Junta42 Content Marketing blog

Media Change, Behavior Change - A Must See Video

If you are interested in how our media behavior has changed and will change in the future, take two minutes and watch this video.  Thanks to Kevin Lund for passing this on.

btw, great example of how to promote a conference.

The New Lead Generation is in Membership Programs

Had an interesting conversation with Texterity president Martin Hensel regarding lead generation programs (specifically for BtoB markets) and how they are changing before our eyes.

Now, all lead generation programs are different, but they basically run this way (yes, very simplistic to all you lead generation experts...here goes).

• Create the offer
• Convert and gather the lead information
• Direct e-mail or call by the salesperson to qualify or convert
• If they don't respond, keep pestering them with email offers.

Martin was discussing how one of his clients (a leading software company) was beginning to move away from this process. Why? They are finding that the majority of leads they acquire are:

• Very early in the sales process (often six to 12 months out and are just in the process of learning) and
• Are put off by getting a direct solicitation after completing an online form (usually from a white paper or webinar)

The solution: the membership model.

Here's the process:

• Develop the offer, which is not just for one piece of content, but an indepth dive into multiple and ongoing pieces of online content (think something like homemadesimple.com). Subscribing (the lead information) offers an ongoing content promise.
• Prospect subscribes to join the free membership.
• The prospect doesn't get called unless they state an immediate buying problem (a question in the membership form). All others gain free access to the content community as they move through the buying process.

What makes this different?  Since most of these BtoB buyers are very early in the process and still need more education on the subject, the ongoing content delivery (through email and social media) positions the vendor as a trusted expert. As the buyer gets closer to the buying decision, odds are will be that this company, that is delivering all this fantastic opt-in content to them, is first on the list. Motorola does a version of this already, and have been for a while.

With the buyer in full control anyway, doesn't this model make more sense? - to focus your "hot leads" with your sales team and let your content do the nurturing for those customers who aren't ready.

Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

The Changing Face of Communication according to IBM

Following in the footsteps of their previous white paper on marketing trends (The End of Advertising as We Know It), IBM Global Business Services has developed another dandy for your reading pleasure called The Changing Face of Communication (download the PDF here). The report was designed specifically for telecommunication providers, but I feel it's relevant for all marketers.

I recommend you take 30 minutes to really go through this, but I wanted to pull out some interested quotes that help tell their story about how buying decisions have changed, and the role of technology in marketing.

Big Picture

• "The challenge is not just in understanding the technology, but also the unfolding fundamental shifts in human communication behavior." (page 1)
• We need a "broader definition of communication - one that encompasses everything from two-way conversations to many-to-many communications - and align the organization with this reality." (page 2)
• "Social networking...is...becoming an activity woven into the intrinsic fabric of the internet." (page 3)
• "By 2012, the number of unique monthly visitors to social networking sites will surpass 800 million." (page 3)
• "In the US, 80% of young adults, 60% of teens and 30% of adults use social networks." (page 4)
• "Social networks...have become a primary destination for online users." (page 4)
• "...a typical 21-year-old in the US entering the workforce today has played video games for 5,000 hours, exchanged 250,000 emails, instant messages and phone text messages, has 10,000 hours of cell phone use and has spent 3,500 hours online." (page 7)
• "For many of this generation, social networking is even supplanting email as the preferred method of communication." (page 7)
• They use social networks "for harnessing collective wisdom or opinion from trusted individuals." (page 7)

On Content

• "Social networks are...increasingly becoming channels for digital content distribution, using their network of relationships to push information to users." (page 5)

Trends

• "Communication patterns are shifting from point-to-point, two-way conversations to many-to-many, group communications and collaborations." (page 6)
• "Shift in communication control is transitioning from provider-controlled environments to open Internet platform service providers with greater opportunities for user participation." (page 6)

Of course, there is much more, especially on business models and opportunities.  I encourage you to download this piece and shoot me your thoughts.

And, I can't let this go without saying...this is an excellent example of a custom content strategy for IBM.

Download it here.

Your Content, Their Content & the Brand

Thanks to Kenneth Weiss, author of the new book, Slightware – The Next Great Threat to Brands, for this guest Junta42 blog post. Ken offers some interesting thoughts on content and the customer conversation.  Take a read!

