Everyone's Blog Posts - PitchEngine

What Is The Market's Intention?

2009-11-16T14:04:54.000Z

Marketers act as thought we are all cattle waiting to be herded into a transaction. It seems as though the prevailing thought about all this social technology is that it enables organizations to "herd" us into their community and they use trick of the trade to do so.

Ever consider what is the intention of the large social networks? Facebook wants our traffic so they can sell ads to the marketers. The market still fails to understand that we don't want ads rather we're looking for conversations that have an affinity to our own intentions.

What Is Your Intention?

Doc Searls writes: My thinking out loud about what came to be called VRM began with The Intention Economy at Linux Journal, which I posted from a seat amidst the audience at the 2006 eTech in San Diego. The money ‘graphs:

The Intention Economy grows around buyers, not sellers. It leverages the simple fact that buyers are the first source of money, and that they come ready-made. You don’t need advertising to make them. The Intention Economy is about markets, not marketing. You don’t need marketing to make Intention Markets.

The Intention Economy is built around truly open markets, not a collection of silos. In The Intention Economy, customers don’t have to fly from silo to silo, like a bees from flower to flower, collecting deal info (and unavoidable hype) like so much pollen. In The Intention Economy, the buyer notifies the market of the intent to buy, and sellers compete for the buyer’s purchase. Simple as that.

The Intention Economy is built around more than transactions. Conversations matter. So do relationships. So do reputation, authority and respect. Those virtues, however, are earned by sellers (as well as buyers) and not just “branded” by sellers on the minds of buyers like the symbols of ranchers burned on the hides of cattle.

The Intention Economy is about buyers finding sellers, not sellers finding (or “capturing”) buyers.
In The Intention Economy, a car rental customer should be able to say to the car rental market, “I’ll be skiing in Park City from March 20-25. I want to rent a 4-wheel drive SUV. I belong to Avis Wizard, Budget FastBreak and Hertz 1 Club. I don’t want to pay up front for gas or get any insurance. What can any of you companies do for me?” — and have the sellers compete for the buyer’s business…

I also believe we need to start viewing economies, and markets, from the inside out: from the single buyer toward the surrounding world of sellers. And to start constructing technical solutions to the buyer’s problem of getting what he or she wants from markets, rather than the seller’s problem of getting buyers’ attention.

Doc is a man who sees a system of complexity and tries to make it simply, useful and meaningful. His original work, The Cluetrain Manifesto, was based on the theme that "markets are conversations" and he has worked to build a new system (VRM) which truly enables a new way for markets to run.

Markets were born out of consumption. Consumption fueled the industrial economy which created behemoth institutions, large amounts of capital and greed. Market leaders believed their methods, their products and their power was the reason why the market existed.

The information economy fueled broader market awareness from which markets became smarter, more informed and "connected". This information was fueled by and from communications enabled by emerging technology. Information then created new knowledge for market consumption. Knowledge was then propagated through relationships formulated on-line and off-line. The aggregation of consumer conversations enabled by technology fueled awareness of market methods and intents. Consumers found influence from relationships and have begun to "opt out" of the old methods created by the markets.

Social technology has created a transparency of intent. Intent is a relational attribute that reveals motive. The "markets of conversations" are no longer motivated by old methods used by the markets over the last 40 years. As Doc has said so well "The Intention Economy is built around more than transactions. Conversations matter. So do relationships. So do reputation, authority and respect. Those virtues, however, are earned by sellers (as well as buyers) and not just “branded” by sellers on the minds of buyers like the symbols of ranchers burned on the hides of cattle."

Markets willl no longer be herded into a transaction.

Stay tuned for Doc's new book "The Intention Economy".

Why You Shouldn't Use Social Media

2009-11-04T11:24:13.000Z

Using social media just because everyone else is does not mean you should, at least not yet.

Before jumping into all the chatter and all the advertising organizations would be better served by asking themselves a series of questions. Finding the answers to the questions will require you to "think" about critical issues which will have serious impacts on the use of social media.

First you need to understand what it should be used for vs. what it shouldn't be used for. To answer these questions you must think about how effective are your current communications, internally and externally. Why? Because communications is the essence of an economy, your economy, and unless you master it you will indeed hurt your economy.

Think About Your Communications

Keven Kelly writes Because communication--which in the end...... is what the digital technology and media are all about -- is not just a sector of the economy. Communication is the economy.

This vanguard is not about computers. Computers are over. Most of the consequences that we can expect from computers as stand-alone machines have already happened. They have sped up our lives, and made managing words, numbers, and pixels quite extraordinary, but they have not had much more effect beyond that.

The new economy is about communication, deep and wide. All the transformations suggested in this book stem from the fundamental way we are revolutionizing communications. Communication is the foundation of society, of our culture, of our humanity, of our own individual identity, and of all economic systems. This is why networks are such a big deal. Communication is so close to culture and society itself that the effects of technologizing it are beyond the scale of a mere industrial-sector cycle. Communication, and its ally computers, is a special case in economic history. Not because it happens to be the fashionable leading business sector of our day, but because its cultural, technological, and conceptual impacts reverberate at the root of our lives.

Results Are Fueled By Communications

The blogosphere is filled with commentary on how to get an ROI from social media. There are dozens of tools to use in measuring your social media campaign and its effectiveness. However measuring the output of social media is like playing tennis by watching the scoreboard, you will loose the game.

Social media is a way to communicate. Unless you know how to communicate in relational terms rather than marketing and advertising terms your result will be failure, wide open and transparent for everyone to witness. Learning to communicate in relational terms goes against everything most people have learned in business. Subsequently before using social media organizations must unlearn and rethink everything they previously learned and thought about relative to communications and market relations.

Using social media effectively demands mind-sets and capabilities that are unfamiliar and sometimes even counter intuitive to many business managers. It requires building trusting relations with your market, internal and external, rather than enforcing top-down out dated policies. Business managers should allow themselves and the entire organization time to unlearn and rethink everything before they "jumping into" social media. Most are following those who haven't unlearned and rethought how, where, when,who, why and what they communicate which ultimately produces results, good bad and indifferent.

Results are the end result of how well and what people and processes communicate. You shouldn't use social media until you know how well and what your people and processes communicate to all markets, internally and externally. Using it without knowing this is like jumping out of a plane with no parachute. Splat!

What say you?

Public Relations can be Social, Imagine That...

2009-10-28T15:37:13.000Z

PitchEngine member, Esther Steinfeld, interviews the founder and CEO of PitchEngine, a social media platform that supports communication between public relations individuals, journalists and bloggers. And isn’t PR about communication anyway? Could this be a return to the way it always should have been? Esther poses the tough questions and Kintzler replies with no fear. (“Press releases suck!”)

Are Your Directions Wrong?

2009-10-28T12:40:28.000Z

Social media doesn't come with directions. Instead it is a never ending process of learning what, where, when, who, how and why you individually and your entire organization should use it purposely.

Social media doesn't come with a manual and it isn't something you should learn by simply copying others. Social media is simply a new communications system and instead of thinking about social media people should think about how communications has changed as a result of social media.

What Has Changed?

In the past communications was a one way marketing system aimed at getting people's attention. The old system "pushed" out messages and offers and the consumer had one decision, respond or not. Social media now makes communications a two way exchange and people have been enabled to connect and collaborate with others who have similar experiences or opinions about anything, everything, anyone and everyone.

Consumer feedback is now instantaneous and rather than one by one it is crowds of people who desire to be heard. The subject matters threaded throughout all these interconnected conversations is all relevant and relative to any business, institution, celebrity, government, product or service and people's daily experiences with anything and everything. The market intelligence embedded in these conversations is strategically significant to those who know how to listen and take action accordingly.

What Direction Should Your Organization Follow?

The direction of any business is set by leadership. Most leaders engage in strategic thinking before finalizing an organizations plan or direction. Strategic thinking encompasses assessing relevant issues that impact an organizations ability to deliver value propositions to specific markets better than the competition. Once a strategy is concluded then it all about execution of related initiatives and activities. Execution involves people, processes, technology and last but not least communications. Without effective communications the cost of execution rises which then creates the need for new "directions". Changing directions adds complexity. Complexity increases cost. When communications fail an organizations cannot progress towards its strategic aim efficiently.

