ESS BRUSSELS 2012 EAZYPRENEURSHIP GUIDE

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FEATURES: • Characteristics of an entrepreneur • Creating a promising idea • Understanding the market • Ressourcing your enterprise • Working with the media • European opportunities

“There will be enough time to sleep in the grave�

Benjamin Franklin

For more information on the Entrepreneurship Summer School: www.entrepreneurshipsummerschool.com

ESS Project Managers:

ESS Learning Director:

Photographer:

Alexandre Egger Alice Vandekerkhove Andrea Gerosa Christopher Moore Florent Barel

Steven Price

Sofia Trindade

Editor: Florent Barel

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CONTENTS

FOREWORDS

4

SPEAKERS

6

PARTICIPANTS

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I. PORTRAIT OF THE ENTREPRENEUR

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II. IDENTIFYING A PROMISING ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEA

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III. ACCESS TO FINANCE 10 IV. NETWORKING 11 V. MARKETING AND MEDIA 13 PARTNERS 15

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FOREWORDS “The Entrepreneurship Summer School started with one idea: no professors or teachers.

How can someone do a school without professors or teachers? Well, this is the story.

At ThinkYoung we run surveys and conduct research on young Europeans. During research conducted and feedback from young people, we discovered that there are three key issues which need to be tackled in entrepreneurship.

Firstly, there is too much bureaucracy.

In real terms, this is reflected in the slow procedures by banks to lend and it acts like a deterrent to bright individuals with million pound ideas. There are also 27 different member states, each with its own laws, social security procedure and taxation. This is no longer acceptable. The single market is not one of the important things which needs to be done- it is THE priority.

Secondly, there is an attitude towards failure which needs to be tackled. The risk attached to creating your own business and surviving puts off many entrepreneurs.

Why is it that in the USA when people face bankruptcy they receive job offers in contrast to Europe they resort to social welfare?

Finally there is a lack of education which people receive about entrepreneurship.

For this final reason, ThinkYoung decided to create the ‘Entrepreneurship Schools’.

These schools create a forum in which young people are allowed to learn directly from established entrepreneurs in four key elements of entrepreneurship: the business idea, access to funding, market and media and networking. These four elements are essential to the success of start ups.

Moreover because entrepreneurs pass on this knowledge, which has been forged from direct experience and failures, it is more valuable for the participants’.

What happens at Business Schools? Students spend most of their time with academics and professors with a high theoretical background. Sometimes speakers are invited, the majority are bankers, consultants or managers. Guess What- most of the students aspire to become bankers, consultants or managers.

We wanted to give young people a “hand on the ground” experience.

That has been our mission since the beginning.

This is how we created the first school without professors and teachers.”

Andrea Gerosa ThinkYoung Chief Thinker

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“I believe that ThinkYoung plays an important role in Europe in a few fronts.

Firstly, in bringing the voice of the Youth to the decisions that count. It is important this is represented in: company boards, parliament and the commission. This is crucial. The other reason it is important to have the youth represented because it brings an element of clarity.

We support the ESS because it allows young people to be self-employed and in the future employ other people which is vital to the European economy.

The entrepreneurs can give invaluable practical advice which you can’t find in any book.

The other thing it does is that it brings together a group of bright individuals who naturally network themselves. It is a great program which we support.”

Abhinav Kumar Chief Communications & Marketing Officer Europe Tata Consultancy Services

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SPEAKERS A PANEL OF EXPERIENCED ENTREPRENEURS TO LEARN FROM “Surround yourself with people who know more than you and learn to learn from them.” Participants were given the chance to reflect upon their desired entrepreneurial paths, question and learn from experienced entrepreneurs to build this guide.

