Marketing

Tonight, the conference was opened by IAB President and CEO, Randall Rothenberg. He greeted the sold out conference with a report on the challenges facing our industry in 2009 and the achievements the IAB has made in furthering the goals of interactive advertising with measurement and co-existing with advertising agencies.

The keynote speach by Wenda Millard, President, Media and Co-CEO, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia was an amazing overview of the interactive advertising world in 2009 and beyond. She kicked off her assessment of the media and advertising industry with the bomb we all are living…”If 2008 was a fish, we’d throw it back.”

As I’ve written here before, the media industry and advertising industry are both undergoing a sea change and as we say, “Speed kills…especially those that don’t have it.” In a year when TV Guide sold for $1, less than its newsstand price then we have to admit something dramtic is happening in the industry.

Here are some bullet points I wrote down. Sit down. They are kind of harsh.

• Media companies hit 52 week lows in stock price recently
• Death is happening or has already happened to many media companies
• Advertising cannot support all the media out there and we’ve already seen the demise of print publications such as the Christian Science Monitor
• Down is down. Myers predicts advertising will be down greater than 10% over the next three years, an unprecedented decline.
• Barry Diller says, “Anyone who thinks about growth in the next few years is delusional.”
• When giving the pitch for interactive advertising, measurement should be the sizzle…not the steak.
• Good advertising is not about math and technoogy, it’s about good creative and we need to encourage creativity and building brands.

Brands today are fluid, not just linear extensions and color palettes. Brand marketers have to ask the question “How does the logo sound? How does it work in text, in images, in moving text and video.” Ms. Millard also had strong words for ad networks. In a blanket statement she said, “Ad networks give you nothing but cheap eyeballs.” I couldn’t agree more. As a matter of fact, it’s been the guiding principle behind Broad Street Interactive and our ad networks. We don’t believe in throwing the same old network together for all of our clients. To us, an effective network for advertising dollars is one that targets accurately and makes sense for your brand and your audience. I’m pretty proud that it’s something we do uniquely for each client and I think it’s a differentiator that we speak about often.

More to come from the IAB. We’re just getting started!

In the interactive media world, we have taken great pride in explaining the desirable demographic of the online user. Those with advanced degrees, earn more than $75k per year and under age 30 and makes buying decisions online. While that continues to be true and a recent Gallup Poll shows that demographic continues to dominate online activities, other demographics are making double digit increases in their online usage. This represents further penetration of broadband usage in the United States as well as continued trends and market penetration of overall online usage.

The demographic groups including lower income, lower education and older age brackets posted gains in frequent internet use in the past year. These double-digit gains were represented by:

• -Those making less than $30,000 per year
• -Those who are not working
• -The unmarried
• -Those under age 30
• -Those with post-graduate degrees

“Business leaders – and advertisers in particular – will be well-served to keep these burgeoning trends in mind. While targeting content toward the most educated, most affluent, and youngest Americans may be an effective strategy today, the growth evident among their counterparts at the other end of the spectrum suggests new strategies may be needed to cater to the frequent internet users of tomorrow,” Gallup said.

About the poll: Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,009 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Dec. 4-7, 2008. Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

Oprah Winfrey is hosting a series of shows called Best. Life. Ever. Each show focuses on a different aspect of life and Oprah hosts a round table discussion meant to condescend educate her audience on topics such as finance, love, faith and health.

In preparation for a guest appearance from her favorite finance guru, Ms. Winfrey has made Suze Orman’s latest book available for free download on her web site. The book, aptly titled 2009 Action Plan, is available until January 15 online.

In addition to a free book on her site, Oprah is registering visitors for a 90 minute webcast next week to continue her Best Life series. Oprah has discovered a great way to promote her brand across platforms. By reaching out to the super-user without forsaking her core audience she is giving her viewers/users the opportunity to receive her message in the way that best suits their needs. This is a critical point in the evolving world of media. As people consume media in different ways, traditional outlets have to find ways to deliver the message in ways that do not compromise their brand and expands their reach.

As for giving the book a free download…genius move. The book is over 200 pages long. Even a super-user ike myself is going to print it out to read rather than reading it online. Like many others, I’ll read the first few pages and then go purchase the book instead of fumbling around with my loose pieces of paper. Ms. Orman also benefits from those that read her book for free. As a prolific author and TV host, she is penetrating the market with her brand. The benefit of reaching out to Oprah’s captive audience grows her sphere of influence.

