What we’ll get up to in 2017

What we’ll get up to in 2017

Happy 2017 everyone, or HNY!, as people are saying on social media. We want to wish you a great year, filled with promise and potential.

HNY 2017 from Lisa Devaney's Bitmoji!

HNY 2017 from Lisa Devaney’s Bitmoji!

In case you are wondering what we are up to this year, here’s a few things that we have planned:

We’ll continue to be supporting tech startups with public relations services, including working with a few early stage startups that have plans to launch in 2017. We are currently helping to rally beta testers for some of our clients, develop social media presence and begin media relation’s activities. A few clients we work with are still in stealth mode, while they plan their strategy for public debut.

Here on this blog, we’ll be periodically featuring startups from around the world, with our ‘Startup Spotlight’ feature that has proven to be very popular. If you are a startup and would like to be featured, please contact us. We’ll also continue blogging here about happenings from our network, including conferences, events, beta test opportunities from our clients, client launches and more!

At the start of 2017, we are nearly at full capacity for new business, but would love to hear from you if you are interested in pursuing our services. We can always make room for more clients!

Also in 2017, Our Founder & Director Lisa Devaney will be hosting her DIY PR Workshops for Startups & Entrepreneurs for various organizations, including UCL. She’s also serving as a mentor and a non-executive board adviser to a few tech startups.

Look for us elsewhere online, for more current updates, of our Hai Media Group’s activities at:

Twitter

@HaiMediaGroup

Facebook

Facebook.com/haimediagroup

Instagram

@HaiMediaGroup

 

 

DIY PR for startups at Digital Shoreditch 2015

DIY PR for startups at Digital Shoreditch 2015

The Hai Media Group team will be presenting our DIY PR workshop for startups at Digital Shoreditch 2015 on Tuesday, May 12th. And there will be hats!

Digital Shoreditch 2015

Digital Shoreditch 2015

Come along on May 12th and find out top tips on how you can get the word out about your startup to media and influencers, by doing-it-yourself. Our 40-minute workshop will teach you the basics and insider knowledge for writing headline-winning press releases, and using social media to drive attention.

Does this stuff work? CEO of Karisma Kidz Erika Broadnock took our DIY PR course at The Mobile Academy two years ago, and went on to DIY her own PR efforts. She’s now a regular guest with Sky News and is featured often in magazines and newspapers.

Can’t make Digital Shoreditch? We’ll be presenting our DIY PR workshop again this summer, and again in the autumn. Get in touch for more details to lisa@haimediagroup.com

Creative agenices join to help Tech City combat area’s skills shortage #GrowTechCity

Creative agenices join to help Tech City combat area’s skills shortage #GrowTechCity

When Hai Media Group first heard about the Connecting Tech City project, to unlock the talent of youth in the area and help connect young people with learning programmes and jobs within the growing tech sector’s businesses, we applauded. Now, we’ve gotten on board to help in making this fantastic project take off here!

We think this effort ticks all the right boxes for helping East London thrive by:

  • Opening up opportunities for hundreds of young people to learn, and work, in Tech City
  • Giving employers better access to a pool of talent that is much needed to grow tech businesses and reduce the skills shortage
  • Connecting employers and educators with young people, parents and teachers through an online platform

Please read more about Connecting Tech City below in the press release. If you are a member of the media, or just interested in hearing more about the project and coming along to one of the exciting events planned – please get in touch: lisa@haimediagroup.com

#GrowTechCity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tech City Creative Agencies Join to Combat Area’s Skills Shortage

Connecting Tech City, a collaboration across the tech industry in East London,appoints Pleo, Rosie Lee and Hai Media Group to build a new digital platform to tackle the skills shortage

London, 29th October 2014 –  Responding to the widely recognised challenge among Tech City startups that there is a talent shortage holding back business growth, today Connecting Tech City announce the appointment of three leading creative tech agencies (Pleo, Rosie Lee, Hai Media Group) to develop an online platform to tackle the problem. The platform, to be revealed in the Spring of next year, will connect young people, parents, and teachers to local opportunities to learn digital skills and engage with employers.

The skills gap, London tech firms report, is most keenly felt in East London’s Tech City area, where there is the largest concentration of tech businesses in Europe. Over the last year, tech firms have come together to address the problem, through the Connecting Tech City collaboration, brokered by Centre for London.

“Many of the best Digital Learning Programmes in the UK have grown out of the East London tech cluster,” said Jess Tyrrell, Director of the Connecting Tech City programme. “But it is difficult to access these programmes unless you know where to look. We need information to be much more accessible and we need local young people to feel that these opportunities are for them.”

The platform, which is backed by many of the leading firms in Tech City, will radically scale up the number of young people accessing cutting edge digital learning.

The platform itself will be designed and developed by Pleo, a leading digital design agency producing cutting edge products that create and shape human behaviour. Creative agency Rosie Lee are developing the brand and visual identity to reach and inspire young people. Hai Media Group are providing public relations and social media support. The agencies are supporting the project with a mixture of paid and pro bono support.

