Web Ink Now

July 01, 2012

Salespeople's brains vs the public web

Prior to starting my own business speaking and writing about marketing strategy, I ran several global B2B marketing teams. This was in a world prior to the ability we have today to create content on the web and have it be indexed by the search engines and shared via social networks.

Prior to the web, salespeople were in power positions because they were keepers of information.

With B2B products and services in the old days, the only way for buyers to get detailed information was from salespeople. Buyers had no choice.

To illustrate the point using an expensive consumer product example, think about the process of buying a car in, say, 1995. You'd be exposed to television and magazine ads. Perhaps you'd purchase a buyers guide such as Consumer Reports. You could ask friends and coworkers for advice. But to get detailed information on models and options and pricing required the dreaded visit to the dealership to "talk" to the salesperson, who smugly knew he had all the information power.

Today, buyers find information on the web

When researching a B2B purchase today, buyers just hit a search engine and their social networks. Tons of information is available.

Now how do you buy a car? Do you blindly go to visit the dealership to ask the salesperson? Or do you spend hours on the web learning as much as you can and only visit the dealer when you are ready to buy?

Are you still forcing your buyers to interact with salespeople?

The problem I see is that nearly all B2B companies are still operating in a world as if the salesperson is the king of the information kingdom. Companies insist on driving all online interactions to a salesperson.

One manifestation of this behavior is the insistence by most B2B companies that buyers supply personal details such as an email address before they can get information such as a white paper. When I question marketers about this practice, they tell me the reason is that they need sales leads and that salespeople follow up on the information requests.

Circa 1995 calculus

The idea that you cannot give your information for free pre-dates the web. Requiring email registration is simply applying what we did in the past to the new realities of how people research products. This is not as effective as making information freely available to be downloaded and shared.

Are you managing your B2B sales and marketing process using 1995 calculus? Do you assume that salespeople are the fonts of all knowledge and all information flows through them? If so, I think you are less successful than you could be.

Assume buyers are already educated

Your salespeople should assume they are the last place a buyer goes, not the first. They must assume that very little of their knowledge is proprietary. They need to facilitate the sale, not control the information.

Think back to buying a car. How do you want the dealer to interact with you when you walk in? Do you want a confrontational relationship where they feel they have the information power? Or do you want the dealer to assume you have already done your research and are ready to close a deal?

photo credit: dharder9475 via photo pin cc

Posted by David Meerman Scott on July 01, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (4)

June 27, 2012

When free is not free

As consumers, we know that "free" does not mean free. So why do we forget those lessons as marketers?

Clearly, costs include more than just money:

The free mobile phone requires a one-year contract. Obviously the cost of the phone is built into the monthly fee.

Waiting in line to get a free ticket to an event requires an opportunity cost (the value of your time while waiting), and therefore the ticket is not free.

Filling out a form to get a free white paper means the company now has your email address and perhaps other personal details. You have given the company something valuable so the white paper is not free.

Make it as close to free as possible

I offer a free ebook library with downloads at no cost and no registration is required. Even this has a (small) cost because it takes a second to click a link and maybe two are three seconds of wait time for the 1MB file to download on a high-speed connection (more on slower speeds). But this is quite close to free.

As you work on your content marketing plans, push back on those who misuse the word free.

My research shows that a totally free white paper offered with no registration form will generate as much as 50 times more downloads as the same white paper with a registration form.

Which would you rather have: One email? Or 50 people exposed to your ideas?

Posted by David Meerman Scott on June 27, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (16)

June 23, 2012

Penn State University Football: Social media and crisis management lessons learned

The jury reached a verdict in the high-profile Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse trial. Sandusky, a former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach was found guilty on 45 of 48 charges. Sandusky faces potentially hundreds of years in prison for molesting 10 boys over 15 years.

The story has been at the forefront of the news cycle many days since it broke in November 2011. There are many parts of this difficult story that have been analyzed for months in the media.

I wanted to take a look at a part of the story that has not gotten much attention - the social media aspects.

Imagine you are responsible for social media within an organization faced with a major crisis like this one. How would you handle it? How would the senior executives handle it?

The right approach is to be honest and forthright. Communicate the facts quickly and don’t hide. Assign a visible spokesperson. Silence and “no comment” are the enemy.

I spoke with Kelly Burns, a recent Penn State MBA graduate. While a student, Kelly interned with Penn State Football Marketing & Promotions from May 2009 through April 2012, and for the past three summers (2009-2011) she ran the Penn State Football Facebook and Twitter accounts.

“I was very lucky to have the opportunity to assist in developing the Penn State Football Facebook page back when it first launched in summer 2009,” Kelly says. She posted content (information, photos, videos, and the like) that fans enjoyed. “Having the opportunity to interact with Penn State Football fans was incredible because Penn State Football has a history rich in tradition and 'Success with Honor,' and its fans literally wear their pride on their sleeves.”

The Penn State Football Facebook page, currently with nearly 350,000 likes, targeted students, recruits to the football program, alumni, and Penn State football fans in the community. Kelly also developed the @PennStateFball Twitter feed. She read each tweet and Facebook comment and responded personally to many. In her role she frequently put in 40 hours per week on a voluntary basis (!!).

Then the story broke

The grand jury investigation was initiated in the spring of 2008 but had been kept quiet. In the summer of 2011 Kelly was told to remove photos of Sandusky from the Facebook page.

On November 4, 2011 Sandusky was indicted and the next day he was arrested and charged and the story went worldwide instantly. “Our Facebook and Twitter lit up but that was difficult because initially we were not allowed to post,” Kelly says. “We were not permitted to post anything about the scandal, nor were any other people working for the University. We were told to wait until Old Main [Penn State's administrative center on campus which includes the university president's office] made a statement before we could say anything. So we went completely dark.”

On November 11, the social media team was permitted to post about The Blue Ribbon Campaign against child abuse and then on November 16 they were allowed to post some simple messages about football but still nothing about the crisis itself was allowed. Even today, nothing about the scandal has ever been talked about on Penn State social media.

Fan engagement and trolls

“Penn State Football fans were never permitted to post directly onto the Facebook wall, but during this period fans were engaged on Facebook by commenting on posts that were already there, including the Blue Ribbon post. There were as many as 500 comments on some posts that I moderated. Many people aired their opinions whether positive or negative.”

While the majority of people were thoughtful, some were not. “We patrolled for foul language, rude jokes, and other disturbing comments and removed them,” Kelly says. Negativity was fine but with such a sensitive issue, inappropriate language was not allowed. “In several cases we needed to block individuals who insisted on continuing to make fun of Penn State in very inappropriate ways,” she says.

What should have happened

Kelly says that the scandal was discussed in several of her MBA classes, including crisis management discussions with MBA marketing professor, Dr. Ralph Oliva in her brand management class. The class went though classic crisis management steps: Gather facts, report facts (even if the fact is that they don’t know anything), put a name to a spokesperson, say that the incident is isolated and does not reflect the football program as a whole, and acknowledge the deep emotions tied to Penn State Football that fans have, and communicate regularly.

These steps were not taken at Penn State Football. Kelly says it took days before the Board of Trustees issued responses and put a face to leadership.

“We should have done a better job providing a way to communicate with the fans,” Kelly says. “That's not something critical about Penn State Football because it goes up to Old Main, who decided what was allowed to be said. I think in our day and age of social media, that silence was not the right response. Keeping information private is not the way to go when people are talking 24x7 on social media and need reassurance.”

A surprising aspect of the situation

Kelly told me how fans of Penn State competitors (such as the Ohio State Buckeyes) also used social media and the Penn State Football Facebook page to show their support and understanding for the victims, the PSU Football players, PSU students, alumni, and fans.

She shared one of the best examples of a positive fan post from what is usually considered the enemy, Ohio State. “In this situation the fan laid aside the on-field rivalry to support a much greater cause (to say the least),” Kelly says. Robert Benson, a Buckeye fan, posted in the Nov. 11 comment thread:

"When people are so quick to make sick references to Penn St. I am disgusted. How can anyone label an entire group of people in a negative way and feel good about it? Taking advantage of people who are down, weakened and heartbroken for your own sick pleasure. Does that remind you of someone?

What I see is a community shell shocked and hurt, trying to find their way through all of this. A horrible situation for them. Surely, among them are kids attending Penn St. who themselves have been victims. Your negative comments about Penn St. must hurt them more than anyone would ever know. They want their university to stand for something better than this.

The whole world is watching Penn St. You will find your way and will come out on the other side to represent something good, and maybe something much bigger and important than before.

Keep your chin up Penn St. When we meet you next week, win or lose, we want you at your best.

A Buckeye fan"

Advice from Kelly about crisis management for other organizations

Interestingly, Kelly says that Penn State Football social media, even today, is not back to “business as usual” like it was before the scandal broke. Currently the football accounts are being updated infrequently by Penn State athletics staff only with innocuous press release type content and the fan engagement is minimal as a result.

“At Penn State, there was no crisis management plan in place whatsoever," Kelly says. "I think it’s crucial for organizations to have crisis management plans with a social media component. Set up timetables to issue responses and statements. You need a plan so that people know how to communicate.”

Kelly’s internship ended several months ago. She says that the crisis experience was terrible in many ways and was certainly *not* fun in the time since the scandal broke. But it was a tremendous learning experience. “I just wish things had turned out differently. Even today they are not communicating openly. It remains to be seen if Penn State Football will address the verdict and engage with fans again now.”

Here is the official statement released by Penn State University immediately following the verdict.

What's next for Kelly

Kelly is now looking for a full-time position in the general fields of marketing, PR, and social media. Having spent time speaking with her, I’d highly recommend her for any communications position. If you’re looking for a social media savvy entry-level employee with extensive crisis communications skills, you need to speak to Kelly. Here are Kelly's social coordinates: blog, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn.

Thank you Kelly for sharing your story with us.
And good luck in your career.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on June 23, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (15)

June 20, 2012

Who do you compare yourself to?

As you create products and services as well as the strategies to generate attention for your business, who or what do you compare yourself to?

Most executives have a relentless focus on the direct competition and use that as a benchmark for comparison. They look at the competition's products, price, marketing and try to do the same but with an incremental increase.

But the strategy of comparisons to your close competitor means that you are likely to become a "me too" that’s just a little better, faster, or cheaper. That's no position to be in.

Microsoft tablet computer anyone?

Compare to people and companies in other industries

True leaders forget about the competition.

Many look to other industries to compare to.

