April Dunford 
Independent Marketing Executive | Rocket Launch Marketing
Toronto, ON, CANADA
Aim for the sky but shoot for the stars! Rocket Launch Marketing's experienced startup marketing executive helps expansion-stage startups
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Biography
I have been a head of marketing at 6 startups, 5 of which had successful exits. I am an angel investor, mentor, advisor and board member at a number of startups. I am interested in how startups can be more successful in their marketing efforts through the use of planning, testing and metrics.
I am an experienced public speaking have done more than 2 dozen keynote talks at both startup and marketing-oriented events.
Industry Expertise (5)
VC and Private Equity
Social Media
Advertising/Marketing
Computer Software
Public Relations and Communications
Areas of Expertise (8)
Corporate Communications
Marketing Strategy
Startup Marketing
Brand Development & Marketing
Product Marketing Strategies
Content Marketing
Value Proposition and Messaging
Marketing Roi Measurement & Analysis
Accomplishments (4)
Principal – Rocket Launch Marketing (professional)
2009-02-01
The success of your business depends on your ability to attract customers. There are more ways than ever to get in front of prospects, ranging from social media, blogging and email to events, public relations and advertising. Rocket Launch Marketing (RLM) specializes in product marketing for startups, helping them grow from early-stage to acquisition. RLM is aimed at entrepreneurs who want to plan and execute effective marketing programs to grow their business.
Advisor – Engagio (professional)
2012-02-01
Engagio is a Gmail-like productivity tool to manage your conversations in social networks and commenting systems. Engagio gives you visibility about the people behind these conversations and reveals their social identities profile, saving you time and allowing you to connect with them. Engagio derives implicit data from your normal interactions, whether these interactions occur on these networks or inside your Engagio Inbox. Connect your social networks & commenting systems and watch the magic!
Advisor – Guardly (professional)
Guardly is a platform for emergency communication that changes the way mobile personal safety is delivered. Smartphone users that find themselves in an emergency situation can alert, connect and collaborate with local authorities as well as their own personal safety networks in a single tap. Guardly is committed to dramatically decreasing the amount of time it takes responders to arrive at an emergency. The company is a member of the National Emergency Number Association.
Entrepreneurship Mentor – FounderFuel (professional)
FounderFuel is a mentor driven startup accelerator program that provides seed capital and access to veteran entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and senior executives. We’ve put together a roster of some of the most influential industry veterans we know. Dedicated entrepreneurs, accomplished execs, and influential VCs and Angels, they’ll provide the feedback and advice you’re looking for to bring you “go-to-market” success.
Education (1)
University of Waterloo: Systems Design Engineering, Engineering
Links (5)
Event Appearances (11)
Random Acts of Marketing Are Killing Your Startup
International Startup Festival Montreal, Canada
2012-07-12
Panelist: Discovery DemoCamp
Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery 2010 Toronto, Ontario
2010-05-18
KEYNOTE SPEECH: Startup Marketing 101
Communitech Entrepreneurfest Waterloo, Ontario
2010-11-10
KEYNOTE SPEECH: Marketing is Dead, Long Live Product Marketing
ProductCamp Amsterdam Amsterdam
2010-11-14
Start-up Marketing – Sharing Best Practices
AccelerateTO Toronto, Ontario
2011-11-09
KEYNOTE SPEECH: A Systems Approach to Startup Marketing
International Startup Festival Montreal Montreal, Quebec
2012-07-12
Thank you for Being a Friend: Tips, traits and tactics of successful women in tech and social media
NxNE Interactive Toronto, Ontario
2010-06-14
KEYNOTE SPEECH: Startup Marketing 101
DemoCamp Toronto Toronto, Ontario
Getting Started with Social Media: A Skeptic's Guide
CNW Breakfast Calgary, Alberta
2009-03-24
Startup Marketing 101
HackerYou Startup Marketing Workshop Toronto, Ontario
2012-09-22
How To Plan and Execute Great Startup Marketing Programs
MaRS Best Practices Speaker Series MaRS Discovery District, Toronto
2012-09-27
Sample Talks (4)
How To Plan and Execute Great Startup Marketing Programs
The success of your business depends on your ability to attract customers. How do you ensure your marketing is the best it can be? This session is aimed at entrepreneurs who want to create more effective marketing programs to grow their business. It describes how to build a marketing plan that takes into account your prospects, their buying process and the market space you play in. It offers examples of how to execute, measure and improve those programs to maximize revenue and profit.
Startup Marketing 101
In this full-day workshop, April Dunford will take you through templates and a process for building a great marketing plan for your business. Topics covered include developing a marketing plan, value proposition and messaging, how to assess who your best target customers are, and measuring the results of your marketing activities. If you're an entrepreneur or marketer looking to acquire customers and drive sales for your startup, you won't want to miss it!
Startup Marketing: A Systems Approach
This talk describes my own experience in finding a repeatable process for building a marketing plan for a growing startup along with how to execute, test, measure and analyze marketing results. Sample slides can be seen here http://www.slideshare.net/aprildunford/startup-marketing-a-systems-approach
Random Acts of Marketing are Killing Your Startup
Marketing is a big term that covers lead generation, media relations, content marketing, social media, messaging, sales support and a huge heap of other things. Most startups have a puny budget and few (if any) dedicated marketing folks to get this stuff done. In this presentation, April will talk about the common pitfalls of disorganized startup marketing execution and outline a lightweight template for creating a marketing plan that makes that most of your limited marketing resources.
Style
Availability
- Keynote
- Panelist
- Workshop Leader
- Corporate Training
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