Starbucks’ CEO invites us to create content he can amplify
Starbucks’ CEO, Howard Schultz took out a full page ad in the New York Times last Sunday. Except, it didn’t look like an ad.
Starbucks’ CEO, Howard Schultz took out a full page ad in the New York Times last Sunday. Except, it didn’t look like an ad.
How can you introduce your audience to the people that make your products possible? How can you create a personal relationship between your brand, your employees and the customers you serve? You need to ask yourself if there’s a disconnect between what you say you do and what you ACTUALLY do. You need to introduce your audience to the people that power your brand.
For those of you that don’t know, the ‘QR’ in ‘QR Code’ stands for ‘quick response.’ But the reality is, scanning a QR code is anything but simple, quick, easy, or ever rewarding.
Does your social media presence define your external brand identity, or can you use it to also define your internal experience?
If you want to stand out and attract attention in the marketplace, target an audience where no one like you is participating.
I’ve been following the Twitter hashtag this week for Content Marketing World (#CMWorld). At this year’s conference Rick Springfield is headlining the show. Yes, that Rick Springfield. The guy who hit number one with “Jessie’s Girl” in the 1980s and … Continued
Most companies are so used to segmenting their departments that they miss a lot of opportunities to reach consumers. Your strengths as a company don’t begin or end with your marketing department. Leading with your strengths often means tapping into hidden or overlooked resources.
The PMA Conference I had the pleasure of spending two days in San Antonio with the Parenting Media Association (PMA). If you’re unfamiliar with the PMA all you have to do is wander around town looking for a local parenting … Continued
Publishers constantly ask me how they can convince a traditional advertiser to underwrite the generation of high-quality, relevant, frequently delivered content. It was no different this week at the Niche Magazine Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. In a digital world where focusing … Continued
Underwriting great content is not only a successful business model, it continues to have a lasting impact on our culture.
In today’s marketing environment so much energy and enthusiasm is put behind Facebook, Twitter and of course YouTube. But we’ve happened on one video example that showcases the power of good-ole-fashioned e-mail forwarding that’s driving huge success.
There’s lot’s of talk about how brands can interact with their potential customers using Location-Based Services (LBS), but very little discussion about how individuals, especially in the B2B space can leverage LBS for interpersonal interaction that can lead to powerful introductions (especially at an industry event.) One service, Sonar.me (http://www.sonar.me), has helped me bridge that gap.
With the recent announcement of the integration of Siri into Apple’s iPhone 4s, we’re entering a new era of computing. An era where understanding the timely cognitive engagement of the consumer helps define the kind of interaction we can leverage … Continued
One of the biggest problems I see when scanning QRCodes is that the content on the other side of the QRCode sucks more than 90% of the time. The fact is, marketers are ruining the value of QRCodes when they simply send me to the brand’s homepage (especially when it’s not even formatted for mobile.) I opened the New York Times Magazine today to find a great example of setting and managing expectations for the value of a QRCode in an advertisement for Tito’s Vodka.
We all want our customers and clients reviewing our products (or services) when they’re most engaged and (hopefully) enthused about them, that means, we need the barrier to entry for a product review to be as low as possible. Maybe we need to think about encouraging and capturing real time reviews.
The Power of Transmedia Storytelling In a highly fragmented media market, more and more brands are turning to the art of transmedia storytelling to turn online interaction into offline action. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the term, transmedia … Continued
As marketers we’re often challenged to deliver the largest audience possible for the dollars we spend. But sometimes, finding a smaller, loyal, committed and passionate fan base can produce the right kind of sustainable long-term business value. That’s exactly what … Continued
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Google have all embraced a marketing concept pioneered by Amazon.com in the mid-1990′s that had extended their brand to other’s websites fueling tremendous growth and unparalleled brand equity. You too can learn a simple marketing lesson from Amazon’s affiliate program.
Imagine a book club bigger than Oprah’s – where people around the world all read together. That’s what Jeff Howe built on Twitter in partnership with The Atlantic – 1Book140.
In the summer of 2010, Amazon launched an ad campaign designed to showcase the times in which consumers should think about owning a Kindle instead of an iPad. The effects on consumer demand showcase the power of Media Modality.
Tippingpoint Labs’ Drew Davis stimulated some interesting conversations in his recent keynote at the Redwood Region Economic Summit in Humboldt County, CA.
When Disney released their feature film called Finding Nemo the environmental ramifications on the Clownfish population were stunning. How could Disney and Aquarium salesman around the world have mutually benefited from what’s referred to as the Dalmatian effect?
As a Chief Marketing Officer I’m sure you’re already using video as a means to acquire, entice and convince consumers that your product is the right choice for them, but are you hitting them with the right content at the right time and in the right place?
