How Marketers Can Work More Effectively with their Technology Teams

Published
by
Lee Huang
on July 31, 2008
in Marketing, Organization and Technology
. 0 Comments

Marketers must be able to work closely and effectively with their counterparts who are responsible for managing an online business’ technology. That’s because technology is at the core of all digital operations. And the more a marketer understands what goes into successfully implementing the technology piece of a project, the better the marketer will be able to work in unison with her technology colleagues. And the more smoothly projects will go.

Of course, it’s not necessary for marketers to learn to be programmers. Marketing and IT come from different worlds, but they intersect in more areas, especially in our world of convergence.

Keep in mind technology is:

  • A business enabler. Technology makes it possible to run an online business, deliver content and interactive tools, launch marketing campaigns, measure their success, understand your audiences, and many more mission-critical functions.
  • A business driver. Technology can allow you to create new online products that take your company into new markets and to serve your audience and advertisers in ways never before possible.

Read Full Article

- By Lee Huang -

12 Approaches to Monetizing Your Digital Assets

Published
by
Lee Huang
on July 18, 2008
in Monetization and Commerce and Strategy
. 0 Comments

After Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character uttered those immortal words, “Show me the money!” in “Jerry Maguire,” he went on to land a multimillion-dollar contract. More important, in real life the film grossed over $274 million worldwide and Gooding won a best supporting actor Oscar for his performance. They were all shown the money.

When it comes to monetizing your digital assets, we all wish it were so easy as to utter the phrase “Show me the money.” Therefore the next C for thriving in the digital age that we’ll discuss is “commerce.”

Publishers and media companies of all shapes and sizes are creating, testing, and searching for new ways to be shown the money. As we all know, there’s no magical Jerry Maguire who has all the answers in today’s constantly evolving and dynamic marketplace.

One essential step toward successfully monetizing your digital assets is to establish a multipronged monetization model (MPMM).

To establish and successfully create an MPMM, you must understand what the different prongs, or revenue streams, are. Then to determine the best prongs to implement and how to approach them, you must evaluate many things, including your assets and their worth to your audience, your audience’s value to your advertisers, your ability to leverage and contextually repurpose content, your technology capabilities, the quality of your partners/vendors, and your organizational resources. Then you need to develop a execution plan and ensure your sales and marketing, product development, and technology infrastructures are in place to innovate and execute… Read Full Article on ClickZ.

- By Lee Huang -

ISF Summit West: Recap of our Sold-Out, Standing Room Only Event

Published
by
isfadmin
on July 17, 2008
in ISF News and Activities
. 1 Comment

Our annual event, Internet Strategy Forum Summit West, was a huge success. Here is Kent Lewis’ recap.

ISF Summit West Update #1 with Charlene Li, VP, Forrester Research; Mike Moran, Distinguished Engineer, IBM; David Placier, VP Consumer Insights, Disney Online; Geoffrey Ramsey, Co-founder & CEO, eMarketer
ISF Summit Update #2 with Chris Shimojima, VP Global Digital Commerce Nike
ISF Summit Update #3 with Nancy Bhagat, VP Sales and Marketing, Intel

Check out Photos from ISF Summit West.

Big Media’s 2008 New Media Deals

Published
by
Lee Huang
on July 17, 2008
in Entertainment
. 0 Comments

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood provides a great list of deals in entertainment media technology that have been made so far in 2008.

The 12Cs for Thriving in the Digital Age

Published
by
Lee Huang
on July 7, 2008
in Marketing, Organization and Strategy
. 0 Comments

The 12Cs

Twelve Actionable Ideas to Grow Audience, Monetize Digital Assets & Improve Digital Operations

As an Internet Strategist, your day might go like this:

You wake up in the morning, pumped up and optimistic about this new digital world we live in and all the great opportunities it offers. You think about how you’ll seize upon the promise of it all, engaging your customers in new ways; establishing deep, meaningful relationships with them; expanding your audience via community and viral campaigns; creating new user experiences that are compelling and differentiated from the competition; and ultimately hearing the virtual cash register cha-ching as you capitalize on the new digital revenue streams.