For example, in highly regulated industries like pharmaceutical, healthcare, and finance, the competition is very likely to follow the pack and be fearful of engaging the market with compelling content and social media. Comparing to this market means you’d also be fearful and say "no". If all the hospitals in my area don't have a YouTube channel, why should we?

Smart marketers like Chris Boyer and companies like Inova Health System don't worry about other healthcare providers. If they did, they would say no to blogs, twitter, YouTube and the like. Instead, they look to the best of consumer products companies as their model for success.

Learning from outside your comfort zone

It's always fun when nonprofits look to for-profit businesses. Successful B2B outfits take a page out of B2C playbooks. Service business look to product companies for inspiration (and vice versa). A lawyer markets like a novelist. And a novelist communicates like a journalist.

Try to get away from the comfort of your own peer group and see what you can learn from those outside your industry.

As for me...

I'm a huge live music fan. I've seen nearly 500 bands live and am interested in how musicians and bands perform as well a how they market themselves. So that's who I compare myself to.

I've learned a great deal from people like Amanda Palmer and bands like the Grateful Dead.

When I go to a live show, I watch how the musicians interact on stage and I adopt some of the moves in my own live speeches.

As an example, at the top of this post is a photo I took (iPhone 4S tweaked with Instagram) of Tyson Ritter of the All-American Rejects at a recent Boston show (thanks to my friend Jodi who manages the band and invited me to watch from the photo pit). Tyson is way out front standing on a monitor and interacting with the audience.

The photo of me by Jay Blakesberg is at my NAMM keynote this year. I'm also way out front standing on a monitor and interacting with the audience.

I've got no musical ability but have always loved watching how rock stars move and interact. How cool that I can do the same but in a different business!!

I've never seen another speaker in the hundreds of events I've spoken at jump onto a monitor. I learned the move from someone outside my “competition”.

Another example: I looked to the Grateful Dead for inspiration about sharing content. Learning from the Dead, I give lots of content away for free (with no email address required).

I'm convinced that by learning from musicians and bands, I've developed a more personal style than had I just copied other business authors and speakers.

How about you?

Do you copy the direct competitors? Or do you look outside your industry for inspiration?

Posted by David Meerman Scott on June 20, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (5)

June 18, 2012

Why Make Art? And how to fund it

This morning, Seth Godin announced his newest book The Icarus Deception and a fascinating Kickstarter Project to fund it.

Seth's new book is about the mythology of success (and failure) and how our economy rewards people who are willing to stand up and stand out.

Seth writes: "For too long, we've been seduced into believing we should do less. It's time to redefine what we're capable of. We are all artists now, and the connection economy we're living in relentlessly rewards those who do work that matters."

I'm a Seth Godin fanboy and enjoy reading each of his books the second they are released.

I'd certainly read The Icarus Deception anyway. But this book is also interesting because of how Seth is funding it.

Kickstarter and Seth's art

Seth has a Kickstarter project to fund the new book. Like Amanda Palmer, who raised over $1 million to fund her new album through Kickstarter (I wrote about Amanda's project here), Seth is tapping his loyal fans to help him fund his new book – using the proof of support to convince his publisher and bookstores to back it in a big way.

As I write this, it is just a few hours into the project and one funding level has already sold out. It looks like Seth is on a similar trajectory as Amanda was in the early days of her project.

Seth is betting (rightly it seems) that his fans are willing to fund the book even before it has come out. People like me are going to buy it anyway, so why not get a commitment up front and use the fan support to make the book even more successful.

Supporting your favorite artists

Yes, I am a backer at one of the higher pledge levels. Sure, I want all the stuff that comes with being a backer.

However, more than that, I want to support the artists, like Amanda and Seth, who I believe in. I want them to live well so they can continue to produce art and enrich my life.

People want YOU to succeed too!

If you provide great art, even in the form of products and services, your fans want to support you. That's why people line up to buy new Apple products without even trying them. Do they line up for your art?

If you make great stuff, people will take a chance on you. They'll order the software upgrade, visit the chef's new restaurant, reserve a room in the resort on a different island.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on June 18, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (8)

June 14, 2012

Friending cats and following eggs: On social networks you ARE your photo

On social networks, you ARE your photo.

Your image is important!

The photo you choose to represent you says a great deal about who you are as an individual. It is your personal brand.

I love meeting people in person at conferences or cocktail parties and then connecting with them on social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Sometimes I search people out and connect and other times they find me.

But when somebody has an image that is not an actual photo of them, I hesitate and usually do not connect.

Why are they hiding? Why use a dog or flower or building, or famous person, or logo instead?

The images in this post are all Facebook profiles of people who requested to become friends with me. Who are they? I don’t know because the photos are not of them. So I did not connect.

Same thing happens on Twitter. And then there’s the default "egg" on Twitter and silhouette Facebook. The default says: “I can’t be bothered to upload an image.

There are many choices when it comes to an image to use:

You can use a casual shot taken by a friend.

This is a great option for many people. But there are many different approaches and each says something important about you. Are you in a casual setting (like on a beach)? Or more formal like an office? What are you wearing?

Always think: What does this photo say about me and my personal brand?

You can have other people & things with you in the photo.

Your child and/or boyfriend. A random famous person. Props like your dog, a fishing pole, or a beer in your hand. What about your company logo?

Always think: What does this photo say about me and my personal brand?

You can use a formal portrait.

This is what I do. But the choice of style and clothing says a lot about who you are. Close-up or wide shot? (Wide shots are difficult to see in the postage stamp size on sites like Twitter). Smile or no smile? How close do you crop? For men: tie or no tie? Jacket?

Always think: What does this photo say about me and my personal brand?

Many people use an avatar such as a graphic representation of themselves.

This approach is appropriate for some people.

Always think: What does this photo say about me and my personal brand?

I just don't connect with random images is also used by some. Your cat. Bart Simpson. A surfboard. You're certainly narrowing down what you want people to think of you if you go this route. Always think: What does this photo say about me and my personal brand?

You ARE your photo

Posted by David Meerman Scott on June 14, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (17)

June 12, 2012

Never pitch again

How do you generate new business? Or find a job? Or get ink in mainstream media?

Do you cold call? Do you send email pitches? Do you hang out in your tradeshow booth and approach passersby? Do you go to networking events and hand out business cards?

Each of these methods for generating attention requires you to approach others -- potential new customers or employers or journalists -- to tell them about what you do in the hope that they might be interested.

These classic outbound marketing techniques are all we really had prior to the ability to become brand journalists by creating valuable information on the Web. Yet many people operate as if we are still in 1993 and the only options available are outbound strategies.

Inbound Marketing

Many organizations are finding tremendous success by planting hundreds or even thousands of new business seeds in the form or blog posts, ebooks, infographics, videos, photos, how-to guides, research reports, Twitter feeds, and other forms of Web content.

In a technique called Inbound Marketing, each of these marketing assets gets indexed by Google, Bing, and the other search engines so when people enter search terms related to your business, they find you via your valuable information. When people find something interesting you created, they may share it on their social profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and the like.

Here are some real-world examples of Inbound Marketing in action in healthcare, from a rock star, in finding a first job, in retail products, for PR agencies, in politics, and for B2B products. You can acheive similar results.

INBOUND 2012

I'll be delivering a keynote at INBOUND 2012, a 3-day inbound marketing conference and training event produced by HubSpot.

More than 2,000 inbound marketers, entrepreneurs and executives are expected in Boston August 27-30 and the agenda includes keynotes, breakout sessions, parties, learning, and fun. I'm speaking the first day but will be at the event the entire time.

HubSpot has kindly offered readers of this blog a 25% discount on tickets to INBOUND 2012. Use the code DMS25. This link has the discount code already applied.

Disclosures: I am Marketer in Residence and on the advisory board at HubSpot. I wrote the foreword to the book Inbound Marketing, by HubSpot co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, which is part of my New Rules of Social Media book series.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on June 12, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (13)

June 06, 2012

Getting fired: Ten years later and much happier

Almost exactly ten years ago I was fired. Sacked. Let go. Terminated. Made redundant. Booted out. Canned.

Getting fired was an incredible gift. I just didn't know it at the time.

After NewsEdge was acquired by The Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters), my position as vice president of marketing was eliminated.

I like to think that my ideas about Web-based marketing were a little too radical for my new bosses. Perhaps.

Or as is the case in many acquisitions, maybe the new bosses had a pre-determined list of who from the acquired company were redundant to people already in the parent company. Likely.

Or maybe I just pissed somebody off. I was an unknown. I wanted to impress and might have been too aggressive. The people already in the company were familiar and I was unknown. In business the familiar usually wins. Possible.

Anyway, after six years at NewsEdge, I was out on the street.

This was in 2002, one of the worst job markets in history.

It was awful.

But it was also incredibly powerful and amazingly liberating.

It's too easy for me to say from my vantage point today that it was just a matter of starting my own business. The truth is that after 15 years of working for a living, it took some time to get my head around the idea that I could support myself by my own wits.

I had always been an employee. Except for doing yard work for neighbors when I was a teenager, I had never been an entrepreneur.

I did look around for another full-time marketing VP job, but it was a terrible economic situation after 9/11. There was nothing I could find in the Boston area.

I used the bruises on my butt from having been kicked out the door to motivate me to do something new.

It was very difficult.

I was a guy who always had a nice fat corporate teat to suckle. I was used to a corporate nanny to provide for me plus a business card with a name that many recognized.

Now I was going to be a company of one person.

I started my own business to refine my concepts about Web marketing, work with select clients, and teach others through writing, speaking at conferences, and conducting seminars for corporate groups.

Aren't you still unemployed?

It took a long time to convince my family, friends, and colleagues that "marketing strategist" wasn't a euphemism for "unemployed." No, I'd say, I do want to make a go of speaking and writing and consulting for a living. Really, I'd insist, I wasn't just waiting for a full time gig to come my way.

It's an enormous cliche to say that you need a disaster like being fired to change your trajectory in life. For me that was absolutely true. Had I not been kicked out of Thomson in a crappy job market, I'd likely still be working in a full-time marketing role today.

I was given the gift of a new direction.

That was ten years ago. The result has been the best ten years of my life.

Reinvention is difficult.

But the hard work can pay off.

Thank you for your support during the past ten years.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on June 06, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (41)

June 04, 2012

#FAIL: When copywriters don't know the product

At the beautiful JW Marriott Starr Pass resort Hashani Spa in Tucson, Arizona there is a big disconnect between marketing and reality.

The copywriters say:

"At Hashani Spa, one is not healed by the treatment they are receiving, but by the sensory bliss of the magical Sonoran Desert."