Like every  business owner, we are taking a hard look at 2009 projections and taking a pessimistic view of the economy until Q4 2009. We are having conversations with our clients on how to manage the downtown so that they are poised for a strong recovery as the economy stabilizes and we start to pull out of the recession.

Economists have long taught us that those companies that continue to strategically advertise and market their brands will see a market share grow as the economy rebounds. My grandmother would have put it more simply, she would have said, “Out of sight; out of mind.” Great axioms to remember as we discuss media planning for 2009.

We are encouraging clients (as well as our own business planning) to concentrate on building efficiencies, reducing costs where appropriate and strengthening their core business. These strategies can help companies weather the economic storm. Yes, cuts are on the horizon and most companies will not be spared sacrifices. Cuts are inevitable, but I believe they help make businesses stronger when executed appropriately. Cutting staff as a way to save money is short-sighted and the lazy man’s way to save money. Let’s be smarter than that. Sadly, some people will have to go. But, their departure is because we found a better way to do something not because we can save a salary line.

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We recently tested a new live blog option for one of our clients. We used the free option for CoverItLive and I was blown away with the functionality and options available. The easy install had us up and running within minutes and we coordinated an earnings video stream with a live blog.

The innovation in delivering corporate news with a new level of interactivy was well received. The CoverItLive blog allowed us to upload pertinent files, video and images of planned product enhancements added a new dimension to the event.

After a successful test in a controlled environment we approached one of our large content publisher clients with an opportunity to create a live blog and live stream event on election night.

The added interactive features to the site on election night resulted in a significant increase in page views, unique visitors and average time on site during the live stream and blog event. We created a promotional campaign prior to the event and consulted with the client on how to create sponsorship opportunities around the live event online.

By adding interactive elements beyond “commenting” and the traditional live blog event, we created a unique environment for users to genuinely interact with political consultants and to receive the exact information they were looking for about the election results.

When we talk with our clients about building successful media campaigns or creating opportunities to grow their business, audience engagement is a big part of the plan. By using social media elements and creating “many-to-many” conversations, we build relationships with our users that other forms of media cannot come close to achieving. From relationships we build trust and from trust we generate influence leaders within our online communities.

If you would like Broad Street Interactive to help you engage your audience and build trust among your constituents, contact us today.

Those are some pretty scary words to a marketer. I remember the days when, as a marketer, I thought I had control over my brand. I told you what to think about my products and you thought it. End of story. Oh, how times have changed. Those comapnies that have changed are the new success stories in business. Those that refuse to see the new reality are doomed to fail.

Case in point, the airline industry. Battered by everything from high oil prices to fierce competition, they have not adjusted. Many airlines are not customer focused. Plagued by poor performance, they continue to ignore customer complaints and expect to see happy customers. Multiply that with staffing shortages and long-term employees that are overworked because of hiring freezes and you get one helluva customer experience.

The headlines we see are just a snapshot of the horrible customer experiences we experience every time we make the trek to the airport. But, the airlines plug along without making efforts to improve customer service. Sure, there are new marketing campaigns telling the consumer how much they care about quality service, but there is no “there” there.

A few angry blog posts can torpedo a multi-million dollar ad campaign these days. That reality forces companies to respond to customers.  As a product marketing manager, I loved to go to the customer service center and take calls from angry customers. It was the best way for me to learn about our product’s deficiencies and it gave me an opportunity to respond with a helpful education on how to make the product work the way it was intended.

As a company, we never build our products or launch our service with the intention of it being of poor quality or not meeting a demand. That’s a given. So when things go wrong, we have to be honest in finding out the why and then committed to fixing it before the next customer hears about it.

A lot of the times, we discover the customer experience was ruined by the human factor and not a product/service malfunction.  As I wrote about earlier, Talent is number 1, and if you are not willing to address talent or lack thereof in your organization you will continue to see the same problems over and over.

As a manager, as a businessman, i will not let the wrong people in the wrong job be a hinderance to my success. It’s the easiest thing to fix. We all talk about “customers are number 1 and our talent is key to our success” but if you don’t live it and breathe it and execute it, it winds up being empty words and you’ll notice it on your bottom line as customers leave you and employees sabatoge you.

A friend of mine recently interviewed with one of my competitors and kindly reported back to me tons of information about them. My favorite part was their arrogance. They flat out said that they don’t watch their competitors and don’t even consider us a competitor.  I was so glad to hear that! I love the old way of doing business!!

Meanwhile, this company is currently on the auction block because of their loss of market share. They are seeing stagnant growth at best while I’ve seen double digit increases in traffic month over month! My growth is exponential while theirs is in a flatline.

