“A corporate blog done well offers a platform to demonstrate thought leadership, showcase your successes and share your views on current industry issues,” notes Amy Redhead of Aspectus PR in the UK. “It also provides a great opportunity to engage with both prospective and existing customers, address their particular trouble spots, and offer sound advice.” The content, tone and style you adopt will influence how effective your blog is as a PR and marketing tool, she continues, offering these tips for improvement:

Get the content right: “First and foremost, you need to remember that a blog is not a sales tool. If you try to sell to someone before you’ve established their trust, you are fighting an uphill battle,” Redhead cautions. “Remember, readers are interested in your knowledge and expertise, so think about your audience’s pain points and how you can help to solve them. If you offer credible advice and insight, readers will stop thinking of you as a vendor and will start thinking of you as a trusted resource.”

Keep it short: If you find your blog post going over 800 words, then consider breaking it up into two parts, Redhead suggests. “Subheadings, bold text and hyperlinks also help to make content more digestible,” she adds.

Think about style: “A business blog should obviously be professional, but that doesn’t mean it has to be stuffy,” says Redhead. “Make sure you inject some personality into your posts and adopt a conversational tone,” and ensure your blog is proofed by at least one other person to avoid any embarrassing mistakes.

Invite comments and be open to criticism: Blogs are a great opportunity to get a better idea of how your organization is perceived by the wider market, and the benefits of interacting with readers far outweigh any disadvantages, Redhead notes. “Besides, you are allowed to moderate all comments as they come in,” she says. “Just be sure that if your blog does receive comments, that you respond appropriately, so readers know their input is valued.”

Promote your blog: Once you start blogging, don’t just assume people will come and find it, warns Redhead. “You need to actively promote it, so ensure the link is in an obvious place on your home page and your e-mail signatures (it’s surprising how many firms forget to do this), and crucially, disseminate it via all of your social networking channels,” she says. “Furthermore, registering your blog with sites such as Technorati and submitting posts to bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious will make it easier for readers to find it.”

Get social: Including share tools for the major sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter allows readers to quickly and easily post your content and helps drive traffic to your blog, notes Redhead. And don’t forget to encourage your employees to do the same. “All posts should be tweeted, published to relevant LinkedIn Groups and shared via Google+, Facebook and any other social presence you or your employees may have,” she says. “Moreover, using RSS feeds will also ensure readers are notified every time you publish new content.”

Measure: Tools such as Google Analytics enable you to measure the traffic generated by your blog and include a wealth of additional information such as where referrals are coming from and which posts are generating the most interest, says Redhead. “It’s important to use this information to refine the way you blog and keep giving readers what they’re looking for.”

Don’t forget the headline: “Headlines play a critical role in getting people to read on, so obviously they need to grab their attention,” says Redhead. “However, they are also used by search engines to identify what the post is about, so make sure headlines contain keywords and are relevant to the subject of the post.”

A picture paints a thousand words: “Interesting images such as infographics, photos and video content can all help make your blog more compelling, but what many people don’t realize is that they can also be a useful SEO tool,” says Redhead. “Although search engines can’t read or interpret images, adding tags and titles to visuals can help your blog to be found (and use keywords wherever possible).”

Include a call to action: “this should motivate people to take the next step, whether it is to comment on the post, connect with you on Twitter, or sign-up to your newsletter,” Redhead explains.

Source: Business Computing World

Posted September 25th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

For start-ups looking for needed funds, the quality and content of your pitch matters – it matters a lot. Hit the right hot buttons and you’ve got a shot. But if you lack the right focus, or trigger one of many investor red flags and alarm bells, you’ll see eyes glaze over as your chance for needed cash leaves the room, with you and your pitch deck close behind. To help ensure your pitch gives you the best chance possible for securing vital funding, we’ve invited three experts — who’ve both made successful pitches and heard hundreds from the other side of the table — to help you nail your presentation, hit the right notes, and steer clear of common blunders. How to Become “Pitch Perfect” and Avoid Investor Turn-Offs, a 90-minute webinar coming October 30th, will provide solid advice and dozens of takeaways on how to ensure your pitch stands out from the crowd, grabs investors’ attention, and ultimately lands the funds you need to take your innovation to the next level and beyond. Our experts are ready to share their pitching best practices and their war stories! For complete program and faculty details or to register, CLICK HERE.

