The pitch was as follows:

Hello,

I am a part of the Warner Brothers word of mouth marketing team and recently came across your blog! Your blog uniquely stood out as dynamic, informative and highly creative. We are seeking bloggers that are passionate about entertainment to help us engage your readers with content that would be interesting to them.

We would like to have you join our WB Word marketing team to let fans know about our latest releases and relevant content/products. As a member of the team, you will be asked to display photos, clips, and stories on your Blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts. The best part is you will get paid! Additionally, we may even debut event previews and new content so that fans like you get to enjoy it first.

As Mike noted in his reaction:

Here’s a tip for Warner Bros.’ “word of mouth marketing team.” If it’s really “word of mouth marketing,” it probably doesn’t require you to pay people to talk about you…

But this pitch is worse than not being actual word of mouth marketing.  To me, the pitch shows a deeper problem with the media brands of yesterday.

In essence:  Warner Bros. could care less about anyone they pitched.  To them, we’re just numbers.

The reasons we know this?

• They say “my blog uniquely stood out as dynamic, informative and highly creative” yet they didn’t even personalize the email.  Obviously they said this to everyone.
• On the landing page they linked me to in the email, (I took that part out, they do not deserve link love) they mention it’s to receive information for a TV show.  Except, blog readers here know I don’t even watch TV.  So why would I possibly care about this?
• I am vocally opposed to paid blogging.  Of course any time someone tries to pitch me on paid blogging I’m going to react negatively.
• I blogged about EMI for doing something very similar in a not-so-positive light.  Clearly I’m going to share these pitches with the web.

They are taking the spray and pray, direct marketing approach to social media.  Except, the social web is not merely a numbers game.

The story actually gets even more interesting and really gives insight into the mindset of some of the marketers working for traditional media brands.  Someone from the Warner Bros. team left the following comment on the post at Techdirt:

The WB Word Team is fully accredited by WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association), which is in regular contact with the FTC regarding disclosure laws. As far as the incident you cite in you story, we were in the process of identifying key influencers on the web who we felt would be relevant to promoting our projects (television and not film as you represent in your story). This was clearly an invitation to join our team and was completely transparent in its intent. All of the work done by the WB Word Team is also fully disclosed and transparent and team members chose which projects they want to promote based on their individual likes and opinions of each specific project.  We are dismayed that you wouldn’t call first and check your facts before writing this inaccurate story.

And, a Techdirt commenter responded with a keen observation:

Is this seriously the reaction they would have to this article? All a response like this would do is confirm everything that was said about how they really don’t get it. It’s mind boggling in it’s misunderstanding of the message presented.

I’ve gotta give WB the benefit of the doubt here and assume someone else went to a lot of effort to sound credibly like them. That, or the people in charge of the WB Word Team are astoundingly misguided in how to engage and interact on the “social web”.

Step 1) Try to bribe people
Step 2) Lash out at people who suggest bribery isn’t as effective as engaging your audience

What’s step 3? Sue and lash out at your customers that are trying to talk about your films/television and issue DMCA take-downs against them because they used a clip you provided … … oh … yeah, I guess they do that too.

Indeed.  Maybe it’s time for the entertainment industry to stop fighting the future at every turn and work on understanding their audience and developing relationships instead of treating us like numbers.

When much smaller private companies truly understand how to pitch a blogger, it’s amazing how public companies with billions in revenue get it so wrong.

Warner Bros. Spams Bloggers, Then Lashes Out Against Reactions is a post from The Future Buzz

The following is a guest post from Jennifer Kutz, account manager at LEWIS PR in San Francisco. To connect with Jennifer, be sure to follow her on Twitter.  If you’re interested in writing a guest post at The Future Buzz, please read the guidelines.

Until I was approximately 25, basketball was my top priority. Since the 6^th grade I played the game nearly year-round, my teenage years a blur of traveling summer teams, after-school practices and early morning workouts culminating with a college scholarship and a brief stint on a Bay Area semi-pro team.

These days, my court time is limited to once- or twice-weekly rec league games, along with youth coaching when the schedule permits. My career at a public relations agency has taken basketball’s place in my life as the activity that dominates my thoughts and where most of my largest goals stem from. That being said, my time playing hoops has had an undeniable effect on how I do my job in several ways I wanted to share with you today.

1) One star does not a team make

For as long as I played basketball, it’s amazing how long it took me to understand this one key tenet.  For years I thought if I could just score enough or play well enough we would win.  Not only is this false, believing I could ‘carry’ a team actually had a detrimental effect on how well my team as a whole played. There were many times I blamed myself for losses or failed when trying to do too much during a game (e.g., taking 3-pointers or dribbling the ball up the floor- not my strengths, to put it mildly).

