Last week I had the opportunity to speak on a panel for Microsoft BizSpark's first event: SparkStart. I sat on the Marketing Panel with two fantastic names you may know: Giovanni and Sean Jackson. I had a great time and every person I talked to said that they got even more out of the day than they expected.

However, though social media was spotlighted by the marketing panel we did discuss other ways to market. I want to share some quick thoughts that I thought should be repeated:

• Consider your sales funnel: There is a gap between the intent to purchase and actual purchase, do everything you can to help people get through it.
• Don't scatter shot: Focus your social media efforts, but make sure you grab your real estate with something like NameCheck
• Social Media Tip: Have the heart of a servant
• Twitter: To quote Giovanni "its the shiniest thing out there right now" but know your target market, they might not use Twitter; go where your clients are.
• Branding, branding, branding: Do this FIRST! Don't get on Facebook til your brand is completely ironed out.
• Email: has not gone out of style and is still a cornerstone of any online campaign.

If you missed SparkStart, I heard that due to the overwhelming positive feedback, there will be more of them! Feel free to contact them at their website or their twitter profile: @Sparkstart

Did you attend? What did you take away with you?