We live our lives in social media. Almost half of us spend more time socializing online than we do face-to-face. And if you don’t believe me, Yahoo is willing to put its money where my mouth is (to the tune of $1.1B for Tumblr). Evidently, gifs and cats are big business.

In fact, HubSpot found that social media produces almost double the marketing leads of trade shows, telemarketing, direct mail or PPC. And social media leads? Well, they convert at a rate 13% higher than the average.

Pretty impressive, huh? But I don’t have to make the case for hopping on the social media bandwagon; you’ve probably already done that. Now the big question is: Who do you leverage social media to connect with?

The answer is simple, really. Anyone you would take the time to have coffee with is someone you should be engaging with on social media. Just think of social media as the international coffee shop.

But let’s get more specific.

1. Thought Leaders

You have to influence the influencer. Social media is perfectly positioned to help you do that. Where else can you get Gary Vaynerchuk, Neil Patel and Dave McClure in the same room – 365 days of the year?

But don’t stop there. Focus on your audience. Who are they influenced by (online and offline)? Find their favourite talkshow hosts, find their favourite authors, find their favourite celebrities.

Some of them will be influential on social media and some won’t. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re influential to the audience you care about – and you have easy, 24/7 access to them!

If you’re the next Citrus Lane, connect with writers from Babble. And hosts from The Today Show. And celebrity moms. If you’re the next Buffer, connect with the Gary Vaynerchuks, Neil Patels and Dave McClures of the world.

Get in front of the people already influencing your audience. Why? Not because they might retweet you (ok, maybe a little). The point is to create a relationship with them.

2. Potential Customers

Here’s another expression for you: “Fish where the fish are.” Your long-term goal with social media should be to build an engaged community (no vanity metrics). But that won’t happen overnight. In the meantime, start fishing where the fish are.

Where does your audience hangout? You know 27% of time online in the U.S. is spent on social media, but you don’t know which channels are best for your startup. Facebook and Twitter aren’t always a safe bet. For example, if you’re looking to connect with a young audience, you’ll definitely want to be on Tumblr (just ask Yahoo).

Choose the channels that are right for you and then go even further. Is there a particular Tumblr tag your audience uses a lot? Follow it and reach out to those who are using it regularly. If you do decide to go with Twitter, pick out a Twitter chat or two to attend every week.

Insert yourself into existing communities before you start trying to build your own.

3. Brand Advocates

It’s like our friends at Evergage say, “You have super users whether you realize it or not.” Chances are, they’re waiting for you to connect with them. Run searches on social media channels to see who’s already talking about your startup. Give them the heads up that you’re there and ready to engage.

Not turning up much? That’s ok. Link to your social media accounts from your website, from your newsletters, from your email signatures – everywhere. Let everyone know you’re available. Your advocates will turn up. Or, at the very least, potential advocates will.

“Don’t be discouraged by the size of your network. Inspire one person and you are doing good.” ~Guy Kawasaki

Social media is the perfect way to get to know your current customers. You might not be able to call them all or meet them all in person, but you better believe you can engage with them all on social media.

Remember, the best customer is the one you never lose.

Maintaining and improving your current relationships is just as important as, if not more important than, building new relationships. If you play your cards right, you’ll have customers (and a “street team” for life).

Some Final Tips

1. Create a list of specific people for each of those three categories. For Twitter, set them up as HootSuite list streams, follow them and start reaching out. On Facebook, like their pages and start reaching out. On Tumblr, follow them and start reaching out. Know who you want to connect with and why!

2. Be consistent and patient. Tweeting someone once about the weather doesn’t count. You generally don’t befriend a stranger who asks you for the time, right? The same goes for social media.

3. Be authentic and genuine. If you don’t want to develop actual relationships, quit now. You don’t need another contact for your rolodex. Hint: If you have to try to be authentic, you’re not being authentic.

4. Use Little Bird. It’s a cool tool that helps you connect with the right people at the right time.

5. Don’t automatically DM anyone. Ever. But don’t be afraid to DM someone if you have something to say to them privately (that they’d actually be interested in hearing).

6. Don’t be afraid to ask for a sale or an email. Just make sure you’re giving as much as (if not more than) you’re receiving.

The world is your coffee shop! Who should you be engaging with on social media? The people already influencing your audience, the people who will be interested in your startup and the people already interested in your startup.

But, rest assured, the list doesn’t end there. You can also reach out to potential acquirers, potential investors, potential business partners, potential co-founders, potential employees – anyone.

What matters is that you’re strategic and deliberate. Don’t just engage with anyone who will listen, engage with the people worth listening to.

It happens. And to even the best of startups.

The media portrays you in the wrong light or quotes you on something you said off the record. Your launch was a mess and now everyone knows about it. Your social media media accounts were hijacked. Your product’s privacy has been called into question.

You’ve been defaced.

Right now, you may be nervously repeating to yourself, over and over, “bad publicity is better than no publicity, right? RIGHT?” And there is some truth in that statement but in most cases, it all comes down to your ability to react appropriately and effectively. Your ability to save face.

Here’s how.

You Said What ?

In most startup PR nightmares, there’s typically two situations. One, where you’re knowingly at fault and one, where you kind of are but it was out of your control. In the case of the former, it really does happen to the best of us. You launched when you weren’t ready. You failed to fix those bugs that were vital to the privacy and security of your product. You made an off-colour remark when you thought you were off record. A disgruntled employee went rogue.

With social media, even the non-startups face many of the same PR nightmares that a startup does. HMV learned this the hard way in January, when a an angry social media manager made one last social outreach on HMV’s behalf, as he and many others were about to be let go. The tweet, about the immediate mass-firing of HMV employees complete with the hashtag #hmvxfactorfiring, was seen by 60,000 followers and retweeted 1,300 times in 30 minutes. And it didn’t stop there. The guilty tweeter, later identified as Poppy Rose Cleere sent out seven subsequent tweets, over 30 minutes, before HMV regained control.

