IT Entrepreneur

Connecting Online Entrepreneurs

Are you wondering where to find other people with exciting visions, a drive to change the world, and a willingness to take the risks necessary to build a business? I’ve been looking around for quite some time and I believe that they are hard to find. Most people are fine with a normal career and a decent salary.

There are a few social networks for entrepreneurs and co-founders out there, but from my experience they tend to be filled up with companies promoting their paid services rather than looking for genuine partnerships. What I would like to see is a site where members are creating a Silicon Valley-like atmosphere where idea sharing and collaboration make online businesses form and become successful.

I’m now trying to make this happen together with some of my most passionate entrepreneurial friends. The site is www.FounderProfile.com and is being improved for every day. The idea is to make it a network for genuine entrepreneurs who like to bounce ideas and find business partners.

What’s in it for me financially? Well, there’s a paid membership option if you like to promote your own blog or your own links at the designated spaces. That might give me some revenue when the membership numbers go up. For now I can assign you a pro membership for free if you have some really cool ideas to share though.

The most important thing is to make this a great site for people like us - I hope to see you on the site! :)

Dublin’s No. 1 Start-Up Hub is Expanding

Interesting news for anyone starting a business in Dublin, Ireland: Central Hub Dublin is currently expanding and they are offering flexible and affordable office space for start-ups and IT entrepreneurs.

The focus at this hub is innovation in marketing and technology, and they are creating a Silicon Valley-like environment where creative entrepreneurs work closely together and share ideas, skills and contacts. It’s a great place to be if you need space for your team to work hard for just a month to try out a new business idea, and then stay around longer if things take off.

Your First Step in Building an Online Strategy

The first step any business should take when starting to build an online marketing strategy is simple: Listen.

You won’t know how to best approach the market and the online audience until you have listened properly. It’s the same rule as for professional sales: Listen first and find out what the needs are, then apply the appropriate tactics and resources to efficiently get the message across.

You listen by researching Twitter, Tubmlr, Facebook, and any other online community where you can imagine that your customers are having conversations about your company and products. Sometimes you will see that there’s an existing fan base already, basically providing free marketing for your company. Other times you might find mainly complaints and dissatisfaction.

Make sure to properly understand the conversation before you get involved. When you fully understand the existing conversations, you will be better prepared to develop an effective approach for your online marketing efforts.

Guidelines for Online Interactions

There are a few basic guidelines which you should always keep in mind when it comes to eMarketing and your approach to online interactions. These are Authenticity, Transparency and Real-Time Response.

Authenticity
Today’s customers and visitors are smarter than ever before and are looking for authentic, value-adding content and communications. As a company you need to keep this in mind at all times. Having no content at all is better than content with no or very limited value. The same is true for communications; an apologetic reply to a dissatisfied customer needs to be sincere and lead to real action to have a positive influence on the customer satisfaction.

Transparency
Bring all discussions related to your company’s products and services out in daylight and accept that not all comments will be positive. Whenever negative feedback is received you should take the chance to create a robust and public company-customer dialogue. Criticism that is handled properly makes a much better impression than a one-sided conversation or no conversation at all.

Real-Time Response
We live in the age of iPhones and 24-hour connectivity and customers expect immediate response from most companies. If you are in a B2B relationship this can also have a direct impact on your customer’s own business. Accept that office hours are not respected the way they used to be and take on the response-time challenge to stay competitive.

eMarketing in 4 Steps

This article is based on resources and guidelines from quirk.biz, however interpreted by myself.

The development of an eMarketing campaign is a process consisting of 3 main parts: Think, Create and Engage. Each part should then be improved in a continuous process in the 4th step: Optimize.

Think
Perform the necessary market research and make sure to understand what your potential customers need, what the competition is like and in what direction the market is trending. Also write down a strategy clarifying your objectives, how you will provide value to your customers, and how to approach the marketplace.

Create
Now it’s time to start executing: Hire photographers and video makers. Design and publish websites and Facebook pages. Produce content for blogs and Twitter. The key in this part is to know and understand your audience, so that you can optimize your design and content for your customers.

Engage
So you have a website, a Facebook page, and a blog with great content? For these to do any good you need to build and engage an audience. This means Google Ads, Search Engine Optimization and many other things. The key in this part is Value: An ad can draw first-time visitors to your Facebook page, but to keep them and maybe get a Like as well you need to give something in return in terms of content value.

Optimize
What’s your numbers in terms of click-rate, bounce-rate and regular visitors? What’s your conversion rate on your email campaigns? By continuously analyzing and improving your numbers you can maximize your return on investment.

Note: This article is mainly to provide a “thinking framework” for anyone looking to get into eMarketing. However, any comments regarding specific tools and methods are welcome. I might use such information in future posts related to this topic.