Social Media Can Cause A Change In Your Directions

If you don't have good market intelligence than any effort to propagate your value proposition to specific markets may be a wasted effort. Market intelligence is about knowing what value your markets seeks. Where your market is, who is your market, when your market engages, how do they engage and why. Knowing what, where,who,when, how and why is relevant and relative to monitoring market sentiment and subsequently focusing your message around the markets of conversations. However, if your organizational design, culture, knowledge and communications is not in alignment with the markets conversation then the market is not likely to respond. A market that doesn't respond is a market that is likely responding to someone or something else.

Even if you have the best market intelligence you cannot effectively respond without having an organizations that:

Cares to respond
Knows how to respond
Believes in your response
Is capable of responding
Enabled to deliver actions that satisfy your market

Without enabling your organization,(people, processes and technology), to properly and effectively respond you are doomed to fail because 1-5 above is what all markets want from the supplier.

Social media magnifies an organizations capabilities. The market of conversations are quick to point out companies that fail to meet the criteria of 1-5 above. Being able to meet this criteria is a function of organizational design, culture, management and communications. Social media cannot fix these issues rather all it does in magnify how well they perform. Not being able to perform to the expectations of the market has never been as transparent as it is today. To maximize the power of social media companies must first assess organizational design, culture, management and communications or face the consequences of ignoring that which has become transparent to the market of conversations. The directions needed to fix these issues is different than marketing and PR. Get it?

What say you?

What Are Social Media Directions?

Face to Face

2009-10-24T05:20:02.000Z

Does anyone meet face to face anymore? With all the social networking going on, it seems that meetings are now being handled virally. I'm not putting down technology or all these new platforms (I'm a closeted tech geek) and I love that it's convenient and time efficient. I miss the good 'ol days of meeting face to face. I understand that people are busy these days, heck, I'm busy too but I'm never too busy to meet someone in person if they ask.

I'm fully aware there are networking groups that meet once a month at a designated place for mixing and connecting but most of these cost a small fee and you never know what type of people attend unless you attend. Most of the time, they are a waste of time. You might get lucky and find one group that you relate and click with, I haven't yet. But I'm still looking.

There is something soulful, natural, spiritual when you connect face to face. You open yourself up to meeting someone new in an organic way. It also helps with your communication skills, body language, self-esteem and intimacy. So, let's meet for a cup of coffee, nice lunch or sunset happy hour and chat it up!

Communication Transforms Everything!

2009-10-22T10:20:35.000Z

Change represents transformation. However when communications gets transformed everything changes and I mean everything.

When we say everything just consider how everything in the past came into existence. Everything comes into existence from communications. Think about it.

If you believe is God then you believe that God spoke the universe and mankind into existence. He communicated

If you believe in evolution then you believe that molecules collided and began communicating subsequently forming everything including you.

From the beginning of time humans began communicating with others and the affinity of the communications created "communities". Communities representing different beliefs formed entire countries and religions and the beliefs were propagated by verbal and written communications over time. History shows the documentation of these communications and it is from these communications knowledge advanced and subsequently we began trading goods and services created from knowledge gained through communications.

Fast Forward To The Present Century

Over the last 100 years what has been the greatest influence on the global community? Communications. From tablets, smoke signals, telegraphs, landlines, radio, television, cell phones and finally the internet the ability to communicate to the masses has brought us into a world that is always on and always communicating. Communications has driven world events, politics, the economy, culture and changes to human behavior. Then comes the social web and everything again begins to change but this change started out as a hidden phenomena that is no longer hidden rather it is loud and growing in influence. It is the first time in history that mankind has been enabled to speak individually as well as collectively and with a swelling tsunami of influence.

The Power Of Transformation

When we communicate with others an exchange of information begins to transform relationships. We see it in families, churches, business, politics, governments and technology.

Communications is a process that transforms information into knowledge, awareness and wisdom for those seeking it. Gaining knowledge, awareness and wisdom is a need and desire of mankind. Today social media accelerates the transfer of knowledge, awareness and wisdom faster than anytime in history.

The product and service of social media is in fact communications. However the process and power of communicating has shifted from the few to the many. People have now been enabled to influence the rate of change and the rate of interest which are the primary drivers of any and all transformational changes. Equipped with this power, unrealized and uncontrollable, the influence of the masses just became the influence over transformation of every industry, every economy, governments and the global community of people (tribes) from everywhere and anywhere.

Those, big and small, who learn how to tap into this transformational power are now able to create innovation at a moments notice and without barriers to trade, without rules, without oversight and the freedom to create new markets that other people will quickly migrate to at the click of a mouse. The currency of communications historically has been intangible but it is now tangible to those who know how to use it.

Those that understand this transformation will rise to power (Obama as an example) and they will continue to use the new system of communications to transform many other things if not everything. Power is no longer isolated rather it is spread throughout a network of people who have common beliefs and the ability to reach many others using the new system of communications.

Don't believe it? Look around. Examine what is changing or transforming. Everything. Consider the root cause and you will find communications. Traditional media pushes out the events created by transformations happening before our eyes. We can react to these events or create meaning from these events. Creating meaning comes from engaging in conversations and learning what is possibly on the other side of these events. What is on the other side of transformation is change we create and can truly believe in. Why? Because we've had influence over its existence. Get it?

Do you know the power of social media?

What say you?

Putting Lipstick On A Pig?

2009-10-20T11:44:23.000Z

As more and more businesses seek to leverage social media most are turning to their advertising agencies because they think of social media as marketing. The agencies then do what they do best, finding ways to put lipstick on a pig.

Advertising agencies are know best for their creativity. Many have added "social media practices" to their portfolio of services they offer clients. Since social media is being touted as a "marketing channel" businesses are either outsourcing it to their agencies or giving their marketing departments the responsibility to "manage it".

These decisions will lead to or already have created an accident looking for a place to happen. While social media adds value to advertising and marketing processes it cannot cover up operational and cultural problems rather it will accentuate them. In other words you can "put lipstick on a pig" but it will still stand out as a pig.

Dressing Up Doesn't Cover Up

Marketing and advertising activities are aimed at "dressing up" a message, an image or the value proposition offered to specific markets. Dressing up requires creativity aimed at capturing people's attention, attracting them to and through a message and ultimately motivating them to engage. However if the "body of your message" isn't backed up by the performance of the operations then the attention and attraction you created will be a big disappointment when people decide to engage. Marketing and advertising can dress your organization up all day long but it can't cover up organizational problems that impact market relations.

Dressing Up Should Accentuate The Experience

My wife is smart, talented, centered, sensitive, drop dead gorgeous and simply put an outstanding person. If you ever had the opportunity to meet her and engage in a conversation she would definitely get your attention and you would be attracted by her spirit, her beauty, her intelligence and her conversation. Dressed up or not she creates an relational experience that leaves a lasting impression. After conversing with her you would remember the experience because dressed up or not the substance of who she is doesn't require any "lipstick". When she does dress up her attraction is only magnified by who and what she is from the inside out, not the outside in.

The essence of the the story about my wife relates to the mindset of corporations and their view of social media. Relying on advertising and marketing firms to maximize the use of social media on your behalf is only effective if the inside of your company is as good as the message pushed out to the market. If you are good, I mean really good, on the inside then that alone should create enough viral media, consumer conversations, attention, attraction and market awareness more than any traditional advertising or marketing campaign you could ever run.

One other thing. Marketing and advertising from the inside out doesn't cost as much as from the outside in. Get it? No? Look at what Zappo's did simply by creating outstanding customer service driven by an open and transparent culture were employees were proud to not only deliver outstanding service but share their own experience with the market of conversations. Just in case you didn't know, Zappo's sold shoes! Get that?

What say you?

5 Things You Must Ask About Social Media

2009-10-17T13:22:22.000Z

Everyone seems to be asking a lot of questions about social media. Subsequently everyone has an opinion as to the answers to these very questions. The questions are all over the place from how to produce results to what technology to use and how. To say the least there are hundreds of different answers to each question asked.

Business leaders are jumping into the use of social media and expecting results. The results of using social media vary by who is using it for what purpose. However most of the purposes are aimed at marketing and public relations. The results of use are problematic to say the least. We hear of a few success stories but the bulk of the results reveal failure to comprehend the systemic nature of communications. What once was a one way channel to market a product, service or message has just been flipped on its head because everything is now a two way channel with significant reach and influence (see diagram).

Are You Asking The Right Questions?

Viewing social media as just another channel to "push" out messages is indicative of not comprehending the impact of two way communications and the related influence on markets. Corporations do not comprehend that use of social media as more systemic in nature than just thinking in terms of marketing. Failure to understand this means the market will easily and quickly reveal that which you don't comprehend or have failed to recognize.