ALSO COMING SOON:

• Thursday, October 4: Myriad: The Gene Patent Fight Continues…
• Thursday, October 25: Getting to “Yes” in University IP Licensing: Mock Negotiation Workshop

Posted September 25th, 2012 under Audioconferences, Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

Bruce Johnston, a sales coach and LinkedIn “evangelist,” says that a mix of key concepts should be integrated into your social media marketing plan. Here are his suggestions:

Don’t go nuts right away: “Huge campaigns take huge time, effort, and money,” notes Johnston. “Ramp up steadily and see what’s working and what isn’t.”

Don’t confuse easy with effective: “One of the concepts that all kinds of people miss is that SMM isn’t free money; you don’t just post anything online and wait for the money to roll in,” notes Johnston. “SMM is like anything else in business or in life; you tend to get results out of it in relation to quantity and quality of effort put in.”

Join conversations in industry and user groups: “Contribute. Say something interesting. Get noticed,” Johnston advises. “There are so many blatant sales pitches in some of these forums that a thoughtful, articulate comment will have twice the impact.”

Keep it short and simple: “The fact is, everyone has so much on their plates these days that they just don’t have the time to devote to long content,” Johnston observes. “A 30-minute how-to video on YouTube may be great, but sectioning it into 10 three-minute videos is much better. And maybe 15 two-minute videos would be better still.”

Be consistent: Don’t mix business with personal: “If you are using your Twitter account as a business platform, stop using it for personal use,” Johnston admonishes. “While social media is less formal than most of us are used to in the business world, remember that you are using it for business. You don’t want to confuse your business reader by interjecting tweets on your review of the new Batman movie.”

Have great content: “If you send a tweet with an update that you are exhibiting at a tradeshow, is that valuable content I want to share with my network?” Johnston challenges. “That’s pretty unlikely. But, if you tweet and reference a story about a novel new way you have solved a quality problem that I and my professional peers wrestle with every day? Well, that, my friend, gets shared.”

Measure potential viewers: Johnston recommends that you measure potential impressions — that is, the number of times your content could have been read. “In my case, I post to my blog three times a week, then link the blog to my LinkedIn account, where the posts can be seen as status updates by my 1,000 connections. So, I have a potential 3,000 impressions a week,” he explains.

Measure content interactions: “This is where you count re-tweets, shares, visits to your blog, likes and similar activities,” notes Johnston. “Count the times people are actually interacting with your content.”

Count engagement interactions: These include comments, questions, opt-ins, and any interaction the reader has with you.

Experiment: “Try a lot of little changes,” Johnston suggests. “Adjust the length of blog posts. Publish content at different times of the day. Experiment with different headlines. Your job is to always be striving to optimize your content and its delivery such that you maximize your opportunities for engagement.”

Source: PCB Design 007

Posted September 25th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

A significantly expanded and updated 8th edition of the unique benchmarking reference Royalty Rates for Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology has just been published. It features more real-deal royalty rates, license fees, and milestone payment benchmarks than any other publication. This new edition contains hundreds of royalty rates and other financial compensation benchmarks that can be used to optimize the pricing of biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovations. You’ll find updated and expanded information from past editions as well as a 30% expansion in the number of reported license agreements. In addition, Royalty Rates for Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology goes well beyond the rates to provide context for each deal analyzed. For a detailed table of contents and sample pages, or to order, CLICK HERE.

Posted September 25th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

During a recent session at the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Community Conference, Jacob VanLandingham, PhD, a researcher with the Florida State University College of Medicine, credited the university with helping faculty such as himself advance the prospects of their discoveries. In his case, the university not only helped him patent his discovery, but also helped him refine his pitch and attracted a CEO for his start-up, called Prevacus.

John A. Fraser, assistant VP for research & economic development and executive director, Office of IP Development and Commercialization, notes that much of this assistance comes through the Office of Research GAP Grant program. “The program has two main functions — working with the faculty and the TTO to better define the business opportunity of a spinout, then working with investors and potential CEOs to build a team and financing to make it happen,” he explains. “They offer a loan program of anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000 to a start-up if it can cash match the loan with a qualified investment round.”

Larry Lynch, GAP program consultant, worked closely with VanLandingham to refine his pitch. If you had seen his original pitch, and then seen it in its current state, he says, “you would not have recognized it; at first the guy could not put two words together that were not technical.”

Lynch is quick to point out that this was due simply to a lack of knowledge about marketing. “Jake’s a pretty smart guy; once he realized the kind of questions and answers that need to be given to non-researchers he got good at it,” he recalls. “You could have taken your 5^th grader to the most recent pitch he gave, and they would have understood what was important and the science behind it — and the problem-solving that could come from that science.”

