Friday, March 19, 2010
Business Bootstrappers vs. Angel Capital - MIT Enterprise Forum March, 2010
Two scrappy entrepreneurs squared off with two beneficent angel financiers to discuss the state of entrepreneurial innovation at the MIT Enterprise Forum on Tuesday, March 16. The entrepreneurs were Jeff Judge of Interactive Mediums, which provides a platform for managing and implementing mobile ad campaigns, and Chris Hill of PerkSpot which helps corporations communicate and manage access to third-party employee benefits, like AFLAC or discount programs from Dell or Six Flags. Judge is not seeing capital while Judge is quietly raising a round of that he says he would like to be $1M.
The investors were Jeff Carter of Chicago's Hyde Park Angels and Laurence Hayward of Cornerstone Angels. They represent "angel" consortia, groups of investors who buy into early stage companies. Angel investors come into companies early -- often before they have any customers and invest smaller amounts than "Venture Capital" firms. Angel investments will typically be rounds that range from $100K to $1M, while Venture Capital invests in the $3M - $7M range.
Linda Darragh, Director of Entrepreneurship Programs and Adjunct Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business was an excellent and knowledgeable moderator.
Both of the entrepreneurial bootstrappers were very successful. Both had started their companies with their own money, and not a lot of it by venture standards. Both companies have Fortune 100 companies in their client portfolio. PerkSpot was lucky to get Anixter (just out of the Fortune 100) as one of their first clients. They had a contact in Human Resources who needed their product and who walked them into the office of the VP.
Interactive Mediums started out with several bars and restaurants, small local businesses with a hip, mobile-friendly clientele. Then they want to a trade show (with four employees and four friends, a classic fake-it-until-you-make-it move) and found some corporate marketers who wanted an easy, inexpensive way to test out mobile campaigns. Judge said he was caught off-guard when the first corporate client said "yes"!
Both companies have grown, and from the sound of it, Judge's company has changed the most in terms of their product offerings. He says that the company will transform dramatically in the next six months in terms of who they target and what their system does.
While this wasn't a formal "pitch session", both of the investors responded favorably to the entrepreneurs. They have solid products. They described good teams and an ability to adapt to the marketplace. Most importantly, both had "marquee customers."
In terms of "elevator pitches," neither described themselves as solving a "big, pressing problem" and neither discussed their competition, be it a company or the status quo. Nor did the discuss barriers to entry for competitors.
Since neither was pitching for investments at this event, it was understandable that they did not address the issue of how an investor would make money out of the deal, which would include a discussion of how scalable the business is and who would be potential acquirers.
Interactive Mediums' Judge said he would avoid outside investment as much as possible. His biggest concern was that Angels and VC's don't sufficiently value the founder's equity. Hill expressed more flexibility. Both agreed that seeking funds and keeping investors engaged and happy would take up much of the CEO's time and energy.
When asked "how did you bootstrap?" Hill said that there is "a major lack of early funding in Chicago. I bootstrapped because of that environment." He focused on solving the problem of companies communicating and managing discount programs for employees and looked for his first sale. He wanted a good developer and used equity as an incentive.
Judge started with personal funds and, before the credit crunch, was able to get a $100K loan. He follows the formula, for every $10K in increased monthly revenue, he can hire one more person.
On the investment side, Carter and Hayward provided some insights into Angel Investors in general and Hyde Park Angels and Cornerstone in particular.
Cornerstone has done 17 deals since 2006, investing $4.5M. There is wide variation between deals, from $50K to about $750M. The entrepreneurs are mostly looking for $500K to $2M. They funded three manufacturing companies who had "better processes" for industry.
They have twenty full members and they have five or six investment meetings where two or three candidate companies present. These events get forty to fifty people by invitation only, generally members and some entrepreneur guests. Members collaborate on due diligence and write individual investment checks. Only a third to a half of the presenting entrepreneurs get funding from these events.
In addition, Cornerstone holds five or six screening events per year, with 5-10 members from the screening committee in attendance. This year, Hayward says there are good entrepreneurs are coming out of the woodwork. Even the best connected entrepreneurs are having trouble finding funding from their close circles of friends and family, so more deals are coming to light in semi-private Angel Investment circles.
Cornerstone will invest outside the Midwest, while Hyde Park Angels keeps their investments "one day's drive" from Chicago. They have fifty-five angels and will cap membership at one hundred.
Hyde Park Angels lists four companies on their portfolio page, with a fifth deal recently closed and the Chicago Tribune reports they have invested "about $3M" in the four companies.
Hyde Park's investment criteria can be found at http://hydeparkangels.com/invest.html In addition, Carter has two other investments outside of HPA. They are in Tallgrassbeef.com, and windetergent.com.
Angel groups like to get other angel groups to invest with them. It spreads the capital risk to other communities and brings in capital from places other than Chicago and the Midwest. Angels want to get the first round of financing full because later rounds will often dilute their equity position.
In contrast, VC investments average around $7M (Carter says that "over $3M is VC territory").
Hyde Park Angels works with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth. They have ten interns (hiring 5 per year from a pool of over a hundred applicants). Carter praises the U of C students as being critical to the success of HPA. Entrepreneurs pay $100 fee to submit a deal. Hyde Park gives "a fast no and a slow yes." They present three potentially qualified deals at each quarterly meeting, and their goal is for members to fund all three of those deals. The format of the meeting is 10 minutes to pitch and 10 minutes Q&A with the panel.
Carter brought up that .05% of companies go public, so investors want to know how they will get paid. Hayward explained that investors are looking for an IRR from their fund of 19%. Since one or two out of ten investments provide 90% of the return, they are targeting a minimum of 25% IRR from each deal.
