By Leo Valiquette
Marketing, as we have repeatedly emphasized on this blog, begins with a fundamental exercise to identify a high-value pain or need that you have the potential to address, and then building the right product to meet that need.
It is by necessity a process of dialogue with that target audience to determine what features, functionalities and price points will make your solution a must have.
So I read with great interest last week’s article in the Globe and Mail titled Why your DNA is a gold mine for marketers.
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By Maurice Smith
It has been nearly 20 years since Scottish Enterprise, then a fairly new economic agency, launched an inquiry into Scotland’s comparatively low business birth rate.
In 1993 the talk was all about improving access to finance, encouraging university spin-outs and challenging a culture that was seen to be risk averse and over dependent on jobs from big employers, public and private.
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By Alexandra Reid
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 Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Forbes, David Meerman Scott, Harvard Business Review, Guardian and Wired.
Why most venture-backed companies fail
The current VC model is a play on probability. But this author says this “numbers game” theory, where some will win and some will lose, is not an acceptable approach, especially when fund managers’ fees can reach in the millions while investments may result in massive losses.
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By Francis Moran
Over the past several years, the way in which I describe what we do on the PR side of the house has really changed. For most of its 14 years, inmedia Public Relations was a very sharply focused proposition: We did media and analyst relations and not much else. And we did it for B2B technology companies, and nobody else. That last part hasn’t changed much; the only clients who really interest us are those working in knowledge-intensive or technology applications. And our mastery of the unique challenges of addressing enterprise marketplaces or selling into the value chain as opposed to marketing an end product means our value proposition remains focused on B2B.
What we do for our clients, however, has evolved in tune with the shifting landscape we have been presented with. And the evolution has been so natural that we really didn’t notice we had a new service offering until long after we had started to successfully deliver it.
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By Leo Valiquette
Monday was a snow day across the Ottawa region, or, to be more precise, an ice rain day.
That left tens of thousands of kids with a bonus day off from school and parents tasked with finding alternative care arrangements. Many no doubt conceded defeat and took the day off rather than endure a hellish morning commute.
Today is another challenging one for parents. Elementary teachers with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board are on a one-day walkout to protest the Ontario government’s Bill 115. Their action impacts almost 50,000 students.
Of the two events, the walkout should be the less disruptive. It does, after all, impact only elementary schools and only one of the Ottawa area’s school boards. Parents were also given five days advance notice.
Our fickle winter weather is seldom so accommodating.
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A timely post about succession planning in content marketing
December 11, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
The hand off of a marketing position is a tricky process for many professionals. It’s made even more complex when a professional has an online presence affiliated with the company or is responsible for managing multiple online company accounts […]
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Apple versus Samsung: Samsung’s ‘out’ to escape infringement
December 10, 2012 by David French
This post goes right to the very heart of a patent and what a patent can and cannot do in the marketplace. And it has a twist, if you are prepared to bear with the analysis to the end […]
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Great articles roundup: Internet governance, crappy startups, great products, iteration, market demand, women VCs and CMOs
December 07, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
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 The Globe and Mail, Read Write Web, Mark Evans, The Wall Street Journal, Venture Beat, Harvard Business Review, and Forbes.
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SR&ED and the law of unintended consequences
December 06, 2012 by Francis Moran
Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit program is undoubtedly one of the most popular industrial incentive schemes around. Shortened to SR&ED and usually referred to as “Shred,” the program provides a 35 percent investment tax […]
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It’s that time again to put life and work in perspective
December 05, 2012 by Leo Valiquette
I’ve referenced before the old joke about the easy-going work-life balance that results from being an entrepreneur. “I can work for only half the day,” says the entrepreneur. “And I get to decide which 12 hours that will be.” But long hours are certainly not reserved for the start-up of a new business […]
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Top 10 questions every strategic communicator should ask
December 04, 2012 by Caroline Kealey
Recently, I was honoured to have the opportunity to deliver a session at the IABC Canada 2012 Business Communicators Summit on the top 10 questions in strategic communications […]
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Lessons from Project Glass: Why embracing technology is not optional
December 03, 2012 by Chamber of Commerce
Devices like smartphones and tablets have become such a part of everyday life that they’re almost an extension of our bodies. As technology progresses, so does the ease of use. The capabilities of personal electronics today would have been the stuff of science fiction only a decade ago […]
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November roundup: What does it take to bring technology to market?
November 30, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
This month saw a lot of action in the Canadian startup scene, and we covered much of it here on our blog. Most notably, Startup Canada launched its much anticipated Startup Blueprints, an ambitious web platform that summarizes what the organisation heard […]
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By Leo Valiquette
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Tweets by @FrancisMoranRecent Comments
The Future of A&R – Walabe : [...] http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/top-10-questions-every-strategic-communicator-should-ask... [...]
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...) [...]