TechMedia's 2011 Internet Summit event kept people connected via LinkedIn, Twitter and the TechJournal. Our next event is the Southeast Venture Conference in Tysons Corner, VA, Feb. 29-March1.
Social media and mobile are rapidly changing business events, says Certain Inc., which sells cloud-based event management software.
We’ve certainly noticed the added-value that both mobile and social media bring to TechMedia’s digital conferences and other events.
Just following the Twitter stream at events often provides top take-away information and insights, while LinkedIn keeps attendees connected before and after the conferences.
Based on insight from visionary industry leaders, customers and partners, Certain has identified key shifts that it believes will shape the industry over the next 12 months.
“2012 will kick off a breakthrough for the industry that will revolutionize the value that attendees, meeting professionals and executive sponsors derive from events,” said Peter Micciche, CEO of Certain.
A tsunami of connectedness
“A tsunami of connectedness, driven by social, mobile and virtual, will ultimately enable the attendee engagement experience. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitterare mainstream, making integrated event marketing the new normal for event professionals.
“This integration of digital solutions with event planning software will result in 2012 as the ‘year of the platform.’ Software-as-a-Service solutions are now seamlessly woven together into a comprehensive ecosystem architecture designed to meet, track and measure planner, marketer, sponsor and attendee needs.”
Certain’s top three predictions for 2012 are:
1. Traditional event planning will be massively disrupted by the widespread adoption of social media and mobile. Social media and mobile will become core components of events — with or without the sanction of the organizers. This will create new and exciting opportunities for agile organizations that can adopt these technologies to create high-performance event interactions that lead to increased revenues and market share.
The industry will evolve quickly from simple and personal experience usage of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, to the more strategic ability to support “continuing the conversations” post-event and year round. Because of the increase in popularity of social media and mobile devices, planners will need to focus on harnessing the attention of attendees by finding ways to leverage thesemarketing tools.
Social media disrupting tradtional speaker formats
Social media will also disrupt the traditional format of speaker presentations. Instead of pushing information and talking “at” participants, speakers will find new methods of creating conversations with and amongst attendees long before the live session begins, and facilitating and supporting two-way, real-time interaction and evaluation after the event closes.
In 2012, speakers and planners who do not embrace social media as a means to fully engage and support all participants risk the potential of attendees dominating the buzz around their events, and miss an excellent opportunity to gain real-time feedback and to deepen their understanding of participant needs.
2. 2012 will be the “year of the platform” Single use mobile and virtual applications are short-lived. Over the next year, leading enterprise software vendors will introduce new platform-as-a-service offerings.
Event planners will discover that in order to meet industry demands, technology must be integrated into a holistic, consolidated approach that is best expressed through a single event management platform covering logistics and digital solutions for all aspects of the event ecosystem. This framework best suits the growing demands for all event participants via a one-stop digital shop from which they can access event details and engage and connect with other participants via social media, mobile, and virtual.
Single purpose mobile and virtual applications will get acquired or become obsolete as leading vendors raise the bar for platform application integration. The industry will witness a natural evolution of products and only those companies that best adapt to the advancing technology landscape will emerge as the fittest.
3. All roads lead to 1:1 business activity 1:1 meetings will become the norm for events and tradeshows. The year 2012 will overwhelmingly point to the importance of productivity derived from facilitating one-to-one, quality relationships at events. Attendees will increasingly leverage technology to network and build business relationships, maximizing the Return on Investment (ROI) from the eventsthey attend.
Opportunities for networking and relationship building will become key determinants in the value of a particular event, and mobile technology will play an integral part in fostering those connections. Event organizers can best meet the demand for rich 1:1 participant experiences by providing strategic, matched appointments and a platform for communication between attendees before, during and after events.
Next-generation appointment matching solutions, tightly integrated with SaaS event planning and CRM platforms, will leverage social media capabilities and mobile to connect individuals based on their interests resulting in the optimal value from face-to-face meetings.
For more information about and opinions from Certain, visit the Certain Blog at: http://blog.certain.com/.
So, when you hear talk about digital marketing tactics, what term makes you roll your eyes and curse under your breath? That’s one of the questions communications agency Capstrat asked the marketing and technology pros who attended the recent TechMedia Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC.
“Far and away, of ten choices, they said QR codes,” says Shane Johnston, a vice president and account director at Capstrat. QR codes (Quick Response Codes are those bar codes you scan for information or to go to a web site). “A lot of people think they are overused and misused and don’t pay off,” Johnston adds.
