Monday, June 8, 2009
This Thursday, June 11th, in Vancouver BC, about 600-700 hi-tech professionals, internet advertisers, social media marketers, bloggers, video game developers and tech fans are coming together for a competition where 5 contestants deliver a 60 second pitch, idea, recruiting message, or elevator pitch. The audience will vote for their 2 favorite pitches - prizes awarded. Just bought my ticket.
The five presenters are:
Rilli
Adam Bognar
http://rilli.com
QuickMobile
Patrick Payne
http://quickmobile.com
Mobify
Igor Faletski
http://mobify.me
Conquer Mobile
Angela Robert
http://www.conquermobile.com
Virtual LockBox
Sanjay Maharaj
http://www.sharemylife.com
Ideas on Tap is June 11, 2009, 5:30 to 8:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom, 868 Granville Street, Vancouver. More info at www.ideasontap.ca
Saturday, April 4, 2009
LinuxFest Northwest 2009 Apr 25-26
The biggest Linux get-together in the Pacific Northwest is back and celebrating its Tenth Anniversary. LinuxFest Northwest takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., April 25 and 26, 2009 at Bellingham Technical College in Bellingham, WA. Exhibits, presentations and parking are free.
LinuxFest Northwest is an opportunity to share knowledge about open source software. It attracts top technical people with a range of educational and networking activities. The event features internationally recognized speakers from leading companies and well-known open source projects, as well as exhibits and demonstrations for a wide range of interests and technical abilities.
The Fest is also an opportunity for anyone who wants to know more about the advantages of free and open source software. It is an informative, low-key way for people to explore Linux and other open source products. Of special interest to marketers are the sessions and exhibits on database management, collaboration, and applications.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
For the love of money -- or just for the love?
What's my goal in this anyway? To share personal stories as an adoptive mom? To encourage the sharing of stories within the broader adoption community (families touched by adoption, adult adoptees, etc.) To entertain? To publish and feel the love? Or -- to make a butt-load of money?
I emailed Ben to ask him about the economics of blogging and here's the reality:
Assume a $.50 CPM for impressions to your blog. Then, ask yourself how many monthly impressions would it take to generate the minimum income you hope for. Let's say, for starters, you'd like to aim for $48K per year or $4K per month. For the purposes of rough ballpark calculation, assume advertisers realize a CTR of ~2%.
Here's how to think about it (with thanks and credit to Ben):
At $.50 per 1000 impressions, you'd have to sell 8M impressions per month to clear $4K per month. ($4K / $.50 = 8000 CPM's or 8M impressions)
But with a CTR of 2%, advertisers are hoping those 8M impressions a month will yield (8M x .02 =)160K visitors to their sites each month. That means you, as the publisher, need to prove you can generate minimum regular traffic of 160K users each month -- if you want to attract that kind of commitment from advertisers.
In other words, if you're not serious about this blogging stuff, don't quit your day job.
Lisa
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
I have been blogging regularly ...but someplace else
I have been writing regularly at Meenal's Kitchen. Catch me sharing my recipes and stories here.Even have a post on our weekly Core Concept team meetings, where we all strategised on our project and ate some Pineapple Upside Down cake:)Read more about it here
Until next time :)
Friday, March 20, 2009
On Newspapers, Blogs, and.. the Fifth Estate?
It's puzzling to me how a site like dooce can bring in $50K a month, while the newspaper industry struggles to figure out a way to leverage the online world and realize profitability. A part of me can't help but wonder if the world of newsmen and journalists are too entrenched in yesterday's model of doing business and propagating news. But then I think, there are a lot of really smart people thinking about this problem -- so maybe its not that simple, and there's more going on.
I do think that the Web, and particular "Web 2.0" -- with all its options for communication and interactivity -- is driving profound, fundamental, structural changes in the way we get information about our world. The Web has opened the floodgates and, while there's certainly a lot of junk out there, there are also huge numbers of people -- who aren't professionally trained journalists -- who have access to valuable inside information who can now share it (blogs are just one way) and share it more broadly than ever before. In doing so, these everyday people help enlighten and educate the rest of us -- while keeping other nefarious types honest. One great example: "Dell Hell" which we discussed in class.
So while I certainly have huge sympathy for the people (particularly journalists) who are caught in the midst of these painful contractions and dislocations, I have to confess I'm not as fearful or concerned as Sanjay when he warns, "There is no guarantee that the press will remain a vital force in our democracy or that there will be a Fourth Estate that is bold enough with deep enough pockets to take on big Government, big Business or big Anything."
My sense is that there's a whole broader public that's vested and now, more empowered than ever before, to be actively involved in keeping "big Government" or "big Business" or "big Anything" honest.