HMV immediately responded by removing the tweets, addressing the issue, and even making use of the employee’s hashtag for maximum reach. They were extremely genuine and empathetic to the situation and those involved. But regardless of how sincere they were, it didn’t change the fact that everyone in the media was talking and questioning their company ethics.

You Did What ?

Much like it’s easy to say the wrong thing, at the wrong time – it can be just as easy to do the wrong thing or not do the right thing. Sometimes it’s merely a case of failing to inform the public of how your product really uses data, images, etc. that can turn into a media backlash. It’s important, no matter how at fault you are, to handle the situation as professionally and as quickly as possible.

Snapchat, an application for iOS and Android that offers real-time picture chatting with friends (snap a photo, send to a friend, it self-destructs after viewing), received more heat this year than any new startup would like. Not only was it called by some, an app for sexting – its privacy measures were called into question this May, when the public began to look into exactly where the images you snap go, once they supposedly “self-destruct.”

When digital forensics examiner, Richard Hickman discovered the photos were still stored, deep within your mobile device, Snapchat received a slew of backlash. “The actual app is even saving the picture,” explains Hickman to KLS.com. “They claim that it’s deleted and it’s not even deleted. It’s actually saved on the phone.” Snapchat’s team quickly responded, stating “There are many ways to save snaps that you receive – the easiest way is to take a screenshot or take a photo with another camera. Snaps are deleted from our servers after they have been viewed by the recipient.”

In Snapchat’s defense (and noted by some media outlets), while they said the images were deleted from their server; they never claimed the images were deleted from the devices. But that didn’t stop the startup from getting attacked in the media. Nevermind the fact, that many are viewing this latest innovation as a huge step forward in how we connect over social media.

How To Save Face

When your startup’s been defaced, there are two factors that will make a huge impact on your inevitable outcome. Your ability to act fast and you’re eagerness to be honest and open. Billion dollar companies, such as Facebook and Google have been the center of bad press – yet they’re no worse for the wear and continue to dominate.

Why? Because they’re always ready to react.

In HMV’s case, they reacted quickly, as did brands like Burger King and Jeep when their social accounts were hacked earlier this year. And they did so through the very channel that nearly damned them – Twitter. With the proper use of hashtags, retweets, and excellent use of 140 characters – your public address can reach the masses far quicker than the time it would take to contact the press.

Next, be honest. Be “super” open. Those who are willing to address their flaws and speak openly, are more often viewed as innocent than guilty. Even if you are at fault. When Business Insider first published their article on Snapchat, they quickly received a statement from Snapchat addressing the concerns, which they then published. Seek out those who’ve talked badly and offer your side, explanation, or apology, if necessary. Transparency is key. Always stick to the story; don’t back peddle.

Lastly, always have a crisis management plan in place; no matter how small your startup. Know what actions to take, who to address, and when to call a lawyer. Don’t have a lawyer or crisis management pro? Check with your investors. They likely have existing relationships they can recommend. Ensure that you have one designated founder or team member, in charge of making public comments and addressing any attention – good or bad.

Most importantly. Never underestimate the power of ownership. We’re all going to make mistakes. It’s those who can take credit for their mistakes, that rise above it.

Has your startup been defaced? How did you react? What course of action did you take?

You’ve heard that the customer is always right. (You may not believe it, but you’ve heard it.)

You’ve probably also heard marketing experts stress that people don’t buy from brands; they buy from people.

With customer service spanning multiple media and platforms, bringing a personal touch to the handling of every query, complaint and support request has become a huge task for many businesses.

Why? Because if your customer isn’t happy, they’ll say so. Loudly. To thousands of social media followers. Who, if you’re really unlucky, will turn your failure into a meme of its own.

Fact: An unhappy customer will tell 9-15 people about their experience. 13% of unhappy customers will tell more than 20 people!

The horror, right? But there’s something worse than an unsatisfied customer. What about those people who were unsatisfied with the experience you provided while they considered your offering? They never become customers at all. That’s the real horror.

What can you do to improve customer acquisition? Offer outstanding service from the moment a visitor arrives on your site.

Never Ignore Live Chat

A live chat with a helpful, low-pressure service agent can be an effective way to convert visitors to customers. In fact, some ecommerce marketers have used live chat tools like Zopim to increase sales by up to 300%.

Of course, a live chat with a pain-in-the-brain sales rep who only wants to push you to the signup page is a big turnoff for most people. So let’s not do that.

The same principles of customer acquisition apply here as anywhere else:

1. Convey solutions, benefits and outcomes.
A live chat is the perfect medium for this because your chat agent can prioritize the points they mention to suit the visitor’s unique needs.

2. Gather and share information.
It’s up to your live chat agent to find out what your visitor wants and then explain to them how one or more of your offerings align with their desires. This is also a great time to collect contact information by offering an incentive like a free demo, webinar or report.

3. Be sticky.
A prospect who can’t remember your company name or what you offered them is unlikely to come back and buy, so create memorable elevator pitches and scripts for common live chat situations. For best results, use auto messages to connect with new visitors. Not everyone will respond to your message, but you’ll initiate some conversations you might not have had otherwise.

4. Increase acquisition efforts when business is booming.
Just when you’re too busy to worry about customer acquisition or live chats, that’s when new business is easiest to win. So don’t wait until you’re desperate to charm up some new customers! The smell of success is much more appealing.

The key thing to get right with live chat is choosing your representative. You’re relying on them to bring your prospects home and turn them into loyal customers, so you only want your best customer care champions on this job.

Motivate Your Front Line Superheroes

Do you know how many customers your business has won purely through the heroic actions of your customer support team? It’s probably more than you think.

