Archive for the “Innovative Marketing Management” Category

Wake up everybody. The age of plentiful bandwidth is here. This means a streaming radio show can sound like the host is sitting right next to you. Last summer I blogged about my learning from producing a couple of online radio shows.  I created this post as a follow roadmap to help you create your own show.

My guess is that this is a new venture so I am a big advocate of testing new media programs in no-cost or low cost ways to prove the concept before “going big”. So how can we get from idea to fresh online radio show in an agile way? Here is my road map I used twice last summer and am currently employing as I produce a new show here at Novell.

Strategy:

• Write a short creative brief – This should be no more than 3 pages. Remember that the show is the product not the document.

• Sell the idea to the most important stakeholders – You need buy-in but don’t try to sell everyone. The first show (ie “the pilot”) will be your best tool for convincing people to do more.

• Find an executive sponsor – This person can advise the team and protect the idea from the corporate T-cell types that challenge anything new or different. Your sponsor could also be a possibly be one of your first guests.

Operational details

• Decide on a format – Will it be a panel? Will it be a one-on-one interview? Or a combination?

• Pick dates for your first three shows – Without a first show date, all you have is an idea. This creates a sense of urgency and catalyzes the team.

• Decide on frequency – My bias is towards weekly. Unless you have enough content, more than once a week is tough. On the other hand, less than once a week doesn’t give you the chance to develop a rhythm.

• Identify potential guests for your first three shows – The first shows won’t be perfect so you don’t need to call in all your markers to get  superstar guests. Save that for when you have worked out the kinks.

• Get all your technology straightened out. You don’t need much equipment these days to do radio but you do need someone who can plug it in and make sure it works seamlessly. TV/video has even more moving parts so plan accordingly.

• Figure out the streaming/hosting – Where will the show reside? There are a number of Internet radio stations to consider. You can also buy some bandwidth from a CDN and stay independent.

Content

• Find a strong host – I find this the most challenging part. Many people think they can do this themselves but in reality this is a specialized skillset. While I have a hairline for radio and charming demeanor, I know that make a better guest than host. Try to find someone who is a good interviewer and can control the conversation. This can be a difference maker.

• Pick a working title and theme – Don’t worry about perfection. This can be changed easily. In many cases you will learn from your first few shows and make adjustments.

• Have a pre-production meeting – Two days before the show, meet with the host and guests to make sure everyone knows what the theme is and how the program will flow. Also let people identify their role or position on an issue. This can help generate more controversy and a better overall program.

• I prefer a soft launch for the first show – This means emailing people you know will listen and provide honest feedback. Begin promoting the show through social media about 24 hours before airtime. Remember, this is a pilot and will not be measured by audience size for the first show.

The show

• Get everyone together an hour before the show – Like a sporting event, people need to warm-up and get ready.

• Give your team a pep talk – I know we are adults but chances are your guests and host will be a little nervous. Anything you can do to break the ice will make for a better show.

• Take care of your talent – Make sure they all have a beverage and are comfortable.  No brown m&ms in the green room is crucial.

• Double check with your engineer that you are recording the show.

After the show

• Publish the recording – Think MP3. That is the only format that matters for radio. There are a bunch of options for video (Youtube or Vimeo).

• Decide on your discussion hub – This is where you will engage your audience between shows, test topics and publish recordings. Options include a Facebook fan page, LinkedIn group or blog.

If you are looking for an example show, I particularly like what PJA Advertising has done with their “This Week in Social Media” show.

Full disclosure: I was involved in the development of the show but they have done all the heavy lifting and have built a pretty big audience.

Anyone else dabbling in online media want to chime in? Did I miss anything? Any risks in this format?

Last week I blogged about fresh alternatives to the B2B marketing lead generation trinity (webinars, whitepapers and tradeshows).  While few parts of your marketing mix can help you tell your story, share a demo or answer questions like a live web event, I feel like the medium has become tired.  How many sessions about “Best practices in…” or “X Ways to improve…” can your prospects bear?

The format has become as predictable as a “Friends” rerun. You begin with a short intro, followed by a customer or analyst testimonial, then a demo, shameless plug and finally an interactive Q&A.  Your prospects may or may not listen to the audio in the background as they get caught up on email or checkout Perez Hilton.

So, what can a software marketer do? Sales is still going to breath down your neck for leads.  My suggestions is to take another look at streaming radio.  I know this is technologically similar to webinar audio but has a few advantages.

Costs:  Unless you are using one of the low-cost, higher-risk webinar providers (ie Gotowebinar or Dim Dim), streaming radio can be significantly less expensive.

Sound quality: A 128K audio stream typically sounds better than the overburdened VOIP or conference call connections from the major webinar services.

Scalability: Webinar providers also often have a different pricing schedule for bigger events (ie over 1,000 people).  Streaming radio on the other hand can use a CDN which typically scales to much great levels without arbitrary limits imposed to maximize revenue yield.

