Category: Austin Startups

How To Make Your First Direct Mail Campaign Successful

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In my last post, I discussed a couple new tools to help you work on your first direct mail piece. I have seen surprisingly high returns when done correctly and with the right processes in place. As the infographic below, with independent research by the DMA exhibits, 79% of consumers act on snail mail immediately, and 51% of people prefer direct mail from local shops. When done right, direct mail is your key to profit.

If you are a small, mid-size, or even SaaS company is considering your first direct mail campaign, here are a few fundamentals to make sure you have in place before your big snail mail send goes out: Read more →

Three Tools To Help You Run Your First Direct Mail Campaign

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Facebook, infographs, Inspirational Quotes, Journalism, Marketing, Photography, What's Hot • 0 Comments

Direct mail conjures up the ideas of an envelope filled with coupons, perhaps some real estate post cards, and a few credit card offers. You may think that most of those items you put in the trash, however, there is still a reason why so many companies still use, and succeed with direct mail.

It is estimated (see below, with the Data & Marketing Organization, or DMA, as a source), that 70-80% of all mail is opened, regardless of whether it is ‘junk mail.’ Though it can seem more costly, the response rates are approximately 2.7 times higher with direct mail compared to email. Read more →

Three Ways To Improve Your Small Business Marketing On A Budget

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Retail • 0 Comments

There are two things that most businesses have, but usually are in low supply. Time and money. I’m going to outline a few ideas below that will not only take a limited amount of time and money, but also the tools to help you implement them. I can help your business grow through a few simple ideas that you can start planning and actively doing today. Let’s improve your marketing on a budget with these ideas and tools: Read more →

What Is It And How To Fix The Vote For Trump Google Analytics Spam Bot

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, infographs, Marketing, Travel, What's Hot • 0 Comments

I thought I was alone, I asked myself, “maybe had someone injected malware into my WordPress,” or I was wondering, “is my WordPress site hacked?” How can I tell? You see, I was looking at my Google Analytics code and noticed the following items on my home screen, then thought, what is wrong with my WordPress site? Read more →

10 Keys To Success That Require Zero Talent

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Inspirational Quotes, Journalism, Marketing, Travel • 0 Comments

As 2016 comes to a close, the holidays are approaching, and New Years Eve is just around the corner. That means the annual resolutions are also being discussed, planned, and written down.

That said, this meme that dropped into a Facebook group recently caught my eye and I think it was worth sharing, because they are often the traits of successful people like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Ted Turner and many others: Read more →

How To Get Over Rejection Through Rejection Therapy

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, Entrepreneurship, Inspirational Quotes, Interviews, Marketing, What's Hot • 0 Comments

The best salespeople understand that rejection is just a part of the game and have grown thick skin. If I went around a co-working space full of startups and accelerators, I think there are very few that would say their favorite thing is to go out and look for customers. It is the ominous fear of rejection.

In a local Austin startup group, I came across a new TedX Talk from a former Austin entrepreneur Jia Jiang that has since moved to Silicon Valley. After stumbling across a website (which has since become his own) called rejectiontherapy.com he took on a challenge to go out and get rejected. On purpose. The original challenge the previous site owner had put out was 30 days, but he decided to go for 100 and created a YouTube channel, where he actually recorded himself being rejected, and sometimes surprisingly not rejected. (That channel is here). While I could continue to summarize the Ted Talk and Jia’s awesome lessons in overcoming objection, he will entertain you much more. Read more →

8 Must-Have Books For Any Startup Founder & Entrepreneur’s Bookshelf

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Inspirational Quotes, Interviews, Journalism, Marketing, Travel, What's Hot • 0 Comments

Having just returned from a beach vacation, I came back refreshed and rejuvenated, but I was not coming back as inspired as previous vacations. The books I read were fun, thoughtful, and definitely not as heavy as previous vacations, but as a big non-fiction guy, I’d rather read and learn something, then be taken away to a fantasy world consisting of character building. That said, I work with startup founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners every day that are at varying stages of their career, or have varying levels of experience. As such, I tend to go back to the same suite of books that set the foundation of my learnings, so I thought I’d share them here ahead of the holidays. For some, you won’t have time to read, for others, it is the time you finally do get to reset and relax a bit before kicking off 2017. Regardless, here is a must-read list of books for startup founders and business owners. I’ve put it in an order of progression that I feel makes the most sense for a growing entrepreneur and welcome your comments about other must read books, because I know this is only the start of an entrepreneur or startup founder’s bookshelf: Read more →

Last Minute Holiday Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Marketing, Retail, What's Hot • 0 Comments

The end of the year is near and you’ve either been ready for the holidays and have been planning for this holiday season since the middle of 2015, or you just looked at revenue numbers for November and December and realized you are late to the holiday party. Don’t fret, here are a few quick and dirty marketing opportunities to get out the door quickly and close out your 2016 strong: Read more →

What To Consider Before Hiring A Marketing Consultant?