Those customer care folks are the first line of contact for many inbound leads, which makes their role a vital one in customer acquisition. Studies show that 73% of customers cite friendly frontline employees as the reason they like a brand, and 86% would pay extra for a better experience.

When a prospect pops up with a question, the response they receive can send them straight into your sales funnel (or send them running to your competitors). Smart customers often purposely check out the level and quality of support available before they put their money on the line.

Always Take Action With Inbound Marketing 

Smart companies are making good use of the Internet to drive lead flow and minimize their cost to acquire customers. Inbound marketing works because you have the information your market wants.

Great content, including technical support pages and user information pages as well as blog posts, increases the trust between your business and your leads. And once they trust you, there’s no reason not to buy from you.

It’s logical, then, to build the best customer support experience you can. Not only will it bring you more customers, but they’ll be more satisfied and offer your business a greater return on its customer care investment.

Not sure how your company can turn customer service into customer acquisition? Tweet us @Onboardly and let’s figure it out together!

IMAGE: VentureBeat

From Onboardly’s StartupPR FAQ’s file this week comes an interesting question on embargoes and exclusives.

“We’re getting ready to (re)launch our product – it’s big news – should we plan to execute on an embargo or just offer the exclusive to TechCrunch?”

It’s an interesting question. Hell, I’ve even asked it myself.

But before we come to a consensus on the answer to that question – let’s take a quick dive into each and get on the same page about the advantages & disadvantages of each.

Ready? OK. Let’s go.

The Embargo – What is it?

In plain english, an embargo gives a journalist access to all of the information needed to cover your startup in advance – but asks them to wait to publish until a certain date/time or until certain conditions have been met.

The tech journalist’s perspective is often two sided; it can either appear like you’re giving them “advance notice” (welcomed in the case of many mid-to-large startups) – or – it can be interpreted as juvenile or unnecessary, like a plan to coordinate efforts around getting as much press as possible in a short period of time.

From the startup’s perspective – it’s both.

It’s easy to get caught up in wanting to maximize your press exposure on launch day – but remember to do a little soul searching during the planning phase to determine whether or not your news is really ‘embargo worthy’ or if a well-executed exclusive would do the trick.

Here’s when an embargo makes the most sense:

• Time sensitivities. Is the announcement dependant on another bit of news? For example, I once had a NFC-based product announcement ready to go – just waiting to see if the iPhone 5 would have NFC enabled. It did not. Thanks to Apple’s decision (boo! hiss!) that news didn’t ever make the press.

• Top secret details not to be released until last minute. The best example I have for this one is funding announcements, which should only be announced once the ink is dry and often will happen in conjunction with corresponding news from your major investors or funds. One startup we represent has a “big deal” investor. We were allowed to use his name in our pitches, but as a trade off we had to work around his schedule. As a result, that affected our decision to pick an announcement date and stick to it.

• When you’re well-known. At the risk of making this sound like a popularity contest, an embargo is much easier to pull off if your company or founding team is well-known to the media and the industry. We’ve worked with many hyper-connected founders and an equal amount of up-and-comers. What I can say for certain is that it’s easier to ask a journalist to respect an embargo for someone they know.

How to ask a journalist to respect an embargo:

Give the journalists a taste of the story you’re pitching, without spilling the beans, in a tight email making sure to touch upon why it meets the above-mentioned criteria. Then, ask them to confirm that they’ll respect the embargo via email.

Always include the embargo date and time in the subject line of your correspondance, at the top of your email thread and on any press materials you send, like a media release or fact sheet. As far as timing is concerned, I like choosing 9am PST (SF-focused) for tech news and 9am EST (NYC-focused) for business/financial news. 

Not To Be Confused With Exclusive

Again to use people terms, an exclusive is when you offer one sole media outlet the exclusive opportunity to cover your startup before anyone else.

This can also extend to sharing Slideshare presentation, infographics or other forms of research you’ve conducted that might be newsworthy or valuable to the mass media.

Exclusives are gaining in popularity as time-strapped startups are learning that one or two key relationships with the media can be exponentially more valuable that a lengthy media contact list. They’re making friends with with hyper-targeted journalists and it’s paying off.

Usually, exclusive stories are told with more enthusiasm and are injected with more opinion and personality because they show a signal of respect to the journalist; that they’re not just a number or a play for as many pageviews as possible.

There are two great reasons to consider an exclusive:

1) Your product takes some explaining or trial to fully appreciate and understand. A startup’s ‘big idea’ can often get lost in translation during an embargo-style launch, because the assumption can be made that other media outlets will be covering concurrently. As a result, you may not get as much time with a journalist as you’d like.

2) You’re genuinely looking to build a long-term relationship. Let’s call a spade a spade . It’s easy to get caught up in wanting to execute a “massive launch” for your startup with a coordinated PR effort that sees multiple publications covering you all at once. That said, don’t forget that one well-timed exclusive can lead to multiple after-the-fact pickups from other outlets.

How to give a journalist the exclusive:

Do your research to find out who the precise journalist is that’s best to tell your story, and then have a backup in case they’re swamped, on vacation or just not interested. Get to know them using social media and keep tabs on their work. (Need help? Follow our steps for making friends before you need them.)

When you’re ready to reach out, send a short but personal email with a hint of the news and your request that they consider accepting the exclusive. Use the word exclusive in the subject line of your correspondance so that they understand it’s a personal outreach.

Want to improve your response rate? Use their name in the subject line as well (feels personal) and make sure to time it for when you know they’re online & on the clock – i.e.: if they tweeted 5 minutes ago, now’s a good time.

So Which Witch is Which?

