By David Manzer
Sponsored Post

Many B2B companies here in Austin look to trade shows as a way to grow their business and brand awareness. They are not alone. The average B2B company annually invests more in trade shows — nearly 40% — than any other single marketing initiative.

What many B2B companies may not realize, however, is that NOT being properly prepared for a trade show can be costly to a brand, both in terms of brand perception and lead flow.

In our latest white paper, “Your Roadmap to B2B Trade Show Success,” we provide a blueprint for B2B companies looking to make their next trade show the most successful one ever.

A brief sneak peek follows but I encourage you to download the whole white paper:

Research the trade show
Make sure you research which trade shows are right for you. Should you go to the biggest and most expensive one or something more affordable and closer to home? The answer depends upon your appetite for risk and available budget.

Money matters
First off set up a budget for your trade show initiative or you may find yourself spending your way into a hole. Your budget should be realistic and factor in current cost for booth design and build, 3rd party vendor assistance, travel and lodging, client entertainment, marketing collateral, etc.

Project manager is key
An important part of your trade show initiative is the person in charge. Immediately assign a project manager to steer the initiative and ensure the resources from key stakeholders are in alignment with the overall brand strategy. A good PM will make sure the project finishes on time and under budget while also achieving the company’s strategic objectives.

Booth staffing
Trade shows are almost a 24/7 endeavor so be sure to staff your booth with employees who can operate on little sleep, lots of caffeine and plenty of chaos. Your booth staffers need to be able to schmooze with key customers after hours over dinner and drinks without losing their professionalism. The last thing you want is a sales person getting schnockered after a couple glasses of wine and alienating your biggest sales prospect.

Marketing
Your B2B trade show marketing collateral is what customers and prospects will take home with them so make sure it looks good and toes the corporate brand strategy line. Planning on showing a live demo? Bring enough product sheets for the product(s) on hand. Also be sure the demo is staffed by a competent technical expert to ensure it works seamlessly.

Social media
Twitter and LinkedIn are the main social media platforms for B2B companies and trade shows are no exception. Twitter is perfect for capturing moments of the trade show and engaging directly with customers, prospects and influencers. LinkedIn is a great way to connect with attendees prior to the show. LinkedIn Pulse can help you gain some thought leadership with well-timed posts to keep the buzz going after the trade show ends.

PR is effective
Getting articles written about your company and latest product innovations is one of the most powerful ways to establish your brand’s credibility and drive traffic to your booth. Be sure to plan your PR strategy 2 months in advance. It’s wise to contact key journalists who are planning to attend the event a couple of weeks in advance. Try to set up face-to-face meetings with executives at your booth so they can talk to about your product or service initiatives. Can’t book any in-person booth media meetings? Try and grab coffee with one or two reporters to start developing a relationship that could blossom over time.

Follow-up
Enter every business card you pick up should be entered into your CRM on a daily basis. If it’s a hot lead, then make sure the lead is assigned to sales for immediate follow-up. Unqualified leads should be assigned to your drip marketing program to begin nurturing them and moving them down the sales funnel.

This is a sponsored post by Dave Manzer, president of Manzer Communications. With offices in Austin, Denver and now Houston, Manzer Communications is a marketing communications and PR agency serving technology startups and fast-growth enterprises. Dave founded PR over Coffee, is a mentor at Startup Aggieland and just launched Startup over Coffee, a crowdsourced map for startups and startup professionals in Austin.

Looking for something to do this week? We’ve got you covered. Check out some of these events happening around town. And also snag a ticket to Silicon Hills News’ 2017 Austin Technology Calendar Party at Galvanize, which takes place the following week. But regular ticket sales end on Friday. (We have to know how many calendars to print)

MONDAY – Transform Your Career with this panel of data science experts at Galvanize starting at 6:30 p.m. and running until 8:30 p.m. Galvanize offers full-time immersive programs in data science. The panelists include Kevin Safford, director of data science at Umble, Drew Rice, data scientist with Capson Physicians Insurance Company and Patrick Kennedy, senior commercial data strategist with Amherst InightLabs.

MONDAY: CoFounders Meet up by the Tech Map at Capital Factory featuring January pitches from startups and a keynote address by Patrick Pitman, founder of Ebusiness. The event kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at Capital Factory on the 16th floor. It costs $15 per person.