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Marketing, Retail • 0 Comments

Every new business, whether it is eCommerce, a brick and mortar, or a new startup has an aspect of their launch that includes the “If you build it, they will come” optimism. Whatever you are selling, people will come, but in reality, there are several basics that need to be in place for you to be found first. Everywhere you look, marketers say, don’t worry, we can just drive paid traffic your way. If someone promises a guarantee like this, run the opposite direction (yes, even if they consider themselves the best marketer in Austin or Texas, or wherever). A great marketer will take inventory and ensure the fundamentals are there first. Read more →

Why I Published A Kindle Book & How I Did It: Technology and the Future of Journalism

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Journalism, Marketing, Travel, What's Hot • 0 Comments

In 2006, there were many nights spent in the library combing the internet, and other sources for my senior thesis at the University of Montana. It is now 2016, and somehow, I keep going back to that paper that I wrote, which was titled “Technology and the Future of Journalism.” There was a lot of information that I dug up that pointed to the world of media, technology, and journalism that we encounter today, whether it was the beginning stages of online subscription models for news organizations, the fall of print, or the general abundance of information, I kept seeing technology advance in the same direction I predicted. I just couldn’t keep this to myself anymore, because the more I looked back at this paper, the more I thought about what still was yet to come based on my predictions. Read more →

Micro-Moments Interview in American Marketing Association Article

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, infographs, Interviews, Marketing, What's Hot • 0 Comments

A few months back I wrote a blog post addressing the growing importance of Micro-Moments. (Original post here). As we all know, mobile has become a big focus for marketers and how we can best understand the omni-channel customer journey across their need-to-know moments and capitalize on them. Below is an excerpt of the article, however, you can find the… Read more →

Interview Contribution Published In App Developer Magazine

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, Entrepreneurship, Interviews, Poképreneurs, What's Hot • 0 Comments

I recently contributed an interview with LureDeals founder Britt White. You may have remembered my article in the first hours of the Pokémon Go phenomenon discussing “The Rise of the Poképreneur” and his company being one of the first to monetize. I’ve now started to build a reputation as the person that coined the term Poképreneur, so it was only fitting they wanted me to complete this interview. I caught up with the fellow Austin, TX entrepreneur for an interview I contributed to App Developer Magazine. Below is an excerpt, but the full story can be found by clicking here:

Creator of LureDeals Talks About Capitalizing on Pokémon Go Traffic Read more →

Poképreneur Hoodie Featured By Printful

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Interviews, Marketing, Poképreneurs, What's Hot • 0 Comments

As a part of Printful’s Fall fashion trends, they included my high quality hoodie Poképreneur hooded sweatshirt. Head on over to their blog here to check out the other fantastic Fall apparel ideas: http://blog.theprintful.com/how-to-transition-into-fall-apparel-5-new-product-ideas/ If you are not familiar with Printful, they provide excellent support for building and managing your own apparel line. Looking to catch your own hoodie? Click the… Read more →

Travel Destinations For Travelers That Have Done It All

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, Entrepreneurship, Hockey, Inspirational Quotes, Travel • 0 Comments

The world is a vast place and even as you travel to new places, the prior locations remain an ever-changing weave of people, architecture, and visitors. I first visited Burma (Myanmar) in 2006. At that time, it was not yet fully open to tourism, with the exception of well-developed tourist tracks. While I guided a couple trips along those said tracks, I also went on a research expedition for the company I was working for to identify new opportunities for travel. Several days of boats and military surveillance up the Irrawaddy took me to the foothills of the Himalaya in the Kachin State, but I was far from welcome Read more →

PokéStack Becomes Newest Addition To The Pokéconomy

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Poképreneurs, Retail, What's Hot • 0 Comments

It was only a matter of time before someone that was a hardcore Pokémon Go player curated a list of top resources for those looking for an edge in the game, or to brush up on their knowledge. Look no further than PokéStack, which was built by Poképreneurs Sandoche Additane and Tsolakidis Paschalis. Here are some examples of items featured: Read more →

Five Tools To Hack Your First Startup Sales

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Inspirational Quotes, Instagram, Marketing, Retail • 0 Comments

Each day new companies are born and each day, a similar dilemma happens. How do I find my first sales? You’ve built your website, launched it, and thought it would be like the next Facebook, where magically people hear about it and the traffic pours in. Not quite. Of course, there is a friends and family email, announcements on Facebook, Twitter and maybe Instagram, but they’re also not likely your customers. I’ve compiled a few valuable tools, many even free to a point, that will help you hack your first sales as a company efficiently: Read more →

Twelve Life Hacks To Finish 2016 Strong

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, Entrepreneurship, Inspirational Quotes, Marketing, Poképreneurs, Travel, What's Hot • 0 Comments

We’re half way through the year and I thought that it was a good time to share a few key pieces of advice I’ve accumulated through the year that will hopefully help you get through the second part of 2016 more successfully. Here are 12 of my business-related life hacks that I hope you’ll find room for in your own life: Read more →

Internships: Learn A Little, Network A Lot

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Silicon Alley Roundup • 0 Comments

Every Summer interns take their wide eyed aspirations to places like Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Austin, and beyond. In speaking with entrepreneurs, and even after years of feedback from an old Under30CEO article (5 Business Lessons I Wish I Knew When I Graduated), a new tip has started to emerge. “I wish I would have networked more.”

Think about some of the internships you will find your way to and the people that invest in internships. You’ll have a mix of rising young superstars that may stick you on coffee duty, but will later become the managers or executives tomorrow. You may have a hustling internship at a startup that you think will never make it. Either way, the people around you have experiences and connections that you can learn from, even if you don’t think they are good to know today, everyone has something that they can share that you don’t yet know. Read more →

What does Google and Facebook know about you? A lot!

by  on  in Advice, Austin Startups, Facebook, Marketing, Travel • 0 Comments

It is no secret that our digital lives are tracked, dissected, and targeted based on where we have been, what we’ve looked at, and what we like. Facebook has made this a much more widely known fact.

Being very much aware of many of the tracking that goes on as a marketer, I was dumbfounded when recently made aware of Google’s My Activity page, then drilled down into the location timeline feature.

As you see below, it knows where I have been and when I was there. You can click on those little red buttons and it will show you which hotel you stayed in, what airport you were killing time in on a layover, but when you click in deeper, it shows you exactly what you were doing on your honeymoon as I discovered from my Greece trip with Read more →