As a general rule, I’d say that journalists appreciate exclusives more and that they have longterm benefit. They give you time to build a strong relationship that will carry forward. But, it does put all of your eggs in one basket and that does run the risk of biting you in the ass, should they get busy or lose interest.

That said, embargoes serve their purpose (as outlined above) and can be necessary and extremely important under the right set of conditions.

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Which do you think has more merit? Has your startup successfully launched using either of these techniques? I’d love to hear your thoughts on which is more effective.

Naturally, a video service provider like ED Films would use video to get people’s attention. But one of their most recent works called The First Honest Cable Provider (Excuse the profanity. NSFW) goes beyond expectations. With a huge emphasis on dialogue using a plain old guy and some animation, they hit your funny bone with humor around how we all really feel about cable providers “…with 24 hr access to THE best customer support technicians, all at a fair price? F*** You. You’ll get what we give you.” What’s so good about it? You can’t stop watching it to get to the point, to see who created it and why. It all comes down to telling a story while getting, and keeping, your attention. And they sure did. At over 3 million views, it’s gone ‘viral’. Win! 

Video is dominating the online space. With top search results most commonly pulling in video, you can see it has incredible search engine power. YouTube is currently the 2nd largest search engine with more than 300 million visitors and more than two billion videos viewed per month.This is a strong testament to the growing popularity of video content.

According to the 2013 Demand Gen Report Benchmark Survey, 22% of B2B marketers are turning to video as a demand generation tool. Technorati also reported, that 59% of brand marketers plan to increase their use of video, and 30% plan to invest more in video.

So how does your marketing strategy benefit from video?

Optimizing your site with video content establishes credibility, authority, and trust with prospects. It also allows you to better connect on a more personal level with both new leads and customers, offering an educational experience for your product or service.

Enough about why you need to do it. Here is HOW to implement a strong video marketing strategy. 

Adopt the 10x10x4 Campaign Formula

Traffic Geyser’s Mike Koenigs crafting the 10x10x4 Content Creation Formula, a step-by-step guide to using video content to develop a conversion-focused method for your product launch. There are nine steps to jumpstart your video content without sounding like a pushy salesman:

1. Write down the top 10 FAQ’s about your product or service.
2. Write down the top 10 questions a potential buyer should ask about your product or service.
3. Record 20 short Q&A videos asking and answering each of those questions. Tim Ferriss executed this effectively around his book launch, The 4-Hour Body. He conducted three short interviews answering common questions a prospect would probably ask about how his program would work for him.
4. Record four short bumper videos leading them to the next video to build excitement.
5. Create a Video Lead Capture Page.
6. Distribute your videos to video sharing sites, social media sites, podcast directories, and blogs.
7. Search engines will index your videos and create backlinks to your Video Lead Capture Page.
8. You now have the opportunity to dominate the keyword phrases your videos are associated with, which could turn into traffic and leads.
9. Remember to send viewers to your Video Lead Capture Page to capture leads and build your list.

Once you’ve created your videos, where do you host them?

Create a STUPIDLY Strong Lead Capture Page

Your Lead Capture Page is your collateral for attracting, engaging, and converting prospects into new customers. According to a study by Retail Touchpoints, Step2 increased its conversion rate by 174% for those who viewed the videos compared to those who did not. Prospects are more likely to trust and buy your product when your site is optimized with video content.

There are six elements your video lead capture page must have to drive conversions:

1. Headline with strong message match. Your page’s headline should match your CTA, providing a relevant message to both your prospects and the search engines.
2. Intro with bullet points. The goal is to provide small bites of information about how prospects and customers can benefit from your product or service.
3. Media. This would of course include your videos content.
4. Conversion centered, design-influenced lead gen form. This shouldn’t just be another form on a page of your site. It should grab the users attention, and invite them to sign up. Make it easy for them to register with an email address – at most an email address, name, and company info.
5. Urgency factors. Using terms like “limited time” and “only 10 of 20 spots left!” creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
6. Trust factors. Build trust with items like registrant count, download count, share count, testimonials, and media mentions to name a few.

Here are a few cool tools for creating high-quality videos:

1. Prezi
2. YouTube Editor
3. Camtasia
4. Animoto
5. Sell-A-Mations

Creating videos for your website or blog can be time consuming, but is increasingly becoming more important. By following the 10 x 10 x 4 formula and creating a great lead capture page, you will surely start seeing amazing results.

Remember, it’s all about creating content YOUR customers want to see. So, make understanding your business and working with your product fun and easy by using video to explain the what, where, how, why, who, and when of what you do.

How have you implemented video content into your marketing strategy? Share with us in the comments!

Contributed post by Karl Wirth

The other day, I finally got around to checking out a certain recently launched inbox management app. A couple friends had invited me (and they were raving about it), so I thought I’d join them.

After being “sold” by their amazing intro video, the sign up to onboard process was so broken, I lost interest within minutes.

First, it asked me to OAuth using numerous unnecessary accounts and then confirm an email address. All of which I did.

When I jumped into the product, it was so unintuitive I was expecting an “owner’s manual” to be delivered to my front door. What a mess! This app broke every onboarding rule imaginable.

Customer onboarding is about more than just converting your website’s visitors into paying customers. It’s about ensuring a fantastic user experience from the first point of contact. It’s about building trust with visitors and cementing customer loyalty as early in your relationship as possible – something that inbox management app definitely did not do (so much for making life easier).

I’ve had a chance to experiment with many of the available onboarding tools. I know the good, the bad and the ugly. This post will share some of the things I’ve read and discovered about onboarding… all while busting 7 onboarding myths that will drive down your conversion rate.

Myth 1: You only need to worry about support when you have paying users.

Don’t assume that you need to wait until you have a critical mass of customers to start worrying about customer experience and support. This belief can easily make you miss out on sales and potentially lose some of the people who have already become your early adopters.

