Dave shares “What to do on day one of any new start-up project” – whether for business, nonprofit profit, campaign or revolution including: naming / branding, media kit and various descriptions, and building culture, excitement and a posse – all without spending much money – are covered in part 1 of a fast-paced *master class* workshop by Dave Olson from May 2013.
Dave Olson and students at Social Marketing Kung-fu Workshop / Spiel in May 2013
Download: Starting Your Story – Social Marketing Kung-fu 1 – workshop / spiel (1:07:02, 98.7MB, .mp3)
Community Feasthouse podcast feed – All manner of discourse from media interviews to various lectures and presentations. Topics include social web fu, creative culture, podcast making, DIY publishing, community cultivating, art making and related adventures.
Notes:
* Some notes and lists came from attendees (i think, i mean i don’t *really* recall…)
Overview
Most tech companies start with 2 peeps (tech + biz)Gotta fill-in until you add 3rd leg to tripod (marketing/community/etc)Don’t wait to start marketing til you have a product – build culture and posseCheap and cheerful – avoid ads and trade shows, yes to speaking and mediaGrassroots FTWGetting Started
Document everything you Do. From Day 1 / entrepreneurs should document everything and have one place to share all of their “collective intelligence,” such as an internal wiki. Writing everything down will help you stay focused and remind you what it is you set out to achieveDo not plan much farther out than 6 monthsDefine the role of each person in the company / This will help people focus on and take ownership over certain tasksNaming Your Company/Product
Coming up with a name for your company that has an available URL is not an easy taskDefine what it is your product does firstStart playing around with words that are easy to say, spell and rememberAsk friends or your community for feedback or ideas. For instance, Hootsuite crowdsourced nameDescribe Your Product
Try and define your product in 3 words. For example, Hootsuite at first chose “Professional Twitter Client” as a 3 word description and now defines itself as a “Social Media Dashboard”Take those 3 words and expand on them to create a 100 word descriptionReach out to users and get feedback and watch what terms they are searching for. It is important to be using the same terms and descriptions that your users/customers areStart Listening
Create Lists. Start following the people who care about your product as well as watching your competitorsBy listening and asking specific questions, you will start to build relationships with your customersRespond and participate in the conversationEach community is different. For example, your customers may act differently on Facebook vs. LinkedIn. Watch this and communicate accordinglyDefine what you want to get out of each of the social media channels you are usingMedia Kit
The first page you should create on your website is a media kit pageMake it easy for people to write about you and tell your story.Your kit should include artwork, logo, colors, typeface, TM with specific guidelines on how to useBe sure to have multiple descriptions that writers can snag to use in articles and posts such as a 100 or 500 word descriptionColorful screenshots or infographics like this one are a great resource for writersKeep your kit up to date and freshBe Loud
Now that you have defined who you are and what you do, start telling the worldDon’t wait until you launch. Become an active participant in the community you are trying to reachIf it is not on the Internet, it didn’t happen! So – Blog, Flickr, Tweet etc. starting right nowWhen someone writes an article or post mentioning you or your area of expertise, COMMENT. It shows you are paying attention and care about your community and the people, who are taking the time to write about you and use your productCreate 3-4 touch-points to an article. For example, Dave will comment on an article, social bookmark it and add it to an RSS Feed = juicy, indexable goodnessHashtag everything. Topics, brands, acronyms – be creative and always remember to listen to your audience and be consistent with your messageChecklist:
Decide who you are – name, description, NOT mission statement – what your company and product names? Are they easy to say and spell? If not, refresh.
Bonus: Make an auto-magic media feed to amplify coverage / e.g. Recipe: Social BM > RSS > HS > Twitter etc. as used with: @hootwatch @endlessgoodness @truenorthmedia
More:
More:
Community Feasthouse podcast feed – All manner of discourse from media interviews to various lectures and presentations. Topics include social web fu, creative culture, podcast making, DIY publishing, community cultivating, art making and related adventures.
Artifacts from Social Marketing Kung-fu – workshop / spiel Notes and riffs from original “Social Marketing Kung-fu” series at Bootup Garage, Vancouver, 2011
Notes and riffs from original “Social Marketing Kung-fu” series at Bootup Garage, Vancouver, 2011
