Basically, the notion that technology has driven the information age is backward.  We’ve had these methods for communicating instantly and constantly, but technology took a dip two decades ago as communication became more centralized.  Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube — all that’s give us what Jane Austen had all along.  So it’s just trivia, right?  Maybe, but can’t we stop marveling at new technology and start looking at the ‘why’?  Won’t that lead to real innovation if we get to the heart of why humans want to share their thoughts so prolifically?

I’m giving a talk tomorrow for a class on entrepreneurship in the arts (or anywhere?).  These are my notes.  I’ll ellaborate with more content either written or video/audio.

Content is (Still) King

Introduction to JK: Career in Arts and Business
o College
o Grad School
o Inadvertent Career in Marketing/PR
o Return to Roots

Part I: The Way it Used to Be 1990 – 2000
- Broadcast was easy(ier) / Local becoming harder
- Newspaper were already on the outs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_newspapers_of_the_United_States
- Email was just starting to be used (few users, no broadband)
- Fact: In 1999 I ‘broke’ a computer sending 120 email press releases
- Fact: In 2000 the biggest challenge with email press releases was attaching a photo
- Internet was advertised as an information tool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1npzZu83AfU AOL Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kf1DBg5vJs Compuserve Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klvWk8tN4s8&NR Internet News Report 1990s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM6VnS2QHsw Internet Radio

- People talking about global capabilities – not much local. Your neighbors didn’t have a computer!

- Frustration with Medium
- Cost of Film: 16mm stock $80 for 3 minutes
- Video: available but quality poor / editing difficult

- Local Access Cable: available, but no one watched. Why?

Part II: The Age of Search – 2000 – 2006

Companies Obsess with “Driving Traffic”
Doubted All Demographics would “Surf the Net”
Google Changed All That
Clean Look
Better Technology
Made Searching the Focus of the Internet
But what did they find? What do you still find?
Undervalue of online ‘coverage’
A lot of searching – not a lot finding
All this is still true:
How to program a key fob? Most answers in forums…

Part III: Interactivity + Creativity + Connectivity
Low cost / High Production
Connection of People
Social Media Brings Together Mass Audience with Target Demographic
Anyone Can Produce Anything and Become a Star

Part IV: Really?
Echo Chamber Effect
Everyone’s talking / No one’s listening
No there there
Irony has it’s limits

The Big Thesis: Content is King

Network TV Still Does a Pretty Good Job at What It Does
Movies Still Do a Pretty Good Job at What They Do
They are now available as easily online as anything on YouTube

What’s Missing:
Local Specifics: We Have a Yearning for Local References – we used to have local TV and Radio. Now it’s missing
Sincere Talent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxbhvhBtTwU
Something different: http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/
Connection to the Real World (see local)
Make the discussion part of the intrigue: http://archive.bigspaceship.com/hbovoyeur/
(look at the forums section: http://boards.hbo.com/topic/Hbo-Voyeur-Hbo/Hbo-Voyeur/700011266?start=105&#msg700600508)

Take Aways
Past Frustrations: expensive to create, shrinking local markets, hard to find local events
Today’s Frustrations: a lot of crap content, too much information, more reasons to stay at home

What are some solutions?
Be more than an echo chamber
Connect to the real world
Build on discussions
Don’t recreate what mass media does well
Post Cool Stuff
Make sharing easy
Build Yearnings:
Create Connection
Being In the Know
Going Out – Anticipation

Questions
Is viral dead? What about irony? Is there an echo chamber? When have you acted on something you saw online?

History of the Cleveland Press (from Wikipedia)

The paper was founded by Edward W. Scripps as the Penny Press in 1878, a name that was shortened to the Press in 1884, before finally becoming the Cleveland Press in 1889. By the turn of the century, the Press had become Cleveland’s leading daily newspaper, bypassing its main competitor, The Plain Dealer.

During the 1920s, the Press reached nearly 200,000 in circulation and stood out by proposing the city manager form of government for Cleveland, while also supporting Progressive candidate Robert M. La Follette, Sr. for president in 1924. Seltzer became the paper’s 12th editor in 1928, and stressed the area’s neighborhoods, promoting the slogan “The Newspaper That Serves Its Readers.”

