Startup Revolution

Quirky Toy Company
Reading about Fat Brain's openness to innnovation and innovators reminded me of trying to sell my magnetic word game, Poetryslam, to Milton Bradley.

Every major toy company DOESN'T WANT (or didn't want) to talk to innovators. So sure where they your pitch would be something they already had in their files.

Stupid is as stupid does and this post about Fat Brian shows what a nimble competitor can do against such petrified thinking. Post reminded us of Quiryk.com. Our company, Curagami, is about to pitch several major clients on why they need a Quirky-like playground where innovators share, talk and receive the legitimacy they need.

If that sounds like we will be hatching a handful of mini-Milton Bradley's powered by ideas, smartphones, laptops and cool ideas you got it right. And why not? Fat Brain may get it, but they are still in the miniority in the less digitally innovative than they need to be toy biz. 

 

Adding Scoopit Magazines
This post shares the easy how and why of adding @Scoop.it "magazines" to your blog or websties. We work with and around a lot of startups. Every startup is so widget focused they have a hard time creating the content marketing needed. 

Why is content marketing so NEEDED for startups? Well let's see. Want to get funded? Want to scale? Content marketing can help, but virtually no startup thinks that way. 

Every startup we know is so widget focused they can't see forest for trees. Widget focus isn't unimportant, but at some point soon you will need to sell that widget to someone for money. Content is the magic key in that "sell to someone for money" door. 

The best return on any startup's content marketing time is to curate content - i.e. leverage brand relevant content from experts. When you don't have time or inclination to create great content you can get more reach and return from finding highly relevant sources (for your business content) and curating them. 

Be sure to follow and contribute to those who you curate from too (or your curation can feel like stealing). This Curagami post explains how easy it is to curate content with Scoop.it and then add the magazines you create to your startup's blog or site. 
 

Lessons by Marcus Lemonis of CNBC's hit show, "The Profit", for small business owners. We take a close look at lessons learned from all Season 1 episodes.

Step by step guidelines for startups on how to acquire customers.

Full image at: http://ijustdid.org/2013/08/customer-acquisition-guide-for-startups/

Source: http://onboardly.com/customer-acquisition/the-step-by-step-guide-to-startup-customer-acquisition-infographic/#.UiIpSdJHKo0

Marty - some valid points here, but I distrust post that tell me no one size fits all and then tries to get me to wear one size. I also distrust polls that are set up to have a clear easy winner (as theirs is). Read my notes before reading the piece.

When we read about content marketing successes, we so often hear stories from glamorous industries with substantial budgets, but YNAB is not one of these stories. In fact, it couldn’t be farther from that reality. It is however, a success story of David vs Goliath proportions, building a thriving community of users in a highly

Marty Note

Startups are so pressed for time they often ignore or make a C priority developing content marketing. That is a huge mistake when it comes time to close a round of funding.

Startups with following have leverage and so may survive. In this excellent two part series Andrian Leighton shares tips on how to blog and how to recycle old blog posts into new content. With these tips every startup has the time to develop the most overlooked but important thing almost all startups overlook - effective content marketing.

Pinterest & Startups
This image of Batgirl staring out of a doorway is one of Scenttrail's most popular pins (http://www.pinterest.com/scenttrail/ ). Pinterest is important for startups because:

* Marketing is becoming VISUAL & Pinterest excels at visual marketing.

* Pinterest is asynchronous to other social nets.
* Pinterest is EASY and doesn't require much time.
* Pinterest creates community faster than other social nets.

That last bullet should have a caveat. Pintererst builds community FAST once you figure out the secret handshake. I was frustrated with how long it was taking to develop a following.

I would share content on Pinterest and I could never understand what seemed to matter, so I shared LOTS more content (one key to success). I also Repinned from others and commented on pins.

All of those tactics helped, but the real dam breaker was creating the King and Queen of Pinterest boards:

http://www.pinterest.com/scenttrail/queen-of-pinterest/

http://www.pinterest.com/scenttrail/king-of-pinterest/

The real winner is the Queen of Pinterest with over 400 pinners now and a great daily rhythm. Community boards do get spammed so I developed some simple guidelines, pinned those guidelines (and do so again and again when the board starts to get spammy).

The victory with King and Queen of Pinterest shares an important secret. Pinterest is a tad solipsistic. People who love to pin really LOVE to pin. There are cult-like moments (lol). So one way to connect is to have a board that shares obsession with Pinterest.

Your startup may not be obsessed with Pinterest, but bet you need to develop a following. When I started the King and Queen of Pinterest boards I had 114 followers. Now, about six months later, Scenttrail has more than 5,000 followers.

Cool thing about community boards is people begin to tell their friends. I invited about half the people pinning on Queen of Pinterest. Interesting I invited 90% of the men (lol). Women understand the core of social media better. They are more naturally social about topics that people love to pin about such as culture, art, celebrity, travel, weight loss, etc...

If you are a startup you should be using Pinterest if only because it builds community, once you figure out a secret or two, faster than any other social net. The other reason Pinterest is important for startups is its focus on asynchronous visual marketing. Learn "asynchronous marketing" even a little and your startup will rock.

Getting your tech startup covered in press isn't easy. Nonetheless, it's one of the most valuable activities which provides your endeavor with links and

SHARE First & Worry About Everything Else Second
This Business 2 Community post is written for "business" but certainly applicable to startups. Startups must realize that "process is product". 
Process is product means everything you are doing right NOW is a product. 

The soon a startup begins publishing, broadcasting and sharing the easier it gets, the richer the fast feedback loops become and the more chances for success they create. 

Many startups think what they have is so amazing that it can't be shared. With few exceptions (biotech) it is NEVER the case that your thoughts are unique or so unknown that your share will quake the world. 

Any business is created in the execution developed for the idea. To worry about someone stealing your idea is to worry about the tide. Focus your energy on getting as much information out and in as many hands as you can as fast as you can. SHARE. 

Realize that the most important "product" you build is the team capable of building something, pivoting on a dime and responding to what they hear with meaningful and amazing results.  

If you don't have a way to capture your journey find one (write, video, infographics, animation, stories). Your goal should be to create the means of production - the framework where you can easily harvest UGC (User Generated Content) anytime needed. 

UGC is more important to a startup than oxygen. UGC helps gauge reaction, shape your product and determine a startup's future.  

Related Reading
Process Is Product on ScentTrail Marketing
http://scenttrail.blogspot.fr/2009/11/process-is-product.html