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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
July 29, 2015 11:15 AM
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People Marketing: How I Learned To Love People - Curagami

People Marketing: How I Learned To Love People - Curagami | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

People Marketing shares hard won tips, ideas and stories about loving, curating, listening to your people to create winning online marketing.

We included this link in our Startups Revoluiton Scoop.it because startups are so WIDGET focused they forget PEOPLE provide the context and emotional connection needed to SELL. It is understandable that YOU love your widget, but your customers love THEMSELVES much more.

Creating "like me" moments mean your "product" becomes a movement your customers want to join. This journey from YOU and THEM (customers) to WE is the most important journey every website and all marketing is on whether the creators know it or not.  

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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
December 11, 2014 10:44 AM
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Web Marketing 101 For Car Dealers via @Curagami

Web Marketing 101 For Car Dealers via @Curagami | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

Interesting, funny & sad watching car dealers create web & social marketing. Getting better is easy, fun and CHEAP as Web Marketing For Car Dealers shares.

We think of car dealers as "startups" because they need to start over and pivot their THINKING. Many of the tips shared in this Curagami post (http://www.curagami.com/magical-thinking/web-marketing-101-for-car-dealers/ ) such as:

* People not THINGS Sell.
* Stories and People, People and Stories...matter.

* Humanize your approach and thinking.

* Let THEM (customers and brand advocates) HELP.

apply to stsrtups too so killing a pair of birds with a single blog post today. Picture is of me (left) and Travis Lunsford in front of a ROGUE (seemed appropriate lol).

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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
October 31, 2014 7:11 PM
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Importance of DIY Customers

Importance of DIY Customers | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

DIY Customers Are Important
Do-It_Yourself customers may be the most important customers on earth. Here are a few ways DIY customers create benefits for digitial marketers and websites:

* Social Shares on Facebook, Twitter and +Google+.
* Creates #ugc (User Generated Content) or the best content you can't buy.
* Drive links into their content on your site.

We are working on a series of http://www.Curagami.com posts on how to engage and benefit from DIY Customer Marketing. If you have tips, ideas or experiences you think would help please share (martin(at)Curagami.com).

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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
October 14, 2014 1:26 PM
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10 Reasons Blogs, Articles and Guest Posts ROCK Startups via @jodyporowski [6 via @Scenttrail]

10 Reasons Blogs, Articles and Guest Posts ROCK Startups via @jodyporowski [6 via @Scenttrail] | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

Marty Note
Love this Jody Porowski post since she shares directly and doesn't lay claim to expertise she doesn't have (rare). I also love here reasons for why content marketing matters beyond pure traffic generation such as:


1. Drive Traffic.

2. Increase Awareness.

3. Create new Connections.
4. Produce Warm Fuzzies.


Great list. I would add:

5. Creates online community (net effect of 1 - 4).

6. Voice is authority, authority is reputation, reputation is all.

7. Provides grappling hooks out to social media to accomplish #2.
8. Shares values and nonverbals communication such as WE LISTEN (especially when you curate or incorporate content from users).
9. Promotes User Generated Content (they won't share if you don't).
10. Define your USP and UCA (Unique Selling Proposition and Unique Customer Aspiration).

YES, we live in a post content-shock world, but construct a website without a voice and see how it performs (it won't). Stories, shared intimacy and risk form the basis of any successful online community. Remember 1:9:90 Rule says 1% of a site's visitors will advocate and share valuable UGC (User Generated Content), 9% will vote and share especially content from the highly trusted 1%ers and 90% read and visit (important to traffic numbers but hard to engage).

We used to think content and voice was the ante for an Ambassador Program or the creation of valuable brand advocates and Sheraps. Team Curagami changed our mind recently and now advise customers such as Moon-Audio.com (manufacturers amazing audio cables and sells high-end headphones and earphones) to ASK for help NOW.

Continue to develop content and voice since the more trusted you are the greater chance you have at the gold at the end of the web marketing rainbow - sustainable online community. BUT ASK FOR HELP immediately, specifically and often.

Such a great post by Jody I couldn't help adding a riff from my experience as a content marketer, content curator and former Ecommerce Director. Added to Startups Revolution because content marketing is one of the rocks many startups get hung upon. Don't over think content marketing and create something daily.

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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
October 5, 2014 11:42 AM
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Want Trusted Content? Startups Do 10 Things [+4 From @Scenttrail]

Want Trusted Content? Startups Do 10 Things [+4 From @Scenttrail] | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

Marty Note On Developing Trusted Content
Startups must create content to develop trust and community. Content marketing. and this may be a surprise to some, is not an end unto itself. You create and share content to help, educate and share. Startups should create content to develop a self-sustaining community. 

