Oct 9: I got 19 Channels and Video Ain’t 1

On October 9, 2018, we took on Traction’s 19 Channels and made it through about half. Here are the show notes:

Introductions:

Dr. Kasie Whitener, Clemson Road Consulting and WBC of SC

Shennice Cleckley, The Ultimate Mompreneur and WBC of SC

Brought to you by the Women’s Business Center of South Carolina at Columbia College

Theme for the day:

Traction: I Got 19 Channels and A Video Ain’t One

Link to the Podcast

Agenda review:

Today we’ll talk about Traction’s 19 channels. This episode is content heavy and you’re going to want to take notes.

Segment 1:

This week at 1 MC — Curiosity Coffee is presenting at 1MC this week. Here’s their Instagram link. Next week, Fivable presents. In two weeks, we have another Made It! Session with local teck firm VC3.

Start Something, Columbia! Is brought to your by the Women’s Business Center of South Carolina at Columbia College and we’ve just announced our upcoming conference for November 16th. Our guest speakers include: Tiffany Norwood, CEO of Tribetan and Elaine Pofeldt journalist and author of The Million-Dollar One-Person Business.

Each week on this show we’re going to highlight our speakers and guests and invite you to learn more about the conference. For now, let’s just talk about what the conference aims to do, what it will be like, who we think should attend, and what they’ll get out of it.

Segment 2:

Topic of the week — Traction: I Got 19 Channels and A Video Ain’t One

Traction is about the work you put in to get customers to notice your product or service. It’s about getting your business to the point where it really takes off. The authors say there are 19 “channels” through which you can get traction.

Let’s work through these one at the time and we’ll get through as many as we can.

1. Targeting Blogs: focus on the industry-leading blogs your customer is reading, offer to guest post and share content.
2. Traditional PR: press releases, regular media outlets; working on recognition and building curiosity
3. Unconventional PR: publicity stunts, big events, or single-hit kind of experiences
4. Search Engine Marketing: advertising through Google search
5. Social Media and Display ads: still digital, finding your customers where they are online and advertising to them
6. Offline ads: TV ads, radio spots, billboards, etc.
7. SEO: Making sure your website shows up in key search results
8. Content marketing: creating content that shows expertise and adds value for your potential customers, part of that research process for the buyer
9. Email marketing: sending the content directly to your customer’s inbox
10. Engineering as marketing: building add-ons, widgets, and bots that enhance a user’s experience with a particular platform and thereby advertising your own expertise
11. Growing customer base by encouraging customers to encourage others to check you out
12. Business development: investing in strategic partnerships and relationships to help grow your customer base.
13. Sales: processes that directly exchange product for dollars
14. Affiliate programs: create referral networks through the people you’ve served by certifying them in someway to become ambassadors to your brand
15. Existing platforms: focusing on a megaplatform like Twitter or Facebook and trying to convert their customers into yours
16. Trade show participation and/or sponsorship: brand recognition, opportunity for strategic relationships
17. Offline events: small meet-ups to large conferences, things that get people in the same room to talk about your services and products
18. Speaking engagements: promote your book, expertise, brand, and company through speaking engagements that share your expertise with an audience of potential customers
19. Community building: create a network around an idea or service you offer and let that community help you iterate the product while serving as ambassadors

These are from the book Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth — misplaced modifier aside, this book is a good read. It’s our book of the month.

Segment 3:

Events of the week —

1 MC has Curiosity Coffee bar presenting tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

The WBC of SC will be On Location with Kiri Rawson, Founder of CoCreate Lexington this coming Friday from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

Next week, October 17th, the WBC of SC presents Google’s Get Your Business Online event for the Holiday Season. That’s a livestream at the McNair Center on the Columbia College campus from 12 until 2 pm.

Benedict College is hosting the Auntie Karen Foundation’s 16th Annual Young Entrepreneurs Conference on October 13, 2018. In addition to the conference, there is “Successville” the Youth Business Expo and Showcase. “Successville” is free and open to the public from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the David H. Swinton Campus Center. The showcase will include Young Entrepreneurs, Dancers, and Musical Acts. This year’s theme is Wakanda: Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead. Register on Eventbrite.

This is Live 2 Lead week, we had Ron Harvey on a few weeks ago to talk about this event coming up Friday morning. It’s a live simulcast of the Atlanta event featuring Carly Fiorina, Daniel Pink, Tyler Perry and others. Tickets still available on Eventbrite.

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