The skill of questioning (or “interviewing”) experienced people to obtain relevant information proved to be an important success factor for many interviewees. Our findings are based on the EIIL Senior Masterclass (TM) learning methodology and the input of the following guest speakers: Lara Comi Member of the European Parliament

Pablo Zalba Member of the European Parliament

Andrea Gerosa Chief Thinker of ThinkYoung

Steven Price Founder & Executive Director European Institute for Industrial Leadership ESS Learning Director

Kumardev Chattejee Founder and President of European Young Innovators Forum

Madi Sharma Founder of Madi Group

Wytze Russchen Founder & Managing Director Russchen Consultants

Isabela Benjumea Founder and CEO of Greatness

Farid Tabarki Founder of Studio Zeitgeist

Tin Hang Liu Founder of CEOLAB and Cityfan

Geert Palmers Co-Founder and CEO of 3E

Gregory Blondeau Co–Founder and Director of Proxyclick

Arina Sprynz Founder and Director of Rinz Sound

Peter Slendsens Amway Business Owner

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PARTICIPANTS THIS GUIDE WAS CREATED BY YOUNG ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDED STUDENTS FROM ALL ACCROSS EUROPE This summer, 72 students coming from 22 different countries gathered to learn, network and create entrepreneurship guides in teams.

This guide is a summarized version of the work of the following participants:

YELLOW TEAM Teuta Avdimetaj, Kristel Sieprath, Stepan Klokocka, Krunoslav Klaric, Falk De Beenhouwer, Tamas Magda, Alieda Moore, Adrian Simionescu, Alessandra Catena BLUE TEAM Qendrim Sopjani, Mathilde Leo, Ahmed Eljafoufi, Mats van Santen, Alberto Ravandoni, Gitte De Block, Petra Ryberg, Alex Fedorov, Alessandro Tirapani PINK TEAM Simon Pazniak, Rebecca Coppock, Jules Ndisanze, Michaëla Drijber, Cristina Nicole Colombo, Daniel Aspra, Maxime Goossens, Khaled Hamadmad, Raquel Pedro RED TEAM Carolina Díaz-Espina, Frederik Westelinck, Liridona Sopjani, Andrea Samperisi, Heling Xu, Jeroen Vanhoutte, Lothar De Keyne, Riccardo David Mariani GREEN TEAM Egzon Bellopoja, Luca Dell’Anna, Deniz Mertol, Stephanie Harfensteller, Dennis Tan, Camille D’hamers, João Gomes, Nataliya Voytovych, Lawrence Vanhove WHITE TEAM Mehul Mardania, Francesco Pasini, Djihed Naga, Daan Bergers, Rita Albu, Charlotte Norlund M., Boris Ahishakiye, Elinor Samuelsson BROWN TEAM Elke Piron, Anastasiia Olieinikova, Arjun Sirohi, Loïc Bonnevie, Bartosz Borkowski, Dekker Kaj, Dmitry Kirillin, Petre Gherghinescu, Sergio Rinaudo, ORANGE TEAM Cem Kocer, Nataliya Horban, Blanca Rodriguez Nuñez, Tommaso Galati, Pavel Andreyeuski, Chiara Gaudenzi-Morandi, Ervis Micukaj, Nicolas Mathieu, Tudor Graur

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and in turn ideas into action.

This is certainly the reason why investors not only assess potential venture outcomes in examining predictive potential but equally the characteristics of an entrepreneur. Upon meeting and interviewing successful entrepreneurs active in various fields, we have observed common characteristics and mind-sets and portrayed entrepreneurial characteristics as follows.

“I had no skills, training, i was asian, female, a survivor of domestic violence so I had absolutely no confidence. 8 years later, I have built the business to 10.000 products a week, supplying supermarkets and airlines” MADI SHARMA

I. PORTRAIT OF THE ENTREPRENEUR In business schools conceptualizing successful business models is often considered a predominant dimension to entrepreneurship and building a successful business, but a perfect business plan is not always the preliminary cause of a successful business.

Whether it be based on the examples of the founders of Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, or your local sandwich shop, successful entrepreneurs have not necessarily finalised academic studies.

Successful entrepreneur develop skills that we do not necessarily spend much time on during our studies, such as leadership, implementing creative solutions, empowering and learning from others or dealing with the uncertainty and risk.

