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5 Obvious Truths About Successful Entrepreneurs

Every entrepreneur hopes to be successful. Some entertain the remote possibility of becoming very rich. But most entrepreneurs do not achieve the kind of material wealth that Bill Gates enjoys. You may wonder -- what are the secrets to their success?

I have been fortunate to start several software companies myself and now lead the team at Aha! -- I always want to keep learning. So, I read as much as I can about innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as the stories of successful entrepreneurs. 

Of course, their upbringing, influences, and personalities are all very different, as well as the companies they lead. But I have noticed a few important qualities that any entrepreneur should emulate if they want to be successful.

Here are five obvious approaches that you should definitely follow:

Work with the best

Having a great idea for a business is not enough. You need the complementary talents of others to help you reach your goals. As Marc Andreesen once said, "Everyone wants a Sheryl, the high-powered business person with deep capabilities in sales, marketing and operations," referring to Sheryl Sandberg, who Mark Zuckerberg hired as the Facebook Chief Operating Officer. 

Takeaway: Surround yourself with great people who will round out your team and challenge you to bring your best. 

Tackle tough problems

Elon Musk could have easily developed a line of gasoline-powered cars and been successful. But he believed that electric-powered cars mattered for the health of our environment, and sought to make them affordable with his latest model. He is also tackling a second problem -- how to keep those cars powered -- and is rolling out a network of charging stations across the world. 

Takeaway: If you are looking for an opportunity, consider taking on a difficult problem that most others are afraid to tackle.

Pursue your passions

Many successful entrepreneurs first focused their energy on what made them happiest and it paid off. Self-taught software developer Larry Ellison started Oracle so he would have a working environment that he enjoyed. Likewise, Bill Gates spent countless hours programming as a kid, launching his first business at age 15 along with school friend Paul Allen (his partner in founding Microsoft.)

Takeaway: You cannot go wrong if you are pursuing what you love.

Live generously

Many wealthy entrepreneurs have realized they can put their money to good use and change lives for generations. Bill and Melinda Gates, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, and many others have signed the Giving Pledge to donate half of their wealth to charity. Sheryl Sandberg started the Lean In Foundation to empower young women and is also working to stop hunger in the Bay area.

Takeaway: No matter how much you have, being generous will help you live a life of purpose.

Know when to innovate

Being first matters. Case in point: In the 90s, Jeff Bezos heard the Internet was growing by 2,400 percent annually and recognized the great opportunity there. Inspired by the digital catalogs of book distributors, he created a book distribution channel that completely upended the publishing industry (and Amazon panned out for other kinds of merchandise as well.) 

Takeaway: Always stay curious, keeping your eyes open for game-changing ideas. 

There is no foolproof recipe for achieving success, and there is no getting around the hard work and perseverance required. But you can learn great lessons from wildly successful and wealthy entrepreneurs and develop the qualities that will position you for success. 

 Source: http://bit.ly/24mpmZ3

12 BIGGEST CONTENT MARKETING CHALLENGES IN 2016

Great content takes a lot of hard work and time to create. At the Digiday Content Marketing Summit in Austin last month, marketers got together to share some of the biggest content marketing challenges their companies or agencies are currently facing.

The major themes that emerged included tying content marketing efforts to business value, limited resources and internal tensions that hinder the content production process. Let’s take a closer look at 12 of the biggest challenges that are keeping marketers up at night.

1. Content Marketing ROI

Many marketers are struggling to show the ROI of their content marketing efforts. Marketers from the agency side, for example, shared that some of their clients are wanting to know how many conversions can be attributed to a specific piece of content or channel. Often times these are brands whose digital conversion paths cannot be tracked or analyzed.

To combat this, marketers use a purchase intent model that assigns different weights to customer interactions with a piece of content, but they admit that this model isn’t perfect.

For other marketers, their biggest challenge is tying content to conversions and defining relevant, appropriate metrics to measure and evaluate the impact their content marketing programs make on the business’ bottom line.

2. Video Virality

Marketers can create great video content, but how do they guarantee that it is seen by their target audience? How do they guarantee that the message of the video was viewed? The cost of guaranteeing that messages are seen is becoming increasingly more expensive, and the industry needs to be prepared for the increased cost.