TUESDAY: The first Austin TechBreakfast of the year at 8 a.m. at Capital Factory. It’s free. It features pitches from Silicon Labs: Thunderboard React’s Ryan Orton, M Corp Engine’s Mike Reed, Nest Mortgage’s Beto Juarez III and Third Rock Inc.’s CompassDB’s Robert Felps.

WEDNESDAY: 2017 Business Forecast: Confidence in Uncertain Times – Austin put on by the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center at the University of Texas at Austin from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. This discussion includes David Booth, chairman and Co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors, Robert Metcalfe, inventor of the Ethernet and professor of innovation in the Cockrell School of Engineering, Mine Yucel, senior vice president and director of research at Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and Jay Hartzell, dean of the McCombs School of Business. Cost: $40.

WEDNESDAY: Working with Giants: Retail Tech at Capital Factory. This is a series featuring Microsoft’s Ryan Joy. He invites executives from various corporations to talk about how they can work with startup companies. This time he’s interviewing Jason Norris, director of business development for Walmart Emerging Tech and Paul Underwood with Amazon Web Services. The event starts at 4:30 p.m. and runs until 6:00 p.m.

THURSDAY: Health Tech Austin is putting on The Disruption + Innovation Conference at the Omni Hotel, 700 San Jacinto Blvd. The event kicks off at 7:30 a.m. and features a morning keynote talk by Brett Hurt, CEO and Co-Founder of data.world talking about harnessing the power of linked data in healthcare. Lots of other great talks throughout the day by local healthcare experts. Tickets range from $100 to $125.

FRIDAY: Smart Cities Connect: How can Austin supercharge its smart city startup profile. SmartAustin and Smart Cities Connect Editor-at-large Chelsea Collier will lead a discussion with Jennifer Gooding, co-principal of Prime/PR at Austin City Hall in the boards and commission room from noon until 2 p.m. The event is free but requires registration.

SATURDAY: Data Day Texas 2017 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. This daylong conference is put on by Lynn Bender at Geek Austin. Tickets costs $345 to $550 to attend.

Upcoming Events:

Silicon Hills News’ 2017 Austin Technology Calendar Party on Jan. 20th at Galvanize. Tickets cost $30 to $50 and includes food and drinks, entertainment and a calendar. Here’s a great savings hack, though. Contribute $20 or more to our Ideas to Invoices podcast Kickstarter, which ends in one day, and get a free ticket to the calendar party.

Correction: Updated to change name of Saturday conference to Data Day Texas

By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

For the past six years, we’ve watched numerous Austin technology startups launch and go on to achieve great feats.

This year, we’ve highlighted 20 that we think will make some big moves in 2017. Two of them could possibly file to go public this year: WP Engine and Big Commerce.

The list also includes a few financial technology firms, retail technology companies and a lot of consumer tech applications. It also hits on some of the hot trends we see in 2017 with a few virtual reality and artificial intelligence companies.

Let us know what you think in the comments. Did we miss a startup that should be on this list?

Company name: Aceable
Funding: $8.7 million investors include Floodgate and Silverton Partners
What it does: It created an online platform that teaches teenagers and adults how to drive through accredited driver’s ed courses. Its app is available in more than 30 states and the company touts more than 300,000 users.
Why it’s hot: Online learning is the wave of the future. The company has captured a huge part of the online driver’s ed market. And it plans to branch into new industries that require professional certifications such as real estate, corporate HR, nursing and food safety.

Company name: Big Commerce
Funding: $155.2 million in six rounds from eight investors including GGV Capital, Softbank Capital and Revolution
What it does: It develops e-commerce software that allows small to mid-sized businesses to launch and manage their own online storefronts.
Why it’s hot: The company raised $30 million last year and its CEO Brent Bellm told ReCode the company expects to hit $100 million in revenue. With improvements in the IPO market for tech startups expected this year, Big Commerce is one Austin-based startup that may IPO sooner than later.

Company name: Bumble
Funding: Undisclosed, majority owned by UK-based Badoo, according to TechCrunch.
What it does: Whitney Wolfe, cofounder of Tinder, founded Bumble, which has been called “The Feminist Tinder” in 2014. The app allows women to initiate contact with potential dates.
Why it’s hot: It has more than 11 million registered users and its user base is growing rapidly. Wolfe is a serial entrepreneur who has experience in creating and marketing dating apps and she was recently named to Forbes’ prestigious 30 under 30 list for 2017 in the consumer tech category.

