Postgrad Diploma in Product Management – boost your Company, boost your Career

Posted by Jennifer Condon on 14 September, 2011 in Event | Marketing | Training - (Be the first to comment)

This is a guest post from Edel Creely, Managing Director of Trilogy Technology, and chair of the Irish Software Associations  Product Managment Working Group.  Product Management is one of the things that successful exporters do ‘right’, but is too often a gap in Irsh company skillsets.

What makes Apple products from the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad so successful? Great user experience, great attention to detail, great engineering? Certainly. But without great Product Mangement focussing the 49,000 people that work at Apple on ‘Who is going to buy / use this product?’,  Apple would risk going the way of HP.

Traditionally, Irish Software and Technology companies haven’t been great at Product Management. Which is a problem, given that we’re depending on their export sales to bring the Irish Economy back to growth.

To try and solve this problem, the Irish Software Association Product Management Group, working with the Dublin Institute of Technology  and the Software Skillnet, have put together the Postgraduate Diploma in Product Management – Software and Technology Sectors (pdf).  Even better, because of the special grant from Skillnets (under the Future Skills Needs Programme), participants will receive 50% grant aid towards the course fees.

The Diploma launches at Dublin IBEC Offices, 84-86 Lower Baggot Street tomorrow (Thursday Sept 16) at 6pm. The seminar will focus on an overview of the programme contents, as well as the programme’s primary modules, how the diploma will lead to a Masters Degree, practical assignments and assessment, entry requirements and the application process.To book a place at the information seminar email Susan[at]softwareskillnet.com or phone Susan at 086-8067200.

Applications for the Diploma close Friday 23rd September; The number of grant-aided spaces are limited so best to get your application in as soon as possible. Applications and programme brochure are available on the Software Skillnet website.

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10 myths of building a business online – guest post from Alan of Spoiltchild

Posted by Paul Browne on 11 April, 2011 in eMarketing | IGAP | Internet | Links | Marketing | Social Media | startup - (17 Comments)

Following last weeks IGAP finale, this is a guest post from IGAP 1 participant Alan O’Rourke of Spoiltchild, creators of the Toddle business newsletter tool. Alan talks candidly about the 10 biggest mistakes he’s made in online business.

The following are all assumptions / mistakes I made over the years.

1.       It costs nothing to start a business online.
It is true that infrastructure costs have come way down. With the right technical knowledge you could set up an online shop or simple web application for about €50 and a little time.  With no technical knowledge, costs are closer to €10,000 and up. For you reading this, it is probably somewhere in the middle.  Compared to setting up a physical business on the high-street it is still a pittance.

But your website only gets you about 10% of the way. Now you need to start building a business. Time, marketing, advertising, sales guy(s), running costs, legal …did I mention time? Without upfront investment to hire the above resources, expect 2-3 years of hard work before your business starts supporting its self. Can you support yourself for that long?

2.       Build it and they will come.
Why would they? How do they know you exist out of the trillions of websites out there? If they do happen across your site why will they remember to come back when they actually need what you sell?

3.       The website must be perfect / fully featured before you launch. (more…)

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Update On EI Social Media Club

Posted by David Scanlon on 28 March, 2011 in CRM | eMarketing | Links | Marketing | Social Media | Social Media Club - (Be the first to comment)

Some good news and some bad news regarding our upcoming Social Media Club seminar on Social CRM. Bad news first: we’re completely booked out, and there’s already a lengthy waiting list. We’re really taken aback by the level of interest from the community (100 delegates registered in less than 7 days), and it’s definitely encouraged us to press forward and host more Social Media Club events in the future – watch this space for further announcements.

So the good news: I’m delighted to announce that Dr. Theo Lynn, Director of the DCU LINK Research Centre, and Maeve Desmond, International Communications Manager at Bord Bia. Theo and Maeve will be joining a Q&A Panel along with Ed, Naylla and Patrick once the main presentations are finished.

The agenda for the event on the 7th is as follows:

11.45 – 12.15

Registration/Networking (light refreshments will be served)

12.15 – 12.20

Jennifer Condon, Divisional Manager, Enterprise Ireland

12.20 – 13.15

Patrick Murphy, CEO, SiliconCloud

Ed Grant, CEO, MXSweep

Naylla Kassam, Marketing Manager, MXSweep

13.15 – 13.45

Q&A Panel

I’m looking forward to meeting you all on the 7th, should be a good event.

What are you missing if you don't have product management?

Posted by Jennifer Condon on 9 March, 2011 in Event | Links | Marketing - (Be the first to comment)

This is a guest post from Edel Creely,  Managing Director of Trilogy Technologies, and chair of the ISA Product Management working group.