“Ordinarily researchers are quite technology focused,” notes Fraser. “The GAP program is entirely solution focused — what are the benefits? Larry worked with Jake frequently to refine the pitch from ‘this is a great technology’ to ‘here are the benefits and how it works.’” A detailed article on the GAP program appears in the September 2012 issue of Intellectual Property Marketing Advisor. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

Posted September 25th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

“As a B2B marketer or business owner, your company’s video is more important than ever,” notes Katrina Diamond, director of marketing for ProductionHUB. However, she observes, “all too often, companies produce lackluster videos with bad lighting, poor sound and monotonous delivery, and then wonder why consumers run to higher-quality content.” The key, she says, is to choose the right production company. Here are some of her suggestions:

Do your research: “Search pro video sharing sites like our company’s for examples of videos you like (and don’t like),” Diamond suggests. “Be very specific in searching the specific genres you decided would be a good fit for your company: corporate video, public service announcement (PSA), webisode, commercial, and so on.” If you are having trouble finding examples you like, she adds, you can always perform a detailed Google search, e.g., “Corporate Video Production in New York,” to view and compare local companies. Then, make sure to find styles that match your company’s personality.

Request a quote: Next, request quotes from at least three of the companies whose style you liked best, says Diamond. “Be very detailed upfront about what you are looking for; and remember, you get what you pay for so don’t expect a Superbowl commercial if you went with a discounter solely based on price alone,” she says.

Review credentials: “Compare one company’s reel to others in their specialty,” Diamond advises. “It’s crucial you don’t just hire an artist, but a business-minded creative who can listen to your needs and visually produce a piece to help you solve a problem or reach a specific demographic.”

Ask for references and recommendations: “Your video is the most genuine depiction of your business — and these days, you can’t take it back once it’s out there,” says Diamond. “So make it count.”

Source: Business 2 Community

Posted September 25th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

“If you don’t have good marketing habits, it’s very easy to get excited and motivated for a short time whenever you come across brand new marketing ideas; you try them for a short period of time and then you stop using them,” notes marketing consultant Graham McGregor. He offers these tips he says will help you create and maintain good marketing habits:

Make the habit easy to do: For example, McGregor shares, “I have done extremely well in sales by sending out a small number of handwritten thank you cards each work day in my business.” He says he rarely sends out fewer than four a day. In his Day Timer each day he puts six blank thank you cards and six pre-stamped envelopes. “I also have with me at least 10 names and mailing addresses of people that I could potentially send a thank you card out to.”

Have simple reminders: A salesperson McGregor met explained how he created the habit of asking three people each day for referrals. “He put three coins in his left hand trouser pocket,” he says. “Whenever he asked a person for a referral he would move one coin to his right hand trouser pocket. Every time he put his hands in his pocket he was reminded how many people he still had to ask for referrals.”

Get started early: “One of my personal goals is to write a certain number of articles, special reports and programs on marketing each year,” McGregor notes. “I make sure that each day one of the first things I do is sit at my computer and write a page or more of marketing ideas. This takes around 15 minutes to do. One page a day is over 300 pages a year, which is the size of a book!”

When you have good marketing habits, says McGregor, “you’ll be surprised at the good results these create for you.”

Source: The New Zealand Herald

Posted September 25th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

In today’s interconnected global marketplace, most organizations are missing out on a massive increase in web-based commerce by maintaining their websites in only their own language. Granted there is a significant cost involved in translation, but the revenues associated with making your offerings accessible to the truly “world wide web” may be a compelling equation, according to Rebecca Ray, a senior analyst with Common Sense Advisory. She offers the following guidance:

Shift gears from “cost containment” to “revenue enablement”: Many companies now generate 30% or more of their revenue from outside the U.S., notes Ray, and in the high-tech sector, international sales often account for well over 50% of the total. “This trend only stands to continue, as new and emerging markets around the world form the growth engine for so many businesses,” she says. “Research from Common Sense Advisory shows that the translation budget at most organizations is typically less than 1% of total revenue. In other words, the cost of translation is miniscule compared to the revenue it generates. As a marketing manager, you need to push hard to enable your executives to view translated websites for what they really are — revenue enablers, not cost centers.”

