Entrepreneurship Glossary – part 2
Your mind is made up, you’re starting a business! To do so, you’ll have to attend a slew of meetings and venture out onto uncharted waters. In little time, it will likely become apparent that you have new skills to learn as well as a new vocabulary specific to the entrepreneurial world, comprising business creation specialists, investors/financers, partners, service providers, etc. Luckily for most of us, terms used in entrepreneurship often stem from the English language. But for those less fluent, this can be a serious obstacle.
Here is the second vocab set (the first one is here1) to get you acquainted with the jargon of the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as a few marketing terms:
Mentoring ► This involves pairing an experienced/qualified person (the mentor) with a person who wishes to advance in an area or boost his or her skills (the mentee). Mentorship-type relationships combine a transfer of knowledge (know-how and interpersonal skills), caring and trust between the mentor and the mentee. Check out Business Mentoring Luxembourg2, whose purpose is to put seasoned mentors in touch with newly established entrepreneurs.
Coaching ► The aim is to help the “coachee” find their own answers within the framework of a personal of professional approach and with the assistance of a trained coach. In principle, the coach doesn’t know anything about the coachees area of business. So while the main goal of mentoring is to transfer knowledge, coaching is a relationship that helps you reach one or more development objectives set over time. This is the technique the Nyuko3 team uses in the support programs they offer.
Incubator - accelerator ► These terms can generate quite a lot of confusion, so let’s take a look at what distinguishes incubators and accelerators. Both are devoted to entrepreneurs in different project phases. Incubators are the first door to knock at as they allow entrepreneurs to test an activity before its legal establishment. They also host newly formed companies and assist them in their launch. In the beginning, incubators were intended to foster the emergence of projects from public research labs and higher-education facilities. They have since branched out and are now open to more conventional projects. As for accelerators, although their missions can be similar to those of incubators, they are characterized by shorter support periods (months rather than years), stronger mentorship and the presence of entrepreneurs or business angels. Accelerators primarily take on startups looking to raise funds fast. By the same token, they most often buy shares in the startup, playing the role of investor themselves.
Coworking ► A shared workspace created to foster exchanges and synergy amongst the entrepreneurs (and not just startups!) who go there to work. These spaces are usually open and inviting, and include areas both for meetings and for socializing to encourage interactions and openness amongst those present. Luxembourg’s coworking facilities generally offer monthly rates for either flex desks, fixed desks or private offices as well as daily rates.
Networking ► Just to clear up any lingering mystery, networking is the process of building and maintaining a network of relationships that can be of use to you in life. Networking is a “means” for maintaining your professional or, oft wrongly neglected, personal network in order to find help, advice, new customers or simply share some more causal time with your relations. However, it can require a great deal of commitment and a significant investment of your time. Aside from “physical” networking (cocktail parties, training sessions, meetings, etc.), don’t forget to network 2.0 and boost your social networks! And to be sure not to forget anything, take a look here4, here5 and here6 too.
Intellectual property ► IP refers to works of the mind used in business. A distinction is commonly made between intellectual property (patents, brands, industrial designs or models, and geographical indications) and literary and artistic property (copyright and related rights). Protecting intellectual property makes it possible to benefit in full from your return on investment and prevent third parties from cashing in on the efforts and investments you’ve made. To find out more, check out the IPIL7!
Marketing mix ► An approach that takes into account all aspects workable to pursue company objectives from a marketing perspective. It’s like your recipe, how you’ve chosen to do things in order to achieve your desired outcomes. A marketing mix typically recaps the decisions you have made regarding policies on products, pricing, distribution and communication, or the “4Ps8” in marketing lingo. Clearly enough, this step only comes into play once you’ve successfully determined customer segmentation, conducted a market study, etc.
Digital marketing ► Digital marketing spans all online activities used to connect with customers or prospects. This is often an indispensable part of a communication policy, as defined hereabove in the paragraph on the marketing mix. Marketing has always been used to connect businesses with their audiences in the right place and at the right time. Today, we need to reach out to consumers where they spend the most time: online! There’s a range of possibilities you can implement to doing so (website, blog articles, social networks, etc.) using tactics such as SEO (see below), content marketing (idem), emailing, etc. Still feeling lost? Check out the services offered by Go Digital9.
SEO ► Search Engine Optimization can be defined as the art of positioning a site, webpage or application within the first natural results of search engines like Google. This is fairly crucial given that, in most queries, the first result is the only one that gets viewed. Several hundred factors are taken into account by Google’s algorithm. The key areas for referencing or SEO are typically technical or “infrastructure” type factors (domain name, code compliance, etc.), factors involving page content optimization, content quality and freshness… Ideally, SEO should be handled prior to the launch of your website. As you could imagine, SEO requires technical and marketing skills, as well as continuous monitoring in order to respond to ever-changing algorithms. This can be free (referred to as natural referencing) or paid (via the purchase of keywords on Google, for example).
Content marketing ► Le marketing de contenu est une stratégie marketing qui consiste pour une entreprise à concevoir, produire et diffuser des supports - du contenu - de différentes natures (articles de blog, newsletters, vidéos, podcasts, etc.) - à destination de ses clients et prospects. Le blog de l'entreprise et ses réseaux sociaux constituent à ce titre les supports privilégiés pour publier de tels supports. L'objectif du content marketing est de générer des leads (contact qui a démontré de l’intérêt pour votre entreprise), de gagner de nouveaux clients et d'engager une communauté en délivrant du contenu intéressant, utile, informatif, attractif, ludique le cas échéant et pertinent. Il sert également pour le référencement.
Come back soon for our next vocab set, handpicked to help you become a real finance shark!
Learn more :
1 : the first vocab set / 2 : Business Mentoring Luxembourg / 3 : Nyuko / 4 : helloboss / 5 : paperjam club / 6 : meetup / 7 : IPIL / 8 : 4Ps / 9 : Go Digital
You liked this content? Share it now!