I realize that may be a fairly controversial position or statement. But I'm not alone. David Domke who heads up the UW Department of Communications (fascinating guy!) is not only excited, but hugely optimistic about what the Web, and Web 2.0 in particular, has done and will do for the future of democracy. (Can you hear our anthem playing in the background yet?)
Anyway, my 2 cents. Thanks for reading!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Another newspaper prints its last edition
Anyone who values in-depth reporting will be mourning the loss of that newspaper -- and the 150+ reporters, copy editors, photographers, graphic designers, editors and other staff who will be losing their jobs and likely unable to secure a new one in journalism for the foreseeable future.
Here's a video of the announcement in the newsroom:
Yes, many will be rooting for seattlepi.com to carry on the tradition of the oldest newspaper in the state (actually older than statehood).
I hope that many also will be rooting for the survival of the last newspaper in Seattle, the Times. The economic forces that any newspaper faces today are gargantuan. The New York Times recently carried an important story with an incredible map that shows the carnage across the country.
There is no guarantee that the press will remain a vital force in our democracy or that there will be a Fourth Estate that is bold enough with deep enough pockets to take on big Government, big Business or big Anything.
Right now this important duty is left to the free markets -- and we know the free markets can occasionally fail. We all have opinions on this, and the New York Times has an interesting aggregation of opinions about the future of news.
What's your opinion about all this?
Where do you get your news?
The next time you click on a story or headline online, try tracing back to the source. If you think it's radio or television, you can bet that most of their stories are driven by newspaper reporters. It's not a judgment; it's simple math. Newspapers field bigger staffs and have the capacity and longevity for doing the work.
I thought I would share with the group a remarkable video of the end of another underdog paper in another two newspaper town, Denver.
Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.
I don't have any answers yet to this economic freefall facing newspapers. For now, I just wish everyone could adopt their local newspaper.
Show your support in whatever way you feel comfortable. Show your support for the Fourth Estate as those of us who care about public-interest journalism try to find a sustainable business model for the 21st century.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The new blog in town
Hope everyone's week is going well!
Lisa
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Jon Stewart on Twitter
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219519&title=twitter-frenzy
With best wishes to everyone,
Lisa
Saturday, March 7, 2009
How many times will the HDTV transition be postponed??
Research shows that in fact more than 82% of households are ready now – 97% area aware of the upcoming transition and know what they have to do. So pull the plug already…
American Unemployment Highest in 25 Years
I’ve seen the current financial meltdown hit close to home recently; Microsoft, my employer, is still making money but the company is growing at a much slower rate than before and we have reduced confidence in the future. As a direct result of these results Microsoft removed 1,400 jobs from its payroll in January with another 3,600 to follow over the next 18 months.
However, this adversity is bringing out a sense of determination in those who have lost their jobs. In the Puget Sound area several groups have formed dedicated to helping the newly-unemployed Microsoft workers get back into business –and in doing so, new job opportunities are forming for other recent victims. As President Obama said yesterday, “this country has never responded to a crisis by sitting on the sidelines and hoping for the best” – that spirit is alive and well in Redmond.
It's nobody's fault
The main point I wanted to make was that the crisis facing newspapers is largely off people's radars because it doesn't seem relevant to our lives. But it is. My hope is that my blog post will encourage you to learn more about this and talk about it with your friends.
Here are some links if you're interested in learning more:
http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/
http://www.poynter.org
http://stateofthenewsmedia.org
As Einstein is reputed to have said, in the midst of great problems lies opportunity. We have a business problem (not a readership problem), and perhaps we can figure out a new business model together.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Me and my soon-to-be-unemployed friends in newspapers
The New York Times published a story on its site today about the economy shedding more than 650,000 jobs last month. Here's a few paragraphs:
Another 651,000 jobs disappeared from the American economy in February, the government reported Friday, as the unemployment rate soared to 8.1 percent — its highest level since 1983.
The latest grim scorecard of contraction in the American workplace largely destroyed what hopes remained for an economic recovery in the first half of this year, and added to a growing sense that 2009 is probably a lost cause.
Most economists now assume that the American fortunes will not improve before near the end of the year, as the Obama administration’s $787 billion emergency spending program begins to wash through the economy.While I certainly count myself among those who feel blessed to have a job for now, I am also aware that once newspapers shut down, they don't come back. Unlike a factory that can resume making widgets once demand picks up again, the business model that supports serious journalism in America is broken and isn't coming back.
Online, serious journalism is in danger. Yes, you went to the NYTimes.com site to skim a few graphs and post them on a blog (like I just did), but the NYTimes.com's cost to produce that story on its website included salaries (reporter, editor, copy editor, graphic designer, maybe a lawyer's time if it's a potentially libelous story), infrastructure (rent, utilities, web server) and other costs that us bloggers don't bear.