While numerous lean startups and businesses may not have the cash or the revenue to hire a full-time support person, you can start to ingrain the importance of an amazing customer experience very early on.

Here’s a solution I really like. Make sure everyone on your existing staff is trained in customer support and have them take turns filling that role. Think of it as your customer support batting order. Regardless of their role (developer, marketing expert or CEO), each team member needs to take a turn in the customer support hot seat.

Why? It will not only allow you to fill the position, but it will quickly give everyone on the team a first-hand account of what the customer is going through. By getting that immediate customer experience feedback, everyone will get a better understanding of the importance, or lack thereof, of their tasks/goals/strategies.

Myth 2: It’s too expensive.

Your onboarding plan is an investment and you need to know that even small investments can have huge payoffs. Sometimes the only investment you will need to make is your time! Many great onboarding tools offer free versions to help you while you are just getting up and running.

When deciding what tool (always choose an all-in-one tool) to use, there are three major things to consider:

1. Decide how much you are able to invest in this tool on a monthly basis.
2. Identify the areas where you think an onboarding tool would be the most effective. Do you want tutorials? Customized content? A better ear to the social web? A tool to help customers learn how to use your company’s tools as effectively as possible? Something to help with email nurturing? You need to figure out which areas are a priority for your business.
3. Focus, test and optimize. Select the areas that are important, test various tools, figure out which works best and adjust accordingly.

Myth 3: Email marketing is king.

Email marketing is important – very important. However, it’s not the only tool you should have at your disposal. Not all customers like email or want to receive more (that’s why I signed up for the inbox management app, after all). They get enough as is. So how can you still keep in touch with your community and be top of mind?

Increasingly, customers want to communicate with your company and staff on a more interactive level. I have found that providing a variety of communication options is the best way to keep your customers as happy as possible.

And the best option? The use of dynamic, smart messaging (i.e. popups, bars and blocks of text on your website that adapt to your customers’ behaviors). This approach provides customized messaging for your visitors and is an excellent complement to a well thought out email campaign. (Shhh, no secret, but it’s what we do here at Evergage. Sign up for a free trial today!)

Myth 4: Wait to collect and analyze data.

Start collecting and analyzing data from day one. Even if you don’t have too many paying customers, by analyzing your visitors’ activities, you will have enough insight to start working with. It can help you craft a better offer, test your messaging and really see what works.

With your little amounts of data, or servers full of it, there are three steps to follow when optimizing the onboarding process:

1. Learn. Look at your website’s data, track behavioral analytics, and, if you have paying customers, analyze the relationship between their behavior and your sales data.
2. Predict. Find a tool that will help spot patterns so you can adapt your efforts. I firmly believe that you always need to be testing and measuring. You might find your ideal customer is not who you expected or maybe you assumed the wrong social channel was the best for generating leads. You never know!
3. Adapt. As your database of information grows, so will your ability to measure, learn and predict. Grow with your data!

Myth 5: No one uses the phone anymore.

There are numerous ways to communicate with your customer and the phone is becoming increasingly important. Often, picking up the phone to talk to your customers is the best way to see if they are actually satisfied. Don’t be afraid to put a voice to the name.

There are several tools you can use with the phone to make sure you keep your customers as happy as possible when they are coming onboard:

1. Project management tools can help you if your business depends on large, complex projects with many people involved.
2. Online meetings can bring the face-to-face element that is normally lacking from web-based communication.
3. Customer service through social networks like Twitter and Facebook is a growing trend. Listening to the conversations people are having about you can help quickly resolve an issue before it gets out of hand.
4. Instant messaging tools and live chats are a great way to quickly resolve problems your customers may have while browsing your website.

Myth 6: Content is a luxury.

Even with the explosive growth of content marketing, some people still do not believe it’s a necessity. Maybe people think it’s too expensive, complicated or time-consuming.

Whatever their reason for not producing content, I don’t buy it.

There’s a good reason for my strong belief in content marketing. Even if you have an innovative product, there is a good chance people don’t know it exists. You need to focus on educating people to bring them onboard. And educational, informative content (e.g. web copy, blog posts and eBooks) is a very powerful tool.

Stop finding excuses and get writing. If you really don’t have the time, hire a freelancer, an agency or an employee.

Myth 7: Your product will sell itself.

I hate to tell you this, I really do, but your product isn’t that good.

You need to focus on all aspects of customer acquisition, conversion and customer experience if you want your business to succeed. Your product won’t sell itself. So, you need to make sure that, at the very least, the first touchpoint your customers have with your onboarding process is so incredibly seamless that they can’t help but want to sign up and share your product.

It takes just a few little errors or one too many questions during sign up to lose 25% or more of your leads.

KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) has never been as true as it is with onboarding new customers.

What myths about customer onboarding did I miss? Mention a myth and bust it below to help others learn from your experience.

About the Author
Karl Wirth is the CEO & Co-Founder of Evergage. He is passionate about helping businesses improve their conversion rates through relevant, in-context communication. See for yourself and sign up for Evergage today!

Truth: your startup is more likely to fail than to succeed.

Now that I’ve got that shocking reality out of the way, let’s talk about one of the biggest reasons why – failure to read the signs.

We’re taught from childhood to protect ourselves. To err on the side of caution, look for warning signs, and avoid trouble. But as we grow into adults, we tend to develop a false sense of security, driven by our need to succeed. It won’t happen to me, we’re likely to say. I’ve got this under control.

Until you no longer do.

With stats showing that 90% of startups fail, it’s more important than ever to sell our products, acquire users, generate traction. It all begins with a powerful launch. The question is, what happens when the launch you were once confident about, starts to slip between the cracks?

The decision to postpone or cancel a product launch can be inconvenient and costly, but for some startups, it’s the difference between sink or swim.