Base your language and market choices on real data: Research shows that no single country or language accounts for more than 25% of the total online population, Ray notes. “That being said, you should be able to effectively communicate with approximately 80% of your potential website visitors using just 11 languages: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish,” she says. “So, the next time someone raises concerns that a multi-lingual website will create too many headaches, reinforce the fact that your company won’t have to deal with hundreds of languages.”

Integrate international SEO as part of your translation process: “SEO is just as critical for prospects to find you outside of your home market as it is inside, but even veteran marketers overlook SEO for non-English-speaking markets,” says Ray. “The trick is that your site may require additional keywords to cover the various ways in which people search on a specific topic in a local market. At the same time, your original phrases must be translated carefully so that they match local search patterns as well. Language service providers that have a strong practice in localizing websites can provide excellent guidance in this area, along with in-country marketing staff and partners, if they are available.”

Focus on mobility for emerging and frontier markets: Even if you have a mobile marketing strategy for English-speaking customers, you may not realize how important mobile really is for people who speak other languages, such as Spanish-speakers in the United States and customers in many other parts of the world, says Ray. “It is often not just the platform of choice, but the only platform on which you can consistently reach your prospects and customers, regardless of age or socioeconomic level,” she asserts. “According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were 6 billion mobile users at the end of 2011 (87% of the world’s population), with 4.5 billion mobile subscribers in the developing world. To ensure that your website strategy is on-track, you should focus on the countries and languages represented in this category that are in your top 10 markets over the next 12 to 18 months, along with the demographics that go with them.”

Add social media to your global marketing mix — now: “The middle classes in emerging and frontier markets expect to engage socially, especially through mobile platforms –often more than in the United States because their offline culture may be much more interactive, community-based, and people-centered to begin with,” says Ray. “Reach out to local staff, partners, and language service providers to find out exactly what approaches and messages resonate on local platforms. For example, customers in Turkey would expect to find your company on Facebook, while prospects in China would look for you on Sina Weibo. No matter which platform you use, you will need to adapt — not just translate — your content for those markets.”

Source: Chief Marketer

Posted September 18th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

Effective training and increased expertise among TTO staff and faculty are critical to boosting productivity in your tech transfer operations — but that for many TTOs the budget doesn’t typically allow for much in terms of professional development. That’s why our Distance Learning Division has created the University Technology Commercialization Boot Camp. This convenient and cost-effective distance learning series — 13 recorded sessions featuring 25 of the leading tech transfer experts in the country — has been crafted to provide immediately useable guidance on a comprehensive range of research commercialization challenges, from encouraging disclosure and protecting your IP to funding, marketing, and licensing your TTO’s portfolio of innovations.

This boot camp series allows you to stretch your professional education budget and give your staff and faculty a well-rounded understanding of their role in nurturing technologies toward the marketplace. You receive all 13 programs in three formats — DVD, on-demand video, and print transcript — with links to all handouts and Powerpoints. You can share it throughout your organization, any time and any place, all for one low price. For complete details on the programs and faculty, and to order this cost-effective training and education tool, CLICK HERE.

Posted September 18th, 2012 under Audioconferences, Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

Too many organizations, including TTOs, still think being ‘social’ is about putting a campaign on Facebook, but it is much more than that, says VisitScotland’s social media manager, Simone Kurtzke. According to Kurtzke, the tourism organization’s aim is to ensure the entire business becomes more ‘natively’ social. “This requires quite a different way of thinking,” says Kurtzke, noting that this involves training staff members from across different departments on social media so that it corresponds to their own business objectives. Here are her five top tips for managing a social media campaign internally:

Create a social media policy: This was the first thing Kurtzke did when she took her job. “Work with your HR team to ensure that all employees are aware and agree with the policy — similar to an IT policy, a social media policy is an absolute must-have these days,” she says. “There are tools such as the Policy tool if you don’t know how to start (http://socialmedia.policytool.net/). However, I would strongly recommend to only use this as a pointer. Your policy must be right for your business and can’t be generic.”

Make it everyone’s job: “Don’t let stakeholders regard you as the person that will execute all their social activity,” Kurtzke cautions. “This will only hinder the fundamental changes required to make a business ‘social media fit.’”

Investigate tools: “There are some awesome tools that help with collaboration,” says Kurtzke. “For instance, GroupTweet will allow stakeholders from different business areas to tweet from the same account, and it’s also got a neat pre-moderation option so that the Social Media Manager can retain editorial control. After all, it’s still your job to be the guardian of your businesses’ social media efforts.” She adds that Conversocial is a tool that makes Facebook activity much more effective and efficient.

