American Business: Market Research
Danny Meyer, Restaurateur, Union Square Hospitality Group, @dhmeyer
Mauria Finley, founder and CEO of Citrus...
American Business: Market Research
Danny Meyer, Restaurateur, Union Square Hospitality Group, @dhmeyer
Mauria Finley, founder and CEO of Citrus Lane, has worked at several large Silicon Valley companies including–AOL, Ebay and Paypal. What she learned in those companies allowed her to follow her dream of starting her own company, Citrus Lane. Citrus Lane delivers a monthy box of goodies (approx $25 a month) with innovative products and advice for parents of children under 3 years old. She decided she would take a very scientific approach and wouldn't start Citrus Lane unless there was a definite need. So before launching her company, she did approximately a dozen low cost focus groups with mockups of the Citrus Lane monthy boxes. She held these focus groups at peoples homes and made them comfortable by serving snacks and allowing them to bring their children. She had them rate the concepts, the boxes and immediately saw there was a need.
Mauria will guide us on a low cost way to do this with your business. She'll go through some actionable advice to conducting your own marketing/focus groups, usability studies for products and websites, and how to effectively integrate social media into the mix since listening to your customers is the bottom line of ALL of her advice.
Panelists:
Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council & co-founder of Gen Y Capital Partners, @askgerber
Jay Goltz, president & founder of Goltz Group, @JaySmallBiz
Small Biz Top Five: Twitter Leads
Twitter can be a great way to get new customers for your small business. This week, we take a look at five ways you can gather leads using Twitter, courtesy of BizBest.com.
1. CREATE YOUR OWN BUSINESS-BRANDED PAGE
2. USE "FEATURED" TWEETS
3. LEVERAGE THE POWER OF HASHTAGS
4. MAKE SURE YOUR TWITTER PROFILE SHOWS UP IN SEARCH
5. INSTALL YOUR OWN CUSTOM TWITTER PAGE BACKGROUND
Source: Bizbest.com
Digital Do-It-Yourself: Social Media Marketing
Regina Stone, owner of Brooklyn Stone Boutique, @BklynStone
Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council & co-founder of Gen Y Capital Partners, @askgerber
Social media is one marketing resource that all small businesses know they need to have, but many aren't using effectively. In this DIY, we meet a Brooklyn clothing boutique owner who has set up her business on all the different social media platforms but isn't seeing it translate into customers coming through the door. Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, walks us through some easy ways small business owners can effectively market using social media.
Elevator Pitch: The Talking Dog Bed
Mike and Kimberly Newman are the creators of the Talking Dog Bed, a dog bed with a recording device so that pet owners can comfort their pet with the sound of their voice.
They came up with the idea when they adopted two dogs. Kimberly says they would often call home and leave messages on our answering machine, to comfort them, while they were away. It occurred to them that a dog bed, with a recording device that triggers the playback when the dog steps into the bed, would help keep the dog calm. A pet owner can record their own voice message onto the bed recording device, so their pet is comforted by their voice while they are away at work, school etc. Michael immediately got to work and developed this concept. They are seeking an investment of $250,000.00. They are planning to use the money for manufacturing the product, developing a 2 minute TV ad, and purchasing airtime in selected markets.
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