If you read this blog you will know we always have a lot of fun with the Startups that come out of Alpha lab. This summer’s batch of companies looks exciting! We will be meeting and interviewing these companies in the coming weeks.
Here is a list of the companies with descriptions from the Alpha Lab website:
Fooala
Fooala enables online ordering capabilities for restaurants through their own websites and a network of partner applications. Restaurants can join Fooala with no upfront costs or equipment purchase requirement.
CloudFab
GearHeadz LLC is working to create CloudFab, which connects job shops with spare capacity to customers seeking their services. They are an online marketplace that provides lower costs, automated quoting, integrated payment & escrow, and an arbitration system.
LeftRight Studios
LeftRight Studios is a mobile application development company. We are currently developing unique mobile games exclusively for the iPhone. Our first title, smackBOTS (available through the iTunes and iPhone Appstore) is an arcade style robot fighting game in a single player version with robot customization. Our upcoming multi-player version of smackBots will feature in-app purchasing of downloadable content packs for more robot customization including weapons, armors and robot heads.
Vivo
Vivo is a web-based video broadcasting service that provides users a private, customizable environment for sharing events.
NavPrescience
NavPrescience is developing advanced methods for learning drivers’ routing preferences and destinations by observing their frequent driving routes. This technology enables navigation solutions that automatically adapt to each driver’s navigation preferences and provide relevant information (such as traffic reports) to the driver based on the future roadways and destinations he or she will visit.
Zipano
Zipano aspires to empower users of social networking sites and other information sharing services (including location sharing applications) to better control and manage who they share their personal information with. Their unique platform offers the user better ways to express his privacy preferences and enables the user to monitor with whom his information is shared. This functionality has been shown to result in higher levels of user comfort and willingness to selectively share information. We demonstrate the capabilities of our platform with Locaccino, a fully functional location sharing application, developed at Carnegie Mellon University.
Photo by Steve Bridger
Last week, I told you how you can create a blog-like effect with your Press Releases by
adding an RSS feed. This week I am going to show you how a blog can help you fill the gaps between big announcements for additional press.
Before you start scrambling around to set up your new blog ask yourself these three questions:
- Do you have something new to say weekly or daily? One of the worst things you can do is setup a blog and then fail to update it. Having a poorly maintained blog can make your company look dead.
- Are your customers looking for an online connection? If you have no one to talk to then you shouldn’t start a blog. If you build it, they will not always come. If your company is retail or service based, it’s almost a no-brainer to have a blog.
- Do you feel comfortable giving up control? Having a blog on your site will give people a forum to talk about your company via blog comments. Yes, you can turn the comment feature off on most blogging platforms but if you do, you are missing a chance to learn from your customers.
If you answered yes to at least two of these questions, it might be a good idea to start researching ways you can set up a blog. There are a lot of people online that can help you with this, like ProBlogger. If you would like an idea on what is involved, check out this eHow article, How to Setup a Business Blog.
A blog can be a great tool to communicate to your customers. But, if you don’t know what to say you could end up with a blog that lacks updates. Here is a short list of topic ideas:
- Product Research: Write a post about a new direction your taking with a product, and see what your customers have to say about it. You don’t have to give away your secrets, but try to find a clever way to let them think they are in on the “secret”. It builds loyalty.
- Office Life: The great thing about a blog is that it can add the “personal touch” to your company. Write about the new dog someone got in the office or the April Fool’s joke you played on each other. These kinds of post can do wonders for building a personality around your products and brand, but it’s not for everyone. A trendy company like Mod Cloth can get away with posts like this, but a life science company might want to stay away.
- Little Things: Let’s say all you did was change the color of your product. It’s not something you would rush out and write a press release about, but it’s definitely something you should blog about.
- Industry News: If there is a new development that has something to do with your industry or products, write about it. Chances are your customers will find value in the information.
- Jobs: If you or one of your vendors has a job opening, write a post about it. I have seen a few companies do this, but I do not know the outcome.
On a blog you can post anything you feel comfortable posting. Before you get started, remember to set some boundaries. If you think your brand would not get any benefit out of talking about office life, then don’t post about it. Write posts that compliment the brand your company already markets.
Next week I will share with you ways you can have your customers do marketing for you with Social Media. This can also be helpful for companies that do not have a need for a blog, but have customers looking for an online connection.
Photo by Adam Sacco
It seems that a lot of startups in Pittsburgh are not using the internet to communicate to new media. They have websites, but fail to use them to their fullest potential. This makes it hard for people like me to find the information I need.
In the next few weeks I hope to change that. I am going to start a web series about how you can communicate better to new media outlets. I am going to break it up into three posts.
- Press Releases / RSS – This will be about how you can take the PR you are already doing and make it easier for new media types to find and use it.
- Business Blog – A lot of people do not think a business blog is important. In this post I will convince you otherwise.
- Social Media – I will share with you my thoughts on when startups should and shouldn’t take part in social media. It’s not for everyone.
I would like to point out that I am not an expert on New Media, but I do have a lot of experience. I would be skeptical of anyone that calls themselves an expert. New media changes so fast that what is a good idea now, can be a bad one in just a few weeks.
To keep information in our posts helpful to everyone, please comment with any questions or suggestions you may have. That way everyone can benefit from the added information.