The rocks are engraved with the words: Tranquility. Harmony. Peace.

Check out the very relaxing photos on the Hashani Spa site.

They play loud music with vocals. You cannot relax. There is no tranquility. There is no harmony. There is no peace.

#FAIL.

Direct link to #FAIL: When copywriters don't know the product on YouTube.

I spoke with four different people about this disconnect. It turns out the music to the outdoor part of the spa is on the same channel as the other outdoor pool areas. You know, the ones with adults drinking and kids screaming – the place where blaring music is acceptable.

It was impossible for hotel staff to eliminate the music being piped into the spa.

Do the copywriters know this? Probably not. My guess is they're in some comfortable corporate office somewhere and have never visited the property.

How can we trust marketing if there is a disconnect with reality?

Posted by David Meerman Scott on June 04, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (11)

May 31, 2012

Stop confusing social media marketing with advertising on social sites

I'm amazed that so many seemingly smart people are *still* using the words "marketing" and "advertising" interchangeably.

While I see the silliness everywhere, a good example is all the hoopla around General Motors' decision to stop advertising on Facebook.

The GM news broke during the same week as the Facebook IPO a few weeks ago.

Mainstream media reporters and citizen journalists jumped on the story. Except for the awesome newsjacking of the Facebook IPO by GM I didn't think it was a big deal so I chose not to write about it.

The resulting headlines such as The Real Reason GM Left Facebook and General Motors unfriends Facebook imply that GM was no longer communicating to fans on Facebook.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Some people like Mitch Joel and Yaseen Dadabhay got the story right. But most did not.

Marketing is not just advertising

While GM did pull $10 million in ads from Facebook, they continue to use the Facebook channel.

A very quick search shows GM has hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Facebook pages including brand pages like Chevrolet, model pages like Camaro (2.8 million likes and tons of fan engagement), location pages like Chevrolet India, and even specialty pages like Team Chevy auto racing.

So GM has certainly not left Facebook.

Heck, imagine if they used that ten million dollars to hire a huge team of brand journalists to engage people on social networks! (That’s what I would do).

GM is certainly engaged on Facebook. They just stopped spending money on Facebook ads.

The New Rules of Marketing & PR

As regular readers of this blog and The New Rules of Marketing & PR will recall:

OLD RULES -- buy your way in with advertising and beg your way in with the media
NEW RULES -- publish your way in on the Web for free

As many successful marketers know, on the Web, marketing is not the same as advertising. Winning is all about creating great content. For free. To be successful, you must unlearn what you have learned.

It's not about advertising on YouTube, it is about making a YouTube video. It's not about advertising on social media sites like Facebook, it is about participating by creating pages, personal profiles, and events on Facebook like GM does.

Attention journalists: Stop intermixing the terms "advertising" and "marketing."

It's difficult for CMOs to make the transition to a world where there are alternative ways to reach an audience other than spending buckets of money on expensive advertising campaigns. Many reporters aren't helping.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 31, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (21)

May 30, 2012

Amanda Palmer freaks out to celebrate hitting $1 million on Kickstarter

Yesterday evening, I met up with Amanda Palmer (together with my friend Steve Garfield) on Lexington Battle Green.

We filmed a video that I'll be using in an upcoming presentation and which I'll be sharing here in the future.

The timing was awesome as just a few hours before we met, Amanda's Kickstarter for her new album Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra passed the $1 million dollar mark.

Here's Amanda celebrating her milestone which is the largest amount ever raised for a music project on Kickstarter.

I wrote about her new project when she launched a month ago in my blog post We are the media: Amanda Palmer and the future of your business.

There are now over 21,000 backers, including me, Steve, and many of our social friends including Denise Wakeman. I'm looking forward to Amanda’s Boston art opening and concert. If you go to the Boston event, let me know.

Imagine that. Tens of thousands of Amanda's fans backed her new album before they even heard it. That's the power of a fan base and using social media to connect with fans.

One way to do an album is to have a record label fund it. As Amanda shows, there’s a better way: Have your fans fund it and then you retain control.

Direct link to Amanda Palmer Dances to Celebrate Passing $1 Million on Kickstarter on YouTube.

Amanda Palmer site (where you can get a free album preview track).
@AmandaPalmer on Twitter
Amanda's Kickstarter

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 30, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (4)

May 29, 2012

Avoid controversial topics like politics and religion in your marketing

There are subjects that should not enter into your company's marketing because they are too controversial.

For many organizations, politics and religion are topics to be avoided (unless you work at an issue-based nonprofit, for a political candidate or elected official, or at a church).

Another touchy subject is sex. There may be others in your market.

Most organizations should avoid politics and religion

I've been a subscriber to the Publishers Weekly email newsletter for many years because I like to keep up with what's happening in the book business.

I was surprised this morning to receive an email from PW with the subject line PUBLISHING PEOPLE FOR OBAMA. The email was one big image (reproduced below) which links to a landing page on barackobama.com

I can't figure out for sure if PW sold their list to the Obama campaign or if PW is supporting the President’s reelection. (I think they sold the list).

Either way, I think this was a mistake for PW to venture into politics like this.

Seth Godin says that an email list is permission marketing - "the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them." PW subscribers like me give PW permission to contact us. We can just as easily revoke that permission if we are offended.

If you are in the business of renting your email list, you need to be very careful who you allow to use it. When doing your own marketing, you need to consider the ramifications of alienating people who not share your beliefs.

Note -- this is a marketing blog, not a political one. I am not talking about the merits of the presidential candidates here but rather the marketing aspects of this example.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 29, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (3)

May 24, 2012

Educate and inform instead of interrupt and sell

You have the power to elevate yourself on the web to a position of importance.

In the e-marketplace of ideas, successful people educate and inform. They highlight their expertise with videos, content-rich websites, social streams, blogs, ebooks, and images.

We also have the ability to interact and participate in conversations that other people begin on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, chat rooms, and forums.

The key is to focus on buyers' needs, not your own ego.

Stop hyping your products and services. Don't rely on interruption techniques. You'll regret taking advantage of people’s time and attention with unwanted communications.

Instead you need to deliver the right information to buyers, right at the point when they are most receptive.

Organizations gain credibility and loyalty with buyers through content, and smart marketers think and act like publishers in order to create and deliver content targeted directly at their audience.

Don't push product

Teach people something. Share your expertise.

It's counter intuitive: You sell more when you stop selling.

As you build your market people will find you via search engines and talk you up on social networks.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 24, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (7)

May 21, 2012

The art of turning heads with video

I really like this video The art of turning heads... from Cooei, an Australian company founded by sisters Cassandra @castrevitt and Brooke @brooketrevitt.

The video focuses on the problems faced by Cooei's buyer personas (pain from high heels) and uses humor to tell a story quickly.

I asked Cas to tell us a little about how the video was done.

Cas and Brooke did the video on a very tight budget, thinking up the concept themselves and using family and friends as actors. Fortunately, their brother Luke has a background in film so he shot the footage (with a moderately priced Canon 7D DSLR rig) over two days. Friends helped with editing and other aspects. The music rights were acquired through APRA|AMCOS.

Lessons learned

Great video does not need to be expensive. If you have some creative skills and some friends to help, you too can make a professional quality video.

The big challenges are coming up with the concept that will interest your buyers and keeping it short.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 21, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (7)

May 15, 2012

Risk

"Don't do that, it's too risky."

In business, people spend a great deal of time and money evaluating risk. It's one of those things they teach in MBA school.

But are we looking at risk in the right way?

According to the American Bar Association, there were 1,143,358 resident and active attorneys in the United States in 2007 (the most recent data I could quickly find). That's over a million people, many of them advising businesses on what to avoid because it is risky.

They lawyers say things like: "Don't let people blog and tweet because they may say something that gets the company in trouble." As I wrote last week, lawyers clamping down is especially true in highly regulated industries.

From the legal perspective, saying "no" might make sense (it avoids lawsuits). But thinking about risk in totality (instead of just what the lawyers think) is saying no the right way to do business? Frequently the businesses and the people saying "yes" to risk are the ones that succeed.

When the perceived risk is low, we tend to do okay evaluating a situation. Yes, it is risky to fly to the business meeting (the plane may crash) but we figure the risk is worth taking.

But when the risk seems high (starting a business or quitting your job to go freelance) we are unable to accurately evaluate the risk.

I think this is because we humans fail to evaluate the risk of staying the course. We don't evaluate the risk in *NOT* starting the business or keeping the job at the big company.

How's that big stable company working out for you?

Perhaps your parents advised you to get a degree from a good university and then work for a nice, stable, well-known company. We're told that is the least risky path. But is it?

If you worked for Lehman Brothers or Washington Mutual or Enron or your company had to downsize or your division was acquired or manufacturing moved to Laos or your boss thought you were too smart and therefore a threat or the company moved to Atlanta or you hit 50 years old or any number of other scenarios - BOOM - you were out of a job. Unemployed.

When you put yourself at the mercy of an employer, you have significant risk. When you work in an industry in decline, you have significant risk.

The flip side of risk

In my experience, people fail to evaluate the risk of taking the opposite course. They look at risk without thinking the problem all the way through.

What is the risk of *not* starting your business this year?

What is the risk of *not* letting your employees communicate via Facebook?

What is the risk of *not* taking a few years off to travel with your rock band?

What is the risk of *not* learning that new skill?

What is the risk of *not* quitting your job and going freelance?

Consider the opening line of this blog post again: "Don't do that, it's too risky."

Maybe the better statement is: "You had better do that, because it's too risky not to."

photo credit: postaletrice via photo pin cc

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 15, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (12)

May 08, 2012

Content marketing in highly regulated industries

On the global speaking circuit, I frequently get pushback from audience members who work in highly regulated industries. They claim, erroneously, that laws like HIPAA and regulations like those from the SEC and the FDA forbid them from creating valuable content on the Web or engaging in social media.

Nonsense!

This is just a fear-based excuse perpetuated by lawyers in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and financial services industries who want to avoid risk at all cost.

Ignoring the data

The fear is particularly shortsighted when considering the data on how people make decisions related to their health. Last week I delivered a talk at the National Healthcare Marketing Summit and had an opportunity to meet many marketers who are happily reaching their audiences with valuable information because they live in reality not fear.

According to data presented at the conference by Tim McGuire from Greenville Hospital System, Bill Moschella of eVariant, and Anne Theis of Salem Health, 80% of Internet users look up health information online.

More than three out of four people use the Web to make healthcare decisions!