In the survey, 23 percent said QR Codes caused the most eye-rolling, while 14.6 percent said social media, and 10.9 percent said SEO.
Capstrat received about 240 responses to its survey, a statistically significant number of the 1,800 or so people who attended the Internet Summit Nov. 15-16.
“We tried to keep it a bit entertaining and snarky,” Johnston says of the survey. It asked questions such as, “What trend is the next Justin Bieber-in its adolescence now but sure to hit its prime soon.
Mobile headed for prime time
No surprise there: 25.7 percent said “mobile marketing,” followed closely by “location-based marketing,” with 25.2 percent. “Only one vote separated the two,” Johnston notes.
The 2011 Internet Summit in Raleigh filled the ballrooms at the Convention Center.
Which tactic is the most misunderstood (the Kanye West of digital marketing, the survey suggests). Social media nabbed 28.3 percent of the votes there, with only analytics at 11.9 percent even close among the ten other choices.
Asked which marketing trend will fade like a fake tan in the next year, QR Codes again won the voting with 37.1 percent, followed by banner advertising at 25.9 percent.
Personally, we think banner advertising gets a bad rap. One of the things we hear from digital marketing experts and measurement firms such as comScore is that for certain campaigns (such as selling package goods), banner ads can be as effective as TV advertising in moving goods off store shelves.
One marketing expert who spoke at the event said, “You hear a lot of talk about people not clicking on banner ads, but if its an ad for something they’re looking for, they click on them.”
Which buzzword is most misused?
What would you respond if asked, “Which digital marketing buzzword do people – like that annoying intern – misuse all the time?”
Those responding to the survey said “cloud,” (25.7 percent), with “engagement” (18.9 percent), “thought-leadership” (16.7 percent) and “new media” (14.9 percent) also getting significant responses.
“What’s the bright shiny tactic your CEO keeps grabbing for? Survey said: Social media (24.5 percent) followed by analytics at 12.3 percent.
Ok marketing wizards, what new technological magic will transform digital marketing in the next two years? The Internet Summit attendees said “digital wallets,” (22.5 percent), mobile (19.3 percent) and new platforms (such as tablets), 19.8 percent.
After using our new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet for only a few days, we suspect new platforms may be a major factor, ourselves.
Bad news for traditional marketing
Here’s some bad news for print, TV and radio media. Asked if they could slash spending in one area, which they would choose, a whooping 41.7 percent said “traditional media.” But online media took its lumps too, because “banner ads” came in second at 25.5 percent.
A majority (20.3 percent) said that if they could, they would throw more money at customer relationship management (20.3 percent), analytics (18.9 percent) and social media (18.7 percent).
And finally, a result we applaud (can you hear me clapping?): most said their number one source of digital marketing news is online publications (37.4 percent) followed by blogs (21.8 percent) and soical media (22.7 percent).
Gary Vaynerchuk's talk at the Internet Summit in Raleigh Wednesday drew a standing ovation.
Social media is part of a “massive cultural shift,” and marketers better pay attention, Gary Vaynerchuk told the crowd that packed all three ballrooms at the Internet Summit at he Raleigh Convention Center Wednesday.
Vaynerchuk, author of “The Thank You Economy,” and “Crush It!” grabbed the audience with a funny but take-away laced talk that filled the Twittersphere with praise for his performance.
Vaynerchuk has appeared on numerous national television programs as a wine and marketing expert, including Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Today Show, The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Dr. Oz Show, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNN’s Your $$$$, and CNBC’s Power Lunch.
King of Social Media hit Facebook limit
Known as the “King of Social Media,” Gary is one of the first-and one of a few-Facebook users who has maxed-out his friend limit, with over 17,000 pending friend requests.
He is in the top 100 people followed on Twitter and has been headline keynote at South by Southwest Interactive conference and the New Media and Web 2.0 expos.
In 2009, Gary was recognized as Innovator of the Year by Wine Enthusiast and featured in Decanter magazine’s “Power List” of the 50 most influential people in wine. Additionally, AskMen.com listed Gary among the 49 Most Influential Men of 2009.
He made his point about how things have changed by asking the audience how many of them once said they would never use a cell phone then how many have one now. Only one person among the 1800 or so present was still without a mobile phone.
