So far at the Sun StartupCamp, we've heard from Jonathan Schwartz about the company's attention to the startup developer community. Now we hear from a panel on building your brand. S. Neil Vineberg, President of Vineberg Communications, is moderating the panel entitled Notes From Mission Control: Rules For A Successful Media Launch.
On the panel we have Matt Dickman, Vice-President of Fleishman-Hillard, Jyri Engestrom, Entreprenuer and Google employee, Christina Kerley, a Marketing Specialist from ckEpiphany, Inc. and Adam Metz, a Partner at theMIX Agency.
As most startups will seek out press once they're ready for spreading the word about their company, this panel is surely helpful for a number of entrepreneurs out there. Here are some of the points the panel discussed:
~ have a good personality that becomes central to the brand (Steve Jobs, Richard Branson)
~ have transparency with different audiences: press, users, consumers, partners, etc.
~ current trends. how can you use them to tell your story?
~ strategy behind press and marketing
~ first impressions are key. you have 5 seconds or less to convey how your different, & institute personality
~ create new tactics. if you don't fit into an existing category, create one.
~ make a conversation centralizer, whether it be an aggregator on your RSS, or a network on Ning where others can engage in the discussions
~ jaiku example: get people to rely on your platform for their own success, because they'll do marketing for you.