If you’re building a video strategy designed to showcase your products and/or services to prospective customers, it’s important to measure the right things. You also should set some benchmarks gleaned from others’ online experiences. This will help you determine what kind of impact the content you’re creating is having on your business.
As popular as YouTube is, there’s a new undercurrent of surprisingly stable video channels that focus on streaming LIVE video. Ever imagined launching your very own 24-hour television network? Well, you can. Although, maybe you shouldn’t – yet.
Online eCommerce is a commodity. Everyone’s got it and everyone’s looks the same. I don’t care how cool you think your eCommerce site is, eCommerce experiences work best when you’re working with solved problems and best practices. How are you … Continued
Micro-dayparting is a conceptual framework for owning specialized segments of your consumers’ days. By defining and filling of niche content void, you can reach them in exciting, new ways.
Using real data to help understand your consumer’s daily activities can empower your brand. This week we’re looking into our ability to reach mom’s during their dinner prep time.
Andrew Davis explains how one company spent $52,000 to convert just one brand advocate with their recent television campaign.
Projeqt is awesome! The concept is simple: create a really nice tablet-friendly linear multimedia experience.
I’m sure that this morning, what you really wanted was another web 2.0 term to add to your lexicon. Well, here you go: blook. A blook is a “printed book that contains or is based on content from a blog.” There are lots of recent examples of blogs that have become books. Maybe the one we’re all most familiar with is the book that resulted in the film Julie & Julia.
Brands have tried hard to engage in these channels, but it wasn’t until I went to wine country with my wife that I really came to appreciate the deep experience a community can build if every location participates.
Net-A-Porter understands that the closer they align the point of inspiration with the e-commerce experience the higher the sale and the better the conversion rate.
When it comes to content generation or social media in general, one of the most common concerns or fears I hear is, “Where am I going to find the time to do all of this? Seriously!” It’s true, creating content and interacting on multiple channels can be very time consuming. On the flip-side …
Tom Chatfield spoke last July at Ted about “7 Ways Games Reward the Brain.” While I watched Tom’s speech, I realized that Social Media has more in common with game theory than with content marketing. Here’s my take on his 7 rewarding concepts as applied to Social Media marketing.
I’ve been on the hunt for a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool that works for my business for more than eight years. I’m not exaggerating. I need something simple. I need to track communications with my contacts, stay up to date on their business and most importantly, build a pipeline and a marketing plan against my leads. That’s when Sean Boice introduced me to Gist.com.
I believe in the power of participation creation: leveraging the influencers in your community as content collaborators to expand and extend your content distribution. But sometimes, gathering your social resources, links and conversations all in one place can be a … Continued
The Internet is a non-linear world. Websites are designed to have multiple navigation paths with hundreds (sometimes thousands) of routes through your content. But in this inherently non-linear world, I’ve seen more and more attention being paid to tools, platforms and channels that help you tell linear stories in an organized way. Platforms like Zmags (one of our clients) or even PadPressed are designed to help you deliver a more linear storytelling experience online.
I happened on FormULists.com and I’ve been much happier ever since. Basically, FormULists allows me to log in with my Twitter account and use a series of rules to create lists of Twitter users. There is a set of predetermined list rules like ‘create a self-updating list of people who talk to the people I talk to on Twitter.’
Andrew Davis, Chief Strategy Officer for Tippingpoint Labs, answers the question: “Does online content marketing work for B2B companies as well as B2C companies?”
Last week, I spent two days teaching Prezi at the Langley Center for New Media. As the event came to a close, a few attendees asked if I could sum up more than 16 hours of teaching in a top 10 list. Well, here’s my first stab at 10 things that should help you become a better Prezi presenter and publisher.
Prezi is unbelievably easy to use. That’s one of the reasons I love it. (By the way, if you haven’t seen a presentation using Prezi, check this out.) Unlike most presentation tools, it’s not riddled with “transition effects” and “layout … Continued
For the better part of a year, Brad and I in the office have been following a video distribution and creation platform called 12Seconds.tv through its evolution. A few weeks ago, 12Seconds.tv shut down. Let’s take a look at why.
Just because there’s more information available, doesn’t mean one can consume more. Information Overload Put yourself in the shoes of a consumer right now. Just for a second. Imagine that it’s the 1950s. You consume as much content as you … Continued
The way we search is changing. Whether you’ve noticed or not more and more people are using content-specifc alternatives to searching Google. Why? What does this mean to those of us trying to reach our audience? Google is the comfort … Continued
Photographer and cinematographer Max Esposito knows how to tell a story.
