JumpStart: IdeaExchange Blog

Not quite a resolution (because I want to avoid the “breaking” curse), these are the most important things I’m going to prioritize this year, as they will directly impact my ability to deliver success for JumpStart. 

5) Monitor marketing news and trends every day. I use NetVibes to assist with monitoring blogs, Twitter, and news updates, in addition to my RSS feeds and email newsletters, but admit sometimes I’m catching up at the end of the week. The thing is, every time I check, I see one thing that is valuable right then. I hate the idea that I’m losing days in which those ideas can prompt and enhance my thinking. After reading David Carr’s Why Twitter Will Endure - NYTimes.com from the Times last Sunday, I’m wondering if I should focus some time on following the right folks on Twitter and leave it at that…

4) Reconnect with my network. I’ve spent time re-establishing professional connections through LinkedIn, but for a while now, the list has been sitting relatively fallow. (I would hypothesize this is somewhat common unless someone has sales responsibilities or is working to obtain or fill a position). But what a wealth of people with whom to brainstorm, tackle problems, and gain best-practice examples or new ideas! When was the last time I called someone to get caught up on responsibilities, most recent business challenges, and best new thing learned? Hard to believe this wouldn’t be richly worth the 10 minutes.

3) Create a mobile plan. Yes, this has been a long time coming, and many businesses are already  utilizing mobile tools to connect richly with consumers or customers. (In fact, Knotice’s Concentri product is one of the most robust around for cohesively marketing to consumers via mobile, Internet, and other customized points of connection. (Full disclosure: Knotice is a JumpStart Ventures portfolio company). Creating a plan for our email communication and website to become more mobile-friendly has been on the list for over 6 months; now that I’ve read Morgan Stanley’s Mobile Internet report which indicates — among other things – that more people will connect to the internet via mobile devices instead of desktops within 5 years, a more thorough strategy is due.

2) Continue to evolve our social media strategy and implementation. Continuous planning, prioritization, and implementation is the way of the marketer’s world, but social media has put the disciplined, steady approach into hyperdrive. What we had decided to do 3 months ago is already worth reconsideration and perhaps even a change in approach. Given the time commitment that these tools require, monthly review and consideration is required.

1) Focus on insights. While the world is always changing, this stays the same: insight regarding the needs and wants of our audiences, consumers, customers, and constituents should drive what we do. In a small entrepreneurial firm without a formal research group, it’s easy to slip in into believing all people think a certain way because you have talked to a handful of people who share an opinion. And now that it’s so much easier than ever to gain small and large insights formally or informally on a much more regular basis, there’s no reason that we shouldn’t be asking and gaining new insights on a monthly basis. With that – look for more questions from us about how we can better meet YOUR needs. (You can start with suggestions and ideas by commenting on this blog!).

What’s on your list?

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.

As a blogger, one of the prerogatives of the job is that you get to pick the scope of what you write. I mentioned in my last post (My Favorite 5 Marketing Bloggers) that the “top 5 biggest changes of the year” was coming. But, it’s a broad and unclear title. Was I referring to the top 5 biggest changes at JumpStart? The top 5 in marketing in general? The top 5 in the world of entrepreneurship? I decided to identify the top 5 of all those: the top 5 things that seem to me to have the biggest impact from my (marketing) seat and hopefully, in some way, from yours. Here it goes:

5.  Pepsi drops Super Bowl advertising for online program. Since the early 2000s, I’ve been waiting for this — the pivot point when TV advertising finally loses its dominance to online marketing. While the isn’t exactly that point, the decision that Pepsi won’t be advertising in the 2010 Super Bowl for the first time in decades is big news (remember the Cindy Crawford ads?). It’s also big news that they are using the investment for an online program that invests in cause-related marketing, specifically, community-based projects proposed and selected by consumers. If anyone doubted that consumers now have the power instead of brands and businesses, that the recession has made big glitzy events a little unsavory, and that online marketing will eventually overtake TV advertising as a percent of marketing investment, that doubt is absolutely gone. Like Pepsi on the Super Bowl.

4.  More media vehicles for early-stage companies. This isn’t about social media, although of course the importance of participating in those media vehicles —  if on-strategy for you — grew in 2009. Instead, this is about the launch of many other media vehicles in Northeast Ohio. With the addition of MedCity News, hiVelocity, and NEOtropolis (in addition to existing marketing partners such as the Plain Dealer, ABJ, Crain’s Cleveland, WCPN, WKSU,WKYC,  Cool Cleveland, and other bloggers, broadcasts, and publications), there have never been so many places for good news about the region’s early-stage companies to be heard. The fact that these folks — new folks — can grow a business out of telling the stories of the region is exciting.

3.  The launch of two “new products”: The Social Innovation Fund and the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Here I’m making a choice sort of like the Nobel committee did, given for the start of something this year instead of results already accomplished. All marketers launch new products/services/solutions to address needs, and the U.S. Government is apparently no exception. In May, it announced the Social Innovation Fund ($50 million to go to the nation’s most effective non-profits to expand their footprint) and in September, the Commerce Department announced its new Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (which will help guide efforts to connect ideas to their commercialization). What better way to give visibility and credibility to entrepreneurship than putting money where the mouth is? Thank you to these policy leaders for the boost to entrepreneurship and job growth that these “new products” will provide in the coming years.

