Live Events Still King in B2B—But Reasons Not So Obvious

Keep your antennae up in the elevator and on the shuttle bus. Make time to engage an introvert

A new study from ABM (The Association of Business Information & Media Companies)  reinforces what many of you suspected, but may have been reluctant to express to your peers. B2B marketers still place a higher value on live events than on any other media channel for lead generation and for promoting new products. Researchers found that 89 percent of B2B marketers considered face-to-face events a “successful” channel for them. Rounding out the top five were: Sponsored white papers (75%), sponsored video (69%), webinars (64%) and e-newsletter advertising (64%). TV, radio, outdoor and mobile brought up the rear, with less than one-in-three marketers advocating their use.

As I head off to one of the biggest annual events in the association world this weekend, it’s hard to argue with the power of face-to-face interaction in this digitally dominated world. But where I’ve personally gotten the most value is not from the trade show floor, planned networking events, “meet-up” destinations or social events—it’s from the chance encounters on hotel and convention center elevators, in the fitness center and especially on the shuttle busses to and from the convention center.

More on that in a minute.

At the end of the day, everyone at an industry or professional conference shares common interests with each other—or else they wouldn’t be going there to network, learn and associate with their peers. They’ve taken time out of their busy schedules (and dollars out of their budgets) to make the commitment to attending. And you never know if that chance encounter will end up being more valuable to your business or career than any of the planned meetings you had on your schedule.

Macro View

Despite a lackluster jobs report, home prices jumped 12.2 percent over this time a year ago, marking the largest annual gain since March of 2006, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case Shiller 20-city home index. Researchers said home values are rising as more buyers are bidding on a relatively tight supply of housing with the prospect of rising mortgage rates on the horizon.

Meanwhile, and index we created of business and entrepreneurship magazines (Fortune, Inc., Entrepreneur, Wired and Fast Company) was down 1.5 percent over this time a year ago according to min/min online data suggested a mixed bag on the B2B advertising front. On the midsize front, Inc. was up 39 percent, while big company Fortune was down over 17 percent. On the entrepreneurial side, Wired was up 9 percent, but Fast Company was down 17 percent year-over year.

Conclusion

You never know who you’re going to run into. But if you don’t get your face out of your screen and your fingers off the keyboard once in a while, you’ll never find out. As Susan Cain, best-selling author of “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Won’t Stop talking,” quipped in her keynote address today at the ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo in Atlanta, “some of the best ideas come from serendipitous interactions.” Long live the serendipity of live events!

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: Live events, serendipity, power of live events, B2B marketing, ABM, Association of Business Information & Media Companies, Case Schiller, Susan Cain, power of introverts, ASAE annual conference

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For B2B, Numbers Point to Signs of Optimism
Don’t wait till after the elections to start making decisions. There ain’t gonna’ be an ‘all clear’ signal.

Several key numbers jumped out at us this week and we think they’re worth heeding for B2B marketers. Remember, your customers are not just executives and trade show attendees; they’re homeowners, consumers and individual investors as well.

Through the end of 2011, the tradeshow industry performed better than the U.S. economy in general, beating even an industry-affiliated organization’s forecast for the year and recorded its eighth consecutive quarter of growth according to Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) President Doug Ducate.

The CEIR index, which takes into account net square footage, attendance, number of exhibitors and revenue, found that the industry grew by 2.7 percent in 2011.Attendance was the indicator that saw the largest jump, from 2.4 percent in 2010 to 3.4 percent last year.

OUR TAKE: Considering the long lead time involved in the live events business, we’re probably just now seeing signs of optimism that first surfaced in 2010. Like CEIR, we predict event stronger numbers for the live events business as digital fatigue has worn on business professionals who now crave face-to-face interaction even more, albeit selectively, to close deals and consummate relationships.

Shows in some industry sector saw particularly strong growth in 2011. Among them were business-related exhibitions, including those involving machinery (11.2 percent overall); communication and information technology (8.1 percent); and transportation (5.7 percent).

Continuing to lag furthest behind other sectors was that with shows involving building, construction and real estate (which experienced a 5.3-percent decline in 2011).

Macro view

Let’s start with housing. Last week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes rose more than expected in August to a two-year high, an additional sign the U.S. housing market is firming up in the second half of the year. Purchases of previously owned houses increased 7.8 percent to an annual rate of almost 5 million, the most since May 2010, NAR said. Another report showed that construction began on more single-family homes last month than at any time in the past two years. The median price of an existing home climbed 9.5 percent to $187,400 from $171,200 in August 2011.

OUR TAKE: This confidence should lead to a rise in psychological feelings of wealth, which will lift consumer confidence and spending. We were also encouraged by a couple of things: the housing market should similar gains across ALL regions of the country. What’s more, first-time buyers made up 31 percent of the total compared with the average of 40 percent to 45 percent seen in normal years, which means, longstanding homeowners ARE feeling able to unload their homes and either trade up or scale down as their needs would dictate in a normal economy.

Construction companies too are noting better business conditions. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence climbed in September to the highest level since June 2006. Work began on 5.5 percent more single-family houses in August, taking starts to a 535,000 annual rate, the fastest since April 2010, figures from the Commerce Department also showed today.

Investor confidence in U.S. capital markets rises, doubts remain about overseas markets

The number of investors with at least some confidence in U.S. capital markets has increased slightly since the end of last year, according to the Center for Audit Quality, a public policy organization. Almost two thirds (65 percent) of investors with at least $10,000 in investments have at least some confidence in the market, an increase of 4 percent since 2011, says the Sixth Annual Main Street Investor Survey taken of 1,003 investors. By contrast, their confidence in capital markets outside the United States fell by 8 percent to 35 percent. For U.S. investors, the CAQ survey found 64 percent feel their personal financial situation will stay the same, while 25 percent feel it will improve over the next year. The four top economic concerns investors have are not having enough money for retirement, not being able to afford health care, not being able to maintain their standard of living and losing their jobs. Conclusion As American humorist, Evan Esnar once quipped, “Statistics is the only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions.” We like to think of stats as another way of quantifying what’s in your gut. Too much business activity is hung up in wait-and-see mode until the November elections conclude. We strongly urge you to make important decisions NOW for 2013 and beyond. By the time the dust clears, your competitors and best prospects will be far down the road ahead of you. And you’ll be nursing your sorrows at some dingy dive in the town of ShouldaWouldaCoulda. VCRGD6XDXT3T

TAGS: Center for Exhibition Industry Research, CEIR, Doug Ducate, National Association of Realtors, CAQ, Center for Audit Quality, housing prices, B2B marketing, National Association of Homebuilders Wells Fargo Index, Evan Esnar

Tablets Continue to Pull Business Prospects Away from Their Laptops
Learning to embrace the dance of the unfinished


According to IDG Research, one in eight (12%) iPad users already say their device has completely replaced their traditional laptop, while another 54 percent said tablets have partially replaced their laptops. What’s more, nearly half (44%) of marketers believe tablets will have a high or very high impact on laptop use in 2012.