Yet 64% of hospital marketing departments devote less than 25% of their marketing budget to interactive. Even more telling is how hospital marketers spend their time. 83% of hospitals devote less than 30% of staff time to interactive media.

This is ridiculous.

The fearful lawyers say “no” to the 80% of customers and potential customers who use the Web to research health? Fear means that hospital marketers are busy making brochures and TV ads instead of creating Web content?

Can your organization afford such a disconnect?!

Learning from Chris Boyer and Inova Health System

For example, Chris Boyer, Director, Digital Communications and Marketing, Inova Health System is doing a terrific job. Inova is Northern Virginia's leading not-for-profit healthcare provider, serving more than 1 million people each year.

Under Chris' leadership, Inova is active on social sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest (and more). You can see all the social platforms on this page, which also has information on Inova's social media policies. In addition, Chris has a personal blog (as do others in the organization).

But it the content that Inova publishes to reach specific buyer personas that interests me the most. For example, there is a Life with Cancer site that contains valuable information for patients and their families.

In a world where others are fearful of creating content, Inova publishes videos like this one. Phil Gilbert's Story - Relief After Hip Replacement.

Content for Inova’s buyer personas

In the last two years, Chris has transformed the Inova organization to be more focused on creating relevant content. I asked a bunch of questions so that we can all learn from his efforts.

"We take a lot of time understanding who our viewers are and actually write different types of content for different types of users," Chris told me. "Patients are using our patient and visitor information so they're looking for specifics about how to make their stay easier and we write with them in mind. Other people view our services and all the different clinical stuff that we provide at Inova. They could either be referring physicians who want to research what we're doing here or there could be consumers who are actually shopping for healthcare and we want to provide them content that's appropriate for them. It is written so that they don't have read through pages and pages of clinical content to get to the crux of what they're looking for."

Hire journalists

Chris manages the digital marketing and communications team, including a handful of editors and web graphics professionals as well as several part-timers.

A full time social medial manager on the team focuses on social media channels, although there's a lot of content interaction and cross-publication efforts because the lines between social media and the website are blurring tremendously at Inova.

Long-time readers of this blog know that I frequently talk about hiring journalists to create content. Professional reporters and editors, more than marketers and PR people, are the best staffers for content sites because they understand how to tell a story and don't fall back on product pitching. That's exactly what Inova has done.

"The two main editors for our website are actually former journalists," Chris says. "So they have experience in terms of writing; of course, they started in traditional media. But in the last few years, they migrated over to focus exclusively on online journalism and communications."

Manage fear

I wanted to know how Chris has dealt with the whole "fear" thing. Why has he been successful in hiring journalists and creating content when so many other management teams and legal departments simply say: "no".

"Healthcare organizations typically are very conservative in how they market or communicate about their services," he says. The main concern of management was that a shift to content marketing would mean a shift away from what they thought were the key differentiators of Inova Health System in the market that attract the best physicians. "It took a long time for us to educate that the existing content is not being lost, we're just providing it to each audience in the appropriate places. There will be pages for consumers, pages for physicians that are looking to refer or be employed here. It took a while for them to be comfortable with that."

Measure success

What about the whole ROI thing? With a team of people, there are significant resources devoted to this effort. Is it paying off?

"We use tools like Vocus to measure effectiveness," Chris says. "But I also manage, as part of my larger responsibilities, our CRM team and our customer relationship management database. So I've been creating a social media strategy that is aligned with our customer relationship management database so I can actually measure downstream utilization and ROI of our social media activity."

Chris is a bit of a social media ROI rockstar and was even filmed at a Mayo Clinic conference singing his Social Media ROI Rag.

Chris has three specific areas that he measures:

New patients. How many people become patients who first connected online either through content on the Website or social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

How much money can be saved by using online tools. For example the existing Inova nursing communications is a printed newsletter that goes out to all nursing staff and it costs $80,000 a year to produce. So converting over to a blog they means eliminating that expense while increasing readership.

Long-term patient engagement and wellness. Chris measures patients (or potential patients) who get involved wellness programs. For example, Inova has email communications focused on how to have a healthy heart, how to eat well, and the like. He’s looking for people who stay healthy because of the information they consume and how that effects things like re-admittance rates.

Advice to the fearful

With all of his success, I wanted Chris to provide suggestions to people in other regulated businesses.

"Realize that you don't have to transform your entire organization all at once," he says. "I found a lot of success in focusing on areas where there are some obvious opportunities and used social communications in those areas. Try something and see how it's working. You're gaining valuable expertise and understanding about how to use the tools. Eventually in most organizations once you introduce social communications to your portfolio, very quickly you'll start to see how it will start to augment, if not replace, some of the current ways that you're communicating."

No excuses

As Chris shows, content marketing is alive and well in highly regulated industries.

Isn't it time for your organization to eliminate fear?

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 08, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (22)

May 06, 2012

Acura uses Twitter to hashtag spam hundreds

UPDATE - May 9, 2012 - Alison from @Acura_Insider commented (the 22nd comment down). Please be sure to read her explanation about what happened as you consider this story.

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This afternoon, Renee tweeted me from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival because she knows I am a big live music fan.

I tweeted her back using the #JazzFest2012 hashtag.

Which resulted in a tweet from @Acura_Insider "Acura's official Twitter account. Get the inside scoop & other Acura news. On duty: Alison w/ Acura PR."

This linked to a PURL that offered me a VIP experience at Jazzfest. (In case the PURL has been removed by the time you read this, I have reproduced it below).

Checking the @Acura_Insider Twitter ID, I note that there are hundreds of people who received such a spam message directed at them. In fact, the account is in broadcast only mode. There is no interaction at all, no humans involved. For the past two days the account has been generating hundreds of examples of this nonsense. (I have included a screenshot below).

This is spam. Plain and simple.

Just to be sure, I tweeted back to @Acura_Insider and got nothing. It would appear that nobody is monitoring their feed (heck it's a weekend, why would they be checking Twitter).

I'm not at #JazzFest2012 and anyone can see that from my tweet back to Renee.

I'm sure Acura spent a boatload of money sponsoring Jazz Fest. And they probably paid an agency a bunch of money for this campaign.

Actually, this could have been an interesting use of Twitter had a human been involved. I go to music festivals and it can get hot and I can get tired. If I tweeted that I was tired at #JazzFest2012 and then I got a tweet back inviting me to the VIP area, I would be kinda psyched. I might have taken them up on the offer. Then if I enjoyed it I would have talked it up. That would have worked.

But this machine-generated stuff is not a good way for Acura to generate attention. The negative feelings of those who are spammed far outweigh the good vibes of Acura being onsite.

What do you think? Have I over-reacted?

Anyone from Acura care to comment?

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 06, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (25)

May 05, 2012

Google News now offers real time breaking coverage pages

Today when I checked out the Google News headlines as I do several times a day, I noticed a new feature.

Now, for each breaking story covered, there is a button called See realtime coverage. Clicking the button brings you to the latest news.

This is a cool development. As I've said for several years now the most significant development on the Web is the rise of real-time.

Social media are tools. Real-Time is a mindset.

As I write this, a breaking business story this morning is about Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson and the inaccurate educational information found in his biography. Clicking over to the real-time coverage of this story shows what the latest mainstream media journalists and bloggers are saying. (Note that if you are reading this much after the breaking stories in early May 2012, you may not see any real-time news so I include screen shots in this post.)

If you're clever and you understand how journalists scramble to file breaking news stories quickly, you can insert your ideas into the mix.

I call this technique Newsjacking.

Think about this story for a moment. Who might newsjack it?

An expert in executive recruitment could blog their take on finding a new CEO.

An ethics professor could do a YouTube video with thoughts for CEOs about honesty.

An employment law expert could create a discussion document on the legal ramifications of this situation.

A securities analyst could give the stock price ramifications via an instant PDF report.

What ideas do you have? Get it out there now because now is the time. Journalists are looking for additional angles on this story right now.

The new Google News real-time feature is ideal for Newsjacking. Do what I do and check out Google News a few times a day to see what’s going down and consider how you can add to that discussion.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 05, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 03, 2012

Public relations is not the same as media relations

Back in the day, the only way to easily communicate with your public was to use mainstream media and analysts as your mouthpieces. So the public relations department and the agencies they employed spent a great deal of effort convincing editors, reporters and analysts that your company was one worth talking up.

Prior to the Web, there wasn't an efficient way for organizations to communicate directly to the public.

What's the role of public relations in the new world of the web?

There has been an explosion of channels that organizations can reach their audience directly with valuable online content: videos, ebooks, white papers, photos, infographics, and more – and then have that information shared in social networks.

However, many PR professionals still operate as if their only conduit is mainstream media.

Apologies if you've heard this because I've talked about this many times in the past. But there are still many holdouts so I say it again.

Don't confuse the superset (public relations = reaching the public with your information) with the subset (media relations = using the media to tell your story) and therefore insist that PR is only about mainstream media.

What you need to realize is that these are different activities. Media relations is still valid as a way to get attention. Who doesn't want to be quoted in an important newspaper, magazine, or television broadcast?

Today there are so many other ways to communicate with your publics

If your organization operates this outdated way, my recommendation is to re-name your public relations department the media relations department to reflect what they really do.

In this new world, smart PR pros realize they have a tremendous opportunity if they can effectively communicate directly with the public. They are transforming themselves into content creators. However, most are still operating in the traditional press release and pitching mentality.

If you're an entrepreneur or executive, don't put your PR department in charge of content creation for your company (unless they understand completely the power of the new world).

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 03, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (24)

May 02, 2012

We are the media: Amanda Palmer and the future of your business

UPDATE - May 29, 2012. This afternoon, Amanda's Kickstarter crossed the $1 million threshold, the first music project on Kickstarter to do so.

I met up with her just a few hours later and posted this Amanda Palmer freaks out to celebrate hitting $1 million on Kickstarter.

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On April 6, 2010 after a two year fight Amanda Palmer finally freed herself from her record deal with Roadrunner Records. For the seven years prior to her label divorce, anything she had written and recorded (either solo or with her band, The Dresden Dolls) has technically been owned and under the ultimate control of the label.

Amanda knew she could do better on her own

So after much planning, Amanda chose a 30-day Kickstarter to fund her new album: amanda palmer & the grand theft orchestra.

As I write this, within two days, more than 6,000 people have backed the project with an incredible $350,000. And there are 29 days to go. (Each time I refresh Amanda’s Kickstarter page, the total grows.)

