How to Grow Your Startup Without a Budget

Here are 4 things you can do right now to grow your startup without a CMO or budget:

1. Use Free Resources to Spread the Word

There are some high-quality blogs and forums with a large and relevant audience that can be your content distributor and promote your startup. Popular blogs like ProductHunt, Betalist and startupli.st are ones that are being visited often by potential customers, tech industry members (including possible future investors or employees) and reporters. Promoting the launch of your startup in one of these blogs can generate massive traffic to your site and even spark interest in tech reporters who can, later on, cover your startup in large tech news outlets.

2. Reach Out to Bloggers and Reporters Yourself

Having a small or zero dollars marketing budget probably means you won’t be able to afford a good PR agency. Don’t be tempted to work with cheap agencies that can’t deliver (for reference, good PR agencies in the U.S charge somewhere between $5K-$10K/month), but rather do the outreach yourself. Whenever you are ready to spread the word about your company, prepare a pitch or a press release and send it to reporters who you know cover your field. Like anything in marketing, the best results are the targeted ones. Most media outlets publish their reporters’ emails, and there are some great templates you can use to draft a release. Before sending, do your homework on what a reporter is interested in. Influential reporters and bloggers receive hundreds of pitches a day, so the major part of your work is to plan and create a great pitch. To make sure it’s appealing and interesting, run it by your friends first to solicit feedback.

3. Use Your Personal Network

Not all marketing and growth has to do with SEO, conferences and buying media. Your personal network is valuable and can lead to even more valuable second and third-degree connections. Maintaining a strong personal network is important for any entrepreneur, as it can be tapped into from the brainstorming stage – advising with friends on aspects of the product, name, etc. – all the way through to the launch stage and future partnerships.

4. Use A/B Testing Methods to Increase Conversion

A/B testing is something that can really help you grow, without investing a lot of money. By using tools such as Optimizely and Unbounce, you can maximize the potential of users who are already visiting your site. A/B testing can be tricky if not done right, as you don’t want to be overwhelmed by numerous variables. Simplify the tests, and each time, check one variable or two. You will be surprised how a small change in the color of a button or the size of your header image can boost your conversion rate, sometimes by 20%-30% or even more.

Source: http://bit.ly/1UoWjNg

3 ways marketers can improve customer experience

Customer experience is a hot-button topic in marketing.

As more and more marketing pros seek to add this skill to their toolkit, advice from one of the leading minds in the field, Brian Solis, can help.

I met Solis, a former public relations and digital media executive, a year ago. My blog post about our conversation, Is Customer Experience the Next Killer App? was one of the most widely shared, liked and tweeted blogs that I have ever written. Since then, marketers are chiming-in everywhere you turn about improving CX.

I was talked to Solis again while he traveled to one of his worldwide speaking engagements discussing CX, and gathered more insights. Here are three main ways that Solis says PR and marketing pros can improve customer experience:

1. Uncover points of friction.

The first step is the most difficult. It requires that you recognize that customers’ experiences could be improved and requires you (and others) to step outside of your roles and collaborate to bring about sweeping change. But, it can start with small steps.

Any employee or manager can address customer experience by looking within their domain—whether it is sales, marketing, product development or customer service.

A good place to start is uncovering points of friction. This can be done personally or with the help of other team members and customers. Look at the experience within and outside your department, paying attention to what happens before and after your department becomes part of the customer experience.

When you involve your customers and other departments, interesting developments can appear, enabling you to identify things that are broken and how to fix them.

2. Place innovation over iteration.

Changing the customer experience may not require a complete product or customer journey redesign, but every aspect can benefit from a benchmark review through the eyes of the connected customer.

To make meaningful changes, you need to look at the experience from both ends. This leads to improvements and opens the door to innovation. It’s important to find a balance between innovation and iteration. Both are required for success.

Take a note from Steve Jobs and the development of the iPhone. Jobs didn’t want designers with traditional cellphone experience on the team, because he didn’t want any previous biases. Rather than focus on what a phone was, Jobs looked at what it could be.

