Leighton Ventures

“It’s time for something else to emerge”.

Is it senior management banter? Perhaps. However, I think there is some validity here. Many companies focus on growing what they already have. Hours, resources, and money are poured into projects and initiatives that focus on what companies already have or already do.

So, I ask; why not break out of the norm?

In most industries, it’s time for something else to emerge. Gone are the days are the same approaches that deliver the 10% revenue growth. Why not research, identify, and build something that grows revenue by 2300%? With the right product, strategic marketing, and good leadership the goal can be accomplished.

As business owners, marketers, and key decision makers in our companies we need to be looking bigger, with a different eye, and more strategically. Look for different ways to let your business explode – not just grow. Seek ways to innovate, create new products, and achieve bigger results.

Image provided by: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgiesharp/98555918/sizes/m/)

What if the creation of the stop sign were directed by a corporate marketing department?

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A good post on why social media may not be all it’s cracked up to be. I really agree with many points in this commentary.

We are human beings. And, human beings have issues. Do we want those issues to be permanent and archived for the long-term?

Our day-to-day comments, thoughts, and opinions just “float off in to space and 99% of the time are gone for all eternity.”

A rebuttal for Joshua would be that those that choose to participate need to hold themselves more accountable for their actions, thoughts, words, and opinions. Thus, improving our society and being better citizens.

Read the full blog post on Why social media is BAD, BAD, BAD.

I have a client that has an issue; a very common issue for startup companies. They need money to grow there business. As you know, it’s a long road to securing a round of capital. It takes time, energy, activity, and contacts.

How do you get some momentum going?

Well, I was digging deep, deep into the vault and found a dusty old Excel list of VCs I had compiled.

This list turned out to be a great resource for the CEO of this startup food manufacturing company. I know VC funding is all about relationships and personal introductions. However, if you are a one man band running a company on a shoestring budget and you need capital yesterday, you will need to generate activity and interest in the quickest most cost efficient manner. Try emailing a list to generate some interest.

Tips on your email:

• Short, sweet, and hard to beat
• Include the why
• How much capital are you trying to raise?
• Add a link to a landing page with more information and a form

Lessons learned are coming soon.

There are a lot of good VC list resources: Capital Vector and Growth Think are two I am aware of. Also, check out local VC networking groups and conferences. There are always events happening as companies are looking for investment capital.

I have been testing twitter for 30 days for a client. The client profile is important. The client is high profile, new product, and very buzz worthy. You would think twitter would be perfect to spread the news and get “industry” people talking about the product.

My prediction: we would have 200 key followers in the first 30 days. Then, going forward we would The reality; only 120 followers. This issue is not the number, it’s the quality of followers. Is the account being leveraged? Are we tweeting relevant tweets and getting a quality conversation going? Perhaps.

What needs to change is the energy and time put into the project. We cannot expect instant results in 30 days and realize new business. Ultimately, we are utilizing twitter for PR, online marketing, and redirecting industry people to promotions and product features.

I will provide another update in 30 days to see what lessons I have learned and any shortcuts I can convey to you.

Resource

• Stop Using Twitter… For Fun. I kind of agree.

1. Keywords – Target the keywords that your target market uses.
2. Content – It’s got to be great, unique, linkworthy, fresh, keyword-focused content.
3. Links -No links? No rankings.
4. Site Structure – It’s essential to get the technical details right (redirects, HTML templates, URLs, internal linking structure).

Selling vs. Effective Marketing

Confusion on this issue will always exist. That’s why so many companies have marketing departments and sales departments.

The only reason you need both is because the marketing department is doing such a lousy job differentiating the business and products, the sales department has to hit the streets and do the educating for them. That’s why selling can be such a tough job.

Source: Duct Tape Marketing, John Jantsch

Au contraire to Neil Patel’s post Want to be successful? Learn how to sell!, I believe effective marketing is much more valuable to an individual and business’ success. Neil’s post outlines some of the characteristics of a great sales person. All of which I would consider short term success, besides customers become warn out from a sales person’s antics. You should simply just need closers.

Indeed sales are always being made and persistence does pay off, but launching, testing, monitoring, and tweaking effective marketing tactics is much more fruitful to companies and the sales are just the results from your marketing efforts. This includes all of the following benefits of an effective marketing program: product / service communication, good customer service, happy customers, empowered referral sources, and challenged employees.

Nowadays, companies should focus on precise marketing strategies and tactics to implement and test. Yes, that sounds obvious. However, there is no better time than now to start planting marketing seeds and capture market share.

If your marketing department isn’t clever and effective, don’t bring in sales people or business developers for a short term solution to drum up some business. Look to hire a more creative marketing person that can more effectively market your business, products, and services. Marketing can turn your pipeline into a never ending “closing machine”.

Well, we all have Tiger Woods to thank for disappearing from the game of golf over the past 8 months. Because of his time away from the Tour, the economy has slid into this recession.

The good news is that Tiger Woods is back and the economy should get back on track because of his return.

Are “good times” gone? Did someone really turn the light off at the end of the tunnel?

Here’s the Sequoia Capital presentation outlining what went wrong and what’s going to happen for startups and venture-backed companies.

What are your thoughts on the Sequoia presentation?

I don’t think the light is turned off at the end of the tunnel. I think it shines as bright as ever for some.

In fact, I think now is the time for you and your company to roll up your sleeves and get the marketing going. Marketers, This is Your Time to Innovate and Lead, Not Hunker Down gives you an “optimist’s” perspective of proactive marketing and drowning the fear factor.

Over the next 6-10 months, marketers should be thinking about low-cost, high-impact marketing strategies. Focus on driving revenue and building / keeping a flat revenue line this year and your company will be considered a winner in these economic times.