Kerisma

BIRDS OF A FEATHER WILL FLOCK TOGETHER

Follow the Tweety Bird, Right?

I’m open-minded to using new advancements in technology and communicating with others through different channels. I understand this @Me, @You, @WeAreAwesome, @ListenToMe, @MyBrand, @WhoAreYou on Twitter and now appearing everywhere. I wonder how did this shorthand “tech talk” evolve and what does it mean to the future of communication?

"Copy and study this list of text messaging spelling words. We will have a test tomorrow."

The social media ninjas and mavens equate Twitter to a conversation between others at a party. Yet, more people at business events are communicating with one another picking up their phone to make a Twitter statement rather than walking over to carry on a conversation. In some strange way by attending an event with a room full of people sharing a similar hashtag creates a safe environment to connect to the panel and/or the audience. I appreciate the opportunity to read different viewpoints from others sharing their thoughts on Twitter. Although it surprises me that some are still too shy to approach one another in a real face-to-face conversation. For others, the mobile medium is just the thing to make the introduction easier to break the ice and say hello.

BRB, LOL, RT, bit.ly, ow.ly, #hashtag, ^KS

Do you ever wonder who chooses the characters that are adopted by many to speak with one another on Twitter? Why is this language appearing in other everyday conversations that it has become acceptable? As people increase the use of Smartphones, texting, Twitter and so forth, English is starting to become a second language as a set of digital words takes on new form.

Over the years, prestigious awards have been given to authors that have been recognized for their talents and their extraordinary use of the English language. During this day and age, we praise others for the most ‘LIKES’ and ‘Followers’ that have crafted their characters and content in a way to gain recognition. We edit our comments keeping things concise because time is precious to capture one’s attention. The popular search-engines start to highlight these commonly used terms and comments at the top of its rankings that others start to copy the style. As more people use new technology and the “talking trends” become mainstream, it’s all right to abbreviate in other areas of communication.

CRM, ABAP, GAAP, MoMA, OSHA

In business, employees use a set of acceptable acronyms instead of certain words to communicate with their colleagues and their audience. They even have an acronym finder online to help one understand the latest terminology! The ability for one to grasp new terms is important to comprehend, communicate, and keep on top of new business trends and product enhancements. Who determines this acceptable language of acronyms? Is it a group of high-level executives that make these terms formally accepted by employees and later funnels down to the marketing collateral and communications?

A New Language

In today’s society, we are obsessed with expressing our point-of-view with one stroke of a button limited to 140 characters. Some people write condensed statements such as ‘u’ instead of  writing ‘you’. In some cases, people have focused too much on their Facebook status/Twitter updates that they have neglected other forms of communication using proper structure and complete sentences.

Twitter Gibber

At one time, tweets such as “RT @kerisays, Twitter worth $3.7 billion http://tcrn.ch/hizxcZ! Twitter birds will flock, talk and tweet tonight at Boston’s #MegaTweetUp. See you there,” didn’t have much meaning to most. Today, it’s a common use of symbols and words understood by followers. The frequent use of email, text, Twitter, and Facebook updates have caused people to accept this new form of speech for everyday conversations. The introduction of Twitter created a new language and set of rules, as well as new businesses that have sprung up for people to tweet, ReTweet, post, and abbreviate their conversations.

Although it’s sometimes hard to define all these digital words and abbreviations as they’re constantly changing, it’s also interesting to learn how people seek new ways to be accepted by others, connect and communicate.

I hope in the near future we don’t start saying  “@Command = Hi, how are you?, @Command = Good, how are you?”

Don’t forget the human element and BE REAL. Remember when writing to someone, or speaking with your audience to connect through meaningful and memorable statements. Don’t just follow what seems to be the trend and believe it will help you to attract others. Adopting new styles of communication is fine in the right context, but we should not promote the poor usage of the English language with abbreviations and “tech talk” in other ways when corresponding with people.

Get APP-lified!

What is on your phone? Today, it’s all about apps. Whether it’s your Android, iPhone, Blackberry or another portable device to communicate with others, many consumers are attracted to specific apps that are available for download. Some of the most popular apps among different carriers include Facebook, Google Maps/Search, Weather Channel, Pandora, iTunes, and ESPN were found to be by audiences. A large proportion of apps are applied to games where 60% of audiences have downloaded for personal use (The Nielsen App Playbook, December 2009). Followed by News/Weather (52%), Maps/Navigation (51%), and Social Networking (47%). Everyone wants to be prepared what to wear for the weather, where to go, what’s going on in the world, what are my friends saying on Facebook, what are they doing, and what about a little fun. A feeling of being connected, informed, and entertained appears to be the common theme among people who use apps.

Whether it’s taking a picture, sending a text, or accessing the internet, about 24% of US adults with cell phones are using apps as a form of communication (Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, April 29-May 30, 2010 Tracking Survey. September 2010.) Those using apps, 91% say they use them everyday.

What Makes You APPy?

You never know what to expect with a new app until you download it. A friend may make a recommendation or you can search for the top downloaded item. Apps are most popular with young, educated audiences, but many don’t have a budget to pay for them. If it’s FREE, they want to find out more. This is a good way for companies to allure audiences to try their app offering a free version or a trial for a limited time.

Too often many apps are poorly made, as well as a ploy to showcase advertisements to promote the purchase of their app. This can quickly deter audiences. According to recent report in MediaDaily News, Borrell Associates predicts that mobile app ads will increase to $8 million by 2015. As with the adoption of ringtones hitting the market, many companies are quick to make a profit without a clear design, or an easy-to-navigate app that benefits the audience but rather advertisers.