The point was made more than once that angels look to invest in scalable businesses that can be acquired, not "lifestyle businesses." This is a key point. Many entrepreneurs have really great ideas for businesses. They might not be a perfect fit for an angel investor because they are not scalable enough to become big business as envisioned by the entrepreneur. However, this shouldn't dissuade entrepreneurs from starting businesses. You can provide a pretty good income for yourself and family by starting up and running your own business.
As is usual with the MIT-EF meetings, there were some excellent questions. Both of the investors said they would like to see a social platform where they could have visibility to all local "deal flow" -- who is seeking funding, and who is investing. Carter recommended the book "World Wide Rave" by David Meerman Scott on the subject of Social Networking. He encourages every entrepreneur (and angel) to read it. The entrepreneurs were split on the value of Intellectual Property protection, but neither had pursued patents due to costs (much to the chagrin, I'm sure, of event organizer Bob Brill and event sponsor Ungaretti & Harris). The issue of control came up. The Angels generally take a minority position. Hyde Park Angels want a seat on the board, while that's not always a requirement for Cornerstone's investments.
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or corrections (grammatical edits aside).
The investors were Jeff Carter of Chicago's Hyde Park Angels and Laurence Hayward of Cornerstone Angels. They represent "angel" consortia, groups of investors who buy into early stage companies. Angel investors come into companies early -- often before they have any customers and invest smaller amounts than "Venture Capital" firms. Angel investments will typically be rounds that range from $100K to $1M, while Venture Capital invests in the $3M - $7M range.
Linda Darragh, Director of Entrepreneurship Programs and Adjunct Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business was an excellent and knowledgeable moderator.
Both of the entrepreneurial bootstrappers were very successful. Both had started their companies with their own money, and not a lot of it by venture standards. Both companies have Fortune 100 companies in their client portfolio. PerkSpot was lucky to get Anixter (just out of the Fortune 100) as one of their first clients. They had a contact in Human Resources who needed their product and who walked them into the office of the VP.
Interactive Mediums started out with several bars and restaurants, small local businesses with a hip, mobile-friendly clientele. Then they want to a trade show (with four employees and four friends, a classic fake-it-until-you-make-it move) and found some corporate marketers who wanted an easy, inexpensive way to test out mobile campaigns. Judge said he was caught off-guard when the first corporate client said "yes"!
Both companies have grown, and from the sound of it, Judge's company has changed the most in terms of their product offerings. He says that the company will transform dramatically in the next six months in terms of who they target and what their system does.
While this wasn't a formal "pitch session", both of the investors responded favorably to the entrepreneurs. They have solid products. They described good teams and an ability to adapt to the marketplace. Most importantly, both had "marquee customers."
In terms of "elevator pitches," neither described themselves as solving a "big, pressing problem" and neither discussed their competition, be it a company or the status quo. Nor did the discuss barriers to entry for competitors.
Since neither was pitching for investments at this event, it was understandable that they did not address the issue of how an investor would make money out of the deal, which would include a discussion of how scalable the business is and who would be potential acquirers.
Interactive Mediums' Judge said he would avoid outside investment as much as possible. His biggest concern was that Angels and VC's don't sufficiently value the founder's equity. Hill expressed more flexibility. Both agreed that seeking funds and keeping investors engaged and happy would take up much of the CEO's time and energy.
When asked "how did you bootstrap?" Hill said that there is "a major lack of early funding in Chicago. I bootstrapped because of that environment." He focused on solving the problem of companies communicating and managing discount programs for employees and looked for his first sale. He wanted a good developer and used equity as an incentive.
Judge started with personal funds and, before the credit crunch, was able to get a $100K loan. He follows the formula, for every $10K in increased monthly revenue, he can hire one more person.
On the investment side, Carter and Hayward provided some insights into Angel Investors in general and Hyde Park Angels and Cornerstone in particular.
Cornerstone has done 17 deals since 2006, investing $4.5M. There is wide variation between deals, from $50K to about $750M. The entrepreneurs are mostly looking for $500K to $2M. They funded three manufacturing companies who had "better processes" for industry.
They have twenty full members and they have five or six investment meetings where two or three candidate companies present. These events get forty to fifty people by invitation only, generally members and some entrepreneur guests. Members collaborate on due diligence and write individual investment checks. Only a third to a half of the presenting entrepreneurs get funding from these events.
In addition, Cornerstone holds five or six screening events per year, with 5-10 members from the screening committee in attendance. This year, Hayward says there are good entrepreneurs are coming out of the woodwork. Even the best connected entrepreneurs are having trouble finding funding from their close circles of friends and family, so more deals are coming to light in semi-private Angel Investment circles.
Cornerstone will invest outside the Midwest, while Hyde Park Angels keeps their investments "one day's drive" from Chicago. They have fifty-five angels and will cap membership at one hundred.
Hyde Park Angels lists four companies on their portfolio page, with a fifth deal recently closed and the Chicago Tribune reports they have invested "about $3M" in the four companies.
Hyde Park's investment criteria can be found at http://hydeparkangels.com/invest.html In addition, Carter has two other investments outside of HPA. They are in Tallgrassbeef.com, and windetergent.com.
Angel groups like to get other angel groups to invest with them. It spreads the capital risk to other communities and brings in capital from places other than Chicago and the Midwest. Angels want to get the first round of financing full because later rounds will often dilute their equity position.
In contrast, VC investments average around $7M (Carter says that "over $3M is VC territory").
Hyde Park Angels works with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth. They have ten interns (hiring 5 per year from a pool of over a hundred applicants). Carter praises the U of C students as being critical to the success of HPA. Entrepreneurs pay $100 fee to submit a deal. Hyde Park gives "a fast no and a slow yes." They present three potentially qualified deals at each quarterly meeting, and their goal is for members to fund all three of those deals. The format of the meeting is 10 minutes to pitch and 10 minutes Q&A with the panel.
