The Selfie Strategy, Guarding Intellectual Property, and Cutting Out The Middleman in Volunteering

But First, Let Me Take A Selfie...

As social media becomes more tied into our daily lives, many businesses have started investing in photo kiosks or selfie booths. Not only does it engage customers while they are waiting for a table at the restaurant or deciding what style to choose at the apparel store, it helps promote branding. With the money spent on social media advertising, which have often resulted in a less than stellar ROI, maybe it’s time to consider buying into this new strategy.  You can get a photo booth for around $6,900.

Protecting Your Company

New entrepreneurs often worry that their business concepts, products, or processes will get stolen once they go to market. Here is a quick summary of 3 different statutes designed to protect your intellectual property:

Copyrights – Used to protect works of artistic expression and gives the author exclusive rights to reproduce it. This includes books, music, articles, photos, movies, and even some website content.

Patents – The easiest way to think about patents are that they protect inventions. Inventions include enhancements to existing machines, new computer chip designs, and new processes.

Trademarks – Trademarks are all about branding. Symbols, names, slogans, anything related to uniquely identifying a company from another. It’s how consumers know what they’re buying and who they’re buying from.

ABC Helping Harvey Victims

A group of entrepreneurs from Texas, sick of the slow and expensive process of the American Red Cross, took it upon themselves to form the American Black Cross (ABC) which cuts out the non-profit middlemen and works with volunteers to get victims the help they need in a more direct manner. Leveraging Amazon’s delivery network and recruitment through social media, ABC created an innovative way to deliver over 400,000 pounds of supplies to victims of hurricane Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida.