Give Your Brand a Voice: Take it to the Streets

There are so many possibilities for brands and companies today to step foot out of the office to get out in front of the people who are using its products to engage these consumers to get a better understanding of brand perception, product feedback, and to get a better understanding of what competitors are doing. Armed with this information, brands are then positioned to attack the market and claim some more market share! Your brand can take that market hostage and tie it up in its creepy basement and just deliver all the value you can provide.  However, there are so many managers that simply do not see the value in this.  Sure, you may not actually want to take customers into your creepy basement, exactly.  And for that matter, if you have a creepy basement, that ball is entirely in your court.  Nonetheless, how do companies get out there and make sure that the value of the brand is not only being expressed to the consumers, but also make sure the value is being received and understood by consumers?  

ACTIVATION!

ACTIVATION!

ACTIVATION!

Wait, what?  Activation?  What's that?  Activation is taking your brand on the road.  Packing up your best marketing assets, sales slicks, getting a few chatty people, throwing in a few extra pairs of clean underwear, and pounding the proverbial pavement.  Make sure you are at the critical trade shows within your industry.  It may not be apparent, but it's helping.  Potential buyers and customers go to these shows to help determine purchase behavior.  If your business is consumer-facing, it shows your core buyers that you care too! Not only are you out there, likely standing on some poured concrete floor in incredibly uncomfortable shoes, for hours on end, but you are also demonstrating that YOU care about what they care about.  They aren't just some money dispensing robot.  By showing up at consumer-facing trade shows, you are communicating that you CARE about the consumer.  And you do, don't you?  You know who actually pays your bills, right?  Good.  Because if you don't, your closest competitor sure as hell does, and they even got one of those squishy floor mats to help with the fatigue.  Smart.

The other thing about these people at these conventions and trade shows is that they are the ones who were willing to take days off work, surrender their Saturday, or abandon time with loved ones to make an effort to come check out the things they are passionate about.  Use this passion to your advantage.  Educate them.  Help them become better consumers.  Help them help their friends.  These people are the influencers.  They are the ones that people tend to listen to when certain topics are approached.  These are the ones that you have to win, because if you don't win them over, someone else will.  Then it will just be you and your product sitting all alone in your creepy basement with absolutely no market share to dazzle. 

So take a look at what your competitors are doing.  What shows are they going to?  What conventions are they hosting?  Is there something they have a presence in that you don't understand why?  Don't let that pass.  Investigate.  Pry.  Go to that show as an attendee.  See what it's about.  There may be some hidden value tucked away in one of the countless aisles of product demos and free knick-knacks. By neglecting your live brand activation, you are seriously harming your consumer brand relationship.  Not the way to be. Get out there and talk to some people.

Safeguarding yourself, the 101 on protecting yourself from yourself

Business today is nothing short of setting yourself loose in a tank of hungry piranha.  It seems like everyone is out to make a quick dollar and they don't care who - or what - they step on to get there.  Here are a few ways to protect yourself from your business before one of these piranha latch on.   

1.  Create an LLC.  Or limit your personal goods from the company in some way.  This may be intuitive, but that's why it's number one.  Do this sooner rather than later.  One of the biggest mistake would-be entrepreneurs make is allowing too much time to pass before they safeguard their personal assets from their company's.  After too long, your money becomes the businesses money, your car suddenly belongs to someone else, and your home is a couch in your parents' house because they've already converted your room into a workout room.  Or worse yet, they've rented it out... under their own LLC.

2.  Get C-Corp coverage.  If you operate in a somewhat risky industry that may subject your company assets to lawsuits on a more-than-average basis (construction, restaurant, doctor), you want something to give the plaintiff.  That, my friends, will be much easier if you have something of value to give.  That will be stock.  

These are just a glimpse into the safeguards, and I'm of no law expertise, but these are ways to get you thinking in that direction!

Is it really out there? Finding the right VC for your venture

The Cinderella Tale: Finding the right VC for your new venture.

When a company decides to go with funding through venture capitalists, there are many things that the company must look towards when deciding which venture capitalist is the right fit for the corporation.  Ron Bloom, Co-Founder and Chairman of Mevio.com, a ComScore Top 20 Site for music and new media, in an interview at Stanford University, Bloom described his experience as an entrepreneur seeking funding from venture capitalists.  Eventually, Bloom and his partner decided to work with Ray Lane, a managing partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers.  Bloom described his experience searching for the right venture capitalist partner as one that would allow the VC and his team to work closely together, but that would keep the ideal of the company at heart.  He wanted an investor that would allow the company to grow at its natural rate and would not impose a lengthy decision making process.  Rather, they sought out one that would embrace the company’s rapid “Yes or No” style but still have the expertise of running businesses and succeeding with other business ventures.  These decisions were made independently of the VC and drove Bloom to his final decision.  Bloom also sought out an investor with a background that would complement his current company’s skill-set.  The decision process was much like that of hiring a new employee.  As he puts it, he felt as though Lane’s experience and company expertise “would be a good fit” with their venture.  Conversely, the marriage worked well because Bloom’s company was one of only a few in the industry that had approached Lane’s company and, as Lane describes it, “was only half right in the vision for the company, but was twice as right as anybody else”.  Bloom was fortunate to have chosen this, but through his careful research and planning, he was able to get funded for his now successful venture.

Finding the degree of trust and mutual understanding is integral to the success of the relationship.  As described in Gimmon, Yitshaki, Benjamin, and Khuval’s study Divergent Views of Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs on Strategic Change in New Ventures, the “inherent conflicts between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are reflected in perceptions of trust”.  In fact, “there is growing evidence that trust serves as a relational mechanism that constitutes… [improved] relations between VCs and entrepreneurs”.  Finding a relationship that not only fosters this trust, but one with a VC that can promote and further your business strategy is one that should be enacted.

            My personal opinion on this matter is in complete agreement.  Today, there are many people that are acting as VCs and as investment-seeking entrepreneurs.  Though money lending is tight, there are more opportunities for those who do get funded to truly make a large impact with the funds they are awarded.  The market is prime for the birth of businesses today and as the economic recovery continues, VCs and entrepreneurs alike will continue to see their businesses grow and flourish.  However, as Randall Stevens of Punndit indicated, I believe it is integral to find the investor that will work with your company as a growth agent.  This could include finding an investor that is already well-versed in the industry or a similar industry in which you wish to enter.  This investor may have prior success experience to share or a portfolio of contacts that would otherwise go unutilized.  This could also mean finding an investor that you like personally.  The personality of an administrative-type businessman is very different than the personality of an entrepreneur.  The VC will be working closely with the entrepreneur in this venture and it is critical that there is a mutual understanding and respect for each other’s mindsets.  Finally, the entrepreneur must realize all of these things when seeking out funding, but the entrepreneur may have to make a tough decision at some point in this process.  Through conversations and getting to know the VC, there may come a point where the entrepreneur must walk away from the situation.  This can be very difficult to do, especially if talks are rather positive.  Walking away from a VC that you know may not respect your business dreams and may hinder business growth, though difficult, may ultimately allow the company to become more profitable with the marriage of the right VC, with his or her skills, connections, and money, to your dream.