global changes in innovation
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From May 16, 2011 at Startup Monday in Hong Kong. Presented by Kim Terca of Clement Communications.TRANSCRIPT
Global Changes in Innovation
About Clement Communications
Experience with U.S. startups. Clients have been acquired by Dassault Systems, Dell, HP, Red Hat and Oracle.
Experience supporting non-US based organizations in U.S. market. Japan, Australia, Russia, Spain, Canada, France.
Integrated approach: PR, Social Media, PPC
Global Changes In Innovation
Technology innovation outside of U.S. growing quickly.
Web apps and mobile apps easier, less expensive to develop.
North America remains very large buyer of technology
How to tap this market?
“The prevailing view of the past 25 years has been that the U.S.
can thrive as a center of innovation and leave the
manufacturing of products it invents and designs to others...
Nothing can be further than the truth.”
- Gary Pisano, Harvard Business School
More opportunities for tech startups worldwide:
Web and Mobile Apps Growing Quickly
Gartner: Consumers spent $6.2 billion USD on mobile apps in 2010
Gartner: Consumers will spend $21.6 billion USD on mobile apps in 2013
Goldman Sachs: In 40 Years, the United States will be the only member of the G7 that is still
one of the seven largest economies in the world
How is U.S. Market unique?
Channel partners are not enough. You need your own direct presence.
U.S. is an exit market. Attracting venture capital. Selling your product is one piece of it, but also need to consider exit strategy.
How Companies Enter North American Market
Conservative. Grow local revenues first, then sell into U.S. market when you can. Angry Birds and SAP both did it this way.
Land and grow (Exalead, Opengear). Hire full time person in U.S. who reports to overseas HQ.
Move Headquarters to US
Toe in water: Gain North American customers and end users through PR and PPC.
Conservative – Angry Birds (Finland)
Founder “Win local market first”: 52nd game they had created. Goal was to own our home country first (Finland), then expand.
Game released in December 2009, and it went to number one in Finland pretty much overnight. It took until mid-February for Apple to feature the game, and that's what pushed it to number one in the UK. Today, it’s still #1 in U.S.
Land and Grow: Opengear (Australia)
Hire U.S.-based expert to grow team.
Give that person marketing authority in North America.
Hire U.S. people and agencies – build US channel.
Opengear: 50%-100% growth year over year, North American market the strongest.
Move HQ to US: Funambol (Italy)
“Move the headquarters to U.S. because you can find funding, partners and the exit for the company here…see who was acquired recently: Zimbra, MySQL, Trolltech, Xensource. Where were their headquarters? The job of HQ is to get funding, to find partners, to deliver an exit.” - Fabrizio Capobianco , co-founder, president of Funambol.
“It’s not necessary to physically relocate to the U.S., but you need to mentally relocate. You need to be online, working during U.S. hours in real time.” - Bob Waldie, CEO of Opengear
Toe in Water: yaM Labs (Russia) and Zingaya (Russia)
Blended approach: SEO, PR, PPC
Hire native speaker to edit materials and create U.S.-friendly marketing presence
Consider a launch event: e.g., Under the Radar (YaM) or Demo (Zingaya)
Approaches to U.S. MarketingPPC, PR, SEO, and Social Media
PPC (Pay Per Click)
Why PPC? Reach people you don’t get via other channels People who visit your site via PPC are more likely to try new product Transparent ROI Market engagement: you see what people are clicking on, get feedback Can see if it works without large financial investment
Considerations: Doesn’t have to be expensive Takes a lot of time to do it well. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you won’t get
much out. You can hire expert, or study on your own.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Consider hiring firm
Optimize your website with keywords that you find resonate through PPC: header tags, title tags, image descriptions
In outbound communications, use hyperlinked keywords
Press releases can nudge SEO over time
Social Media
Why social media? Interact with users, get feedback on product Use social media channels to describe your product and advertise
Considerations: It’s difficult to do well and time-consuming
Tips: Concentrate on key platforms: In US, we recommend Twitter, Facebook, YouTube Have personality, offer value, don’t spam
Public Relations
Long-term commitment, not about short-term payoff
Build your visibility step by step. Create visibility over time.
Reporters give you feedback
Tips: reach out on consistent basis, demonstrate momentum Look for 3rd party validation: users, downloads, partners
Campaign #1 Media Coverage – Big Bang (100% PR)
29 articles appearing in 2 days in publications including:
ReutersThe Wall Street Journal All Things DigitalAssociated Press
The RegisterVentureWireFinancial Times Tech San Jose Mercury NewsVenture Beat
<10 articles appearing in publications over 2 month span including:
GigaOmInformationWeekTechCrunchVentureWireSiliconAngleUnder the Radar Blog
Campaign #2 Media Coverage – Rolling Thunder
Who is Winning?
Tale of Two Campaigns
Campaign #1
Campaign #2
PR Can’t Win Alone
PR drives flash interest, generally with low bounce rates. But 2 days after the announcement, value evaporated.
PPC campaign drove 25% of traffic for campaign for 2 solid weeks. Bounce rate was much higher (80%) However, drove new sign ups, key for a startup getting early adopter feedback.
Thank you