hook by bleating that the engineers don’t understand what we do and that’s why they won’t support it. We’re supposed to be in the explanation and persuasion business; if we can’t explain ourselves to our own bosses and clients and persuade them why they should invest heavily in what we do, then we deserve the dim respect marketing so often seems to attract.

Read More

Francis Moran

Posted in:

• Marketing strategy
• Technology marketing

Marketing tips from that big bold brand we call Canada

• Posted by Leo Valiquette
• January 26, 2011
• Leave a comment

By Leo Valiquette

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is one of Canada’s leading marketing organizations, tasked with making the most of the fact that, when it comes to having a globally recognized brand in the international tourism industry, Canada ranks number one.

CTC president and CEO Michele McKenzie spoke at the Ottawa Chamber’s monthly Eggs n’ Icons breakfast this morning about how the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver served as a platform for promoting that brand to the world and how, in the Olympics’ “afterglow,” the challenge remains on how to capitalize on all that positive press.

International tourism is a huge and growing market. According to McKenzie, emerging economies are firing shots across the bow of traditional, more established tourism destinations that must scramble to maintain market share, redefine their messaging and ensure their brand remains visible in markets such as Brazil, China and Korea. These emerging markets are experiencing dramatic growth in the volume of outbound travellers versus “traditional” sources of foreign tourists, such as France, Germany and Great Britain.

While Canada has experienced steady growth in the volume of foreign visitors, 80 per cent of our tourism industry remains driven by domestic tourists. While this is a rich and valued customer base, McKenzie acknowledged, and rightly so, that it is limited, especially compared to a market such as China, which expects to have 100 million (yes, that number is correct) outbound tourists heading to international destinations by 2020.

As a big brand with a premium product to sell, we need to put ourselves on the radar of these huge new customer segments. As with any business, we can’t afford to keep most of our eggs in one basket. Market diversification is crucial to long-term sustainability.

Read More

Leo Valiquette

Posted in:

• inmedia Public Relations
• Marketing strategy
• Product marketing
• Public and media relations

Wanted: Crystal clear online etiquette for employees

• Posted by Alexandra Reid
• January 25, 2011
• Leave a comment

By Alexandra Reid

There has been a lot of discussion about the blurring lines between personal and professional use of social media. Many questions have been asked and proposed solutions have been fiercely debated: Should employees be restricted on how they use social media both personally and professionally? Should there be restrictions on how they speak about their employers or places of employment? Should corporate social media accounts be used for personal interaction, and what determines if a conversation has become too personal? Should employees even be allowed to use social media during work hours? What should the ramifications, if any, be if an employee speaks ill of his or her employers or place of employment?

Read More

Alexandra Reid

Posted in:

• inmedia Public Relations
• Social media