He asked how many people had said they thought they would never want a Facebook account, and many raised their hands. But nearly everyone admitted having one now.
“Take a look at any five people while you’re driving. Three out of four are texting while driving. It’s scary. So people aren’t looking at billboards. They’re not even watching the road,” he quipped, not entirely tongue-in-cheek.
“The culture is changing. The Internet disrupted the music business, the publishing business, newspapers, and the way we talk to each other. We’re living in a cocktail party. That’s what the web is, a cocktail conversation. That’s the single biggest thing changed by the web. The way we talk to each other. And the way we talk to each other is the absolute fiber of how we sell.”
Push, push, push no longer works
But, many marketers go about using social media wrong, he said. They’re used to the way they delivered messages in the past via radio, TV, and print, where they push, push, push their messages.
“But no one wants you to pound their commercial down their throat on their Facebook page. Most businesses are not good at social media and they make the same mistake a 19-year-old dude makes talking to a woman the first time. They try to close in their first conversation.”
In this new social media world, he said, “Context is king. That’s what everyone will be talking about for the next decade: context. We’re living through the humanization of business.”
Gary Vaynerchuk got the audience involved in his lively discussion of hte cultural shift brought about by the Internet and Social Media at the TechMedia Internet Summit.
Years ago, we lost friends as we proceeded through life, lost high school friends, college friends, and so on. Most people in the crowd admitted reconnecting with old friends they had not heard from in decades via Facebook. “Now,” he said, “you can’t get rid of friends.”
Building individual human relationships is the way social media works, though, he added. “The gate keepers of our society have lost their keys. Every person here is now a media company with their smartphones and flipcams and the Internet. Consumers now have so much more ability to contribute to the conversation.”
That’s true even in B2B firms, he said. “Behind every “B” there is a “C.”
The way to win in social is “be bigger than you are,” he said. Selling wine, for instance, he said his company employs a person just to look up customer Twitter and Facebook accounts to learn a bit about their interests. Then, following a purchase, the firm would send an appropriate gift, a Bears shirt to a Chicago football fan, for instance, or some other appropriate gift as a thank-you.
Often that resulted in customers spending as much as 200 percent more.
Don’t sell all the time
He also suggests that you don’t have to try to sell something everytime you answer a consumer question.
Among the predictions Vaynerchuk made: in the not too distant future, everything will be “smart,” including your refrigerator and tube of toothpaste, both communicating with the Internet.
He also suggests that everyone will get so much free stuff based on their “social graph” in the future that they will get tired of it – one point on which some in the audience disagreed. “I don’t think I’ll get tired of getting free things” one told him.
Ask anyone involved in the startup game and they’ll tell you: Part of the makeup of a great entrepreneur is the ability to deal with failure. This ability usually comes, oddly enough, with actually having failed, at least once, on the way to success. It’s a conundrum of the game.
The North Carolina Research Triangle had an accelerator, very recently, and it was successful, and it closed up shop, which caused a lot of disappointment and heartbreak within the startup community. But it’s important to note that while Groundwork Labs will fill the void left by Launchbox in the American Underground in Durham, it’s not a replacement.
It’s something new, with new players, a new mission, and a new vision.
And the fact that the RTP gets another shot with the acceleration concept, that’s, well, lucky, to say the least.
How It Works
Groundwork Labs, much like your traditional accelerator, will select promising startups for a three month session and load them up with the standard foundational elements: space, advice, connections, mentoring, and the all-important $20,000 in walking around money.
They’re starting quickly out of the gate, Spring 2012, which means you should get your application in yesterday. They expect to work with between five and seven startups per session and run at least one and hopefully two sessions per year.
I actually got wind of the Groundwork Labs news about a week ago, but I had been sworn to secrecy. I’m not sure why they were so worried. I’m not that kind of journalist. I’m the other kind. The lazy kind.
Official word broke yesterday afternoon, which happened to be just hours before the monthly ExitEvent social I host for area entrepreneurs, which happened to coincide with the TechJournal Deck Party, in Raleigh, which happened to fall on the eve of Internet Summit 2011 at the Raleigh Convention Center, resulting in a Catalina Wine Mixer of startup tech marketing investor type people in one place. So I had access to a lot of opinion. Others I got to via emails. Disclaimer: There was no free beer involved in the solicitation of opinion.
And overall the opinion is very, very hopeful.
What Do You Think?
