Community Engagement is Marketing
Business marketing books seem to have a real issue with understanding what marketing really is. Marketing is not the use of glitz, polished wording, and elegant photoshoots used to sell a product, in my opinion. That’s advertising.
Advertising is the telling of a story that is somewhat tangential to the lifeblood of a product, and seemingly ignorant of the real feelings and mental state of the customers. For me, advertising is about grouping as many people as possible into a stereotypical view of the world and presenting them an object they can covet, and buy en masse.
But marketing is something special. Marketing is the integrated principles of messaging, customer service, and customer recognition in a way that operates like a service.
Given the way the web is structured these days, integration of so many different live software services and intimate connection with people mean that rather than Calls to Action, you can be using marketing mechanisms in the medium of your choice to inspire people to action.
In other words, the web helps early stage founders develop trust with customers, by directly interacting with them online. And offline. Customers migrate between these two spaces.
Chun Hin Anthony So, a co-founder at OnGrad, says he’s learned that it’s worth it to spend time and resources on marketing that builds community.
Especially in B2B, where sales cycles are long and organizational structure is complex.
He has been working with his team in our AppWorks Accelerator, and splitting his time between Taipei and Hong Kong, to form a marketing culture in his company.
The team has spent a solid two months in Hong Kong working with corporate companies and they have launched a beta app. Their focus has been on holding community events and engaging with corporates and with students to show the value of their software platform.
The team has experienced some early excitement as new companies are now approaching them to try it out.
If you would like to join us in Taiwan to learn the principles of this kind of marketing and community growth, in an economy worth over US$42 billion per year, apply for our accelerator program.
We do not take equity from founders. Join us: https://bit.ly/AppWorksJoin