Amy Mengel writes: Five reasons corporations are failing at social media. So why is it so difficult for so many companies to successfully integrate social media? Her top five are as follows and I'd encourage you to read the entire post:

They can’t talk about anything broader than their own products
They listen to customers but don’t take any action
They aren’t calibrated internally with the technology
They’re not framing risk accurately
Their internal culture isn’t aligned for social media success

Amy Mengel's assessment is spot on and the point is that while social media can be used for marketing and PR unless the organization is strategically aligned with the market you will definitely fail. Organizational alignment is a lot different than the practice of marketing and PR. The market is no longer just the end consumer. Rather the market now encompasses everyone internally and externally. In other words "the market" is everyone who communicates anything to someone. Who would that be? Everyone!

What Are The Right Questions?

The success of any business is relative to finding and using answers to relevant questions about the business and how it can best serve a market. Given that the market now includes anyone and everyone within the chain of communications then everything that influences business success is now totally transparent to the entire market. Marketing and messaging is no longer isolated rather it is now a reflection of the organizational quality and effectiveness of management. Before a business jumps into using social media they ought to ask:

Who is communicating what and why? What is our market hearing? Who is listening? It's everyone & everything!
What is influencing the quality of these communications? What are the constraints and problematic issues? Your culture, your knowledge and your organizational quality!
Where are the markets which consume these communications? Everywhere!
When will we know the markets sentiment? Every moment if your listening!
Why do people care about communications? The freedom of speech has been and always will be an attraction and a powerful force of human nature.

As social media continues to fuel the influence of open and transparent communications it will force organizations to think strategically about everything. Why? Communication touches and influences everything. Organizational design, culture, strategy are all reflective of the quality of management thinking and skills. To effectively address these issues requires new knowledge from the outside. This knowledge domain is not the same domain as marketing and PR. What, where, how, when and why are questions whose answers depend on the purpose of your business. Every business purpose is fueled by communications. We will cover each question in detail in future post.

What say you?

Do You Copy Or Create?

2009-10-09T12:23:54.000Z

When the IPhone was first released its functions and features made it different than any other mobile device in the market. Like bee's to honey every other manufacturer ran to produce their own versions to catch up with what IPhone was offering the market. In other words those who lacked creativity were forced to "copy" what Steve Jobs had created.

During the industrial era manufacturers copied the process of mass production. The consumer market consumed anything and everything produced because the economic stimulus from all the mass production created more expendable income and people wanted more. Then in the 1980's Japan revolutionized manufacturing and disrupted the market based on lower cost and higher quality. Consumers migrated and US manufacturers had to copy the process in order to maintain or gain back market share.

During this same period of time mass media was the channel of preference given the explosion of information channels offered to consumers. And again consumer opted in to all the mass media consuming information from everywhere and everyone who pushed it. The information age provided consumers with more choices and marketers with more channels to push choices.

A Technological Revolution

The information age was fueled by technology. Broadcast television, print media and then dissemination of information (media) over the internet created a new phenomena fueled again by creativity. Those who were first to apply creativity to these changing dynamics won entire markets. Think of Microsoft, Google, News Corp etc etc. Today technological creativity is pulling every industry, institution and global markets into a new future driven by communications that are agile and heavily influenced by the creation of new value ready to be consumed faster than ever before. This new dynamic impacts everything, everyone and creates constant disruption in business processes and market dynamics.

Jumping On The Bandwagon Without Creativity

Today's craze is all around this thing we call social media. Social media is nothing more than communications but with reach and attraction unlike any other communications technology ever before. Given its "pull" everyone is jumping in to learn about something whose definition and impact changes daily. Social media has created a bandwagon effect. A bandwagon effect is like a cause or party that attracts increasing numbers of adherents chasing the current trend. Businesses and individuals are jumping on the bandwagon and following practices of the crowd without thinking beyond the crowd. The crowd is copying practices from those they follow and the only difference is the context of the content running through the system of social media. Little new creativity, lots of copying with minimal innovation.

What Does It Take To "Create"?

Copying technology practices and content only creates copies. Value comes from creating differentiation, innovation from originality. The Apple IPhone created innovation which now has an entire market chasing it. Social media winners will be those that learn to think beyond copying and instead step away from the current bandwagon and create their own for others to follow or copy.

To create a new bandwagon requires you to think by asking yourself the right questions. Asking the right questions will lead you to new social media directions and the crowds will follow because your leading with new answers. Getting the right answers requires new, rather than old, knowledge. Get it?

What say you?

Can You Market Trust?

2009-09-22T10:17:18.000Z

In an article from Business Week titled "The Great Trust Offensive" the article says: "Companies as diverse as McDonald's, Ford, and American Express are revamping their marketing to win back that most valuable of corporate assets" The asset they are referring to is consumer trust.

Prior to this article appearing Chris Brogan released his new book "Trust Agents" which made The New York Times list of best sellers. Chris is currently promoting his new book doing presentations throughout the country.

So it seems that all of a sudden we the people and they the brands had an epiphany and realized that human interaction and building relationships are driven by trust. Why all of a sudden did we wake up to this epiphany? Lets look at the definition of epiphany: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

The commonplace occurrence or experience is people interacting with people, sharing, referring and engaging with other people and things they trust. I am not the smartest guy in the world but I think this commonplace occurrence or experience has been happening since we first walked the earth. Now with so much interaction and transparency online why does the issue of trust seem to becoming more apparent and important?

Recycled Old Wisdom

Trust is a relationship of reliance. A trusted party is presumed to seek to fulfill obligations, words of intent, a code of conduct based on relationship principals and their previous promises.

Trust is a prediction of reliance on an action, based on what a party knows about the other party. Trust is a statement of intent followed through with actions, behaviors and words that reinforce the trustworthiness of someone or an organization. The creation and destruction of trust has been evident throughout the history of mankind. The wisdom of trust has and continues to be evident by the behavior and experience people have with others.

It is kind of ironic that the Business Week article says McDonald's, Ford, and American Express are revamping their marketing to win back that most valuable of corporate assets. Marketing can indeed send a message that draws attention to why consumers should trust a brand. However,as the article also indicates, it is the behavior and experience of a brand or a person that instills trust over time. Notice emphasis on "instills trust over time". Trust does not get created simply from marketing messages.

In The Relationship Economy all of our online and off line activity reflects whether our behavior and the experiences we create for people are worthy of their trust. Trustworthiness is built based on the value of knowledge we share and the experiences we create for and with people. Pushing out spam messages, bad experiences with brands and people does not reflect or instill trustworthiness. Today the explosion of online conversations threaded throughout the gushing rivers of social media heightens the issue of trust and make it more and more transparent than ever before. In the past if you didn't trust someone or an organization your sentiment was shared with a few. Today it is shared with many at the click of a mouse.

Can You Market Trust?

When someone tries to sell you trust usually that means "keeps your eyes wide open". Trust isn't for sale rather it has been and always will be something earned. Once earned it creates a natural draw because others will reference the person or the experience based on the value they received from the trust they placed in them. We call it convertising.

The best way to market trust is simply to be trustworthy. Get it?

What say you?

Life In the Social Media Space of The Internet

2009-09-22T03:53:30.000Z

This Social Media Card stuff is really getting into Conversational Currency and Innovation Economics. I did a little reading about this - just enough perhaps to be dangerous - and cannot help but wonder if the world is really changing bigtime with regard to how we GTD (Get Things Done). Newspapers, for example, seen to either be going out of business or struggling to stay in business. Meanwhile, more and more people are coming into the Social Media Space. For example, I read some pretty scary predictions for the year 2020:

1) Social networks will become corporations.

2) The resume system will disappear.

3) Universities will respond to supply and demand.

4) Teachers will forego a salary and instead take an equity position in students.

5) People will migrate toward what they are naturally good at, no definite job description.

6) Innovation bonds will return 80% risk-free - investors will flood the market with venture capital.

7) The Fed will peg the dollar to productivity, not gold.

8) Social priorities will drive investors rather than Wall Street.

Why would anyone expect predictions like those to come to pass?

Lamar Morgan

What Is Convertising?

2009-09-18T10:36:39.000Z

From the early 1920's mass media has emerged as the dominate method for brands and merchandisers to "reach" their audience.

Mass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. Since their was no way for an audience to engage in dialog over this method there has been no feedback or interaction until now.

Now with the emergence of social media the audience is expressing it's dislike of mass media and a preference for "social media".

Any Evidence That Advertising Doesn't Work?