The opinions of marketers on the future of laptops are divided though, says the report. The majority sit somewhere in the middle, with 37 percent suggesting it will have a high impact and 37 percent indicating it will have some impact.

IDG’s analysis concludes that tablets are widely used, and four out of five (79%) iPad owning professionals always use them on the move, is all the evidence marketers should need to target this medium.

Getting comfortable with things being unfinished

Blogger and futurist Seth Godin, had a great post recently about the never-ending state of our work lives. “There's always one more tweet to make, post to write, words with friends move to complete,” he explained. “There's one more bit of email, one more lens you can construct, one more comment you can respond to. If you want to, you can be never finished."


For the marketer, the freelancer and the entrepreneur, Godin observed, it’s not like how we were brought up--trained to finish our homework, our food, our errands and our chores. You’re never really done and you have to embrace that.

Conclusion

We may not have time to smell the roses anymore, but at least take time to notice them. It’ll be Labor Day before you know it. Don’t kick yourself again wondering where the summer has gone.
As Godin said: “Today, we're never finished, and that's okay. It's a dance, not an endless grind.”



Conclusion

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TAGS: Seth Godin, IDG research, tablets, iPad, replacing laptops, B2B marketing

Economy Hinting at Double Dip, But Hiring Strong in Tech, Financial Arena

Big companies more likely than small business to weather latest storm. Also, why great writing still matters for B2B. How this impacts you.

It may be too soon to predict a return to the days of “irrational exuberance,” but you have to scratch your head when social media companies with questionable financials are leading the IPO market back to life and the equity markets end a six-week slide yesterday because retail sales only went down by 0.2 percent.

Most of us are a lot smarter than we were in the late 1990s, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be lured into the financial equivalent of Weinerian temptation. We know it’s wrong, but we can’t help ourselves. Or you can put a positive spin on this less-than-rational exuberance. How? Maybe we just want this protracted downturn to end so badly that we’ll do just about anything to jumpstart it. Can you say Obamanomics?

Food and gas prices remain high, unemployment is inching back over 9 percent and Americans’ equity in their homes has shrunk to nearly 38 percent, nearing the lowest percentage since World War II, according to a Federal Reserve report this week. For some perspective, it was about 61 percent in 2001. What’s more, home prices have fallen by a third since their 2006 peak, reaching their lowest level since 2003, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of U.S. home prices through May 31. What’s more, the Federation of Independent Business, a trade group representing small business in America, just released its worse monthly hiring survey in eight months. If you sell to small business, those budgets are likely to remain tighter than a portly New Jersey Governor’s belt buckle for some time to come.

Despite this generally depressing news, hiring in the technology and financial services industries, where many of you are engaged has been robust. The U.S marketing director for a well-known online career site told me last week that both job postings and hiring of seasoned execs in financial services is coming back strong and is “white hot” for those in the technology sector. Also, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed again in April which means that’s now two consecutive months in which American companies sold more goods overseas than were imported. Also, last week’s Business Roundtable CEO survey showed that larger companies are more likely to expand their workforces than shrink them in the next six months. Why? They’re more likely to be sitting on piles of cash, they have better access to credit and more exporting capabilities.

Our Take: If you sell to consumers, then there’s still rough sledding ahead, because lack of job security and inability to use homes as ATM machines will keep your customers tight-gripped on their wallets and purses. But, in the B2B sector, companies are looking at the long-term picture, as evidenced by strong 6-figure hiring in the tech and financial sector and bolstering infrastructure and capital expenditures. For instance, a new Commerce Department report said U.S. companies sold more computers, heavy machinery and telecommunications equipment in April, especially to foreign markets. That pushed exports to a record high for the second straight month and narrowed the trade deficit for the first time since December.

Great writing still matters for business marketers

Today’s Wall Street Journal had a great piece by Droga5 chairman, Davi Droga, about the importance of great copy writing in today’s short-attention span, twitter era. “The truth is that good copywriting paved the way for the tweet long before Twitter was actually invented—but who needs all those characters?” he asks.

Social media impact on business

Researchers are finding that social media is great for generating exposure for your business, increasing traffic to your website and improving your search engine rankings, but not so effective for generating leads, increasing sales or reducing marketing expenses. A new study of 3,342 marketers conducted by Social Media Examiner found that while 88 percent of respondents said social media generated exposure for their business, 72 percent said it increased traffic and 62 percent agreed it helped their search engine rankings. On the flip side, only 43 percent of marketers said social media increased their sales, just 49 percent said it cut marketing costs and 51 percent said it generated quality leads.

Why clarity is the new cool

Finally, we recommend this pithy new post by Forbes Chief Product Officer, Lewis D’Vorkin about the importance of clarity in this hyper-cluttered information age.

“Start with clarity, then come up with cool, he says. “If you don’t, you end up with new but incoherent.” We couldn’t agree more.

As regular readers of this blog know, throughout this economic downturn we haven’t wavered from our position: Be smart, stay the course, keep your marketing and product pipeline full at all times, and you’ll always be ready to pounce on new opportunities. That’s a lot more fun (and financially rewarding) than being a hot idea- or hot IPO) chaser.

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Americans consuming more media, but also more distracted

Smart B2B marketers are embracing the multi-tasking consumer with relevant multi-platform campaigns. Hiring, pay trends bode well for marketers.