Our interviews have shown that the entrepreneur’s personal characteristics are vital to champion the business creation agenda in dynamic and turbulent environments

1. An Ability to be Visionary and Flexible in an Uncertain Environment Entrepreneurs are visionary, they picture their end goals more or less clearly and flexibly. Being patient and focused on the long term, yet flexible in handling how the game evolves seems to be the rule.

The fact that entrepreneurs build their business and activities on a long-term vision comes to no surprise. Entrepreneurs are thought-leaders, they are the first to believe in their vision and values, to be confident in their success and to motivate the people around them.

Focus on making your vision clear and visualize the end result.

If you are clear on your idea and know where you want to go in the future, then you should find paths to make it happen.

Vision allows entrepreneurs to be autonomous and see where they are aiming when facing everyday situations.

One’s vision is perhaps the first thing that gets you out of the bed in the morning and keeps you motivated throughout the way.

Vision was more surprisingly equally associated to intuition, perseverance and flexibility. To be successful in pursuing your vision, you need a balanced mix of focus and adaptability.

In the end reality is always uncertain and visions may turn - 8 -

to illusions. A strong gut feeling is necessary to cope with difficult situations and to believe in longterm visions throughout the adventure.

2. A Combination of Risk-taking and Awareness Risk is a fundamental dimension of entrepreneurship, bear in mind that risk- taking and possible failure go hand in hand.

Entrepreneurs are visionary risk – takers yet realistic when it comes to risk.

Identifying potential levels of risk and benefits while working forward is key to avoiding misfortunate scenarios. Seek low-risk/high-output situations, and avoid situations where nonsuccessful execution are not “too high” for you–worth risking bankruptcy for years?.

Don’t invest too much at first, test out your idea, you may likely need less than you think if you are creative. Bear in mind that risk comes with possible failure. You should be ready to accept that.

3. A Capacity to turn Experience into Learning If you don’t try you will never know what ideas work. Europe is known to be a culture of high failure stigma. Mistakes should nevertheless be considered as part of an entrepreneur’s continuous learning and improvement.

The fear of failing in front of others should not stop you from turning your ideas into action.

Failure is a natural part of your learning and you most likely will be confronted it, it will make you stronger if you try again differently.

Skills may improve with experience if dealt with in from this learning and problemsolving perspective.

There is nothing wrong with failing as long as you learn from your mistakes and fail better the next time around. Being afraid to fail is unnecessary brainpower, stay focused on what you are doing, its consequences and causalities and make sure you learn from it.

your idea, its first ambassador, being passionate about it and believing in it is essential to motivating others around you and being assertive. Moreover, emotions affect learning, if you are interested and see the use, you will learn and be better at what you do faster.

4. An innovator and Change Agent

2. Something Trendy yet New and Useful to Others

The entrepreneur is a prime factor of socio-economic change.

With innovative models and entrepreneurial activities, he is an actor with the capacity to push existing equilibriums forward.

In doing so, entrepreneurs must consider the societal dimensions of their business activities.

Business models based on pure personal benefits will create less value in the long-run and attract less interest than wider society changing projects aiming at improving lives.

Money is not the end goal, entrepreneurs seek to maximize their visions.

As young entrepreneurs, we are the change of tomorrow and we can be active agents for better societies of tomorrow.

So entrepreneurs think their idea is special and magic, but how can one make sure that this feeling is not just a fantasy?

Take time to work out your idea in details, being creative and discovering a new idea doesn’t ensure success. The essence of your idea must come from observation. Question yourself on how things are changing and how you can contribute to being part of a positive change for your potential clients and stakeholders.

Listen to customers’ needs and create what they want or spot a gap and develop a solution for it so as to create demand through innovation.

Your idea must be unique and honest to make your target group believe in it. Make your idea valuable to others; people will not be interested in pursuing your own personal benefits.

Establish community interests in your business, this is a great mean of spreading the word about your brand, while building links with your community.

Once you have identified a useful idea for a defined target group, you should research competitors and examine your market potential.

“People need a whole mentality change and you see that in the crisis a new entrepreneurial spirit is rising because they have to” WYTZE RUSSCHEN

partners is feasible and healthy for you.