Carter brought up that .05% of companies go public, so investors want to know how they will get paid. Hayward explained that investors are looking for an IRR from their fund of 19%. Since one or two out of ten investments provide 90% of the return, they are targeting a minimum of 25% IRR from each deal.
The point was made more than once that angels look to invest in scalable businesses that can be acquired, not "lifestyle businesses." This is a key point. Many entrepreneurs have really great ideas for businesses. They might not be a perfect fit for an angel investor because they are not scalable enough to become big business as envisioned by the entrepreneur. However, this shouldn't dissuade entrepreneurs from starting businesses. You can provide a pretty good income for yourself and family by starting up and running your own business.
As is usual with the MIT-EF meetings, there were some excellent questions. Both of the investors said they would like to see a social platform where they could have visibility to all local "deal flow" -- who is seeking funding, and who is investing. Carter recommended the book "World Wide Rave" by David Meerman Scott on the subject of Social Networking. He encourages every entrepreneur (and angel) to read it. The entrepreneurs were split on the value of Intellectual Property protection, but neither had pursued patents due to costs (much to the chagrin, I'm sure, of event organizer Bob Brill and event sponsor Ungaretti & Harris). The issue of control came up. The Angels generally take a minority position. Hyde Park Angels want a seat on the board, while that's not always a requirement for Cornerstone's investments.
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or corrections (grammatical edits aside).
Labels: bootstrapping, cornerstone angels, entrepreneurs, hyde park angels, innovation, mit enterprise forum chicago, mobile marketing, polsky, venture capital
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
2010 CMS EXPO: Taking Control of Your Website
In our experience, there are two pre-requisites for businesses to profit from their web sites. The first is web analytics, so that we can understand how people find your site, use web site content and how they react to changes. The second is control over the web site's content. For this reason, we recommend that you consider using an industry standard open source Content Management System (CMS). The three most popular CMSs are WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.
If you are considering a CMS or are currently using a CMS, you might want to attend the CMS Expo, May 3-5 in Evanston, Illinois. The CMS Expo provides important information to marketers and business owners who want to take control of their web sites. The CMS Expo business track will cover a wide range of issues related to making your web site profitable. Introductory sessions will be provided for all of the major Content Management Systems and for many modular components that make these systems so powerful.
The 2010 CMS Expo will mark the 4th professional gathering of the CMS Community from around the world. The CMS Expo focuses on delivering highly useful information, tips, tricks and actionable advice to attendees. CMS Expo is a learning conference, for users at all experience levels, not a "pitch session" for vendors. CMS Expo exemplifies a cooperative, sharing business environment with vigor.
CMS Expo is for all members of the Content Team – Administrators, Business people, Creatives and Developers - who collaborate to create great websites. There are sessions to help every member of the Content Team master their particular area of expertise.
For Business people, the CMS Business Track, co-chaired by Metrist Partners' Avery Cohen, provides the opportunity to learn from business experts who are respected around the globe. The Business Track provides a full gamut of high quality business sessions, providing highly relevant and timely web business insights, shared by many of today's most successful business minds. Participants will learn timely ways to enhance your business, streamline processes, protect your assets and boost revenues. Session topics include Google Analytics, Social Media, Search Engine Optimization and Usability Testing, to name just a few. Last year, many attendees were so enthralled with the CMS Business Track, they never left the track - for the full conference!
If you are a web site or applications developer, there are sessions on WordPress, Drupal and Joomla that range from beginner to expert. There are sessions for developers, designers, marketers, and managers. Web applications developers can learn advanced topics, like how to build plug-in modules that utilize the CMS's existing code framework. Designers can learn how to create your own theme or design templates.
With a full three days of learning sessions, the CMS Business Track will provide great insights on how to run, promote and structure your web business for maximum success, and maximum ROI. Click here for more information.
If you are considering a CMS or are currently using a CMS, you might want to attend the CMS Expo, May 3-5 in Evanston, Illinois. The CMS Expo provides important information to marketers and business owners who want to take control of their web sites. The CMS Expo business track will cover a wide range of issues related to making your web site profitable. Introductory sessions will be provided for all of the major Content Management Systems and for many modular components that make these systems so powerful.
The 2010 CMS Expo will mark the 4th professional gathering of the CMS Community from around the world. The CMS Expo focuses on delivering highly useful information, tips, tricks and actionable advice to attendees. CMS Expo is a learning conference, for users at all experience levels, not a "pitch session" for vendors. CMS Expo exemplifies a cooperative, sharing business environment with vigor.
CMS Expo is for all members of the Content Team – Administrators, Business people, Creatives and Developers - who collaborate to create great websites. There are sessions to help every member of the Content Team master their particular area of expertise.
For Business people, the CMS Business Track, co-chaired by Metrist Partners' Avery Cohen, provides the opportunity to learn from business experts who are respected around the globe. The Business Track provides a full gamut of high quality business sessions, providing highly relevant and timely web business insights, shared by many of today's most successful business minds. Participants will learn timely ways to enhance your business, streamline processes, protect your assets and boost revenues. Session topics include Google Analytics, Social Media, Search Engine Optimization and Usability Testing, to name just a few. Last year, many attendees were so enthralled with the CMS Business Track, they never left the track - for the full conference!
If you are a web site or applications developer, there are sessions on WordPress, Drupal and Joomla that range from beginner to expert. There are sessions for developers, designers, marketers, and managers. Web applications developers can learn advanced topics, like how to build plug-in modules that utilize the CMS's existing code framework. Designers can learn how to create your own theme or design templates.
With a full three days of learning sessions, the CMS Business Track will provide great insights on how to run, promote and structure your web business for maximum success, and maximum ROI. Click here for more information.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Google Personalized Search - Do you really rank that high?
