JumpStart: IdeaExchange Blog

I just returned from the NVCA strategic communicators’ meeting in the fabulous Microsoft NERD Center in Boston (Incidentally, NERD stands for Northeast R&D, but they fully embrace the acronym — love that). It’s a do-not-miss event for me because I always leave with a handful of new tools, tricks, or knowledge. This time, it was the session with HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan which rocked my world in all good ways. Here are the 5 things I took from his presentation (with many thanks and all credit to Brian…).

(As a bit of set up, Brian’s core belief is that we have been through a seismic marketing transformation in that we have moved from push marketing (content is pushed to people, who have little control over it - think TV advertising) to “get found” marketing (content is available and people find it have the control, or the power, over how other people can find it.)

5. To see what a marketer has “done”, just go online. Brian recommended that any portfolio company hiring a director/VP of marketing look at the online presence the person has led or created…whether that be a website, LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, blog, twitter activity, or other content. Look at it and discuss it together. If that person doesn’t have substantive experience that impresses you, the person might still be a very smart, capable marketer, but one with old school skills. Is that what you want?

4. Content is king. Marketers now need to think like publishers. What is the content that you want to make available? Ebooks? White papers? Webinars? Videos? Obviously it’s got to fit with what makes sense to your audience, but making it available is what attracts people to you. With nothing to attract people, how will your audience/customers/constituents engage with you?

3. Marketing departments will be changing dramatically. As JumpStart’s web presence work has grown, I’ve noticed a shift in our work, with much more of it in digital communications and distribution (such as video, SEO, blog distribution, etc) relative to even a year ago. Not surprising, says Halligan, who suggested that marketing departments of today and tomorrow would actually be organized differently: 1) people who create “get found” content (e.g. writers, videographers, etc), 2) people who convert those people who have found you into customers, advocates, or brand loyalists, and 3) people who analyze results and push the organization to continuously evolve.

2. Relationships and connections still matter. While in the past relationships and connections were fostered or nurtured in person vs. the current norm of online, the number of people with whom you are connected still matters. In fact, in a world where content distribution is a major objective and it occurs through individuals who control that distribution, perhaps those relationships matter more. As an example, Halligan mentioned that he hired someone who brought with him 20,000 blog followers. Those connecting assets are actually an important part of your resume. Have you thought of hiring someone based on their online connections?

1. Marketing can create your strategic advantage. Warren Buffett said that in business, you strive every day to build a moat around your company that will protect your business from competitors; every day, you work to make that moat wider, deeper and swifter. Halligan notes that if you are doing the things outlined above– creating connections, strengthening your links to your customers/audience members, and building them aggressively– you are effectively making a moat that it is almost impossible for your competitors to cross. That’s why it’s worth doing.

What do you think?

Cathy Belk is the Chief Marketing Officer of JumpStart. She specializes in branding, marketing communications, and business management. She brings 16+ years of experience in a variety of marketing and business roles, but gets her energy from working daily with entrepreneurs and their growing companies.

Every once in a while you happen upon a blog post that sums up everything you’ve been thinking in an especially neat and tidy fashion. Here is one of those posts written by David Shen, formerly with Yahoo and Apple and now a venture investor. In it he shares seven questions that he typically asks when he meets an entrepreneur, presumably in order to assess whether or not he’ll move to the next stage. We ask similar questions of our applicants in the hopes of giving them some insight into what for-profit venture investors seek so it’s nice to see these questions posted for all to see. As I’ve said in the past, it’s great to see VCs openly blogging about their industry - the information serves to educate and enlighten all aspiring entrepreneurs.

Lynn-Ann Gries is the Chief Investment Officer of JumpStart Ventures. She previously worked in the investment banking departments at both McDonald Investments and Smith Barney (now part of Citigroup), and in the sales and trading area at Morgan Stanley. She received her MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and her BA in Economics from Smith College. She currently serves on the board of the Fund for the Future of Shaker Heights, the Great Lakes Science Center and Summer on the Cuyahoga (SOTC).

Ever read Groundswell? I’d recommend it. The sub-head sums it up: “winning in a world transformed by social technologies”. Like most business books, this one doesn’t exactly tell you much that you won’t already know, but it offers a structure which organizes the insights and conclusions in an easy-to-follow framework. 

The main premise of the book is the attitudes companies should adopt — and how they can thrive — in the world where control and power over messages and discussion are owned by consumers and community members, as opposed to old-school ways of companies managing those themselves. At some point in the last four years, I adjusted my comfort zone from the latter to the former…at least intellectually.

