VatorNews - Vator contributor stories

Is brand loyalty back in vogue?

by Mark Evans, November 28, 2009 | Comments

Social media may usher in a new era of brand loyalty. Are we going back to the future?

Brand loyalty is back in vogue, according to marketing thought leader, Yak Gertmenian (co-founder of Social Method and former Buddy Group director). Why? Because of social media and the limitless possibilities it presents to marketers in their effort to engage customers. In this Social Media Minute, Yak gives us a retrospective on brand loyalty and how his father's generation represented the epitome of ...

How to PR your way out of the downturn

by Mark Evans, August 14, 2009 | Comments (2)

What are the key communications challenges & opportunities facing businesses today?

I recently caught up with Tony Hynes, Sr. V.P. of Bite Communications, to get his take on how companies should be handling their communications efforts in light of the current downturn and explosion of popularity around social media. Tony sees the current challenges and opportunities on the business landscape in two distinct pieces. - Biggest challenge: Global economy. The downturn presents massive challenges ...

Got hacker coverage?

by Mark Evans, August 8, 2009 | Comments

With Twitter getting the hack kicked out of them, who's next and what can you do about it?

I recently had a chance to sit down with Bryan Costello, CEO of Costello and Sons, an insurer who covers the tech industry and its venture capitalists. The interview with Bryan on "Hacker" coverage is very timely as we are seeing more and more cyber terrorism across the web; not to mention the current DOS attacks on Twitter. What is "Hacker" ...

Putting social media into perspective

by Mark Evans, April 3, 2009 | Comments

Mark Silva explains why social media is not one thing, it's many things.

Social media has opened up the flood gates of opportunities for marketers and companies far and wide, but with that come many challenges too. As Mark Silva, Co-founder and Managing Director of Real Branding (a digital marketing agency) explains, "the biggest challenge for companies RB works with (big corps in cpg, entertainment, tech) is that social media isn't one thing, ...

Why Facebook should buy Yelp

by Mark Evans, March 28, 2009 | Comments

Robert Scoble explains how Facebook can integrate businesses into the social graph

Facebook is allowing small businesses to leverage its massive social network, so, why not just buy Yelp? This suggestion comes from Robert Scoble, prolifc blogger and geek enthusiast. Up to now Facebook has basically been the white pages of the Internet, but it's not been able to integrate businesses, he said.Yelp is a business review site that's already aggregated a ...

What's better, in-video or pre-roll ads?

by Mark Evans, March 14, 2009 | Comments

What are the key ROI differences between pre-roll and in-video advertising?

Schuyler Cullen, CEO and co-founder of Keystream, an in-video ad technology company, says the objective of online advertising is to give marketers measurable and high ROI in their advertising by giving viewers content that's engaging, entertaining, builds awareness and elicits an immediate response from them.According to Schuyler, pre-roll advertising misses the mark on all of these objectives. The main reason ...

Online ads made simple and scalable

by Mark Evans, March 13, 2009 | Comments

Keystream thinks online advertising production is too time-consuming, expensive, and difficult.

CEO and co-founder, Schuyler Cullen and the Keystream team have developed an easy-to-use, and scalable ad system for online video. Keystream’s algorithms automatically identify the optimal location [inside the video] for the marketer’s message. This could be white space or some other location. In addition to simplifying the process, Keystream delivers a full buffet of ad controls and options for ...

Seed and early-stage funding isn't dead

by Mark Evans, March 3, 2009 | Comments (2)

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VC Minute: Bill Reichert, Garage Technology Ventures on opportunities and the broken VC model

Seed and early-stage funding is NOT dead. As Bill Reichert, venture capitalist at Garage Technology Ventures, explains in this edition of VC Minute, there's no lack of money in the investment community right now. Ideas and innovation continue to be funded. However new companies are being started by different types of entrepreneurs and funded in different ways.The challenge for entrepreneurs: ...

De-friending on social networks

by Mark Evans, January 25, 2009 | Comments (3)

Charlene Li gives us her prediction on exclusive social networks in 2009

In 2009, "trying to grow your network as big as possible is going to be so 2008," predicted Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter. Since online social networks became mainstream around 2006 and well into last year, member focus has been on "friending" everyone, getting followers and being accessible. This year, that will change, as users will want exclusivity, Li forecasted. ...

How to launch a startup in a bad economy

by Mark Evans, December 16, 2008 | Comments

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Does your company need an entrepreneurial stimulus package in this current economic downturn?

If the answer is yes, the Bay Area's Plug and Play tech centers offer tenants a ton of benefits above and beyond affordable rent, including: access to Angels and VCs, recruitment resources, on-site IT, and networking. During my visit to Plug and Play I was struck by the caliber of companies in residence, which include: mywaves (mobile video destination for ...

The secret to viral marketing

by Mark Evans, December 4, 2008 | Comments (2)

Social Media Minute with Kristie Wells; President of Social Media Club

Viral marketing is a term, catch phrase, tool, etc. But, what is it? Can you really make content go viral based on a set of marketing directions and/or parameters? Is there some kind of secret to making content go viral? The answer is yes, but it doesn't have anything to do with marketing, per se. We asked Kristie Wells, President ...

Virtual PR gets real on Second Life

by Mark Evans, July 24, 2008 | Comments

	Text 100's Donna Lyon on Cisco's innovative approach to press conferences In a virtual world with over ten million residents, Second Life is becoming a very real place to do business. And how can a company help themselves do that? How do they get the word out to the virtual marketplace? Well, PR, of course! Donna Lyon from the PR firm Text 100 explains how Second Life is a great place ...
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Mark Evans
Managing Principal
Bancroft Research Group (Owner)

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