But by midday, reality sets in. You shake your head, feeling overwhelmed and somewhat scared about needing to deliver on the hype and promises you’ve made and keeping your online business in business. You secretly wonder if your company has what it takes to survive in a marketplace comprising an increasing number of competitors whom you’ve never heard of and who don’t behave like you. You need to develop new content strategies that require things like metadata, taxonomies, entities, and relevance. Emerging technologies are way over your head; and you must consider new distribution and marketing options, like SEO, RSS, widgets, and social bookmarking. And let’s not forgot all the organizational challenges you face with insufficient resources, lack of new media skills, and legacy organizational structures.

Plus, the rules of the game have been thrown out the window, and new rules are being created every day, often by your competitors and disruptive technologies.

To survive, nay, thrive in this digital world, you must have a digital strategy that integrates the key disciplines (i.e., content, marketing, technology, sales, business development, research, etc.) as well as a deep understanding of the details and how to execute them. You’ve got to be completely customer-centric and deliver a value proposition that’s meaningful and embraced by your audience. You must welcome the new and experiment, but go in with eyes wide open. Invest in new technologies and new skills. Too often companies still work in silos, but with a cohesive strategy you’ll be able to create a unique, compelling, and desirable Web experience for your audience and provide your advertisers and sponsors with highly targeted ad opportunities …Read Full Article on ClickZ

- By Lee Huang -

How to Build a Winning Digital Team - “May the Force Be With You”

Published
by
Lee Huang
on July 7, 2008
in Organization and Strategy
. 0 Comments

“In a galaxy, far, far away,” a small band of courageous characters united to overcome overwhelming odds and defeat an evil empire. Under the leadership and guidance of an experienced, robed leader named Obi-Wan Kenobi, this group of individuals with unique capabilities and personalities came together to be a team that complemented and supported each other, had a compelling message that inspired others, and ultimately delivered dramatic results.

Your company needs a full-blown “Star Wars” team if it’s going to succeed in online publishing. You need Obi-Wan and Yoda, the ones who have the experience, been through the wars, seen what’s worked and what doesn’t. They’ll be leading, mentoring, and inspiring all the Luke Skywalkers, the up-and-comers who understand interactive platforms and solutions but need their enthusiasm and ideas cultivated and focused. With C-3PO and R2-D2 on your side, you’ll have a great team of technical and programming experts who know the ins and outs of AJAX (define) and Flash. To complement your team, consultants/vendors like Han Solo and Chewbacca will join your journey and hopefully really be part of your team and contribute to the mission, not just send you more bills. With this team, you’re working on building a better world for your Ewoks, your audience. But as you go through this exercise, you’ll encounter many challenges, like Darth Vaders, those who prefer to keep everything status quo… Read Full Article on ClickZ.

- By Lee Huang -

Surviving Your Competitors, Part 2: “Some competitors are more like termites, collectively chewing away at your business, than a giant wrecking ball you can see coming a mile away.”

Published
by
Lee Huang
on July 3, 2008
in Competitive Landscape, Marketing and Strategy
. 0 Comments

wball
In part one of “Surviving Your Competitors”, I examined how the new competitive landscape falls into four categories: nimble upstarts, evolving blue chips, citizen journalists and bloggers, and technology disruptors. Some of these rivals aren’t direct competitors. They won’t appear on any formal research report from an industry analyst or measurement service like NetRatings, comScore, or Hitwise, because they aren’t categorized as competitors or aren’t big enough (yet) to be measured. These companies aren’t going head-to-head with you. Instead, they’re going against a segment of your business or revenue model. Some are doing so on purpose, while to others, like technology disruptors and aggregators, you’re just collateral damage.

Each of these companies, then, impacts your business to some degree. When you add up the companies, each of which is taking a bite out of your business, you’re in trouble. Whereas a direct competitor might be like a wrecking ball that’s big and easy for you to see coming, these indirect competitors are like termites. They’re small enough you may not notice them, but there are many of them. Together they can cause as much damage, if not more, than a wrecking ball.

