Posts tagged: marketing

The roles I played at VA Partners – Sales, Marketing AND Social Media

Posted on April 24, 2012

My co-op term is officially coming to a close here at Venture Accelerator Partners. I found that when working at a growing company there is a lot of opportunities to engage in a number of different roles. In addition to learning skills about marketing and social media, I was also able to learn about other areas of business. Here are just some takeaways that I learned with the many hats I wore over the past four months.

Marketer                                                                           Free digital photos –  sheelamohan

The first and perhaps the most important thing that I learned was how crucial corporate blogging is. Blogging is an easy way to engage with your audience when it is done consistently. A good way to think of blogging ideas is by figuring out questions that people have and how you could answer them. Try splitting your blogging efforts between different members of the team. I also learned about what and why SEO is so important. There are a number of methods used to increase SEO including using keywords and organizing posts into categories.

Social Media Specialist

Previously I was merely a social media user, but now I feel like I need to be a social media engager. I have learned that social media isn’t just about broadcasting information, it’s about creating a conversation. It is a valuable tool that if used properly can have a great impact on your business. Connect with others on social media by re-sharing content, and developing relationships. It isn’t enough to blindly be using a social media outlet. There should be a strategy and goals in place to see results; whether it’s simply more brand awareness or turning online connections into offline opportunities.

Sales Researcher

I also had the opportunity to be a sales researcher here at VA Partners. I was responsible for locating key contacts and entering information about their company into a CRM system. I learned how important a CRM system is for a business and the amount of detail that goes into organizing one properly. It is also critical to figure out who your key contacts are for each specific client in order to get the best results when connecting with them.

Networker

Among the many firsts I had over the past four months one of the most challenging was learning to network. As recommended by the team I attended a number of events including Entrepreneur 101 at MaRS Discovery District, Sprouter and Third Tuesday. One of the main things I learned is that networking doesn’t start and end with a conversation; it’s important to be prepared ahead of time and follow up after. For example go into the event with clear goals, make sure you have business cards in a convenient place, and carry a pen and a notepad to write down others’ information. Following the event connect with who you talked to on Linkedin or Twitter.

 As you can see, working at a small company allowed me to develop a lot of different types of skills and take on a variety of challenges. I am glad to have had the opportunity to be involved with the many services that VA Partners offers. Check out the “What We Do” section for more information of VA Partners services.

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A Start-up Sales Necessity: the Elevator Pitch

Posted on April 12, 2012

By Steve Gruber

Back in early 2010 I did a blog around developing an “elevator pitch” and its importance when you are a startup.  I think having a short, concise and simple to understand elevator pitch is an absolute necessity to any company and even more so if you are a startup.  Why?  Most people will only give you a few seconds of their time to hear you out and if your description is too long, too technical or too confusing, they are done and so are you.

While doing some research on this topic, I came across a great tool that can be used by any entrepreneur to help build their elevator pitch and wanted to share it with you. The tool, called the “HBS Elevator Pitch Builder”was designed at Harvard Business School and provides an entrepreneur with an easy to use  mechanism to craft a solid elevator pitch. Flickr – Marco Wessel

I have outlined the 4 key points below for you. Remember, you are looking to keep it simple, concise, impactful and memorable.

1. Describe you or your business – this is the “who” you are component? The best bet here is to keep it short and sweet.

Using VA Partners as an example, “Hi, my name is Steve Gruber. I am co-founder of Venture Accelerator Partners and am passionate about helping Canadian companies grow their business.”

2. Outline “what” you do at a high-level. You can use your tag line or mantra.

“We drive revenue for growing organizations. Our services include part-time sales, marketing and social media assistance”

3. Provide a list of your benefits – this is the “why” should someone utilize your services.

“We have:

  • A proven track record of success – a few examples include closing $300,000 in incremental revenue for a web based software company working 1.5 days a week; helping a manufacturing vision systems company implement a sales process and roll-out Salesforce.com; increasing a Cleantech companies’ sales funnel by $3,000,000; growing a financial client from 1 customer to over 40 in two years.
  • Over 50 years of experience in technology sales.
  • A cash-flow friendly solution for firms looking to grow their revenues but can’t afford a full time person.
  • Experience in both channel and business to business sales.”

We did an excellent blog around “Quantifying your Business Benefits” that includes helpful tips you can use to better articulate the benefits your organization provides.

4. List your immediate goals – what you want to achieve out of this meeting or presentation. Be specific, outline a timeframe and be realistic. You can always follow the SMART Methodology – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely.

“I would like to understand the effectiveness of your sales & marketing efforts today and identify if VA Partners can be of assistance. How does your schedule look next Tuesday for a face to face meeting to investigate further?”