New research from Abritron and Edison Media Research indicates that Americans spend about 20 percent more time consuming media (traditional and new media) than they did 10 years ago. Researchers attribute this to the widespread adoption of smartphones and a 26 percent rise in the number of Americans with access to the Internet. Researchers say U.S. consumers now spend 8 hours and 11 minutes per day with radio, TV and the Internet, up from 6 hours and 50 minutes a day in 2001. But are they really paying attention commensurately.

Our take? As a whole, these numbers are quite plausible, but the amount of time consumers and business decision-makers are giving media their undivided attention has likely gone down. Younger consumers are particularly oriented to multi-tasking and the savviest marketers have learned to embrace this trend, rather than fight it.

Keep this in mind as you pore over recent reports from a number of highly reputable pundits and research firms who’ve been lamenting the apparent mismatch between media consumption patterns and media dollars received. Despite the projection that online advertising will increase its share of US major media ad spending by more than 10 percentage points between 2009 and 2015, spending on digital, including internet and mobile, has not yet risen to match consumption patterns, according to research firm eMarketer.

Among the major media of television, Internet, radio, mobile, newspapers and magazines, US adults still spend the most time each day with TV. Researchers at eMarketer estimate that adults watched television for 42.9 percent of the time they spent each day with those media in 2010, and ad dollars align closely, at 42.7 percent. The Internet, by contrast, took up 25.2 percent of adults’ daily media time in 2010, but received just 18.7 percent of US ad spending.

“Those of us focused on the internet channel have complained for years that it hasn’t been getting its fair share of media dollars based on time spent,” said eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey in a statement. “However, the precise extent of that imbalance has been shrouded in mystery and exaggeration. Now we know—it’s a gap of 6.5 percentage points.”

Allen Mutter, author of the popular Newsosaur blog observes that newspapers have lost nearly half of their ad revenues in the last five years, yet some analysts believe they still are getting three times more advertising than their readership deserves.

Because the allocation of ad-market share is a zero-sum game, print has to be benefitting at someone's expense. And two notable victims, in this case, are Internet and mobile advertising.

As Mutter notes, the most egregious mismatch discovered by the eMarketer study found that only 0.5 percent of advertising goes to mobile phones even though people spend more than 8 percent of their media time using them. With 25 percent of media mindshare devoted to the Internet and barely 19 percent of ad dollars going to the web, it is being shortchanged, too. This is good news for newspaper publishers because it proves that they have done an excellent job to date of convincing marketers of the value of their medium. Yes, they’ve cornered a disproportionate share of advertising in comparison to other media. We’ll have to see how the pay wall experiment at The New York Times and other leading dailies plays out.

Our take? We salute the time the Times for taking bold action, but it’s just too hard to get savvy consumers to pay for something they’ve been used to getting for free. The Times’ tiered subscription offering is just too confusing—both for subscribers, casual readers and their own customer service department too handle right now—and that will have costly bottom line ramifications down the road. We also expect savvy readers to go in via the backroom of blogs and social networking sites to get the NYT articles they want without being subject to a direct pay-per-read tax. There are simply too many other places to get one news in real-time for free.

Hiring, pay trends bode well for marketers

Companies are shelling out for seasoned marketers with e-commerce skills according to executive search firm, Crandall Associates. VP’s of e-Commerce are commanding $113K to over $200K with Internet marketing directors and interactive creative directors not far behind. What’s more, about 20 percent of those senior marketing folks expect to be hiring themselves in Q2, says Crandall. Meanwhile, new hiring data from Robert Half Associates says 20 percent of companies are looking to hire those with social media skills and 16 percent are looking to hire those with media services expertise. This data mirrors overall corporate hiring trends. Last week, Business Roundtable’s quarterly survey of CEOs found that 52 percent of companies planned to hire workers in the U.S. over the next six months and just 11 percent said the plan to reduce their workforces. That’s the widest gap hiring versus cutback gap ever recorded in the nine-year history of the survey.

And what kind of social marketing activity demonstrates the best ROI for companies? Almost three in five (59%) companies surveyed by MarketingProfs.com said “Ratings and reviews” provided the most bang for the buck, followed by “Your company/brand community” (56%) and “Your company/brand blog” (48%). These activities outpaced such tactics as “Participating in industry blogs and forums, Facebook, Twitter and Linked In (41% to 28% respectively).

So, it looks like companies are willing to pay more for real talent again instead of hiring what they can get at recession-era bargain rates. We’re betting that the next wave of high performing marketers are not only those with in-demand skills today, but those who can adapt their skills—and campaigns—to meet an ever-changing set of market conditions.

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Time Warner Leverages SI Swimsuit Issue to Launch All-Access Subscription Model

Watch out for ‘brain drain’ at your company as economy improves

In case you somehow missed it, the annual midwinter Oogle-palooza for the publishing industry, aka. the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue hit newsstands, mailboxes and inboxes this week and once again managed to raise eyebrows and male pulse rates. But, this year the buzz wasn’t just about the risqué swim attire, which included see-through suits, body paint suits, and one “suit” which consisted of nothing more than a strategically placed kayak paddle. According to Bloomberg Sports (see video report), Time Warner is using its billion-dollar Swimsuit Issue franchise as a launching pad for its new “all-access” subscription model. Here’s the bet—raise subscription prices 23 percent in hopes that subscribers (and advertisers) will buy into SI’s full range of content delivery platforms including digital, online, mobile and tablet (other than Apple-i).

Our take? Even without Apple on board, the all-access model is a good call will gain traction throughout the publishing business as some content – action sports, celebrities, how-to and yes near-naked women—is simply more compelling with audio and video streaming than words on a page. However, we don’t like the strategy of charging subscribers—and presumably advertisers, more for the privilege. It shouldn’t be treated as a premium offering so much as a must-have for any publisher hoping to survive and stay relevant 11 years into the new century.

Just as most publishers are still figuring out newsstand sales by the number of returns they receive nine months later and are still sending annoying renewal notices—rather than billing subscribers’ credit cards via negative option—they need to get out of the quaint mindset of being publishers and realize they’re competing against bloggers, social networks, software companies, mobile apps, cable companies and telecom’s for subscriber/advertiser mindshare. It’s a faster, more cut-throat game than they’re used to—with smarter, hungrier players who generally pay their staffs better to come up with ideas.