It Looks Like a Clear Day to Sail

For some startups, just talking about your upcoming launch and offering a sense of exclusivity, will solidify your success.  Kohort, a stealth startup that snagged thousands of early user sign-ups within days of announcing their upcoming launch, didn’t even reveal what the product was. Curiosity alone led to users to take blind action. For other startups, an awesome, shareable landing page or viral vid can also do the trick to generate buzz.

Stealth or not, you want the best launch and you’ve set expectations you know you can manage. Initially, it may look quite promising. You’ve set the date. Invested money into a launch marketing plan, a PR strategy, and your media assets are in check. Your developers are confident the product will be ready and there’s initial media interest.

Then the date starts to approach and you notice the storm clouds rolling in as a sense of foreboding sets in. Early beta-testers are giving you luke warm feedback. There’s been delays in getting great content uploaded onto the new blog. You’re not set to measure the traffic. Product bugs are multiplying.

You’re freaking out.

Don’t Ignore the Iceberg Warnings

We all know the story of the Titanic, which means we’re all well aware that one of the instrumental factors in its demise was failure to ignore warnings and desire for greater attention. What started out as a way to get more press with an early arrival, turned into a disaster that earned media for all the wrong reasons.

As a startup, you want the great publicity that will come from your launch but failure to have a successful launch, can and will result in negative publicity. Sure, publicity is publicity, but would you rather be amongst the most successful product launches, or the biggest flops of the year?

Secondly, do you have a plan for after the launch? “One thing we’ve seen is that most startup founders focus so much of their time and money on their product and the launch that they completely neglect to develop a strategy or create a budget for acquiring users and actually marketing the product,” explains Ilya Pozin in Forbes.

Ensure that you’re not only ready to launch, but are ready to keep up the momentum post-launch.

When to Send the SOS

The timing never seems to be right and no one wants to make the heavy decisions, but guess what! You’re not in it alone. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Listen to your team. Value input from advisors and mentors. Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, take a moment to evaluate the situation.

Here are some key indicators that it’s time to delay your launch or halt it altogether:

• Your product isn’t ready to ship or the bugs haven’t been fixed;

• Early beta testers reviews have not been favorable;

• Website is still in early-development, won’t be near ready for the launch;

• Social isn’t social – you still haven’t set up your Twitter account or Facebook fan page;

• Your blog is lacking great, shareable content;

• You’re not ready to measure the traffic you’re about to receive;

• You’re still unsure if your product meets the market need.

If you’ve nodded your head to one or more of the above statements, it may be time to consider your options. No one ever really wants to push a product launch and chances are, it may be a costly decision, but your startup will probably be better for it. It also happens to even the most seasoned founders.

When Napster founders, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker launched Airtime in June 2012, the platform was expected to become the next big thing for video chatting, “a more sophisticated, yet PG-rated version of Chatroulette” as Wall Street Journal called it. The launch was a celebrity affair, sure to secure plenty of early user traction. Instead, users were met by unwanted programming bugs (including embarrassing glitches at the NYC launch itself) and privacy violations.

The decision to push back your launch, doesn’t mean your marketing plan is now useless. It just means you must adjust your date and plan accordingly around your new time frame. Generate a deliverables work-back to guide you. Set firm expectations for your team. Reach out to any interested media and give them a heads up of a date change.

Change Course or Learn To Swim

No one wants to abandon ship or change course, but as Julie Bort explains in Business Insider, “Changing directions isn’t a failure, it’s a necessity.” Many times, a matter of being flexible can make all the difference in whether a startup succeeds or not. Understanding that it’s OK to hit the brakes, doesn’t make you weak. In most cases, it will lead to being better prepared to execute your launch seamlessly.

“The successful startups seem to be flexible enough to shift with changes in the tech climate,” says tech startup analysts Allmand Law. “Whereas with the failed startups, some fail due to a lack of vision and others have terrible timing. Ultimately, there is a lack of foresight which might have saved their companies.”

Hindsight is always 50/50 – don’t let it show you how you could have succeeded. Instead, let it show you exactly why and how you did succeed.

Got a nagging launch question? Are you facing storm clouds? We’d be happy to offer our advice on how to handle an upcoming launch or push back! Tweet us @onboardly or drop us a line today!

Whether we want to admit it or not, SEO is a big part of content marketing. You don’t need to be the next Rand Fishkin, but you do need to have a basic understanding of how the big search engines (ahem, Google) work and what they’re looking for.

But with Google constantly changing its algorithm (here’s looking at you, Penguin 2.0), how can content marketers keep up with the ever-changing SEO landscape? The short answer: By knowing the fundamentals and understanding the direction search engines are going in.

While The Short Cutts is awesome, you don’t need to memorize 101 link building tips. You just need to know the art and science of it all.

The Art

When asked, Matt Cutts named these the five most common SEO mistakes:

1. Not having a crawlable website. If search engines can’t crawl your website properly, you’re in serious trouble. Use tools like SEO Browser to make sure your website will pass the crawlable test.

2. Not thinking like a searcher. Always consider how people search. For example, don’t use “Mt. Everest Height”. Instead, use “How high is Mt. Everest?”.

3. Being too focused on the science. Compelling content should be the backbone of your linking strategy. Simply trying to build links won’t be nearly as effective.

4. Not covering the basics. The titles and descriptions of your pages are important. It’s the small things!

5. Not having a working knowledge. Again, don’t just build all the links you possibly can. Understand how search engines actually work and cater to what they actually look for.

Notice any patterns? 40% of those mistakes involve putting too much of an emphasis on the science of link building. According to Cutts (and us), great content goes a long way. In creating high quality content, you’ll naturally build high quality links.

So, does the science of link building still matter? Is it all about the art of content marketing now? Of course the science still matters! What’s important to know is that the science is changing and becoming more and more intertwined with the art.