Freshness:  Who wants to be a webinar attendee?  An Internet radio show just sounds cooler.

Podcasts: It is pretty easy to create podcasts from most streaming radio software.

Here are a couple things I have learned:

• You need an alternative plan for chat.  I’ve dabbled with Twitter and a custom hashtags. You could also consider Skype or some other chat platform for less social media savvy crowds.
• You need to find a registration system.  I’ve used Eventbrite.  It is free and easy to configure.
• Live demos are a challenge. You would need to find a screensharing solution.
• You’ll want to build a custom page for radio show URL.
• People can access the show without registering, costing you some leads.

Anyone else have experiences with streaming radio they would like to share?

Here is the link to an interview I did on June 25th with Matthew Mamet of PermissionTV.

They have an interesting approach to using video as a B2B lead generation tool.

I frequently get a variant of this question from many of my B2B marketing colleagues and I usually answer it with a big, fat “it depends”.  Are your customers using social media?  Are important conversations happening online without you (that you should be a part of)?

To be honest, I felt that way about two years ago when I was CMO of a fast growing software company.  It seemed like these new social media channels sprung up over night and everyone (except me) was an expert. Without knowing your particular B2B market, I am going to go out on a limb and take the bold position that there is still time to become an “expert” in social media and use it effectively to grow your business.  I know, I know, that is a broad generalization but don’t take my word for it.  Ask some of your customers what they are doing.  Search for your company’s name in Google blog search. Do a few Twitter searches. Check out Twellow to see if any of your competitors are on Twitter.

My experience is that most of the action in the social media world is in the B2C realm.  That is not to say that the “enterprise” types are ignoring these new media, but they are no where near a point of oversaturation. Opportunities exist in many markets to become a thought leader.  It is up to you whether it is worth the investment in time and money to make it happen.

I’ll give you three simple things to do dip your toes in the social media pool.

• Sign up for a handful of LinkedIn groups.  There are many of them.  Follow the conversations and drop in an occasional comment.
• Find three blogs in your space and start reading them.
• Check out what your competitors are doing with social media (ie blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slideshare, etc)

You will notice I didn’t say “go sign up for Twitter” or “start a blog”.  You need to figure out if these media make sense relative to your business goals and competitive environment. In the end, social media is just media.  You need to align them with your objectives and ruthlessly test them.   Only you can answer the question about how they fit and if you are a laggard.

I think marketing people get a bad rap and often think that accountability is the root cause.  Too often we use words like “brand building” to mask the fact that we can’t connect some of our activities with tangible results.

Here are some questions to assess how accountable you are as a marketer.

• Do you do everything you can to track the results of a program (ie coded URLs, special offers, etc)?
• Do you freely admit when a program was a complete bust even if all the data is not in?
• Do you create a back of the envelope estimate for the campaign before you start with the creative?
• Have you sensitivity tested your campaign assumptions based on past program results?
• Do you ruthlessly remove the worst performing programs from your budget each year?
• Are you always looking for something that can outperform your tried and true programs?
• Is your CFO an ally?
• Does your CEO offer you more budget if you can find positive ROI programs?
• Do you favor effective over creative?
• Do you have a bias toward measurable programs?

Did I miss any others? Let me know.

Am I going soft?

I’ve been dabbling with paid search on one of the major social networks.  The interesting thing is that we decided to press forward despite the fact that our “back of the envelope” calculations using an optimistic lifetime value estimate projected that this campaign will end up underwater.

I frequently rant about the value of running the numbers first but in this case we decided to “do it for strategic reasons”.  More specifically, this campaign had high option value.   In a situation like this, a simple ROI calculation may not be enough.  Conventional projects with predictable outcomes can use straightforward estimates.  When venturing into the unknown where the risks are greater and the future is uncertain, people often use real options as a way to capture the potential value of an opportunity.

So in this case, paid social search is a good fit for thinking about option value.  Despite a lousy initial estimate, there is great potential in the medium.  If this works, it could open up a big, new promotional channel.  It could also be a bust.  We’ll never know unless we try it.

So can you think of any high risk projects that have a small chance of a exponential return?

So how do you start an affiliate marketing program?

As ubiquitous as affiliate programs are, I couldn’t find any great online content about getting started.  I was looking for something pretty simple like a checklist or PPT with the key questions and considerations.  Over the last 6 weeks, I’ve interviewed a series of “experts” to expand my understanding of the subject.