Working at a PR agency where teamwork is critical to the job, there is a similar tendency for people to think they can do it all.  There’s a reason more than one person is assigned to each account, and everyone has an important role to play. Remove one and the balance is thrown off – the best teams have people working behind the scenes, setting the stage for the ‘star’s’ success. If there’s no one to pass him or her the ball, a star will quickly lose the designation.  As a side note, in great teams, everyone shares in success – not just the star.

2) Success and growth require the taking of risks, and failure

Everyone has seen those players that hesitate and think too much on the court. They end up making more mistakes rather than less and play ‘not to lose’ rather than aggressively pursuing victory. It took me years to accept  that in order for my game to progress I had to try new things and experiment, which inevitably resulted in failures and successes.

The same can be said of working in PR, or any job that requires creativity. New ideas – coming up with them and executing on them – are the crux of many marketing jobs. There is much to be said of relying on tried and true methods to get the job done. But ultimately, truly innovative ideas are what make the difference between great campaigns and mediocre ones and risk is inherent to real innovation. Prepare yourself for failure – do your research, practice obsessively, be ready to learn something from every mistake – and you will never truly fail.

3) Your teammate’s success is your own, so cheer them on

There’s a reason the high-five was invented. We all need a little encouragement from our comrades when working to reach a common goal. As easy as it is to do, giving a co-worker a pat on the back can make a world of difference and is not seen often enough in agency life. We’re all in this together, so let’s make the most of it and tell each other good job every once in awhile. Plus, it’s just good karma.

4) The making of a great player takes more than hard work

You can never possibly prepare yourself for everything that happens during a game. That’s why people keep playing sports throughout their lives. I’ve been playing basketball for 20 years and still see something new every time I step on the court – the game will always be a fascinating challenge for me. Practice can only get you so far- the best players have that extra ‘it’ factor that enables them to think on their feet and react using instinct as opposed to what the play tells you to do.

The same can be said of working in the communications field. The one thing you can be sure of is that you will encounter a question or situation you’ve never faced before. The ones who successfully navigate these scenarios are people who have not only worked to acquire the basic skills all marketers need – solid writing and verbal skills, creativity, and drive – but they also have the flexibility and problem solving skills that allow them to adjust on the fly and tackle new challenges head on.

5) Humor is critical

This one doesn’t need much explanation, but as simple as it is sometimes it takes awhile to really sink in. Basketball, like PR, is not emergency medicine, fire-fighting or some equally vital job to be done in our society. While they can frequently become all-consuming and feel like they have life-or-death importance, sports and most office jobs are not solving world hunger, and sometimes it’s important to step back and see the big picture.

Even if the very worst happens – like you lose the biggest game of the season or an important client- a strong team will still be OK in the end; albeit with a bruised ego or a smaller bank account. Keeping it light and having some perspective can go miles to make our jobs easier to manage, and ultimately more fun and fulfilling.  After all, marketing and PR (and our hobbies) are what we’re truly passionate about.

The views expressed in this post are Jennifer’s, and not necessarily the opinions of LEWIS, or of any of the clients LEWIS represents.

image credit: Paul Matthew Photography via Shutterstock

What Basketball Taught Me About PR is a post from The Future Buzz

After his introduction of the trend, Kipp goes through 3 reasons social magazines are important for marketers.  Kipp is a smart marketer and his articles are usually quite good, so I was expecting a thoughtful piece – especially with a title that promised so much (that Social Magazines are the “next big thing”).  But as I read his reasons, I’m not convinced — at least by these reasons in particular.

How much do software platforms within portable devices play a role in your digital marketing?  That all depends.  The apps that are catching on in popularity from a content perspective are those that build upon content that is already popular and already being consumed on the web.

All the closed/paid magazines/apps are essentially the reinvention of CD-ROM media.  We all remember how well that ended.  The media is quite obsessed with apps, but it’s a misplaced hope in a false savior.  The marketing industry is equally guilty and tend to get just as wound up about every new piece of technology (hardware or software).  Both need to think critically about how that technology actually impacts what they do vs. immediately declaring it the next big thing.

Speaking of next big thing, in Kipp’s article, he obviously is influenced a bit by Scoble’s reaction to the flipboard.  Aside from the fact that Scoble classically jumps to conclusions about apps he likes being revolutionary and “changing everything,” remember that Scoble is talking about consumer tech/content consumption.  This does not change the core aspects of content marketing.

Anyway, on to Kipp’s reasons — I said I’m unconvinced these reasons in-particular are why social magazines are the next big thing for marketers.  Perhaps for consumers (yet to be seen).  Let’s list them and discuss why.