3. Rethink what success means to CX.

Improving the customer experience can have widespread value. It is important to determine goals and how to measure them early in the process. Goals should focus on business value as well as how they affect the customer experience.

What’s the ROI of customer happiness? You can use existing metrics, but to truly track experience, rethink what success means and develop additional metrics that ensure how the two align.

Track key performance indicators related to customer satisfaction, shared experiences, customer paths and conversions. Focus on new customer growth baselines, looking at revenues and return on revenues once changes are completed. Also look at the journey and whether or not it is efficient for customers based on intent, context, device and immediacy.

The more tangible goals that you set, easier you can measure success.

  Source : http://bit.ly/24Uyndd

5 Ways Tech Startups Can Save Money

For a tech startup, one of the biggest challenges you face is, well, starting up. Getting out of the gates and developing your first product or selling your first service takes money – something most young entrepreneurs don’t have a lot of floating around. The good news is that you don’t need unlimited resources. With a little strategic ingenuity and common sense, you can reduce your upfront costs, save money, and better position your startup for long-term success. Here are a handful of methods:

1. Run a Virtual Office

If you’re really serious about saving money, you’ll learn to do without a traditional office with a hefty rent. There’s no reason a fresh startup needs a physical location. Depending on where you’re located, even a small office could run you anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each month. By running a virtual office – or setting up workspaces in your own home – you can get just as much work done without the added expenses. Don’t forget, office space also calls for insurance, taxes, utilities, and other overhead expenses.

From a marketing and advertising perspective, you probably don’t need physical space. A domain name, website, and really good hosting should do the trick. If you run a virtual office for a few months and discover that you absolutely have to have a physical office, then you can start your search. “Should you need to expand your business to accommodate for staff and expansion, there will always be locations for rent and purchase,” says Zac Johnson on Credibly.com.

2. Hire Freelancers and Independent Contractors

Wouldn’t it be great to have a company full of motivated employees getting paid full salaries and benefits? Certainly! However, that’s not the best strategy for a startup – even if it fits into your budget. In today’s economy, there are ample opportunities to hire freelancers and independent contractors. And while these job titles may have come with negative connotations in decades past, many of today’s most talented professionals label themselves as freelancers or independent contractors.

The great thing about contractors is that you pay them for their output. If you don’t need them for a month, you don’t have to pay them for that month. They scale as you scale, and you’re not responsible for benefits or taxes. It’s extremely advantageous and allows you to develop business relationships outside of your business.

3. Rethink Automated Subscriptions

How many subscription services do you have? We’re talking about industry periodicals, software programs, online programs, website memberships, etc. The problem with these services is that they automatically rebill each month and you don’t even think twice about paying them, when the truth is many aren’t necessary.

Just ask serial entrepreneur Matt Mickiewicz about his experiences with recurring subscription services. “In the past we’ve uncovered a mobile phone account that no one had used for six months, a website optimization service that was overbilling us, and a CRM that we had switched away from months prior,” he said.

Set a goal – let’s say $100 – and see if you can eliminate unnecessary subscriptions adding up to this amount. While $100 a month may not seem like a lot, it adds up to more than $1,000 over the course of a year. What could your business do with an extra $1,000 laying around?

4. Buy Used

As a startup, you should never think about buying anything brand new. You don’t need expensive furniture, top of the line equipment, and shiny accessories. Instead, buy quality used items that work well and hold their value.

Think of it like a car. While there is a faction of people that buy new vehicles, the large majority prefer used cars. That’s because a new vehicle loses roughly 11 percent of its value as soon as it’s driven off the lot. Why pay that premium when you can find a gently used version at a much lower price point? The same is true for office equipment, machinery, furniture, etc. Buy used and stash away the savings.

5. Trade Services with Other Companies

Many successful startups make a habit out of bartering with other startups. For example, a restaurant startup may offer free food to a new accounting firm down the street that’s willing to meet with them for one hour each week. It’s a win-win for both businesses. Are there startups, or even established businesses in your area that would be willing to barter? It’s worth a try.