Here’s the lesson: Never underestimate your competition. The only way you will keep growing and maintain your position is to keep your eyes laser focused on what trends are emerging in the industry and how others are exploiting them. Do a SWOT analysis and make competitive analysis a part of your marketing plan all the time.

The interactive media industry is changing every day. To sit in a bloated office and laugh off the competition is the best news I’ve heard all year. So, nobody tell them that while I may be in their rearview mirror right now…I’m doing about 180 mph and will be letting them eat my dust soon!

Adomatica posted a video from the interns at a local ad agency that was supposed to be a carefree “end of summer” at the agency video. Instead, the comments tore into the agency and it made the circuit as a joke in the local interactive community. Talk about losing control of your brand!

The agency has a reputation for being a “churn and burn” shop and not real dedicated to hiring or growing their talent. I actually interviewed there and found the atmosphere to be exactly what I’d heard it would be. When I asked people about their reputation they assured me they were trying to change their image. That is until I met with one of their C-level executives. He was from New York and it was the first thing he let me know. He said, “I’ve lived in apartment buildings bigger than Austin” and “I don’t give a fuck what the people in this town think about us.”

I made up my mind right then that I wasn’t interested in working there. They may have the same opinion about me.

This brings me back to marketing and reputation management.  I believe that what makes a great company is great people. Especially in the advertising agency world. You have to seek out the talent, cultivate the talent you have and let your clients and campaigns be your swagger…not your downtown offices. You also can’t have lip service to a message but not live it. In this instance, the team wanted to believe that they were working on re-inventing their agency and improving on a damaged reputation…however, the C-level executives clearly weren’t buying in. Not only that, they were actively doing more harm to their reputation in this instance.

Maybe that C-level executive is no longer with the company. I don’t see his photo on their leadership team page. If not, perhaps they have indeed worked on managing that reputation since my interaction with them.

If I were on the management team of this agency, I’d not just shrug off comments of the interactive community or advertising community as jealousy or petty but I’d take a long hard look at what we were doing wrong and how it was affecting our ability to grow and develop good talent, good campaigns and ultimately good results for our clients.

But, that’s just me. I guess I could say I don’t give a fuck what this agency does and we could call it even.

Austin has always been tech-savvy, and as the market here continues to mature we are seeing more and more events for those in the interactive industry to choose from. This past weekend I attended ProductCamp for product marketing managers and product managers and this week I am going to Interactive Austin 2008.

From the website about the conference:

As the digital revolution continues to change the face of business, marketers are eager to understand and adapt to the myriad of changes afoot, and how they can strategically integrate social commerce initiatives into their marketing strategies.

I’ll go to network and continue to learn about how companies are using new media in their marketing mix. After that event I’ll go to the Austin Interactive Marketing Association happy hour at The Belmont downtown.

It’s great to see such activity in this market where qualified individuals are gathering to share knowledge and network. We are certainly living up to our reputation as a growing interactive hub.

What an incredible event! I have been in product management for a long time and it still amazes me when I get in a room of product managers and we can all speak the same language. At Saturday’s ProductCamp, many of the product managers were from industries that fit in Austin, tech, software, hardware and some Internet. I was the odd man out with my background in health care product management…coming late to the game of things like “User Experience” and things like “release dates.”

There were over 100 people when we started the day and to my surprise many stayed until the bitter end…the bitter end being my presentation on navigating the political minefields of product management. Perhaps my age showed when I saw the shocked faces at the mere suggestion the product management is a “political minefield.”

I enjoyed the round table discussion on sales and it got heated! Product managers and sales have a love/hate relationship and it was great to talk through those relationships that are the same no matter what industry you’ve chosen.

The session on startups was overflowing…not a surprise. Austin Ventures (the venture capital group in Austin) was one of the sponsors and Austin has rebounded from the tech bust of the ’90′s and is a hotbed for new ventures once again.

Many other folks blogged about the event and the twitter page was a great source of what was happening during the day. I will definitely go to the next one. The other attendees did seem to enjoy my last presentation on “Navigating the Political Minefields of Product Management” which I will post here as a video along with my “Time Management for Product Managers” presentation.

A special thanks to Paul Young and John Milburn for organizing the event. I can’t wait for the next one.

And for my fellow “participants” I hop you’ll join me on LinkedIn!
My presentations as videos are below. I used authorStream to make them.
Time Management for Product Managers

Navigating the Political Minefields of Product Management