Using its growing influence, the paper became an integral part of local politics, with both Frank J. Lausche and Anthony J. Celebrezze winning election as mayor of Cleveland after the paper’s endorsement.

However, in 1954, the Press’s role in the prosecution of Dr. Sam Sheppard for the murder of his wife, Marilyn, eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The paper’s aggressive coverage and goading of local officials to charge Sheppard with the murder resulted in a ruling that pre-trial publicity had been injurious to Sheppard and resulted in a new trial in 1966.

In 1960, the paper purchased its rival, the Cleveland News and merged it to become the city’s only afternoon newspaper. Four years later, the Press was named one of America’s 10 best newspapers in a list compiled by Time magazine, but under Seltzer’s successor, Thomas L. Boardman, the Press began a decline that eventually resulted in the paper’s collapse.

The Press was passed in circulation by The Plain Dealer in 1968, and after Boardman’s retirement in 1979, rumors began circulating that the Press would shortly suspend publication unless a buyer could be found. Scripps-Howard eventually sold the paper on October 31, 1980 to Cleveland businessman Joseph E. Cole, who purchased the paper only after gaining concessions from the employee unions.

Cole introduced a Sunday edition on August 2, 1981, followed by a morning edition on March 22, 1982. However, a bad economy, coupled with losses in advertising resulted in the paper’s closing just three months later.

The remnants of the paper live on in the Cleveland Press Collection at the Cleveland State University library. The collection consists of clippings and photographs from the newspaper’s archives. Among the paper’s foremost writers from the 1940s-1970s were Jack Ballantine and Dick Feagler.

We just launched a new website for Ingenuityfest in Cleveland. It’s all built on a wordpress platform with a million ways to customize it, insert information, and create new stuff on the fly. We’re going to be handling blog postings, video interviews, as well as, artist, technology, and business leader profiles.  We’re big on websites as communications platforms and this one is just another great example.

Check it out: http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com

Sun MicroSystems, The Institute for the Future and BoingBoing teamed up to create The Digital Open, an online expo for teens 17 and younger.  This play list features some of the winners.  What is really great here is that most of these ideas bring together technology with the real world.  Most of the time “tech” and “innovation” are associated with a new way of doing something online.  These kids are bringing fresh ideas that are grounded in the real world — making something, creating a game, or coming up with ideas that save money or convey ideas.

What is also striking is how thoughtful and articulate they are.  We see plenty of depictions of kids as being mindlessly tapped into digital worlds like social media and video games.  But here they are expressing ideas that bring together those worlds in a seamless way.  As we struggle to figure out social media, marketing, and communicating technology and ideas, we (adults) could take a lesson from the very simple, direct way that they express ideas verbally, with excitement, a sense of fun, and an expansive vision.  Oh, and I don’t think there’s a single powerpoint slide…

By the way, this is a playlist embedded so make sure you scroll through all the videos.

We recently completed a video for Enercon to help with the launch of their Super Seal Touch, an induction sealing system they launched at Pack Expo.  The video uses still images along with a phone interview with Brian Schuelke, Director of Sales.

Videocasts are a great way to launch a product.  They are fast and inexpensive to produce and can be easily shared on networks like YouTube.  This is important when considering search engines in your marketing mix.  A technology like Super Seal Touch is obviously not an impulse buy.  Buyers are likely researching purchasing decisions online.  A short, concise video explaining the technology and its benefits can help influence those decisions.  A video also grabs attention in Google searches (go ahead and try it!).

The key for this to work is for the interviewer to have some knowledge of the industry and also a sense of  the benefits for end users.  Crafting a message is important in any medium.   We were able to interview Ryan for about 20 minutes and produce the video in less than 2 days.

I put together this short video to talk about one aspect of ROI that I think is important.  Usually when folks talk about ROI in marketing, they are looking for answers about what they got for the money they spent.  It’s a viable way of controlling marketing costs and following success.  Unfortunately, the conventional view of ROI is fundamentally flawed.   Don’t look at ROI as a way to measure success; use it to define your business goals and determine your marketing budgets.  In other words, figure out what the dollar figure your goal is and then what percentage of that you want to spend on marketing.  There’s your ROI.  If you reach that goal, you’ve succeeded.  If you don’t, well, you don’t.

