13 Business Books That Will Blow Your Mind

What is the first document I should put in front of a VC? Twenty-seventh in a series of weekly posts by myself and Nicholas Lovell of Gamesbrief which answer the fifty questions you should ask before raising venture capital. We expect the series to run for a year after which we will collate the posts into a book. You can find the rationale behind the series here, and the list of questions here. We welcome your comments on any and every aspect of what we are doing. Hopefully the recent posts in this series have given you an idea of how VC evaluate companies, markets, teams and so on. My next three are going to deal with how to best get that in writing with the aim of getting productive meetings with investors. I use the term ‘productive’ very deliberately as I’m a big believer that ‘raising money’ is actually better described as ‘selling equity’ and hence should be treated like a sales process where qualifying prospects out quickly is key to being efficient. The other important thing is that the document should be short.

7 Ways To Promote Your Business Online For Free 5 Hot Industries Every Small Business Owner Should Know About Want to know what industries are heating up? Industry analyst IBISWorld just released its picks for the 5 hottest startup industries for the next five years. The company analyzed revenues, growth trends and profitability levels of more than 700 industries to determine which ones are best poised to grow. Even if you are already in business, knowing which industries are in growth mode can give you ideas for new products, services or partnerships that could help your business expand. Testing and Educational Support: High school graduates are going on to college, college students are clinging to their college years instead of facing the tough job market, and laid-off employees are heading back to school. How could your business take advantage of these trends? For more about IBISWorld and other industry reports, visit the IBISWorld website.

5 Tips for making sure you don’t screw up your social media strategy It’s simple. Any brand or business that has previously made use of traditional marketing techniques needs to make the transition into the social media space. People now have the control over how, when and where they make purchase decisions, how they communicate and engage with brands as well as how they influence others’ feelings or perceptions about a brand. Social media plays a pinnacle role in terms of helping companies get into their consumer’s mindset, understand how they want to be communicated with and actively engage with them. But not everybody is getting it right. Common mistakes brands make in social media One of the biggest downfalls is that brands often rush into the online and social media space without fully thinking it through or tying to incorporate it into their other marketing activities. Social media doesn’t just operate in isolation. Defining your social media strategy First of all, companies need to define specific criteria to measure success.

Quick Practical, Tactical Tips for Presentations In the past I’ve given some tips for handling meetings effectively, covering topics like: - How not to let your meeting go down a rat hole; - Dealing with the elephant in the room; - Dealing with skeletons in your closet; - How to make meetings discussions, not “pitches” - A tale of two pitches (I eventually invested in the first company that pitched) Today’s post is a subtle one about positioning yourself in a presentation. This might be a VC meeting but also might just be a sales or biz dev meeting. It’s any meeting where you are in a small room and are being called on to present on some form of overhead slides 1. If you look at Diagram A above you’ll see that the presenters are sitting at the opposite end of the table from where the screen is. If you look at Diagram B you’ll see that the people you’re presenting to can look you in the eyes and glance up at the screen. 2. I’ve lately been attending meetings with our shareholders (called LPs or limited partners). 3. 4. 5. 6.

Bryan Eisenberg: Succeeding with PPC Ads on Search and Social Bryan Eisenberg at Fusion Marketing Experience At the Fusion Marketing Experience Antwerp 2012 conference, Bryan Eisenberg gave a hands-on workshop the second day, on optimizing PPC (Pay Per Click) ads. Most examples concerned Google but what @thegrok explained is valid for PPC ads on, for instance, Facebook, as well. Furthermore, the lessons he shared were meant to improve digital marketing in general and get attendees in a mindset of improvement and optimization. Bryan Eisenberg started by pointing out that PPC is not easy, even if it used to be . In PPC, you get what you put in. Understanding what people want to become relevant (again) What does it take to improve your PPC ads? The untapped potential of optimizing PPC ads is huge and tiny details can make amazing differences. In the beginning of the workshop, Bryan said that in (online) marketing, it’s all about relevance . Reversing the PPC and marketing process In PPC, we often tend to focus on keywords first.