The Science

Early predictions for what the Google Penguin 2.0 update will bring are clear: quality over quantity. Sounds familiar, right? The art is slowly making its way into the science. And it’s not just Google; search engines are shifting.

So, here’s what you need to know about the science of link building and how it’s changing:

1. Google will care more about links backed by actual social influence and you should pick guest blog contributors based on their social influence, not their social reach. Your new guest contributor has 200,000 Twitter followers? That’s awesome! But how many are bots? How many are actually engaged? These are the questions Google will be asking. Essentially, it’s better to have someone with real influence (no vanity metrics, please) tweeting about your latest blog post than someone with 200,000 unengaged followers.

2. You need to be using Google authorship because Google will start placing weight on the individual writer, not just the publication. If you’re not already, you absolutely need to be taking advantage of Google’s authorship feature. Let’s say you contribute an awesome post to KISSmetrics, a popular Internet marketing blog. If you then post on your own blog using the same author profile, you carry some of that content value over to your blog. Both the author and the publication get the rewards!

3. More of an emphasis will be placed on the quality of links instead of the quantity of links. Here it is again: quality over quantity. Google seems to care less and less about how many links you’ve built. What Google really cares about is the authority of the pages that are linking to you. For example, twenty links from websites Google thinks highly of are worth more than thirty links from websites Google knows are spam-fueled.

4. Google will care more about the quality of outbound links, so you need to link strategically and make sure you’re not guest posting anywhere that links to spammy sites. It’s not just inbound links that count. You need to be strategic about the websites you link out to as well. You need to be linking to quality, authoritative sites (Forbes, Wikipedia, etc.) It can’t be anything irrelevant (or that Google might perceive as irrelevant). And don’t forget that variety is the spice of life. Don’t link to the same websites day in and day out.

5. Google will care about your mention:link ratio, so make sure it’s natural. We’ve talked about link:content ratio. You can expect that 30-35% of the people who mention your website won’t link to it. That’s natural. If everyone that mentions you links to you, Google will perceive that as paid or spammy. You don’t always have to link to your site in guest posts.

Conclusion

So, does link building matter? Yes, but gaming the algorithm is becoming more difficult. It’s not about who can build the most links. It’s about creating high quality content that resonates with influencers. Essentially, high quality content equals high quality links equals SEO success.

Create amazing content and the link building will come naturally! That’s the art and science of it all.

Every now and again, I get asked a question that throws me a bit out of my comfort zone. Like yesterday, when I agreed to take a Clarity call with an entrepreneur who wanted to replicate the excitement, demand, deployment and (presumably) early acquisition of Mailbox. Following a world-class launch, the extremely hyped iPhone application built as a replacement for Apple’s Mail was quickly scooped up by Dropbox.

At first, I was a little cynical. I’m a big believer in forgoing how “others” do things in favour of being your best you. And then I remembered how I felt as a potential customer when I caught wind that Mailbox was coming. That feeling of “Oh wow – this is going to be big!” and “How do I get in on that?”

As someone who spends a lot of time in her inbox and who is always on the lookout for improved efficiency in her life, Mailbox looked like the answer to my prayers. Plus – I’m not going to lie – I hate being the last to get an invite. (I swear I was the last to get one with Pinterest and that really pissed me off…) 

But I digress.

So then I put on my PR hat. Why wouldn’t another startup want to evoke the same feelings for their potential users?

The way you plan and execute a product launch can make or break a startup. Here are 5 ways to use Mailbox’s Cinderella story as inspiration for your own product launch.

1. Give the People What They Want

Assuming your product tackles a real world problem, (Stop here if it doesn’t. There’s probably something way hilarious on BuzzFeed right now that will be more relevant to you for the next 15 minutes.) be certain you can tell your story in a way that reminds your potential customers that you feel their pain (and want to help).

While some will instinctively start an explainer video or PR pitch with information on the product (“Introducing ShamWow! The incredible cleaning cloth!”), I often suggest working backwards and focusing on the customer pain-point first. That could meaning using either well-known facts or true human testimonials to prove the problem exists.

Mailbox did it beautifully in their :60s video, and gets bonus points from me for doing it with no voice-over required. In the end, the message was simple: Email sucks. It bogs us down and it takes us away from other things that are either more enjoyable or more important.

The product focuses on applying well-known business productivity advice, including David Allen‘s “do it, delegate it, defer it, or drop it” rule for emptying your inbox. To be clear, I don’t know whether they had David in mind when they built the app – it just feels oddly similar to me – and it feels good.

2. Get a Little Help from Your Friends

I’m definitely not the first to point this out (there’s an active discussion on Quora here), but it’s worth noting that Mailbox saw a significant amount of early love and support from tech notables like MG Siegler and Mike Arrington’s CrunchFund. There is no greater way to get early traction than to have friends in high places vouch for you.

While you might not be backed by CrunchFund, chances are that you have a support team you can lean on for help (whether you’re aware of it or not). When I was consulting, I took equity from several startups I was working with as a way to offset a small percentage of my fees.

In hindsight, this was smart on their part. As an investor, I am invested in their long-term success. As a result, there’s not a lot I wouldn’t do to help promote those startups.

If you’ve uttered the words “Bootstrapping and proud of it!” and are scratching your head wondering why your launch didn’t go over so well, there you have it: my argument for raising (or giving away) some capital, even if it’s just from a few well-connected angel investors, advisors or vendors.

But think beyond angel investors and VCs. Build a “dream team” of influencers and secure their commitments to help propel the company forward in some small way.

Friends with an influential journalist? Ask them to write an article or to make an intro to someone less bias. Just purchased a new hosting package from a service provider? Talk to their community outreach team about getting a guest post on their blog. Graduated from an accelerator or incubator program? Lean on alumni for introductions.