So here is my “affiliate marketing checklist”:

1. Types of partners – One size program may or may not “fit all”.  Some partners will need more hand holding and information before signing up.
2. Size of partner universe – There always seems to be more ideas of potential partners than resources to contact them all.  I suggest building a big list (prospect universe) and contacting a couple in each category to eliminate the ones that don’t make sense.
3. Revenue share – The marketplace for affiliate programs is very competitive these days.  Referral fees can range from 2 to 20%.  My opinion is that you want to be aggressive.  Remember it is better to have 80% of something than 95% of nothing.
4. Competition – What are they doing and how are they doing it?  Is there any evidence of success?  How will you differentiate your offering?
5. Affiliate network/tracking/reporting – Sites like Commission Junction and Linkshare offer a broad network of potential affiliates at a cost (as much as 30% of revenue) as well as payment and tracking infrastructure.  You need to think about whether or not the value of their distribution exceeds the cost.  If you decide to “roll your own”, then you can use a product like iDevAffiliate. The upside is its low cost but you will then have to recruit every affiliate on your own.
6. Branding – What will you call your program and/or your partners?
7. Ongoing support – Who will manage the affiliate relationships once they are signed up.
8. Marketing materials/collateral – There is a variety of logos, web pages and PPTs you will need to promote and maintain the program.
9. Set proper expectations – This is an indirect sale.  Even after you close a partner, it will take time to get them engaged and actively promoting your product or service.

I hope this is helpful  Please let me know if you have any additions.

The good people at Hubspot never let me down.

I was doing my early morning scan of Twitter when I came across a tweet with a shoutout to send “LinkLove” to anyone you want (ie friend, colleague or favorite blog).  After a short music video starring Hubspot’s resident triple threat Rebecca Corliss (singer, dancer and inbound marketer), I checked out the lovefest.  All you have to do to share the love is enter your Twitter name, your friend’s Twitter name and “their URL”.  Like all good viral campaigns, the made it “stupid easy” to share and it wasn’t long before my Twitter stream was full of their #linklove hashtags.

So why all the buzz about #linklove?  For those of use trying to build a business organically (OK, using inbound marketing as Hubspot would say), inbound links are gold.  When they come from a site with stronger page rank, this is even better.  I feel pretty confident that Hubspot has more Google page rank than 90+% of the people on Twitter (Hubspot = 6 vs. Tangyslice = 3) so the once the “linklove” pump is primed, this was highly likely to go viral.  Everyone wants a free link from a site with more page rank.

Or so they would think…  OK, I’m not an SEO expert (but I play one on television).  A closer look, however, reveals that linklove.hubspot.com has no pagerank (yet).  Thanks to all those inbound links i would expect this to improve pretty quickly.  Would it have been better to put it on www. hubspot.com/linklove instead?  Any SEO experts out there to offer an more qualified opinion?

A more cynical marketer might also suggest that Hubspot is getting the better deal as the value of the aggregate inbound #linklove links to likely exceeds the sum of the link building value to all of us “lovers”.  It doesn’t take an MIT degree to figure that it just doesn’t matter.  Unlike many forms of marketing, there’s no cost to giving somebody a link so in the end this viral campaign is fun and everyone loves a free link.

I once again take my hat off to these guys (Rebecca, Mike Volpe, Rick Burnes, et al).  Half the battle is coming up the idea for the killer viral marketing campaign and the other is making it happen.  They did both really well…  Congrats.

Early in my graduate school experience I learned a valuable lesson.  We had six classes each with a theoretical two hours of homework per class hour.  This added up to something like 60 hours of class and homework excluding the team meetings to coordinate group projects.  After a futile effort to “do it all”, I discovered the joys of “selective neglect”. I learned to make the hard decisions about what not to do ahead of time and living with the consequences.  This doesn’t necessarily mean slacking but instead spending time upfront making and communicating your priorities. It is better to make the decisions than to have them make themselves.

If you are like me, January was a month of unbridled optimism with great things in mind for the new year.  All of those programs that never quite got done last year are now on your 2009 marketing plan, right?  Well, February’s reality has set.  Your resources haven’t changed much (if at all) yet you have made commitments you need to keep.

So what can you do?  Working every weekend is a real option but in the long run it isn’t sustainable. My answer is ruthless prioritization and clear communication. It isn’t always straightforward.  As I often say to my teammates, it is easier to decide what you will do than what you will stop doing.

So what are you going to stop doing?

It always starts off with a simple request for KPIs or key performance indicators.   The challenge I often see is cutting through the noise and actually getting to the metrics that are truly “key”.  So what makes a KPI?  Here is my list:

• It is connected to your strategic or tactical goals
• It is unique (i.e. it is not strongly correlated or a subset of another KPI)
• It is diverse (think about a balanced scorecard of indicators)
• It can be calculated in a clear and consistent way (i.e. no debates about where the number comes from)
• Your team “buys-into” the number
• It has an owner who works toward improving it

For an a small team, I generally like no more than KPIs (ideally 1-2).  If you feel the need for tracking every possible operating number, then create a separate spreadsheet filled with metrics.  You can always graduate (or demote) metrics if you identify trends that are connected with your successes or failures.  For a company or larger operating group, I like to keep the KPIs to under 20.  More than that and they are a list of metrics rather than key performance indicators.  In the end I prefer to make the difficult decisions about what numbers are truly important and track those.  The rest are just numbers about your business.

So, how many KPIs are you using?