Company name: CognitiveScale
Funding: $25 million including investors Microsoft Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital and IBM.

What it does: It is a cloud-based artificial intelligence and machine learning company that plans to embed cognitive systems of intelligence into a range of new personal computing applications and business processes.
Why it’s hot: Artificial intelligence and cognitive computing is one of the hottest trends in tech. And last fall, the startup, founded in 2013, announced it received a strategic investment from Microsoft Ventures to develop applications based on Microsoft HoloLens and Microsoft Azure for consumers and businesses.

Company name: Factom
Funding: $5.74 million from Billionaire Tim Draper
What it does: A bitcoin blockchain technology company that secures data.
Why it’s hot: The Department of Homeland Security granted the company $199,000 to develop digital identity security products for Internet of Things devices. It also raised $4.2 million in funding last fall from Billionaire Tim Draper.

Company name: FloSports
Funding: $32.2 million with investors including Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, World Wrestling Entertainment, Discovery Communications and Causeway Media Partners.
What it does: It covers live events through its subscription-based network. It currently covers gymnastics, boxing, cheer leading, volleyball, combat, tennis and the fighting game community.
Why it’s hot: The company creates content with an authentic voice that appeal to and fosters passionate communities. It raised $21.2 million last August to expand into even more sporting categories.

Company name: Hangar
Funding: $6.5 million from Lux Capital and Fontinalis Partners
What it does: The startup gives companies aerial data using its software and drone technology.
Why it’s hot: Drones for delivery and for gathering business data is a hot industry right now. And these guys are experts. Colin Gunn, former CRO of 3D Robotics and CEO of DJI North America and Jeffrey DeCoux, founder and CEO of eCustomers and SMART Technologies, founded Hangar. They’ve spent the last six years deeply immersed in the drone industry for consumer and corporate applications.

Company name: Main Street Hub
Funding: $46 million
What it does: A small business marketing platform that integrates social media, customer reviews, web and email marketing.
Why it’s hot: It’s big business catering to small businesses. The company, founded by Stanford graduate students Matt Stuart and Andrew Allison, moved to Austin in 2011 after visiting the city during SXSW. The company now has more than 500 employees in Austin and New York. And it is continuing to hire and expand.

Company name: OJO Labs
Funding: $5.8 million from LiveOak Venture Partners and Silverton Partners
What it does: It is building text-based customer service agents using artificial intelligence. Its technology uses machine learning, neural networks and proprietary conversation models.
Why it’s hot: It’s got the right product at the right time. Artificial intelligence and messaging based interfaces are a hot investment area right now among companies. And OJO Labs is building technology that will power conversations between humans and machines in new ways.

Company name: Outbound Engine
Funding: $33.8 million inventors include S3 Ventures, Silverton Partners, Capital Factory, Floodgate and more.
What it does: It is a marketing software company that sells online products that allow businesses to market and grow revenue through content, email and social media.
Why it’s hot: Inc. Magazine ranked Outbound Engine No. 95 on its 2016 annual Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies. It also raised $16 million in Series C venture funding last May and the company is hiring and expanding.

Company name: Owlchemy Labs
Funding: $5 million from Qualcomm Ventures

What it does: It’s a virtual reality game maker and its flagship multi-platform virtual reality game is Job Simulator.
Why it’s hot: Virtual reality is hot right now. And Owlchemy has created one of the most popular games. Its Job Simulator game just surpassed $3 million in revenue and 250 million YouTube views, according to the company.

Company name: OwnLocal
Funding: $3.45 million from investors including Knight Foundation, Baseline Ventures and 500 Startups.
What it does: It is a digital advertising company that offers a platform to convert print, radio and TV ads into online marketing campaigns.
Why it’s hot: Online advertising is a booming market. OwnLocal just moved out of Capital Factory after passing its 50 employee limit. The company has had phenomenal growth in the last year and saw its revenue grow by 75 percent, according to a spokeswoman. It also acquired two companies and entered three countries.