It’s important to create something of value to bring new information, fulfill a task, cuts costs, time, make a connection with others, or make an inconvenience easier for audiences to be ‘APPY’! There are many apps, that the novelty wears off. Some problems can include miscommunication on how it is used, and an abundance of self-promotion.

As a company or good marketer, don’t just get into the game of apps without a plan to develop something useful. Ask your audience what is their attitude and opinions for using an app that’s appropriate to your business. Be prepared when creating and promoting to your audience the latest app to prevent people from being annoyed. Be the next best app on the market for when someone says to their friend, “I’ll show you my apps, if you show me yours.”

AlwaysOn Venture East

Despite the economy in a slump, there are a few new start-ups on the horizon seeking the proper seed capital to get their businesses off the ground or take their company to the next level of success. It appears to be a tough road ahead, but along every path there are a few bumps to proceed to the next promising opportunity.  Last week AlwaysOn hosted the Venture East conference at the Mandarin Hotel Boston, providing an opportunity for venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs and new start-ups to showcase their products and services, as well as discuss their thoughts around business today during these unpredictable times.

A few local companies offered demonstrations of their products and/or services available today, or are just a step away from the store soon. Maybe you always wanted that surround-sound audio system in your living room, office, or bedroom, but didn’t want to bother building, breaking down walls and investing in all the parts to put it together? Emo Labs has the answer with its built-in speaker technology revolutionizing the way sound is brought to you. Hate the line and check-out counter at the supermarket? Why not consider ModivMedia’s point, click and scan your items that expedites the time it takes to do your shopping and check out. All it takes with their product is a quick minute or two to pay the bill at the register.

There was some discussion of the venture capitalists having to overhaul their internal infrastructure and be more cautious about the types of investments for the future. The old ways of doing business is not working in this economy. Some professionals are jumping ship from traditional firms to start funds of their own to take advantage of the up and coming industries. In the past, too much money was being thrown at IT and very few deals are coming together now.

Business Week reported in These Angels Go Where Others Fear to Tread ( June 1, 2009 issue), that more and more people are shying away from the venture capitalists to further conduct business and are seeking help from angel investors. Josh Kopelman, founder of First Round Capital reported, “…many old-line firms have gotten too big and unwieldy to build innovative companies the way they used to, and many angels, individuals who invest in start-ups, don’t have enough money to back most high-tech ideas . The article continues to discuss the importance “to take [venture capital]..back to its roots, when firms were smaller, more nimble and more likely to get start-ups off the ground.”

More links from Business Week about the attitude around the VC community

Is There An Angel in the Hub?

Angel Investors

As an entrepreneur, angels can be another route to get your business off the ground. Some New England leaders at different local organizations had spoken at the conference. These included Jean Hammond, of Boston’s Golden Seeds, Ham Lord of Launchpad Venture Group, and David Verrill of Hub Angels to name a few, who provided some advice to prepare promising entrepreneurs with the proper tips when approaching angels.

• Find someone you want to target that has experience in your business, or someone that can help to network you in.
• Make sure to have an interesting set of people that are working for your business that can bring diverse skills to the table.
• Be sure to have a great connection to customers and consider bringing a few to the meeting when pitching your product and/or service.
• Make sure to have a proof of concept, patents, etc, validate your target market needs/wants.
• Prove that you have thought through the parameters around the exit and make sure the right fund is a strategic fit.

New Investment Opportunities:
Boston VC’s Offer Hope on the Horizon

Managers of many of the local venture capitalist firms also spoke about the opportunities in Cleantech, discovering new tools and uses within digital media, eCommerce and mobile as a few contenders for consideration. David Beisel, VP at Venrock sees new hope in performance advertising where there is a shift in publishing to ad networks and/or real-time ad exchanges. Yet, in some instances, ad networks can hurt publishers as the business scales. Bob Davis, General Partner at Highland Capital Partners, said there is very little interest in media companies. So if you’re looking to attract any interest, you must be able to engage 100 million unique users each day and the audience must be measurable. Alan Spoon, Managing General Partner at Polaris Ventures spoke about how social media platforms may create awareness but monetizing this is still a tough struggle. It’s key to focus on what platforms you are using, and what types of intellectual property has been created that can be of value to other companies that wish to acquire those aspects of the business.

Cleantech, Mobile, Digital Tools, eCommerce

Jeff Bussgang, General Partner of Flybridge Capital Partners commented on additional areas of growth which includes virtual goods where people are willing to pay a premium for a service such as certain subscriptions or online games.

Marketing Matters

Kopelman also sees light at the end of the tunnel vested in interest to “building businesses on information freely on the web, or disrupting markets with cheaper web technology.” As technology has improved, the barriers to entry for many are few, thus positions many entrepreneurs down an easier path to get their businesses off the ground. However, some are finding it tough to gain customer acquisition and further online engagement with their brands that could be attractive to potential investors. In that case Kopelman states, “hire a marketing executive and launch a guerilla campaign.”

Too often I’ve seen companies especially new start-ups overly focused on the product and technology development and neglect one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. MARKETING. You can have the best product, but you have a problem until one can easily identify “what can this product/service do for me?” - I’ve seen quite a few glitzy websites, all very beautiful showcasing models, graphs, technical jargon – You name it! There is no clear understanding of the target audience, nor the proper research conducted to create a brand that could attract audiences. A skilled-marketer should be a part of the product development and go-to-market plans early on and communicate with all the different departments. This prevents moving along too far along the process, but rather take into consideration how to attract the audience, how to understand the audience, how to define the needs of the audience, and learn to market the business in the right fashion.

Tell me more about your business and be featured in a future blog post. What challenges have you encountered?  What avenues have you considered for your marketing and sales strategy, or what would you like to learn in hopes to attract interest from potential investors? I welcome an opportunity to consult with you, or become a future member of your team in a marketing or business development role.