He doesn’t need scripts to clutter what he’s trying to say. Max tells stories with emotive imagery. His videos are mini-cinematic masterpieces. Every shot (moving or not) captures a moment, a feeling, a reaction. He captures the human element.
“We wanted to try this as a low-risk experiment on the product level, which we had never done before.” The result: sales increased by a factor of 15.
CHALLENGE: Position Tippingpoint Labs as a thought leader in the new media space. SOLUTION: Write a controversial post about competing sites with growing popularity. Going out on a limb is occasionally fruitful.
Lessons the publishing industry can learn from Google, the Aalsmeer Flower Show, and Seth Godin.
As most of you know, Starbucks just launched a campaign that rewards their most loyal, local customers:
Starting today, mayors of individual Starbucks stores can unlock the Mayor Offer and enjoy a money-saving perk for their frequent store checkins. One of the major opportunities in any new media channel lies in the chance to be the ‘celebrity hit’ that actually demonstrates the power of the platform to actually impact revenue or reduce costs. This moment marks the ‘Celebrity hit’ for FourSquare.
How do you create the right portfolio of support channels and platforms to create an transparent and honest approach to solving consumer challenges in a rapid and scalable way without ignoring social media channels? Here’s our take on delivering a content-based online support system…
The Influence Pyramid is designed to show how any brand should start dissecting and defining their online universe. Last night, I had a wonderful conversation with Dan Blank about the Influence Pyramid. Dan, and others, have pointed out that the pyramid doesn’t account for the two-way nature of today’s online universe and they are absolutely right.
After speaking to a packed house at last year’s Print Buyers International conference, Andrew Davis has been invited back to speak at the 5th annual Print Buyers International annual conference (on November 3rd and 4th) about the evolution of, and … Continued
The Influence Pyramid is a conceptual framework for building outreach strategies to communities online and off. It helps you define a methodology and an architecture to target your content and media efforts.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking at American Business Media’s Annual Conference yesterday and during a fast-paced, hour-long luncheon session I promised to deliver ten things I would start doing today if I was an executive at a publishing company. So, as promised, here’s what I’d start doing today.
Each year American Business Media brings together some of the most powerful b-to-b media industry leaders for their annual conference. Next week, in Charleston, South Carolina, luminaries from organizations like McGraw Hill, the U.S. House of Representatives, Omnicom and Ziff Davis (among others) will spend three days sharing, discussing and debating how business media is evolving.
From her home in Cambridge, Julia Child recorded the first episode of her television show The French Chef. Julia was not the first television chef, but she’s arguably one of the most widely seen. What many don’t know is that Julia’s local roots and sustained success created a community of television production staff right here in Boston that is still thriving today.
I went to SxSW this year and attended half a dozen panel discussions. I also just returned from the Custom Content Conference in Nashville, where I attended one panel. Quite frankly they all sucked. Don’t get me wrong, they all had extremely high caliber talent sitting on the stage. Every panel had huge potential for real discussion with powerful market leaders. And every panel fell short! Way short.
After speaking at the New England Mail Order Association Spring Conference and having conversations over lunch and dinner with talented marketers from brands like Sony, Hyatt, Gardeners Supply, Home Shopping Network Interactive, Stony Creek and L.L. Bean, I pondered the future of the printed catalog. Print catalogs will not die, but they must evolve.
Media Modality
We’ve been working on a concept called ‘media modality.’ Our hypothesis is basically this: people consume content in a variety of modes often defined by the medium used to deliver the media. So, if you use the right medium with the right kind of content you’ll capture the consumer (audience.)
The word ‘syndication’ in the media world is a loaded term. If you’re in traditional broadcasting you understand syndication to be the licensing of programming for broadcast in your market. If you’re in the newspaper business you might refer to syndication in a similar way – as in a syndicated columnist (where the full body of content is reprinted as part of a licensing deal exclusively to newspapers around the world.)
On the web, you’ve got to embrace the fact that syndicating content (using these traditional models) isn’t a great idea. That’s why even Wikipedia distinguishes between broadcast, print and web syndication. They are entirely different.
A more strategic approach to digital marketing is required this year – but often a firm’s ability to acknowledge this necessary change occurs only after months of failure, pain, and anguish. To the exhausted and bloodied, there is indeed a better way. And to the ones just getting into the ring, learn from those who have fought before you …
Back in March, I wrote a very provocative post about Twitter versus Tumblr. I predicted that Tumblr might very well surpass Twitter as the next big thing. Now, it hasn’t happened yet, but Tumblr is evolving nicely. We’ve seen the demographics shift from more than 40% of the audience under 24 to an even spread across the demographic spectrum.