Company name: Phunware
Funding: $79.68 million from investors including Khasanaz Nasional, Samsung Ventures, Wild Basin Investments
What it does: It is a multiscreen platform and solutions provider.
Why it’s hot: It recently launched Phunware Data, a monthly data subscription service and it closed on $22 million Series F funding in November. The company has more than 3,600 brands as customers. It is also listed as number 165 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500.

Company name: RxWiki
Funding: $5.75 million with investors including LiveOak Venture Partners and Milestone Venture Partners
What it does: It is a digital marketing company for independent pharmacies through its software as a service platform that hosts websites, mobile apps and digital marketing strategies.
Why it’s hot: There are more than 22,000 small and independent pharmacies in the U.S. and RxWiki is creating products for them. It makes mobile apps that let patients order refills at any time. The American Associated Pharmacies recently chose RxWiki as a preferred partner for digital marketing products and services.

Company name: SelfLender
Funding: $2 million investors include Techstars and Silverton Partners.
What it does: It is a consumer finance company that helps financially underserved consumers establish credit history.
Why it’s hot: American Banker and BAI last Fall released the 2016 FinTech Forward rankings and listed Self Lender as one of 25 FinTech Companies to Watch, innovative companies that represent the future of financial services technology. SelfLender had a fantastic 2016, according to its CEO and Co-Founder James Garvey. The company had “10 active customers in January 2016 to over 7,000 active customers in December 2016,” according to his blog post. It also went from opening zero accounts a day to opening 80 accounts a day and it grew from six employees to 13 employees.

Company name: The Zebra
Funding: $23 million including investment from Mark Cuban, Silverton Partners and Ballast Point Ventures.
What it does: The Zebra is an auto insurance comparison engine, enabling users to compare and find the best care insurance.
Why it’s hot: Everyone needs insurance. The Zebra provides a one stop shop to find the best insurance at the right price. Forbes just named the Co-Founders Adam Lyons and Joshua Dziabiak, both 29, to its prestigious 30 under 30 list in the consumer tech category. The company has expanded its reach nationwide and it raised $17 million in Series A funding last year.

Company name: Twyla
Funding: $19 million investors include GV (formerly Google Ventures), IVP and Redpoint Ventures
What it does: It created a new way to buy art online.
Why it’s hot: Buying art is a big business. Twyla is bringing it online and making it easier to get unique limited edition artwork from contemporary artists. And Brian Sharples, co-founder of HomeAway, is one of the company’s co-founders.

Company name: WP Engine
Funding: $40.72 million with investors Northbridge Venture Partners & Equity Growth and Silverton Partners
What it does: It is a managed hosting platform for websites and apps built with WordPress.
Why it’s hot: WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms on the Internet and WP Engine is one of the most popular hosts. This is another Austin-based startup that might file for an IPO this year. It’s seen consistent, steady growth in its business since Jason Cohen founded the company in 2010. WP Engine also expanded to Limerick, Ireland last October.

Company name: Vyze
Funding: $35 million investors include Austin Ventures and StarVest Partners
What it does: The company Is a leading technology provider of financing solutions at point of sale for retailers.
Why it’s hot: The company raised $13 million in Series B funding last June to expand its sales and marketing and data center.

Company name: Volusion
Funding: $90 million investors include Main Street Capital and Silicon Valley Bank
What it does: Volusion provides shopping cart software for thousands of customers worldwide,
Why it’s hot: Ecommerce is one of the fastest growing categories online as consumers shift from brick and mortar shopping to online shopping. There’s a huge demand for technology and products that can make the checkout process seamless.

Sources: individual companies, archive stories and Crunchbase. Correction: CognitiveScale raised $25 million, not $35 million.

Independent microblogging is a hot topic right now.

Manton Reece, a developer and podcaster in Austin, launched a Kickstarter to publish a book on microblogging and to spur interest in his new Micro.blog software. It’s a timeline and publishing platform for the open web.

Within one day, Reece’s Indie Microblogging Kickstarter was fully funded. And now, on its third day, it has received more than $22,000 from more than 800 backers. That’s more than twice his original goal of $10,000.

“It’s an idea I’ve been thinking about and working on for a few years,” Reece said. “I’ve been blogging off and on about controlling your own content. I was a pretty active Twitter user in the earlier days and I became kind of disillusioned with things.”