Other marketers are facing time and resource constraints to produce quality videos. Some marketers also struggle with building out a sustainable video content strategy that can product videos which can live and scale across multiple markets.

3. Consistent Content Operations

Different teams and organizations within a company all produce content to support various programs and channels they own, and this creates content quality and consistency issues. Marketers are looking to manage and govern their content creation process more efficiently to ensure all content produced is compelling, consistent and effective for their target audience.

4. Credibility And Authority

For many marketers, they struggle with finding and establishing a credible and authoritative voice for their brands, and cutting through the noise to capture their target audience’s attention. The financial space, for example, is filled with “experts” offering advice and insights to consumers, which makes it extremely difficult for brands to stand out with their content.

Marketers are thus looking to develop an effective content strategy that will allow them to maintain the brand’s identity and boost marketing ROI, while improving their brand’s authority and thought leadership in the space.

5. Budget

Budget remains one of the top challenges marketers face when it comes to justifying the cost and investment in their content marketing programs. Many senior leaders compare content marketing to more mature marketing programs and channels that have a more linear or positive ROI, which makes it very challenging to fight for budget toward content marketing.

6. Approval Processes

Marketers on the agency side shared the same sentiment when it comes to their client approval process being too long. Some stakeholders are wanting to provide input at every step of the content creation process, which creates bottlenecks and delays in production timeline.

For both agency and non-agency marketers, staying timely and relevant with the long, clunky approval processes they need to go through with content creation is one of the biggest challenges that’s keeping them up at night.

7. Branding

Marketers face various branding challenges when it comes to content marketing. Some struggle with maintaining their brand voice as brands expand their in-house teams and outsource content creation to external agencies and partners. Others struggle with maintaining their individual brand identities while working under a bigger umbrella brand.

8. Volume, Quality And Speed

One of the biggest challenges many marketers share is figuring out how to deliver engaging, compelling content with speed, without compromising on quality and volume. Trying to stay nimble and agile within a large corporate structure also proves to be a big pain point for many marketers.

9. Strategic Alignment

For many brands, there is a lack of alignment in strategy and messaging across different platforms, which can hurt the customer experience and content marketing success. Cross-team collaboration becomes a big challenge for marketers when individuals and teams are working in silos and towards different visions and goals.

10. Continuous Learning

The ever-changing marketing landscape means marketers need to dedicate themselves to lifelong learning and innovation to reinvent themselves, or risk extinction. Training their teams on the latest marketing practices is another top challenge for many marketers as they are also trying to navigate the learning curve themselves.

11. Customer-centric Mindset

This may sound surprising to some, but convincing brands to put customers first is still a challenge many marketers face when creating content. They need to help brands change their mindset about the value of content and understand that content marketing isn’t the same as advertising. Content marketing is about being helpful and providing real value to customers, by giving them what they want and need at each stage of the customer journey.

12. Influencer Marketing

Identifying influencers to help amplify content is another challenge many marketers face with their content marketing efforts. Creating great content is not enough anymore, you need an effective promotion strategy to help customers find and see your content.

Is your organization or agency currently facing any of these content marketing challenges? If so, how are you solving them? I’d love to hear your ideas, please share them below!

 Source: http://bit.ly/1WKcUjC

10 things that make you an Adarsh Indian entrepreneur!

Wherever you go, you’ll find at least one person who claims to be an entrepreneur and who has a belief to change the world. Thanks to the ‘Startup India’ program of Narendra Modi, that number is increasing immensely. Here are 10 things that make an Adarsh Indian entrepreneur.

1. Million Dollar Idea

Whenever you attend any startup event or meetup, you’ll find at least ten people who have the secret million dollar idea, which they cannot disclose. (And which BTW already exists in the market.)

2. Funding is a must

Before working on a business model of the idea, they plan about the funding they’ll be needing. “Pillowkart raised 1 million dollars, Tomezo is about to raise second round of investments”, all they talk about is funding.

3. In(waste) time in events

Admit it, there are some people, who you will find in every damn event happening in your city. Forget your city, they can travel to anywhere in the world, just to attend events on entrepreneurship.

Attending events is not a bad thing. But you’ve got to be selective about events. As most of the events are the waste of time.