Here's the problem: Aggregators like Google and the Huffington Post, which carries snippets of the story, monetize that reporting. So the NYTimes.com gets to carry all the expense and only a fraction of the revenue, while the bloggers get to carry much of the revenue and virtually none of the expense.
We'll just have to wait and see what happens in places like San Francisco, Denver and other cities where newspapers are going out of business to see what all those bloggers are going to write about.
Or JUST SEE THIS CARTOON for a vision of the future without serious journalism.
How about a nickel for my thoughts?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Reflections on the class
Joe is a great speaker to listen to, very conversational in tone and engaging in delivery. Joe used one of the most successful ‘Mommy Blogs’ to illustrate many of his points – www.dooce.com. I liked the use of this blog to illustrate how a personal blog with a conversational style and a defined target market has turned from a one-person hobby into a full-time two-person business. As I consider how to improve our interactive marketing for the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) I will bear this site in mind; computer security can be a very dry subject.
The MMPC currently has a blog where we post technical information about malware, spyware and other potentially unwanted software. One area I’d like to investigate with the MMPC is how we can move from just posting relatively long, technical posts to include some posts with a more conversational tone. I believe this will help put a human face on the MMPC and enable us to begin a more open dialogue with our readers.
Given the potentially sensitive nature of the MMPC’s postings I was also interested in the Saturday afternoon presentation on the legal challenges and concerns around blogging and online marketing in general. With a global audience I am constantly engaging PR and legal affairs to review our blog content – how will this work if I am trying to move towards more rapid, conversational posts? We’ll see…
Finally, I am looking forward to the March class when we will investigate tactical items such as search engine optimization and online analytics – with all the great content that the MMPC has to offer my main challenge is making sure that the people who would benefit from reading this content can find it!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Amazon Blogs: Honest Salesmen
The blog that I'm referring to is called Amazon Daily. It contains daily posts on a variety of topics ranging from new books, upcoming albums, new trends in spring wear to hottest electronic items. When I first heard about the idea, my instant reaction was that it would be like a website that shows deals (push-based marketing). However, on visiting this site, all my fears were put to rest. The blog posts are not salesman like at all. It is as if I were reading blogs on a niche website. Although the different posts lack coherency (because Amazon serves all kinds of products), each blog post seemed to come from an individual who is very passionate about the item he/she is talking about. The coherency problem is solved by having a nice categorization of topics on the side bar.
The blogs are strewn with links to Amazon product pages. Clearly, this is to promote traffic to Amazon. And there is no dishonesty in this. The blog itself is hosted on Amazon.com. However, what's interesting is that the blogs contain links to outside Amazon too. For exampe, it contains links to videos on YouTube. Thus, I would say that the blogs that get written are not just to ensure high incoming Amazon traffic. It is perhaps to generate interest in the blog itself. By making the content as rich as possible, Amazon tries to build passion among users in the various products Amazon offers, even if it means that traffic gets directed away from the site. This customer-centric approach to blogs resonates very well with the mission statement of Amazon.com of becoming "the earth's most customer centric company".
Rise of "The Video"
Videos have turned out to be effective in disbursing information because of lots of reasons:
- Compared to a written description, a video clip can convey much more information in a much shorter period of time.
- Internet is full of people who are lazy and don't like to read (like me). Even those who love to read don't mind watching videos. The size of audience, therefore, is just amazingly big.
- The amount of talent or skill needed to convey something in video is much lower than it is in written description.
The next question to ask is : are there particular kinds of communication that are more suited to video than others ? I think our last class on blogs brought up at least one such kind. Any kind of communication that comes from an organization is more effective when done in video. We saw a video by Boeing where they advertised their Dreamliner so effectively. We saw a video by Turbo-Tax where they attempted to change their brand image by associating a hip-hop song with their video. To generalize, I feel that any form of communication where the sender is "broadcasting" information is suited to videos. I am part of a musical band called "Pratidhwani". We used YouTube to release a teaser video of our show that we presented on Feb 21st. Although we didn't track online ticket purchases, this was the first time we sold out before the actual show day. Here's the video if you're interested (our music was much better than what you'll hear in the video).
I want to conclude this post by saying that there are certain forms of communication that are not well suited to videos. Personal blogs or blogs on abstract subjects like psychology are better discussed in words. Videos have this signal-to-noise ratio problem. When the message one is trying to convey is simple, videos are effective. However, for abstract ideas dealing with people's feelings, written blogs are much more effective. Text also allows more active participation, which is important where complex ideas are involved. For example, I couldn't have submitted this post as a video blog :-)
Monday, March 2, 2009
The Importance of Being Honest
I have also seen the popularity of blogs increase over the last few years. Amazon has a whole team devoted to analyzing what blogs are succeeding and how much traffic certain blogs are bringing to the website. Until this class, I’d never really questioned why this was happening. Why are blogs attracting so much attention, when they comprise of nothing more than just long pages of text?
