The Internet Echo – Social Media as Marketing by Kevin Dwinnell

Maybe in space no one can hear you scream, but if you’re well connected – everyone on the Internet can. Just ask Jason Calacanis. (Sorry Jason, that made me laugh.)

We’re not as well connected as Jason, but we remain impressed by the incidental reach social media provides some of the standard marketing initiatives for our branded browsers (Booms). That’s critical for a startup that’s doesn’t have an extensive marketing budget. If you’re willing to put in the energy, effort, and play by the rules of social media – it can be rewarding.

So, if you’re not using social media for your business, we encourage you to try it and see what the ripple effect is for your business.

The following is a snapshot of just the Twittering that resulted from the announcement of Brand Thunder’s funding by Ohio TechAngels:

• The press release dropped Tues, Jan 27.
• I tweeted about it later that day
• By morning, Jan 28, CNET picked up the story
• By afternoon of Jan 28 many more tweets occurred
• International coverage occurred within a day or two
• Corresponding tweets followed.

Twitter Timeline:

Note: Twitter aggregation pulled from TweetBeep’s free email Alerts.

kdwinnell: Funding announcement for Brand Thunder. Woohoo! http://tinyurl.com/d63s4e
Wednesday, January 28th at 00:54:37 · Reply · View Tweet

bblanquera: RT @kdwinnell: Funding announcement for Brand Thunder. Woohoo! http://tinyurl.com/d63s4e
Wednesday, January 28th at 00:56:33 · Reply · View Tweet

bigkumadog: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:46:56 · Reply · View Tweet

NewsOnTwitter: CNET NEWS – Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, wh.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:49:17 · Reply · View Tweet

logical_caro: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding – Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and s… http://bit.ly/PqCc
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:50:15 · Reply · View Tweet

Duma: [Web2.0] Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 16:56:28 · Reply · View Tweet

TechRSS: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins Firefox and.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:03:28 · Reply · View Tweet

puleen: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brand.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:09:34 · Reply · View Tweet

TwitLinksRSS: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding | Digital Media – CNET News: Brand Thunder , a company that customizes Fi.. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:09:43 · Reply · View Tweet

junlabao: CNET: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Ohio TechAngels has invested in Brand Thunder, which reskins .. http://tinyurl.com/bh3yw4
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:12:04 · Reply · View Tweet

Webware: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brand.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:12:26 · Reply · View Tweet

macatron: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that customizes Firefox with customers’ brands.. http://tinyurl.com/cgd2ur
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:24:20 · Reply · View Tweet

logical_caro: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding – Angel investors are putting money into Brand Thunder, which re-skins Firef… http://bit.ly/PqCc
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:30:20 · Reply · View Tweet

TIAS: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with brands, inked deal with MLS: http://tinyurl.com/cranhb
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:35:55 · Reply · View Tweet

writerhunt: Web 2.0 Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Fir.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:42:18 · Reply · View Tweet

haripakorss: Firefox-branding start-up gets funding: Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with brands.. http://tinyurl.com/dkbhhm
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:50:12 · Reply · View Tweet

brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:52:22 · Reply · View Tweet

MichaelBowers: Retweeting @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:53:03 · Reply · View Tweet

PhyllisNichols: RT @MichaelBowers Retweeting @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 17:58:37 · Reply · View Tweet

tomhaney: RT: brandthunder Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:09:01 · Reply · View Tweet

chiefgadd: @brandthunder great job getting some more good press! Brand Thunder is one of our Rock Star Central Ohio IT Startups!!! Way to go!!!
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:18:05 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: RT @chiefgadd: @brandthunder great job getting more good press! Brand Thunder is one of our Rock Star Central Ohio IT Startups! Way to go!
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:24:00 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: RT @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:25:32 · Reply · View Tweet

bblanquera: RT @RickCoplin: RT @brandthunder: Brand Thunder on CNET! http://snurl.com/avzxu
Wednesday, January 28th at 18:34:08 · Reply · View Tweet