4. Read a lot of books

Ok. Reading is a good thing. But more than reading, Adarsh Indian entrepreneur likes to brag about it on social media. They have all books on entrepreneurship in their cupboards (most of which are never touched after getting featured on Facebook).

Reading books is a good thing. But you’ve got to be selective in choosing the books as well. There are plenty of books on entrepreneurship which contradict views of each others. Which in the end will confuse you more than giving you knowledge. Be choosy when it comes to reading.

5. Steve Jobs, the god!

Enough said. If entrepreneurship is the religion, Steve Jobs is the god.

6. Startup sirf 3 cheezo se chalta hai. Idea, idea, idea.

If you believe the above-written sentence, you’re an Adarsh Indian entrepreneur.

You’ve heard about Google and Facebook, but have you heard about Archie or SixDegrees.com? Well, Archie was world’s first search engine and SixDegrees.com was world’s first social networking website. It’s not always about the idea. It’s mostly about the execution.

Facebook has adopted (stolen) almost all major features from competitors and combined it. For example, hashtags & follow from Twitter, check-in and place reviews from Foursquare, photo tagging from Orkut and so on. But still, Facebook is the king of social network.

7. I’m my own boss.

If you chose entrepreneurship just to become your own boss, you’re no different than the girl who works at “I don’t need to work. I’m mah dad’s princess.” And of course, you are an Adarsh Indian entrepreneur.

8. You know everything.

You’re no less than Annu aunty. You know everything about other’s startups. Fund-raising, sales, pitching to VCs, b-plans, innovation, etc., you know everything. You are the Google of startups. You can join and contribute to every single debate on entrepreneurship. The only thing you don’t know about is your own startup.

9. Failure is the key to success.

If you believe this, you’re an Adarsh Indian entrepreneur. Failure is never the key to success. What you learn from failure is the key to success. Some entrepreneurs brag about their failures like a boss. And some aims to fail, just to sound cool.

Failure is not something you should be proud of unless you learnt something from it. Failure is not cool. Unless you’re an Adarsh Indian entrepreneur, failure will only break you.

10. Getting featured on YourStory

Forget the rest. This is the main aim of an Adarsh Indian entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs getting featured on YourStory is similar to actors getting featured on Filmfare.

Real entrepreneurs don’t waste their time attending events and talking about others. They mind their own business. Literally. Do you agree with me? Add your views in comments.

Source:  http://bit.ly/1Wo5HFV

Quotes of the week

Instagram Now Allows 60-Second Videos: Here's Why

Instagram has just shared good news to Instagram fanatics: the photo and video-based social network is now allowing 60-second videos on its platform. But why?

Instagram rolled out the most recent update on March 29 to all of its users across the globe.

With the update onboard, Instagram is now increasing the allowed length of videos uploaded from 15 seconds to 60 seconds. It appears like the company has realized that 15 seconds is not enough to showcase one's creativity through their posted videos.

Instagram reveals on a blog post that in the last six months, the time people spent streaming videos increased by more than 40 percent. It thinks that longer videos signify diverse stories from the accounts users love the most.

Moreover, Instagram says it wants to bring "fun, flexible and creative ways to create and watch video on Instagram" to its users.

"As part of our continued commitment, you'll soon have the flexibility to tell your story in up to 60 seconds of video," Instagram says, adding that this is only one step of many its users will see within the year.

Sephi Shapira, the chief executive of performance mobile advertising company MassiveImpact says that increasing the video length to full minute is about keeping Instagram users in the feed.

"Unlike Youtube where users jump from video to video, Instagram wants users to finish videos," says Shapira.

Paul Monckton of Forbes believes that increasing the length of allowed video clips on Instagram could prevent users from shifting to other platforms, in the likes of Snapchat or YouTube.

He also adds that it will also enable bloggers to push out more engaging content, for instance recipes or make up tips, that are difficult to cram into only 15 seconds.

Kathleen Chaykowski, also from Forbes, says that perhaps Facebook has realized that videos are key to boosting Instagram’s business, considering the impact of video ads on Facebook.

Forecasting company eMarketer predicts that Facebook-owned Instagram could have mobile ad sales of $1.37 billion in the United States and $1.48 billion across the globe within the year.