One fan at a time

Amanda connects with her fans every day and has built a tremendous fan base. She's very active on social networks - 550,000+ Twitter followers at @AmandaPalmer for example. Her site is a great example of a content rich resource for fans and her blog is always a great read (often with hundreds of comments on a post).

Regular readers of this blog may recall that I’ve written about her before in these posts: How Amanda Palmer made $11,000 on Twitter in two hours (which contains my wide ranging video interview with Amanda) and Amanda Palmer divorces her record label.

Crowdsourcing a new record and a new band

Rather than going the traditional route and having a label fund her new record, Amanda is going directly to her fans via Kickstarter.

Amanda writes: "since i'm now without a giant label to front the gazillions of dollars that it always takes to manufacture and promote a record this big, i'm coming to you to gather funds so that i have the capital to put it out with a huge fucking bang. i think kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms like this are the BEST way to put out music right now - no label, no rules, no fuss, no muss. just us, the music, and the art. i'm also making sure EVERY PRODUCT sold through this kickstarter is unique to this campaign, to reward all of you who KNEW ME WHEN and were willing to support me from Day One."

There are packages starting at just $1 (a digital download of the album) to $10,000 (dinner with Amanda plus all sorts of extras). I dig the $5,000 level, which includes Amanda coming to your house for a party. The package I chose was a pledge of $300 and includes tickets to a VIP party and intimate show with Amanda and the band in Boston (there are similar options in other cities).

We are the media: Amanda Palmer and the future of music

In just a few days, Amanda has raised more money via her fans than she would have gotten from her label for producing her album. And she retains complete control. Who knows how much she might end up with at the end of the month?

To succeed at this technique, a musician has got to build a fan base one person at a time. Social media is a great way to connect before and after the live gig, but the personal connection is essential.

"Being a touring musician means meeting fans," Amanda told me. "I go out and meet fans after every gig. It's important to make contact in real life and not just online in social media like Twitter. If you don't meet fans in real life too, then you're a fraud. If you're not comfortable getting into the sweat with them and talking with people at shows, then how can you do it successfully online? I love connecting with fans. Speaking to people at the merchandise table after the show is great. I can stay there forever."

The future of your business

If you read this blog, you know that I am a huge live music fan. I see parallels to all kinds of businesses – including yours.

While your work may be completely different from that of a rock star, Amanda has something to teach you.

Your product comes first and must be created with passion. You’ve got to engage with your customers on a human level. Social networking can help you build your fan base. And if you do these things well, you can build a great company and a fantastic career.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on May 02, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (11)

April 30, 2012

Say it with fewer words

My blog posts always seem to be long. Sometimes as much as 500 words (or more). I find it difficult to say something in just a few words.

But we're all busy with so many things demanding our attention. When you see a long blog post, are you eager to read it? Maybe not.

Brevity: "the attribute of being brief or fleeting."

Sometimes brevity is best. I'm trying to say things with fewer words.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 30, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (30)

April 24, 2012

Lindsey shows how to market to millennials and how to get a first job

Last month I wrote a post called Tough love for marketing and PR job seekers. In it I challenged you to prove you are a great marketer by showing, not telling. I said that you need to create content that will brand you as someone to hire. Now. Starting today.

I've delivered this advice to hundreds of people. Sadly for them, I know from experience that nearly all ignore this advice.

Lindsey Kirchoff, as I write this a graduating senior at Tufts University, is in the tiny minority. She eagerly took up the challenge and started a terrific blog How to Market to Me.

In her blog, Lindsey offers her opinions on how to market to millennials like her. She says: It's my opinion. It's about the advertisements that "get" me as a collegiate and twentysomething consumer. The companies that understand my values, participate in my humor and reach me when/where I’m most likely to need them. It's also about companies that don't do any of those things and how they can better reach me (and people like me) in the future.

Lindsey is currently on the hunt for a job at a mid-to-large marketing firm with a strong entry level program to help her really learn the industry. She says: "And I wouldn’t complain if I could relocate to somewhere sunny (I’m looking at you Austin, San Francisco and Nashville)."

If I was hiring new graduates, I'd jump to hire Lindsey before anyone else does.

After my speech at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in July, 2011, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of interns at Microsoft.

I provided the same advice I offered to Lindsey about getting a great first marketing job. Part of the discussion was filmed and I offer it here.

Direct link to the video here.

If you know someone looking for that first marketing or PR job, please share this post with them.

Disclosure: I got to know Lindsey because my book The New Rules of Marketing and PR is used at Tufts and I reached out to a professor there looking to hire an intern on a project for the Massachusetts Air and Space Museum. Lindsey has been working directly with me on that project.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 24, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (17)

April 20, 2012

Bob Marley and me

This week "Marley," the new Bob Marley documentary hits the screens in many countries. Naturally, the official U.S. release date is 4/20. The film is terrific and I have a small role in finally telling the reggae legend’s story on film.

While in New York City after a gig at Madison Square Garden, Bob Marley learned that he had terminal brain cancer. He headed to Pittsburgh anyway, travelling by bus with his band The Wailers for a gig at the Stanley Theater two days later in what turned out to be his final concert on September 23, 1980.

Road Trip

On that same day 32 years ago I also road tripped to the Stanley Theater to be at the show, although nobody in the crowd knew what the world would learn soon after, that Marley was very, very sick.

I was a sophomore at Kenyon College in Ohio at the time. Having grown up a rock kid in the suburbs of New York City, I was already a concert veteran by then, having caught dozens of bands like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Ramones, Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa, and the Grateful Dead plus classic blues artists like Muddy Waters and Albert King.

But when I first heard Bob Marley blasting from my friend Ned’s dorm room at the beginning of freshman year, it was like nothing I had heard before. I was hooked and bonded immediately with the others partaking in Marley’s music and all that goes with it.

My friends and I just had to be at that Stanley Theater show, so we drove four hours to catch it. For some reason, I felt compelled to borrow a friend's excellent camera outfit complete with telephoto lens. It was a cosmic thing because I had never brought my own camera to a show before. Since the big Canon looked "official" back in the days of film cameras, the staff let me fire away from anywhere I wanted. Somehow I managed to focus the unfamiliar camera even though we had "prepared" for the show for the entire drive.

The show was epic. The i-Threes opened (Marley's wife Rita Marley, plus Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths) and I still recall them swaying in time to the music. They did three songs before Bob came out to thunderous applause. He was dancing the entire 90 minute show except for the acoustic "Redemption Song" which he performed laid back and solo. They did three encores as if Bob just didn't want to leave the stage. Nobody in the audience knew that Bob was sick. His energy level was extremely high and he had total command of the audience.

My resulting photos didn't see the light of day for several decades. Then 2 years ago, the Marley family released a live album of that Stanley Theater show.

Content drives action

When I noticed that the photos used in the live album packaging were not actually from the Stanley gig, I left a message in my Amazon review of the CD: "If anyone from the label reads this, I have some great photos from the show."

Little did I know that a film was in the works from Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald.

"One of the challenges with Bob is that there's so little great archive footage," says Macdonald. Marley's last show was a critical aspect of the film and there was no video or photo record... except mine.

The weird vibe of borrowing the camera and reviewing the CD came full circle when the filmmakers, who had read those reviews, contacted me.

I'm not trying to make a marketing lesson out of this story, but had I not posted content in the form of that Amazon review of the CD, the world would never have seen photos of Bob Marley's last concert.

"Of course you can use my photos!," I said. And for a little added ego boost, I got a credit in the film.

"Marley" the film

In the trailer, the first two stills are mine.

Direct link to "Marley" trailer on YouTube.

"Marley" is a terrific film even if you aren’t a fan. My wife watched the screener with me and she loved it too.

Bob Marley's universal appeal, impact on music history and role as a social and political prophet has only grown in the past three decades. "Marley," is the definitive life story of the musician, revolutionary, and legend, from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best.

Bob Marley's music became an important part of my life. So much so that on a visit to Jamaica in the mid-1980s, I even traveled several hours by car to Bob's childhood home in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish.

"I think what's great about the film," says Bob's oldest son, David "Ziggy" Marley, "is though there's been a lot of things done on Bob, I think this one will give people a more emotional connection to Bob's life as a man. Not just as a reggae legend or a mythical figure, but his life as a man, you know? The struggles he went through."

Ziggy is right. The film does provide an emotional connection to Bob Marley. I'm amazed that through some remarkable serendipity and cosmic 420 vibes, I played a small part in bringing this story to the world.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 20, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (21)

April 19, 2012

open cycle launches today and is a company to watch

open cycle, the new project from Gerard Vroomen, officially launches today.

Back in 2006 when I was looking for interesting examples of companies for inclusion in the first edition of The New Rules of Marketing and PR (now in its third edition) a cycling friend told me about Cervelo. I checked out the site and quickly learned Cervelo was a content marketing pioneer so I interviewed Gerard, a co-founder of the company.

Back then, Gerard told me that he is an engineer, not a marketer. He said that Cervelo does not have any marketing experts.

Yet, in the past six years, Cervelo has generated much more attention than their bigger rivals and has grown quickly into one of the most important bike companies in the world.

Yes, Cervelo has awesome products used by the top road racers and triathletes. But the content on the Cervelo site as well as their attention to social networks, built to educate and inform and keep the community involved, has been instrumental in the company's success.

I've kept up with Gerard via social media and this past January went on an expedition with him into the jungles of Panama where he told me about selling Cervelo and shared his vision for a new company called open cycle which he is launching today.

open cycle

open cycle, co-founded by Gerard and his partner Andy, is producing high-end mountain bikes unlike any other on the market.

As they say on the site:

"Three words describe this new venture: bikes, open and simple.

Bikes we live and breathe. Andy's career spans from downhill racer (back when helmets were optional!) to CEO of a mountain & road bike company. Gerard’s career includes co-founding Cervélo, where's he's done everything from engineering and design to sales, supply chain and marketing.

Open means open to new ideas; from our customers, retailers, vendors and ourselves. Open to show the intricacies of our products but also our company. Open even to issue shares to some of our customers.

If open is the goal, simple is the tool.

'Relentless simplicity' is our guiding principle. Reduce the number of models and you simplify production, logistics, customer decision making, the website, everything. Avoid traditional advertising or sponsorships and free up precious time. Transfer logistics to third parties and you can focus on what matters most, which in our case means:

Designing better bikes, the first of which we introduce here.

Connecting with our customers.

And when you put it that way, is there really anything else to do?"

An unfolding marketing case study still in its infancy

open cycle is a marketing example to watch because we will witness a social media and content marketing enthusiast launch a company from day one.