Producer price index hits highest level in 27 months

On Wednesday, the Labor Department reported that producer prices in the United States rose in January. The core index, which excludes the volatile food and energy sectors, rose 0.5 percent, the biggest jump in 27 months, the agency said. Yesterday, The Fed announced it expected economic growth of 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent this year, up from the previous forecast of 3 percent to 3.6 percent. Even Fed head Ben Bernanke said “the economy is straightening out” but joblessness could remain high for several more years as companies continue to post profits with a smaller workforce than they had before.

Brain drain on the horizon at your company?

Our take? Despite the lousy job and housing market, the latest economic growth report, coupled with the recent rise in consumer and producer prices shows we’re essentially operating in a non-recessionary climate. It’s hardly a go-go era, but essential staples for households and businesses are being purchased on an ongoing basis and of course, advertising and marketing spend will have to grow to lift demand.

Here in the B2B media business, we don’t put too much stake in the jobs reports. Our industry has always been a fluid one based on ideas and contacts—not raw output or years of service you’ve put in at the same company or government organization. We’ve always relied on a deep pool of experienced independent contractors to get things done and there’s more than enough work to go around—it just doesn’t fit into the W2+B (steady paycheck, plus benefits) hiring model.

What’s more, the lift in “intention to hire” is the biggest in 11 years according to researchers at Bernhart Associates who conducted a survey of digital and direct marketers.

As New York Times columnist Bob Herbert pointed out last week, businesses have figured out how to prosper without putting the unemployed back to work in jobs that pay well and offer decent benefits. Corporate profits and the stock markets are way up. Businesses are sitting atop mountains of cash. Put people back to work? Forget about it. Has anyone bothered to notice that much of those profits are the result of aggressive payroll-cutting —companies making do with fewer, less well-paid and harder-working employees?

Unfortunately, Bob (and corporate America), you have to look at the long-term viability of “doing more with less.” Just as your customer prospect pipeline dries up when you cut back too far on your advertising and marketing programs, too many workers who’ve been doing double- and triple-duty to hold onto their jobs during the downturn are simply getting exhausted and not seeing commensurate increases in compensation or status for holding the fort down during the depths of the recession. They’re out the door as soon as the first decent opportunity comes along. Many organizations will be facing a serious “experience vacuum” as knowledgeable workers bolt for the doors and take their smarts, contacts and ideas they were too afraid (or disgruntled to share) with them.

It will take years for the influx of newbies to get up to speed and become productive. Let’s hope you’re treating your best people as well as you can right now. Now that the economy’s on the rebound, your toughest test is yet to come. Gotta go now. They just posted behind the scenes videos about the making of the Swimsuit Issue. The Twittersphere’s abuzz with rumors of wardrobe malfunctions.


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Internet Viewership Catches Up to TV

Income still a factor in digital divide. Twitter use overstated?

While many have predicted that the Internet would inevitably become the most-watched communications medium some day, a new Forrester Research study confirms that day may be already here. The average U.S. household watches 13 hours weekly of traditional broadcast TV, equaling the same amount of hours spent online, according to Forrester. The report, released Monday, bases the findings on Forrester's survey of more than 30,000 consumers.

As you might expect, Gen Yers, ages 18 to 30, spent equal or more time with the Internet, and for the first time, Gen Xers ages 31 to 44 followed suit. Younger Boomers, ages 45 to 54, also now spend an equal amount of time with both media. Researchers said the amount of time spent watching TV has remained constant in the past five years, but Internet use has risen 121 percent since 2005.

Our take? It’s not so much the device, it’s the convenience factor of the web and the feeling of control. Consumers (and business decision makers) aren’t going to be told what to watch and when. They’ll consume it on their own terms--if you're relevant.

Look at mobile for instance. The percentage of mobile users who report texting on a monthly basis jumped from 61 percent from 54 percent, with an increasing amount of older users communicating beyond phone calls. In fact, one in four online mobile owners now log on to the mobile Internet. More than one-third of Gen Yers online mobile consumers connect at least monthly. About 200 million consumers now access their Facebook pages through a mobile device globally, according to Forrester.

The Forrester study found nearly one-quarter of U.S. interactive marketers plan to pilot mobile search programs in the next 12 months. Meanwhile, as Online Media Daily reported yesterday, the convenience of “search anywhere, anytime” has become a major attraction for mobile users. About 16 percent of online mobile users now use their mobile phone to check news, sports, or weather, and 13 percent look up directions or maps. When Forrester analyzed individuals who access the mobile Internet at least weekly, the numbers skyrocketed to 60 percent and 52 percent, respectively. Researchers indicate news, stocks and sports scores are what they’re seeking most although we suggest they’re not looking at music, event tickets and adult entertainment. Most telling for us is that the heaviest mobile users are most likely male and college-educated, and their average household income is more than $92,000.

So the web, for all its open access, democratization of the world’s information remains tilted toward the more affluent and better educated members of the populace. Internet usage still tilts toward the affluent and the well-educated.

Household income remains the greatest predictor of Internet use for Americans, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. In both their access to and use of the Internet and a suite of other technological devices and applications, households earning more than $75,000 a year significantly outpace lower-earning households, particularly those making less than $30,000 a year.

While 95 percent of high-income households use the Internet at home in some fashion, just 57 percent of the poorest do. The well-off are also more likely to own cellphones, computers, e-readers and other entertainment devices.

Unsurprisingly, the wealthy engage in online commerce and search for health information more often. However, while there is relatively little disparity across income brackets for consumption of television and print news sources, the richest households are more than twice as likely as the poorest to read online news.

“The correlation between income and participation in many Internet activities might be expected,” said Jim Jansen, a senior fellow at Pew. “What is surprising is the scale. It really shows the impact that income has on leveraging the advantages of the Internet.”

OMG! Who uses twitter?

A new study released this week by the Pew Research Center found that only 8 percent of Americans who were active on the Internet are enthusiastic users of twitter and only about 2 percent were extremely active/daily users. This compares to 74 percent of adult Americans who actively use the Internet. Among the highly active, they check in several times a day to see primarily what new content has been posted. As expected, the heaviest users were techies, marketers and young urbanites, but surprisingly, Latinos and African Americans were twice as likely as whites to use it – Pew did not have an explanation for that and that would sure balance the research pointing to the affluent hogging their share of the world’s bandwidth.