Put training into practice quickly: “Don’t just keep it theoretical, and don’t [bring] in external companies who may not understand your specific business needs,” Kurtzke cautions. “Since a change in thinking is required to make social successful, always use practical exercises and then encourage stakeholders to use the new knowledge immediately, i.e. with current activity.”

Be patient: This approach takes time, and not everyone is equally eager, ready, or able, notes Kurtzke. “This is normal and, while it can be frustrating, it’s so much more satisfactory when you see the results,” she says. “Nothing puts a smile on my face like seeing a senior stakeholder suddenly pop up on my Twitter feed!”

Source: eTurboNews

Posted September 18th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

The growing partnership between tech transfer and economic development was clearly evident recently when the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville (GAGE) coordinated a “Get on the Bus” event. The creative marketing effort brought over 50 community and business leaders, investors, Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, and University of Southern Indiana President Linda Bennett to the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Crane Division, for a day to discuss tech transfer opportunities. GAGE has several ongoing initiatives, one of which specifically targets tech transfer and involves a partnership with Crane.

“We’ve have had a partnership agreement with Crane for years; we try to help make connections between the business community and entrepreneurs with federal labs,” says Deborah D. Dewey, president of GAGE and one of the key organizers of the event. “They have objectives to push their technology out, and they have very attractive license agreements.”

Her predecessor had tried to do some technology showcases, bringing people down from the lab and inviting other attendees, “but they did not really get things moving.” She began meeting with local companies, asking about technologies they were interested in and what problems they needed solved.

The thought behind the new campaign was that if the investors could be put on a bus, they would actually see the kinds of resources that were available at Crane. “We also realized that if we just invited them they might not come,” says Dewey, who convinced the mayor to send out the invitations. “We felt that if the mayor invited them they’d think it might be worth taking a day out of their busy schedule to go on a bus trip,” she says. A detailed article on the “Get on the Bus” strategy appears in the September 2012 issue of Intellectual Property Marketing Advisor. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

Posted September 18th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: 1 ]

Although a report by Nielson finds that 53% of mobile users check e-mail on their phone more than once a day, many businesses aren’t ensuring their mobile campaigns are indeed mobile friendly, says Jessica Sanders, a professional blogger and web content writer for ResourceNation.com. According to MarketingTechBlog.com, 80% of consumers find reading marketing e-mails on their mobile more difficult than on a PC, she notes. “So, instead of wasting the great opportunities mobile can bring to your e-mail marketing efforts, consider these tips to make it work for you and the customer”:

Design is critical: The overall design of your e-mails is of utmost importance, says Sanders. She recommends you focus on the following:

• Links: Make your call to action clickable, and be sure it’s big enough to “click” with a fingertip.
• Columns: If you’re doing an all-mobile campaign, be sure to stick with one column. Otherwise, to ensure your e-mails are still friendly for both computer and smart phone, utilize responsive web design, otherwise known as media queries, to adjust for screen size.

Do your testing: “While you’ll have customers receiving e-mails on their phones before you get a chance to test, it’s worthwhile to do so regardless,” says Sanders. “Test more than once to see where there is need for improvement, what seems to be getting clicked, and so on. This will be crucial to ensure your mobile, computer and tablet customers are all getting the same great e-mails.”

Be short and concise: Your mobile e-mail readers are on the go; sitting in line at the bank, stuck in traffic after work or on lunch break, notes Sanders. “To be sure that they are still reading each e-mail you send their way, you want each and every one to be created with focus and intent — from styling to wording,” she says. Consider these factors:

• Simple versus attractive: Mobile customers don’t have much room on their screen, so instead of including dozens of slow loading images that lengthen the e-mail, keep your design simple.
• Subject line: Most mobile phones will only display the first five or six words, so think of it as a Tweet — keep it short and simple but enticing.

Consider the fold: On a mobile phone, your customers don’t see as much on one screen as they do on a computer notes Sanders — and, when your customer can’t see the entire e-mail in one shot, they need more motivation to continue scrolling though. “While some e-mails will inevitably require more text, keep your heavy weighted content on top so you can talk them into scrolling through,” she advises

Basic code changes: Finally, Sanders says, it’s important that you consider the back end of your design. “If your customers are getting the bulk of your e-mail on mobile, you want them to still gain from the content,” she notes. “To do this, you’ll need to modify your coding slightly. For example, Blue Train Mobile suggests, ‘Set inline CSS for all stylings and NEVER use CSS shorthand.’”

Source: Business 2 Community

Posted September 18th, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

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