A Venture Idol Experience

I recently competed in a very interesting, educational and fun contest called Venture Idol. I wrote a article about the experience which was published recently in Inside Indiana Business, a daily newsletter on events of interest.

The following is the full version of the article.

Until next time - all the best!

RolandB

_____________________________________________________________

A Venture Idol experience
By Roland Bydlon - Director of Marketing, ParaPRO LLC

Many of us have heard the term “elevator pitch”. You get on an elevator with Bill Gates and you proceed to explain your company’s big idea or reason for existence before he gets off in 60 seconds or less. Think you can do it? I had the opportunity recently to make that pitch in a public forum. The event was the Indiana Venture Idol competition and the audience was over 200 investors and business owners tasked with evaluating and voting for a winner.

I survived the first round and made it to the finals but unfortunately ParaPRO did not win the $10,000 grand prize. What I did “win” was renewed confidence in our message, invaluable exposure for our company and, most importantly, renewed faith in the ability of teamwork to create a result that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Life teaches us that successful businesses are built by people that are passionate about what they do. Research has found that in the best companies the owners, and individuals in sales and marketing, customer service, even the back office are able to distinctly communicate what their company does and how their job fits in with investors, customers, vendors and other employees.

Venture Idol was hosted by the Venture Club of Indiana and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). It was advertised as a unique, exciting competition that enables young entrepreneurial companies to compete for a $10,000 grand prize – plus the chance to showcase their innovation, market opportunity, and passion before a live audience of leading Angels, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Venture Idol was designed to allow Indiana companies to shine in front of a national audience.

The risk was you could also fail in front of a national audience.

As part of process for getting participants ready for the competition Bruce Kidd and the IEDC paired each entrant with a coach to initially critique the presentation on a one on one basis and then provided a forum where individuals could “dry run” their presentations in a friendly, controlled environment.

When I found out ParaPRO had been selected to compete. I wrote my 60 second and 5 minute presentations. Participants would present an expanded 5 minute presentation if they made it past the initial round. I practiced it numerous times, on my own. Even gave it to my dog, Sadie as we walked around the neighborhood. She was very appreciative. I was confident and ready.

My coach stopped by for our initial meeting. I gave my pitch. He told me I had a great speech. Too bad it was 3 minutes long. My 5 minute talk came in at about 10. My slides were confusing. My talk was missing the mark.

I went back to the drawing board simplified, rewrote, and practiced – now it was on to present to a group of 6 observers most from different backgrounds than health care.

ParaPRO is developing a product to treat head lice. A key benefit we hope to prove is that the product will kill lice and eggs. Parents will no longer have to comb out nits. I went into my story about nits and combing and time and frustration.

One of my coaches commented, after telling me I was way over the time limit, why don’t you just say that ParaPRO will eliminate nitpicking! BINGO! Here was an interesting way to summarize a benefit and get audience participation in a very short period of time. I was comfortable, had a tested message and had weathered the storm. Now I was ready.

The actual event was fun. I enjoyed having the opportunity to spread the word about our product, our company and how we were creating value in Indiana. It was a great day.

It never would have happened without a few individuals (you know who you are) that had the time and the patience to coach a passionate and nervous individual (me) to concisely tell a story that I knew very well but did not have the experience “performing”.

The event was a win for ParaPRO, a win for the attendees and a win for Indiana.

Here are my take aways from the experience:

• Develop a message
• Practice it in front of smart people
• Listen to their feedback
• Take risks, spread the word about what you do
• Have fun & enjoy the ride

The following are some selected lines from a poem I copied many years ago and have carried with me (author unknown)
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To reach out is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To try is to risk failure.
But the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The one who risks nothing, does nothing and has nothing.
Only the one who risks is free.

Roland J. Bydlon is Director of Marketing at ParaPRO LLC. ParaPRO is a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical company. Their first product, a promising new medicine for the treatment of head lice, is currently under review by the FDA. More information can be found at ParaPRO website

What We Can Learn From The Election Campaigns

I read an excellent post this morning that was written by Uriah Av-Ron on critical things to do in digital marketing - for that matter marketing in general. Whoever you supported in the presidential election I think you will agree that Senator, now President-Elect Obama ran a very good campaign, connected with his key supporters and raised a record amount of money for his campaign

Mr. Av-Ron offers 5 suggestions.

1. Maintain a consistent brand message
2. Use Social Networking and other means to talk to your customers and allow them to talk to you
3. Address customer pains - keep in short, relevant and consistent
4. Seek out new market opportunities
5. Implement strategy with tactics - all tactics must tie back to an overall strategy
   

Have a plan. Change it slightly if and when you need to but maintain an overall plan, measure the results and stick to it.