So, what’s all this mean for B2B marketers? It means your customers (and their bosses) need a compelling story about what makes your product/service so great. You need a story that works as well in words and pictures as it does in video form and on a mobile device. You need a story that’s stays fresh and relevant, but at the same time, can be told as well next Thursday or three weeks from today as it can right now.

Next time we’ll talk about thought leadership content that’s dynamic and real-time yet has sustainable shelf life. It ain’t easy, but what really is these days?


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Ad spending to end 2010 on uptick. Modest growth projected for 2011

More ways to reach consumers. Harder to connect with them.

Up, down and sideways. How’s that for clarity? Forecasters speaking at yesterday’s UBS global media and communications conference in NYC predicted that 2010 would end with an increase ranging from 5 to 7 percent in worldwide ad spending over last year. For example, ad revenue for Time Warner's publishing unit was up 5 percent through September after declines of 10 percent and 22 percent in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The total number of ad pages industry-wide declined 1.6 percent through September after declines of 11.7 percent in 2008 and 25.6 percent in 2009, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

Time Warner announced Monday a reorganization of its sales and marketing units to make it easier for marketers to buy across media properties and platforms. Industry wide U.S. media companies and ad companies have been benefiting from an uptick in spending on TV and Internet ads. Spending on TV ads in the U.S. is expected to climb 7.7 percent to $56.5 billion in 2010, while outlays on Internet ads are expected to grow 13.8 percent to $23.1 billion, according to Zenith Optimedia.

Spending on digital ads remains one of the bright spots in the business, ad executives say. GroupM said it expects global ad spending on Internet ads to overtake spending on newspaper ads at some point in 2012.

As for 2011, most forecasters at yesterday’s UBS media conference expected muted growth in 2011—something in the 4 to 5 percent range as there will not be a plethora of biannual or quadrennial sports/political events to give the ad economy a boost.

As Danielle Sacks noted in Fast Company recently, the explosion of search, geotargeting, the iPad, mobile apps and other platforms give marketers an unprecedented number of tools to work with to pinpoint messaging to target customers. But all those options—which we feel are still in the “experimental phase” for many media decision makers—mean more fragmented media budgets and fragmented consumer attention. Ironically, there have never been more ways to reach consumers, but it’s never been harder to connect with them.

Whether you’re a media owner, B2B marketer or analyst, here’s our take for 2011. The opportunities and dollars are out there—and so are your customers--but we’re in a very opportunistic short-term buying cycle. Customers are armed with more ammunition than ever before. They’re going to be extremely choosy before committing to “sweaty palms” purchasing decisions. As a result, we expect media buyers will be constantly tweaking and revising their budgets.

The days of the 12-month or 24-month “schedule” are fading fast in the rearview mirror. You can still get that business over the same time horizon, but you’re going to have to keep winning that business every couple of months.

If you’re in B2B then we advise you to follow the 4 Bs: Be fast. Be smart. Be agile. Be adaptable.

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Thanksgiving Food for Thought

Stop your bellyaching. Reduce restrictions on education, science and entrepreneurship and let high potential startups get big fast.

If you’re going to a Thanksgiving gathering of more than three or four people this week, chances are the dinner table conversation will eventually veer toward politics and the economy. Trust us on this. The football games. All your nieces and nephews are way above average in everything they do, and Aunt Mildred’s gall bladder operation will get tiresome after an hour or so.

While your relatives are moaning about their bloated tummies and underfed 401(k)s, try this for fun. Remind them that (a) we have a lot to be thankful for and (b) economists have predicted 27 of the last three recessions and the Great Economic Disruption we’re still struggling to emerge from wasn’t technically a recession--much less a depression.

Say what?

That’s right. It’s just been a period of extremely “slow growth” according to Forbes Publisher, Rich Karlgaard’s latest blog post

Now you might get a fork in the eye from a family member who’s recently lost a job, a home, been transferred far away or been forced into early retirement. But Kaarlgard argues we’ve been so accustomed to economic growth rates of four percent or more, that when it gets down to one or two percent, it actually feels like a contraction.

Since 2008 the U.S. economy has performed slightly better than flat. In 2008, 2009 and (projected) 2010, the U.S. GDP was (and is), $14.3 trillion, $14.2 trillion and $14.6 trillion.

Experts say the American economy has averaged 3.3 percent growth annually since World War II. But even small changes in GDP cause big swings in stock market values, investor animal spirits, and consumer sentiment, says Karlgaard. That’s why 4 percent growth feels like a boom, 2 percent growth feels like a recession, and flat feels like the 1930s. Karlgaard argues that America is in a “growth recession” which is anemic growth of less than three percent, but still growth statistically speaking.

The Kauffman Foundation, says the key to getting the economy booming again is directly correlated to startups that get big.
Kauffman’s Carl Schramm has said on several occasions that “the single most important contributor to a nation’s economic growth is the number of startups that grow to a billion dollars in revenue within 20 years.” Schramm says the U.S. economy, given its large size, needs to incubate 75 to 125 billion-dollar startups per year to feed the country’s post World War II rate of growth. Faster growth requires even more successful startups.

While the strength of the Forune 1000 certainly helps the overall economy, entrepreneurship has always been the key. But, even though small business is credited with creating the bulk of new jobs, Schramm says that’s not enough either.
He says we need an “X-factor” –a hundred or so companies, per year, that launch, find a market, execute, scale, learn, adjust and sail over the billion-dollar mark within two decades. They don’t have to be Googlesque. But they’ve got to be bigger than Mom, Pop and Uncle Joe.

If we’re going to get those 100 stars to the launching pad, Schramm says we better get serious about removing the tax and regulatory barriers for these kinds of startups with the potential to scale.

For example: how about any immigrant who graduates from a U.S. university should get a green card along with his/her diploma? So should any immigrant who starts a business that grows to more than 5 people on the payroll. Ambitious immigrants, disproportionately, create growth companies.

Chances are there’s a family elder around your Thanksgiving table that fits this description. They may not know an app from a nap, but they probably had super-size helpings of courage (and cajones) and didn't stop looking for new customers and serving their existing customers just because times got tough. We guarantee you’ll learn something.

