Training

What you need to know to succeed in the upcoming new purchasing cycle

Your sales productivity improves dramatically when marketing can deliver a steady supply of qualified leads to their sales counterparts. Like many areas of direct marketing, lead generation and management is more of a science than an art.  If you follow the processes and best practices of B2B lead generation today, you can dramatically improve sales results. 

Ben Franklin Venture Investment Forum has scheduled its next quarterly, web-enabled meetup that connects entrepreneurs to active early stage investors in the region.

Jack Zerby is obsessed with details. But mostly one thing - ad copy - specifically advertising copy that drives action. Jack will guide us through how not to commit copywriting crimes and reduce the BS factor in our copy. This session covers a range of writing best practices that marketers can use to craft better messaging.

Jack Zerby takes us on an entertaining journey visiting old and new advertising campaigns and gives us a breakdown on what he thinks worked, including ads that missed the mark. With sarcasm and humor Jack points out the all the appeals marketers use to grab the attention of the target spanning from fear, humor, rational, sex or bandwagon propaganda…

Entrepreneurs focus on launching new products, but they also need to think about markets. Who will buy your product? What problem does your product solve? In this 1-hour session, you will learn the elements of building a marketing plan for your new business.

Affiliate Marketing Advertising is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing efforts. ~Wikipedia

Join Us for Part 1 of a 2 Part Series on Affiliate Marketing Advertising 

Affiliate Marketing Management is a continuous process. The most common advertiser mistakes is adopting an autopilot approach to affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing centers on managing relationships. In this Part Two session, Chris provides sound advice based on his years of experience managing affiliates from attracting, negotiating, fraud management to monitoring and measuring for success.

Join Us for Part 2 of a 2 Part Series on Affiliate Marketing Advertising 

Join Startup Alleghenies for a two-hour introduction to social media marketing for startups and small businesses. 

Maybe you’ve heard the term, convertible note. Ben Franklin Technology Partners often uses this vehicle for its investments in companies. However, there’s a lot more to it than just being a loan. Dave Lishego of Riverfront Ventures and Innovation Works will lead us through key terms and considerations of convertible notes, their pros and cons and provide examples to illustrate these concepts.

There’s a lot to consider when you plan a capital raise, not the least of being in legal compliance. This session will be an overview of the things you need to think about and plan with your attorney. You will learn: the different types of debt and equity instruments available for raising capital; state and federal securities laws and compliance; the capital raising process; and common capital raising mistakes.

If you’re already engaged with a content marketing strategy or are planning one, you better know how to measure success. As with most digital strategies, the data is there, but data alone isn’t enough…you must know what’s important, how to analyze it, and understand whether you’re achieving a positive ROI. Josh is going to show you how!

If your company could increase its sales conversion rate at a higher dollar amount and shorter sales cycle, would you do it? These are several of the consistent benefits B2B companies are witnessing after shifting to Account-Based Marketing or ABM. What is ABM? Simply put, ABM is a strategy that directs a company’s marketing resources towards engaging with a specific set of targeted accounts. Instead of casting a wide net associated with lead-generation efforts, companies can sync their sales and marketing efforts to identify key prospects and then tailor customized marketing programs and messaging that speak directly to the needs of those target accounts.

If your company isn't using on PR as part of its marketing mix, it's missing out on huge opportunities for boosting brand awareness and interest in your product or service. Leveraging your local media is often the easiest place to get started. Building relationships with media contacts in advance of launching your business/product is key. During this webinar, you'll learn the latest in online PR best practices. Instructor Erin Fessler, Vice President of Marketing & Community and Government Relations at The Erie Community Foundation, will cover a range of topics, including social media integration, goal setting, storytelling and more.

Email marketing may be one of the oldest marketing tactics but it remains one of the most effective. In fact, email generates $38 for every $1 spent - a 3,800% ROI. If you're not connecting with your customers and potential customers through this channel, you're missing a huge growth opportunity. 

During this session, you will learn what the current email marketing best practices are, and how you can integrate this tactic into your marketing mix.

In this webinar training session, Chris Norris will teach you how to tap into your iPhone’s built-in video camera to share your message, product or service with your customers. He will teach you why you don’t need a perfectly polished, highly produced video to share a compelling and effective message via video.