1. Noise Reduction – Many marketers today are working to get social opt-ins on Twitter and Facebook in hopes of getting their content included in the information stream of prospective customers. The problem is that, for many people, their social streams are filled with too much content, and much of it gets lost in the crowd. Because social magazines help to filter and better display social streams, it is likely less content will be lost to noise and companies will have better opportunities to connect.

If your social stream is filled with noise, this is your own fault.  If you follow a bunch of people on Twitter or have a bunch of Facebook friends constantly sending noise, not signal – any app that helps filter it is just going to give you aggregated noise.  Facebook (who I’ve actually been critical of in the past) has actually been doing a pretty good job natively of filtering signal from noise for me lately (or maybe the ~1,000 people or so I’m friends with are being more interesting).  Either way, it’s our own fault if we suffer from a poor signal to noise ratio.

Further, these types of social magazines merely interact with content already within streams.  In other words – as a marketer, does Tweetdeck somehow affect what you should do on Twitter?  Not really, it’s just a way for users to interact with that content.  There are many potential tools, including a perfectly useful web-based version (the trend of apps does not denigrate or suddenly make less useful web-based versions).  Understanding apps and usage patterns are important, but they don’t necessarily change what marketers are doing from a strategy standpoint.  In fact, if you are already publishing/syndicating content in an open platform, (as you should be) you’re likely well positioned for shifts.  Startups who produce applications such as social magazines are always going to build them in ways that leverage existing content.

2. A Return to Visuals – Successful traditional print and offline marketing has been dominated by great visuals and tight copy. Today Twitter streams, RSS readers and online news sources are dominated by catchy headlines and bullet points. Social magazine prioritize the value of powerful images in online storytelling. Blog posts with powerful images that help illustrate the message of the post will translate well to this new method of media consumption. Pictures now have a greater impact on who reads your content.

A return to visuals?  I disagree — visuals never went away and are possibly the most popular content format on the web (and have been that way for a long time).  In fact, as I noted 2 years ago:  viral images predate viral videos, and have been around since the AOL and Prodigy days when there wasn’t enough bandwidth available for the everyday user to access video.  For success examples of visual-based sites, look at blogs like Smashing Magazine, digital newspaper sections such as Boston Globe’s The Big Picture or even images section of Digg, Reddit and 4chan.  Images have been vital to digital publishing before social magazines existed.

3. Social Segmentation – Many large companies still publish magazines and distribute them to their B2B customers as a method of nurturing and educating potential buyers. Social magazines allow potential buyers to create their own magazine that is most relevant to them. This relevancy means that potential customers are more likely to read the magazines they create instead of the magazines that marketers print and mail to them. Marketers will need to shift focus and make it easy for content to be included in social magazines by providing RSS feeds and aggregating content through social media.

Potential buyers can create their own magazine that is most relevant to them right now.  With just a web browser.  In fact, they’re already doing it:  it’s called RSS.  Bullet point #3 speaks to the importance of offering compelling content through a feed, which is true.  But success here has less to do with what types of apps are used to consume it, and more to do with publishing great content.  I agree with syndicating and letting users do what they want with it, but I’m far less concerned with how they subscribe.

As streams, aggregators and real-time services already exist do you think specific apps that offer variations on consumption and social features impact what you’re doing from a strategic standpoint?  We already live in a long-tail app and platform world.  People will continue to receive and share content in diverse ways and start-ups will keep creating interesting ways to do just that.

Understanding the variety of different ways content is being consumed is important, but the low level skill.  I wouldn’t call each new consumption device or piece of software “the next big thing”.  It’s all happening within a larger ecosystem.  The best marketers are fluent enough in what’s happening to realize it’s actually not about technology, it’s about ideas.

Why Social Magazines Aren’t “The Next Big” Thing For Marketers is a post from The Future Buzz

“Our blog has been up and running for about a year and a half.  We know it’s being read through analytics and in person comments, but we really struggle to get people to comment on the posts.”

Daniel went on to provide a response in the form of tips.  Unfortunately in the post (and even in the comments) no one bothers to address the fact this is the wrong question to ask in the first place.  The tips presented are fine but the wrong consulting for Kara even if she did ask the question.

Let’s give Kara an honest response that might hurt a bit, but will help her blogging efforts long term.  Also Kara is not the only one of you to ask the “how do I get more blog comments” question, so this is for many of you.

Blog comments are a KPI, or key performance indicator of a blog.  Most businesses don’t keep a blog with the objective to generate more comments on the blog.  Comments are great and generate warm fuzzies, but looking to drive them is not the right approach.  They aren’t an outcome metric of a blog (although they may influence your outcomes).