Message boards are one tool mentioned in the book, and in our community, one of the biggest is Cleveland.com (the message board of The Plain Dealer). Have you seen some of the recent discussion on Cleveland.com about JumpStart? (If not, search for JumpStart and you’ll see a number of articles and tags with JumpStart…look around for the comments to the articles). 

Honestly, the discussion there has occasionally and instinctively brought out the Mama Bear in me. I just want to snarl and fight. Am I asking for trouble by admitting that? Probably. But I think it’s a really human response to want to defend that which you absolutely, passionately support.

But a few moments later, I remember my training and fundamental beliefs as a marketer, along with the words in Groundswell (and every other social media blog, book, and article that I’ve ever read and heard). And I remember this stuff is GOLD. Absolute GOLD. How else can you get real feedback on delivering your promise (or not)? How often do people tell you honestly, in an uncensored way, what they are thinking about your brand and the value proposition you are delivering? To get to listen and participate in that conversation? More valuable than gold. And it’s all free! It’s feedback that you’d more typically pay a lot of money to get (vis a vis a formal research firm) and might not be so honest.

So blogosphere, message board writers, everyone else interested, passionate about or critical of our work, talk to us. Tell us what you think we need to consider, could do better, or need to change. And if there’s anything we are doing right, tell us that too. But most of all, be honest. We are 100% listening.

(Stay tuned for part 2 of this post to hear some of the feedback we’ve gotten!)

Cathy Belk is the Chief Marketing Officer of JumpStart. She specializes in branding, marketing communications, and business management. She brings 16+ years of experience in a variety of marketing and business roles, but gets her energy from working daily with entrepreneurs and their growing companies.

I wrote in an earlier blog that everyone should regularly read the blog of one marketing guru — I follow Seth Godin’s religiously. One of his recent posts ‘Random Rules for Ideas Worth Spreading‘ hit a few chords for me relative to topics I’m often discussing with early-stage companies.

• “You can name your idea anything you like, but a Google-friendly name is always better than one that isn’t.”
  • I think this is particularly relevant, as is most of his advice, for people working on consumer ideas or businesses. That said, if you are working to rebrand or rename your company, considering the implications of search for your brand is often overlooked but increasingly critical. Criteria for a brand name: clear (or can become clear, depending on your budget) to your target audience, punchiness and memorability, and helps in organic search.
• “Figure out how long your idea will take to spread, and multiply by 4.”
  • This seems like a good benchmark, especially as my gut reaction was “no way, 4x as long?” That’s probably why delays tend to be such bad surprises. I would much rather have to deal with the challenges of too much momentum, more quickly than planned. That might actually be fun.
• “Seek out apostles, not partners. People who benefit from spreading your idea, not people who need to own it.”
  • Along these lines, I was talking a few weeks ago with JumpStart Venture Partner Ted Frank about finding customers whose own profit, or sales strategy, or value proposition is made better with your product. If you are trying to get your channel to sell something that inherently won’t help them accomplish their goals, it’s much harder. Very obvious to write, harder to do, I realize.
• “Prefer dry, useful but dull ideas to consumer-friendly ‘I would buy that’ sort of things. A lot less competition and a lot more upside in the long run.”
  • Loved this idea of “dry, useful but dull” ideas — and that idea that these are, in fact, sexy businesses. A few of these to a consumer marketer like me: microprocessors, enterprise solution systems, clean energy technologies to sell to energy companies…     no big businesses there, right? Realizing this is a challenge. I wish mainstream media wanted to cover these technologies and innovations more, thinking about how to make them interesting for everyday consumers.
• “Surround yourself with encouraging voices and incisive critics. It’s okay if they’re not the same people. Ignore both camps on occasion.”
  • Amen! We’ve had our own critics — or should I say, challenging voices — lately, if anyone has been reading them on Cleveland.com. In fact, we’ve had lots of people challenge our thinking throughout our history. Their points of view definitely make us better, as we listen to the questions and concerns, learn from their perspectives, and double-check our own thinking. This thought is also why our culture at JumpStart is about being both honest and fun (equal parts incisive and encouraging?).

Check out Seth’s blog - or suggest another one your favorites here.

Cathy Belk is the Chief Marketing Officer of JumpStart. She specializes in branding, marketing communications, and business management. She brings 16+ years of experience in a variety of marketing and business roles, but gets her energy from working daily with entrepreneurs and their growing companies.