Right from the start, the company is focused on social engagement throughout the site, with community aspects and social network links. Anyone can comment on anything. They are committed to having the community of enthusiasts help them so everything is open.

The open cycle site also features a blog. What's interesting is that Gerard and Andy have been blogging for a year as they’ve secretly developed the technology for their new bike. But the blog posts went unpublished until now. Kind of cool, don't you think?

Are you a marketer?

A few days ago I revisited the question I asked in 2006 when I again asked Gerard about marketing. As I wrote way back then, I think he is a marketer extraordinaire, but he always pushes back:

"To be honest, I don't think of it as marketing," Gerard says. "It feels simply like talking to people. And companies like Facebook, Twitter, et al have given us some interesting ways to do that.

They turn companies such as open cycle into the global version of the village baker of yesteryear (to paraphrase Gary Vaynerchuk). You know your customers, they know you, so you want to treat them well. You want to give them good quality and they tell their neighbors. You mess up and you feel bad and try to make it right. The opposite of what's happening at many companies today (Goldman Sachs anyone?)

And of course, the flipside is that if you don't treat them well, they'll tell the rest of the village."

I'll be updating the progress of open cycle from time-to-time in the next months and years and expect great things from Gerard and Andy.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 19, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 16, 2012

LinkedIn 4x better for B2B leads than Facebook or Twitter says HubSpot study

I'm presenting at the LinkedIn #B2BConnect 2012 event today - April 17, 2012 - in Mumbai, India.

A few weeks ago as I was preparing my talk, I asked my friends at HubSpot if they had any data on the effectiveness of LinkedIn that I could share with my audience. Rebecca Corliss came through with some awesome new data which I am releasing for the first time here.

In a study of 3,128 HubSpot B2B customers, LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.60%, four times higher than Twitter (.67%) and seven times better than Facebook (.39%).

The methodology was a data dump of all of HubSpot customers' social media traffic and leads collected through the HubSpot system in 2011. From there, data was segmented to look at B2B companies that had generated visits and leads from social media. Companies that generated less than two leads in the year were excluded from the sample.

Lead generation with LinkedIn

This data clearly shows that LinkedIn is a good lead source. But few B2B companies use LinkedIn to its full potential.

To help you, HubSpot has published a free ebook Learning LinkedIn From the Experts: How to Build a Powerful Business Presence on LinkedIn. In it, five LinkedIn specialists provide insight into how you can use LinkedIn to successfully grow your network and business. Or just check out the HubSpot LinkedIn company page to see the potential of what LinkedIn can do.

Disclosures: I am on the HubSpot board of advisors and I serve as Marketer in Residence for the company. I am being paid to speak at the LinkedIn #B2BConnect 2012 event.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 16, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (18)

April 12, 2012

GolinHarris shows how an agency does real-time communications right

For the past several years, I've written and spoken extensively about the idea of real-time marketing & PR, the subject of my Wall Street Journal bestseller, now published in eight languages.

The biggest challenge of implementing real-time is one of mindset. It is tough for marketing and PR people who operate in the typical long-term planning of "campaigns" to adapt to instant engagement. This seems to be especially true of agencies that have built a business around implementing campaigns for their clients.

GolinHarris shows how an agency does real-time communications right

I was intrigued with the GolinHarris real-time approach of what they call "The Bridge" - a network of real-time storytelling centers - staffed in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific.

This Wall Street trading room approach is exactly what I've constantly talked about and I’m excited to see it being implemented so I connected with Jim Dowd, Executive Director, National Media for GolinHarris, to learn more.

"We use The Bridge as a listening outpost but we are doing it a little differently because we have the mainstream media folks and the digital folks working side by side," Dowd says. "So we are not just looking at social media which is obviously the flavor of the day. Digital and mainstream are literally sitting next to each other and they are coming up with ideas and are pitching media together and that is where we have seen just terrific traction."

For example, on the day that Michelle Obama announced a new food pyramid called MyPlate, the GolinHarris team watched the press conference live on CNN looking for ways to get their clients into the emerging memes. "We are watching all the activity online and took an idea to Hartz to create a food pyramid for dogs," Dowd says. The client loved the idea and reacted quickly. The team generated some attention as a result.

Generating quick client approvals

With most clients working at a glacially slow pace, requiring lengthy legal and PR client-side reviews, I wondered how GolinHarris is able to get speedy signoffs on ideas generated from The Bridge.

"Yeah, approval is always tricky particularly with legal departments," he says. GolinHarris works with clients to develop topics ahead of time in anticipation of potential stories so that they can work quickly. "With clients like McDonalds we have general topics that we predict, like if something comes up about the Happy Meal. McDonalds have preapproved that we can have certain conversations about Happy Meals with language we can go out with."

Just like a 24-hour Wall Street bond trading desk

The Bridge is set up just like a 24 hour Wall Street trading desk with three regions – Asia, Europe, and North America - passing the work around the globe.

"We are truly doing it globally," Dowd says, "We are 24/7 so we will scour the landscape the first few hours of the day here in New York then we will pass all of our results and insights onto Chicago and Chicago to LA. And you know, the whole notion of offices and cubes may go away. It's exciting to be able to walk in The Bridge and literally see what is going on."

Newsjacking the Super Bowl

When you have a real-time mindset and the tools of a facility like The Bridge, then Newsjacking becomes second nature.

"Our client AutoTrader.com challenged us to make them the leader in all of the post- Super Bowl auto commercial coverage," Dowd says. AutoTrader.com did not advertise during the Super Bowl but wanted to generate a bunch of attention anyway - a classic newsjacking strategy.

AutoTrader's analysts worked with GolinHarris to create data on consumers' real-time search patterns during the Super Bowl. They used data from the AutoTrader.com site and correlated that to the times auto commercials aired looking for lift (how much of a boost in search activity each vehicle got in the hour after its ad appeared). They provided the resulting data to the media who used it in stories like Acura NSX Won Big with Super Bowl Spot, Survey Says which appeared on the Wall Street Journal site.

Overcoming fear

"There are lot of clients who love the notion of the bridge and real time marketing and what we are doing but aren’t jumping on it out of fear - fear of the unknown, fear of the new," Dowd says. "A lot of our clients are still quite old school and traditional."

There's nothing like success to break down the fear barrier.

Dowd cites Dow Chemical as a noteworthy GolinHarris real-time success. The company is very careful with stories related to such topics as chemistry or chemical engineering or stem research but that doesn't mean they can't engage in real-time.

"We were in The Bridge tracking that President Obama was going to give the Teacher of the Year Award and we were watching live on CNN," he says. "And it was a chemistry teacher who won that award so we immediately got approval from Dow Chemical to go ahead and offer up public congratulations to the teacher and that resulted in some nice coverage. Even with the trickier clients there are always topics that will work."

Images courtesy of GolinHarris

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 12, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (8)

April 10, 2012

Will Facebook destroy Instagram?

I've talked before about why I love Instagram.

Instagram is a photo sharing application that makes it easy and fun to manipulate a photo with various filters and turn it into instant art. Then with a few clicks, you can share your photo with a caption via Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.

For example, a few days ago in Krakow, Poland I shot a mundane photo of some telephone booths with my iPhone and used Instagram to turn it into instant art.

Yesterday, Facebook announced a USD $1 billion acquisition of Instagram.

You can read the Facebook statement here.

I hope Facebook will not destroy Instagram

But I'm worried they will.

It seems to me that the big social players – Google, Facebook, and Twitter – are building walled gardens around their users in the exact same way that portals like Lycos, Excite, AOL, and Yahoo did a decade ago.

They hoard users and don't like to have hooks into each others' services.

Yes, I do understand that companies need to make money. I get that. Instagram's founders, employees, and investors deserve a payday.

How are Lycos, Excite, AOL, and Yahoo faring today??!!

Building walled gardens of Portal 2.0 is bad for users and ultimately leads to failure.

Here's more on this idea: Portal 2.0 take social backwards to the 1990s.

While the Zuck's statement says things won't change, I'm pessimistic.

I can imagine a day in the near future when you can no longer post Instagram directly to Twitter.

I'm also seeing a future where we are forced into the Facebook mobile app to use Instagram.

Or perhaps, just like Google not playing nice with Twitter, you won't be able to access Instagram from other social sites.

Read the Zuck's statement. Has he earned your trust? Do you believe him? Or if you are an Instagram fanboy like me are you worried too?

My friend Ann Handley introduced me to Instagram. So went over to Ann's Twitter to see her take. "I love what she said: For many fans of Instagram, the news that Facebook is acquiring the photo-sharing mobile platform is a little like hearing that your best friend is engaged to that jerk. She might be thrilled. But you can’t help but feel a sense of doom about the whole arrangement." Here is Ann's thoughtful post.

What do you think? Are you worried like me and Ann? Or are we missing something?

Photo: Shot by David Meerman Scott near Krakow, Poland on an iPhone 4S and tweaked with Instagram. CC

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 10, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (21)

April 09, 2012

Do not vague up your content

Over the years, I've read countless corporate blogs, seen a bunch of videos, and watched tons of Twitter feeds that look as if the PR pros or Marketing geniuses have gotten their grubby little hands into the mix.

The language is clean but generic. The passion is non-existent. And corporate messages are inserted at every opportunity.

When you create content to educate and inform, authenticity is a must. You must create information that comes from the passion of caring deeply about a subject.

Don't let your marketing communications or public relations staff vague up your stuff. Don't let the agencies MarCom it to death.

As soon as content has been through the Marketing Communications wringer and the PR gauntlet, it ceases to be authentic and people don't pay attention.

Resist the urge to message.

Allow people to let it all hang out, quirks and all. Your readers will thank you for it. And your business will prosper.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 09, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (14)

April 04, 2012

How to do something audacious

According to Nielsen, the average American spends 158 hours each month watching television(!!).

That's 1,896 hours - 79 full days - per year in front of the boob tube.

In a typical working lifetime from age 20 to age 65, based on these stats, the average American spends more than nine full years staring at the box.

You know where I’m going with this...

Cut out television and you can do anything

People frequently ask me how I find the time to have written 8 books in a decade.

It's easy!

I don't watch television at all (except in the morning when I am on my elliptical trainer).

Do something audacious!

Write a book, start a company, run a marathon, establish a nonprofit, build a house, play the piano. You can do these or anything else you care to do!

If you believe Malcolm Gladwell's idea in Outliers - that you need 10,000 hours of practice to become world class at a task - consider how damned easy it is to find the time! Just cut out television for 5.3 years.