What You See is NOT What Your Customers Get: The impact of Google's Personalized Search
As of December, 2009, Google has been personalizing your search results. Sites you like show up more frequently in your Google search results. Google figures that the sites you like are the sites you click on for search results or, if you have Google Toolbar, any of the sites you visit on your computer. Those sites will show up higher in future search results -- for you.
Google thinks this will make you happier, as they say: "Today we're helping people get better search results." This is nice, but this means you aren't seeing the same search results as everyone else. If you visit the NY Times a lot, Google will show you the NY Times more often, while Fox News fans will see Fox more often and more highly rated.
What Google personalized search means to the entrepreneur:
- Your site will appear to rank higher on Google results pages. But only on your computer. Because you click on your web site fairly often, your site will appear higher on search results for you. It may look like your site is rising in Google search results, but this could be your personalization in action!
- Your competitors may appear to rank higher on Google results pages. If you occasionally (or frequently) click on your competitor's search listing or visit their web site, their site will appear higher than other sites. Again, these results will be customized for you.
- What you see is not what others get. Your results are personalized, so you are seeing your own reality. And your customers are seeing their own reality, thus...
- Your best customers will see you rank higher! Similarly, your competitors' best customers will see their vendor, your competitors, rank higher.
What you can do about it, how to see the world they way it really is:
- To see what the new-to-you, blank-slate world sees, you will need to opt out of Google Web History so that your web activity does not skew ("personalize") your search results.
- Just to be sure, you might want to install a variant browser on your computer and use that browser to check your search position. Don't click on search results on that browser.
- Keep following Google's search engine optimization best practices, including fresh, relevant content and quality link building!
Instructions for opting out of Google Web History, which personalizes your search results:
Opting out of Google Web History will make it so that Google doesn't track your activity across computers and browsers.
Now, it depends on how you interpret Google's online postings. It may be that Google will still personalize search for the browser on which you are working, based on the identifying cookie on the browser. It's not clear if opting out of Web History and then signing into Google will result in NO personalization occurring in your search results. But Google does say that you can turn off personalized search by opting out of Web History.
Here's how:
If you are signed in to Google, you'll need to remove Web History from your Google Account. You can also choose to remove individual items. Note that removing this service deletes all your old searches from Web History.
If you are not signed in to a Google Account, your search experience will be customized based on past search information linked to a cookie on your browser. To disable history-based customizations, follow these steps:
- In the top right corner of the search results page, click Web History.
- On the resulting page, click Disable customizations.(Because this preference is stored in a cookie, it'll affect anyone else who uses the same browser and computer as you).
Note: If you've disabled search customizations, you'll need to disable it again after clearing your browser cookies; clearing your Google cookie turns on history-based customizations.
Some technical points about Google personalized search results
Google used to only personalize search for users who were signed-in to Google. Now they personalize based on the identifying cookie on the browser, and fine-tune when you are signed in to your Google Account. This means that they track based on search results you click on if and when you are not signed in to your Google Account.
For more info, visit Google
http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54048
http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=54067
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Social Networking Basics for Marketers and Entrepreneurs
2010 is fast becoming the year of Business Social Media marketing. Two drivers from last year continue to push entrepreneurs and marketers into Online Social Networks. First, Barack Obama proved that it can work in a big way. His presidential campaign used it to motivate people to spread the word. Second, the faltering 2009 economy made everyone with a job feel like they were ninety days away from either needing a new job or starting a new business.
People connected individually in a big way in 2009 as businesses began experimenting. Now businesses large and small are connecting with customers and prospects through existing Online Social Networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter in 2010 marketing initiatives and campaigns.
The good news for busy entrepreneurs and marketers is that online social networking makes spreading the word and/or reaching out to your network easier and more effective than ever. Many of our friends and clients are using these tools to connect with audiences where they already are online.
If you have information or news about your company or product to share, including information that is already on your website, you can use social networking sites to extend the reach of your message beyond your own web site. It’s also a great way to create traffic to your Web site, and that’s a great way to gain traction and grow.
Selecting a Network:
There are social and business aspects to online social networking. Linkedin is the online social network for business, while Facebook is predominantly friends and family. Twitter, a real time short messaging service, is very much a hybrid of the two. Because Twitter content is “open” – anyone can see and reply to any listing, the use of search keywords is critical to the effective use of the social network.
The first thing to ask is what do you want to accomplish? There are three key outcomes for entrepreneurs and marketers who participate in online social networks:
1. You can become known among your colleagues and target audience (your potential customers) as someone who is knowledgeable and has a giving personality —someone who contributes information, shares knowledge, connects people, and perhaps even lightens another person’s day with a funny comment. Engaging this way, and reaching out to others who are similarly engaged, will expand your online network.
2. You can build social relationships that become business relationships.
3. You can promote your events (like our Internet Marketing Seminars), share learnings from your accomplishments (talk about your customers), and create excitement about events you are attending (like industry conferences).
Determining your priority among these outcomes will help you to prioritize your social networking plan. For example, LinkedIn is best for the first outcome, while Facebook is best for outcome #2, and Twitter is best for outcome #3. Nevertheless, you should still use the other social networks to reenforce your social networking goals.
Use Social Networks like a Search Engine
Monitor your keywords – the words and phrases with which you want to be associated -- on LinkedIn and Twitter, and use your keywords when you post and participate. When you need business resources or guidance, consider using the search functions on LinkedIn. To make the best use of Twitter’s openness, we recommend desktop platforms like TweetDeck or Seesmic. You can set up live searches for your keywords and easily join the conversation.
Use Social Networks like Email
Check in on your social networks a few times a day, when you check your email. Respond to content that is relevant to you and your audience.