2.  Videos as a critical marketing tactic for early-stage entrepreneurs. Despite the fact that YouTube is 5 years old and creating videos easily isn’t new either, the prevalence and importance of them accelerated this year like wildfire. Consumer goods campaigns are all over the internet, which allows consumers to participate in brands by submitting videos to be used for advertising, or submitting other types of marketing ideas through videos. I wrote a blog earlier this year about how Richard Branson’s VC pitch event was accepting pitches via video. As JumpStart has gone from almost no video to a video in every JumpStart Connect newsletter in a matter of a year (often, more than one video per issue), we have see the videos vault to the top of our content in popularity. And perhaps most importantly, we have seen the impact with entrepreneurs. As one recently said to us, “ever since you have promoted the video of my elevator pitch, I’ve received several potential investor and customer phone calls”.  

1.  The year of getting to the point. I went to a club a few months ago and the live band only played the chorus of popular songs, moving from “song” to “song” in about 1 ½ minutes. Watch YouTube or Hulu and you’re more likely to see the edited version of movies or skits than the long version. Even with the written word, you better get to it. While 140 characters messages were around, Twitter’s enormous surge in usage and publicity this year dramatically accelerated the impatience with reading much more than 2 lines. With all the devices which allow us to fast forward, skip, move on, or leave, the time to send your message has gotten dramatically shorter. I am positive I never thought we’d have so little space or time. And with that, I’d better shut up. You’ve already moved on.

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.

With the end of the year approaching, ‘tis the season for looking back and thinking forward, so I’m going to write a series of blogs that address this topic. Numero uno: my 5 favorite blogs that I actually read with some frequency to help evolve my thinking on marketing. (Of course, these are in addition to JumpStart’s IdeaExchange blog. Like you all, I don’t see anyone else’s blogs until they are up, but I read them religiously! But it’s not a marketing blog, and these are focused on that).

1. PR2.0 by Brian Solis. He just won 2009 Blogger of the Year from PRNews, so this is a terribly unoriginal choice. That said, he won for a reason. Brian’s written about all the questions that marketing people have (particularly about social media and impact of various evolutions on PR), and he doesn’t feel constrained by the “400 words or less” direction so common for bloggers. His analysis therefore is actually thorough! And insightful! Only note of caution: his self-promotion can be distracting, and every time I see the picture of his book (notice me not mentioning it here), I leave his blog immediately. Note of caution v2: He’s a great self-promoter, and I am terribly aware of that book. A girl’s gotta respect that.
2. socialmediatoday. They call themselves “The Web’s Best Thinkers on Social Media and Web 2.0″ and I think they are. As opposed to one voice, this site collects blogs from experts across a variety of topics. Some of the topics are more practical than opinion — social media monitoring and measurement, for example — and I like the way they mix it up.
3. Cheskin’s Fresh Perspectives. I’ve never worked with these guys, but I think they help businesses uncover insights which can lead to meaningful innovation. I read the blog to keep on top of consumer insight and trends which represent opportunities for all marketers. Usually, nothing here is rocket science, but I also think that you can never be too immersed on consumer behavior.
4. Seth Godin. Everyone needs to follow one marketing strategy thought leader, and I like his blog. He posts frequently (seems to be every day, not that I’ve double-checked) and his topics are very broad so can be less relevant on a daily basis, but all are thought-provoking (little and big marketing thoughts). And while I like that Brian Solis will go in-depth on a topic, some of Seth’s are blissfully short (e.g. <100 words).
5. peHub. No, this is not a marketing blog, so I guess technically, it shouldn’t fit. That said, I am constantly reminded as a marketer of the importance of establishing a relevant, entertaining brand voice and this blog is the King Daddy of entertaining, relevant voices.  A lot of the content is only peripherally related to what I need to consider in my job, but I read it every day anyway. Every day. Check it out at least once to see what I mean. (And by the way, it includes a lot of breaking news too. So it’s more like a newsletter perhaps, than a blog — for this industry, Bloomberg with attitude).

Next couple of blogs: 5 biggest things that have changed this year, and then, 5 things I’d like to do more of next year (in marketing…)

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.

While we are not actually making films at JumpStart, over the summer, we really jumped into the world of multimedia communication. This isn’t totally a new thing for us; we’ve had podcasts on our website for over a year, and recently added two new ones to our permanent collection: Darrin Redus, the President of JumpStart Inclusion Advisors, and Chris Mather, the President of JumpStart TechLift Advisors, both explain the services their teams offer. Check them out to learn more about the various ways JumpStart helps entrepreneurs. In addition, we’ll have a new podcast debuting in the JumpStart Connect ezine next week. SPOILERS ALERT: It features an interview with Jim Jaffe regarding the NASVF conference in Oklahoma City.

Perhaps more exciting, we’re now making videos of the entrepreneurs leading the high growth startups in our region. In case you haven’t seen them through JumpStart Connect, there are several places on our site to find them. For the JumpStart Ventures portfolio companies, you can find the videos posted on the expanded industry sections, or check out the videos of other JumpStart client companies on our Videos page. We are also posting videos featuring our talented team as well as new company videos right on our home page; be sure to check out Becca Braun, a semi-regular on Fox Business’ segment The Pitch.

So consider this the offer to you that you can’t refuse. Check out the videos of our companies, listen to the podcasts on our site, and tell us what you think. Is there a company we should be profiling? Do you want us to make a video of your company? Is there information that you’d love to hear in a podcast? We want your feedback — comment below — or email me at cathy.belk@jumpstartinc.org. Horse heads not included.

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.