We would welcome the chance to help you build your “elevator pitch” and go to market.  Feel free to contact me.

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The Medium may be the message, but the message still applies

Posted on March 22, 2012

by Stephanie Goodman

Last September, I wrote a blog titled “The Medium is the Message” and how it applies to our social media efforts. As mentioned in my previous blog, McLuhan’s theory was not made for the internet and social media, however, his theory applies none-the-less. When stating “The medium is the message”, McLuhan believed that it was not what we said, but the way we said it that mattered most. Although McLuhan was right in saying that the way we send our message is important, we cannot neglect the message itself; this is where the importance of copywriting comes in.

Copywriting is essentially the value of your company, its services and products in writing. In order to ensure you accurately portray your brand to your customers, prospects and even competitors, here are a few tips to get you on your way:

  1. Assign someone to do the task. Startups and growing organizations suffer from inadequate resources to get things completed. Find the person in your company that handles the majority (or all) of your Marketing efforts. This person will have some prior insight into how your company should be communicating with your audience.
  2. Prep yourself before writing. We won’t all be superstar copywriters at first, but a bit of help can lead to success. Attend webinars, read whitepapers and even take a copywriter in your neighbourhood out for a coffee to pick their brain for an hour.
  3. Make a copywriting plan for each medium. Put a copywriting plan in place for your Social Media outlets, Whitepapers, Email Newsletters and Website. Having copywrite for each medium put into a plan and templated will make it easier to pass it on throughout your company. It will also serve as a back-up source of information in case any of your employees need a refresher.
  4. Keep a content calendar. A content calendar can be done on something as simple as Microsoft Excel, or it can be done on Google Docs. Either way you choose to track this information, make sure your entire team is on the same page. This way, the timeline and expectations for each source will be known by all your employees. Mark Evans speaks also speaks on the importance of content marketing and how it applies to our Marketing efforts; check out his website for more information. 

If you’re looking for help on your copywriting efforts, or simply looking for resources on Copywriting techniques, reach out to myself or sign up for our monthly newsletter filled with great information, suggested readings and events on Sales and Marketing.

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Tips for Starting a Linkedin Group

Posted on March 15, 2012

By Tabitha David

Recently VA Partners launched a group on Linkedin called “Sales and Marketing for Canadian Startups” Linkedin groups have a number of benefits for member such as sharing content and making connections, as outlined in a previous blog post.However, from the perspective of a group owner there are different things to consider when it comes to Linkedin groups.

When I was doing research on how to start a Linkedin group I came across a number of resources with great guidelines.These include articles from Hubspot  and Social Media Examiner.The recently published article “How to Run a Successful Linkedin Group” featuring Sourov De and Chris Hebert has some great tips as well.

Below are some tips I have gathered:

Marketing:

  • Develop a digital marketing strategy to gain momentum in attracting members.Use social media platforms such as twitter  to spread the word. Other outlets can include the use of your newsletter.You can use these platforms to not only present the launch of the group, but to also provide continual updates on the group’s progress.
  • Use connections that individuals have on Linkedin to send out personal emails encouraging them to join the group to by outlining what benefits it could offer them.It’s important to only invite people who will actually consider joining.

Content:

  • Since the group is encompassing both sales and marketing it’s important to vary the topics of the content that is being posted as well as the sources that they are being drawn from but still maintain the overall topics of sales and marketing.
  • Formulate questions and post them as discussions to allow members to engage in conversations.
  • Comment and like discussions that are posted by other members in order to show that you are involved in the group’s discussion board.

Monitoring:

  • Decide whether an open group or a closed group is more appropriate for the goals of your group.Some factors that play a part in making your decision include: approving members, approving discussions or allowing updates without any approval.The decision to have an open or closed group will alter the amount of time you will regularly spend on the group.
  • Set up group rules for members to refer to.This also shows that this group is meant to facilitate only relevant discussions.It indicates to members that the group managers are involved in the group’s progress and are committed to making it one that will be beneficial to its members.
  • Develop a way of addressing spam and other promotional material.First, it’s important to create guidelines on what is considered spam and what isn’t.Utilize the personal message feature in Linkedin to connect with anyone who is posting things that aren’t relevant to the group

It’s important to realize that once the group has been launched many of your pre-planned ideas may need to be adjusted.For example there can be lot of activity on the group’s discussion board so you may reduce the amount of content you post.Continue to develop your plans to cater to your groups demographic.

Take a look at the group “Sales and Marketing for Canadian Startups” to see the results of the efforts that are put into creating a Linkedin group.If you have any more tips drop us a line in the comments section.

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