Measure Your Results
Effective social networking results in growth in network size, so tracking the number of connections on the networks where you are active is one form of feedback. There are also online tools like Twitter Analyzer and Twitalyzer that scan your participation on Twitter or Facebook and provide feedback on the quality of your participation. We work with our clients to interpret the feedback from these tools and to determine how to integrate the feedback into our clients marketing plans.
People connected individually in a big way in 2009 as businesses began experimenting. Now businesses large and small are connecting with customers and prospects through existing Online Social Networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter in 2010 marketing initiatives and campaigns.
The good news for busy entrepreneurs and marketers is that online social networking makes spreading the word and/or reaching out to your network easier and more effective than ever. Many of our friends and clients are using these tools to connect with audiences where they already are online.
If you have information or news about your company or product to share, including information that is already on your website, you can use social networking sites to extend the reach of your message beyond your own web site. It’s also a great way to create traffic to your Web site, and that’s a great way to gain traction and grow.
Selecting a Network:
There are social and business aspects to online social networking. Linkedin is the online social network for business, while Facebook is predominantly friends and family. Twitter, a real time short messaging service, is very much a hybrid of the two. Because Twitter content is “open” – anyone can see and reply to any listing, the use of search keywords is critical to the effective use of the social network.
The first thing to ask is what do you want to accomplish? There are three key outcomes for entrepreneurs and marketers who participate in online social networks:
1. You can become known among your colleagues and target audience (your potential customers) as someone who is knowledgeable and has a giving personality —someone who contributes information, shares knowledge, connects people, and perhaps even lightens another person’s day with a funny comment. Engaging this way, and reaching out to others who are similarly engaged, will expand your online network.
2. You can build social relationships that become business relationships.
3. You can promote your events (like our Internet Marketing Seminars), share learnings from your accomplishments (talk about your customers), and create excitement about events you are attending (like industry conferences).
Determining your priority among these outcomes will help you to prioritize your social networking plan. For example, LinkedIn is best for the first outcome, while Facebook is best for outcome #2, and Twitter is best for outcome #3. Nevertheless, you should still use the other social networks to reenforce your social networking goals.
Use Social Networks like a Search Engine
Monitor your keywords – the words and phrases with which you want to be associated -- on LinkedIn and Twitter, and use your keywords when you post and participate. When you need business resources or guidance, consider using the search functions on LinkedIn. To make the best use of Twitter’s openness, we recommend desktop platforms like TweetDeck or Seesmic. You can set up live searches for your keywords and easily join the conversation.
Use Social Networks like Email
Check in on your social networks a few times a day, when you check your email. Respond to content that is relevant to you and your audience.
Measure Your Results
Effective social networking results in growth in network size, so tracking the number of connections on the networks where you are active is one form of feedback. There are also online tools like Twitter Analyzer and Twitalyzer that scan your participation on Twitter or Facebook and provide feedback on the quality of your participation. We work with our clients to interpret the feedback from these tools and to determine how to integrate the feedback into our clients marketing plans.
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Five Biggest Mistakes Companies Make on Their Websites
People often ask whether we see any big “mistakes” on their website. We usually respond with this question, “What are the goals for your site?” Assuming your goals are to generate new leads or sell products and services, here are five “mistakes” we often find on a website:
1. No Planning or No Tracking
Who do you want to come to your web site? What do you want them to do once they get there? How many visitors turn into leads or customers? Analytics tools like Google Analytics can help you to see how people found your site and what they do once they get there. With this information you can take action to improve your marketing as well as the site content to help customers and prospects find you and reach their goals. Google Analytics is free and easy to configure for reporting on your specific goals.
2. Weak or Missing Call to Action
Your customers come to your site to solve a problem. They want to quickly learn about what you offer, and, if there’s a fit, to buy your products or engage your services. Are you making it easy and quick for them to achieve those goals? If you’re not, then you’re losing customers. Every page on your site should have a clear call to action to make it quick and easy for your customer to achieve their goals.
3. No Email Registration
Maybe your customer isn’t ready to buy. Then, you need a Plan B so that you can keep in touch and stay top-of-mind. Our recommended strategy is to get site visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Of course, if you don’t make this easily available to your customer, then they’re not going to sign up. We recommend offering customers the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter on every page of your site.
4. Lack of Search Terms
Your analytics tools will show the terms that people use to find your site via search. If there are terms that describe what you want to be known for, does your site incorporate those search terms explicitly into its content? Are you linking from your content to additional information on your site using those exact terms for which you want to be known to your customers? It is important to use the terms customers are most likely to use in search engines. In other words, if customers find your site using the search term “cool widgets,” then when they land on your site they should see content discussing “cool widgets” and linking to content about “purple cool widgets.” You can find out which terms are most popular on Google Insights for Search.
5. Not Enough Traffic to Your Site
Search Engine Optimization is a start, but it needs to go beyond metatags and keywords. Setting a public relations campaign with timed press releases that link back to your site is key. Additionally, if you want your customers to find you before they find your competition, consider a Paid Search (Pay-Per-Click) Campaign.
Metrist Partners runs multi-day, hands-on workshops on Paid Search and Internet Marketing, as well as customized workshops and webinars on a variety of internet marketing topics, including, Paid Search, SEO and Social Media. We also consult with our clients on a variety of internet marketing solutions. Please contact Susan Shulman at susan@metrist.com for more information.
1. No Planning or No Tracking
Who do you want to come to your web site? What do you want them to do once they get there? How many visitors turn into leads or customers? Analytics tools like Google Analytics can help you to see how people found your site and what they do once they get there. With this information you can take action to improve your marketing as well as the site content to help customers and prospects find you and reach their goals. Google Analytics is free and easy to configure for reporting on your specific goals.
