This is the fourth article in a continuing series chronicling the growth path of CommentAir Technologies, a startup based in Ottawa, Canada. CommentAir is developing a wireless technology fans can use at sports venues to receive the same real-time commentary as fans watching from their televisions, a wireless technology that also creates a platform for targeted consumer interaction. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
In our last post, we spoke to Katie and Luke Hrycak, the sibling founders of CommentAir, about their challenges as technology entrepreneurs who do not have a background in technology. A process of self-education and aggressive networking to tap into the expertise of supportive advisors and mentors has been key.
The need to seek out external business and technical expertise of course extends to the team they must build to move CommentAir along. As a bootstrapped startup, they must not only find individuals who compliment their own strengths and weaknesses, but also share their passion and are willing to put in long hours without a regular pay cheque.
In this post, we take a closer look at what the siblings have learned about themselves, about building strong teams and how this must be applied to the business.
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By Linda Forrest
As a marketer and as a consumer of vast quantities of media, I couldn’t help but notice the surge in the use of infographics by my fellow marketers and the media in recent months. This has inspired quite a debate about whether the rise of the infographic signals the end of journalism as we know it.
What are infographics?
According to Wikipedia, “Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge.” In a recent Mashable article, “How marketers can get more from infographics,” the author, Laura Hampton, added the following worthwhile addendum to that definition:
…infographics can communicate just about anything, so long as it’s engaging, relevant and more compelling as an image than as pure text.
Infographics come in a variety of formats, too. Layout, orientation and styling are limited only by the creativity of the designer. We’re even starting to see the rise of “infomotion” — infographics with moving elements and interactivity that further engage the audience.
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This is the next commentary from guest blogger John Craig, a veteran of commercializing mobile technologies. We welcome your feedback.
By John Craig
Obtaining a lighthouse customer is a critical first step in starting a business. It establishes your credibility as a seller, and creates a repeatable case study that captures the needs of your target market. The follow-on step is differentiating your business relative to the competition. Having something that others cannot easily duplicate or manufacture is critical to establishing a secure beachhead in your chosen market.
Sales may now be the least of your concerns. What may now undo you is your own marketing prowess. Your reputation is now dependant on how you execute on your next contract, and there are a number of key factors that hopefully you have prepared for.
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By Linda Forrest
To be an effective modern marketer, one must be an adept communicator. In the modern world, one where electronic communications are at the fore of our personal and professional lives, that includes a lot of written communication. With the rise of social media, users have many more opportunities to write, whether it’s in 140-character bursts on Twitter or lengthy missives on a blog. While some bemoan that the space constraints of text messages or Tweets are ruining the English language, and dooming younger generations to being unable to string words together in a cohesive fashion, others disagree; the jury remains out on the matter.
Given the increased frequency with which modern communicators must pick up their digital pens and turn out prose, how can they keep their proverbial saws sharp? To what resources can they turn to improve their vocabularies, and improve their writing abilities?
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This is the next entry in our “Best of” series, in which we venture deep into the vault to replay blog opinion and insight that has withstood the test of time. Today’s post hails from July 2008. We welcome your feedback.
By Danny Sullivan
When a technology company approaches the date of a significant news announcement, the possibility of offering the story to media under embargo is often raised. For those unfamiliar with the term, it simply means giving selected media advance access to the news that you will be distributing, usually on the understanding that they do not publish anything until after your news has been issued. Although some publications have a policy not to accept material under embargo, the majority of news-oriented media tend to like them a lot and for good reason. Most editors and reporters that have to deal with breaking news are swamped every day with a deluge of potential stories, all of which demand on-the-day coverage. By receiving information on a news story in advance, they are able to conduct interviews at a time that is convenient for them and produce their article over the course of a few days, rather than in the fraught few hours available on release day.
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Important points B2B businesses should consider before launching a Facebook brand page
January 11, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
Francis Moran and Associates now has a branded page on Facebook. As the community manager here and a social media professional, I’m delighted. But I think it’s important to explain why we took so long to decide that this was a good idea, in case any of you are also humming and hawing […]
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Putting your assumptions to the test
January 10, 2012 by Francis Moran
In our last post, we looked at Screenreach Interactive’s recent inroads in the radio and television industries. But making a splash at major industry events and with high profile clients demands one thing – a compelling product […]
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Tribes in a techno world
January 09, 2012 by Bob Bailly
My recent posts have looked at what we can learn about our business behaviour from a neuroscientific point of view. We’ve looked at how our brains have evolved and how this affects the way we behave and act. Neuroscience teaches us that […]
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I’ve got some bad news… The role of PR in sharing bad news
January 06, 2012 by Linda Forrest
It can’t all be good news, sadly.
The trick is knowing how to share your bad news using PR so that you come out the other side of it as upright as you possibly can.[…]
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The two-horse race most startups don’t even realise they’re running
January 05, 2012 by Francis Moran
For most, that means chasing external investors, whether they be friends and fools, angels or venture capitalists. Any CEO who has gone this route knows it can be an almost all-consuming task that gobbles up an inordinate share of that most restricted of resources […]
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The big and bold social media issues raised by Noah Kravitz vs Phonedog.com
January 04, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
As a technology journalist and editor, Noah Kravitz is used to being on the perceiving side of the media lens. But for the last week, he has become the media’s focus as a dispute lasting more than a year between he and former employer Phonedog.com escalated into […]
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When selling yourself as faster and cheaper is no longer enough: Part 2
January 03, 2012 by Francis Moran
In Part 1, we introduced Host Analytics, an enterprise software vendor which delivers a suite of corporate performance management (CPM) tools through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. We discussed how the company initially positioned itself as a “faster and cheaper” alternative to established competitors such as Hyperion […]
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Happy holidays
December 23, 2011 by Francis Moran
As is usually the case at this time of year, we will be taking a well-earned rest between Christmas and New Year’s Day. We’d like to take this opportunity to wish happy holidays and the very best for 2012 to all of our readers, our clients and […]
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By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
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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...) [...]