In the meantime, to sweeten the pot, Instagram is also dishing out one more great news, particularly to iOS users. It is bringing back a well-liked functionality on its iOS app, which is the ability to put together several video clips into one.

"For iOS, we're also bringing back the ability to make videos out of multiple clips from your camera roll," it says.

With the new 60-second limit on videos, users will certainly have a greater chance to show off what they've got.

Note that iOS users have to download the iOS app's version 7.19 and they're good to go.

Again, the ability to post 60-second videos is pushed out to all Instagram users across all platforms while the feature to stitch together multiple clips is released only to iOS users.

Instagram says that it is rolling out the update in waves starting March 29, which means that there is a possibility that some users can still receive the update on succeeding months.

However, you may check out if the update has already landed on your handset by trying to take a 60-second video and posting it. Once you have successfully uploaded the video, then it means that you can now benefit from this nifty feature, along with other new functionalities Instagram has recently given to its app.

  Source: http://bit.ly/1RPzqRA

7 ways marketers can use Reddit

There is no social media site more misunderstood and undervalued by PR pros and marketers than Reddit.

Reddit is nicknamed the “front page of the Internet” for a reason. It attracts millions—if not billions—of eyeballs every day.

It’s also a quirky place with its own etiquette and rules of conduct, and people who don’t follow those rules are quick to be called out. There are two groups of people you don’t want to anger online:mommy bloggers and Redditors. Both can wreck havoc on you and your brand.

That said, many PR pros and marketers are quick to dismiss Reddit as a viable outlet because of their own preconceived notions or due to horror stories they have heard.

That’s not always a wise move.

Here are seven steps to use this platform—a Reddit marketing guide—that won’t anger the mob:

1. Identify subreddits.

Before you can even start to think about putting your plans into action, you need to test the waters and see what’s already being said about your topic on Reddit.

There’s basically a subreddit for anything and everything. Don’t believe me? There’s a subreddit for jerky, dog shower thoughts, many not-safe-for-work examples and my personal favorite: “find a reddit,” which is a subreddit to find other subreddits.

You can find subreddits related to your topic by running a few searches on one of these websites:

http://www.reddit.com/subreddits/search?q=yourtopichere

http://www.pearltrees.com/subreddit_suggester

http://subreddits.org/

Keep a list of all subreddits on your topic in an Excel or Google Spreadsheets document for easy access.

2. Crowdsource blog and long-form content ideas.

Another great use for Reddit is to cure writer’s block (or blogger’s block) once and for all.

Spend 10-15 minutes browsing one of the subreddits you discovered in the first step. You should be able to come up with at least three blog post ideas just from conversations already happening in that subreddit.

Here are some things to look for:

“How do I do x” types of questions.

Lengthy debates.

AMAs—short for “Ask Me Anything” Q&A sessions.

3. Use Reddit for keyword research.

I’m just going to come out and say it: Reddit may be better for keyword research than Google Adwords Keyword Planner.

This is because you can see which keywords come up over and over again, and determine the context and tone in which they are used. Keywords are good, but the context for how they are used is better.

You can use this newfound knowledge to help write SEO-friendly headlines for blog posts and news releases, craft meta descriptions, write landing page copy or gain a better sense of how your target audience searches for information on this topic online.

My two favorite ways to do keyword research for your Reddit marketing are through “MetaReddit” and “SearchReddit.”

4. Gather market research.

Just like you can use Reddit to generate post ideas, it can also be used as a great sounding board to see if your ideas will stick, but careful you don’t abuse this.

Your Reddit marketing should also consist of gathering feedback, which you can get just by asking. Make sure you have thick skin; Redditors are known, to be honest, and a tough crowd to impress.

5. Find sources.

If your marketing strategy includes working with experts in your industry, you can find them on Reddit—along with influencers on a variety of topics.

Journalists are already using Reddit, and it can be a goldmine for finding possible sources to amp up your pitch.

6. Participate in “Ask Me Anything” sessions.

This is the most common use people think of when it comes to using Reddit, with good reason. AMAs are so popular even President Obama has done one .

Here are a few good starting points to consider before going all-in with an AMA:

Have a solid angle that will appeal to a broad audience.

Get a well-known person (who already has an audience) in your industry to be the spotlight feature.