My point here is that everyone has a network, whether they realize it or not. The key is knowing how to mobilize that network for your launch.

3. Timing Is Everything

We’ve all heard the old adage, “To fail to plan is to plan to fail.” As cliche as it is, it couldn’t be any more applicable to a product launch.

I’m often asked how long it takes to execute a PR campaign. My answer is that it varies. Sometimes I might suggest 30 or 45 days, and other times I’ll insist that a 60 or 90 day window is the way to go. There is variance between a smaller feature launch (less time required) and a major product rollout like Mailbox’s.

To determine how much time you need to execute your launch, work backwards from the date you want to make the announcement.

I’ll often suggest waiting until you’ve got a strong beta product before setting your launch plan in motion. Work back at least a week of wiggle room for “glitches” or the chance something all-consuming will absorb most of the media’s attention (e.g. a natural disaster, a terror plot or a Facebook Timeline refresh). Allow two weeks for pre-launch hype (lean on your dream team here). And, finally, work back a month to court the right journalists to help you tell the story.

While this may seem like a long time to “sit” on a strong beta product, use the time to make refinements, gather feedback and implement strong support channels for when the product does go live.

4. Play Favorites: Grant Early Access to Influencers

Who said playing favourites is wrong?

To add to my 2nd and 3rd points, be careful not to disregard the power of the everyman’s influence to help extend the reach of your launch. Think beyond a few select journalists and partners, and build a list of early beta users from all corners of the Internet (and all walks of life). Offer them priority access to the product.

Scour the web for people who have publicly vented about the problem your product is trying to solve. Often a niche following of a few hundred people can be exponentially more valuable to your launch than thousands of tire kickers. These vested influencers are important for two reasons:

(1) They feel a pain you’re trying to alleviate and, as a result, will provide you some amazing feedback.

(2) Chances are they’ll feel pretty awesome for being invited to try the beta sooner rather than later, and will be especially excited to tell their friends they had priority access.

5. Leverage the Power of the Crowd to Build Momentum

I’m not a product marketer, but I’m proud to know a number of them who have offered me a wealth of advice over the years about the importance of building strong messaging into your product in order to help accelerate growth and generate demand.

As a publicist and someone constantly living in a state of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), I understand the value hype can bring to a launch.

The oldest trick in the book where physical launch events are concerned is to create multiple ticket types and display numbers in such a way that manipulates people into thinking the event is selling out fast. This perception of exclusivity is what triggers FOMO for many of us, but is perception reality?

Was Mailbox’s speedy counter system real or merely a staged gimmick to breed the notion of exclusivity?

I say who cares? What’s important is that it helped achieve their goal: a ton of signups and a timely acquisition.

What have I missed on this list? Disagree with any of my points? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Jim Small was living out the typical entrepreneurial story: working long days and nights that kept him away from his family at a business that was on an aggressive growth plan, but was not yet making money.

All that changed when Jim and his wife, Audra, got a call that would alter the course of their family’s lives forever: their two year-old daughter, Sophia, had been diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, a form of autism.

Being a Martyr Is Not a Solution

If you choose to forego the security of a day job to pursue the entrepreneurial life, I certainly hope it isn’t because you think it’s a get rich quick plan. Without a doubt, entrepreneurship is one of the most challenging careers in the world – not just because it’s an intellectual challenge, but because it requires a high tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. But that being said, taking the leap on your startup doesn’t mean that you have to live in poverty. In fact, you shouldn’t do that. It’s counter-productive, and certainly not necessary.

If you aren’t able to eke out a salary from you cash flow, the solution isn’t necessarily to just skip paying yourself all together. While foregoing a paycheque may solve your cash flow problems in the short-term, you aren’t addressing the deeper issues at play. It’s to step back and look at why you aren’t able to pay yourself, and how to could adjust the business model to be more sustainable.

Does Your Business Enhance Your Life?

Although most entrepreneurs will need to make some personal and financial sacrifices while they are getting their business off the ground, your business should enrich your life, not work against it. This is a big one for me. Although I’ve had my fair share of struggles in business that temporarily impacted my emotional well being or financial freedom, my businesses never had an inherently negative impact on my life.

When Jim’s daughter was diagnosed, he realized that the way his business was structured was holding him back from leading a happy, healthy family life, so he shifted his priorities and managed to create a business that was both revenue generating AND that worked for his lifestyle.

I think it’s important for entrepreneurs to understand that your startup doesn’t have to kill you. It doesn’t have to keep you away from the important people in your life. Too often I see smart people confusing back-breaking labour with success. It’s simply not the case. As entrepreneur Erica Diamond explained on The Story Exchange, the true glory comes from creating a life (and business) that works for you. “Even though I’m a perfectionist” Erica explains, “I’m willing to accept being an 8 out of 10 for the sake of my family.” It’s all about finding the right balance of priorities for your life.

If It’s Broke…Fix It

Jim’s decision to re-evaluate and adjust his business model to accommodate changing circumstances is a perfect example of the Lean Startup philosophy at work. “The fundamental idea” explains Eric Ries in Inc magazine, “is to treat everything a start-up does as an experiment. Everything a start-up does should be a test–a hypothesis. You really want to organize your company so that it’s built to learn.”

Starting a new business (especially a disruptive one) is an experiment in and of itself. It is impossible to perfectly predict the ways markets, investors, customers and partners will react to the introduction of your offering into the market, and the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who are prepared to adapt to changing circumstances. There is no shame –and in fact there is great pride– in being able to refine your business to improve your product and reinvigorate your bottom line.

If you want to stay set in your ways, stick to your day job. If you’re ready to live a life of constant growth, adaptation and iteration – we’re waiting for you on the other side.

What did you take away from Jim’s story?