When successful,  equity crowdfunding not only raises capital, it also raises your profile.

In episode 14 of the Tech Marketer podcast I chat to Assemble Advisory director Nathan Rose about his new book: Equity Crowdfunding – the ultimate guide for startups and growing companies.

Nathan shares success stories on how crowdfunding has created PR momentum and marketing impact that far exceeded the initial investment goals.

As well as insights from Nathan on crowdfunding, he also shares the lessons he’s learnt about marketing from promoting his book.

Episode highlights:

• How fintech startup Mondo raised 1 million pounds in 96 seconds
• How EkoRent, a Finnish electric car company, combined equity and reward crowdfunding to build passionate advocates
• What marketers need to learn in order to create compelling investment cases
• Why writing a book is the ultimate content marketing strategy
• How to growth hack Amazon’s bookstore
• How Nathan locked in 280,000 impressions on social media for launch day in advance

Listen to the full episode below or on iTunes:

To get Nathan’s book Equity Crowdfunding for free – head over to Amazon now (it’s only free until the 4th Nov!)

Handy links from this episode:

• Full episode notes (coming soon!)
• Thunderclap.it – helps co-ordinate social media efforts across your community to provide maximum exposure for your launch

Instagram Vs Snapchat

Does the world think that Instagram stole stories and does this mean the end of Snapchat?
We discuss how Instagram’s CEO admits copying Instagram, how Instagram’s stories skyrockets to 100M users a day in its six weeks of being live (out of 500M users) and to date, there’s no obvious impact on Snapchat.

Snapchat: becomes Snap Inc. and call themselves a camera company – which may mean more visual focussed products down the line and a sign that they’re unphased by Instagram’s recent release. Later this year, they will launch Spectacles – a more fashion-forward, affordable answer to Google Glasses.

Socially warped: Recently, there’s been a lot of conversation about social media’s (particularly Snapchat’s) delivery of reality Vs fake.  From Rihanna to our very own Nicole’s Huffington Post article, the question of what’s real and what’s not will to continue to plague marketers, and perhaps make them question how they use particular platforms! Most recently, a French Instagram account by the name of Louise Delage racked up over 80K followers based on a facade.  Thanks to a campaign that was created for Addicte Aide  to raise awareness about alcoholism among young people, this IG handle showed the world that all, once again, is not real on social media.

Helpful links mentioned in this episode: 

• Instagram Vs Snapchat and recent infographic explaining features and facts
• Instagram hits 100M users
• Snapchat becomes Snap Inc.
• Snap Inc. releases Spectacles 

You can also listen to the Tech Marketer Podcast on iTunes. Please subscribe and give us a recommendation if you’re enjoying the show, it helps others find the show in iTunes! 

These days are long gone!

Marketing strategy is can now be AB tested and improved in the same way as headlines and ad imagery. It should be a constant work in progress as we learn and improve our approach.

But a flexible strategy means an even greater importance on communication and clarity.

In episode 12 of the Tech Marketer Podcast, Frans Riemersma, founder of Boardview shares how take an Agile approach to strategy. He explains how Boardview, a marketing software company, has iterated and tested their own marketing strategy.

Episode highlights include:

• Common goal-setting mistakes marketers make
• How to align marketing goals with company strategy
• Why 80% of your strategy is wrong, and what to do about it
• Putting marketing in the driving seat for company strategy

Listen to the full episode below or on iTunes:

If you prefer to read, the interview is also captured in this blog post!

Helpful links: 

• Full episode notes
• Boardview blog
• How we crafted our marketing strategy as a startup and boosted results
• How to take your marketing game from ‘order taker’ to deal maker
• Goal setting – how to avoid 5 common mistakes

If you enjoy the episode we’d love a recommendation! It would mean the world thank you

Your company or app name is a huge decision. Every marketing message you put into the world will bear that name. A great name will help shape the voice of your brand and lead your audience towards a common understanding. A bad name will require more investment to explain and stick in consumers’ minds.

If you’re trying to come up with a name, then you most likely have an idea that you love and want to see come to life. You need a name you love equally and are excited to share. Not one you’ve settled on because you’re fed up with talking about names!

Naming your new SaaS is a big step. It’s a decision that comes with a fair bit of pressure. Instead of being a lot of fun it can quickly seem overwhelming. Here’s some practical advice to come up with ideas for your name, how to evaluate your ideas and how to choose the perfect name.

Step 1: Name-storming

There’s a proven correlation between good ideas and how many ideas you generate. The more ideas you generate, the better they’ll be. During step one you need to ignore the “quality over quantity” myth and set aside your Judge Judy mindset. This is the creative and exciting part of naming your SaaS app.

The “Rules”

• Come up with as many ideas as you can – do this before any other steps
• Don’t critique or judge at this stage – there’s no such thing as a bad idea at this stage, as bad ideas can lead to great ideas.
• Ideally give yourself a few days to complete this stage so ideas can marinate and spark new ones
• Have fun!

Here’s a few places to start name-storming:

1. Draw from your values 
Make sure you understand the foundations of your brand – your vision, mission, values. Keywords related to this purpose may inspire you during the naming process.