Honesty in a blog is perhaps the best answer I could get. True real life accounts and feelings are much more compelling than made-up stories. They have a higher chance of resonating with people who are interested in the topic being discussed. When people write blogs, they don’t just give out information. They start building a sketch of their own individual self and how that self relates to the topic that they are discussing. As you follow more and more articles from that individual, you build a better picture of the kind of person who is writing that blog. Coherence between that person’s beliefs and his writings starts developing. This coherence is hard to get established if people are not honest about what they are writing. The success of blogs lies in the fact that people have been successful at creating aspects of the personalities on the internet. The truthfulness of these personalities creates strong niches which in turn reinforces the honesty. These strong niches are what businesses target to sell their products or services. So in some sense, internet has managed to productize honesty in the form of blogs.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Get your blog on!
Turns out blogging is not that hard. You just type stuff, and people can read it. Not to shabby.
What a world.
Kirk
What I learned about blogging
So..., when you come home from an all day class to find your dog hasn’t been feeling well and has crapped all over your 9 year old daughter’s room and you spend an hour scooping the poop, scrubbing the rug, and throwing open the windows, and you then head off to your daughter’s buddy’s house to pick her up but you agree to a much needed shot of Tequilla instead -- even though you never drink Tequilla -- with that buddy’s mom and another mom soon joins the two of you so you don’t make it home with your daughter till after 10pm at which point you discover you’ve completely forgotten about that new piano teacher you scheduled and there’s a lovely note asking if everything’s okay and you then open the door to discover the dog still isn’t feeling well and has crapped a second time all over that very same rug you just cleaned…
you have a place to share it all. :)
Or not.
Is that blogging?
Or oversharing?
Or both?
With apologies to Joe, Mike, Ben, and all of my classmates --
Lisa
Friday, February 6, 2009
For your enjoyment and entertainment later on...
http://www.slideshare.net/mobileyouth/industrial-or-social-what-type-of-marketer-are-you-presentation
Blogging was not difficult
Advanced Interactive Marketing Class (Day 3) : Blogs
It was also interesting to see how a company can jump out of its natural image to make itself appear more interesting. "Turbo Tax" rap video was a great example here.
Looking forward to getting involved more with blogging ...
Blogging from 30,000 feet with Joe
Blogging 101
My key takeaways were:
- Disclose your identity
- Write from an honest perspective
- Engage in dialogue with commenters
- Incorporate visuals
This is a good example: http://www.dooce.com/.
Blogging + interesting YouTube.com video
It is important to make the blog interesting and worthwhile.The blog should also be positive in nature, unique and show ones personality!
Throw in videos, pictures etc and this can attract people to your website.
For instance, I thought the following video from YouTube.com was rather interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsOUH_1uAh0
Blogs are cool.
Blogging is a unique form of marketing that allows you to see how influential the written word can be. A brands image can be shaped via blogs and can have a lasting effect on the company. It's also interesting to view a blog as a job given the fact that Heather makes her living off her blog as a mother.
Blogs give you freedom to express yourself and provide an outlet for opinions and ideas.
Blog is powerful.
Blog is also surely a cool things to do, to share with candid, to the point type of comments.
The blog mentioned today was a good surprise to learned such as the site of dooce, dellhell,
fiskateen, etc.
Go see the blogs, enjoy it.
Thanks,
Peter
My re-introduction to blogging
I plan to get back to my blog and make it a priority again because I have tonnes of recipes piled up. They are calling out to me to be posted .
Iam posting today as part of our Marketing class.Thanks Joe for getting the class acquainted to blogging ethics.
What I learned 'bout blogging...
Needless to say, we all had a great time...
Blog Lesson
First blog post about blogging
Blogging is inviting the world into your mind
Blogging 101
Saturday, January 31, 2009
CMO tenure & Interactive Marketing
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Technology Forecast: Successful Advertising in 2009 and Beyond
MIT Enterprise Forum Technology Forecast: Successful Advertising in 2009 and Beyond
Date & Time : January 14, 2009 - 5:00pm - 8:30pm
Location : Hyatt Regency 900 Bellevue Way NEBellevue, WA 98004
The panel will address:
* How are emerging mobile technologies – including location-based services -- changing the world of customer outreach?
* What are micro-ads, and how are they changing the face (or sound) of advertising?
* How can emerging advertising technologies be harnessed to build brand awareness and brand equity in markets increasingly becoming micro-segmented and commoditized?
* Where are media buyers – and venture capitalists – putting their money today?
* In the midst of an economic slump, which advertising technologies and techniques can best help you gain traction in 2009 and beyond?
For more info, see http://www.mitwa.org/catalog/index.cfm?fuseaction=product&theParentId=118&id=817
CU there :)