“Love it,” says iContact’s Aaron Houghton, “Durham deserves it and many passionate entrepreneurs will benefit from it.”
“Launchbox proved that having a local incubator is important to the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” says Robbie Allen, CEO of Automated Insights. “It really helps raise the profile of all startups in the area.”
James Avery, founder of Adzerk and a very passionate voice when Launchbox closed up shop is, well, excited again. “I am thrilled to see that Durham will once again host an accelerator. I love that John Austin is involved as I think he has done a great job with Joystick so far.”
John Who?
John Austin, Director of Joystick Labs, will also head the Groundwork effort. Before any of the gamers freak out, nothing is going to happen to Joystick. It will continue to operate independently, though it does get a boost in efficiency of shared resources. Joystick will get its next semester underway this summer, and the two efforts will continue to operate in leapfrog fashion.
I got a chance to sit down with John again yesterday. We hadn’t really caught up since he took the helm of Joystick right before this year’s East Coast Game Conference.
The two players in Groundwork Labs, Capitol Broadcasting and NC IDEA are very excited about it, according to Austin. There will be synergy between the entities with resources obviously coming from the Underground, as well as the possibility that some of the startups chosen for Groundwork will come from NC IDEA – even though there will be separation in the process, with two separate application programs, etc.
NC IDEA, the grant program that has a symbiotic relationship with VC firm Idea Fund Partners, and another organization I got to dig down into recently, is another positive. Beyond being the region’s best kept secret for early stage entrepreneurs, they’re entire mission is to aid the area in terms of building up a successful, thriving, early-stage ecosystem.
“I think this is an important piece of the puzzle for building a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem in North Carolina,” says Lister Delgado, Founder and General Partner at Idea Fund Partners.
“It is another way to help attract entrepreneurial talent to the state, and to keep the resident talent here. Besides the money and the assistance that an accelerator can provide to the entrepreneurs participating, an accelerator is a great marketing tool for the community. That is why we are excited to be involved.”
Two Types of Investment
Austin backs this up, and notes that NC IDEA and Capitol Broadcasting, who owns and operates the American Tobacco Campus, have split the infrastructure costs from the investment in the companies. This model is much like how Joystick operates. The investors see the investment in the infrastructure of Joystick as an investment in the entrepreneurial community. Not a donation, per se, but with an expectation for a different kind of return.
This is the critical factor in the potential success of Groundwork. Capitol Broadcasting has a business interest in seeing it succeed, through the American Underground and several other initiatives they have operating in the startup ecosystem. As for NC IDEA, early-stage success here is what their mission is built upon. Groundwork is almost like an expansion of their program, a runway off of the grant money, or even just the runway when the money isn’t a critical factor.
This vested interest, skin in the game, if you will, from the funding parties, is designed to give Groundwork enough time to decide whether or not the accelerator will work. That, of course, is up to the companies selected, and in some sense the rest of here in the area already hard at work at making the region stick as an entrepreneurial hub.
So in that sense, Groundwork Labs is another good sign. Second chances are hard to come by, so you’ve got to jump on the opportunity when they do.
Zack Mansfield, VP at Square 1 Bank and manager of their startup assistance program Square Roots, sums it up nicely. “It’s exciting to see a new accelerator for a lot of reasons but the most significant is that if this region is serious about becoming a top hub for startups, we need more of just about everything – more capital, more entrepreneurs, and more people in the ecosystem supporting new ventures to help them grow.”
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for tech media startup Automated Insights (formerly StatSheet). He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jprocoand read at joeprocopio.com.
Just what are retailers using Facebook and Twitter for marketing doing succesfully?
We asked Link Walls, director of product management at ChannelAdvisor, a global e-commerce software provider that helps retailers sell more across online channels. Walls is hosting the social media marketing session at the Internet Summit Conference, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, November 15-16, at the Raleigh, NC Convention Center.
Walls filled us in on some the trends ChannelAdvisor is seeing:
“Right now,” he says, “increasing brand recognition on Facebook and Twitter seems to be very valuable to retailers.”
He adds, “Since February, we’ve published the Facebook Commerce Index that tracks the fan counts of the top 500 online retailers that have Facebook pages. Through this we’ve been able to analyze how retailers are acquiring more fans and shoppers with a variety of promotions and campaigns. Retailers are really putting a lot of time and effort into engaging fans on Facebook, as Liking a brand gives them the ability to send you updates. ”
He also noted, “We’re closely watching Facebook and think that Facebook Commerce has great potential to become a new channel for online retailers.”