I copied the entire article below.

Until next time - All the best!

RolandB

----------------------------------------------------------------------

What We Can Learn From The Election Campaigns
by Uriah Av-Ron, Thursday, Nov 13, 2008 7:32 AM ET

As a U.S. citizen, I am inspired by this election process which culminated in President-elect Barack Obama's historic victory. And as a publicist working in digital marketing, I found a lot of valuable learning experiences from his campaign that are extremely relevant to online marketers.

1. Maintain a consistent brand message
In this election year, when a campaign could edit and upload a video to YouTube in less than an hour, Obama showed a level of consistency of message that is unprecedented. Though the Obama team did respond to challenges and opportunities from Sen. John McCain's campaign, the overlying message of change was consistent throughout.
This consistency was accentuated in the final month of the campaign by McCain's inconsistency following the financial crisis on Wall Street. First McCain stopped his campaign to take care of the crisis, and then flip-flopped by participating in the first debate a week before Congressional bailout plan was passed. Even Obama's even-tempered disposition during the three presidential debates stood in stark contrast to McCain's tempo, facial expressions and pacing.
In reviewing some of Obama's initial online videos uploaded onto YouTube from early 2007 and 2008. The messaging theme of "change" was already evident in these early videos.
By maintaining a consistent message, Obama also managed to deflect some of the challenges to his campaign, including his lack of executive experience and his association with William Ayres.
As marketers, we all too often have the urge to change something -- a tagline, ad creative, a messaging point -- with something newer. But as we can learn from the Obama's campaign, in this case, change isn't necessarily a good thing.

2. Use of Social Networking
We keep hearing that social networking websites are only good for branding campaigns, yet Obama raised much of his $600 million war chest using social networking. That's quite a result for an ad vehicle that's not supposed to generate results.
I suspect the secret here is in inspiring passion. The challenge for most marketers is that the products or services we are marketing don't inspire passion among the masses. But even if our products or services don't inspire passion, we can all find a way to tie our products or services to ideas that do inspire passion. For example, for a client in online publishing, I'm pitching a charity drive where monies are raised and donated to support literacy. A component of this effort should involve having my client's employees become personally involved in a literacy outreach. There is nothing like the inspiration derived from helping a little boy or girl learn to read.
But a charity campaign is only one way. There are many ways to inspire passion in our customers and communities. And as good marketers, it's up to us to figure out ways to inspire passion.

3. Address customer pains
I watched Obama's response to President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address from January of this year on YouTube where he referred to a sagging economy and problems in the banking system. Though Obama didn't make the economy the main issue of his campaign before September, he clearly understood the importance of economy in the election. And of course, Americans were ripe for change.
In contrast, McCain focused on a range of issues including Iraq and earmarks, which did not resonate with enough Americans.
So when was the last time you spoke with one of your customers? I have learned some of my best marketing lessons from conversations with customers. Marketers should speak at least once per week (if not more) with customers.

4. Seek out new market opportunities
The two main ways to increase sales are to (a) increase your share of the market, and (b) to look for new markets where you can increase your sales. But how many of us expected to see Indiana in the list of markets Obama would pursue?
One of the reasons cited for the Obama campaign's primary victory over Senator Hillary Clinton is the presence of an Obama organization in almost every state. Obama used this organizational advantage to win most of the primaries held immediately after Super Tuesday. He then took the lead in the delegate race and never looked back.
Again in the national election, Obama had strong organizational networks in place in a number of states that had voted for President George W. Bush in 2004, including Virginia, Indiana, Florida and North Carolina. These efforts enabled registering millions of voters and encouraging them to get out and vote.
So how can marketers tap into new markets? There are no easy answers here, but it takes an open mind that's willing to look in unconventional places and through partnerships that enable opening new market opportunities.

5. Implement strategy with tactics
In difficult economic times, there is a tendency to forgo strategy and focus on tactics. But the best tactics are an extension and implementation of a properly defined strategy.
Obama focused on a consistent message centered on a strategy of change and utilized defensive tactics to marginalize McCain's challenges in the face of his own messaging.
In the final month and a half of the campaign, McCain focused exclusively on a range of changing tactics in attempt to improve his poll numbers.
Specifically in the current economic climate, digital marketers need to define strategies that will carry them through the next couple of years and develop tactical plans that will enable them to deliver according to the strategy.
In his concession speech, McCain showed his dignity and humility which have characterized the bipartisan spirit of his tenure in the U.S. Senate. Just maybe, that tone, tempo and messaging, minus a Wall Street crisis, could have brought about a different result.
Av-Ron is the founder/partner of www.oasis-pr.com, an Internet & technology-focused PR agency.