As Facebook Connect and Twitter grow so does single sign-on The more I experiment with new platforms the more I find myself trying to manage my online identity. With the huge adoption of both Twitter and Facebook, I find myself … Continued
I don’t know how many people have received Google Wave invites. In September, we were told 100,000 users would be invited to participate. I opened my Gmail account last weekend to find my invitation awaiting my attention and with great excitement I clicked through to start my Google Wave experience. I am ready to change the way I communicate online. There’s only one problem: with so few early adopters invited to participate I don’t have anyone to communicate with.
That being said, I’ve had my first valuable interaction on Google Wave and feel confident in telling you what I think about my initial experience.
Last week, I spent some time analyzing a new channel I happened on called TheHotList.com. In my analysis, I attempted to coin a new phrase to describe the channel – micro-apps. As I’ve watched new channels emerge, even just over the course of the last week, I’ve found more and more applications that fit the definition of a micro-app so I thought it might help to better define my new term:
A micro-app is an application the sources very specific content from at least one external source and manipulates the information to display it in a new or inventive way.
Here’s a great new example of a micro-app called Social Great.
I’ve been using FourSquare for months now. I can’t recall where I heard about it, but I immediately signed up and started using it on my iPhone. If I was pitching FourSquare as a television show I’d pitch it like this:
FourSquare is Facebook meets Twitter meets Google Maps meets Yelp meets the Boy Scouts.
This morning I happened on TubeRadio.fm. To be blunt, TubeRadio is awesome! Basically,TubeRadio uses YouTube to deliver music videos in an iTunes-like interface on your web browser. TubeRadio is an evolution in the delivery of music to your desktop, built by the team at Last.fm. TubeRadio calls itself “YouTube for music.” But is it?
Okay, so I just made up a new term “micro-app.” That’s the only way I can describe TheHotlist.com — it’s a micro-app. Basically, TheHotlist uses Facebook Connect to deliver a rich interface for your Facebook events. The interface is intriguing, delivering you a map and a calendar and showing you who’s attending what, where. It’s interesting and it may highlight something we’re going to see more of: deeper web applications built as massive mash-ups using networks like LinkedIn or Facebook as their core.
As you launch your new online product or service I’m sure you’re excited to get some real-world feedback. Perhaps you’re launching a private beta, or maybe you’re going full bore and opening up the floodgates to the whole world. No matter what you do, don’t give those initial users too much credit.
Conferences, seminars, mixers, even fund-raising event management On September 10, 2009, all around the world, thousands of people gathered at restaurants and bars to support a local charity. All of these events were coordinated locally and attended internationally. Of course, … Continued
I am a frequent early adopter, and any invitation like this is really intriguing. Pinyadda looks promising (take a look when you have a second), but something I noticed early in my interaction on the new platform highlights one of the major concerns I have with early-phase new media channels: the integration of features that increase reach too fast, too early.
Remember Citysearch? Well, Citysearch is dying. Four or five years ago, Citysearch was where I went when I needed to find something new to do in Boston — or in any city I was visiting, for that matter. It was a great resource. But it wasn’t consumer (or visitor) focused and it didn’t evolve fast enough.
A couple of weeks ago, Jim Cosco wrote a great post about how to make your podcast a success. We produce a podcast every week (well almost every week), and we’re really proud about the audience we’ve built. Within three months we hit the 20K downloads marker, and we’re chipping away at the next 20 thousand. But how do you know if your podcast is really successful? How do you measure its reach? What can you infer from the stats you’re collecting?
I’m sure whatever you’re bringing to market is awesome. I’m sure it’s different. I’m sure it’s nothing like anything else on the market. The problem is that it’s hard to describe whatever you’re selling to the rest of the world.
At this point, you’ve probably explained what you do and how you do it a million times and you’re confident that you understand the right vernacular and verbiage that leads to immediate comprehension and interest.
However, I suggest you take some time to use a valuable online tool to help you take advantage of big market opportunities by changing the way you talk about your products or services online.
We’ve been working hard on our first deployment of Magento Commerce for a client of ours. We’re really excited about the launch and we’ll be sure to update you as we go live this week! We also had some great … Continued
Let’s get something out of the way right now: I’m not talking about Social Media “listening” or “sentiment monitoring.” That stuff is in its infancy. I’m talking about the real, hard stats already collected on almost any platform; and I’m talking about bringing them together in a way that allows a human (or eventually the machine) to draw correlations between channel activity and something like e-commerce sales.