Well consider the data:

1-3% Return from traditional mass media methods
96% of online ads never get "clicked"
98% of actual sales come from referrals

Josh Berhoff from Forrester says: "Marketers don't understand channels where you have to talk and listen at the same time. The marketing industry's idea of two way communications is to put an 800 number or a web site address in an ad and take orders."

OK, we've already seen this, we already know this so what is the point? The point is if you already know this why haven't you changed your methods to "convertising? You say what is it?

Convertising is simply tapping into the marketplace of conversations and engaging in those conversations with the aim of creating an affinity to what interest people. What interest people? There are a ton of topics that have an affinity to any product or service and there are millions of people discussing those topics. The transformation for marketers and advertisers is that while your product or service may not be the topic the topic may in fact have relevance to your product or service performance. Still don't believe so?

Zappo's conversations were not about shoes rather about service and how they stand behind that which they sell, no questions asked. Zappo's sold more shoes just by engaging in dialog around service which just happens to be relevant and relative to people buying shoes.

Convertising is engaging with people where they are, what they are discussing and when they are discussing it. The relevancy of any product or service is people's experience, people's interest and if you can engage at those levels you are convertizing. The difference is you are not selling rather you are conversing with value that relates to peoples need rather than your need to sell.

The opportunity for the Advertising Industry is to create a new image, a new method and capture the value which can be pulled from convertising. The value of conversational currency is a lot more than the value of advertising. Get it? No? Well then continue doing what you've always done and get less than you've always got. Get that?

What say you?

See slide show below

Convertising Vs Advertising

View more presentations from Jay Deragon.

Is Social Media Strategically Relevant?

2009-09-16T10:28:17.000Z

As more and more organizations adopt the use of social media there is an obvious difference in perspective as to whether social media is a strategy, a tactic or just another set of promising tools.

Our perspective drives our actions, attitudes and relevance of importance to our lives, our business and entire markets. Strategic relevance is a higher priority than tactical relevance. Finding things as tools has less relevance and thus does not get thought of as strategically important. Unless things are of strategic importance they will not get top management attention and support, it will be delegated down.

Is Social Media Of Strategic Relevance?

In a Business Week article titled "The Overlooked Side of Social Media" the Corporate Executive Board said "Most companies are embracing social media—but too many are wasting their efforts through sloppy management"

More than 70% of companies are already using social media; many are planning to increase their spending on social media across the coming years. Whether for learning from customers, building their brands or a range of other hoped-for outcomes, companies are clearly diving in.

Unfortunately, few have thought very hard about managing these initiatives. In a classic case or "ready, fire, aim," companies are committing resources to social media efforts with very little process behind them. The result? A hodgepodge of unrelated initiatives, wheels re-invented and resources wasted.

The Corporate Executive Board has found that the best companies recognize that social media are just another set of promising tools and as such are to be understood, mastered, and used efficiently as they journey into the space. That journey has three stages:

• Discovery: At this stage, the organization is just finding out about the potential uses (and risks) of social media for its purposes and making initial forays. The goal: understanding ("could this work for us?").

• Experimentation: As an organization does more with social media, the importance of learning efficiently becomes urgent. These bodies should develop and steward a learning agenda for the firm's efforts, using each initiative to deliberately increase the institutional knowledge of social media use.

• Adoption: While few companies currently find themselves in this stage, those that do loosen their managerial posture, moving away from oversight toward support.

The short story: Social media isn't a fad about to fade away; it's a good idea for your organization to learn how to use it to your advantage. The best companies will learn faster and get more out of social media by aggressively managing their efforts.

Just Another Set Of Promising Tools?

In my humble opinion the Corporate Executive Board is misleading CEO's by stating that social media are just another set of promising tools. Corporate Executive Board influences what and how CEO's think and this statement discounts the strategic importance of social media.

A tool is something you give to people to use for whatever purpose. A tactic is an initiative aimed at producing a result. A strategy is the science or art of combining and employing the means of beating competition in planning and directing organizational efforts aimed at winning markets. Communications is the means of deploying sound strategies.

Social media is a system of communications. What and how you communicate to suppliers, employees and markets is the science and art of using social media. If you deploy the system of social media without first considering the strategic implications and relevance to all stakeholders the "tools" may hurt your overall strategy. In other words as the Corporate Executive Board states "Most companies are embracing social media—but too many are wasting their efforts through sloppy management"

Not understanding or considering the strategic importance of social media is like saying communications is not of strategic relevance to reaching our goals. In case you didn't know, what, how and whom you communicate with as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of your communications have serious strategic implications. Don't believe it? Ask yourself how many strategies have failed because of a failure to communicate effectively and efficiently? More than you can imagine.

What say you?

PR Distribution Process in Six Slides

2009-09-10T04:54:36.000Z

PR Distribution Process in Six Slides

View more presentations from Jason Kintzler.

A Social Media Card?

2009-09-08T12:00:00.000Z

Social media has pulled advertisers and marketers into the eco-system of conversations. However, the audience has rejected their presence.

Now through an integrated innovative offering advertisers and marketers can both reach and add value to the conversations.

You Ask How?

Integrated technology aimed at the financial sector has created a huge opportunity to create the means to turn conversations into revenue.

The new technology enables consumers to access discounts from their favorite merchants by downloading coupons, discounts and even cash incentives directly to an affinity debit MasterCard or Visa. Besides discounts, coupons or cash incentives the technology also enables other "rewards" such as points for usage or blog post, direct cash contributions to others and basically any kind of reward you can imagine. This technology will revolutionize "advertising, marketing and the entire rewards industry". Consider the following:

In 2008, 72 percent of consumers indicated they used a debit card in the past year. In 2007, that number was 65 percent. (Source: Javelin, "Credit Card Spending Declines" study, March 2009)
Debit card usage grew from 2007 to 2008, with 66 percent of consumers indicating they used a debit card in the month preceding the September 2008 survey, compared to 57 percent of consumers in 2007. (Source: Javelin, "Credit Card Spending Declines" study, March 2009)

The integrated technology provides valuable propositions for brands, merchants,affinity groups and consumers. The best scenarios for this new technology to create the most value are the following which insures its success:

A group, organization or common audience which has an affinity to people, interest, products and related rewards
The host has an existing audience of at least 25,000 people or businesses
The host has relations with sponsors, brands and existing advertisers
The host currently provides value as defined by the audience
The host has demographic information, emails, and related data relative to their audience
The host has members, whether paying or non-paying
The host currently provides value and desires to provide more value to their audience and to be a market leader

How Does It Work?

We've been discussing "conversational currency" and even started a community on the subject here. This community is run by Dan Robles, author of Innovation Economy, who has been and continues to examine the how conversations and innovation drives currency. This new technology is one example of the convergence of conversations with financial instruments aimed at transforming old processes into new value, conversational currency. Think about the waste of pushing coupons, gift cards, membership cards and the host of "cards" brands and merchants try to push onto consumers, see "How Many Cards Do You Need?". Now innovation will again disrupt entire markets who have been living in the legacy of old methods.

The illustration above provides a graphical overview of how this new technology works. Fundamentally instead of paper rewards now any and all rewards or loyalty programs offered by brands, merchants, associations, affinity groups and even individuals can now be handled on one card that can be used in over 35 million locations worldwide. What you can offer "people" and be able to send or receive any kind of offer is only limited by your imagination. Additionally the technology also integrates "social media communications" thus enabling individuals to share the value they received with like minded friends, family and entire markets of consumers. The technology also enables brands and merchants to inform consumers, who opt in, of new value propositions which they have an affinity to ready to be loaded onto their card and used at local retail outlets.

Besides the value for card holders the illustrated "social media card" provides brands and merchants with real time data on the effectiveness of their offerings to an audience. Unlike old reward methods that produced 1%-3% ROI this new method produces 100% ROI!

Now What?

If you run an association, community or any kind of affinity group you can now create more value than expected to brands and merchants that have an affinity to your group and more importantly to fans and members of your association/group. The technology provides unique features and function all digitally and with seamless integration into web sites, blogs and social networks.

Think of sports, entertainment, associations, mommy bloggers, music, trade groups, niche publishers and magazines and any kind of market segment that has an established relationship with consumers who have affinity to certain merchandise and brands. The opportunity is endless. This once and for all solves the issue of Social Media ROI!

Want to know more? Tom Nilsen, with Avidpath, manages market relations for this platform. His profile is here and he can be reached here. David Bullock, profit engineer and author of Barack 2.0, oversees the technology and can be reached here.