Sharing content requires being vulnerable, real and authentic. The six tips from the linked post focus on creating honest communication. My 4 content marketing tips describe how to create content sure to be shared (a form of trust), built upon and provide the feedback loops you need to run an online business:

Six Content Tips (from the link)

* Eliminate Hype. 

* Make Your Content  As Unbiased as possible. 

* Present alternative perspectives (from trusted leaders and gurus). 

* Include objective research.

* Beware of product pitches (just say NO to product pitches). 

* Proclaim your identity (be honestly who you ARE as any disparity creates dissonance). 

Marty's 4 Content Marketing Tips (to promote shares and feedback)

* End with a question asking for feedback & don't mind if none comes (1:9:90 Rule says only about 10% of your visitors are going to engage with your content is ways you can see).
* Shorten your sentences & paragraphs and lose the conjunctions and personal pronouns.
* Create short (10 words or less) headlines with "grabbers". 
* Create, shoot or develop original art.

Questions are great. We use questions in three ways:

* We ask and then answer our own question as a way to engage a clear line of reasoning and thinking.
* We ask contextually relevant questions at the end of a post looking for feedback on a reader's experience.
* We ask and leave open questions in heading sand sub-heads to promote the content as answer reading the curiosity of a question prompts.

Short and Sweet
Shorten and create SEO writing. SEO writing is reducing your "stop words" such as personal pronouns or other words search spiders can't understand.  SEO may be out of favor these days, but those "spider tips" apply to creating content to promote online readership and engagement too. Think Hemingway more than Faulkner. 

Original Art
Startups shouldn't use stock photography. Stock creates dissonance with any startup's main positioning. All startups are claiming to be smarter and more creative than the other guy. When you use sock you look just like the other guy. Just say NO to stock no matter how much your designer wants to use it. CORNED use stock but ask your design team to create unique edits and perspectives so your stock doesn't look like everyone else. 
 

 

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Rescooped by Martin (Marty) Smith from Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight
September 10, 2014 3:20 AM
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The Pinterest One Step - Generated Leads By Pinning & Avoid These 7 Costly Mistakes

The Pinterest One Step - Generated Leads By Pinning & Avoid These 7 Costly Mistakes | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

Last month, 14% of our website visitors AND new contacts came from Pinterest. Pretty good, right?


Well, for one of our clients, 48 percent of his traffic 57% of new contacts came from Pinterest.


...This example of the smoothie recipes is almost too easy. I know. But that doesn’t mean your landscaping company has no choice but to create ebooks about smoothies! Let’s say you created an ebook on starting a vegetable garden. The planning process may be broken down into  a few steps. Then there is preparation, a trip to the nursery or hardware store, etc. Each of those steps could use its own pinnable image. You could either create one template and change out the text. Or, you could use colorful images of vegetables and gardens with some text outlining a specific tip or step in the process.


And that, my friends, is my #1 tip for how to get massive numbers of leads from Pinterest.





Via Jeff Domansky
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

add your insight...



Jeff Domansky's curator insight, September 10, 2014 2:48 AM

On Pinterest, it's all about the pictures. Here's how to get better results.

Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
December 18, 2013 12:40 PM
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Creating Digital Marketing Ecosystems For Traffic & Money - Curatti.com

Creating Digital Marketing Ecosystems For Traffic & Money - Curatti.com | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
Without revenue a small business is just a hobby.  So, how does a typical small business go about getting clients and revenue?
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Without revenue a small business is just a hobby.

Typical small business marketing follows a path of diminishing returns. 

 

Great Curatti.com post by @CogentCoach Michael Nelson. Agree, " Without revenue a small business is just a hobby." Also agree, " Typical small business marketing follows a path of diminishing returns", but have a thought to add there. 

Michael discusses the diminishing returns of a reference network that slowly decays out (from previous employer). Diminish returns also applies to many things Small to Medium Sized Business do to "advertise" their business. 

All the networking, advertising and hand wringing a SMB does WITHOUT a viable website / blog is diminished by more than half. The ONLY way to assure what you did today GROWS is to create a "getting bigger everyday" online presence (period, full stop). 

Important to find marketing that produces the opposite of "diminishing returns', marketing where you get MORE back from less effort over time. Michael describes this well too:

This saturation and frequency of use make digital marketing a great option for marketing and building relationships with your prospects and clients.


"While digital marketing is a great option, it is a confusing milieu of platforms, services, tools, etc.  Rather than chasing about trying to do a bit of everything, it’s best to create a system and measure your results.  When you get comfortable, you can add a bit more or expand your reach with your system."

"Create a system" or as P&G taught me all those years ago, "Work your plan" is important. Here are some tips for that system:

* Do a core set of activities DAILY.