II. IDENTIFYING A PROMISING ENTREPRENEURIAL AREA Creative people have great ideas everyday. How does one identify a promising entrepreneurial idea amongst others? Your own feelings towards the idea, its business potential on the market and feasibility are key factors as well as your ability to adapt to the world out there.

1.

Something you are 5. A sense for Sacrifice and Passionate about Priorities Your business plan should build Dream big, but be realistic, on something for which you feel setting-up and managing a passion and that will make you business is very demanding. feel motivated day after day. Our There are constantly tasks and thoughts and emotions strongly challenges awaiting and more to affect our levels of motivation do after that. In these conditions, and efficiency. Think about what managing a long-term healthy you like doing in life, what you’re life balance is essential. good at, what you have fun doing.

Efficient time-management is You will be spending most of your crucial, you should seek to classify time working on making this idea and narrow things down to core happen so make sure you have priorities to be done one at a fun when working on it, that it time; don’t forget to leave space drives you and compels you to for your personal life. It is up to act. you to make sure that what you Be aware of the benefits your schedule to deliver to clients and motivation brings you. You are - 9 -

3. Something you have Tested amongst your networks and Well Thought Through Remember a sum of brains is smarter than one. Change

and adapt your business to the feedback you get from people around you. Test your idea on the market, in the end it will decide on your success.

While entrepreneurship is about believing in your idea, don’t stick to a bad one that your market or network won’t agree with. Gather feedback to improve your initial idea, you’ll avoid pitfalls and save time.

Start with your closest networks and seek honest feedback before starting to brand your activity at a larger scale.

4. Something you could start implementing soon Think your idea through, but don’t get stuck in writing a business plan. Invest your time in putting your idea into practice to test and show the real potential of your business. If your initial execution phase works, be aware that new challenges will quickly follow such as scaling, sustaining and growing your business.

Entrepreneurs must have the ability to be focused on the implementation of their idea. They should be able to present their ideas with concrete preliminary creations such as a prototype or website in order to describe an activity they are in the process of working on, and have real users who validate the concept.

Go beyond having a great idea, make sure you minimise risk at first and enter the execution phase to see how it works out.

Some successful entrepreneurs never made a business plan, their idea just worked.

himself. Resources are not just money, your biggest resource at first is your time. Cut your costs by focusing on essentials and doing as much as possible yourself, no need for luxury offices in the first stages. This shows that you are committed. Many entrepreneurs have said you actually do not need large amounts of capital.

As an entrepreneur, get rid of unnecessary costs. Work from home and make use of modern technologies.

Once you start earning money, don’t upgrade your lifestyle, reinvest it in your business and make it grow. If you are missing resources, be creative and consider bartering services or equipment.

Invest on the long term, it usually takes time for a business to take-off and be profitable, so be patient and schedule enough to make your business grow.

2. If you choose to go for Investors: Build Credibility, Be Well Aware of the Conditions and seek Smart Money

If you decide to go for investors, choose wisely as conditions may vary significantly. Be aware that you are most often giving away parts of your profits and decisionmaking power.

If you are uncertain of where you can find potential investors, pay a visit to your local chamber of commerce or other relevant organizations.

The European Commission seeks to encourage the matching of investors and entrepreneurs.

For their database of European investors you can visit: III. ACCESS TO FINANCE http://europa.eu/youreurope/ business/finance-support/ 1. Invest yourself, Start Small, access-to-finance/index_en.htm Barter and be Patient Building your credibility is the first step to accessing good sources of The initial source of finance usually finance. Use your networks to find comes from the entrepreneur people who are well experienced - 10 -

and make them believe in your

“One the problems we are trying to solve is the access to money, because money is fundamental to invest” LARA COMI

and make them believe in your project. Do not underestimate the value of human capital.

People are the corner stones of organisations, attracting capable people will enhance both your abilities to act and gain credibility.

It is important to build long-term relationships based on market trust.