Companies have traditionally attempted to control the dialogue and vernacular around their brands. The correct words, and the specific tonality were carefully chosen to explain, position and differentiate brands. Packaging, advertising, public relations and all types of customer communications were continuously reviewed. Being “on brand” was paramount. Being “slightly off brand” was never allowed. While this is still the intent, it is not always possible. Why?  Because too many people have too much to say about the brand and they have the tools to do it!

So how do companies leverage the power of content while continuing to be a steward of the brand? It’s not easy.

Your Content

Almost everyone within an organization is creating content these days. Sales people make PowerPoints. Marketers write posts for company bogs. Customer service teams publish documents to the web. The CEO gives speeches to local organizations. Human resource teams write company overviews for job boards. Engineers create white papers. Other employees post videos and images. Is it possible to route all of these pieces of communication through a central brand manager? Obviously, no. Does this mean that they can all put their own spin on the brand? Yes, they can. No, they shouldn’t.

How to make it work:
Brand guidelines and brand training need to be pushed beyond the walls of the marketing department to every corner of the organization. Documentation needs to include more than just logo guidelines. It needs to be a complete, holistic explanation of the total brand. Living and delivering the brand needs to be an ongoing activity. Not something that happens once a year or during orientation.

Their Content

Customers, writers, editors and experts are talking about your brand.  This can include reviews on other sites, or reviews on your own site. But the content goes far beyond these simple sentences and paragraphs.  Brand mentions will turn up in Tweets, comments on posts, YouTube videos and even in the content of other sites. Do you think all of this dialogue is using the endorsed, approved words and tonality? No, of course not. Is it all positive? No, again. It is IMPORTANT because it shows that people are engaged and compelled even if it is not always HELPFUL.

How to make it work:
Develop your editorial and legal process around content monitoring and participation. How will the company react if a person discusses using the product incorrectly versus using the product in a way that could be dangerous? How will the company react if the person is using the product in the proper way, but just doesn’t like it? 

Be ready to offer content. If a person has a question, needs a how-to, or wants to move from being a novice user to an advanced user, what content do you have to offer?

Respect the balance of power. Brands need to show more respect to the customer than ever. The old adage “The customer is always right” needs to be changed to: “The customer is always heard.” Not heard and dismissed – heard and listened to.

Getting it Right

Strong brands will always have an advantage when it comes to awareness, consideration and purchase intent. Content, both company generated and community generated is an asset to any business.  It can be an invaluable part of building a brand through two-way discussion rather than traditional one-way delivery.

Kenneth J. Weiss is Director of E-Commerce for Hoover and author of the new book, Slightware – The Next Great Threat to Brands.  Download the first chapter for free at www.Slightware.com.

The Three Rules to Marketing Reset - Spreadable. Ultra-Niche. Consistent.

The last portion of this interview with Paul Laudicina of A.T. Kearney really struck me. Take a read through this paragraph, and then let's discuss.

You know, Peter Drucker used to say that companies fail not because they do the wrong thing or because they do the right thing poorly, but because they fail to understand a fundamental shift in the theory of business. Immelt [from GE] calls it an economic reset. Drucker called it a change in the theory of business. But you could call it a fundamental transformation. The most important thing any company could or should be doing now to prepare for the post-recession environment is to look at all of the fundamentals and reexamine what changes in the theory of business might mean for their core competencies, for their ability to meet the new consumer demand.

As I read this paragraph, I think of the many traditional publishers out there who have been working toward the end goal statement, "When advertising comes back..." Scary proposition.

Seth Godin blogged about the marketing reset as the movement from attention shortage to attention surplus.

There was an attention drought for the longest time. Marketers paid a fortune for TV ads (and in fact, network ads sold out months in advance) because it was so difficult to find enough attention. Ads worked, so the more ads you bought, the more money you made, thus marketers took all they could get.

This attention shortage drove our economy.

The internet has done something wacky to this situation. It has created a surplus of attention. Ads go unsold. People are spending hours on YouTube or Twitter or Facebook or other sites and not spending their attention on ads, because the ads are either absent or not worth watching.

Marketing is in the process of resetting itself (and has been for a while). What does this mean for us? I think we are all trying to figure it out, but here are three concepts to kick around.