2. Weak or Missing Call to Action
Your customers come to your site to solve a problem. They want to quickly learn about what you offer, and, if there’s a fit, to buy your products or engage your services. Are you making it easy and quick for them to achieve those goals? If you’re not, then you’re losing customers. Every page on your site should have a clear call to action to make it quick and easy for your customer to achieve their goals.
3. No Email Registration
Maybe your customer isn’t ready to buy. Then, you need a Plan B so that you can keep in touch and stay top-of-mind. Our recommended strategy is to get site visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Of course, if you don’t make this easily available to your customer, then they’re not going to sign up. We recommend offering customers the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter on every page of your site.
4. Lack of Search Terms
Your analytics tools will show the terms that people use to find your site via search. If there are terms that describe what you want to be known for, does your site incorporate those search terms explicitly into its content? Are you linking from your content to additional information on your site using those exact terms for which you want to be known to your customers? It is important to use the terms customers are most likely to use in search engines. In other words, if customers find your site using the search term “cool widgets,” then when they land on your site they should see content discussing “cool widgets” and linking to content about “purple cool widgets.” You can find out which terms are most popular on Google Insights for Search.
5. Not Enough Traffic to Your Site
Search Engine Optimization is a start, but it needs to go beyond metatags and keywords. Setting a public relations campaign with timed press releases that link back to your site is key. Additionally, if you want your customers to find you before they find your competition, consider a Paid Search (Pay-Per-Click) Campaign.
Metrist Partners runs multi-day, hands-on workshops on Paid Search and Internet Marketing, as well as customized workshops and webinars on a variety of internet marketing topics, including, Paid Search, SEO and Social Media. We also consult with our clients on a variety of internet marketing solutions. Please contact Susan Shulman at susan@metrist.com for more information.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Adobe to buy Omniture
I'm sure you have now seen the news that Adobe Systems has announced its intention to purchase Omniture, the providers of some of the most important online and cross-channel analytic products offered today.
It is an interesting play for Adobe. As more and more applications of their trditional applications will be served "in the cloud" and perhaps undercut by open source equivalents, Adobe is buying the leader in high-end online analytics, a business that is only reaching its stride as a way for businesses to cut unproductive expense and increase revenue.
Labels: Adobe, marketing analytics, Omniture, online analytics
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
When to Use Paid Search: Making Paid Search Pay For You
Many of our clients are interested in paid search, but question whether it’s worth the effort and cost, and whether it's right for B2B or just business to consumer. So when should you consider using Paid Search?
1. When You Want More Visitors on Your Site:
Being on page one of any search engine results in increased traffic for your web site. Getting your site listed on page one takes time and requires optimizing for specific words or phrases. Paying for a position on page one accomplishes a similar result faster.
2. When you Want to Attract Customers on Specific Keywords:
Paid Search gives you the ability to pay for position on these less-frequently searched for terms that are farther along the decision and purchase cycle. Again, the "landing page” selection is critical for the success of these campaigns.
3. When the Competition is Doing It:
No one wants a potential customer to engage with their competitors. Paid Search provides the ability to pay for keywords that your competitor might use and intercept that traffic, directing visits to your site rather than your competitors. Tools like Keyword Spy can provide directional insights into the competition’s keyword bids.
4. When you Want a Cost-Effective Way to Test New Marketing:
Paid Search is a cost effective way to test the effectiveness of different marketing messages. In fact, you can consider Paid Search to be the world’s largest (and least expensive) focus group.
However, paid search must be done in conjunction with web site optimization. Site optimization includes search keyword optimization along with tracking and measuring what visitors do on the site. Once you know the likelihood that a site visitor will make a purchase or become a qualified lead, you have an idea of how much you can bid for a visit and still make a profit.
If you don’t track and measure leads and sales resulting from visits, you are likely to waste more money on paid search than you make (we’ve seen it!) Analyzing visitor behavior provides insights into making visits more productive and profitable, for you and your customers or prospects.
Metrist Partners is hosting a free "Paid Search" Breakfast on October 1, 2009, to discuss how and when to use Paid Search to profitably bring more traffic to your web site. For more information email susan@metrist.com or call 847.926.8280
1. When You Want More Visitors on Your Site:
Being on page one of any search engine results in increased traffic for your web site. Getting your site listed on page one takes time and requires optimizing for specific words or phrases. Paying for a position on page one accomplishes a similar result faster.
2. When you Want to Attract Customers on Specific Keywords:
Paid Search gives you the ability to pay for position on these less-frequently searched for terms that are farther along the decision and purchase cycle. Again, the "landing page” selection is critical for the success of these campaigns.
3. When the Competition is Doing It:
No one wants a potential customer to engage with their competitors. Paid Search provides the ability to pay for keywords that your competitor might use and intercept that traffic, directing visits to your site rather than your competitors. Tools like Keyword Spy can provide directional insights into the competition’s keyword bids.
4. When you Want a Cost-Effective Way to Test New Marketing:
Paid Search is a cost effective way to test the effectiveness of different marketing messages. In fact, you can consider Paid Search to be the world’s largest (and least expensive) focus group.
However, paid search must be done in conjunction with web site optimization. Site optimization includes search keyword optimization along with tracking and measuring what visitors do on the site. Once you know the likelihood that a site visitor will make a purchase or become a qualified lead, you have an idea of how much you can bid for a visit and still make a profit.
If you don’t track and measure leads and sales resulting from visits, you are likely to waste more money on paid search than you make (we’ve seen it!) Analyzing visitor behavior provides insights into making visits more productive and profitable, for you and your customers or prospects.