What say you? Social media just crossed the bridge into financial transaction that are measurable and valuable real time.

Again, What Is Social Media?

2009-09-04T11:45:10.000Z

It seems that everyone is trying to define social media and how to measure it's ROI.

I get asked "what is social media?" from every client I engage with. Everywhere on the net people are putting out video's, presentations, white papers and even books putting their spin on defining social media.

Since all this social stuff is fairly new and evolving, definitions change as does people's perception of what it is. After reading, hearing and watching everyone's definition I thought about their perspectives and whether these perspectives effectively tell the story. Having a simple mind I thought I'd try and condense the definitions down to something I hope is useful for everyone.

Social Media Is What?

When you break it all down "social media is communications". Communications is nothing new accept now the power of communicating has exploded with the participation of hundreds of millions of people engaging in dialog one to one to millions. If you haven't noticed there are over 200 million blogs, millions of YouTube video, billions of tweets, millions of individuals connecting on social networks. What are all these people doing? Communicating!

How Are We Communicating?

Social technology has simply accelerated communications. Before people and institutions relied on phones, email, television, radio, marketing material and advertising to communicate. Now they all rely on this process called social media. Social media is a communications process leveraged by technology. However the old process of communicating just shifted to a process that provides reach, richness, affinity and enriched collaboration efforts. By the way it is all instantaneous with no delays, and it pulls people and entire markets into conversations instantaneously. How are we communicating? Instantaneously!

Simply stated social media is a communication process that is revolutionizing everything tied to communication. Which by the way happens to be everything.

The process of social media involves:

Use Of Technology
Identifying and providing valuable conversations
Distribution of conversations to appropriate and relevant markets
Methods and messages that create pull and engagement
Building and sustaining an audience (relationships) of listeners
Continually feeding the audience with conversational currency; value they can use

Making Money From Communication

Besides everyone trying to define "social media" it seems that everyone wants a formula to define its ROI. The simple answer to ROI is a question. Can you create any kind of return on anything without communicating? The answer is NO. Thus the way you get an ROI from social media is to learn how to communicate more effectively, efficiently, relationally and in human not advertising or marketing terms.

Before you ask about what social media is or what is the ROI ask yourself how have you measured the value of communications previously. Your answer is likely "we never have been able to".

The difference today is now you can measure the efficiency and effectiveness of communications down to whom, what, when and its value moment by moment. Communications is the essence of any economy. Like a bank, the higher the rate of interest the more currency we create from our conversations. However this currency is driven by the relevancy of our conversations and the use of said conversations by the market of people communicating.

This currency is like money in that if your conversations create a rate of interest you are earning value created by the interest from people. The value created begins with a relationship with the market of interest. The market of interest is people whom have an affinity and interest in your conversation. Converting conversations to money is the end result of effectively and efficiently managing the process of communicating value to an audience. Get it?

What say you? Does this definition work for you?

Victory for Vick's PR

2009-09-01T22:25:00.000Z

It's going to be an interesting season for the team of PR and image consultants who are delivering the winning strategy for reinstated NFL player Michael Vick. Known as one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the league, Vick's rise to gridiron fame and fall to criminal intent has proven to be a PR challenge to tackle.

Without knowing the details of the team's members and plans, their attempt to carefully rebrand Vick and map out a road to redemption following his release from federal prison is turning out to be a PR victory.

Since Vick's admitted act of animal cruelty, his team has made a public effort to present him in a repented and reformed fashion. They recently positioned Vick to confess his sins and express immense guilt on CBS "60 Minutes" along side former NFL coach Tony Dungy, commissioned by the league to be his mentor, and President of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, to be his community partner. We all know you've got to have a bit of cache to tell your story on "60 Minutes" and the PR team that knows Vick has to come back with some credibility.

Whether his remorse is scripted or sincere, you must admit his team is gaining yards toward the goal. Yet, the ultimate test of a winning strategy is whether the public believes you. Vick is going to have to walk the walk. If he doesn't, his PR team will end up seeing a bigger chunk from that first $1.6 million to keep him on the straight and narrow. Judging by the execution and perceived outcome, Vick has gotten his money's worth, but the team must continue to move strategically so the public won't think Vick's efforts are contrived.

Personally, I've always been an advocate for second chances. Only time will tell how Vick shapes up while his PR team shows out. Our culture often forgives, and, most times, forgets the sins of public figures. So the more touchdown passes Vick throws, the further his wrongdoings will be from our minds.

All Work and No Tweets

2009-08-20T13:47:53.000Z

You can tweet at work if you like but you might get fired. The Marines, NFL and now ESPN have announced new policies on Twitter usage.

ESPN doesn’t want employees using Twitter for anything but ESPN-related content. No personal quirks or sports opinions. Tweet ESPN’s approved content or face suspension or dismissal. The NFL is dishing out fines to players and staff who tweet while on the field. Several teams have also prohibited members of the media from tweeting during game time. Meanwhile, fans can still tweet the play-by-play while in the stands. The U.S. Marine Corps enforced a year-long ban of Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites from its networks. It’s no fun but it does create a reasonable case of leaving a window open for security issues.

As a PR practitioner, I get it. Companies want to be smart about how they use social media but they want the best of both worlds. Maintaining a social media presence serves their audiences while enforcing guidelines on usage offers protection.

Many companies, including media outlets, are still trying to figure out how social media fits in their business models and how to create policies for interaction. Will these tweet policies change companies’ perspectives on policing their social media efforts?

The best part about social media is the dialogue. No one wants to lose their job or face a penalty, but all work and no tweets will cause a twitter presence to suffer and, sooner or later, your tweets will get ignored. Until they figure this Twitter thing out, that’s the way it’s going to be.

Five takeaways from Michael Vick's press conference

2009-08-17T19:45:31.000Z

NFL scouts are known to scrutinize a player's performance in the 40-yard dash, but Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles are about to be judged on a reputation management marathon. By signing the controversial quarterback Friday, the Eagles invited a public relations challenge that will require patience, endurance, and a strategy to guide them for more than a year.

Business leaders, take note: Vick's return to the NFL is not just about sports or animal cruelty (though they are rightly preeminent in the debate).

There are also lessons to be learned about communicating controversial news. I listened to the tape of Vick's Friday morning press conference with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and heard 5 hallmarks of effective communications in a controversy. Regardless of one's views of Vick, his crimes, or the Eagles, anyone who toils in the court of public opinion should observe how a high-profile organization handles the enormous public debate that Vick's signing has ignited.

Here are 5 observations from Friday's press conference:

1. Contrition: No surprise here. Without contrition, any appearance by Vick would have been a failure. The same rule often applies to business executives in a crisis. In my mind, the goal is to find balance between self-defeating indifference and self-defeating blather.

2. Executive accountability: Lurie spoke at length about how he arrived at the decision to sign Vick. Lurie's decision to speak at the press conference (not a given among professional sports team owners) reinforces that the signing is about much more than football. As Lurie stated, Vick "is not being measured by yardage." Executives would be wise to remember that a mid-level spokesman can only carry an organization so far in a crisis. The earlier the executive addresses the matter, the better.

3. Third-person validation: Vick was joined at the press conference by former NFL coach Tony Dungy. Dungy, who is serving as an advisor to Vick during his transition back into society, carries great credibility due to his years working with prison ministries to help ex-offenders become productive citizens upon their release. Businesses are no different. Having credible third-parties or coalitions to advocate on your behalf is always a plus.

4. Perspective: Vick and Lurie acknowledged that the signing will anger large segments of the Philadelphia community. They didn't dismiss their critics concerns; they embraced them. When an organization damages its reputation among important stakeholders, the process of repairing it is not easy. It often begins with an honest assessment of why the crisis occurred.

5. Action: In a crisis, words mean little without a plan to prevent the crisis from happening again. Vick made clear his intentions to help stamp out dog-fighting. Lurie emphasized the Eagles commitment to partnering with the Humane Society. One could argue that becoming an advocate of animal rights now -- when the Eagles showed little interest in such causes in the past -- constitutes pandering. Perhaps, but the alternative - ignoring the root of Vick's failings and the public's anger at his crimes -- would have been far worse.

Friday's press conference was just the first act, but an instructive lesson in how businesses can communicate controversial news. Up next: Vick will appear on CBS's "60 Minutes" Sunday. I'll be watching.