What is an outcome metric of blogging?  A real world objective that is your desired return from blogging. It could be more organic inquiries, speaking opportunities, advertising revenue, pull PR, but it is a tangible outcome you want your efforts to result in.  It’s something that should be understood by your CEO in addition to your marketing team.  There shouldn’t have to be any education to explain why this is good.

Comments could be an outcome for certain types of businesses.  Maybe you’re Floor 64, and your product is an insight community where you actually derive revenue from discussion.  They’re really unique though.  That’s not the case here.

What is the blog in question?  It’s for Taylor Studios, an interpretive planning, exhibit design, and fabrication firm.  Their client list includes an array of venues including museums, nature centers, visitor centers, zoos, universities, and corporate lobbies.

My 5 second analysis is blog comments aren’t likely to do much for their business.  The real reason they are blogging (speculating here) is to build awareness for their firm and to gain additional inquiries (and ultimately clients) from blogging.  All on board?  Great.

So they are asking about why they don’t have more comments?  This part is going to hurt just a little bit.  They have posts like this:

Gives a new meaning to what Seth Godin lovingly refers to as Cat Blogs, right?  They have ongoing posts asking readers to name their cats.  Maybe there is a tie in to their business, or somehow this supports their content strategy (perhaps the cats are rescued from an animal shelter and that’s one of the organization’s causes – if so, great, but where is the context?).  I’m not against having fun with blogging but I think posts like this have to logically support your ongoing thesis and make sense within the context of the rest of your content.  You need to think like a strategist and gain the executive perspective on your content.

Not to be totally negative, Taylor also has great content on their blog too.  Betty Brennan, President shares some interesting thoughts on why she fears incentives – something I found compelling as I’m also a fan of Dan Pink and agree with purpose and passion ahead of profits.

After a quick skim through a few back pages of content, they have a mix of design, inspirational and “about us” content.  It actually tells the story of an interesting and creative company.  Their content overall is very readable and, bonus, they are consistent.  But one and a half years of blogging and only 1-2K people per month?  Yikes – their niche is much larger than that!

If I were in charge of their blog marketing, I wouldn’t worry about comments.  Those will come.  The real focus should be the opportunity staring them in the face.  They have a backlog of content already — they should put it to work for them.

I’d start by:

• Social media audit of the blog (no subscribe CTAs for RSS/email?)
• Search engine optimization audit of the blog (posts need better title tags, URL structure should be keyword driven, etc.)
• Developing a promotional plan for content (and build connections with the rest of the niche so their content actually spreads)
• Really thinking through a sharp editorial calendar — their niche and company are so interesting, they should be able to attract far more attention than they do
• Define objectives and KPIs for blogging (and create explicit and implied calls to action for the objective in a way that doesn’t disrupt the content)

If done properly, that would  help their blog take off, achieve comments and ultimately help accomplish a true business objective from blogging.

Not to downplay comments, they certainly act as a signal of social proof and can be a factor in making your blog successful.  But they are an organic byproduct of doing everything else right.

Why Care About More Comments? Drive Outcomes, Not KPIs is a post from The Future Buzz

As a digital marketing consultant, I work with marketing teams at a variety of different software companies across industries.  Today I was pondering some of the common qualities behind what makes the best teams successful, and jotted down the following list.  If you’re at a software company of any variety, stop and ask yourself – which of the following does my marketing team embrace, and which am I lacking?

1.  Company leaders see marketing/PR as a revenue generator, not a cost center

The best software marketing teams are given the resources and time necessarily to break through and get that company referenced as an industry leader.  These teams are given the privilege to continue marketing long term, provided ample resources to succeed, and nurture the right talent because their management sees marketing as something which impacts revenue.  They don’t see it as some abstract cost center they “have to” throw budget at in order to succeed.

2.  Their team members are proven and passionate

Instead of simply hiring the cheapest or most convenient hire, smart software companies grow their teams with proven, passionate individuals (or at least bring smart, eager to learn team members on board).  There is the old cliche that client-side marketers “don’t care” or “are boring.”  This idea is shattered at software companies (or any company) who rocks at marketing:  their team members care and have passion.  A consultancy is great and can help boost a software company’s digital reach significantly, but the right team members internally are also vital for long term success.

3.  They never launch, just iterate

The idea of the launch in marketing is one which is fast fading in relevance.  Instead of a big launch, the ability to maintain a pace with relevant communications is even more valuable.  Not to completely downplay the idea of buzz, it’s still vital.  But the savviest software marketing teams can orchestrate buzz without necessarily having a reason.  They’re also organized for failure – and in fact are encouraged to fail like crazy to find what works.