“This is a really exciting opportunity to level the playing field for young people who want to get into digital” says Nic Mahlunge, junior designer at Pleo. “It has to be relevant to young people like me, who are using the best of interactive and social media tools. We’re very excited to be involved.”

“Young people from each of the agencies will play a big part in the design”, says Asma Nahar, 28, who is working as Community Manager for the project. “I’ll be working alongside  Sami Janjer, Account Manager at Rosie Lee and social media lead Miamii Mansour from Hai Media Group, both 23. All of us are young people who know what it is like breaking into the digital industry, and therefore closer to the experience of our users.”

The platform officially launches in March 2015.

-ends-

MEDIA CONTACTS

Hai Media Group:

Lisa Devaney, lisa@haimediagroup.com | 07711 238173

Connecting Tech City:

Jess Tyrrell, jess.tyrrell@centreforlondon.org | 07779 348180

Rosie Lee:

Russell Clayton, russell@rosielees.co.uk | 020 7613 3752

NOTES FOR EDITORS

      1. About Connecting Tech City:

The Connecting Tech City initiative, launched in May 2014, aims to bring the Tech City community together in a new drive to help ensure London’s young people – especially those in East London, some of the Capital’s poorest – can benefit from all the opportunities that Tech City has to offer, and that Tech City benefits from a skilled local workforce. The Connecting Tech City project is being coordinated by the Centre for London, a politically independent think tank and registered charity which aims to help London build on its great strengths and meet its great challenges.

Visit: www.centreforlondon.org/connecting-tech-city

Follow @centreforlondon

2. About Pleo:

Pleo is a consultation, strategy and design studio for mobile and innovation projects. We are deeply collaborative and insight driven in everything we do and focus our energy on projects that deliver genuine impact.

Visit: www.pleo.co

3. About Rosie Lee:

Rosie Lee is a hybrid media agency. With expertise in branding, digital, retail design and advertising, Rosie Lee bring a strong creative lead and best in class project management to collaborative projects.

Visit: rosieless.co.uk, instagram.com/rosie.lees

Follow: @Rosie_Lees

4. About Hai Media Group:

We are a public relations consultancy serving tech startups.

Visit: www.haimediagroup.com

Follow @HaiMediaGroup

Startup Spotlight: Zealify

Startup Spotlight: Zealify

What is Zealify?

Zealify

Zealify

Zealify is an online platform that wants to change the way we look for jobs. Normally, you’d apply for a job – and that’s it, right?

Well, Zealify goes one step further. It’s a job site that shows its clients the full picture before they apply.

Users can browse through images of the office, watch video interviews with current employees and read a detailed description about the company’s culture.

Hai Media Group had the pleasure of interviewing Lauren Hine, co-founder and CEO of Zealify, here’s what she had to say…

1) How would you describe Zealify to those who may not have heard of it?

Zealify seeks to change the job search process for junior level talent through showcasing the cultures of high growth, SME’s through online profiles. The profiles include photos of the offices, video interviews with employees and content about the company culture. Those who are searching for a job get to find out exactly what it is like to work for a company before they apply for a position.

2) When did the Startup begin?

The Startup began in February 2014.

3) Who are your target audience?

Our target audience are individuals who are between one and five years out of university,  We are trying to cater to people who may have had some work experience perhaps in a large company, found it wasn’t for them and are now looking for a new challenge.

4) Why Zealify? What makes you stand out from all the other employment websites?

Unlike generic job boards Zealify allows users to find out what it is really like to work at a company. Other employment websites will bombard job searchers with messages about available positions with no thought into whether the job searcher will fit into the hiring company. Through the zealify platform, small to medium sized companies can stand out from other companies by showing visually the values that their team believe in. This allows potential employees to figure out whether they would be a good fit or not, with a far higher accuracy than a typical job board.

5) What fields do you specialise in?

Zealify only profiles high-growth Startups and SME’s. The companies are carefully selected based on their employee centric nature and good working environment. Generally fast paced, innovative companies are hiring for roles across a variety of fields which enables us to offer our users numerous positions in areas such as marketing, HR and software development.

6) How would Zealify know if it’s made it? (goals, achievements)

Zealify will know it has made it when it is the chosen place for starting a job search. We are working towards building a platform that has all the necessary resources in one place to help individuals succeed in a career they love. We regularly receive great feedback from our users commending Zealify for its personal approach to career advice.

7) What’s next for Zealify?

Zealify is going to start its second investment round. This money will allow us to expand our team. Through expanding our team we will be able to reach more people with our service and achieve our long term goal.

By Miamii Mansour

Startup Spotlight: Trunx

Startup Spotlight: Trunx

Since the rise of Instagram, photo apps have become all the rage! However, to move away from the mainstream — Trunx is definitely a relatively new photo storage app to shout about.

Hai Media Group had the opportunity to interview Trunx’s Marketing VP, Sandra Ponce de Leon, here’s what she had to say:

Trunx

What is Trunx?

