TEDCO Entrepreneurial Expo Offers Opportunities to Learn and Network

Networking
Photo by HIVAN ARVIZU @soyhivan on Unsplash

Held at The Hotel at the University of Maryland in October, the TEDCO Entrepreneurial Expo brought together more than 900 entrepreneurs, legislators, business owners, and venture capitalists for a one-day event that provided learning and networking opportunities. In addition to workshops and roundtable discussions, the event featured a variety of speakers and panelists who discussed topics such as building a startup, boosting cyber sales and obtaining financing, and dealing with legal issues.

At the event, Wayne Schepens moderated a roundtable discussion on “Cracking the Code to Cyber Sales,” along with several other panelists. Mr. Schepens leverages over two decades of experience in the cybersecurity industry as the managing director of LaunchTech Communications in Baltimore, Maryland, where he advises clients on strategies to drive growth in competitive marketplaces. Wayne Schepens served as a subject matter expert and moderator at the 2019 TEDCO Entrepreneurial Expo, where he discussed the power of effective networking and the importance of building professional relationships and leveraging your network.

The event also included a keynote presentation by the managing director of AllegisCyber Capital about growing startups in Maryland and a lecture by the director of Hatchery Ventures on the effects of technology developed to assist with daily challenges. For additional information on the event, visit expo.tedco.md.

Top 8 Communications Tactics for 2020

With each new year comes company leaders’ reignited enthusiasm for collaborative and integrated communications and public relations. When it’s time to present your 2020 communications plan be sure to include these key trends and tips which cover social media planning, public relations, email marketing strategy and crisis communications best practices. 

Public Relations

Build your corporate resume with third-party validation 

You could scream from the rooftops, “My company is the best!” but that’s about as good as having your mom vouch for you. Comments in news articles and awards wins are just two ways to show that others (with authority) trust that your opinion and work is valuable. Third-party validation leads to the growth of thought leadership which helps grease the wheel when converting a lead into a customer. 

Get comfortable with public speaking

As our society’s attention spans continue to shrink, easy to consume audio and video are becoming ever more integral for an effective communications strategy. Public speaking, whether for a podcast recording or a panel, is not everyone’s cup of tea. That being said, it’s something that can be practiced and perfected, and it should be. 

Social Media

Social media profile selectivity

Social media for businesses is only as strong as the quality of content published. If you have limited resources for social, pick, and focus on, two key platforms that are popular with your target audience. For tech and cybersecurity companies, Twitter and LinkedIn are solid places to start. 

Use polls to crowdsource 

Whether you’re planning your next webinar topic and want to get an idea of what people would be most interested in hearing about or if you’re looking to prioritize new product updates, social media polls are a free way to crowdsource opinions. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (in Stories) are the main platforms that offer this feature. 

Email Marketing

Consistently stay in front of your audience

Everyone’s inboxes are inundated with messages these days. The last thing you need is for valuable prospects to associate your brand name with spam. Sticking to 2-3 marketing emails per month will keep you top of mind without going overboard. Share company updates, helpful information, and resources – use emails to show your value without being overtly sales-y.

Be authentic

Emails are a form of owned media that allows your company to showcase the faces behind the magic. Share pictures from team events, employee spotlights or new hires to put names and faces to your brand. 

Crisis Communications

HAVE A PLAN

You have likely heard that a crisis is no longer a matter of if, but when. It’s true. Just like in the world of cybersecurity where a cyberattack of some sort is inevitable, having a company crisis is to be expected. Have a contingency plan in place for everything from a data breach to a disruption of services. Communicating your plan across internal teams and stakeholders will make the crisis a little less stressful. 

Loop in your PR team immediately

Your company could handle a crisis with impressive grace but if you fail to take control of your public narrative before the media catches wind of it, you’re going to be left feeling like a celebrity reading a story about themselves on Page 6. By having a PR professional in the room when you’re making crisis-time decisions, appropriate messaging can be crafted for public distribution with accurate and approved information. 

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Many businesses in the emerging tech and cybersecurity industries are pressed for time and don’t have the bandwidth to handle communications initiatives cohesively and consistently. If this is the case for your business, it would be beneficial to engage with a vendor such as LaunchTech Communications to plan, coordinate and execute communications efforts to boost your brand’s share of voice and brand awareness.

TOP 3 REASONS CMOS NEED PR PROS

Three Effective Fielding Drills for Baseball Players

The recipient of a master's degree in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, Wayne Schepens possesses more than 20 years of experience in cybersecurity and serves as the managing director of LaunchTech Communications. A former collegiate baseball player, Wayne Schepens maintains involvement in the sport through his role as the coach of a junior varsity high school team. 

Fielding the ball is an integral part of playing baseball. Here are three drills that coaches can use to help:

1. Distance throw - Have players line up at the end of a series of cones 10 yards apart and extending to the outfield fence. Each player throws three to five balls and earns points for the balls that land in the target area between cones. This drill should improve both throwing power and accuracy. 

2. Backhand drill - Emphasizing positioning, this drill has the coach roll a ball to the side of a player so the player can scoop it up with the glove in a backhand position. The player should then throw the ball to the nearest base. 

3. Double-play flips - Best for second base players and shortstops, this drill begins with the coach or another player hitting a ground ball to the middle of the diamond. The player closest to the ball should catch it and then flip it to the other player, who should be covering second base.