For those of you developing a new media platform, I want you to ask yourself the following question every day: if the New York Times called today and wanted to write a story about us, would we do it? Why … Continued
Comment Highlights Last week was a great week at Tippingpoint Labs. We had wonderful meetings and met some really neat people. We also had some great interactions at our website. We’re proud and impressed by the caliber of people interacting … Continued
Quality traffic, not traffic volume will determine your long term success on the web. One more time: Quality over Quantity.
With that in mind, it’s worth taking a minute to see whether your content sucks or your audience sucks. Here’s how you can determine if your content is being viewed by the right audience and whether they’re actually consuming your content.
Our latest New Media Life Cycle Analysis takes a look at Get Satisfaction’s evolution. If you’re a marketer, venture capitalist or a content creator of any sort working on, with or for a brand you must get familiar with this new support paradigm. This New Media Life Cycle analysis will help prepare you or your client for what’s to come in the online support community.
We had a great week of content that generated some wonderful discussions. Here are a couple of the most insightful comments from last week. We appreciate all those who participate on our content marketing posts and hope you’ll continue the dialogue.
If you’re building a new media channel today, you really need to focus on nurturing the kind of content you expect will make the channel successful. That’s exactly what Zach’s done and it works.
As you know, our goal here at Tippingpoint Labs is to create valuable content that builds relationships with you, our reader. Some of our posts generate great content in the form of comments from you, and each week we want to call out some of the best, most insightful, angry, humorous or smart comments. We know that great comments = great content.
As a content creator, a marketer, a strategist, a business man and a realist I know that measuring the impact of my marketing efforts, my content creation strategy and its reach is central to my success. That means that one of the most important assets in my marketing arsenal is the data (or the access to data) for any channel I (or my team) participates on.
In completing our latest 10-page New Media Life Cycle Analysis — which focuses on Wikis in general, and Wikipedia specifically — we discovered what every non-geek, techno-phobe has always known: wikis are too damn hard to add content on. Now … Continued
Thousands of people are streaming live mobile video every day to Qik.com. However, the production quality and the content quality is so poor that much of the video found on the channel is of little value.
The online discussion space is a consumer’s paradise and favors their influence over the producer’s. The only way to extract value from the endless conversation that is the internet is to openly and honestly interact with it.
Budget Strategy and ROI (Part 5 of 6) This series asks the tough questions about evolving marketing strategies and the benefits and returns you should expect and plan for. Who’s in charge here? When I speak to potential clients about … Continued
Budget Strategy and ROI (Part 4 of 6) This series asks the tough questions about evolving marketing strategies and the benefits and returns you should expect and plan for. Re-defining marketing success Marketing in the online space requires a change … Continued
Tr.im called it quits in the middle of the gestation phase for one single reason: failure to monetize. I would have paid $10 a month for their stats (far more valuable than Viral Heat) and they could have monetized overnight.
Ask these five questions as you consider working with any social media ‘expert’ — the answers will give you the necessary insight to judge any social media strategy.
For a comprehensive social media strategy, reporting back on the engagement can be as time consuming as creating the content. Viralheat attempts to create one interface for monitoring and quantifying your social media interactions.
Today’s social media strategies are heavy on the social and light on the media. It’s mostly about getting on a site and getting followers. Or responding to every mention of your company. It’s only a fraction of the overall picture of what social media ought to be.
Budget Strategy and ROI (Part 2 of 6) This series asks the tough questions about evolving marketing strategies and the benefits and returns you should expect and plan for. If somebody told you that you could reach nearly every potential … Continued
GizaPage is in its experimentation phase, as characterized by a small number of enthusiastic new users who frequently update content of varying levels of quality. To expand their adoption, GizaPage should promote their channel as a good tool for social media monitoring.
Content aggregation is as old as the web itself. There are a lot of conversations going on, on a lot of different channels. FriendFeed attempts to bring all that you have going on into one easy-to-follow feed. The result: a noisy mess that tends to be less than the sum of its parts.
Budget Strategy and ROI (Part 1 of 6) By Andrew Davis and Scott Loring This series asks the tough questions about evolving marketing strategies and the benefits and returns you should plan for and expect. Step right up and place … Continued
Professional document-sharing site Docstoc has a very robust functionality that has driven it past Experimentation and into the Adoption Phase of its New Media Life Cycle. However, ridding the channel of spam and illegal content, in addition to attracting more valuable content, will be hurdles it needs to overcome to get to Gestation and beyond.
Act One: Search Overload and the user experience. The search engine wars have begun.
We explore what leading experts say about the problems with search today — including Bernie Borges, author and SEO expert, Gabriel Weinberg, founder of Duck Duck Go, and Anand Rajaramand, founder of Kosmix.
We tackle the problem of Google, frustrations that users face, and some of the new approaches making search more friendly.
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