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Device Owners More Comfortable With Mobile Advertising

The corporate and affluent set use social media, but rules change when time is a more precious commodity than money. Embedded links make case studies, white papers come to life.

Late last week, the research firm Nielsen Company, released a summary version of its survey of more than 5,000 consumers who already own a tablet computer, eReader, netbook, media player or smartphone.

When it comes to advertising, 57 percent of iPad owners -- and 59 percents of connected devices users generally -- show a willingness to accept advertising in return for free access. That said, acceptance of ads should not be mistaken for engagement with ads. Almost half of iPad owners (48%) and 44 percent of connected device owners expressed a neutral attitude toward seeing ads on their gadgets. Neutral meaning that like broadcast television users, they “don’t particularly enjoy” seeing the ads, but will still tolerate them to get the content free of charge.

Neilsen researchers said iPad owners indicated a greater likelihood to engage with ads they find interesting than iPhone users or connected device owners as a whole. And it's not necessarily because of splashier ads on the tablet. For example, 40 percent of iPad users said they are more likely to click on ads that are simple text ads compared to 25 percent of iPhone and all connected device users. At the same time, 46 percent of iPad owners said they enjoy ads with interactive features versus 26 percent of iPhone users and 27 percent of overall connected device owners.
We tend to agree with Online Media Daily who weighed in: “Perhaps in part because of the novelty, iPad users just appear to be more into ads now. That translates into higher conversions. After viewing an ad, iPad users are also more likely to make a purchase either via a PC or in a physical store.”

The Affluent Like Social Media, Too

A new survey from SEI Networks found that seven out of ten people with net worth of $5 million or more are on Facebook or a similar social media site. That proportion is significantly higher than the population at large, with 61 percent of U.S. adults using social networks according to Pew Research Center.

Among the 70 percent who reported using social networks, half said they use Facebook, 37 percent said they visit YouTube, and 35 percent use LinkedIn. Researchers said the high proportion of wealth people using social media is especially noteworthy because these individuals tend to skew older than the general population, defying the conventional wisdom that older adults don't use social media as much as younger people.

Should high-end and B2B advertisers plunge into social media?

Yes and no. First of all, we think the usage of social networking may be directionally accurate, but among affluent decision makers (both at home and at their jobs) our experience is that LinkedIn (professional networking site) is probably getting much higher regular usage than Facebook and Youtube for important information exchange instead of entertainment. As SEI points out, the high penetration of social networks among the pretty rich doesn't necessarily translate into frequent use, simply because these affluent individuals often don't have the time, according to SEI. Less than one in five (17.4%) of respondents said they use social media on a daily basis, compared to 38% of the population at large. Separately, new research from Spectrem Group showed that the most popular careers among individuals heading households worth $5 million or more are senior corporate executives, business owners and physicians or dentists -- occupations which don't leave much time for idle Facebook surfing.

Digital agency Whitehorse says in a recent report that 42 percent of B2B marketers now have people working at least part time on social media activities. But, executive buy in is still lagging behind (36 percent of B2B marketers in the Whitehorse survey says there’s still “low executive interest.”


3 emerging trends in corporate use of social media

Jesse Stenchek’s Smart Blog on Social Media had a nice piece today on three emerging trends in corporate social media: reaching out to customers, remembering who’s in charge and no single department controls social media.

Embedded links make case studies, white papers come to life. Just keep em short.

Surprise findings from an Eccola Media survey of 500 B2B decision makers and influencers found that white papers and a case studies are still attracting their attention. The decrease in consumption of written content in digital form was replaced by an increase in downloading and printing of written content. By including links to media files in your thought leadership content, there’s a 93 percent chance that buyers click through and 80 percent of the time, influencers will say the media files favorably increased the value of that content.

What’s the optimal length for a white paper these days? You guessed it, six pages, not 20 and always include an executive summary. We also recommend including “key take-ways” at the begging of each chapter or section. What’s the biggest impediment to white paper adoption. “Poor writing,” according to Eccola who advises marketers to leave the technical writing to the writers, not the techies. Amen to that.

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Accelerating in a stalled economy?

HP likely to be Hurd-ing for a while, but business spending on equipment and software among few bright spots in sluggish new economic report. Companies investing for the future, but spending more on infrastructure than on people. Are you seizing the day or still hunkering down?

I ran into a neighbor of mine on the beach yesterday who thought I still toiled for a high brow financial publication. “So are we out of this thing or not?” he asked me, after mentioning his plans to subdivide his property and start building on both lots – both “scaled down” versions of his current abode. He’s a teacher at an upscale private school and his wife works in a stable healthcare organization. So while neither occupation is as “recession-proof” as they’ve led themselves to believe, they’re feeling pretty good about life right now.

“How the heck should I know if we’re out of this economic S--storm?!” I thought to myself, since nothing I could say was going to dissuade him from his renovation plans. But, then thought I better respond with something a little more scholarly in case anyone else was listening in. I took a deep breath, admired the sailboats and kayaks frolicking on the water and came up with this pearl of wisdom: ”It all depends,” I said. “Depends on what?” he replied, with some impatience.

I said it depends on whether you think things are getting better or whether you think things are getting worse. Overall personal incomes dropped nearly two percent last year, according to US Department of Commerce stats and my neighbor and I live in one of the five wealthiest -- but hardest hit metro areas in the country (see stats)

My neighbor's obviously pretty optimistic about the future and that’s my point. He may not be earning a king's ransom, but his kids go to an elite private school for free. He's got summer's free, doesn't commute far and his wife's doing well, too.

People and companies who think things are getting better are hitting the ground running with expansion plans, they’re hiring, they’re pulling the trigger on delayed purchases, refinancing their mortgages etc. with the thought that “things may never be this cheap again for a long, long time.”

At my neighbor’s elite school, he said they haven’t lost a single family during the recession, “but they’re sure re-thinking that country club membership.” At the other end of the spectrum, we know have close to 2 million people going on 99 weeks of unemployment benefits and that’s not counting the discouraged, early retired, independent contractors, etc. which is probably three to four times that number.