Metrist Partners is hosting a free "Paid Search" Breakfast on October 1, 2009, to discuss how and when to use Paid Search to profitably bring more traffic to your web site. For more information email susan@metrist.com or call 847.926.8280
Friday, September 11, 2009
Ad:Tech Chicago -- New Media vs. Traditional
Ad:Tech Chicago 2009
With a mouthful title like "Master Class Workshop: Defining the New Media Currency – How to Bring Traditional Media Metrics Online – Or Should We?" we see how Ad:Tech is different from other Internet Marketing conferences. The focus here is on the impact that Internet technology has on the $100B+ advertising industry. The advertising industry has proven highly resilient in the face of the Internet Marketing revolution.
We are continuing a conversation that has been going on for nearly a decade. As Chicago-based ComScore"s Gian Fulgoni put it early in the session: 8% of all media dollars go to the Internet but 25 to 30% of media consumption is online. Internet Marketing mavens have been railing on the Mad Men to "get it" and shift their spending to online media. But the Internet argument has focused on "Direct Response" and has shied away from "Brand Impact" and the metrics that agencies care about, like "recency" and "frequency". Fulgoni says Internet marketers have got to pull in traditional branding dollars by talking the language and providing the impact of other branding vehicles.
The session panel:
The Discussion:
Teresi of Quantcast said that the power of online marketing is addressability, you can see the behavior of individuals. He is interested to see what happens when television becomes similarly addressable through set-top boxes. Then, he says, "engagement" and "behavior" will engage the minds of brand marketers.
Teresi says that some marketers see the impact that engagement has when they look at Social Media. Right now, Internet Marketers are not talking the same language as Brand Managers. We need metrics that Brand Managers can relate to.
Gibbs agreed "we need to speak in a languages that adheres to the language of the current system."
Then, Teresi asked, can we help marketers see beyond the demographics of "Women 18-29"? There"s more nuance under that. Fulgoni identified three components needed: first the marketer has to have a target defined, then you have to figure out impact and then analyze. Then you can go back and talk about media "reach" to that target, people times exposures.
Gibbs says that the creative still has a way to go, looking at non-standard ads and their surrounding experiences allows publishers to differentiate themselves from ad networks. Better targeting, greater impact.
Twohig asked how a media buyer can make a decision on a large scale, there are so many methods of data collection. How do we create a standard vocabulary for metrics?
Teresi said Marketers only care when they can create definitions of their own target market. Marketers need to be able to define their own audience. This is why search marketing is such a big deal. In display advertising, you can"t target the audience. But Gibs said that while 1-to-1 targeting is an awesome ideal, Media Planning is the art of trying to find your audience. "We" say our targeting model is perfect, but the planners often miss; post-buy reporting is needed to answer two questions: "who did we hit?" and "what did they do?"
Teresi observed that holding companies are building targeting platforms to reach the "important" audiences. They buy publishers who have a specific target audience and then sell an ad network bundle. Fulgoni doesn"t think these ad networks have enough of the picture to do a good job of targeting a specific audience. For example, he says, web analytics (Omniture, Google Analytics) ignore the value built up to the final click that brought a visitor to a web site. Web analytics reporting reports are read as if the only reason for that click was, in most cases, the last search at the last search engine. Further, if you expand the targeting to all activity by the person within the ad network using cookies, you still only see about 10% of the person"s activity. So much for 1:1 targeting.
Teresi says that cookie-based targeting does give consumer intent. And the Media Buyer has to know what they are buying. There was then some back-and-forth between Teresi and Fulgoni about data capture methods (Quantcast collects data through a network of participating web sites that share visitor cookies while ComScore and Nielsen use sample panels who have opted in to let all their Internet usage be tracked).
Twohig came back and asked "What is important to know?" Gibs said there are three key questions that advertisers need to know: 1) How many people did I hit? 2) Who did I hit? And 3) Did it work?
The client sets goals and these include offline ROI and branding metrics. Gibbs and Fulgoni both said that there are significant gaps in the ability to accurately measure reach and frequency. Whatever method you use, there is extrapolation and estimation involved. Johnson brought up comments from Ad:Tech keynote speaker Rashad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo and Chief Innovation Officer at Publicis Groupe Media: 1) People will continue to do Business as Usual and 2) to do new and innovative things, we need metrics.
Twohig then asked how to coordinate when media planning, buying, delivery, and reporting are all disparate systems. Gibbs pointed out that that"s only Internet, the media are in silos and addressable TV is still fairly far away. Twohig asked what tools there will be in five years.
Fulgoni said you need to know if the advertising generated sales, and advertising (as opposed to direct marketing) takes time. "Sometimes I think we want to generate sales faster than the real world will allow."
To provide effective information to those areas, you need to know what you delivered to whom and you have to know the effect, including offline purchases. Johnson pointed out that understanding the impact of online advertising and breaking down of silos between media is happening more and more as a new generation moves into executive leadership.
Gibs says that when AdAge editorializes that "the agency is dead" they are wrong. Agencies understand how to manage a brand across media. And Fulgoni claims that it costs an agency three times to do planning and buying on the Internet versus TV for the same company to reach the same audience. To scale to their needs, they will need set-top data and "three-screen visibility" to consumers along with single-source planning.
While Internet marketers look for the best "brand experience" and experiment with Social Media, the big advertising industry works on a different scale and speaks a different language. Until that gap is bridged and and a measure of impact is accepted, the big money will stay with big media, business as usual, despite an enormous gap in attention.
With a mouthful title like "Master Class Workshop: Defining the New Media Currency – How to Bring Traditional Media Metrics Online – Or Should We?" we see how Ad:Tech is different from other Internet Marketing conferences. The focus here is on the impact that Internet technology has on the $100B+ advertising industry. The advertising industry has proven highly resilient in the face of the Internet Marketing revolution.