Trunx is a photo storage app that allows its users to snap, organise and store all their photos in a safe, private and secure storage vault for an unlimited amount of time.

The app works to free up storage on your smart device by uploading all of your photograph’s to Trunx’s secure cloud – allowing anytime, anywhere access to all your photographs and at your fingertips.  

Users no longer need to worry about their device’s memory, as Trunx acts as  built-in app storage vault.

How does SharedPix work?

This feature lets users share their photos with friends and family privately.  And participants in the album are be able to view a live feed of  photographs which the Album owner has shared.

Why Trunx? Where did the inspiration behind such a creative app spring from?

Jeff Chen

Jeff Chen is really the visionary behind the company – as an experienced entrepreneur and founder, he is always looking for imaginative solutions to problems.

He realized that his visual legacy was scattered on everything from digital cameras to social networks to mobile phones to old thumb drives and decided he needed one place where he could have access to every photo he ever took in a way that was very easy to find.

Given his experience with Maxthon – the worlds 6ths largest cloud based browser – he knew the answer was in the cloud. And thus came the idea for Trunx.

If you could give an elevator pitch to a prospective Trunx user what would you say?

Trunx is your entire photo collection accessible at your fingertips. Every photo you’ve ever taken – on your phone, your camera, etc. – without the hassle of multiple devices or services. Forget which hard drive that photo of your daughter on her first birthday is on? No worries, Trunx has you covered.

It looks like you have a number of great features that set you apart from other apps out there. Can you tell us what the top differences are from other photo apps? And, what sets you apart from the giant Instagram?

Our mission is to be the world’s largest visual memory bank. In order to fulfill on that promise, we have a commitment to our core values of trust, security, privacy, safety and ease of use which are embedded into the product itself.

We take the security of our users’ memories very seriously and use encryption on both the transmission and storage of data. We also have a hybrid cloud infrastructure in place that further protects our user’s precious memories.

Unlike Instagram, we focus on organization, storage and accessibility of your entire visual life.  That said, not ALL of your photos are meant for sharing – some are private and meant only for you, or just a small group.

We have SharedPix which is a collaborative photo album for just sharing with friends and family. One perfect use-case might be a girls trip among friends that all took pictures on their phones and want to share, but at the same time don’t want to have those bikini pictures ending up on Facebook.

Other differences include our EchoPix feature which allows users to capture photos with sound, as well as the fact that we are offering unlimited storage until the end of September.

On average, how many users does Trunx get per month? Can you share this information with us at this time? Or, give a monthly average of downloads?

We’re not disclosing numbers at the moment but we’ve been growing at a steady and rapid rate – we’re very pleased with our progress.

Which tools did you use to help maximise Trunx’s user-outreach?

We’re big fans of SurveyMonkey which we use to send out surveys to our customers on a regular basis in order to find out what they love about Trunx and what kinds of features they’d like us to develop in the future. Mailchimp is our email platform, and of course we use social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Tumblr.

We also leverage our own product using SharedPix as a way to get the word out – we’ve been creating shared community of photo albums at a variety of events and festivals like Macworld, SF JazzFest, Outsidelands and others.  We are also currently hosting a SharedPix contest called Share the Peace where we’re asking friends of Trunx to submit their pictures with a peace sign – one of our mascot Max’s favorite signs!

If you could give three top tips to an aspiring an entrepreneur with a BIG idea, what would they be?

1) Find the pain point first: what is the problem you are trying to resolve? Look at it from every angle and be meticulous in your examination. Once you have that you can verify whether these pains exist across a broader market.

2) Staying small and scrappy forces you to be creative and resourceful: it is always good to keep that mindset regardless of the funding situation – a lot can be done with a little!

3) Talk to your customers and prospective customers regularly and religiously.  Not only do they provide great insight – i.e. just because it makes sense to you, does not mean your users will get it.

The only way to find out is to conduct testing and observe. It is critical to develop a relationship with your customers early on and bring them into your product and brand conversations. This makes for a valuable and dedicated user base that feels invested in your product and team

What future plans do you have for the company?

Our plans are to continue to develop the product and grow our user base.  We have some exciting changes coming soon to Trunx that we can’t wait to unveil.  As mentioned previously, our goal is be the world’s biggest memory bank, and we still have a lot of work to do to be able to fulfill that promise.

How do you see Trunx achieving them?

We’re committed staying in constant contact with our users and keeping them in the loop on new features we are developing as well as company direction.  Following our own advice – we’re small and scrappy and need to be creative and unique to stand apart.

Can you give us a little background on your status as a startup? When were you founded? Who have you gotten investment from and how much? Please share what you choose with us on this front.

Lifetime Memori Inc, Trunx’s parent brand was founded in 2013 by Jeff Chen and Jay Shen.  We are self-funded right now with no plans in the near future to take on any investments although that could change.  Right now our focus is fully on our customers and making a beautiful, useful product that people love.

By: Miamii Mansour

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