Get your story straight, be prepared to pitch your idea in a very clear and effective way. To make an impression, you need to engage investors in your idea and values, be willing to compromise, prove cost-effectiveness, market potential and what makes your concept unique.

If you are aiming at attracting investors the more concrete you will be able to present your idea the better. Ideally, attempting to get big players on board at an early stage, this can boost your credibility and capability to attract interest and trust. Additionally have a business plan ready to provide a clear view of your plan and its expected returns.

Smart money refers to investors that share their experience and networks together with capital.

Smart money investors are not just checking the numbers but they can open doors for you.

Utilizing their wide business

amounts to achieve the monetary goal for your project to take place.

Conditions may vary and depend on your own rules of the game.

IV. NETWORKING

“There’s nothing wrong about failure, and if we do not understand that, nobody will desire to become an entrepreneur” ISABEL BENJUMEA

Entrepreneurs stressed how networking is a predominant dimension of entrepreneurship.

Surrounding yourself with valuable people is more than just a useful security net in difficult situations, it is a source of intelligence gathering, credibility building, dissemination power and a medium of building outstanding teams with divers skills.

Ultimately networking is the golden key to unlocking opportunities in the world around us.

network can support you in getting customers, suppliers, professional accountants and tax professionals, and generally turn your operation to a more highly profitable way.

1. Be proactive in meeting people 3. Other sources of funding At first it may seem difficult to Take into account that a lot of enter in contact with the right sources of financing are available people. to you. You may consider other Beyond meeting new people, sources of finance such as being present in conferences subsidies, crowd funding or a enables you to be aware of the bank loan. latest developments of your Subsidies are usually the branch and thereby position cheapest financial sources as they yourself as an active, and after do not demand interest rates. some time, as an active actor in To attract subsidies, you should your field. present your idea as feasible Social networking is a great tool and with societal added value. to evaluate who you have in your Downsides: Be aware that they network and get introduced most often bring administrative to new people online, but overheads and if you are unable relationships are the result of of justifying all your expenses real live meetings. Entrepreneurs you may be asked to pay money have shown that you should not back. Furthermore subsidies be afraid to knock on new doors often prohibit profit-making and attend conferences in your off projects so they should be sector of activity. considered as wide promotion opportunities.

2. Preparation is key Crowdfunding is another mean of accessing finance for your Before attending events do your activity. The concept is opening homework, prepare in advance your project to a multitude of and have your aims and story people who can contribute small ready. Make sure you have a good - 11 -

idea of who will be attending and identify windows of opportunity.

Consider whether there are specific people you wish to meet, in which case you should look up their backgrounds, explore their potential needs and think about possible win-win situations where your purposes are aligned and meet those persons’ needs.

Don’t be afraid to address people who have more experience and expertise than you and work on building empathy and trust within your relationships.

Consider this exercise is based on a snowball effect, once you start knowing people, you will get introduced to more and build your reputation on the people who trust you.

Practice is key, prepare your story and pitch to captivate the person you are talking to in little time.

Remember that you are aiming at addressing the right message at the right person, in the right place and at a right time.

3. Be yourself, be real and open As an entrepreneur, personal branding is key.

A first impression is said to be built within the first 30 to 60 seconds you meet someone. With this in mind, meeting numerous people may put you out of your comfort zone.

Here are some identified fundamentals to leaving a longlasting impression within a network.

The first golden rule to make sure you succeed is transparency and honesty. While you adapt your pitch to your audience, stay consistent in your vision and values.

Bear in mind that a bad reputation is easier to build than a good one.

Trust is the basis of building a healthy relationship. If people don’t believe in you, they may even block their close networks

to you. It is therefore crucial to deliver what you promise.

Present yourself and your product in truthful terms as trust amongst your clientele and network is a predominant part of your company’s success.

The second golden rule is to ensure that people appreciate you. Make your contacts feel comfortable, smile, listen, be curious and proactive.

You never know how interesting a person may be and their may be opportunities you never considered, so listen at least as much as you talk.

People love to talk and may always come up with elements you had never considered.

Ask open questions, learn from others, explore their needs and apply your findings to refine your product and business model.

