Category Archives: networking

Stars in our eyes – Ideablob award to Atlanta entrepreneur

By DavidSCohen | Published: July 28, 2008

Thanks to my friend, Mike Schinkel, I spent last Friday evening at a cool little awards ceremony hosted at the Fernbank Science Center.   The event was a special gathering to recognize a local entrepreneur and PhD candidate, Jessica Hammock, and to present her with a photo-op-ready oversized check for $10,000 to help her lauch her new business idea.   Jessica is developing a business, called Project Epiphany, to help urban kids learn about astronomy and give them a chance to do real field observations with professional equipment and far enough outside the city lights to be able to actually see something in the night sky.   Sounds like a great idea, and it is one of many businesses receiving funding through an innovative program inspired and funded by Advanta, called Ideablob.   In their own words:

Ideablob.com is a community of small business owners and entrepreneurs who bounce ideas off each other. They give feedback, advice and much-needed encouragement. Every month, the community votes on the best idea. The winner gets $10,000 to help their idea grow.

Check out their site and join in to congratulate and support Jessica Hammock, our local winner.

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Interview on Atlanta Business Radio

By DavidSCohen | Published: July 21, 2008
Just a quick note to mention that I was interviewed recently on Atlanta Business Radio. Hosts Amy Otto and Lee Kantor made me feel right at home as we discussed how the Internet has impacted the way we brand and some tips that small businesses can learn from the big ones. Click here: David Cohen on Atlanta Business Radio to visit the site.

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Tell me a story

By DavidSCohen | Published: June 18, 2008

We are born with a craving for stories.   Ask any parent if their kids ever ask them to read them a report or a product sheet or a market study – of course not, but “tell me a story”, that’s a common refrain.   As adults we may not climb into a lap to ask for a story, but we’re wired for them just the same.   Yesterday, I had the good fortune to sit in on a presentation by Mike Wittenstein of Storyminers.  Mike is a great storyteller, but more importantly he helps people to see the importance of story as a means of making a connection with people.  For us so-called grown-ups, “What do you do?”  is the common refrain, but Mike reminded me that what is really being asked for is that same “tell me story” from childhood.

What if the next time someone asks you that question you answer with a story, instead of the usual 30 second commercial?   Try a real story about one of your customers, and describe the journey taken in working with you.  Set the stage by  talking about the client’s situation and the emotional state it caused.  Talk about the problems solved and the changing circumstances that came as a result.  Finally, bring on the “happily ever after” – share the client’s success and happiness that were the outcome of working with you.  Find the compelling beginning, middle and end and you may find that talking about someone else’s experience is an effective way of communicating your own abilities.

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A seven-point tune-up for your personal brand

By DavidSCohen | Published: March 24, 2008

My friend Mike just sent me a link to a nice article on personal branding: Maintaining your Personal Brand Online by Jonathan Snook.  First of all, I happen to think it is one of the more attractively and readably designed blogs that I’ve seen lately, but I’m recommending the article for different reasons. Seven reasons to be exact.  Actually seven very practical tips for stepping up your engagement in your personal brand, that Mr. Snook has thoughtfully provided.   I won’t spoil his thunder, but I will say that I think these are good, easy to do steps that will help raise your recognizability online. And as you know that is the first of the three Rs of branding.

Visit: Maintaining your Personal Brand Online

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A practical dose of efficiency

By DavidSCohen | Published: March 21, 2008

Yes, I admit it.  Sometimes I will indulge in a little high-brow, high-level or high-concept marketing-speak.  I can’t help it, it is in my nature (blame the right brain).   That’s why I am glad that I have friends like Dave Eissman to keep me grounded, and I hope you don’t mind if I give him and his new blog a plug:

Dave has a knack for breaking down marketing tactics into straight forward, approachable steps that get results.  I have had the good fortune to collaborate with Dave on behalf of the International Business Academies, Limited, for whom we are both advisers, and I have always admired his straightforward, make-it-practical approach as well as his warm and generous nature.  Dave recently started a new blog – One on Many Marketing, and his current post, What is One on Many Marketing? is a wake-up call to B-to-B businesses to make use of the efficient tools of the Internet to bring scale to their lead generation and relationship building processes.  Dave is offering a free tele-seminar on the subject (details here) – I plan to attend and I hope I’ll see you online then too.

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New TAG Society – Enterprise 2.0

By DavidSCohen | Published: March 2, 2008

If you live in Georgia you probably know that TAG stands for the Technology Association of Georgia. TAG does a fantastic job of building communities around all the many facets of technology, culture and business. Its main vehicle for doing so is through the support of subgroups called societies.

I’m proud to say that I am on the steering committee for one of TAG’s newest societies: Enterprise 2.0. Our mission is to provide a forum for education and dialog around the topic of social computing for the enterprise. We are coming up fast on our first meeting to be held on March 5th, 2008, 7:30am – 9:30am at the Ashford Club in Atlanta. We are very pleased to have Puneet Gupta, CEO of Connectbeam, as our featured speaker for this kick-off session. Puneet’s talk entitled “Connecting People and Ideas: Using Social Software to Turbo Charge Innovation” will discuss how knowledge management and social bookmarking can help corporations to innovate and rapidly assimilate new ideas. Registration is still open, but the room is filling up fast. I hope to see you there.

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