I don’t imagine this will close the debate on ROI in marketing.  You still need to trace what worked and what didn’t.  But I’ve found that a program is a lot more viable if you tried 10 things, 3 worked and you achieved your  business goal than if you try to find the 3 things that will definitely work and that you can definitely define ROI on.  As always, comments welcome.

Well, OK…solved kind of.  If you don’t know about marketing ROI then you probably have never worked in marketing or have never hired an agency or have never tried to pitch a marketing concept to a company that doesn’t do any marketing.  You may have hear it phrased:  “How do we know if it’s working?”  or “How do we track results?”  Basically, is your ad/PR program/website/branding program/etc bringing in more than it’s costing the company?

In the BtoB realm, this causes marketing people to really squirm and come up with all kinds of ways justify their budgets.  Some talk about leads rather than results (this puts the pressure on sales.)  Some talk about ROO (Return on Objectives).  Some just talk about the branding potential and dismiss the idea of ROI altogether.

The truth is that there is no easy answer — but there is a process of getting to the answer.  Here it is:

1.) Track where your business is coming from now

I’m continually amazed at how little companies actually do this.  Even to break it down in a simple way by how much is from existing customers and how much from new leads.  How many from phone calls?  How many from email?  How many from the telephone?  There are only so many ways that people can buy something from you so this shouldn’t be that complicated.  But it’s really important to know.  Will this solve the Marketing ROI problem?  No.  That’s why there’s a #2.

2.)  Determine Where and How You Want to Grow

There’s a really funny scene in a play called The Mercury Room where a banner hangs over factory workers that reads: “Work Harder.  Make Fewer Mistakes.”  Many companies approach sales and marketing with the same attitude:  “Get More Leads.  Sell Faster.”  That’s not really a marketing strategy.  If your company is going to grow, how much more can you depend on existing customers?  How much from new customers?  Maybe your existing customer base is shrinking.  How many new customers do you have to bring in to continue upward growth?  If you’re introducing a new product, where do you want interest to come from?  New customers?  Small customers?  Large?  Foreign?  Domestic?  Some will say:  Well, it doesn’t matter.  I just want any business.  That’s great, but do you have an unlimited budget?  Because that’s what you’ll need to succeed.  You need to determine these goals so you can spend wisely.  Will this solve you ROI problem.  No.  That’s where there’s a #3.

3.)  Determine a Clear Path to Each Goal

OK, this can get complicated in explaining, but not in doing.  Every business is different.  If you’re selling online, you might have a pretty simple path:  I want to tell new prospects and existing customers where they can buy from me, get them there, and watch the orders flow in.  For most of us, there is a more length and twisted path.  But you need to determine how you’ll reach the goals you determined above.  Want to increase your business with small users that are all new customers by 20% this year?  Then you’ll have to reach out to them somehow: direct mail, PR, advertising.  Want to increase you business with existing customers by 30% ? Maybe direct mail or a phone call would do.  What action does a prospect take when they read about a new product in a magazine?  Call you?  Go online?  What happens then?  This isn’t easy, but it’s also not impossible.  Determining those paths is going to help you with the next step…

4.)  Determine What You Need to Get There

Call it a marketing plan.  Call it a budget.  Call it whatever, but this is the stage where you lay out the tactics that will move you along the pathways you determined in the last step.  How much is it going to cost to accomplish these goals?  What’s the most cost effective way of doing it?  Who can do it better than you?  What’s the timeline going to be?  What’s it got to be?  By the way, this is where you actually determine ROI! If you need to do A,B, C, D, E, and F to increase new customers by 20%, how much will A, B, C, D, E, and F cost?  How much will 20% earn you?  Are you OK with that ratio?  Is your boss OK with that ratio?  If you’re hiring an agency for any work, you should be telling them your ROI expectations — not asking how they measure ROI.