Operate Within Your Means

You’ll often hear people say it’s smart to “live within your means.” Well, it’s also smart for a business to operate within its means. This looks like spending smartly and saving money whenever possible. With these five tips, it’s easy to see that saving money isn’t as challenging as it may initially seem.

Source : http://bit.ly/1NPTjM7

5 Quick Ways to Automate Social Media Marketing

There are experts who tell you not to automate social media. But small businesses devote a lot of time and energy to marketing – and the job is a continuous one.  It’s essential to invest time to market your business, but often hard if you have to manage orders, market, create content, advertise and sell at the same time. According to LinkedIn, 81 percent of small and medium-sized business use social media. It’s a great way to market your small business but can turn into an unwanted distraction.

When automation is done right, it allows you to put some tasks on autopilot. Here are some great tips to keep in mind as you enter the world of automation.

Queue your tweets.

Twitter can easily turn into a time suck leading to little productivity – something your small business can’t afford. Avoid getting distracted by queuing in advance. You will reach more followers on Twitter by spreading your tweets across a few hour time frame. You may wonder how to write for social media – don’t underestimate the importance of your posts. When it comes to Twitter, make sure your message is short and scannable for more engagement.

Use apps.

It’s simple to manage automation while you travel now that most social networking tools have apps for smartphones.  Apps can save you countless hours and streamline the automation process.

Interact

Log in and interact socially on all of your social networks at least daily so that all of your posts aren’t automated. Dive in daily for spontaneous updates so you remain engaged from beginning to end. It’s acceptable to take a break from social networks when you are on a vacation, just make sure you join the conversation when you return.

Automate your RSS.

Bloggers want to share their latest posts to as many social platforms as possible. Since nearly everything that ends up on the blog eventually makes its way to social media, automation comes in to play. You can automate so that new posts get transmitted directly into your social media channels. The only catch is that you want to double check the formatting of everything prior to setting this process in motion. Pay attention to the feedback from you audience – RSS content can scream automation which may turn off some of your social audience.

Recycle your blogs.

It takes a lot of time to create new and valuable content, which is why it’s so important and smart to create pillar content that can be re-shared often. Content creators often want to know how to make your content go viral. One way to do this is to create pillar posts — ones that should not ever go out of date and will likely be shared time and again.

Remember that the goal of automation isn’t to remove all of your work entirely. It is actually to help you work more efficiently. Automation can allow you to work more effectively and frees up some time for you to spend on the other tasks that accompany small business ownership.

What tips do you have for social media automating?

Source : http://bit.ly/1Sk1vWt

Quote of the day.

8 Skills Your Child Needs to Be the Next Great Entrepreneur

Is your child learning the crucial skills he or she needs to become the next great entrepreneur?

You want the best for your kids.

Imagine it. Your kid turning an idea into a multi-million dollar business and loving every minute of it.

Do you remember young Evan, whose YouTube Channel, EvanTube, has amassed more than a million subscribers, a billion views, and more than $1.3 million in annual revenue?

 Evan is just 9-years-old. And he's just one example.

So many of the world's most famous entrepreneurs became millionaires before they were 20.

Could your child be a budding entrepreneur?

While it may seem like some people seem born to be entrepreneurs, as parents it's important to teach your kids some important lessons early so they can learn to become the next Steve Jobs or Elizabeth Holmes.

Even if your child doesn't become a rich and successful entrepreneur or change the world, they will benefit from these valuable skills, whatever path their life takes.