* Always reserve 20% (or so) of your time to test new ideas, tools, websites, and partners. 
* Reserve another 20% of your time to respond to and curate content from your previously shared content. 
* Follow people who help you (since it is an online Thank You Note) and follow people you can learn from. 
* Keep life and business in balance and don't get discouraged since it can take months or a year before content marketing begins to scale. 
* Don't worry about "breaking" anything. Internet marketing is like building sand castles on the beach and the tide is always about to come in. 
* Learn to SURF trends, don't try and wrestle them. 

Great post and YES you must build a viable, sustainable and growing Digital Marketing Ecosystem if you want to do anything these days. 
Marty 

 


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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
June 21, 2015 6:56 PM
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How Did We Make $30M Online? Books, People & Ideas - New Curagami Book Store

How Did We Make $30M Online? Books, People & Ideas - New Curagami Book Store | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

Web Marketing Secrets
Want to know how we made over $30M online? Read our BOOKS and contribute your favorite Internet marketing reads in our new Curagami Book Store:

http://www.curagami.com/books.html

Send your favorite reads to martin(at)Curagami.com

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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
November 4, 2014 7:28 PM
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Why Bitcoin Is A MASSIVE Startup Opportunity

Why Bitcoin Is A MASSIVE Startup Opportunity | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

Bitcoin, Ecommerce, Money & Value Systems
In three posts I've tried to understand how Bitcoin changes ecommerce:

Bitcoin, Money & Value Systems (on G+)
https://plus.google.com/102639884404823294558/posts/YLFe4ow4rok

Bitcoin Manifesto (on @Scoop.it)
http://sco.lt/8SkV4D

And this post about Bitcoin and #startups. Bitcoin as infrastructure could change everything from online ecommerce to how we pay for groceries and a coke from a vending machine.

Sure the infrastructure to achieve such a vision is largely lacking presently, but it wasn't that long ago we didn't have an Internet either. Here is how I'm going to tune my Bitcoin radar:

* Learn how to install Bitcoin commerce (nothing is easy now, but first movers will get huge benefits).
* Understand how and where Bitcoin could create the greatest impact such as http://www.curagami.com client http://www.moon-audio.com.
* Understand how Bitcoin's platform could connect to other major trends such as social, mobile and connection.

The reason I want to understand how to install Bitcoin commerce is 1. It Ain't Easy Now and 2. Customers with large international buying groups could benefit the most and the fastest. Moon-Audio sells their magical audio cables all over the world. What they've been lacking is an easy way to safely sell around the world.

if there is even a tiny chance Bitcoin can fill those shoes I'm interested and a student. If anyone reading this has resources about how to install Bitcoin commerce please share.

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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
October 17, 2014 4:35 PM
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Burn Down Your Website NOWIST via @Curagami

Burn Down Your Website NOWIST via @Curagami | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

BURN DOWN YOUR WEBSITE.

Beat the rush. Have courage, light a match, become a NOWIST :). M

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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
October 7, 2014 9:54 PM
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How QDF Changes Content Marketing - Curagami

How QDF Changes Content Marketing  - Curagami | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
Quality Deserves Freshness QDF is important to "new SEO". This post & Haiku Deck share marketing, tactics & strategy tips so QDF works for not against you.
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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
September 23, 2014 12:18 PM
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How Your Unique Greatness Meets Customer Aspirations To Scale Your Startup - via @AtlanticBT

How Your Unique Greatness Meets Customer Aspirations To Scale Your Startup - via @AtlanticBT | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

Know thyself is great Internet marketing advice and this post helps explain how to define your Unique Selling Propositions and Unique Customer Aspirations.

UCA is the startups secret weapon. When you are aligned to UCA your startup scales. When your ideas are out of alignment or not communicated well (been there, done that) your startup doesn't scale.

Wrote this piece for Atlantic BT during my tenure as Marketing Director.

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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
February 13, 2014 3:49 PM
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Triangle Startup Factory ACCEPTS CrowdFunde For Spring 2014 Class

Triangle Startup Factory ACCEPTS CrowdFunde For Spring 2014 Class | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it

CrowdFunde Accepted Triangle Startup (TSF) Factory
Thanks to friends who wrote cards and letters and thanks to the team at Triangle Startup Factory, our Durham, NC based startup incubator, who are willing to take a risk on CrowdFUnde as we smash content marketing and crowdfunding together to see what happens.

Our TSF session starts March 10th and we hope you will join us as we share this great startup adventure.

CrowdFunde
http://www.crowdfunde.com

Haiku Deck Pitch to TSF
http://shar.es/QFOzU


Triangle Startup Factory
http://thestartupfactory.co/


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