EI is working with the ISA to highlight the importance of Product Management for companies focussed on export growth and scaling their businesses globally. This event provides a valuable opportunity for participants not only to learn from the experience of the two participating companies Gridstore, Movidius and Openet, but also to benefit from the wider networking opportunity.


Event – Product Management for the Irish Software Industry

As software businesses evolve from technology driven, to sales driven, to market driven, the role of the Product Manager is critical to the strategic decision making process.  At this event you will hear from two of our industry’s leading practitioners in the field, who will share their experience and understanding of the evolution of the role in meeting these challenges.

Tuesday, 22nd March, IBEC Offices (more…)

A Guide to Sending Unsolicited Commercial Email

Posted by Garry Davis on 3 February, 2011 in eMarketing | Links | Marketing - (1 Comments)

This is a guest post from Gary Davis, Deputy Commissioner at the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, in response to a lively discussion on best practice in sending unsolicited email over on the Enterprise Ireland Internet Marketing Forum. If you’re interested in joining the debate, you can join the forum here.

The legal provisions in relation to marketing are set out in the Data Protection Acts 1988 & 2003 and Statutory Instrument 535 of 2003 (as amended by SI 526 of 2008). The requirements that arise are explained on our website in two guidance documents as follows: Direct Marketing – A General Guide For Data Controllers and A Consumer Guide to Dealing with Unsolicited Direct Marketing

I also delivered a presentation at an IIA event in October 2009 on “Email Do’s And Don’ts” (I didn’t pick the title).  I have attached it underneath. My final conclusion page is perhaps most helpful:


(more…)

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Can You Measure the ROI of Social Media Marketing?

Posted by David Scanlon on 15 November, 2010 in eMarketing | Event | Links | Marketing | Social Media | UK - (2 Comments)

I was recently invited to the UK to deliver a series of workshops and presentations for the eBusiness Champions project on the general topic of “Social Media for Business”. The SMEs participating in the program had expressed a certain amount of weariness regarding all the ‘hype’ around Social Media, so, determined not to add any further froth to the mix, I focused instead on the topic of measurement, and specifically whether or not SMEs can show a measurable return on investment in Social Media marketing.

So can it be done? In a word: maybe. Possibly…it depends…

What strikes me from speaking to SMEs both here in Ireland as well as in the UK is that very very few companies are setting any sort of objectives for their use of Social Media Marketing. Without objectives, it’s nigh on impossible to show return. The other side of this is that despite having access to floods of data about the way their customers are engaging with them online, very little strategic decisions are being taken based on this data. Chris Brogan has an excellent blog post about this issue, specifically examining the different ways you can look at outcomes from online engagement.

You can see my slides from my presentation to the eBusiness Champions project embedded below. The video of the presentation is up on YouTube here, here and here. There’s also some video footage of an interview I gave to the eBusiness Champions project manager, Dorte Kjærulff Knights-Branch, here and here.

How Do You Measure the ROI of Social Media Marketing?

MicksGarage looking for a Head of Online Marketing – could it be you?

Posted by aoifeosullivan on 11 November, 2010 in ecommerce | eMarketing | IGAP | Internet | Jobs | Links | Marketing | UK - (Be the first to comment)

A client company I’ve been working with over the past few months, MicksGarage www.micksgarage.ie, is recruiting for a Head of Online Marketing.  MicksGarage is a young, exciting, fast growing, iGAP company well known in Ireland and the UK.


The successful candidate will be someone who has strong online marketing skills with a specific focus on the UK market.

Key responsibilities include: (more…)

New options for Ireland's marketing professionals

Posted by David Scanlon on 29 July, 2010 in eMarketing | Links | Marketing | Social Media | Training - (Be the first to comment)

Good news on the online marketing front in Ireland, with two new courses in this space announced in the past week. Dublin City University and the Digital Marketing Institute have both announced post-graduate courses in Digital Marketing, targeting marketing professional who are facing the challenges of operating in the always-on, hyper-connected world of communications.

Both courses offer advice and tips on the practical aspects of Digital Marketing, such as search engine optimisation and marketing, marketing for mobile devices and the social media channels, while also highlighting the importance of defining an encompassing marketing strategy for the digital space, to allow Irish companies make the most of the opportunities presented.  If utilised correctly, online channels can deliver a sustained marketing and sales presence in a cost-effective manner for Irish companies looking to export their goods and services overseas.

For more information on these courses, please see the links below.

Update

Just saw that the Irish Internet Association (IIA) have also launched a Diploma in Digital Marketing in conjunction with Irish Times Training. The IIA are currently seeking candidates for this FETAC accredited course, register online here.

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