Help your employees with social media guidelines

2009-08-17T19:43:52.000Z

HENRY FAWELL
Special to The Daily Record
August 14, 2009

Ever raised an eyebrow at an employee’s off-color remark at the water cooler? Imagine if that employee walked out in to the street and shouted that same comment through a bullhorn.

Believe it or not, that happens every day on social media networks, where an employee’s musings can be read by thousands of people, often times with great consequences for an employer.

Case in point: In January, an executive from Ketchum Public Relations posted insulting comments about the city of Memphis on Twitter. The problem? He was in Memphis at the time and was hours away from pitching FedEx for new business.

FedEx caught wind of the comments and publicly denounced the executive, putting one of the world’s largest PR firms in the unenviable position of apologizing for its own PR gaffe.

Yet for every gaffe, there are countless examples of companies and employees using social media to improve their brands and best practices. So how do you, a manager, weigh the promise of social media with the perils it presents as a soapbox for anyone with Internet access?

Guidelines are key

The answer may lie in drafting guidelines for your employees. It’s no different than your company standards of conduct, and leading companies are now channeling their employees’ use of social media through clearly stated policies. Here are some tips to get you started:

Educate: Many of your employees have never used social media. So give them a primer. Host a presentation to educate them on common social media tools — Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook — and how they are changing the workplace and our lives.

When your employees understand the challenges and opportunities presented by social media, they’re more likely to see the value in a company policy.

Build guardrails: To help guide your team, define acceptable conduct in social media communities. For example, it’s appropriate to use social media to inform the public about your product or to correct inaccurate information about your company. It’s not appropriate to argue with customers on blogs or post content that reflects poorly on the employee or the company.

Call it the newspaper test: Your employees shouldn’t write anything online they wouldn’t want to read in tomorrow’s newspaper.

Be supportive: Encourage your team to explore social media. They’ll open new doors to professional development and strengthen your company’s marketing and reputation management efforts. They’ll put a human face on your company in an era when too many companies are perceived as cold and indifferent.

Designate a group of social media-savvy employees, starting with your communications and legal teams, to mentor your work force along the way.

Trust and Responsibility: The best corporate social media policies are built on trust and responsibility. Cisco, IBM, Yahoo!, and Intel have adopted policies that trust their employees to use social media in a productive manner while emphasizing that employees are personally responsible for what they publish.

Show them the way

Be transparent: Employees should be honest about their identity when participating in online conversations. To do otherwise is to invite needless risk.

Ask John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods. He sparked controversy in 2007 by criticizing a rival, Wild Oats Markets, under a fake name on online message boards. Even worse, he denied his true identity when confronted by online communities.

The misstep generated weeks of embarrassing headlines for Whole Foods and even caught the eye of the Federal Trade Commission.

Address “off the clock” activities: Employees don’t want their bosses dictating what they can and can’t publish online from the privacy of their own home. But addressing online activities outside the workplace is not without precedent if a company’s business interests are at risk.

Why? Because customers, investors and reporters can view most online commentary and photos. If a reporter sees a controversial comment from your employee on Twitter, the fact that it was published from a home computer doesn’t undo the damage to your company. Once again, the newspaper test applies.

Be realistic: You’ll never control everything your employees do online, nor should you want to. Remember, the goal is not to shut down an employee’s access to the information superhighway. It is to build guardrails that keep your team and your company from skidding off the freeway.

I am a firm believer in social media’s capacity to empower companies and their employees, and it’s only a matter of time before most of the work force has joined the online conversation. Whether they use it the right way or the wrong way is in no small part up to the executives who lead them.

Show them the way, and chances are good they’ll reward you.

Henry Fawell is a communications consultant for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC in Baltimore and was press secretary for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. His column appears monthly, and his e-mail address is henry.fawell@wcsr.com

It's A Revolution NOT Evolution!

2009-07-31T10:10:12.000Z

Sometimes people get blinded by innovation because they can only reflect on those things they've always done. As we look at the advertising and marketing world we can see they continue to try and apply old rules and methods to a new dynamic called social media.

Alexandra Klein writes for CNBC.com an article titled Evolution of Web Ads: Social Media's New Challenge

With more money being allocated to digital communication strategy, ad agencies are constantly looking for ways to get their product to the right audience more efficiently. And sometimes, they're overstepping. It's an issue that would have been difficult if not impossible in other advertising mediums, according to David Wiener, a social media expert with Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.

"This is a new arena, and as technology and platforms evolve, privacy policies will be written to evolve as well," he said.

Meanwhile, ad networks like SocialReach and SocialHour are learning as well. The two were banned by Facebook in June for infringing on the platform’s policies. SocialReach continues to work with Facebook on ultimately returning to the platform, according to Phil Hirsch, a SocialReach spokesman.

“We took a big hit from Facebook and we are trying to do the best to get back to the Facebook platform,” he said. “Now it is just a matter of figuring out the rights and the wrongs [of advertising on social networking sites.]"

Ogilvy's Wiener said third party developers will have to be more responsible with users’ information going forward, especially now that the sharing of content has become far more prevalent.

“My sense is that there is far more sharing and there are far more robust platforms to be able to share this information than ever before,” Wiener said. “From a marketing perspective, messages can be tailored to the user...platforms must be very upfront about what is allowed.”

Wiener said engagement between marketers and users, or co-creation, will be the primary method of reaching out to users in the near future.

“Marketers will have a more clear idea of whom they are going to reach and the consumer will see a lot more targeted messages,” Wiener said. “Co-creation is super hot. You are seeing traditional advertising response rates go down as users expect to be part of that conversation, part of that engagement.”

You Got It Backwards

Brands pay attention. People don't really want to be part of an institutional message aimed at tricking them into a purchase that is not relevant to their needs. People don't want to engage with a brand rather engagement is a human dynamic between people not an institution that people have grown to mistrust.

People want value. Value comes in many different forms but the predominant value in today's economy is money. Give us or save us money and you'll get our attention. If a brand saves someone money or simply gives them money as an incentive to a purchase what they "need" then that is the fastest route to a possible institutional relationship. It is not nor will it ever be a personal relationship.

The rights and wrongs of "advertising" in the digital space are not relevant to applying old methods, old thinking or doing things the same way you've always done them. Advertising is undergoing a revolution vs. an evolution. Evolution implies incremental change. Revolution implies disruptive change. The firms that create a revolution end up creating new markets and leap frog ahead of their competition. Those firms that follow evolution end up chasing the revolutionaries while all along loosing share of their market. Get it?

Stay tuned for a revolutionary way of advertisng and marketing coming soon to a network yet to be seen or heard. It's called conversational currency. Are you ready?

NFL team gives bloggers respect...and a trailer

2009-07-29T17:39:06.000Z

Sports Illustrated's Peter King reports this week that the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles will provide local bloggers and blogging reporters with their own trailer at this year's mini-camp to help them meet the public's expectation for real-time updates. Here's a quote from King's "Monday Morning Quarterback" column:

"Reporting on the NFL has become such a 'now' business,'' Eagles PR czar Derek Boyko said. "I saw this [trailer] as being in the 'need' category, because so many bloggers are doing immediate stories, and now the beat reporters are doing the blogging, too.''

Is your industry any different? Granted, few organizations command the attention and scrutiny of an NFL franchise, but reporting and commentary is a "now" business in just about every industry. I won't suggest that you lobby your CFO for a blogger trailer just yet, but the Eagles' creative strategy ought to prompt a few questions:

1. What opinion, if any, does your company's leadership have of bloggers generally? Does that opinion accurately reflect the commentary and readership of bloggers who cover your industry, product, or company?

2. When was the last time you monitored the blogosphere or Twitter for references to your company, product, or industry? What did you find? Was it accurate? How did you respond?

3. What has your organization done to introduce itself to industry bloggers?

4. What has your organization done to make information as accessible as possible for industry bloggers who cover your company, product, or industry?

We have written in the past about the dangers of dismissing bloggers as a fringe community. Highly successful companies like Dell have learned that determined bloggers with an interesting story line can influence public opinion on a significant scale.

You may not be rooting for Eagles on Sundays this Fall, but we'd all be wise to learn from their forward-thinking approach to blogger relationships.

An Economy Based On "Interest"?

2009-07-27T10:25:49.000Z

Bankers don’t care about money; they care about the rate of change of money. You deposit money in a bank for "use and interest". You borrow money and pay "interest" for the use of that money.

An economy is influenced by debt because the higher the debt the greater amount of interest on the debt accumulates and has to be paid back for use of the money required to create and consume things. When the cost of creating and consuming things goes up while the value of the "currency" to trade things goes down then it is called inflation. An increase in the cost of goods and services leads to inflation when the government and its central bank increases the money supply. Sound familiar?