Seed some initial questions in advance. This helps get the conversation going at the start, and can help ensure the AMA doesn’t go off track too much.

Be prepared to handle tough questions and negative feedback.

7. Promote content through Reddit ads

Another great, inexpensive way to promote your content is through Reddit ads Largely overshadowed by Facebook, Twitter and Google, Reddit ads can be an excellent way to promote your content to a highly targeted audience for pennies a pop.

You can drill down by country, demographics and even by subreddit. Reddit has a great resource for how to get started with ads on their Wiki.

Are you using Reddit to supplement your marketing and PR efforts? If so, what would you add to this list? 

  Source ; http://bit.ly/1q7sWYq

6 SOCIAL MEDIA TRUTHS EVERY BUSINESS PIONEER SHOULD UNDERSTAND

The modern business owner cannot assume a website is the only thing a company requires to tide through this digital era.

Two of the most volatile worlds collide when we mix business with the Internet. The former has to heavily depend on the latter to grow, stay afloat and survive in the competitive world of marketing.

Online marketing has become one of the most popular and efficient ways to not just reach new customers but also to understand and evaluate current trends and requirements. The modern business owner cannot assume a website is the only thing a company requires to tide through this digital era.

Social media is a powerful weapon in the field of marketing and is a double-edged sword at that. If used correctly, it can lead to enormous growth and positive publicity; whereas, if left unsupervised and unmonitored, it can be the cause for a downfall in no time.

There are a number of things one must keep in mind while investing time and money in online marketing. The few truths of the ever-changing world of social media, which one must abide by, are noted in this blog post.

Planning your marketing strategy

Out of the main giants of social media, the one that is often the most neglected is the one that may have the most potential if utilized in the right way. Google Plus must be used optimally when planning your online marketing strategy. It may still be in its infancy, even now, and is usually overshadowed by bigger fish in the social media field like Facebook or Twitter, but it has amassed a niche crowd in a short span of time.

Google Plus has the advantage of being linked with other Google services and will ultimately be able to provide your ad campaign with a wider audience with less investment of energy and resources.

Google Plus allows a company to start off its social media campaign in fresh light and with a clean slate. It has unique features such as “huddle” and “circles,” which allow for the grouping together of like-minded people, creating a ready consumer base for your idea/service/product.

Building your brand online

The reach provided to companies by social media platforms is unimaginable. Ranging from the youth right up to centenarians, everyone is taking to these websites and online portals to connect, share, debate and discuss events and ideas.

While it is not an easy task to get noticed and make a dent on the shiny, polished exterior of this world, once you do manage to crack the code to what catches the eye of your target audience, you will sail through. In order to do so, you have to be well aware of what makes your product(s)/service(s) better than your competitors.

Every day you do not use social media platforms, your rivals are getting the better of it and, ultimately, gaining from the exposure — not just in terms of reputation but also regarding consumer base and loyalty.

Building your brand online is the way to go in this day and age of flux. Review reporting is an ingenious method to gauge your growth and study trends which could become a rage in the future. This can only be done if you are a part of the cult that believes in social media advertising.

Increase your digital presence

Many people, if not most, who use the Internet usually have Facebook and/or Twitter and Google Plus accounts. This ready customer pool is always accepting of unique things or ideas that have potential.

Keeping your brand visible in these circles will increase your digital presence by multiple folds. Social media spreads across laptops, tablets and smartphones. This not only improves your visibility but also increases your reach. The number of people using smartphones has increased; and, simultaneously, the digital market has expanded.

Boost traffic with SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is another important aspect of maintaining your online presence. Many SEO experts say the easiest way to hide a dead company is in the third page of Google’s search results, and those words couldn’t be truer.

If your company doesn’t get listed on the first page then you automatically lose against your competitors who do. Once you begin to get clicks on your website and climb the rankings, your focus should shift to ensuring that the clicks are converted into actual customers. This will boost the traffic on your website and help your business grow.

Combine traditional and digital marketing approaches

While engaging in social media, the tertiary benefit is that your offline play becomes much stronger. This marrying of traditional and digital marketing is the key to a successful campaign.

The online strategy will increase your visibility and keep your product/service fresh in the minds of your target audience so that the traditional methods of advertising can build on a pre-established consumer base.

