You don’t have to hire an expensive firm to have a Public Relations (PR) strategy as a startup. The beauty of today’s internet is that anybody has the power to reach tens of thousands, even millions, with a properly timed tweet, hacker news mention, or mention on an influential blog. You don’t have to make it onto a cover story in Inc. or Entrepreneur in order to achieve your PR goals, in fact...
Product validation is the crucial foundation for building a successful startup, a process that cannot be taken lightly. Many applications have been built and have consumed many hours and dollars only to discover that potential customers don’t really see enough value to whip out their credit cards.
We all know that our companies need to have a brand identity, this is Marketing 101. What about personal brands of the folks behind the company? Do the founders need a personal brand? Those are actually trick questions, because everyone already has a personal brand, whether they are strategic about it or not. What I have found is that a strong personal brand can actually be a huge asset to your...
Why do 3 out of 4 venture-backed startups fail? I mean, these aren’t stupid ideas. Someone has to come up with an idea, validate it’s market demand, create a plan for execution, and articulate this via presentation to venture capitalists, who reject approximately 99% of the ideas they agree to sit down and listen to. The few that make it through this process must have a pretty good chance of...
Conducting video interviews can be a great way to add value to your products, make a rich experience for your blog, gather customer testimonials for your marketing site, etc. While it takes getting over the fear of rejection to gather up a list of people willing to be interviewed, the end result is worth it. Not only in the value that the interviews can bring to your audience, but moreover, in...
A mastermind group is simply a meeting of highly motivated folks who share a common goal and are looking to encourage and help each other improve. Whether you are stuck in a rut, on a plateau, or experiencing slow growth, a mastermind group can provide the boost in energy, new perspectives, accountability, and resources necessary to take your game to the next level.
Most entrepreneurs would love to have a secret sauce for growing their audience. For many, content marketing is a great, but slow, way to attract new customers. The question is, does this copy/paste trick onto other sites hurt your SEO rankings? Though it only takes a couple extra minutes per post, will this strategy lead to growth or penalties?
One of the key personality traits of an Entrepreneur is that we like to hustle, try new things, and fill our workday with variety. A negative side-effect of this is that we also have a hard time giving up control. As an entrepreneur, we must learn to delegate certain tasks to others. Without delegation, the sad truth is that we stall the growth of our companies because there is only so much time...
Have you ever wondered which direction to take your content marketing? After finishing up my most recent series of blog posts, I had to make a decision on which direction to take my next series. In addition, it was time to perform an analysis of my overall strategy during the past year. I needed a method of digging up answers to the following questions: Which posts of mine have done well in the...
Okay, I admit, this post has a double motive. Earlier tonight I was flipping through LinkedIn and was looking at several key businesspeople to follow. One CEO that I admire is Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo! Inc. When I clicked on Marissa’s LinkedIn profile, I noticed that she only had 138 connections. Most CEOs have several thousands of connections, so this was intentional as she is VERY selective...
HI, I'M RYAN. I believe the best way to learn and remember is by writing things down and sharing them with others. This blog exists to help me synthesize and process my journey towards self-improvement.