An Economy Based On "Free Interest"?

Interest is a fee paid on borrowed assets. It is the price paid for the use of borrowed money, a currency of trade. Interest can be thought of as "rent on money".

The latter half of the 20th century saw the rise of interest-free Islamic banking and finance, a movement which attempts to apply religious law developed in the medieval period to the modern economy. Some entire countries, including Iran, Sudan, and Pakistan, have taken steps to eradicate interest from their financial systems entirely. As the world moves to accommodate "everyone's interest" could we be headed towards a global economy based on "free interest"?

What Is The Interest Created By Conversational Currency?

Social media is about depositing conversational currency for use and gaining "interest" from it. A conversation can and does create a currency exchange of value. Sharing pertinent information with people whom can use said information to create more value for themselves and others creates an "interest".

Conversations propagate based on the rate of interest. Rate of interest in your conversation is reflected by the rate of change. The more your conversation "changes" from one to one to a million the higher the interest rate becomes.

A return from your conversation is represented by the application of the relative information, knowledge and innovation which is applied to a transaction. A transaction is the exchange of value for economic return. The economic return is not only represented by the currency of money but by other forms of currency that eventually lead to the exchange of money.

A currency which leads to money begins with the creation of interest. Marketers and advertisers try and create "interest" that leads to a transaction. Politicians try to create interest in their positions through conversations hoping to gain enough interest to get elected. Now the internet enables anyone and everyone to "try" and create interest from conversations. The technology enables everyone to create conversations. Knowledge of human interest and how to feed that "interest" is what creates conversational currency that can lead to economic returns.

Our world is changing faster than every before. Like a bank rate of change creates interest from currency lent or deposited. Could it be that we are witnessing the creation of a new economy based on interested created by conversational currency? After all, old minds reject the "free economy" because they simply don't understand how interest from free can be used to create an old currency called money. Get it?

What say you?

The Death of Advertising?

2009-07-22T11:50:41.000Z

The term "advertising " and the related practices are dying a slow death. Advertisers have adopted different practices aimed at capturing consumer attention to products and services but while the practices have improved the methods have not adjusted to the desires of the markets.

Most advertisers have simply applied old methods and practices to the propagation of their message throughout the social web. Faced with restricted budgets and "poor responses" it is time for advertisers to become "born again" and change their methods to be more relational.

ReThink Advertising

When you consider the purpose of advertising it is supposed to be relational. How does your product "relate" to my needs and what value does it deliver for me. However, advertisers have followed the mentality of the industrial era, mass production, and subsequently have focused on "mass media" to reach their audience which is an anti-social behavior.

Mass media doesn't create relations rather it creates, or used to, attention. The problem with creating attention is that unless attention is followed by attraction it is nothing more than a waste of the consumers time and attention. Wasting consumers time and attention is an anti-social behavior that audiences reject. For advertisers the death of a brand, of sales and wasted money is any "act" that creates a rejection from the audience.

Advertising is not considered "social media" rather it is in fact "mass media. Believe it when we say there is a difference, a big difference. If you don't understand the difference you loose your audience, your money and these loses will cost your everything.

Transformation Of Advertising

Josh Bernoff of Forrester writes: Digital Spending Will Nearly Double in 5 Years, But Ad Budgets Won't

It means media is in trouble, or at least in the middle of a transformation. For example, online video ads, which will be about $870 million this year, will grow to over $3 billion in 2014. What will this do to networks plans to put more of their shows online in places like Hulu. How will it accelerate some newspapers plans to become more and more centered around online?

And it means that social "media," which will account for $716 million this year between social network campaigns and agency fees, will generate $3 billion in five years. And this doesn't even count displays ads on social networks (which are in the display ads category.) Of all the parts of digital marketing, social network marketing one is poised for the most explosive growth.

Pundits have been declaring the end of mass media and advertising for years now. From my 14 years of experience analyzing this stuff, I've learned that things die very slowly, but there are real trends you can see. If you're in advertising, you'd better learn to speak digital, because that's the way the world is going.

Many say "relational advertising" is impossible. It is to those who say so. It isn't to those who do it. The advertising industry will simply have to learn how to create conversational currency. Get it? See the difference in the presentation below.

What say you?

Do You "Push" Anti-Social Media?

2009-07-20T10:42:09.000Z

The term "anti-social" means a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others. Deceit and manipulation are considered essential features of the anti-social behavior.

People and institutions having antisocial personality disorder are sometimes referred to as "sociopaths" and "psychopaths". How do you like them labels? Is your brand acting like a sociopath and psychopath?

Anti-Social Marketing & Advertising

If we reflect on the definitions of anti-social above it becomes obvious, at least to me, that most brands have become anti-social. They constantly "push" media in my face, they try and trick me into an engagement and demonstrate a pervasive pattern of disregard for my time and attention. In other words they disregard and disrespect the one person who supports their revenue, the customer.

After decades of anti-social practices the marketing and advertising industry is headed for a collision with the "markets of conversations". Most advertisers and marketers think they have adopted "social media" and look at it as just another "channel" to push their anti-social message. Their tactics are transparent to the new market of consumers engaged in their own media. The market of conversations reject "push" advertisements and marketing hype inserted into the consumers space of dialog. While consumers have an affinity to certain brands they do not have an affinity to the methods brands use to try and get consumer attention.

A Shift Underway?

Today technology enables one to one to millions of affinity relationships. The value created is one of mass communications vs mass marketing and advertising. Old marketing and advertising methods do not fit into mass communications. When was the last time an ad was inserted into your conversation with a friend or business associate? Ever wonder why Ad Sense or Banner Ads get such low click through rates? An ad is simply not part of day to day conversations between people. On the other hand brands are included in people's conversations. So the new method of advertising is to become part of the conversation.

Becoming part of the conversation means you have to first establish a relationship with people whom have an affinity to your brand experience. To establish a relationship you have to create a draw that pulls people to you. The most powerful pull comes from people , not institutional products or services nor does it come from slick ads or marketing campaigns. While it used to come from slick ads or marketing campaigns the "power of pull" has shifted to the "market of conversations".

There is another kind of "pull" and its called money. Money draws attention, creates attraction and has an affinity to all people. Instead of spending over $400 Billion on internet advertising what would happen if a brand simply gave their ad money to consumers whom have an affinity to your product? If the consumer has an affinity to your product they would likely spend your ad money on your product. They would also likely tell their friends how to get "free" money to spend on your product. Sound impossible, crazy and unobtainable? That is what innovation sounds like to those not seeking innovation. The scenario described is now possible thanks to the power of technology. The return on your advertising and marketing budgets now becomes 100% vs. 2-3%. Think about it. If you want to get more than you've previously got then you have to stop doing what you've always done and innovate. Get it?

If you want to innovate and break away from the pack simply ask me how and I'll show you. Otherwise continue the path of anti-social behavior and get referred to as "sociopaths" and "psychopaths".

What say you?

Why Being Called A Publicist is Not Enough

2009-07-13T16:54:53.000Z

If I say I’m a doctor, there would be a general assumption that I have degrees in my area of study, hold a significant amount of professional expertise to maintain creditability, and possess a verifiable list of clients that can vouch for my work. That’s how it works for most professional titles.

I was bothered when I saw a Gawker.com post about “the most famous publicist” who blasted a press release about her dinner date with Cheers sitcom actor, John Ratzenberger, to the media. The random email with “MEDIA ALERT” leading its’ subject line included the restaurant’s location and a welcome for all media to come cover the event.

Needless to say, these are the type of antics that would be not approved by the Universal Accreditation Board for PR.

I hope that this whole thing was just a fluke and no one really makes the assumption that most publicists pull these stunts. It stinks like all kinds of wrong. Better yet, I hope that this improper, self-serving practice does not leak into the mindsets to future PR practitioners.

I’m not extremely fond using of the title of “publicist” but I do use it at times. It’s the easiest way to describe what you do as a PR practitioner. Publicist is the most commonly known title that most people will recognize and relate to. It’s also the most abused and misused job title in the PR.

I don’t question colleagues on their expertise or experience. If you say you’re in PR or you’re a “publicist,” I trust you. However, respect is another issue. If the reputation that proceeds you is an unstable one, then you’re watering down the game for the rest of us.

A title means nothing if you don’t respect the method by which it is earned.