Grow your customer base

The biggest, and possibly the most underused, advantage of marketing via a social media platform is that every single share, like or comment creates a channel for your product/service’s page or post to be featured on the newsfeeds of thousands of people you didn’t even know had the potential to become your customers.

This vast untapped pool of virtual population can be used to not just boost click rates on your website but also, in the long run, increase the number of loyal and happy customers your company serves.

Engaging in conversations on posts over social media with those who take the time to give you an appraisal, and taking concrete steps to solve their grievances, will help you receive the goodwill of people you did not even know would stumble upon your post.

Social media marketing is a tough nut to crack; but once you realize how powerful a tool it can be and how gigantic the potential is, you will waste no time utilizing this approach as a main method of advertising. Social media has sealed its position as one of the most important ways to reach millions of customers — and with minimal resources and investment needed. It allows you to reinvent your marketing strategy every few months, or years; and the best thing about the Internet is that, although it can be ruthless at times, it is also very forgiving. You can’t help but be noticed when you use the Internet as a tool to grow your business if you do it right.

  Source: http://bit.ly/1UJgXN6

How to Prepare Your First Round of Startup Funding

The majority of startups need some financing to get them off the ground. They need an injection of capital to get them over those first major hurdles. But getting ready for the first round of financing isn’t easy because you have more competition than ever before. Every industry is experiencing an uptick. For example, the payments industry saw corporate investment increase by 335 percent.

This guide is going to introduce you to some of the tips you need to follow in order to prepare your startup for funding.

Get Your Business Plan Ready

 Your business plan is the first thing investors will see. It will also be the primary marker they use to make a judgment call on you. Your business plan shouldn’t just stick to how you think your company is going to be successful. It should go into the big market risks facing you and the likelihood of you overcoming them.

The key to nailing your business plan down is to be honest in your evaluations. The majority of investments are rejected by investors because they don’t buy into overly optimistic predictions.

Be sure to have a section on exit opportunities. Not all investors will want to be in this for the long haul and they will want to know how easy it is for them to get their money back.

Perform a Financial Audit

Investors are going to want to know exactly what you intend to do with the money. Examine the financial needs of your company and identify where additional funding is needed. This serves two purposes. First of all, you are able to clearly tell investors what you will do with their money. And you’ll ensure that you won’t be wasting any money.

There are many potential options open to you and you won’t be able to utilize them all. Weigh up the pros and cons of each option. Put a tentative plan in place so you have the potential for change later on.

Do Your Homework on Investors

It’s amazing how many startups don’t spend time considering who they are going to approach. Just because an investor specializes in small business doesn’t mean that they are right for you. You are not just looking for an investor you are looking for someone who can take your company to the next level.

A startup with no outside help has a high chance of failure whether it happens to have a thousand dollars or a million dollars.

Be Smart in Approaching Investors

All investors want something different. Some are conservative and want to see guaranteed returns with a range of security measures in place to protect against loss due to banking and investment fraud. Others may want to take a punt, but they only want to take a punt on tech startups.

As you can see, winning over investors requires a different strategy every time. Don’t waste valuable time and effort by approaching the wrong people. Too many people have spent months seeking investment only to come back with nothing because they approached people who wouldn’t have had any interest in them in the first place.

When Will You Need More Investment?

The time to start thinking about when you are going to need more investment is now. Your startup should be prepared for both this round of financing and any future rounds of funding. You should attempt to look as far into the future as possible when preparing your startup for investment.

One important consideration is whether you are willing to give away any equity. Startups can either take on investments in the form of a loan or they can provide a share in their company in exchange for the money. Both options come with their own pitfalls and it’s vital that you weigh them up with a clear head.

Investment Is Not a Silver Bullet

Startups are often seen as a way of making more money than with a degree. They are seen as your ticket to a better future, assuming you can secure the investment you need. But the reality is that investment is no silver bullet and it will never provide you with a guarantee of success.

It’s not uncommon to see startups take a lot of money and throw it right up the wall because they don’t know what to do with it. The right team behind a startup with a solid business plan in place will always secure better results.

Investors know this and that’s why it’s often seen as so difficult to actually get first round financing. Come in prepared and make sure which startup funding tactic is the best option for you.

 Source: http://bit.ly/1q1Tj1C