So what are these eight skills? 

according to an infographic produced by Pumpic, creator of a parental tracking application for smartphones, here are those vital traits, and how to inspire your children to become a great leader:

• Resilience: Allow kids to express emotions and don't minimize their feelings.
• Innovation and creativity: Let them play - it's when kids play that they engage all of their creative energies.
• Industriousness: Build independence by giving kids chores to do and responsibility for getting things done. Lead by example and reduce your own time-wasting habits.
• Curiosity: Encourage your kids to start new hobbies and pursue their interests - no matter how esoteric. Try having tech-free outings with your kids to museums and activity centers.
• Self-confidence: Encourage their opinions and give them opportunities to make decisions. Even if it isn't what you'd do, let them make choices and learn from experience.
• Empathy: Respect your children's individuality and their opinions, encouraging them to be open with their emotions.
• Optimism: Share positive stories and inspirational talks with your kids to cultivate gratitude and encourage positive thinking.
• Giving back: Encourage kids to help out around the neighborhood.

After learning these entrepreneurial skills, maybe your child could find success in a "dying" industry; become a pop icon and business mogul; or simply reinvent a product, make it better, and make millions.

Source : http://bit.ly/1X1jLr2

Think Recruiters Lie? Can You Handle the Truth?

Honesty is such a lonely word.  Everyone is so untrue. – Billy Joel

There is one truth in recruitment: everybody lies.  Sometimes the lies seem small, designed to gloss over an unpleasant ending to a job 20 years ago, or to cover the fact that the reason that this vacancy exists is that there is someone in the team who, despite being brilliant at their own job, makes everyone else’s a living hell.  Candidates lie in their resumes, recruiters lie to protect clients and to spare candidate’s feelings.

But the one thing that people always claim to want; the one refrain we hear loud and clear is, ‘Why don’t you tell me the truth?’

But what if the truth were:

• The lovely rose tattoo on your neck just won’t cut it with our incredibly conservative client.  You have good skills, but the decision you made when you were 18 to get that tattoo is going to affect job opportunities forever.
• You have incredibly bad body odour, and, whilst you are clearly unaware of it, it’s bad.  Really bad.
• Your attitude is terrible.  You were rude to our reception staff and dismissive and snide when asked questions.
• There are people out there more skilled than you are at this particular task.  Quite a few people actually.
• You change jobs more often than some people change socks, and we can’t get a good reference for you,
• You are inarticulate or have terrible communication skills. 

A good consultant will man up and tell you the truth.  And they will try to leave you with some dignity intact.  But it’s not easy to do and feelings can be hurt.  Egos can be bruised.  Emotions can run high.

So be prepared when you ask for the truth.  Be willing to take criticism and to take it with grace and with the understanding that sometimes, even when you think you are, you are just not the right person for the vacancy.

Source : http://bit.ly/1NbZxpZ

Sign up now.

Entrepreneurs, Here’s What You Need to Stop Doing

It can ruin your business.

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in today’s business world started at a young age. Silicon Valley is filled with 20-something founders hoping to grow their startups into the next global phenomenon.

Here are nine common mistakes that any entrepreneur should avoid in starting a new business:

Failure to plan

When an entrepreneur sets out to start a business, but doesn’t even have an idea yet, he’s already committing his first fatal mistake. The idea should come first, followed by the determination to form a business around it. Merely starting a business for the sake of being known as a “startup founder” is usually a direct route to failure.

All talk, no action

Many people know someone who seems to have great business ideas, but never follows through on any of them. You’ve possibly been stuck talking to a person like that at a networking event. Don’t be that guy. Instead of putting your energy into telling the world about your great idea, use it to actually make a business out of that idea.

Never asking for help

Even the most hard-working entrepreneur needs help getting his idea off the ground. Whether it means outsourcing administrative tasks to online freelancers or seeking the advice of a mentor, it’s important that founders get help while building their businesses. Trying to do it all alone means you’ll spend far too much time on activities that aren’t as effective in helping the company grow.

Impatience
Building a successful business takes time and, along the way, there will likely be instances when failure seems certain. Entrepreneurs who succeed have the patience necessary to keep pushing through those long periods of non-growth and eventually find success. Experienced business owners realize that it may take several failures before a product change helps it find an audience and achieve success.

Hiring friends

Some of the best startups began as a joint venture between friends. As inspiring as those stories are, when an entrepreneur hires his friends, he often overlooks necessary skillsets in favor of working with someone he already knows. Friend or stranger, entrepreneurs should carefully review resumes and choose new team members based objectively on factors like skills, abilities, and culture fit.