Switch gears to Middle America. WalMart’s still doing well (Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal year 2011 were $99.1 billion, up six percent from a comparable quarter last year), but Nascar events that continually sold out in the middle of the decade drone on in front of acres and acres of empty seats. Nielsen says Nascar’s TV ratings are down 25 percent 2005 Nascar merchandise sales are down 23 percent from its 2006 peak according to The Licensing Letter. Consumers saved a whopping 6.4 percent of the after-tax income in June, according to a new report. It was one to two percent before the recession, and for most of the Baby Boom generation’s adult lives.

They don’t see any improvement from September 2008, when most folks think we officially went into the tank, and they’re hoarding cash like there’s no tomorrow. Millions of homeowners would unload their homes tomorrow if anyone would actually buy em. Millions of employees still lucky enough to have their jobs are fed up with being paid the same as they were five years ago, despite handling double the workload and three times the stress. They’d leave in a heartbeat if there was anywhere else to go.

So it all depends on whether you think things are get better at a better rate, or things are getting worse at a worse rate.

On Friday, HP’s remarkable turnaround was derailed temporarily by sexual harassment allegations against CEO, Mark Hurd. The company’s stock price took a 10 percent hit on the news, but the company will find a way to shake it off, stay focused and get back on track in the same matter of fact way it issued Friday’s press release about Hurd’s termination.

Outside the corner office, the U.S. economy lost 131,000 jobs in July, but that number was distorted as the government let go 143,000 temporary Census workers during the month. The more closely watched private payrolls numbers were also disappointing, showing just a 71,000 increase, less than the 100,000 that economists expected. To make matters worse, the June data were revised lower to a loss of 221,000 jobs from a previously reported 125,000. But the official unemployment rate improved to 9.5 percent, which is a few ticks less pathetic than 9.7 percent last month.

Great. So, things really are improving you say? Not so fast.

Ben “the Bummer” Bernanke, said last Monday that while the U.S. economy continues to grow at a moderate pace – 2.4 percent in Q2, down from 3.7 percent in Q1 -- significant restraints remain on the recovery. In prepared remarks, The Fed Chairman said the U.S. had a "considerable way to go to achieve a full recovery in our economy, and many Americans are still grappling with unemployment, foreclosure and lost savings."

Companies spending on equipment, processes – not people

But, the government report showed a bright spot continuing in the economy: the growth of business spending on equipment and software. This spending continued to surge, increasing by 21.9 percent in the second quarter, compared with a 20.4 percent rise in the first three months. The figures highlight the contrast in the economy between high company profits and a persistently feeble jobs market keeping consumers at bay.

Many management and turnaround consultants I’ve talked to said business has never been better. And if you’re selling productivity tools and processes, things are looking pretty rosy too. So if you’re in the business of helping organizations do more with less – you’re liking this long-term state of flux and uncertainty. But, if you’re trying to get in, stay in or sell to an organization who’s trying to do more with less, than it’s kind of a sucky time.

So if you’re trying to reach B2B decision-makers then we recommend you hit it as hard as possible right now as we’re about to enter the Q4 selling season. There could be several years of pent up demand unleashing itself between now and year-end and you don’t want to be kicking yourself this time next year wishing you had made one more phone call to that VP or Purchasing, or sent one more e-mail blast to that Sr. Manager of Technology or tried one more time to get that white paper over to the Web marketing manager who asked for it two months ago, even though they said budgets were frozen? And what about that Webinar you scrapped mid-summer, because you thought too many thought influencers would be out of the office? Could you have just blown a chance to make the sale of the year in order to save a few bucks in your marketing budget?

When it comes to long-term purchase decisions, you never know if it's six time you touch a prospect, the ninth time or the 12th time that will do the trick.

If things are so bad, then how come business magazine ad pages are up 40 percent at Forbes from this time a year ago (Source; Mediaweek or 36 percent at Wired or 33 percent at Inc?

As we’ve been trumpeting all summer, we’re fast approaching the tipping point in which the “Opportunity Seizers” will be zipping past the “Hunker Downers” and the “Shoulda-Woulda-Coulda’s.”

Which train will you be on?


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Farewell and Good Riddance to the Decade of Disruption

‘A comedy of errors, except it wasn’t funny.’ Are days of free content over? Is there a reliable compass for B2B marketers?

As New York Jets coach, Rex Ryan quipped after his team’s painful blunder-filled November loss to Jacksonville: “It was a comedy of errors, but it wasn’t funny.” That summed up the year 2009 and the first decade of the new millennium for that matter. The decade started with the bursting of the .com bubble, followed by 9/11 terrorist attacks, several military quagmires in remote corners of the globe, a credit-fueled economic expansion that finally collapsed on itself and a painful unraveling of the U.S. economy whose wrath has not been seen since the Great Depression. More than one in 10 American workers are out of work (vs. four percent at the beginning of the decade), millions of homeowners face foreclosure and our homeland security still has major holes as evidenced by Christmas Day airline bombing plot in Detroit.

After record setting volatility in the U.S. financial markets, most major indices ended the decade slightly lower than they began it. The S&P 500 index for example, returned minus 0.8 percent on a 10-year annualized basis. While investors in U.S. equities didn’t really lose much on paper, they failed to keep pace with Treasury bills and the inflation rate, which is hardly worth the risk and anxiety they endured for their trouble.

Is there hope? Coach Ryan’s Jets miraculously found their bearings down the homestretch, flummoxed the odds makers and sneaked into the NFL playoffs. May the rest of us be so lucky in 2010.

“The mood is pretty optimistic in the way that you if you’re nearly killed in a car accident, you’ve got a renewed positive outlook on life,” Sunil Dhaliwal of Boston-based Battery Venture Partners told the New York Times this week.

One tough decade

“The oughts (the "uh-ohs"?) were a tough decade on a macro level, quipped blogger Seth Godin. “Front page news events will give the textbooks plenty to write about in the years to come. But on a micro level, on a personal level, this was a decade filled with opportunity. The Internet transformed our lives forever. Opportunities were created (and many were taken advantage of). And, like every decade, just about everyone missed it. Just about everyone hunkered down and did their job or did what they were told or did what they thought they were supposed to, and just about everyone got very little as a result.”
A December study by the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press, found few Americans have fond memories of the past decade. By roughly two-to-one, more say they have a generally negative rather than a generally positive impression of the past 10 years. This stands in stark contrast to the public's recollection of other decades in the past half-century. When asked to look back on the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, positive feelings outweigh negative in all cases.