Stop sitting there.

photo credit (without the "no" symbol): Kathleen Farley via photopin cc

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 04, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (9)

April 02, 2012

B2B sales leads are too important for salespeople

Every salesperson loves leads.

And in most B2B companies marketing people spend lots of effort providing them.

But too often, especially in B2B sales, there’s an artificial demarcation between the role of sales and that of marketing.

Consider the tradeshow: many companies spend thousands of marketing dollars to exhibit at important industry events. But after the show concludes, marketing simply ties a pretty ribbon around the business cards they received from prospects and tosses the leads over their shoulder to the sales manager.

B2B sales and marketing circa 2012

How can you deliver valuable information to people who express interest in your organization? How can you do it without annoying them?

How about warming up potential customers by giving them gifts of valuable content well before the salesperson bugs them by triying to sell something?

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 02, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (11)

March 28, 2012

Harry Potter ebooks and generating attention for your business

Last June, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling launched Pottermore, a fan site that was initially launched as a private beta. I wrote about it here Pottermore, Apple and "the secret will soon be revealed" form of real-time marketing. I managed to get a beta login, so I'm a registered user on the Pottermore site.

Last night got an email saying that the new Pottermore ebook store is open and that the Harry Potter books are (finally) available in electronic format.

This is significant because it is the first time that Harry Potter books are available as ebooks and the only place to buy them is on the author's own site. (If you go to Amazon to buy a Kindle version of a Harry Potter book, you're re-directed to Pottermore).

Attention

The book business is changing. So is the music business. And these changes have ramifications in your business too: How you generating attention?

Now authors can easily get a book out without going to a publisher and without using paper. And they can control their distribution.

Or they can choose to lose control and make their work completely free with no registration required.

That's not to say that traditional publishing is going away. I actually think print books and the big publishers have a future in the new ecosystem.

You no longer need to convince an editor in New York or an A&R guy in LA that your work is worthy.

Now you can create your own audience, build your fan base, publish your art, and control its distribution. Or you can make your work completely free so you can spread it far and wide like Summer Land did.

Seth Godin has been talking about these themes on his blog and on his Domino Project site.

Check out this Domino Project post from Seth on what happens when you flip scarcity with abundance (hint: everything changes).

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 28, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (9)

March 27, 2012

The right measurements are required to achieve tough goals

In the past year and a half I have lost 40 pounds.

But losing 40 pounds actually took two decades because that's how long I was paying attention to the wrong measurement and failing.

When I measured just on my weight, I couldn't lose weight. No matter what I did I stayed basically the same.

However, when I measured different things such as bodyfat percentage, metabolic age, calories burned, and the foods I eat, I changed my behaviors leading directly to weight loss.

I see the same idea at work with organizations and how they measure success. I'll share those ideas in a moment, but first I want to talk about my health.

Bodyfat, burning calories, eating right, and metabolic age.

My exercise.
I use an elliptical trainer every morning. I used to measure the length of time I exercised and I did a half hour a day for a decade. It felt good but I wasn't really making progress with my weight.

Turns out that time exercising was the wrong measurement. For me calories burned is the better measure.

When I started to focus on the readout for calories burned on my elliptical, I realized that I was not working hard enough or long enough to do much good. I gradually increased my activity by measuring calories burned instead of time on the machine. For the past year, I've burned 800 calories each morning, which takes me about an hour of hard work.

Several weeks ago, I also added a Nike+ FuelBand as another measurement of calories burned and how active I am. The Nike+ FuelBand is an awesome piece of technology that you wear on your wrist and synch to your iPhone. They are tough to get because they are so popular. I got mine on eBay by paying a premium.

My body:
The most important measurement tool for me is my scale. When I was using a standard scale that only displayed weight it was so damned frustrating because I would exercise like hell and my weight would stay the same. Or I’d eat like a rabbit for a week or a month and lose a tiny bit of weight and then gain it right back because I was hungry.

Turns out that weight was the wrong measurement. For me bodyfat percentage and metabolic age are the better measures.

I now use a Tanita Body Composition Monitor (there are other brands available that do the same thing). It gives about a dozen readouts, but the main things I focus on are bodyfat percentage and metabolic age.

Your bodyfat is simply an indication of the percentage of your body that is made up of fat vs. everything else (mainly muscle and bone).

Metabolic Age is a calculation made by the monitor comparing your stats to averages of other people of your gender and chronological age and is used to describe overall fitness and metabolic activity.

I'm incredibly excited that my metabolic age has gradually dropped over the past year from being my actual age to now be the age of 25. In other words, I now have the body of people just out of University, people who are half my chronological age.

My food:
I used to "diet" which for me meant smaller quantities of the foods I normally ate. Instead of two slices of pizza I had one. It was awful. I was always hungry.

Turns out that quantity of food was the wrong measurement. For me the type of food is the better measure.

When I started to focus on what I ate, I realized I was eating too much of some things (such as starch) and not enough of others such as vegetables, beans, and chicken. Now I eat the right things and eat until I am stuffed full so I am not hungry. A few books that helped me with eating are The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss and The End of Overeating by David Kessler.

I realize this is a really long lead in to talk about some ideas about measurement for organizations. Thank you for reading this far.

B2B companies obsession with sales leads are the wrong measure.

Consumer brands’ obsession with advertising creative and awards are the wrong measure.

The PR industry obsession with the thickness of the press clip book is the wrong measure.

Just like me focusing only on my weight, when companies focus on awards or leads or press clips, they have a difficult time achieving the ultimate goal, which is usually to profitably grow their business.

Here are some things you might consider measuring instead at your organization:

Do customers love your products and services? When you have happy customers, they talk you up. If your customers aren't happy, what can you do to increase their level of happiness?

Where are you appearing in search results for important phrases? Are you in the top of the natural search results for broad and long tail search terms? How about local search via mobile devices? How about real-time search? You can implement a content creation strategy to increase your search visibility.

How often are people talking about you on social channels? And what are they saying? You can measure levels of interaction and things like sentiment.

How many people are eager to participate in your online efforts? You can measure how many people "like" you on Facebook, subscribe to your blog, follow you on Twitter, sign up for your email newsletter, or register for a Webinar.

How many people are downloading your stuff? You can measure how many people are downloading your ebooks, presentation slides, videos, podcasts, and other content.

How are sales looking? Is the company reaching its goals?

Ultimately, the most important form of measurement within management teams is revenue and profit.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 27, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (17)

March 23, 2012

Etch a Sketch newsjacking opportunity falls in Ohio Arts lap

Here in the U.S., if you’re plugged into real-time news, you can't avoid hearing about the Etch a Sketch brouhaha.

An aide to Republican candidate Mitt Romney said in an interview that the candidate could reset his campaign after he wins the primary battle "like an Etch a Sketch."

The reference to the classic toy which is familiar to so many played into the narrative that Romney changes positions frequently to appeal to whoever he is talking to at that moment. In many ways it was a perfect story and journalists ran with it resulting in thousands of stories mentioning the toy. (See below for a Google News image of the thousands of stories).

The Etch a Sketch is produced by Ohio Art, a family-run business. The toy has sold more than 100 million units worldwide since its introduction in 1960. I had one when I was a kid and played with it a lot.

When the newsjacking opportunity falls in your lap

Sometimes, the Newsjacking gods shine on you and present an opportunity that is so perfect that you can't help but jump in. So how to do it to the most effect?

So far, Ohio Arts has done an excellent job with media relations but has missed a huge opportunity to create original content.

Get in front of journalists

At least three Ohio Arts executives are doing media interviews. They are using humor, which gets some wonderful quotes into stories like this one which I love from a Wall Street Journal piece Ohio Art's Etch A Sketch Shakes Up Political Debate:

One thing the Etch A Sketch won't do is pick sides in the campaign, Martin Killgallon, the company's marketing director said. "We have a left knob and a right knob," he said, "so we neutrally speak to both parties."

Product placement

The company sent boxes of Etch A Sketches to the campaigns because candidates including Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have been holding up the toy, generating tons of images in the media.

When yours is the product of the moment, particularly when it is such an awesome visual, you can generate ink just by having people hold it in front of cameras.

Missed content marketing opportunity

The only mistake the company is making is that they have not created any original content to take advantage of the sudden media interest.

There is no fun photo on the Ohio Art homepage, no press release in the media section, and nothing new on the company Ohio Art YouTube channel.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 23, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (6)

March 21, 2012

Real-time journalism means new opportunities for PR pros

Freek Janssen writing for Lewis PR in a blog post Why Real-Time Journalism Requires Newsjacking provides us with a terrific expansion on the ideas in my Newsjacking book.

Freek writes: "Reporters are constantly looking for context and insights for their stories – newsjacking allows PR to become a source, not just for the benefit of being quoted. This is profoundly changing the world of PR: we are there much more to help clients become sources than to just communicate news or a message – brands are increasingly using their own channels for that."

In his post, Freek shares a link to an excellent video from the UK's Guardian newspaper on how their journalists cover stories in real time. The video shows what goes down in newsrooms by imagining how reporters might cover the story of the three little pigs in print and online. It is definitely worth a watch.

Note: The video may open with an advertisement.

Direct link to Guardian open journalism: Three Little Pigs on YouTube.

Real-Time Public Relations

Today's real-time journalism means there is room for anybody to add their take to breaking news stories simply by blogging or tweeting or commenting.

But you've got to be quick. Review cycles usually mean failure.

For PR pros, this is not endless pitching on your timetable. It means turning the PR relationship around and providing information at the precise moment that journalists are looking.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 21, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 19, 2012

Content Marketing Obama style with The Road We've Traveled

Late last week, Obama for America (President Obama's reelection operation) released a 17-minute film called The Road We've Traveled.

It's interesting timing for this content marketing effort because the Republican challengers for the nomination are locked into a protracted battle that is unlikely to be decided until this summer.

The film is worth a look because it is classic content marketing. It is an excellent example of using video to tell a story.

As regular readers of my blog may recall, I love looking at US presidential campaigns as case studies in marketing that can be applied by all sorts of organizations. This is not a political blog, nor am I supporting a particular candidate by highlighting what they are up to.

The Road We've Travelled is directed by Davis Guggenheim and narrated by Tom Hanks. It gives an inside look at some of the decisions President Obama made and featues interviews with President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Elizabeth Warren, David Axelrod, and others.

Direct link to The Road We've Traveled on YouTube and on the Obama for America site.

