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. 

 

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.

We are emotional people on a spiritual journey. Why is logic the most common approach to online selling? 5 Tips so your digital marketing makes less sense.

Startups BELIEVE in the widget. Talk to any Venture Capitalists and they will tell you they invest in teams not ideas. Ideas change. Teams capable of making the many pivots any new idea needs are worth their weight in gold.

Go to 100 startup websites and teams, if they are there, are pushed to the background as the WIDGET takes center stage. This is because we believe the way to "make a sale:" is to use logic.

Logic is tyranny when what we seek is emotional connection . This post shares 5 tips to avoid logic's tyranny:

* Listen More.

* Control Less, Collaborate More.

* As community forms listen and curate.

* Empower your advocates and Sherpas.

* MOVEMENTS not campaigns.

Startups need to forget the widget and remember we are spiritual beings having a human experience not the other way around.