For example, craigslist is a competitor to any publisher with an online classifieds business, although a publisher wouldn’t consider craigslist a direct competitor. Perez Hilton is a competitor to any entertainment publisher and even a source for discovering new music, much more than just a simple gossip blog.

Key people throughout your organization must acknowledge that these new competitors are indeed threats, even though they look different. And your team must respond. The unfortunate reality is that it’s possible, if not probable, that many people in your organization won’t believe you and may dismiss this perspective due to brand arrogance or ignorance. You’ve got to find the key data points or deliver a compelling case study or situation analysis that will resonate with your colleagues to get them to open their eyes. Fact is, if key leaders in your company don’t acknowledge the full competitive landscape, the company will suffer the consequences … Read Full Article on ClickZ

- By Lee Huang -

Surviving Your Competition, Part 1 - “Your competitors don’t look like you, don’t think like you, and don’t behave like you.”

Published
by
Lee Huang
on July 2, 2008
in Competitive Landscape, Marketing and Strategy
. 0 Comments

    Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. -Michael Corleone in “The Godfather: Part II”

Excellent survival tip, but what do you do if you don’t know who your enemies are?

Learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the classic movie, “Predator,” Schwarzenegger plays Dutch, leader of a team of commandos on a mission in the Central American jungle. His team comprises seasoned professionals ready to defeat any enemy, or so they think.. But they encounter an opponent they’ve never faced before: an extraterrestrial warrior. It can turn invisible, it possesses high-tech weapons, and it hunts them for sport. The commandoes, taken completely by surprise and unable to respond effectively, are killed one by one. Only Dutch survives. Once he realizes he’s never faced an adversary like this before, he quickly and objectively assesses his enemy’s strengths and weaknesses, then adapts his offensive strategy to embrace his environment and ultimately emerges victorious.

OK, clearly I had a film fest over the weekend. As online publishers, though, you’re living in a digital jungle, where it’s a battle for survival. This post examines competitors, including predators and hostiles, all of whom you’ve never faced before.

Before you lose more battles to this new competition, you’ve got to get into “Dutch” mode so you survive, nay thrive, in the digital jungle, and don’t get crushed:

  1. Quickly identify all your new competitors.
  2. Understand what makes them tick.
  3. Develop a new arsenal and offensive strategy.
  4. Jettison legacy anchors that hold you back.
  5. Respond in kind.

… Read Full Article on ClickZ

- By Lee Huang -

Identifying Corporate Barriers to Digital Success

Published
by
Lee Huang
on June 25, 2008
in Organization and Strategy
. 0 Comments

The promises of digital are many: increase customer loyalty, reach new customers, grow revenue, create new revenue streams, and more. Yet, there are just as many challenges — new competitors, complex technologies, endless ad networks, etc., that present challenges, confusion, and hurdles on the road to digital nirvana.

Keep in mind: every company faces these challenges. So why do companies succeed while others fail to realize the promise of digital? … Read Full Article on ClickZ

- By Lee Huang -

Connecting Customers to Your Content - Part 2: How to use RSS, social networks, and other approaches to help customers find your content.

Published
by
Lee Huang
on June 20, 2008
in Content Distribution, Marketing and Strategy
. 0 Comments

In my last post, I discussed the importance of creating many doorways to your content so that current and new customers can easily connect to it. Approaches examined include SEO, vertical search, social bookmarking, and directories. Today, I’ll look at additional doorways, such as RSS and widgets, to connect customers to your content.

RSS

RSS allows people to conveniently read new content posted on your Web site or blog. It’s a very popular way for your audience to stay current with all your content.

Strategically, though, many publishers — big and small — miss out on a lot of RSS opportunities and eyeballs. Most people think of RSS as being used by individuals via My Yahoo, Netvibes, and a variety of RSS readers and don’t recognize the big opportunity with companies using their feeds. Many companies display individual RSS feeds as well as combined feeds on their sites to further enhance readers’ experience. This is a win-win, as readers get additional content and you get more exposure. However, companies have specific criteria for selecting RSS feeds… Read Full Article on ClickZ.

- By Lee Huang -

« Older Entries