In this webinar training session, Chris Norris will teach you how to tap into your iPhone’s built-in video camera to share your message, product or service with your customers. He will teach you why you don’t need a perfectly polished, highly produced video to share a compelling and effective message via video.

Join us for this webinar - "Managing Liabilities During the COVID-19 Crisis." Tom Sharbaugh, Professor of Practice at Penn State Law in University Park and the Director of the law school’s Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic, will cover a wide range of topics related to managing commitments in the COVID environment, including loans, leases and other contracts, as well as potential personal liability as a guarantor or otherwise. Be ready to get answers to your most pressing questions during a  Q&A with Tom. 

It's the right time for taking advantage of smart ad spend and placement opportunities. Learn from Internet Marketing expert and best selling author, Kris Jones the importance of developing the right offer, for the right audience, at the right time and place and avoid spending thousands of dollars and not achieve your goals. Now is the time for getting your digital marketing and growth strategy right and be prepared to pull ahead of your competition as the world reopens for business.

Kris Jones and Chris Nash have started businesses during tough times and, like you, feel the squeeze too. In this two part series they will share their knowledge and the most up to date information on using the most effective digital marketing channels, content, data and optimization strategies including examples, tools and tips to achieve the best results and drive demand.

The current pandemic environment will not last forever. Now is the time for getting your digital marketing and growth strategy right and be prepared to pull ahead of your competition as the world reopens for business.

As a company owner, financing its growth is your responsibility. If a loan isn’t a possibility, how about equity? If all you know about equity investment is what you’ve seen on “Shark Tank”, you’ve only scratched the surface of this method of financing high-growth companies. Whether you’re sure that equity funding is the right financing vehicle for your company or you just want to get more information, here’s a webinar that will give you some straight answers and help you prepare for equity investment.

Once you know that raising equity is the best way to fund your company’s growth, how do you do so effectively? There are a lot of ways you can shoot yourself in the foot when attempting to capture the attention of investors. How do avoid these mistakes?

Returns can quickly make or break your bottom line in ecommerce.

But returns are far more than simply a cost to minimize. Returns are deeply engrained in the ecommerce customer experience, and they represent an opportunity to satisfy a customer who almost got what they wanted. 

During this webinar, Matt Blevins from ReturnLogic will explain how you can ensure a superior post-purchase experience through your return policy and process. He will even reveal how returns data can unlock immense value in your business via insights related to products and customers.

Every business begins and grows based on the answer to two questions.

1. Who is your customer?
2. What is the problem your product or service solves for these customers?

The customer discovery process begins by querying potential customer segments and getting feedback to all the issues they bring to your attention. The insights you gain help to create ideal customer personas and value propositions.

Sure, you do your financial accounting for your taxes. But are you using the powerful information embedded within your company's financial statements to manage its life and growth? 

Ben Franklin Venture Investment Forum is presenting its next webinar on December 2, 2020, entitled, "Using Your Company Financial Statements as a Management Tool.”

Every entrepreneur has a story to tell about their business startup journey. Started in PA features conversations with entrepreneurs who share stories on “why” and “how” they got started. You will hear how they are growing, in knowledge, talent and experience. What were their biggest challenges, biggest surprises, lessons learned and what is next? Engage with us, ask questions and enjoy inspiring and amusing chats with a variety of CEOs, Presidents and founders who started a business in Pennsylvania.

Every entrepreneur has a story to tell about their business startup journey. Started in PA features conversations with entrepreneurs who share stories on “why” and “how” they got started. You will hear how they are growing, in knowledge, talent and experience. What were their biggest challenges, biggest surprises, lessons learned and what is next?

In this session, we chat with CEO, Dr. Wei-Shin Lai of Acoustic Sheep where they design and manufacture helpful personal care products like SleepPhones®. Like many idea-solutions they started from a personal need. In March 2020, Acoustic Sheep in response to COVID-19 mask mandates discovered most masks were a poor design fit for those with beards and with glasses fogging up.

Entrepreneurs focus on launching new products, but they also need to think about markets. Who will buy your product? What problem does your product solve? During this 1-hour, pre-recorded webinar, you will learn the elements of building a marketing plan for your new business.

A “Family Office” is a private wealth management advisory firm that usually has a single client in that they serve an ultra-high-net-worth individual or family. Why do they matter in the capital ecosystem for startups?