We are continuing a conversation that has been going on for nearly a decade. As Chicago-based ComScore"s Gian Fulgoni put it early in the session: 8% of all media dollars go to the Internet but 25 to 30% of media consumption is online. Internet Marketing mavens have been railing on the Mad Men to "get it" and shift their spending to online media. But the Internet argument has focused on "Direct Response" and has shied away from "Brand Impact" and the metrics that agencies care about, like "recency" and "frequency". Fulgoni says Internet marketers have got to pull in traditional branding dollars by talking the language and providing the impact of other branding vehicles.
The session panel:
- Kelly Twohig, Moderator – Executive VP/Digital Activation Director, Starcom USA
- Marc Johnson -- Chief Marketing Officer, Hitwise
- Jon Gibs, -- VP, Media Analytics, Nielsen Online
- Gian Fulgoni – Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, ComScore, Inc.
- Todd Teresi – Chief Revenue Officer, Quantcast
The Discussion:
Teresi of Quantcast said that the power of online marketing is addressability, you can see the behavior of individuals. He is interested to see what happens when television becomes similarly addressable through set-top boxes. Then, he says, "engagement" and "behavior" will engage the minds of brand marketers.
Teresi says that some marketers see the impact that engagement has when they look at Social Media. Right now, Internet Marketers are not talking the same language as Brand Managers. We need metrics that Brand Managers can relate to.
Gibbs agreed "we need to speak in a languages that adheres to the language of the current system."
Then, Teresi asked, can we help marketers see beyond the demographics of "Women 18-29"? There"s more nuance under that. Fulgoni identified three components needed: first the marketer has to have a target defined, then you have to figure out impact and then analyze. Then you can go back and talk about media "reach" to that target, people times exposures.
Gibbs says that the creative still has a way to go, looking at non-standard ads and their surrounding experiences allows publishers to differentiate themselves from ad networks. Better targeting, greater impact.
Twohig asked how a media buyer can make a decision on a large scale, there are so many methods of data collection. How do we create a standard vocabulary for metrics?
Teresi said Marketers only care when they can create definitions of their own target market. Marketers need to be able to define their own audience. This is why search marketing is such a big deal. In display advertising, you can"t target the audience. But Gibs said that while 1-to-1 targeting is an awesome ideal, Media Planning is the art of trying to find your audience. "We" say our targeting model is perfect, but the planners often miss; post-buy reporting is needed to answer two questions: "who did we hit?" and "what did they do?"
Teresi observed that holding companies are building targeting platforms to reach the "important" audiences. They buy publishers who have a specific target audience and then sell an ad network bundle. Fulgoni doesn"t think these ad networks have enough of the picture to do a good job of targeting a specific audience. For example, he says, web analytics (Omniture, Google Analytics) ignore the value built up to the final click that brought a visitor to a web site. Web analytics reporting reports are read as if the only reason for that click was, in most cases, the last search at the last search engine. Further, if you expand the targeting to all activity by the person within the ad network using cookies, you still only see about 10% of the person"s activity. So much for 1:1 targeting.
Teresi says that cookie-based targeting does give consumer intent. And the Media Buyer has to know what they are buying. There was then some back-and-forth between Teresi and Fulgoni about data capture methods (Quantcast collects data through a network of participating web sites that share visitor cookies while ComScore and Nielsen use sample panels who have opted in to let all their Internet usage be tracked).
Twohig came back and asked "What is important to know?" Gibs said there are three key questions that advertisers need to know: 1) How many people did I hit? 2) Who did I hit? And 3) Did it work?
The client sets goals and these include offline ROI and branding metrics. Gibbs and Fulgoni both said that there are significant gaps in the ability to accurately measure reach and frequency. Whatever method you use, there is extrapolation and estimation involved. Johnson brought up comments from Ad:Tech keynote speaker Rashad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo and Chief Innovation Officer at Publicis Groupe Media: 1) People will continue to do Business as Usual and 2) to do new and innovative things, we need metrics.
Twohig then asked how to coordinate when media planning, buying, delivery, and reporting are all disparate systems. Gibbs pointed out that that"s only Internet, the media are in silos and addressable TV is still fairly far away. Twohig asked what tools there will be in five years.
Fulgoni said you need to know if the advertising generated sales, and advertising (as opposed to direct marketing) takes time. "Sometimes I think we want to generate sales faster than the real world will allow."
To provide effective information to those areas, you need to know what you delivered to whom and you have to know the effect, including offline purchases. Johnson pointed out that understanding the impact of online advertising and breaking down of silos between media is happening more and more as a new generation moves into executive leadership.
Gibs says that when AdAge editorializes that "the agency is dead" they are wrong. Agencies understand how to manage a brand across media. And Fulgoni claims that it costs an agency three times to do planning and buying on the Internet versus TV for the same company to reach the same audience. To scale to their needs, they will need set-top data and "three-screen visibility" to consumers along with single-source planning.
While Internet marketers look for the best "brand experience" and experiment with Social Media, the big advertising industry works on a different scale and speaks a different language. Until that gap is bridged and and a measure of impact is accepted, the big money will stay with big media, business as usual, despite an enormous gap in attention.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Follow-up Video from Windy City Social’s Social Media and Online Marketing Summit
The Social Media Masters event from Windy City Social was great fun. They produced a video that captures the spirit of the event. Avery Cohen's presentation can be seen in the background -- "Marketers Roadmap" and "Developers Roadmap" slides.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
#measure is the new Twitter hashtag for Analytics (buh-bye, #wa!)
Web analytics guru Eric Petersen, who initiated #wa as the Twitter hashtag for analytics, to the consternation of web metrics types who really didn't care about news from the state of Washington, just announced #measure as the new analytics hashtag. Let the wild rumpus resume without an excess of news from the NorthWest!
Labels: #measure, #wa, Chicago Web Analytics, Eric Petersen, web metrics