How Levi’s is belting its jeans on Facebook
We asked Walls what Facebook marketers are doing to sign up fans and keep them engaged.
“Within the Facebook Commerce Index (FBCI), we’ve been watching how retailers are campaigning to increase their fans, and each month it is interesting to evaluate the various ways that retailers are gaining attention—some focus on giveaways, others on community involvement and humanitarian efforts,” he said.
“One example that’s pretty interesting from the FBCI is Levi’s, which has secured a place in the Top 25 for months now. However, where most top social-savvy brands see a 1-5% increase each month, Levi’s clocked 9% growth in October.
“Whereas most Facebook pages are quickly becoming one-visit stops for users looking to score discounts or free products, Levi’s is setting itself apart by structuring its Facebook page around a global, long-term campaign to support Water.org, which has been the main focus of the page since it was created.
Narrowing page focus
“Narrowing its page focus has allowed Levi’s to build on its campaign with quality content, from lengthy documentaries of “Pioneers for Water” to celebrity endorsement videos and real-time pledges. By creating a movement to sustain customer engagement, Levi’s is more likely to increase brand awareness, and ultimately ROI, in the long-run.”
ChannelAdvisor helps more than 3,000 retailers, including renowned brands like Dell, Jockey and ULTA, sell more online with best-in-class software and services for eBay, Amazon, Buy.com, Google, shopping engines and more. It was recently recognized on Triangle Business Journal’s list of Best Places to Work for 2011 and is a finalist for the North Carolina Technology Association Best Product/Service Technology Company Award.
To learn more about ChannelAdvisor’s global expansion, expert software offerings and career opportunities, visit booth #18 during the Internet Summit or visit www.channeladvisor.com.
ChannelAdvisor Director of Product Management Link Walls will host the Social Media Marketing session on November 16th at 4:20 p.m. EST.
It isn’t the idea that’s paramount when it comes to investing in tech startups, says Jason Caplain, general partner with Southern Capitol Ventures. Management is paramount, he says, adding, “A great team wins.”
Raleigh-based Southern Capitol Ventures has invested in art.com, ChannelAdvisor, Batanga, DoublePositive, Reverb Nation, and eTix. Caplain is among the 120 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, digital media and marketing thought-leaders who will be presenting at the Internet Summit at the Raleigh Convention Center Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 15-16).
The Internet Summit, Caplain says, “Is unique. There really hasn’t been a national conference in our backyard. This is a national level conference you don’t have to fly to New York, Boston or the Valley to attend. It has a jam-packed lineup. People will hear a lot of good take-away tips on building their business. For us, it’s about building relationships and bringing them to our portfolio companies as potential partners or customers.”
Caplain is one of a handful of venture capitalists who will give entrepreneurs at the Internet Summit a chance for a fast five-minute one-on-one pitch.
Caplain offers the following tips for entrepreneurs making a fast pitch:
Explain what you do clearly and simply.
Talk about your background. Why of all the things you could be doing is this important?
Remember that the team is often more important than the idea.
He notes that the idea is to get the investor interested enough so that he says, “I want set up another time to meet with them.”
Caplain has heard fast-pitches before, if not ones limited to five minutes. He has participated in a number of “Calling All Entrepreneurs” events in which people get a fairly brief chunk of time to run ideas past real VCs looking for investment opportunities in the right companies.
In those, he says, “The ones who caught our attention talked about what prospects have said, or about customer feedback.”
Gary Vaynerchuk keynotes the 2011 Internet Summit in Raleigh next week, which is nearly sold-out.
Fewer than 50 seats remain for next week’s Internet Summit, which is bringing hundreds of digital media and marketing thought-leaders to the Raleigh, NC Convention Center Nov. 15-16.
The event, which attracts a capacity crowd, offers take-away insight into social media marketing, search engine optimization, ecommerce trends, email marketing, we and mobile analytics, big data, cloud computing, startup fund-raising and much more.
You’ll have access to visionary thought leaders who will share their insight and experience with you. Hear from the founders of companies like Twitpic, TheLadders & HowStuffWorks! Not enough? How about a Keynote from Top rated SXSW keynote and ‘Social Media King’ Gary Vaynerchuk?