Forgetting about the customer

It’s all about the customer. Whatever product or service you’re working hard to bring to market, if you forget that fact, you lose sight of what’s important. A successful entrepreneur always puts the customer first, developing and refining his product based on the feedback he gets from customers in his target demographic.

Fearing theft
In today’s competitive marketplace, ideas can often seem like hot commodities. Many founders are paranoid about letting others know what they’re planning because they’re sure someone will steal the idea and use it to form a competing business. This fear can hold a young entrepreneur back from essential steps in early-stage startup efforts, including testing the product or seeking funding. Chances are, your business partners, potential investors, and friends won’t want to put the effort into starting a business based on your idea, so don’t let fear keep you from telling others about your great new venture.

Lacking sales ability

You can have the best product or service on the market, but if you can’t convince others of that fact, you won’t get far. The ability to pitch your ideas and conduct interesting, effective presentations is essential to growing your business. If you’re uncomfortable with this aspect of business ownership, consider joining a group like Toastmasters or taking a college course in public speaking.

Perfectionism

No matter how much time and effort you put into your business, it will never be perfect. There will always be small improvements you can make or bugs you need to fix. Instead of spending years refining your product, set a hard-and-fast launch date and force yourself to stick to it. Conduct thorough user testing to make sure your offerings are ready to launch and accept the fact that you’ll likely spend the days following your launch making slight tweaks.

For young entrepreneurs, the market is wide open for great business ideas and innovations. By avoiding common mistakes and pursuing your goals passionately, you can form a successful startup at any age.

Source : http://for.tn/1Nklptf

6 New Rules of Business for the Next Industrial Revolution

The world is in the midst of a new industrial revolution.

This morning, we release several important stories from the November issue ofFortune magazine, which provides an in-depth look at The 21st Century Corporation. It is our belief that the world is in the midst of a new industrial revolution, driven by technology that is connecting everyone and everything, everywhere and all the time, in a vast and intelligent network of interactive data that is creating an economic dynamic increasingly characterized by low or zero marginal costs, massive returns to scale and platform economics.

Fortune's Geoff Colvin has a fascinating piece here that lays out what this means for modern companies. I strongly recommend it. But for the time-pressed, here are my six big takeaways:

1. You don't need a lot of physical capital. You've probably heard it before, but it's true: Alibaba BABA -2.10% is the world's most valuable retailer and holds no inventory; Airbnb is the largest provider of accommodations but owns no real estate; Uber is the world's largest car service but owns no cars.

2. Human capital will matter more than ever. With less physical capital, employees become more important. You need to identify the ones critical to the company, and recognize that increasingly, they are the company.

3. The nature of employment will change. For the rest of your employees, gig work will grow. Former Cisco CSCO -0.11% CEO John Chambers predicts: "soon you'll see huge companies with just two employees -- the CEO and the CIO." An exaggeration, perhaps, but not by much.

4. Winners will win bigger, and the rest will fight harder for the remains.New business models often make fortunes for their creators, but destroy whole industries in the process. Or as the McKinsey Global Institute puts it: "tech and tech-enabled firms destroy more value for incumbents than they create for themselves."

5. Corporations will have shorter lives. The average life span of companies in the S&P 500 has already fallen from 61 years in 1958 to 20 years today. It will fall further.

6. Intellectual property knows no natural boundaries. A must-read this morning is a fascinating story by Brian O'Keefe and Marty Jones about Uber's "double dutch" corporate tax structure, which you can read here. As more of the value of modern corporations comes from intellectual property, income can easily be shifted to tax havens (...at least until authorities wise up and fix the global tax system).

Source : http://huff.to/1P7l9lD

3 Ways to Measure the Value of Your Social Media Marketing Program

Inherently knowing that there is value in social media marketing and being equipped to show value are two different things.