5.)  Expect Some Failure.  And Plan to Fix It

Good marketing does not work 100% of the time.  Good marketing is nimble enough to modify itself to accomplish its goals.  If something’s not working, change it.  But be targeted.  With the pathways you created, you should be able to pinpoint what isn’t working and modify that element.  Too often companies eliminate a program because they didn’t see results.  That’s like getting a new car because the starter’s gone bad.  Sometimes you need to junk something entirely, but if you haven’t determined the problem you’re just wasting more time and money.

6.)  Trace Success Along Pathways

Look at the pathways you outlined and the goals you determined for each one.  Did you accomplish the goals along the way?  Did each of those goals build on one another and lead to ultimate sales goal?  In other words, if we did A,B, C, D, E, and F, did it lead to 20% increased sales to new customers?

7.)  Sometimes the Big Things Aren’t the Big Things

I’ve had conversations that go like this:

“We’re rebranding the whole company.”

“O.K.  What are you hoping to accomplish?”

“We think it’s time for a change.”

“Is it going increase your sales?”

“Maybe.  We think our customers need to see us in a different light.”

“Great.  So this is aimed at increasing sales with existing customers.”

“Not exactly.  We just need a fresh image.”

“But what are you trying to do.  What are the business goals?”

“We’re going to figure that out after we go through the rebranding process.”

This is really, really wrong and dangerous to a company.  But companies do it all the time.  It’s because a re-branding seems like a big deal.  Launching a new product seems like a big deal.  Going to a trade show seems like a big deal.  But these are really just points along the pathways we just talked about.  They’re not the goal.  Which leads me to the Big Secret.

8.) The Big Secret

The big secret is that most marketing folks — in fact most people in BtoB — approach a company like a sick patient.  They play doctor and prescribe different therapies to fix problems.  Not selling enough?  Rebrand.  Launching a new product?  Write a press release.   Then we scramble to find a way to justify ROI on those medications.  The big secret is that marketing isn’t what you think marketing is. It’s really the whole process of determining business goals, the products and services that will get you there, and the goals and pathways that need to be met and followed to reach the business growth goals.

There isn’t an easy answer here, but the answer also isn’t overly complicated.  Once you determine your business goals you can work  backward to determine your goals and pathways.  You should never set off down marketing path without first outlining what you need to do to be successful.

I’ll close by saying that this takes time.  You need to devote a good deal of time to just determine these goals.  I’ve heard from people that they’re too busy to do this or that they’ll get to it after the next product launch or trade show.  That’s like saying:  “I know I need to drive from New York to LA but I have to finish up driving aimlessly around the country before I can even think about such a big trip.”   That’s insane.  This process, which takes a few days of concentrated effort in planning,  is the main thrust of how you will succeed.  Devote time to do it.  No, really.  You have to…

Seth Godin speaks about marketing in a down economy and the length of blog posts. Which should be short. Like this one. Seriously, he’s onto something. The landscape of marketing is changing, but it’s doing so in the middle of a really bad economy. What to do? Feel your customers pain and not yours…

Good?  Bad?  I’m not judging.  It’s just a fact.  Business that don’t recognize this fact are missing out on the changing way that people communicate.  And that can’t be good…

In this presentation, Michael Tamblyn, the CEO of BookNet Canada, presenting six technology initiatives that could radically alter the course of publishing for the better.  I found the presentation interesting for publishing but also touches on some of the same ideas I’ve had about marketing and public relations.  This industry has been very slow to change and adopt new technologies.  Part of this is because clients, particularly in BtoB, can be slow to adopt new technology.  But it also has to do with entrenched technology.

Tamblyn points out areas where book publishers could reduce costs and improve service by making their catalogues digital…simple and obvious, but not done.

How can your BtoB marketing be different and better geared to business in the 21st century?  Are press releases digitized and linked?  Are you leveraging blogs in your industry?  Are you connecting with customers, partners, and prospects through social media?   Are you using technology to its fullest to communicate internally and externally?

Although times are tough, Tamblyn points out that previous recessions always end with huge leaps forward in innovation.  These days every marketer is telling you that now is the time to invest in marketing.  But it’s not just shoveling money into the same old techniques and strategies that will lead to the huge leaps forward down the road.  It’s embracing the new, throwing away what works and funding heavily the things that do work.