Happy to put the 2000s behind them, most Americans are optimistic that the 2010s will be better. Nearly six in ten (59%) say they think the next decade will be better than the last for the country as a whole, though roughly a third (32%) think things will be worse. Just about every age group, except the Baby Boomers, is optimistic about the next decade.

Technology and social networking: friend or foe?

The majority of U.S. consumers see cell phones, the Internet and e-mail as changes for the better, and most also view specific changes such as handheld internet devices and online shopping as beneficial trends, according the Pew study. Most see increasing racial and ethnic diversity as a change for the better, as well as increased surveillance and security measures and the broader range of news and entertainment options.

The 2000-2009 era was clearly the decade of the Internet, or more accurately, the second-coming of the Web, after Web 1.0 was left for dead by the .com bust in the late 1990s. Media and information companies dodged a bullet in the late 1990s and smugly assumed that Web 2.0 would crash and burn the same way. Not this time cowboy. By the time conventional got its weapons locked and loaded against the new threat, the virtual gunslingers left town with bags and bags full of ad dollars.

About two-thirds of Americans (65%) say the Internet has been a change for the better, while just one in six (16%) say it has been a change for the worse; 11 percent say it hasn't made much difference while eight percent are unsure. This largely mirrors the balance of opinion at the close of the 1990s - the decade that saw the widespread adoption of the web.

The public is ambivalent when it comes to evaluating social networking sites such as Facebook. About a third (35%) call them a change for the better, 21 percent say they have been a change for the worse, while 31 percent say social networking sites have not made much of a difference and 12% are unsure. In fact, even among young people, fewer than half say social networking sites have been a change for the better. Tweet that!

Leveling the global playing field

But, for all its creative destruction, we think historians may look back at the 2000s as the “Level Playing Field Decade.” We became a truly global economy, and even as the U.S. slogged through the decade economically and militarily, China, India and Brazil enjoyed substantial increases in their respective living standards and closed the prosperity gap with the U.S. and Western Europe. Small groups of well trained insurgents can now slug it out toe-to-toe with the world’s major military powers, consumers are armed with better information and more power than ever, and anyone with an Internet connection and a compelling point of view can become a global media force. Oh, and there was that little election last year in which the world’s most powerful nation elected an ethnic minority member president by a fair-and-square vote of the populace.

Marketers: Are we in a recovery or a holding pattern?

If you’re a marketer still wrestling with your budget for next year, don’t look to the macro economy for guidance. You’ll get nothing but mixed signals. The financial markets were up over 20 percent in 2009 and that typically foreshadows an economic recovery. The number of new jobless claims is substantially lower than it was at this time a year ago and government stats say housing starts rose a surprising 8.9 percent in November after falling in October. But today, The National Association of Realtors announced that its index of pending home sales plummeted a whopping 16 percent in November. Go figure.

Despite the hints of an economic recovery, however, many Americans are still spending less. Forty two percent of Americans spent less on Holiday gifts in 2009 than they did in 2008 and only 10 percent spent more according to a December USA Today/Gallup Poll. Consumers have become accustomed to discounts. Three in five (62%) shoppers say they won’t buy an item unless it’s on sale, according to the Discover Card’s annual Holiday shopping survey.

Is the free content gravy train over?

For the better part of 10 years, consumers have been spoiled by a nearly unlimited supply of free news, pictures, consumer ratings, financial information, videos and music on the Internet. Now, there are growing signs that this free ride is drawing to a close as the ad-supported gravy train may be grinding to a halt. Newspapers, with their backs to the wall, aren’t going to be afraid to ask online readers to pay for at least some of what they offer, as a handful of papers, like The Wall Street Journal (Newscorp) and The Financial Times, already do. Experts expect many mass publications to take the “pay to read” plunge because they have few alternatives left. Just no one wants to make the first move.

NewsCorp CEO, Rupert Murdoch, has talked about forming a partnership with a single search engine, which would pay him for the rights to scour the news and entertainment programming produced by his company, rather than letting all search engines crawl his sites. Also Hulu, which is owned partly by NewsCorp, is considering charging viewers to watch some of the TV shows it now streams free.

Magazine publishers, not the most courageous bunch historically, are making noise about teaming up to create a partially gated or freemium article cooperative in which they can sell enhanced versions of what they have been giving away for years. And more and more media companies are planning to charge for apps on iPhones and other mobile devices, as well as on the Amazon Kindle and other e-readers.

Inflection point reached?

“Content providers are trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube, but only partially,” said Alan D. Mutter, a media consultant and blogger. “So we’re looking at some sort of an inflection point, at least in attitude. But I haven’t seen much realistic, hard-headed thinking about how that’s going to happen, so I don’t know how much is really going to change.”

“Quality content is not free,” Mr. Murdoch opined in The Wall Street Journal on Dec. 8, days after delivering a similar message at a Federal Trade Commission workshop. “In the future, good journalism will depend on the ability of a news organization to attract customers by providing news and information they are willing to pay for.”

Media gurus argue that charging online will work only if consumers were offered a much-improved product with the convenience of access anywhere, on any digital device, which is sort of what the magazine consortium has in mind. Jay Rosen, media blogger and journalism prof at New York University disagrees. “People who really think we have to charge or the industry is sunk would be more persuasive if they said at the same time we have to add more value than we’ve been adding,” he said.

Whether you’re a marketer or a media organization, you have more competition from corners of the economy than ever before as the Web continues to break down barriers to entry. Competitors also include your customers/subscribers and sometimes your advertisers/vendors. Size and brand alone will no longer insulate you from the competition. But agility, high value content, finely tuned audience reach and great marketing execution will not only keep you in the game, but will enable you to charge premium prices for your offerings.

Sunday night, the New York Jets convinced 80,000 customers it was worth paying top dollar to cheer them in single digit weather in a decrepit stadium when they could have watched from the warmth and safety of their own living rooms. And the Jets delivered when they had their backs to the wall. So you can you.

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