I Know I'm Write

2009-07-08T14:23:28.000Z

Reading is fundamental. Writing is as well. But not all writing is created equal, particularly when it comes to writing for news.

Maybe you’ve been there before. You need to write a press release but don’t have the slightest idea of where to start. You’re unsure about the content, the news factor of your story or what it’s worth. But you were always good in English, so you’ll figure it out.

Or maybe you’ve been here: you have an important message to get out to the media and want give them all the details. You’re uncertain of how to send your press release or if it will even get noticed. But you’re a fairly intelligent communicator, so you’ll make it happen.

By journalistic standards, a story without an angle is a “non-story.” What you may think is news may not exactly be what journalists consider a topic of interest for their readers. In a TV newsroom, a story without a visual element to capture for viewers lacks appeal and may be conveyed as a waste of time. Thus, your beloved press release that you’ve sweated and slaved over adorned with all its’ elaborate details and superlative-like adjectives ends up in File 13.

On the surface, writing for news isn’t much different from what you’ve been taught. However, there is one exception: style.

Enter the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook. Considered the “Bible of the Newspaper Industry,” it is the gold standard of writing for news. AP recently released their 2009 Stylebook packed with rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation and usage, capitalization, abbreviation, word and number usage. It is the one reference with fundamental guidelines for news reporting that all writers, editors, students and PR pros will follow.

When it comes to writing, none of us wants to be told that we’re wrong. Writing for news requires a certain clarity and professionalism that writing for everyday purposes may not hold up. Weak, cloudy writing can be the worst because it reflects our intellect, skill and thought or lack thereof.

Your writing for news should be closely matched with the standards that professional writers go by. While writing in AP style won’t guarantee you any coverage, it tells journalists who receive your press release that you care about good writing and value their craft enough to learn their precise language.

Guard yourself when writing for news by proofing, tailoring and checking your press release. Oh yes, and go get an AP Stylebook.

An Advertising Revolution?

2009-07-03T10:43:33.000Z

Everyone wants to sell something to someone if not everyone. Selling is a relational process. Advertising is a marketing process. The disconnect between advertising and selling is relational. Relations begin with communications. Communications are driven by conversations between people, one to one to millions.

When I see ads on web sites I, like 99% of the market, see no relationship to the sites conversational content, if there is such content. And marketers wonder why they have such a low click through rate? How's that working for you?

Yet brands continue to spend billions of dollars a year (close to $400 billion this year) trying to catch peoples attention with ads that have no context to our conversations. The marketing industry, while shifting to the internet, has not shifted their thinking rather they are applying old methods to new technology. It simply won't and isn't working!

How Can Advertisers Create Relations?

Marketers think slick ads and unique technology creates relations. They're wrong. Relations are formed by an affinity to "content", the context of conversations. The problem is that marketers simply do not know how to create "relational content" that has context to their audience. So you ask "what is relational content?". Good question.

Relational content is communications which creates value for the receivers. That is why we call it "conversational currency". OK, so how can marketers create conversational currency that "pulls their market to them" and enables a transaction?

A Revolutionary "Mesh"?

Joe Marchese writes in an article titled “Why Advertise At All? The form advertising takes to maintain relevance in media’s latest evolution, has yet to be totally unlocked. And it may be that advertising makes up a smaller share of the media mix or (shockingly) a larger share, given that advertising’s new role will be to create conversations, which can drive product insights, which can lead to maintaining a leadership position in product innovation.

It may be that the lines separating advertising, research and other marketing functions will simply blur, and elements of each be present in all brand communications

It is not a blur rather it is a revolutionary convergence or methods and means. The advertising industry needs a revolution not an evolution. As economic pressures continue advertisers need to create innovative ways to create relations that enhance transactions. To get something you never had you have to do something you never did. So what have you never done?

What if you simply aligned your message with specific audiences that have an affinity to your offering. Once aligned why not simply create a conversation of "giving". How? In stead of spending billions on ads that don't work, "give" the ad money to the audience and tell them you've stopped wasting money on advertising. If you transferred the ad money to the audience using a new medium do you think they would spend it? Who doesn't spend found, or free, money?

The money your now spending on ads is wasteful and ultimately your customers pays for the waste. Do you think your market would waste money you gave them? Do you think your market would tell their market that you gave them money? Think again.

I repeat "To get something you never had you have to do something you never did". So you don't think it will work? You'll never know until you do it. By the way, there is a medium which can enable you to do it. Stay tuned and we'll tell you.

What say you?

How Social Is Your Media?

2009-06-29T10:42:52.000Z

The term "social media" has many individuals and businesses confused. Whenever I do a presentation I ask the audience how would they define "social media". The answers reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of both the term and its related implications to the audiences and business.

When communicating to an audience, who is not familiar with your topic, it is always vitally important to put your topic into context so as to insure comprehension of your communications.

Always Start With The Basics

For those of us whom use social media regularly we sometimes forget that the majority of people's familiarity with the term "social media" is in context with simply having a profile on Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter. While having these profiles in most cases the audience does not know how to engage in social activities creating their own media. Thus I always start by spending time defining the terms so the audience can understand what they can do besides simply having a profile.

The adjective "social" implies that the verb or noun to which it is applied is somehow more communicative, cooperative, and moderated by contact with human beings. In the absence of agreement about its meaning, the term "social" is used in many different senses, referring among other things to attitudes, orientations or behaviors which take the interests, intentions or needs of other people into account.

The word media may refer to tools used to store and deliver information or data. Today's social technologies enables people and businesses to create their own media as a means of getting their own audiences attention, attraction and affinity.

Every business needs an audience as do we as individuals. Our audience sustains us, whether it be your family or your customers, we all need an audience to support our development through the exchange of media, information (conversations) which precedes our progress to useful knowledge. Knowledge is the foundation of improving value, whether it is between two or more individuals or business to business. We share knowledge with our children hoping they will use it to improve their lives. We share knowledge with our customers hoping it can be used to improve their lives or their business. We share knowledge using multiple forms of media, a conversation.

Media, whether text, audio, images or video are merely elements of a "conversation". The most valuable conversations take the interests, intentions or needs of other people into account. The least valuable conversations are pushed by selfish interests, intentions or the initiators needs in the forefront. Do you see the difference?

Most people see the difference but lack the will power and knowledge to make the necessary changes. Common sense isn't that common anymore if it were the change would be easy. Social media is a shift aimed at the interest of others. The fact that most people and business don't get it is because the mentality starts with the wrong premise: what's in it for me?. The answer is what do you have to say that is in the interest of others. If you focus your media on the interest of others and create value for them results will come naturally.

If your web site, your profile or your conversations are static then your not adding any conversational value. That is why it is called "social media". Do you expect people and business to come to you? You have to create enough interest, activity, for them to want to come to you. It is called a conversation. Get it? No, then go back and study the definition of "social" and "media" again.

Still don't get it? Try having a self centered conversation with your spouse or your customer or try ignoring or not responding to their interest then maybe you'll get it.

What say you?

PitchEngine: Fresh Out of Beta and Revving

2009-06-25T04:30:00.000Z

In a recent interview with Comet Branding Radio hosts Al Krueger and Sara Meaney, I was asked to reflect on what we've accomplished since our Alpha launch some months back. It's the first time I've really stopped and looked back since the engine turned over it's first Social Media Release and comes at a time when we're experiencing rocket paced growth both from a users count perspective and as a startup.

Thanks to incredible amounts of feedback from a legion of supporters, we've been bending and shaping our tools to accommodate the needs of a new type of PR, what Brian Solis coined, PR 2.0. Our users have begun to reach beyond the traditional PR mindset to engage in public relations the old fashioned way - with your brand's influencers (consumers, bloggers and journalists).

PitchEngine Diagnostics:

8,000 Brands (Here are just a few)
300,000 Visitors in May
33,000 SMR Views Record by STA Travel
4 Cool Case Studies
Lots of User Testimonials

I'm encourage by our rapid growth, and even more excited at what's in store. In the coming weeks, we'll be rolling out unprecedented tools and functionality designed to empower brands, PR pros and media alike. We've recently rolled out the first social news hub that enables brand's to integrate their social feeds from Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and PitchEngine into one place making it easy for consumers, journalists and bloggers to find them through the social web. Here's an example of the Hardee's Social Media Newsroom in action. These tools are just the beginning. We're intent on changing the routine, and stepping up your game to PR 2.0.

Thanks for your continued support. Know that we're listening to each and every one of you and can't wait to share with you what we've been working on!

Jason Kintzler, Founder
@pitchengine

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