1. Advertising can work, but more and more will be in the form of content and storytelling. If our advertising must be relevant and opt-in, great content is the only way. I think of Blendtec's Will it Blend? for this example. Ultimately, they are pitching the product the entire time - two minute product demos of their blenders in action - but they do it in such an entertaining way that you never feel like you are being sold. It's so good that people sign up to watch their marketing. To do: Stop thinking about pushing your product and start thinking about what your customers would do after engaging in your advertising/marketing. If the inclination is to spread the message, then you've done something right.
2. Go more niche. Instead of just a company Twitter account, maybe you need five - one for each customer segment.  Instead of a corporate Facebook account, maybe you need three Facebook "movements" - all focused on a customer concept or idea that solves their pain points. Each customer will have it's own niche channels you need to focus on - different blogs, different communities, different social media tools. To do: break down your customers' informational needs by segment.  Treat them differently. The more niche the better. The story needs to be relevant at all times. Remember that your customers won't search through your irrelevant content to get to your relevant content. They'll just give up and go somewhere else. Google makes that easy.
   
3. The most important content process issue that people forget is the idea of consistency. That's where the idea of the microsite fails.  It's one big push...lots of content all at once and then silence. It's better to start small and build up over time. To do: Don't launch your content marketing initiative waiting for perfection. Launch small, get feedback, adjust, pick a content schedule and stick to it.

Create marketing that spreads (or that your customers would be likely to talk about), go ultra-niche and whatever you develop, do it consistently. This is the recipe for content marketing success as our marketing resets itself.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

News Flash: Guardian Seeks to Grow through Products, Not Content

If you are a regular to this blog, you've heard this before: in the future, it will be very difficult to tell the difference between media companies and brands that sell products and services.

Heck, we may be there already. Media companies are working hard to develop products while their advertising revenues plummet.  Brands must develop consistent content and publishing strategies in order to attract and retain customers (to ultimately sell their products).

It's a strange marketing world we live in today.

Another shining example of this happening is at The Guardian, the liberal UK newspaper and online resource. After giving my speech on the Future of Custom Publishing at the "Best of Corporate Publishing" 2009 event in Berlin, Germany last week, I had the opportunity to listen to Colin Hughes, managing director of Guardian Professional, the B2B Division of Guardian Media.

After talking for a while about content syndication, Colin opened up about the future of The Guardian.  Here are his thoughts through my notes:

1. No one has figured out how newspapers can make enough money online to be profitable, including them.
2. They are not quite sure when the last day will come for a printed Guardian, but their leadership is quite sure it will come within the next 30 years, if not sooner. They are preparing that it could realistically come very soon (though).
3. They belief the key to their growth is in creating new, unique and valuable products and services by leveraging the Guardian brand.

Let's focus on that third point for a second.  The Guardian has been working with over 850 development organizations around the world.  Their charge: to develop new applications and products based on the Guardian brand.

These development organizations get free use of the Guardian brand, with the only caveat being that if any money is made, there must be a revenue share with the Guardian.

It's a Facebook Apps meets NYTimes strategy.  The Guardian has their own VC fund, but instead of monetary investment, they willingly give use of the Guardian brand. Only time will tell if it will work, but I believe they are headed in the right direction as a large media company.

In 10 years, it will be interesting to see if we'll be able to tell The Guardian from other brands working to sell products and applications in their chosen sectors.

As media companies have been aware for some time now that their emerging competitors are their own advertisers, brands need to be aware that future competition will come from media companies as well.

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Prepare the Way: We will all be media companies

Sat in on a great panel yesterday with Amanda Watlington (Searching for Profit), Christina Howe (Avid) and Rebecca Lieb (eConsultancy) discussing what the world's leading brands are doing.

The discussion was all about content (loved it!).

One attendee asked this question to the panel. "Right now social media is hot, but what is the next big thing we should keep our eyes on?"

I was the first to answer, and this immediately came to mind, and it will happen (is happening).

Over the next few years (not sure exactly when), we won't be able to tell the difference between media companies (publishers) and companies that off non-informational products and services.

Look at it this way. Advertising and traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective. Engagement is fostered today by delivering consistent, relevant, compelling content to our customers (like P&G) - or - showing them a good time (like Blendtec) [for more on that, check out this custom content post about UPS]. That content creation is the fodder for getting involved in the online conversation and positioning your brand as a trusted solutions provider.

