This year, Ketner Group Communications is thrilled to participate in two Austin Startup Week panels! For the first year, Austin Startup Week will occur digitally and we couldn’t be more excited to participate after the fun we’ve had in previous years. Just last year Catherine Seeds was part of the panel, Differentiate or Die: How to Go Beyond Startup Status.
Panel one: 2020 PR and marketing planning
This year, I will moderate the panel discussion, 2020 PR and Marketing Planning for Startups, Take Two: What to Do Now, alongside Adlucent’s Senior Director of Marketing, Laura Russell and Revionics’ SVP of Global Marketing, Jonathan Dampier.
This panel, held during Austin Startup Week 2020, will discuss how marketing strategy has pivoted during 2020, offering best practices for managing marketing and PR programs in this time of uncertainty and practical insights for moving forward.
Panel two: innovative retail concepts
Additionally, our very own Jeff Ketner will also moderate a separate panel discussion titled, “Innovative Brands and Retail Concepts: The Next Wave.” Panel participants will include David Matthews, Managing Director of RevTech Ventures and Michelle Breyer, COO of SKU.
This session will focus on the “what’s next for brands and retail concepts” that is now dominating the news cycle. Prior to the COVID pandemic, all anyone could talk about was “The store of the future!” and what that meant for shoppers. We now live in a different world, which still revolves around what our future store and favorite brands might look like, but consumers priorities have changed, and expectations have become higher.
The panel will discuss, from a VC point of view, what the next wave will be, beyond today’s “so hot right now” digitally native brands. They will explore what future shoppers will expect of these brands and retail concepts, including highly personalized services, more experiential shopping and product curation, and of course, convenience.
Re-evaluating 2020 planning
As our CEO, Jeff Ketner, mentioned earlier this year, “2020 planning was derailed for many companies far too early this year, especially startups who looked to 2020 as the year to make their public launch.”
The pandemic has forced companies to scrap carefully laid business and marketing plans and adjust at lightning speed to constantly changing conditions. We’re now past the mid-point of 2020, and the question is: what comes next for startups?
Despite the ravages of the coronavirus, we’re seeing some signs of optimism.
Startups are focused on the future and have moved quickly to pivot their products and services to meet the uncertainties of the post-pandemic world.
Companies are rethinking business models, looking for new opportunities to help their customers succeed, and many are aligning their marketing and PR plans accordingly.
Setting a course for the remainder of the year
Both panel discussions will touch on initiatives that are a must for every company, PR practitioner and marketer, including:
- Re-examining your brand’s proposition
- Innovating fearlessly
- Focusing on the fundamentals
- Reallocating your unspent marketing budget
- Planning for 2021 with pivots in mind
Join us for Austin Startup Week
“2020, am I right?”
This year has not only tested our personal and professional resiliency, but has taught us valuable lessons on how to roll with the punches and rise to the challenge. “How?” you ask. Join us this year at Austin Startup Week 2020, a five-day online event showcasing the Austin startup community, to find out.
Austin
