Learning About Your Customers For Free

Learning About Your Customers For Free
I had coffee a few weeks ago with an investor. One of his portfolio companies is having some growth problems and he’s been thinking that maybe they need to spend money on marketing help. The company is a farm-to-market retail store in a somewhat obscure location without much customer foot traffic. Because the company is small, can’t...

Netflix: Building a World Class Brand

Netflix: Building a World Class Brand
Earlier this month I facilitated a two-day marketing team offsite for a technology client that went public about a year and a half ago. The company is in the midst of building their 2016 marketing plan so the CMO wanted to bring together her large, geographically diverse leadership team in one location for team building and brand...

Startups: 5 Easy Creative Partner Hiring Tips

Startups: 5 Easy Creative Partner Hiring Tips
Reaching out to friends and colleagues for creative resource recommendations is a great starting point for any agency search, whether you’re a start up or not. But unlike larger, more established companies, startups don’t often have the resources to hire an agency, so a friend’s positive recommendation might very well be the only assessment...

Dollar Shave Club’s Viral Video: Behind the Scenes

Dollar Shave Club’s Viral Video: Behind the Scenes
Google recently told one of the startups I advise, ZipFit, that they should consider adding a YouTube video ad to their online mix to increase their overall click through rate. That’s easy for Google to say, but ZipFit has almost no budget for marketing of any kind. However the ZipFit team figured that if Dollar Shave Club could throw...

Three Research Pointers for Beginners

Three Research Pointers for Beginners
Earlier this year I wrote a three-part series on the Top Ten Entrepreneurial Research Mistakes. One of my favorite market research professionals, wrote to me and suggested adding three additional points: 1) Don’t assume you know how to ask the right questions. Get a book on research questioning or find a friend in the field. That is the...

Top 10 Entrepreneurial Research Mistakes, Part 3: Care & Feeding of Your Respondents

Top 10 Entrepreneurial Research Mistakes, Part 3: Care & Feeding of Your Respondents
This is the third and final part of our series on the Top 10 Entrepreneurial Research Mistakes. Use these links to read Part 1, Which Methodology to Use and Part 2, Asking Smart Questions. The series came out of a workshop we developed to help the entrepreneurs at 1871 be smarter about the market research they were conducting without the help of...

Top 10 Entrepreneurial Research Mistakes, Part 2: Asking Smart Questions

Top 10 Entrepreneurial Research Mistakes, Part 2: Asking Smart Questions
As we mentioned in our Part 1 post in April, being an entrepreneur sometimes feels like you’re playing the guitar while you’ve got a tambourine on top of your head, a harmonica in your mouth, and cymbals between your knees. Because of this, there are a lot of things that entrepreneurial companies try doing themselves, even if...

Top 10 Entrepreneurial Research Mistakes, Part 1: Which Methodology to Use?

Being an entrepreneur sometimes feels like you’re playing the guitar while you’ve got a tambourine on top of your head, a harmonica in your mouth, and cymbals between your knees. It therefore follows that there are many things that entrepreneurial companies of all sizes take a crack at doing themselves, even if they’ve never...

Ready to Start Spending on Marketing?

Ready to Start Spending on Marketing?
Last month I wrote about a lunch I had with Ankur Gopal, an entrepreneur whose B2B technology company, Interapt, is growing rapidly. He asked me two great questions: 1. TIMING: How will he know when it’s the right time in his business’ life cycle to bring in Argentum or a similar strategic marketing resource? 2. BUDGETS: Should he...

Time to Add a Marketing Strategy Resource to Your Team?

Time to Add a Marketing Strategy Resource to Your Team?
I recently had lunch with Ankur Gopal, an entrepreneur who whose B2B technology company, Interapt, is growing rapidly. It was exciting to hear about what he’s been learning as his business grows, and when our discussion turned to marketing, he asked me two great questions: 1. TIMING: How will he know when it’s the right time in his...