SocialDevCamp Chicago took place this past weekend and had so many poignant moments and key takeaways that it took a while to digest. From high profile keynotes by representatives from Groupon, Google, Cheezburger Network, talks on the business and technology sides of the social web and lively, moderated unconference discussions to a weekend long hackathon…
Read MoreAnyone that has worked the startup life before knows how different and difficult it can be and how important marketing and lead generation is to the survival of the company. Especially when you’re first starting out, the win of a single customer could be what pays the light bill for the month or the loss…
Read MoreEditor’s Note: This article was written by Ross Kimbarovsky. Ross is the co-founder of crowdSPRING, an online marketplace for creative services ranging from graphic, web and industrial design to copywriting services. Follow Ross on Twitter @rosskimbarovsky and @crowdSPRING. As I wrote last week in 10 Tips for Startups on Naming Your Company, coming up with…
Read MoreA few months ago, Jill Felska and Jenn Korducki quit their jobs at a large PR agency in Chicago and started their own social media branding and management company. As Jill explains in the video above, they decided “to enter the grad school of life” and learn the intricacies of business by simply doing it….
Read MoreEditor’s Note: This article was written by Ross Kimbarovsky. Ross is the co-founder of crowdSPRING, an online marketplace for creative services ranging from graphic, web and industrial design to copywriting services. Follow Ross on Twitter @rosskimbarovsky and @crowdSPRING. Naming your company can be challenging and time consuming. If you need help or simply don’t have…
Read MoreIf candidates were required to pass an entrance exam for a career in marketing, the test would have historically included the following analogy: Content :: Design as Substance :: Style. “Business thinking” and “creative thinking” have long been considered discrete disciplines, complementary at best (think: word-heavy Word-doc reports and taking on the task of “prettying…
Read MoreA Day at the Online Marketing Summit - San Jose, CA The Silicon Valley is known for housing a high-concentration of global technology companies such as Apple, Adobe, Cisco, Google, and Sun Microsystems. Last Friday, the Valley was also the home of the seventh stop of the Online Marketing Summit’s 2010 23-City Tour. Started in 2006,…
Read MoreOn Friday, June 18, at Digital Capital Week, Zenzi Communications will share the top tips and best practices for “PR in a Digital World.” As marketing and PR are changing rapidly with the constant evolution and expansion of the digital ecosystem, success requires integrated efforts that combine the smartest tactics in traditional PR combined with…
Read MoreThe idea of managing a community online and off has been around since the earliest days of AOL and Compuserve. Recently, the official role of “community manager” has become more prevalent as social media has taken rise giving consumers a louder voice. Due to this shift, connecting a business with its community has become a…
Read MoreSo you want to connect your business with the students on a college campus? This sought after demographic can sometimes present companies a logistical challenge. So we thought we would offer up some tips on how to best connect with campus organizations and in doing so, forge the connections necessary to connect with college students…
Read MoreFor those who’ve been following Twitter closely this last week, you may have noticed an unusual number of your Twitter users bragging that they’ve: “Just unlocked the ‘Swarm’ badge on @foursquare!” Foursquare users can unlock this rare Swarm badge, by being one of 50 or more users to check into the same establishment at the same time. …
Read MoreEntrepreneurs are all brands onto themselves because they are judged based on their reputations. I remember speaking to Jeff Taylor, the founder of Monster.com, about how he got funding for his new social network, eons.com. He explained to me that based on his previous success, he was trusted with millions of dollars in support of…
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Editor’s Note: Adapted from an article originally on Somewhat Frank. I have been writing about start-up companies and emerging technology for quite sometime and in doing so I have come to recognize the approach to success that start-ups take. This past summer, I got a chance to take another look at a different kind of…
Read MoreEditor’s Note: This article was contributed by longtime Chicago TECH cocktailer David Dalka. You can follow him on Twitter at @dalka. If you are in the Chicagoland area you might want to head up to Milwaukee to the one-day seminar, Think Tank Live! Digital Marketing & Social Media Summit. The event, on Tuesday, February 23,…
Read MoreYesterday, I attended the Big Ideas Big Action (or BIBA) event in Washington, D.C. hosted by iStrategyLabs and FedScoop. The event exuded quirkiness, filled with Playdoh, blow up beach balls and dinosaurs, Etch-n-Sketch, Legos and more as it brought together a blended crowd of creatives, entrepreneurs, government officials and marketers from the Washington, D.C. region….
Read MoreEditor’s Note: This article was written by Shashi Bellamkonda. He blogs at: blog.networksolutions.com and shashi.name. You can follow him on Twitter at: @shashib. I spoke at SXSW 2009 on the topic “A Hard Sell? Social Media & Your Boss” along with Raj Malik Sr. Director legal at Network Solutions. Several people in the audience wanted…
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Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
We are excited to announce the participating startups for Tech Cocktail's South by Southwest (SXSW) event: #Startuplife Celebration presented by .CO. It was one of... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More