Using video to tell a story

No matter what sort of organization you're part of, a short film featuring interviews is a great form of content marketing. It works for companies, educational institutions, rock bands, nonprofits, individuals, and, well, any organization.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 19, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (5)

March 16, 2012

My keynote at the 2012 NAMM show now freely available

I delivered a keynote presentation at The NAMM Show on January 20, 2012 in Anaheim, CA. The NAMM Show is one of the largest music product trade shows in the world, founded in 1901

My interactive presentation to 1,287 audience members (people were scanned as they entered so we know exactly how many were there) was titled Real-Time Marketing & PR and was based on my bestselling book of the same title. I show how to instantly engage your Market, connect with customers, and create products that grow your business now.

Direct link to the speech on Vimeo.

Here's the NAMM post about my speech.

It is an honor to be able to work such an awesome stage with such an enthusiastic audience! I appreciate the gift I am given every time I am asked to speak.

Make it free

Several things important things come to mind about this video: 1) I am releasing it freely on the Web and 2) NAMM is offering it freely on their site. So many speakers want to control their content and not allow people to see the video. "I’m a paid speaker," many speakers say. "Why should I give away my speech?"

Conference organizers are reluctant to give away content for fear that people won't buy a ticket for next year’s event if they can count on the content being available.

Content drives action.

Get your valuable content out there where people will find it in search engines and will share it via their networks.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 16, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (10)

March 14, 2012

Communications revolution means Encyclopaedia Britannica print set discontinued after nearly 250 years

The Encyclopaedia Britannica, the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in production, was first produced in Scotland in 1768.

The company announced it is going completely digital. If you want to pick up your very own copy, the final 2010 print set edition is available at The Britannica Store for USD $1,395.00.

Everywhere we turn there is evidence of the communications revolution.

I've often said the revolution of Web content and social media is the most significant communications revolution since the invention of the printing press.

It took centuries for the world's population to become literate. But in just a few short years, of the 6 billion people on the planet, 4.8 billion have access to online information in the form of mobile data. In fact, there are more mobile phones in the world than toothbrushes.

I've been talking about the importance of online information as a tool of marketing and PR for nearly 20 years now. For the last decade I have run my own business focused on helping companies make the transition from traditional offline marketing to online marketing and PR strategies.

In 1998, people thought I was insane to argue that marketing & PR is going to the Web.

In 2002, I was that weird Grateful Dead listening oddball insisting that the revolution is coming. That's the year I got fired from my corporate VP of marketing job partly because I insisted on the Web and didn’t agree on investing in print direct mail the way others in the company did. In 2002 I started my own company to develop strategies and write and speak about what the communications revolution means to marketing & PR.

In 2005, others began to realize we're at the cusp of a revolution. These pioneers fought the bosses and the entrenched powers and started to create content on the Web as a form of marketing.

In 2009, many people saw the power as hundreds of millions gravitated to social tools like Facebook and Twitter.

Now, in 2012, while over a billion people are engaged via social media and tens of thousands of organizations have a dedicated online content effort for marketing purposes. However, there are still many holdouts resisting the revolution.

Encyclopaedia Britannica print set discontinued after nearly 250 years

In a New York Times blog post, Jorge Cauz president of Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. was quoted as saying: "It's a rite of passage in this new era. Some people will feel sad about it and nostalgic about it. But we have a better tool now. The Web site is continuously updated, it’s much more expansive and it has multimedia."

Exactly.

So here are a few questions for you:

How much effort are you putting into producing brochures and other print materials?

How about those print advertising efforts?

How's that print direct mail campaign going?

What's the budget for Yellow Page ads?

What about your resume?

We're in the middle of a profound communications revolution.

Are you on the leading edge? Or are you clinging to the way we communicated in 1768?

Images via britannica.com

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 14, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (17)

March 12, 2012

Tough love for marketing and PR job seekers

Are you a marketer or PR pro looking for a job?

Prepare for a reality check.

What happens if I Google the name on your resume and the most recent company you worked for?

When I am asked to vet a candidate for one of the companies I am associated with, the first thing I do is head to Google and see what content appears. And that's what I suggest potential employers do.

On the Web, you are what you publish

Sadly, for many job seekers, what pops up on Google are a few random things (like your membership in the company softball league), your LinkedIn profile, and not much else. Sometimes there is a Twitter feed but frequently it was started years earlier and has been abandoned or it's only updated a few times a month.

With more senior people, I always laugh when the top content when I Google your name is the press release that your company issued a few years earlier to announce you are joining.

Today's marketing and PR is about content creation. Your personal brand is also about content creation.

If you don’t care enough to build your personal brand then why should a company employ you to create a brand for them?

On Saturday at #SXSW, I met with my good friend Jon Ferrara (@jon_ferrara) who is the CEO of Nimble. Jon told me that he has a position open for a senior-level marketer and wanted to get my advice on the sort of person he should hire.

I told Jon to never look at a resume. Just delete it. Instead, administer the "Google test." We agreed that eliminates nearly all candidates from consideration.

People like Jon look for potential hires who are very active on social media and creating content. Jon and the other CEOs and senior executives I work with are not looking for professional managers. They are not looking for agency wranglers. They are not looking for talkers, they are looking for doers. They want marketers (even at the senior level) who are passionate about creating content on the Web.

Insisting on a positive result for the "Google test" makes it tough for CEOs like Jon to find qualified people, but greatly increases the chances that the marketer who ends up getting hired will be a good fit for achieving the company’s goals. Jon told me that anyone who wants to be his top marketer needs to be at least as successful on social networks as he is. Seems reasonable to me!

Prove you are a great marketer

The good news is that you can fix the problem that eliminates you from consideration for the hottest jobs.

You need to show, don't tell. You need evidence that you are passionate about your personal brand. You need to create content. Now. Starting today.

There are a bunch of things you can do, starting today, that might include some of the following: You could start a blog, create a YouTube channel, or tweet more than a few times a month. You could create an infographic about the industry you want to work in or your particular area of expertise. You could get active on some newer channels like Google Plus, Instagram and Pinterest so you can speak intelligently about them. You could sit on panels at events like SXSW and have people in the audience talk about you on social channels. These are just a few examples.

I've delivered this advice to hundreds of people. Sadly for them, I know from experience that 90% of people ignore this advice.

Will you be in the 10%?

I am convinced if you are a job seeker, you need to pay attention to this tough love.

Bonus for reading this far: People who get really clever with this strategy then target companies they want to work for and create content (a blog post or video for example) that relates to that company. Perhaps a suggestion for how that company can do something different. You want to get noticed by the marketing department of your target company? Forget sending a resume. Instead create something interesting and publish it on the Web. Your potential hiring manager will be eager to consume your work and you brand yourself as a player.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 12, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (45)

March 07, 2012

Neil deGrasse Tyson as master communicator

I'm a big Neil deGrasse Tyson fanboy.

Partly that's because I'm an Apollo moon mission geek and collect artifacts from the Apollo program. (Pretty geeky, right?)

But mostly, I'm a fan because Dr. Tyson is such an awesome communicator. When I read his books and articles or watch him on television, I always take away something that I can apply to my own work as a marketer and communicator.

His bio says Neil deGrasse Tyson s an astrophysicist and the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. But he is so much more.

Neil deGrasse Tyson as master communicator

Dr. Tyson is so good at speaking and writing about the cosmos and why it is important for us to have an understanding of the wider world in which we live.

If you haven't heard him speak, check out Jon Stewart interviewing Dr. Tyson on The Daily Show on February 27, 2012.

In the clip, he explains how fear contributed to the development of America's space program in the late 1950s, thereby spurring economic growth. "We no longer advanced a space frontier," he says. "The Space Shuttle boldly went where hundreds have gone before." Watch the clip to see a master communicator at work.

By the way: An astrophysicist with 350,000+ followers on Twitter? What's up with that? Yep, that's @neiltyson

Space Chronicles

His newest book, just out, is Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier – a collection of essays and speech transcripts around the theme of space exploration and how America & NASA has not done much to inspire people in the past 40 years outside of some cool robotic missions and the Hubble telescope.

I read Space Chronicles in three sittings because it is that good.

In the book, he talks about how America boldly embarked on the most audacious scientific endeavor in history by sending humans to the moon. However after 9 lunar missions (6 that landed) we... stopped exploring! For 40 years we've only been to low earth orbit with manned missions.

Sure there have been some spectacular robotic missions such as Cassini to Saturn and the various Mars rovers. And the Hubble space telescope has delivered spectacular images. But humans haven't explored.

Dr. Tyson argues we're not inspiring our young people to study science and engineering and that’s a problem for the economy.

"Absent such curiosity, we are no different from the provincial farmer who expresses no need to venture beyond the county line, because his forty acres meet all his needs. Yet if our predecessors had felt that way, the farmer would instead be a cave dweller, chasing down his dinner with a stick and a rock."
- From Space Chronicles.

If you want to see how thought leadership is done by a master communicator, read and watch the work of Neil deGrasse Tyson. You don't need to agree with him nor be a space geek to learn from his style.

Quick aside – In high school my buddies and I would go to the Hayden Planetarium (after some appropriate preparations of course) to see evening productions of "Laser Floyd" – a cosmic mixture of loud Pink Floyd with colorful lasers projected on the planetarium dome. I've even got a ticket stub from 1978 to prove it. Neil is close to my age. He grew up in New York City. I wonder if he went too? Nah, probably not. He was studying while I was partying. But maybe?!

Image: from @neiltyson Twitter.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 07, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (7)

March 06, 2012

President Obama Newsjacking Republicans on Super Tuesday

This afternoon, Tuesday March 6, 2012, President Obama held his first solo news conference from the White House since October 6, 2011.

President Obama and his advisors' choice to answer journalists' questions on Super Tuesday, when voters in ten U.S. states vote in the Republican Presidential Primaries (arguably the most important date of the entire primary season) is a classic example of political newsjacking.

Watch the news conference on WhiteHouse.gov.

So in today's online news stories, this evening's television and radio broadcasts, and tomorrow’s newspapers, the Republican Super Tuesday winner(s) need to share the top story with the President.

The president has engaged in newsjacking before. For example: President Obama Newsjacks Iowa Caucus by joining Instagram.

You can newsjack too

It's not just the President who drafts off the Republican challengers for the White House. Anybody can do it if they can find an appropriate angle to create some content around some angle in real-time.

For example, when candidate Rick Santorum commented about homeschooling, it gave homeschooling expert Christa Johnson an ideal opportunity to respond on her blog: There Isn’t One Face of Homeschooling.

President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, March 6, 2012. Photo: Screen grab from WhiteHouse.gov live streaming feed.

Posted by David Meerman Scott on March 06, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (3)

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