Brant Cooper
Brant Cooper possesses over 17 years of success bringing high tech products to market. He blogs about Marketing and Customer Development at Market By Numbers and recently authored The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development.
Recent Posts
Welcome to the new startup order
(Editor’s note: Brant Cooper is an independent startup consultant specializing in customer development and marketing. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
The difficulty of assessing change is knowing where you are on the curve. At any moment in time, there’s a tendency to believe you have witnessed change, rather than are currently experiencing it.
It is, of course, impossible to predict what long-term changes the explosion of entrepreneurship will bring to the startup ecosystem. … Continue Reading
You drive traffic on your website – but what about the real world?
(Editor’s note: Brant Cooper is an independent consultant specializing in marketing and product management. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
Most entrepreneurs know all about the “call to action”. It is, at its core, a big button on the landing page of a Website that achieves that page’s primary objective, whether that’s convincing a visitor to buy, contact sales, download software or something else. Basically, it tells visitors “click here dammit”. The call to action … Continue Reading
A new way of looking at sales and marketing
(Editor’s note: Brant Cooper is an independent consultant specializing in marketing and product management. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
Have you ever viewed a world map where South is up? It’s a useful frame of reference, since our Eurocentric view of North as “up” and South as “down” is really just an arbitrary one (a sphere has no top or bottom – nor left or right for that matter).
Perspective affects our perceptions – … Continue Reading
How to avoid being blinded by the idea aura
(Editor’s note: Brant Cooper is an independent consultant specializing in marketing and product management. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
The glow of a new, sure-fire idea is a wonderful feeling. You feel you’ve discovered something (or some angle) that no one has ever imagined before.
As you expose that idea to the light of the day and begin vetting it and taking it to market, though, that enthusiasm can dim. In fact, one of … Continue Reading
The hidden secrets of market research
(Editor’s note: Brant Cooper is an independent consultant specializing in marketing and product management. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
All too often, the goal of market research is to hide assumptions, rather than test them. A depressingly large number of entrepreneurs forget the words of British Prime Minister George Canning (1770-1827), who said “I can prove anything by statistics except the truth.”
To some, market research only goes as far as finding a really … Continue Reading
Is social media worth your marketing dollars?
As social media has reached mainstream consciousness this year, businesses have been inundated with the message that they must immediately get on board or risk doom and calamity. The hyperbole (and the frenzied buzz it creates) is confusing and many businesses could use a practical guide on how to evaluate social media and how to engage – if it’s appropriate.
It’s amusing to think that “Word of Mouth” marketing (which, essentially, is what Facebook, Twitter … Continue Reading