anteek: #News : Firefox-branding start-up gets funding Brand Thunder, a company that lets people customize Firefox with.. http://TwitPWR.com/37X/
Thursday, January 29th at 16:48:50 · Reply · View Tweet

giacomodotta: Brand Thunder: Firefox per valorizzare il brand http://ff.im/-P7uK
Friday, January 30th at 13:29:56 · Reply · View Tweet

masey: Quite a decent Canucks Firefox theme (http://twitpic.com/19b67), amongst others to be found at Brand Thunder now – http://is.gd/hRia
Friday, January 30th at 22:58:36 · Reply · View Tweet

dudtn: “Brand Thunder – FireFox 커스터마이징을 통한 수익모델” http://tinyurl.com/atwybh firefox 테마 참 이쁘네요^^ 돈받고 &
Saturday, January 31st at 13:17:10 · Reply · View Tweet

RickCoplin: Brand Thunder rocks the other side of the planet! http://poprl.com/GQ Who can read/speak Italian?
Monday, February 2nd at 13:22:06 · Reply · View Tweet

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Branded Browser, CNET Networks, custom browser, firefox, Jason Calacanis, marketing, Mozilla Firefox, startup, tweetbeep, Twitter, web 2.0 | 2 Comments »

First Trade Show Preparations – Brand Thunder Heads to National Sports Forum by Kevin Dwinnell

It would be easy to think heading to Phoenix at the end of January is a simple case of escaping the mid-west winter. That’s only partially true. Brand Thunder is attending its first trade show, the National Sports Forum, January 26 – 28, to show off our branded browsers.

So, how does a startup that’s trying to preserve cash decide to attend a trade show? It wasn’t an easy decision. We’re frugal in many respects and the cost of attending a tradeshow is no small matter. In the interest of sharing, here are the decision points and discoveries we made in this process.

1. Know your target audience.

We’re a growing company trying to reach critical mass. Our data suggests sports teams understand the value of our branded browsers, move from prospect to client at a reasonable rate and have audiences that adopt our product at a rate that satisfy our clients and our business model.

2. Know the show’s audience.

The show’s sales staff told us that major teams and their decision makers attend. We researched this claim. And while past results are not an indicator of future performance – the odds looked good. Based on the attendee list we just received, this has borne out.

3. Cost effective booth design.

Elegant doesn’t need to be expensive. Through Guru.com we found Pixl Designs who gave a very reasonable estimate, and outstanding results, despite the design challenge of communicating the visual power of our browser themes in a vertical format. We wanted banners to hang from the curtained framing provided by the show creating a booth feel without a booth expense.

4. Cost effective banner production.

We chose to use 2’x6’ banners due to the low, online prices we found. Prices were so low, we ordered early anticipating the potential need to reorder. The truth was Just4Banners.com delivered excellent results, at an amazing price. The order was placed late on a Monday and in hand by Wednesday – despite choosing 3-day shipping.

5. Getting attendees to stop.

We have a range of tactics to generate booth traffic including video loops demonstrating the transformation from standard Firefox to immersive branded browser (also produced by Pixl). Monitors showing the video will be positioned to attract passersby and “sell” on their own or act as real-time examples for our sales staff to discuss. We’ll also have useful information from our other sports team partners as “leave behinds” and a contingency plan for a daily giveaway – just in case. This show has such a focused audience for us, we can’t risk missing this lead generation opportunity.

6. Have a full schedule prior to the show.

We’re now in process of using our network to help arrange as many meetings as possible prior to the show. The goal is to have the off-show hours filled with appointments – at least as much as possible.

We’re optimistic about this event, and in a few weeks will discuss our learning from it. And if you have any suggestions for us to act on before we travel, please share them!

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Branded Browser, custom browser, firefox, Lead generation, Mozilla Firefox, sports marketing, startup, Target audience, trade show | 3 Comments »