4.  They create lots of (great) content

I touched on this in my recent primer on content marketing.  The best software companies aren’t just relying on a static set of product pages to draw prospects.  They are actively producing a variety of content across digital channels not just about their product, but to become a go to resource for the industry.  And, their content is so good it deserves to rank highly in organic search.

5.  They tap their customers/super users as part of marketing

The best software companies are bringing their users into their marketing organically.  And not just as part of marketing collateral, they are creating opportunities for organic linking and endorsements through the web.  Further, they know the power of  who to tap:  super users and true fans.  They use them as case studies, success stories and referral sources, sure, but even more so they integrate them within social marketing initiatives.

6.  They experiment

Coloring within the lines is for marketers who want to be perpetually lost in the noise of the web.  Experimenting should be a part of everyone’s strategies and a critical component of the modern marketing mix.  If you’re not budgeting time to experiment, make the time today.  If you actually have creative team members, experimenting may end up proving more valuable to break through the clutter than anything else you do.

7.  They integrate marketing and sales

Marketing and sales teams are not put in silos – rather, they work together, learn together, share data and ultimately work as a team.  Software marketers need to understand the sales process and buying cycle (and the reverse is true: software sales pros need to understanding the marketing process).

8.  Their team members have personalities

And their management teams let them be themselves on the web to help forge connections.  Software companies who have team members that are known in their industries have a decided advantage against competitors who don’t.  It’s an edge to tap personal networks for marketing initiatives in tandem with the networks that business has built.

9.  Pull and push marketing

Pull is important, but the best software marketers also understand (and leverage) push marketing tactics such as email marketing.  Even in a social-powered web, marketers can’t deny the power of push campaigns.

10.  Marketing is both metrics and emotion/creativity-driven

Software marketers (and all marketers, really) need to be metrics driven and savvy with reporting meaningful outcome metrics and KPIs to show accountability to constituents.  With that said, it’s getting more and more common for software companies to be totally metrics driven in their marketing and outright ignore emotional/creativity in their marketing. The best software companies mix metrics and emotion.

11.  Product teams work directly with marketing/sales

By ensuring product teams are in communication with marketing and sales strategists, they can help ensure they are developing features that will truly help make the product stickier.  While product development cycles can be lengthy, listening to and actually incorporating suggestions from marketing can provide an advantage against competitors who don’t take this feedback into consideration.

12.  Savvy to nurture a digital community

Software companies who nurture a digital community will do more than activate the social media and SEO intersection.  They will build up a powerful and trusted army of marketers who spread word of mouth about the brand’s resourceful content and product.

13.  Intelligent about what to keep in-house and what to outsource

The best software marketing teams realize what both their strengths and weaknesses are.  Being aware of this, they make smart decisions about what to outsource to vendors/service providers vs. hire for in house.  They also only hire consultants when they are actually able to implement recommendations and new team members when ready to grow vs. cutting off extra resources prematurely and wasting efforts.

14.  Their teams are agile and empowered

Rather than having an overly restrictive corporate process, the absolute best software marketing teams are agile and empowered.  To achieve this, their teams are actually trusted by management to act appropriately and represent the brand intelligently.  In essence, they’re given freedom of agility.  For a great example of this, look at Matt Cutts.  If a large company like Google trusts team members like Matt to speak on behalf of their brand, certainly your company can too.  If not, you need a new team.

15.  Their customer service team is an extension of marketing/PR

It’s difficult for all software companies to do this, but if they have rock-star customer service people who can make that process social, it’s possible to leverage that activity for marketing and PR goals.  Not all software companies want to do this of course, but for those who can it is a significant opportunity.

16.  They understand purpose and passion

To motivate the right team members, it takes more than money.  For creative, talented individuals purpose and passion trump profits as a motivator.  This is difficult for many to understand, but is likely one of the reasons for attrition of marketing talent from software teams.  With that said, providing team members with equity is not a bad idea either, as it certainly can be another motivating factor for success.  Equity inspires a different type of connection with team members than raw cash.

17.  They are unafraid to have opinions or take sides

Let’s face it, the software space in many industries is crowded.  And when developing software that tries to appeal to everyone, in many cases it may appeal to no one.  Just like this is true in development, it’s true in marketing.  Team members need to be unafraid to have opinions or take sides both on internal issues and externally when discussing their respective industries.  This might not please everything, but this is a good thing: by appealing to everyone, they appeal to no one.

This is of course just a short list — what other characteristics do you see defining successful software marketing teams?

image credit: adistock via Shutterstock

17 Winning Characteristics Of Top Software Marketing Teams is a post from The Future Buzz