While the persistence and can-do attitude of military veterans is a plus when it comes to entrepreneurship, most veterans lack the right network of people to ask for assistance, according to Justin Walker, Director of Programs at Bunker Labs, the incubator program dedicated to helping Chicago veterans launch businesses.

With just 6% of returning veterans today starting businesses compared to the 49% of WWII era veterans who came home to own or operate businesses, the extra help can really make a difference. That’s why MARC USA is focusing its next Marketing Sparks event on the participants of Bunker Labs. It is the second in a series of five events in partnership with 1871. The first event focused on women-led companies from 1871’s WiSTEM program.

This intensive three-hour marketing hack on Thursday, November 5, will pair entrepreneurs from four Bunker Labs companies with seasoned marketers from well-established brands such as HSBC Bank, CDW, U.S. Cellular, Navistar and SC Johnson among others. The goal is for the startups to come away with actionable marketing strategies that can measurably impact their success.

The participating startups are all digitally-based concepts; however, they cover a range of business models and industries.

CloudSpotter

Cloud-based photo analytics technology that connects people with their photos – automatically and privately.

StockTrendSpotter

Stock trend technology providing daily trend information and stop loss guidance.

Starchup

Dry cleaner and laundry services ordering tool – an “Uber” for dry cleaning. Place an order, track pickup and delivery drivers and pay all through the app.

Cool Mellon

Institutional and capital lending platform connecting investors to opportunities.

Jean McLaren, President of MARC USA Chicago, explains why Marketing Sparks works.

“We’ve repeatedly seen from nearly a dozen events to date in Chicago and Pittsburgh that the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs are understanding their own value proposition and who their primary targets should be for growth.”

“Marketing Sparks has been a tremendously valuable program for our companies, ” said 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman. “1871 members benefit from a wide range of educational resources created specifically to help them develop their businesses, and we are pleased to continue our partnership with MARC USA to provide individualized, industry-specific marketing advice.”

Recent Marketing Sparks participant Kristen Holman, co-founder of Pay Your Selfie, couldn’t agree more. “The counsel at Marketing Sparks was invaluable. We realized that night that college students should be our primary target and completely shifted our marketing investment to create a college ambassador program.” Holman added, “While it’s still early, it looks like we’re going to meet our milestones ahead of schedule.”