The founders of Uber wanted to create an experience that was extraordinary, hence the audacious name. What started as “UberCab” was shortened to the more succinct “Uber.”

2. Consider your benefits
Telling people what you deliver is a great way to come up with ideas and a name built on this will require less marketing explanation (win!).

Airbnb Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia turned their home into the first Airbnb, offering their three airbeds to anyone who needed it. Dubbing themselves the “Air Bed and Breakfast,” it was eventually shortened, a common theme among tech companies.

Skype started as Sky Peer to Peer and Digg was originally Diggnation. eBay was supposed to be a much longer name: Echo Bay Technology Group. After being shortened to Echo Bay, it was changed to eBay.com because EchoBay was taken!

3. Use a dictionary / thesaurus to expand on your ideas list
Once you have a base list of words a dictionary and thesaurus can be helpful tools for extrapolating and coming up with new ideas. It’s an approach that has lead to many famous tech names.

Tinder started out as “Matchbox” eventually became Tinder after the founders consulted a thesaurus. They stuck with the fire theme, liking the idea that their app could create a romantic spark. 

Twitter had the same approach: 

“We did a bunch of name-storming, and we came up with the word ‘twitch,’ because the phone kind of vibrates when it moves. But ‘twitch’ is not a good product name because it doesn’t bring up the right imagery. So we looked in the dictionary for words around it, and we came across the word ‘twitter,’ and it was just perfect. The definition was ‘a short burst of inconsequential information,’ and ‘chirps from birds.’ And that’s exactly what the product was,” Dorsey told the LA Times in 2009.

4. Word associations and random sources
The Medici Effect explains how breakthrough ideas most often occur when we bring concepts from one field into a new, unfamiliar territory, and offers examples how we can turn the ideas we discover into path-breaking innovations. For example, Charles Darwin was a geologist but created the theory of evolution.

I’ve used this technique personally by using a word association exercise. I purposely choose an unrelated piece of text, a cookbook or gardening book, and pick a random page. For every word on that page I try to connect it to the thing I’m trying to name. Here’s an example for a hypothetical app that let’s you take photos of your wardrobe contents.

This exercise can be a lot of fun, and also helps to shift you mentally away from circling on the same ideas and words. Foreign langauges can be another random source. E-commerce site Etsy meant “Oh, yes” in Italian, “and if” in Latin. The founder picked it up from an Italian movie he was watching.

5. Misspelt words
“Real” words are great because they naturally evoke a meaning and require less marketing explanation. However it can be hard to secure trademarks and domains. Changing the way a word is spelt can help addd uniqueness. Google once wasn’t in the dictionary, it came for the misspelling of the word “googol”. Googol is a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros—it reflected Google’s mission to organise a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web.

6. Compound words
A favourite of tech companies are compound words – taking two real words and combining them to make a new one. This is popular as it has the benefits of a real word, uniqueness and less confusion explaining how to spell the new word!

For example, Microsoft was named by Bill Gates’s partner, Paul Allen. He came up with the clever name by combining his fascination with microprocessors with what he believed to be the future of computing, software.

Crowdsource
Podcast co-host, Nicola Cloherty, used crowd-sourcing to name her business Upmarket. She consulted friends and family to build upon ideas. I’d suggest keeping this for later in your naming process so you have direction to draw on rather than a blank slate. Involving differing opinions too early can confuse the process! 

How many names is enough?
Go for quantity at this stage, keep going until you’ve got dozens, if not hundreds of ideas. Stop when you have 5-10 names you love. You need a few you’re keen on to get through the next stage, evaluation. 

Listen to the Tech Marketer Podcast to hear the next steps in naming your SaaS app, or check out Part 2: Evaluating your name (coming soon).

We cover the steps for choosing the perfect name, including:

1. Name-storming – how to come up with ideas and what do if you get stuck. How famous tech brands including Tinder, Twitter, Microsoft and Uber came up with their names.
2. Evaluating your name – what makes a great brand name and how to check your name meets the criteria before committing
3. Researching your name – how to check your perfect name isn’t already someone else’s perfect name
4. Choosing your name – it’s just the start of your branding journey
5. Do you need a name? A look at when you should be creating a new name and creating naming conventions for future products

You can listen below or on iTunes.

Full show notes are available here – TechMarketer.org.

Get exclusive tips in our weekly e-newsletter. 

This week’s Tech Marketer Podcast is co-hosted by Digital and marketing expert Nicola Cloherty. Nicola has over ten years experience working in NZ, UK, USA and Spain. I first meet Nicola while she was the Marketing and Communications Manager of Flick Electric, a start-up shaking up the NZ power industry and achieving massive growth. We used to have geeky lunches to discuss the latest and greatest in marketing, but as she’s recently relocated to Amsterdam, so we’re chatting long distance and sharing our thoughts with you! 