To be successful in your offline marketing strategy you have to stand up for yourself, be direct and pay great attention to others.

4. Networking marketing

is

part

of

Visibility is your ability to attract the attention and brand awareness of your target audience.

To build consistent visibility amongst your stakeholders when networking, it is advised to start with identifying your key messages to be adapted into targeted stories amongst your stakeholders depending on their main interests.

You should be creative in building these messages, but you should make sure that these are simple to understand and down to the point.

Enhancing your brand visibility and communications within your market will enable you to reach out to new customers and stakeholders.

Set yourself apart from your

“My energy comes from seeing opportunity and developing my idea, but I do not like managing money or people” FARID TABARKI

Successful visibility ensures that people will remember you, building a database of the people you meet in order to keep track of your contacts is crucial. Building lasting relations requires time and continued follow-up.

If you have shared an interesting conversation at a conference, consider inviting the person for a drink or dinner to discuss things further; whether for a concrete business proposal or simply exchanging ideas.

Following-up face-to-face meetings is crucial to ensure that the person did not waist his time, so let them know what the next steps are; how they helped you. Building trust then relies on your accuracy in delivering what you have promised in time and quality in order to ultimately be trusted with more work.

If you see no direct fit between your mutual interests that doesn’t mean that you don’t have interesting second-degree contacts or goals to share. People know people, once you have built a small network of trust, people may introduce you to others.

To ensure you keep track of your contacts, make notes and build a database of your contacts. Followup your contacts in a sincere way, avoid unnecessary spam yet keep an on-going contact to ensure you don’t let the relationship fade away.

Don’t be afraid to share your knowledge. Be original and offer creative solutions to people’s challenges and needs. Business is about helping people, if you assist people around you, you will gain recognition for it, attract sympathy and benefit from it at some point.

competitors and ensure your brand is emotionally appealing.

To do so, make sure that you have carefully analysed your market and competitors and positioned your brand in the right manner, in the right place and right timing.

Create an eye-catching business card, send out tailored Christmas cards to the people who matter to you. As it is the case for your company, you should also make use of modern technologies to target your public audience as an individual. Start with concentrating on your online visibility, create your own website or blog and register your own domain. Make use of social media to connect to others and network. Seek to create an online brand community using widespread networks such as Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.

Communicate on forums relating to your field of activity in order to propel your visibility to a global audience.

Make sure that your online content is updated on a regular basis to ensure that your activity is perceived as dynamic.

6. Building an enabling environment and a pool of 5. Follow-up your discussions, necessary skills grow your network and build long-term relations When you have an idea, you - 12 -

V. MARKETING AND MEDIA 1. Identify your target group

“A guy who fails may also be a hero in the future” PABLO ZALBA

can’t always have all the necessary skills and an enabling environment to make things happen. Focus on people and building a network of trusted people early on who may be a complementary fit to supporting you at some stage of your journey.

Healthy relationships are two sided, make sure you don’t use up people’s willingness to help and serve your network when possible.

As you grow you will be looking for a diverse, experienced and committed team. Identifying your own strengths and acknowledging your weaknesses is the first step to building a team of diverse skills and backgrounds to support and complement you.

Processes of complementary people coming together for brainstorming sessions can stimulate innovation.

Think your team through rationally and build on combined competencies.

Building a team is about psychology, understanding the people you will be working with, building a common vocabulary and sharing motivating objectives.

Identifying and understanding the features of your target market is crucial in determining your positioning towards your clients, stakeholders and competitors.

Carefully choosing your target is the first step towards creating marketing and communication plans that will address and attract your targets.

A sum of brains is better than one; so test your ideas out by consulting your environment, be flexible and creative with feedback and keeps track of changing trends.

Once you found a product-market, know your early adopters and how to keep them on board.

Consider them as your first ambassadors. They are part of your marketing strategy, word-ofmouth matters in a hyper-connected world. Gaining the support of recognised professionals or experts who support your business is an effective group to focus on at a later stage.