Social media provides a unique and often-challenging opportunity to connect one-on-one with customers, prospects and fans of your business. However, only 42% of marketers feel that they are able to accurately measure the value of their social media efforts.

“Social media enables relationships to be built regardless of traditional barriers like distance or language. For brands, this provides a forum to listen and learn – and if you’re smart, take action based off of what you learn,” says Alison Herzog, Marketing Director, Global Social Business & Digital Strategy at Dell, (a TopRank Marketing client).

Social media strategy has become a fundamental part of most marketing plans. But as marketers, we are pushed to show the value of these programs. To help you do just that, here are three ways you can measure and share the value of your social media marketing.

#1 – Understand Your Current Situation

When creating your social media measurement strategy, start by defining the outcomes you are looking to achieve. Once you understand what success should look like, you can set your strategy and define your key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring progress. The actual metrics you use should be based on the KPIs or action they represent.

For example, if your ongoing social media marketing goal is to increase brand awareness and improve traffic back to your brand’s website you should:

• Set benchmarks on where your brand is currently ranking on all social media channels.
• Create a competitive analysis of your brand versus your top competitors.

Additionally, there are many tools (native and 3rd party) that can help you measure towards your social media marketing goals.

Some tools to help you review your competitor’s social media presence include:

• SimplyMeasured
• Rival IQ
• socialbakers
• Facebook Insights

Twitter measurement tool examples:

• Topsy
• Twitonomy
• Twitalyzer

You will want to review your competitors overall followers, the frequency of their postings, and engagement of posts. Also, use a search or listening tool, to find-out the overall mentions of your brand compared to your competitors.

To understand the source of your web traffic, use a web analytics tool, like Google Analytics or Adobe’s SiteCatalyst to review the referring traffic sources. You can also use a link shortener, like Bit.ly, to gain additional data on  who is clicking on the links in your social posts.

Once you understand the playing field, you can set goals and review your social growth on an ongoing basis. Regular evaluation is key to understanding what is working and what isn’t.

The great thing about social media is it is easy to adjust course mid-plan and optimize if you see a type of post or messaging that isn’t capturing an audience.

#2 – Set Specific Campaign Goals

Depending on what you are hoping to achieve, specific campaigns will require different metrics to show value. Social media has proven to be a very effective tool that can be used to target a particular audience to increase brand awareness (or meet other marketing goals) in a unique and conversational way. Below are some examples of recent social media campaigns that achieved great results:

Clif Bar

In 2014 Clif Bar created a campaign focused entirely on content created by their fans. Brand enthusiasts were asked to share an environmental friendly photo under the hashtag #MeettheMoment. For each photo that was shared, Clif agreed to donate $1 to an environmental non-profit. When all was said and done, Clif not only donated a cool $60,000, but they had made their fans part of something memorable.

Lowes

Lowes found a unique way to present users with a clever social campaign around six second life hacks. They used 6 second vine videos to share easy lifehacks for everything from getting scratches out of your wood floor to making a pillow case out of an old t-shirt. Their inventive social campaign garnered over 4 million views putting Lowes on the Vine map.

#3 – Communicate Value to Your Internal Audience

By this point, all marketers are aware that any social media marketing program should consider the audience’s needs and habits. However, we may not always think about our internal audience. For any social media program to grow and be successful, it is important to show that it is adding value to the business.

Measuring and communicating social success can sometimes be overwhelming. When preparing to show value internally, think about which internal stakeholder will be reviewing the information. Below are some metrics that you may want to consider sharing with different internal stakeholders:

Executives

• Overall trends
• Sentiment
• Standing in the marketplace
• Conversions

Managers

• Engagement rate on campaign content
• Best performing creative or content
• Highlights relevant to their line of business
• Click-through rate from social posts to key landing pages

Customer Service

• Response rate
• Sentiment

By understanding your current situation, developing goals and communicating internally, you will be able to provide more value with your social media marketing strategy – to your community and within your company.

What have you found to be the biggest barriers in creating value with social media within your organization?

Source : http://bit.ly/1UVGaQ7