This document provides advice on branding, marketing, and growing influence as presented to an accelerator program. It discusses establishing expertise through focus, storytelling and content creation. Tools for following industry news like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are outlined. Creating your own narratives involves dedicating time to research and leveraging personal strengths. Connecting with influencers requires collaboration, empathy and having a pressroom ready. Infrastructure like skills, analytics and social media platforms are also needed to be influential. Content should be customer-focused, data-driven and in video/audio formats to attract readers. Growing influence long-term requires consistency, courage and having an influence goal in mind. Good PR for startups involves targeting media, offering exclusive content and having

1. BRANDING &
MARKETING
P R E S E N T E D T O C U R T I N A C C E L E R A T E M E N T O R I N G
M A R C H 2 0 1 6 J A C K I E S H E R V I N G T O N

2. INTRODUCTIONS
• About Me:
– 30 years experience across; direct marketing, media & print, digital, SEM
– Some highlights; WCRS/dma (London), Westpac, Microsoft (Communique), Bankwest,
eGroup, ineedhits (bonfire)…
– Have enjoyed playing ahead of the curve – maybe sometimes too far ahead.
– Start ups – Insurance My Way, Gooruze, launched regional newspaper, Work in progress
• About you?

3. THE BRIEF:
1. How to establish yourself as an expert in your field?
2. What tools are used to follow important news and narratives?
3. How do you identify and create industry narratives of your own?
4. How do you identify and connect with influencers and journalists?
5. What infrastructure do you need to be influential?
6. How do you create content that attracts readers and commentary?
7. How do you grow your influence in a market over time?
8. How can you attract good PR as a start-up?

4. 5 GROUND RULES
1ST - LEARN FROM THE GURU’S
• For me Seth Godin continues to speak with great intelligence &
relevance.
• Brian Solis, Neil Patel, Darren Rowse, Andy Beal etc
• Gary Vee is an example of new dynamic, entrepreneur and social
media expert – love him or hate him he is the new entrep/mkting
celebrity. askgaryvee
• Dan Goleman - success demands emotional intelligence and
focus. Goleman boils down attention research into a threesome:
inner (self awareness), other, and outer focus.

5. 2ND – CUSTOMER FOCUS
• What is the customer
need/opportunity
• Product/service must be
great – otherwise all
effort wasted.
• Time is the most
important commodity
today.
• Your brand is defined by
the customer experience
• CX is a big differentiator
in the marketplace
A 2015 Vision Critical study found that 42 percent of
Americans will stop shopping with a brand after only two
bad service experiences.

6. 3RD. SCARCITY TODAY IS
“ATTENTION & TRUST”
• Gain attention by building trust:
Trust is your ability to accurately
predict another person’s behavior.
Do what you love and believe in ….
your energy is genuine
• The challenge is you risk destroying your trust - built on a history of behavior
(reputation) - to capture attention.
• It takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but it can be lost in an instant due to a bad
choice.

7. 4TH- PUT IN THE EFFORT
• Work hard – time on ground – the “idea” is only a fraction of the sum –
execution is everything
• Focus – avoid dilution of effort
– Work in chunks
– Reward effort
TIP! Commit to a regular
daily/weekly blog/vlog – if
nothing else it helps keep you in
check – good place to ensure self-
awareness

8. 5TH – KNOW YOUR NUMBERS
• Bottom line… not top line
– Leads x Conversion% = Customers, right?
– Cost per acquisition
– Lifetime value
• Monitor and look for patterns
• Have a scorecard from day 1 – across the team
• Long term thinking – Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
LET’S ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS TOGETHER

9. 1. HOW TO ESTABLISH YOURSELF AS
AN EXPERT IN YOUR FIELD?
Focus on your strengths – self awareness
Storytelling
Content is king – but context is the “queen”
Collaboration
DJ or creator
Rebrand or refocus when necessary (tweak your
brand)
STICK AT IT - “Most people overestimate what they
can do in one year and underestimate what they
can do in ten years.” Bill Gates

10. 2. WHAT TOOLS ARE USED TO FOLLOW
IMPORTANT NEWS AND NARRATIVES?
Less tools and more time commitment – dedicate x time per day to research. For me I
follow the guru’s
Workshop within class:
Facebook
Linked in
Twitter
Soundcloud
Trackur

11. 3. HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY AND CREATE
INDUSTRY NARRATIVES OF YOUR OWN?
Seth says he spends 10 hours a day thinking about
his daily blog post – i.e. no simple answer just
dedicate time. His formula is get bored – don’t
waste your life away clicking “like”
Avoid multi-failing – be focused in activity
Leverage your personal strengths and self
awareness
Again context not content – video, audio, cartoon,
slides, blog, instagram

12. 4. HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY AND CONNECT
WITH INFLUENCERS AND JOURNALISTS?
Collaborate (start with who you know)
Empathy & Respect – “Show through your actions that you respect their
work, business, time, and privacy”. E.g morning not “deadline time”, email
pre frame.
Insight – Who are they. Customize your message
Have your pressroom ready
Try, measure, repeat
Answer promptly
Long term – Law of reciprocity

13. 5. WHAT INFRASTRUCTURE DO YOU NEED
TO BE INFLUENTIAL?
Skills – communication, public speaking
Analytics
Database
SEO – key word audit
• Gather your digital assets (video, pics, graphics, audio, presentations, press releases,
etc.)
• Build a Blog
• Choose multiple social media platforms based on your digital assets and target
demographic
• Connect the platforms with links, RSS feeds and widgets
• Make sure lead generation websites, microsites and/or landing pages are linked into
the infrastructure.

14. 6. HOW DO YOU CREATE CONTENT THAT
ATTRACTS READERS AND COMMENTARY?
Customer focused content/context – long/short copy/video/audio
Data/credibility – data driven posts always perform better. Remember “TRUST”
groundrule – data/”fact” check.
Be specific – niche focus to make a difference
Design quality essential
3 Es content - Empower, Educate, Entertain
Quality not quantity

15. 7. HOW DO YOU GROW YOUR INFLUENCE
IN A MARKET OVER TIME?
Know what you want to influence – your influence goal.
Courage /strength to stay firm - to stand out and say no if required
Be self aware – play on your strengths
Commit to regularity. Be consistent.
Influence = Audience Reach
(# of followers) x
Brand Affinity (expertise and credibility) x
Strength of Relationship with Followers

16. 8. HOW CAN YOU ATTRACT GOOD PR AS A
START-UP?
Target media outlets/journalists – medical, rural, fashion etc
Media/journalists looking for unique content – don’t do mass pitch – offer exclusive
Newsworthy angle – journalists don’t want to risk “advertorial”
Creative pitch – Storytelling/ looking for uniqueness
Data – back up your story with numbers
Attention grabbing – not a boring press release