The Importance of Active and Transparent Crisis Management and PR

Based in Baltimore, Wayne Schepens serves as the managing director of LaunchTech Communications, a public relations and marketing agency with a focus on emerging technologies. In January 2019, Wayne Schepens sat on a panel of experts for the American Marketing Association Baltimore chapter's two-part blog series titled “Communications Tips from the PR Pros: Crisis and Reputation Management.”

The discussion, which involved several public relations and marketing executives, centered on a society in which fake news and instant news notifications, as well as a distrust of politicians and corporations, has created an acute need for creative PR strategies. This is particularly the case in situations requiring crisis communication and brand management that will quickly steady companies that find themselves on shaky ground in the eyes of the public.

As Mr. Schepens describes it, his company LaunchTech works primarily in the cybersecurity sphere, with clients forwarding urgent requests for help in educating the public in a credible manner when crisis situations occur. He emphasized the importance of transparency and a proactive approach. By staying sincere and responsive in addressing the issue at hand, rather than reacting defensively, companies will be viewed as operating in good faith, he said.

Providing Insight and Relevant Content within Reputation Management

A respected presence in the Baltimore entrepreneurial community, Wayne Schepens is the founder and managing director of the marketing and PR agency LaunchTech Communications, where he draws on two decades of experience in the cybersecurity industry. In a recent panel discussion hosted by the Baltimore chapter of the American Marketing Association, Wayne Schepens joined other leading PR executives in the region in addressing the topic of crisis and reputation management.

One aspect of an effective approach to reputation management that Mr. Schepens drew attention to concerns the competitiveness in the technology industry. With credibility and company reputation as ever-present factors in a firm's success, his clients must meet the nuanced public relations needs of leading-edge organizations working in areas such as retail, finance, media, and the government.

Just as with consumers, these organizations are seeking validation and strong reasons to trust. This can take the form of third-party endorsements, which may include referrals and testimonies. It also encompasses analyst reports and articles in well-regarded publications. The bottom line is that companies that succeed are able to position themselves as thought leaders who can provide innovative solutions to complex challenges.

Hitting for the Cycle in Baseball

Following nearly five years as vice president of W2 Communications in Baltimore, Maryland, Wayne Schepens founded LaunchTech Communications in 2015 and continues to serve the company as managing director. Beyond his responsibilities at LaunchTech, Wayne Schepens enjoys spending time with his children and staying active by coaching baseball.

In baseball, a player can reach base by error or by being walked by the pitcher in addition to hitting a single, double, triple, or homerun. A player who records at least one of each of these hits in a single game is said to have hit for the cycle. If the player also hits the cycle in this exact order, it is considered a “natural cycle,” one of the sport’s rarest achievements.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), hitting for the cycle is relatively rare. Curry Foley recorded the first professional cycle in 1888, and 323 additional cycles have been recorded since, for an average of about 2.5 cycles per season. Brock Holt of the Boston Red Sox completed the cycle against the New York Yankees during the 2018 American League Division Series, the first postseason cycle in league history.

John Reilly, Bob Meusel, Babe Herman, and Adrian Beltre are tied with three career cycles each, while five players have recorded two cycles in the same season. The natural cycle has only been achieved 14 times in the history of professional baseball, most recently in 2006 by Gary Matthews, Jr. No player has hit for the cycle with an inside the park homerun since 1943.

Zuul Successfully Launches in IoT Sphere with LaunchTech Support

Based in Maryland, Wayne Schepens guides LaunchTech, an emerging tech PR and marketing agency that assists clients in achieving strategic results in competitive marketplaces. As reported in the company blog, Wayne Schepens’ firm had an eventful 2018, starting with independent selection by the research firm Expertise of LaunchTech as one of its Top 15 PR Firms.

The company also guided the launch of the industrial Internet of Things (IoT) startup Zuul, which completed a successful Series A round of $300,000 in seed funding in January. Also taking part in the funding round were TEDCO, local investors, and the MasterPeace LaunchPad. The latter investor is a technology accelerator and Zuul is the first startup to be spun out of it. 

As described by Zuul founder Edward Stanford, the IoT firm seeks to bring the “robust defenses” standard in the mainstream IT market to areas such as building automation, smart transportation, and industrial control systems. The end result is that IoT configurations will be optimally secured in ways that effect process efficiencies and cost savings.

Cybersecurity Market Set to Hit $248 Billion in 2023

An alumnus of Virginia Tech, Wayne Schepens has over 20 years’ experience in startups and business development. Wayne Schepens is leveraging this experience to lead LaunchTech into the global cybersecurity market, which is experiencing continuous year-over-year growth. 

In 2018, the global cybersecurity market reached $152 billion, up from $137 billion in 2017, according to Statista. At the forefront of this growth are businesses and government institutions looking to make their digital operations effective and secure. Now, the research firm MarketsandMarkets predicts the market will grow to $248 billion in 2023, representing a compounded annual growth rate of 10.2 percent. 

According to the research firm, while all segments of cybersecurity, including data-loss prevention, intrusion detection, anti-malware, and compliance management will see an increase in demand. The biggest leap forward will be in the encryption segment. This segment will record the highest annual growth rate for the next five years as more businesses seek encryption solutions to safeguard sensitive data from theft. From an industry perspective, healthcare will see the highest demand for cybersecurity solutions, followed by financial services and insurance.