In this episode we cover the marketing news you need to know including:

• Pokemon Go – the augmented reality game that has taken the US, Australia and NZ by storm and in just a week had more downloads than Tinder and more active users than Twitter. We discuss the key learnings for marketers from this nostalgic app phenomena.  
• Snapchat Memories – Snapchat is rolling out their new Memories feature which allows you to store an album of snap and send delayed snaps from existing content. Does this mean the end of the thermal, authentic content we love about Snapchat? We discuss the opportunities does Memories opens for marketers. 
• Facebook Live – live streaming hit the media in a big way recently with breaking news from the congress sit in, to the Castilo shooting aftermath and Prince Harry’s HIV test all stream through Facebook Live. We look at the implications of live streaming for marketers and how Facebook’s product stacks up against Twitter’s Periscope and Snapchat 

We also share our favourite marketing tools and tips we’ve discovered this week. We review email subscription tool Rabbut and photo filter app Prisma.  

Check it out here or on iTunes:

Helpful links mentioned in this episode: 

• Pokemon Go – stats on adoption, effect on foot traffic, Wellingtonians go kayaking to secure Pokemon gyms 
• Snapchat Memories company release
• Instagram love: Socality Barbie and How to Instagram
• Facebook Live: Castile shooting, Prince Harry HIV test, US Congress sit in
• Facebook pays $50M to fund FB Live content 
• Rabbut – easy email sign up forms
• Prisma – iOS app for photo filtering  
• How Prisma actually works (using AI and machine learning)

You can also listen to the Tech Marketer Podcast on iTunes. Please subscribe and give us a recommendation if you’re enjoying the show, it helps others find the show in iTunes! 

I’ve been itching to talk tech and marketing with Danu since seeing him present at a NZ Marketing Association conference. This interview was everything I hoped it would be. Danu shared insights on his campaigns, storytelling with new technology and what the future might hold for marketers and technology.

Take a listen to hear Danu’s take on:

• What it takes to blur the lines between reality and digital
• How technology helps storytelling – whether you should start with the medium or the message
• Advice for modern marketers on keeping up with the rate of change in technology
• How to market a technology company
• What technology trends will have the biggest impact on how we communicate with buyers in the next 5 years

The future of marketing: Technology and creativity

You can also listen to the episode on iTunes.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Rush Digital
• The Amazing Race – Trans-tasman Tug of War: Rush Digital created a live streamed game of Tug of War between two locations in Australia and New Zealand. They designed and deployed a bespoke streaming and game system that not only allowed the participants to see and hear each other in real time but also allowed people to view the action live online through a TVNZ micro-site.
• How to get away with murder: Rush Digital worked with TVNZ to promote its show How to Get Away with Murder, through the release of an online murder mystery game that casts the player as part of a criminal defence team fighting to clear a client’s name.

• Cesar Millan Pack Leader Mobile App: Working with Samsung, National Geographic and renowned dog-trainer Cesar Millan, Rush Digital created an app that matched people with their perfect canine companion in a nearby shelter. The app cleverly used facial recognition technology, audio fingerprinting and curated knowledge of dog breeds, to suggest a canine life companion based on their face, bark , and lifestyle.

• The Great Monteith’s Meat Pack Hunt: This award winning augmented reality app gave customers the chance to “hunt” duck, venison, lamb and beef through specially marked meat packs and billboards.

Sounds like a nirvana right? In this episode I’ll be sharing my experiences learning Agile marketing and how it helps marketing teams keep up with the pace of modern marketing. 

I’ll be covering:

• What is Agile
• How can Agile help marketers
• Why is now the time for change
• 3 steps for getting started with agile marketing

You can listen here or subscribe on iTunes.

Handy links mentioned in this episode:

• List of project types well-suited to trying Agile:  “Getting started with Agile Marketing”
• Agile marketing – 18 mind-blowing stats
• The Agile manifesto
• The Agile marketing manifesto
• HBR Embracing Agile

Take a listen to the episode to hear how StarNow is utilising digital influencers:

Episode highlights: 

• How StarNow is using digital influencers
• How digital influencers bring authenticity and trust to their recommendations
• Results from StarNow campaigns promoted by digital influencers
• How to find the ideal digital influencers for your business
• Tips for getting started with digital influencers

Helpful links: 

• StarNow.com – check out what Stephanie and the StarNow team are up to, enlist to become one of their digital influencers or audition for a job!
• Talent recruitment platforms: The Social Club (NZ) and The Tribe Group (Australia)

You can also listen to the Tech Marketer podcast on iTunes, subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and please leave a recommendation if you’re enjoying the series.

Tune in to the next episode to hear the advantages of Agile and steps to becoming an Agile marketer.

Take a listen below or subscribe on iTunes.

Episode 6 Highlights

• 1.44 – Why you need an elevator pitch 
• 2.10 – How to create a pitch that people retell
• 3.05 – Tips for crafting the perfect pitch
• 6.20 – How long should a pitch be?
• 7.40 – Pitch me! Creating personal pitches

Now it’s time to put your own story out there, tweet me your pitch for feedback at @techmarktr.

If you’re enjoying the Tech Marketer podcast or want to share some feedback, please review on iTunes. 

Cover image: Flickr – Mrhayata