Congratulations to the participants and winner of BIG AUSTIN’s BIG Idea day!

April 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

BiGAustin held their Big Idea day luncheon last Friday which is an event to award the winner of their annual business plan contest. Hundreds of small ‘micro-business’ entrepreneurs submitted their business plans and participated in a three month selection process. Three finalists were chosen and got to present their business at the BiG Idea luncheon where several hundred in attendance were asked to submit their vote for the winner. The winner received a $5000 award to help grow their business along with additional support services provided by Big Austin and their many partner sponsors. We participated in the BIG Idea Day by donating our time to produce ‘Meet the Finalists’ video profiles of the participants.

Big Austin is a non-profit organization founded and headed by Jeannette Peten that helps and supports the growth of Austin’s small business entrepreneurs. They provide a special focus on minority and women owned business and have successfully nurtured literally hundreds of fledging companies find their footing. We got to work with some of the people behind the organization of BiGAustin and their dedication to helping support these companies was amazing. What really struck us was the sincere gratitude each of the participants expressed for the support BiGAustin had given them - including the runner up’s, whom were not competing on Big Idea day. We were excited about being able to give of our time beause we absolutely believe in the cause of supporting small business. We thoroughly enjoyed working with each of the finalists to produce their videos. They are each extremely passionate about their companies and it shows.

Meet the Finalists!

Gayle Skiera - The Money Academy

Erin Sheppard & Angela Colbert - Austin Baby!

Faith Beltz - South Austin Birth & Wellness Center

See their videos!

And the winner is…………Gayle Skiera from the Money Academy. Congratulations Gayle - job well done! “The entire process of the competition has been a fantastic experience that has opened up many new opportunities and possibilities.” Gayle said of working with Big Austin.

Our hat is off to Jeanette, Claudia, Chelsi, Edith and the rest of the hard working team at BiGAustin for their tireless support of the Austin small business community. And, I’d like to offer a special thanks to Michelle Anton, the keynote speaker and an associate producer of The Oprah WinFrey Show as she provided some rough edit ideas for our video profiles.

Here’s to the entrepreneurial spririt within their organization and the entrepreneurial spirit they help to nurture and inspire!

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BigAustin Video Profiles

April 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

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Control & ROI for Businesses Involved in Social Media

April 16, 2008 | 2 Comments

As a company providing content marketing programs for business clients, a big part of our efforts with clients include the use of Social Media & Social Networking approaches. Now, let me couch this statement by saying that, in many cases, many Social Networks are overkill for many businesses. There are 5-10 new sites popping up each day, so it can be a challenge to manage a budget and true involvement necessary to support such wide-ranging efforts.

We keep a narrow Social Media /Social Networking focus for clients just getting involved - Internet Video, Internet Audio & Podcasts, Blogging, Linked In and perhaps a FaceBook or MySpace, depending on the client. Social Media sites serve as the the medium for Educational and Conversational Content Marketing programs that companies must be including in their mix today if they want to remain relevant in the eyes of their buyers. Social Networking sites serve as the community connection for buzz, listening & engaging in customer conversations and for developing the super user or evangelist network. For a business to really engage in this way, there must be a commitment to be involved and not try to ’skid across the surface’ and apply a corporate PR-type approach. If a company is not truly willing to get down into the trenches of SN, they should stay away so as not to do more harm than good.

The two major questions & objections we get from business clients about Social Media/Social Networking are:

1. Control & Transparency
2. ROI

Control & Transparency
Companies are very concerned about HOW to add business blogging, for example, without losing absolute control. Many are afraid of User-Generated comments or complaints ending up on the corporate site in a way that can’t be controlled. Our response is usually that there needs to be a corporate training & mission to allow each department within the entire company to blog & share in that conversation. The only thing worse than not being in control is not being involved in that conversation AT ALL.

A great example of this is the Sam Adams beer recall this past week. This wonderful, conversational-marketing company that has connected with so many customers through its commercials with the founders, brewers and staff, raised the PR-Brick Wall this week and didn’t get involved in the conversation & concerns by its customers. They have tarnished a stellar image by allowing their corporate PR company or team to go into Damage Control mode that downplayed the issue as if nothing really happened. This is bad!

ROI
This is the other big question… How do we determine Return On Investment. This is why many companies have hired Social Media Marketing specialists who have no budget, no revenue-related goals and no real mission except to “Go figure out what the hell this Social Media thing is all about!” BtoB Magazine has connected the ROI to Search Engine Optimization efforts in its mission to connect its readers to something tangible to Online Marketing.

In our view, the real ROI debate comes down to this… Buyers, whether consumer or business, want to truly connect with a company before making a purchase. So, if a company does not start to engage in this new form of building connections with its constituents, then the company will begin to lose market share to those perhaps smaller, more agile competitors do.

SM/SN allows a company to build credibility in the eyes of the buyer and, implemented and managed correctly, can lead to quantifiable results to capture leads & ultimately to lead to revenue like Direct Response can. BUT, a company can’t view this as just another advertising or marketing medium - it requires a whole new way of thinking to benefit from this shift in commerce.

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