Three years ago, I was in the worst shape of my life. I was approaching 300lbs, grabbing fast food at least once a day, and avoiding exercise at all costs. Though I’ve always enjoyed a nice, leisurely hike outdoors, I’ve never been athletic. The only sport in which I participated in high school was track, as a shotput and discus thrower. I did this because everybody who wanted to be...
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...
The first step in developing a marketing plan is to become obsessed with knowing your audience. That’s right, obsessed. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on Google Adwords, or how many conference booths you rent out if you are off-course with knowing who your audience is.
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...
Analytics helps your business determine what is working well, and what needs to be improved. We can always go off of a hunch, but the real power comes when we know the hard data behind our marketing efforts, and can make informed decisions that improve our business over and over.
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...
Nothing does a better job promoting your brand than fanatical customers. We’re more likely to buy from someone that we know or trust who enjoys a product than just believing the company themselves behind the product. Customers who make a purchase must first be satisfied with their purchase, then they become loyal customers, and hopefully turn into brand advocates.
While interviewing a handful of entrepreneurs and experts for SaaS Marketing Essentials, I had the pleasure of chatting with social media strategist and entrepreneur Laura Roeder. Laura has been teaching people how to get the most out of social media for several years, and has recently launched a SaaS app that helps you not only schedule social media updates, but also set up a repeating schedule...
Getting started without an audience can look like an uphill battle. However, with a little creativity, some time, and perhaps even a little cash, there are a handful of ways to get that initial flow of signups coming.
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...
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.