The Care and Feeding of Your Brand Ambassadors

The Care and Feeding of Your Brand Ambassadors
One of the Techstars companies I mentored this summer, Pak’d, delivers healthy custom lunches to your door. Targeted at moms, Pak’d has had a lot of success using a “Mombassador” program in the Chicago area as part of its launch. I was recently having lunch with Rebecca, one of the co-founders, when she asked me for advice about managing and...

Dentist’s Ad Needs More Teeth

Dentist’s Ad Needs More Teeth
A lot of times we’re just too close to our own marketing to objectively assess it. If Lincoln Park Smiles, a dentistry practice in my neighborhood, had asked someone else to look at their ad before it was turned into a finished billboard, then maybe their ad would’ve shown some teeth! If you’re a dentist selling smiles, then you...

Dollar Shave Club’s Viral Video: Behind the Scenes

Dollar Shave Club’s Viral Video: Behind the Scenes
Google recently told one of the startups I advise, ZipFit, that they should consider adding a YouTube video ad to their online mix to increase their overall click through rate. That’s easy for Google to say, but ZipFit has almost no budget for marketing of any kind. However the ZipFit team figured that if Dollar Shave Club could throw...