That’s just a sampling of the more than 120 speakers and presenters that will be on hand.
We interviewed just a handful of the many presenters. For a preview of what thought-leaders will be presenting at the event see:
John Lovett, Sr Partner, Web Analytics Demystified
Drew Diskin, Dir of Interactive & Web Strategy, Penn Medicine
Lynette Montgomery, VP Ecommerce, Burt’s Bees
Noah Dinkin, Co-Founder & President, FanBridge
Jessica Bowman, SEOinhouse.com
Todd Moy, Sr User Experience Designer, Viget Labs
Donna Bedford, Global SEO Lead, Lenovo
Francis Shepherd, Media Evangelist
Dallas Lawrence, Chief Digital Strategist, Burson-Marsteller
Karen Albritton, President, Capstrat
Thuy LeDihn, Senior Marketing Manager, .ORG
Adam Covati, Co-founder & CTO, Argyle Social
Kyle Scott Richardson, Social Media, NC National Guard
Cara Rousseau, Social Media Manager, Duke University
Loren Baker, VP of Marketing, Blueglass
Matthew Muñoz, Partner & Chief Design Officer, New Kind
Jill Whalen, CEO, HighRankings
Jason Caplain, General Partner, Southern Capitol Ventures
David Heaney, Senior Associate, TomorrowVentures
John Lawrence, Partner & CFO, Longworth Venture Partners
Brooks Raiford, CEO, NCTA
Roger Krakoff, Managing Partner, Cloud Capital Partners
Charles Nicholls, Chief Strategy Officer, SeeWhy
Jeff Campbell, VP & Co-Founder, Resolution Media
Gary Storr, Business Architect & Solutions, Nortel
Jeff Spivey, VP Board of Directors, ISACA
Doug Hanna, CEO, A Small Orange
Lisa, Braziel, Strategy Director, Ignite Social Media
William Blackmon, CEO, LinkMein
Chris Condayan, Public Outreach, Am Society for Microbiology
Kyle Scott Richardson, Dir of Social Media, NC National Guard
Jill Carlson, Marketing Manager, Argyle Social
John Lane, VP Strategy & Creative, Centerline Digital
Michael , Gowan, Associate Dir of Web Strategy, Duke Medicine
Dana Kirchman, SVP Head of Client Operations, Lumi Mobile
Internet Summit is an outstanding learning experience mixed with prime networking opportunities and entertaining keynotes.
There’s even 5 additional hours of intense session digging deep into Social Media, SEO & Search, User Experience & Design and Analytics when you add the pre-conference to your registration.
Millennials – the generation born between 1980 and 1995 – use online resources, but that’s only one stop in their search for answers when they’re ready to make decisions.
So says Karen Albritton, president of Raleigh-NC-based communications agency, Capstrat.
Capstrat research uncovered some surprises about the often stereotyped Millennial generation. Albritton will discuss the research and what it means to marketers at the Internet Summit next week at the Raleigh Convention Center.
“For the first time,” Albritton says, “a generation is always able to find someone who already made a decision they’re considering, from buying a TV to going to work at a certain type of job.”
Their most trusted source of information at major milestone decision points – buying a a car, a house, an appliance – is first person experience from someone they know, such as friends or family.
Their second most trusted source would be from anyone who has already “been there and done that,” even if its an anonymous source online, Albritton says.
“They’re very social decision makers. They consider first person experience from someone they don’t know as more important than third party sources such as Consumer Reports.”
That means they might read a review or report by someone with shaky grammar and spelling and still find it relevant to them.
They value face-to-face
One finding of the Capstrat research that is a bit surprising is that while the Millennials “Are very digital people, they value face-to-face contacts. A lot of brands are seeing the value of having millennials do certain things online then brining them into a store or organization to connect.”
Albritton says marketers can do a lot of things online to make a later face-to-face connection smoother. Those include such things as having them fill out basic form information for a loan application online so a sales person can focus on selling and not administrative functions in person.
CarMax, for instance, let’s consumers do more and more of that sort of thing online, she notes.
The Capstrat research suggests “They should love the mobile recommendations from friends type of thing.”
In fact, if they’re in a strange city, they’re more likely to go on Foursquare and see what friends have said about a good place to eat rather than asking the hotel concierge.
What does all this mean?
“It means we have to get way smarter at reaching the social influencers millennials go to. You have to reach the people who influence their decisions. They will seek it in a lot of places and you have to show up there.”