2. Positioning and consistency in building your marketing plan Ask yourself : “What do I do best and want my company to be known for?”. Focus on one or two objectives when starting. To avoid getting lost in broad objectives, focus on specific goals and purposes for them.

Effective and Creative Positioning Focus on the innovative solution your idea is bringing to your target group, and how this differs from competitors. Build your unique selling point with specifics. Monitor how your competitors are branding and positioning their services, learn from these experiences and make use of good practices and no-go’s.

Bear in mind that a strong brand - 13 -

markets itself, seek to create opportunities for yourself to associate your company with big names to enhance your credibility.

Creativity goes beyond strategic thought. Be different in what you say and relations with customers and partners to build lasting relationships, impressions and trust.

Always stay Consistent Continuously readapting these key elements of your activity usually results in loosing focus and confusing those around you.

Mind your strategy and brand, you should pursue and maintain a coherent orientation and key messages wherever you go.

3. As an entrepreneur, you are part of your corporate branding The vision and principles you set up and how you apply them counts as much as the product you develop. Having a polished pitch will help you convince and get people on board. It should be simple and down to the point, even a random grandmother should get it!

Your personal and corporate values should be communicated clearly. You are the voice of your business; you should build it and avoid outsourcing it to anyone.

This influences the control and credibility you are giving to your project and in your relations with others.

Trust and reliability is most important. Be prepared to practice what you preach and demonstrate your value.

4. Don’t leave aside your offline efforts Online marketing may seem an obvious mean of communication to our younger generation. To build an efficient marketing strategy, you nevertheless need to use

different channels and focus your efforts and budget both online, offline and through the media.

Spending your budget on various types of communication channels increases your probabilities of attracting new customers as long as they are well polished and target.

An efficient mean of offline marketing is promotion. Consider offering a free sample of your product or service, people might come back for more or spread a good word of mouth. In addition to this bear the importance of your personal branding in mind and create attractive business cards that suit you and your audience.

Once you are starting to be set up, attempt to get the media to cover your innovative activity and tell your story. Be proactive with the media, forget about your view for a moment and think about your activity in a newsworthy way and build up a contact list of preferred journalists.

Marketing is not just about building large communication campaigns. Keeping track of the returns of your marketing investments to ensure that you don’t end up wasting money and develop the profitable marketing channels.

are reduced costs for more specifically targeted information sharing and more scalable and instant monitoring.

As social media is getting more important, numbers of and trends in social media platforms such as facebook or twitter evolve quickly.

For a successful social media campaign, you should have identified whether your target group is well connected to the mediums you wish to establish, then make use of social media in a proactive manner; consider creating a personalized domain and blog update and feed these platforms continuously and strategically.

Once you are confident in your tested content, integrate your social media links in your every communication such as invoices, products, Quick Response codes‌ Catching the attention of people outside your networks can be achieved through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but you should always be aware of the results you are associated to, since people will Google you.

Avoid miscommunication and be aware of your digital footprint, the traces you leave behind on the internet are most often difficult to erase.

5. Maximise your visibility with Social Media content Online marketing is more and more becoming the norm for spreading the word on yourself and your product or service.

E-marketing is in fact one of the few fast-growing fields in the European marketing space. Today having a professional profile on LinkedIn is almost perceived as today’s CV. For entrepreneurs, the main benefits of this evolution - 14 -

PARTNERS Founding Partners

Knowledge Partners

Corporate Partners

Location Partners

Media Partners

Students Partners

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THINKYOUNG LOBBIES FOR THE PRESENCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN EUROPEAN DECISION-MAKING.

FOCUSED ON CONDUCTING SURVEYS, ORGANISING CONFERENCES, PRODUCING DOCUMENTARIES AND PUBLISHING RESEARCH BY YOUNG EUROPEANS, THINKYOUNG AIMS TO MAKE “BRUSSELS” AWARE OF WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE THINK.

ITS VISION IS TO MAKE EUROPE THINK YOUNG.

6 Place du Luxembourg 1050 Brussels www.thinkyoung.eu info@thinkyoung.eu www.facebook.com/thinkyoung