By Peter Hanschke
Welcome to the fourth post in my journey to build and launch an iPhone app. The last post tackled the intersection of product management, user experience and implementation – how they are separate but yet related. In this post I’m going to talk about the marketing of my iPhone app.
Let’s get one thing clear right off the top: Mobile app stores are NOT marketing vehicles. With the unbelievable number of apps in these stores there is no way you can make yourself heard. During the early days, using the app store as a marketing vehicle was possible, but now with tens of thousands of apps to choose from this is close to impossible.
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By Francis Moran
I love working with young technology companies, and that’s part of the reason I volunteer as a mentor at startup accelerators like Montreal’s Founder Fuel. I was there yesterday, putting on a session I do for each cohort that teaches these budding entrepreneurs a framework for the strategic planning of their marketing function.
I was reminded yesterday of a conversation I had with a Founder Fuel CEO a couple of cohorts ago. It was just a few days before Demo Day, that high-pressure moment when each cohort company presents its investment proposition to a room full of angel and VC investors. I had been working with the CEO on his messaging for his investor deck, and the revised deck he was reviewing with me and another mentor reflected some of that work.
Then the other mentor said, “You know, this is too high level. Half the people in the room aren’t going to understand what you’re talking about.”
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By Leo Valiquette
Last week I had the honour of being involved with Canada 3.0, a digital technology conference put on by the Canadian Digital Media Network. Over two days, the conference explored the many ways that digital technology is transforming our lives and how we are progressing toward the CDMN’s “moonshot goal:” That anyone can do anything on line by 2017.
In addition to a variety of breakout sessions, there were some incredible keynotes about the profound transformations gripping the media and content-distribution industries and how the need for individual self-expression through social media is redefining traditional marketing and advertising.
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By Leo Valiquette
Today we take a break from our regular blogging schedule in celebration of that great Canadian kick-off to summer, Victoria Day.
For our readers who do not hail from some corner of the Commonwealth, Victoria Day is in honour of Queen Victoria, the grand old dame who ruled the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901. Her rule was longer than that of any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history (Queen Elizabeth II still has more than two years to go to do better).
We will return tomorrow with some takeaways for entrepreneurs from last week’s Canada 3.0 conference in Toronto.
Image: HolidayCentral.com
By Hailley Griffis
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Convince&Convert, VentureBurn, Kim Garst, TechVibes and Commander Chris Hadfield.
Contagion, social media, and why things catch on
Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the Wharton School, discusses setting realistic goals with a viral marketing campaign and the science behind it.
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Fiction: Media relations is ‘free advertising’
May 16, 2013 by Francis Moran
At the time my PR agency,inmedia Public Relations, was founded, I worked out of a large integrated agency in the city and some of the account executives there loved to push my buttons by declaring that media relations was free advertising […]
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Design by committee is just plain wrong
May 15, 2013 by Francis Moran
The aphorism that a camel is a horse designed by committee is usually attributed to Greek-born British car designer Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, who was responsible for British Motor Corporation’s popular Mini. I never quite understood why Sir Alex would disparage a camel’s design […]
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The business of evolution: We’re not as clever as we think we are
May 14, 2013 by Bob Bailly
When I was first asked to contribute to this blog, my stated interest was writing a piece that “is really all about you and how evolution has contrived you to be who you are, acting and feeling the way you do […]
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The marketing genius of Audi’s Spock vs. Spock
May 13, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
OK. I must confess off the top to be being a diehard Trek fan. (And no, I do not attend conventions wearing prosthetic Vulcan ears or Klingon foreheads, nor do I even own such things.) But even if I were not, I’m sure I would still be praising the latest celebrity ad campaign from Audi […]
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Great articles roundup: Micro-multinational startup, marketing strategy and content, entrepreneurship
May 10, 2013 by Daylin Mantyka
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are ReadWriteWeb, MarketingProfs, Velocity and Startup Professional Musings […]
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6 small business statistics that may surprise you
May 09, 2013 by Chamber of Commerce
Small businesses love statistics. And why not? They help us understand where we’re going and where we’ve been. After all, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it […]
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Accelerator metrics in Canada (or anywhere)
May 08, 2013 by Jesse Rodgers
I spent a little time at StartupWeekendHamilton3 in April as a mentor and was talking to a young founder who proclaimed that there was one great accelerator in Canada. Who he said it was surprised me a little and got me thinking, what makes an accelerator “the best” and why should an eager founder care? […]
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If you’re so afraid of spilling the beans that no one knows you have any …
May 07, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
During my years as a full-time journo, I crossed paths with many a startup technology venture that claimed to be operating in so-called stealth mode. It was the early 2000s, before the process of getting technology to market was as socially enabled as it is now […]
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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...) [...]