Kabbage chairman Marc Gorlin will speak at the Internet Summit Nov. 15-16 at the Raleigh, NC Convention Center.
Remember those cartoons where an alien approaches a fire hydrant or a telephone pole and says, “Take me to your leader?” Turns out it’s not bad advice for startups seeking funding, says Marc Gorlin, chair of Atlanta-based Kabbage.
Kabbage, which provides working capital to online merchants, nabbed a $17 million B round in August led by Mohr Davidow Ventures and its investors include BlueRun Ventures, David Bonderman, founder of TPG Capital, and Warren Stephens, CEO of Stephens Inc., and the UPS Strategic Enterprises Fund.
So Gorlin understands the venture dance. He’ll discuss “The things VCs never tell you about raising money” at next week’s Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC, where he’ll be one of dozens of digital media, marketing and entrepreneurial thought-leaders participating.
And one of the first items on his list of things for entrepreneurs to consider when seeking venture capital is to the right person immediately.
“No firm where we went in through anyone but a senior partner went anywhere,” Gorlin says of Kabbage’s own experiences in finding venture backing. “If you get a meeting with a principal or associate, the odds of it going anywhere sink to infinitesimal levels,” he says.
While Gorlin’s slide presentation uses humor to make its points, the points are serious.
He’s Just Not that Into You
For instance, his “He’s Just Not that Into You,” section warns that “No means no, maybe means no and soft yeses mean no.”
Nevertheless, Gorlin says, persistence is the key. “Never stop trying,” he says. He’ll point out how many times big investors said “no” to investing in a company before they said “yes.”
Gorlin has solid advice for entrepreneurs. He suggests not pitching the most important venture capitalists on a potential list first. “You’ll get better,” he says.
Know your market
One of the most important things for entrepreneurs to do to prepare for a pitch to a VC, he says, “Is to know your market.”
It’s also a good idea to know your VC. “Take people they invested with out to dinner. Talk about the terms they got.”
Gorlin also suggests, “Don’t be afraid of venture capitalists and their pedigrees. Don’t make them smarter than you.”
But if you do get some discouraging comments, don’t think you’re alone. Gorlin says that one firm told the now quite successful Kabbage, “Your management team is weak and not smart enough to make this work.” Uh huh.
He’ll share more of the actual comments Kabbage received during its fund-raising process, stories, facts and other solid, if funny, advice direct from the digital fund-raising trenches.
Internet Summit is near capacity, so if you’re going, better register soon. During its own fund-raising process, Kabbage presented at TechMedia’s Southeast Venture Conference. The 2012 SEVC in Tysons Corner, VA, is set for Feb. 29.
Many marketers see key word research as a preliminary to search engine optimization, but it is actually fundamental to all marketing channels, says Ron Jones, president and CEO of Symetri Internet Marketing and author of Keyword Research for Search, Social and Beyond from Wiley Publishing.
Jones has been an avid proponent of the Search Engine Marketing industry by hosting and speaking at seminars and conferences. Additionally Ron has served on the Board for The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPRO) and is also one of the authors for the SEMPO Institute Insiders Guide and Advanced courses.
Jones, one of the legion of Internet thought-leaders and digital media gurus participating in next week’s Internet Summit at the Raleigh, NC Convention Center Nov. 15-16, will discuss how to expand thinking about keyword research and how to use it for competitive traditional marketing, branding and other channels.
“Part of it involves the buying cycle – when people will use certain key words. Part of it is about user intent as it applies to key word research,” he says.
That means if a consumer types “camera” into a search engine, he is likely at the beginning of the buying cycle and using broad search terms. If he types in Canon EOS Rebel, he pretty much knows what he’s looking for, has done research, and the chances are high he’s ready to convert and buy.
“He’s probably looking for price and availability,” says Jones. “So understanding which key words people use gives you insight into their intent,” he notes.
Using Google Analytics and looking at the bounce rate for key words bringing people to your site can reveal the relevance what they found has to what they were looking for, Jones says. “If they bounce quickly, it suggests the relevance of the key word to the page they landed on is a mismatch.”
That means, he adds, “You should make sure your upfront messaging matches the content you have on your landing pages.
Then, you should further analyze to determine not only the key words driving people to your site, but also which ones drive conversions for you.
Just what are retailers using Facebook and Twitter for marketing doing succesfully?