At the same time, media companies that have developed great brands and loyal audiences around delivering content are having trouble selling advertising. They all know that traditional advertising (even online display in some cases) is not going to bounce back. So, they are looking at developing products their readers can buy like data products, online software tools (i.e., Smartools from MarketingProfs), and actual manufactured products ala what Martha Stewart has done.

Whether you are a brand that offers products and services or a brand that offers information as the product, this completely changes your business model.

This is coming, and soon.  Actually, it may even be here but we haven't noticed yet.

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The Future of News

Nine minutes of time well spent if you are interested in the future of news.  This report by CBS investigator Jeff Greenfield covers the downfall of newspapers, how consumer behavior is changing, and a few of the solutions for the newspaper industry (including a micropayment model).

What's most interesting to me is how many non-media companies are beginning to report on their industries similar to the way a newspaper covers a community now.  There may be a couple ideas in here on what your team of content strategists can do to position your company as a more trusted resource.

You'll also note in this video the changing of the competitive set for newspapers.  What they don't mention is that many of our information outlets are starting to come from corporate blogs and news sites.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Change is coming faster than you think

If you have told yourself recently that new media marketing will not affect your industry or your business significantly because of FILL IN THE BLANK, then watch this video.

Change is happening faster every second. What changes will you make?

Why would you buy advertising?

It's an honest question, and was the major discussion in an interview I had today with Lauri Sihvonen, a reporter from Markkinointi&Mainonta (a publication dedicated to marketing and communication professionals in Finland) at the Ateljee bar in Helsinki.

Lauri's magazine is a mostly paid subscription publication, but they also drive revenues through online and print sponsorship. His advertisers are trying to target M&M readers to sell their products and services. Let's say that over the next few years, his advertisers were able to collect the information they needed about the M&M readers they wanted to target, and combined it into their own customer database.

Here is the question I asked Lauri: If that was the case, why would someone advertise?

Let's really think about this. In general, companies advertise to:

• Reach New Customers.
• Remain With Prospects Through the Buying Process.
• Because Your Competition is Advertising.
• Because it Pays Off Over a Long Period.
• Generate Store/Site Traffic.
• Make More Sales.
• Because There is Always Business to Generate.
• Keep a Healthy Positive Image.
• Maintain Employee Morale.

I'm sure there are others, but those are the biggies.

But as companies gather the information they need about their customers and prospects, the need to advertise is almost eliminated. If a brand has similar assets to a media property, why wouldn't they just go direct (through content marketing), rather than go through a distributor?

Neither of us had an answer to the question - why advertise? New markets? Possibly. New Product? Could, but why if you already can communicate directly. Credibility? Maybe, but a brand that provides quality relevant and valuable information can quickly develop a relationship with customers/readers. Site Traffic? Content works best.

All that, and it's still an interruptive media choice (not permission marketing), and is almost always the most expensive choice....and...there are more free distribution choices available than ever before (just in case brands don't have the databases they need).

It's Not Just Print

And, as we all know, the move away from advertising has been happening for a while.

Advertising is projected to be down 13% this year. Could be more.

Advertising Age itself just announced that it was cutting its number of issues from 50 to 43 or 44 this year due to the drop in advertising. “It’s pretty horrible,” said editor Jonah Bloom. “If a publication loses 50 or 60 percent versus last year, that’s half your revenue that disappeared! A great quote from someone I was talking to the other day said I’m just kind of hoping if I can get to 15 or 20 percent down, I’ll be somewhere in the middle of the pack. You know what I mean? It’s pretty serious. In our case, we feel like we’ve built a number of non-print-ad-related revenue streams.”

One problem with the online strategy Jonah - online advertising is less expensive and may be better option for marketers than print, but it is less effective each year since 2004, as click-through rates continue to decline.

It's advertising in general that's the problem...all forms. Brands are going direct, both because they can and they have to in order to stay relevant with customers.

So this was Lauri's final question..."If that's the trend, and advertising will never come back, what are media companies to do?"

My answer: If the company is built upon sponsorship revenue, find a new business model, and quickly. Most media brands have excellent credibility, a great database, industry expertise and some have the best journalists. Those assets are a great place to start to offer products and services that are not sponsorship based.

In many markets in the very near future, the look of a non-media brand and a media brand, in terms of their general activities, will be nearly identical. Everyone is a publisher and media companies need to provide products and services to survive.

What say you?

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