Reece thought it would be better for everyone if people controlled their content and took back ownership of it from large platforms like Twitter.

A few months ago, the top level domain “.blog” rolled out and Reece snagged the Micro.blog domain name. It seemed like a natural fit, he said.

“A lot of what I’m doing is building a service,” Reece said. “Micro.blog gives a Twitter-like user experience but is more open. It’s a better user experience.”

Reece also created a native iPhone app for the platform. But he thought he needed something more.

“I needed to tell people more about why it mattered,” he said.

That’s where he came up with the idea of writing a short book and launching the project on Kickstarter. He has never done a Kickstarter project before, but he has backed 18 projects.

It seems like he had the right idea at the right time. Previously, two Kickstarter projects launching microblogging platform failed in 2014.

“There have been people trying Twitter or Facebook clones,” Reece said. “People are frustrated by a lot of things happening on Twitter right now. People are open to the idea of trying something new and having more control over their writing. Taking a little more control away from these companies that have so much power.”

Reece also does a podcast aimed at Mac and iPhone app developers called Core Intuition. He also started a mailing list a year ago and when he launched his project he sent out an email to all of his subscribers. But he didn’t hire any PR or marketing firms to spread the message. His backers just grew organically.

The independent site, Kicktraq, shows Reece’s project trending toward $227,953 or 2,279 percent above his original goal. Reece says he doesn’t even want to contemplate that. He’s happy with the performance so far. In the meantime, he’s going to think up some stretch goals.

“Right now I’m feeling incredibly lucky to have the chance to launch this project — to see it spread and to hear everyone’s feedback and ideas.” Reece wrote in a blog post on his site, Manton.org. “I have a bunch of work to do. And I have new features that I wanted to build for Micro.blog which I haven’t announced yet, which now it looks like I’ll be able to prioritize.”

Former Austinite Jia Jiang, a blogger and entrepreneur, undertook a bold adventure a few years back that toughened him up and led him to accept rejection.

Since then, Jiang, who now lives in Silicon Valley, has been sharing his rejection therapy knowledge with others.

For 100 days in 2012, around the Austin area, Jiang sought out rejection. He asked a stranger to borrow $100 and even asked a Krispy Kreme manager to make him a special Olympic Symbol donuts. In some cases, his unusual requests were not rejected. Krispy Kreme made him the special donuts and the video Jiang made got more than five million views on YouTube.

Listen to his TED Talk, which has been viewed more than one million times, and glean some tips on how to be vulnerable and learn to not fear rejection. Because as a startup entrepreneur, there is one thing that is certain, you will have to deal with rejection.

TUESDAY – How to Meet Investors in Austin and Ask Me Anything with Joshua Baer at Capital Factory starting at 4:00 p.m. with a tour. CORRECTION: The event begins at 4:30 p.m. and also features Silverton Partners’ General Partner Morgan Flager. Tickets cost $10.

WEDNESDAY– The Austin Forum on Technology and Society presents Top Tech Trends for 2017 and Beyond. The event kicks off at 5:45 p.m. at Galvanize at 118 Nueces St. The presentation featuring Jay Boisseau, CEO of Vizias and Jay Williams, CTO of Cerebri AI, starts at 6:15 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

THURSDAY – Austin Open Coffee is a monthly event put on by Austin tech advocate Damon Clinkscales. It starts at 8:30 am. and runs until 10:30 a.m. at Houndstooth Coffee downtown – inside the Frost Bank Tower. This is a great opportunity to chat and network with like minded tech entrepreneurs, investors and others while drinking some fabulous coffee.

THURSDAY – Iron Yard First Thursday Meetup and a Celebration of its Second Anniversary from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Iron Yard at 3601 S. Congress Ave Building C. They’ll have Torchy’s tacos and drinks, games, music and more.

FRIDAY – General Assembly Austin – New Year, New Career, How to Prepare for a Career Change in 2017: This meetup takes place at WeWork at 600 Congress Ave., 14th floor starting at 8:30 a.m. and running until 10:30 a.m. At the event, Nicole Umphress, Outcomes Career Coach with General Assembly, will show attendees how to build a strong personal brand and use it to create a great resume and LinkedIn profile to capture the attention of recruiting managers.