Web Ink Now

Time Magazine vs Facebook

Time Magazine just announced Mark Zuckerberg as Person of the Year for 2010.

Excellent choice in my opinion.

Zuckerberg built a company from scratch that now serves a half billion people worldwide.

But what really got me thinking is how the two media properties - Time Magazine and Facebook – are so different.

One is in decline. The other is on top of the world.

When I was growing up, Time Magazine was relevant. We subscribed at home and I read it every week from the age of about 9. People talked about Time Magazine articles at school and at work. I even cut out the cover of each issue for about a decade and saved them. The magazine was thick and meaty with tons of ads.

Where is Time Magazine now?

As media tied to rigid production cycles decline—morning papers, evening newscasts, and weekly newsmagazines—real-time media grow audiences and profits.

What's more, at a time when news outlets across the United States were shrinking dramatically, upstart media companies focused on real-time like TMZ grow from zero to $25 million in revenues between 2005 and 2008.

Why do upstarts like TMZ, Politico, and Bloomberg now beat the likes of Time Magazine, People magazine, and the Washington Post? At a time when Americans are consuming unprecedented volumes of news and information online, why did more than 15,000 people across the United States lose their newspaper jobs in 2009?

I would argue that focusing on real time is critical to achieving a sustainable business model in media.

Facebook understands real time.

Zuckerberg built Facebook on instant status updates. You can see what's going on with your friends right now.

So why can't incumbent media companies like Time make the jump to real time?

My own view is that these organizations are burdened by cultural habits deeply ingrained by their manufacturing processes, by the news cycles they follow. For newspapers it's the daily print deadline. For TV news, it's the prime time broadcast. For the weeklies like Time, production cycles are even longer.

When the opportunity to move online arose, for these organizations it was an afterthought. And because online was an afterthought it did not force the core culture to reinvent itself.

Huge advantage flows from delivering in real-time content that satisfies intensely focused public curiosity.

Meanwhile, companies that started from scratch with a real-time mind-set (like Facebook) continue to grow.

It's not just the media business.

Across the economy, people are finding success by understanding the power of now. The power of real time is at work in your business, too.

Are you operating in real-time like Facebook? Or slowly plodding along like Time Magazine?

Much more on this topic here.

Purell follows NASA with clever real-time video

UPDATE December 4, 2010 - I've been contacted via Twitter by people who created the Purell video including producer / director Stephen Reedy. It turns out they do not have anything to do with the company. I'm attempting to learn more.
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UPDATE December 5, 2010 - I've traded email with Stephen Reedy and he shared the following (which I edited from a longer communication):

Purell did not ask us to do the spot. We (Zerofriends) love Purell and we want it to succeed (which is why we chose it over PINE SOL or CLOROX) but they had nothing to do with this.

We’ve made many spots of various types for various clients choosing (as often as possible) storytelling over traditional direct messaging.

So, in the end of it all, this NASA / Purell thing was one big publicity stunt to get people to look at us up-and-comers and our creative ninjitsu so we can make a living doing more of it for others. Just like how traditional advertising is deflected and ignored by the over-stimulated masses, traditional ways of getting into the minds and hearts of employment authority is REALLY, CRUSHINGLY ineffective.

I don’t know if this type of advertising-inside-advertising has a name, but “Trojan Horse Tomfoolery” might be a good title (The phrase “INCEPTION” was already taken).

Stephen - I think this approach is excellent. I hear you about trying to get through gatekeepers in a clever way. I do that myself sometimes. For example, to reach speakers bureaus (who book people like me to speak at events) I wrote this post knowing that the bureaus would notice it via Google alerts: Ranking Speakers Bureau websites: The good, bad, and ugly

I'd recommend that in future, you have some kind of notice either at the end of the video or in the text of the YouTube listing. The notice should say who you are and why you created the video. Keep up the good work and let me know if the Purell people respond.
-- David

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ORIGINAL POST
Yesterday, NASA made an announcement that NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.

Specifically, researchers discovered that bacteria can survive in space which makes it more likely that life exists on other planets. Here's the NASA news release. When I checked, there are more than 1,000 mainstream media stories on this just 24 hours after the announcement.

Real-Time from Purell

Very quickly, Purell Brand Instant Hand Sanitizer had this fun video up on YouTube. Love how the product name has the word “instant” in it and they do real-time market engagement.

Direct link to Purell video on YouTube

Hat tip to the Kimberly Reyes at the Pixels & Pills blog for alerting me to this wonderful example.

Your global marketplace

This week, I'll be meeting with Shigesato Itoi, an influential Japanese futurist. Itoi-san is a popular blogger, video game creator (Nintendo Earthbound series), copywriter (he thought up the name Game Boy), & television personality.

Itoi-san is coming to Boston to spend time with my co-author Brian Halligan (CEO of HubSpot) and me to discuss our book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. Itoi-san and his company will be leading the creation of the Japanese version of the book, scheduled for release in mid-2011.

Over the USA Thanksgiving holidays, I got to thinking about the importance of the global market for businesses. While we Americans took time off to be with family and friends, the rest of the world was hard at work.

While many lament that the real-time Web now means no true downtime, I feel the opposite. I'm excited that the Web allows any business to go global (even a one-person businesses like mine). In my case, my books are published in 26 languages from Bulgarian to Vietnamese and I deliver talks all over the world.

Many readers of my new book Real-Time Marketing & PR have said how much they liked its global aspect -- examples of real-time innovation (and some missteps) come from Amsterdam, Tokyo, Toronto, Mumbai and more. I'm glad to see that recognized because some of the most fascinating innovations I encounter are bred by obstacles specific to local environments very different from the U.S.

One of the most important lessons of the global market is that you need to localize on the Web platforms of choice for that country and marketplace.

In the Netherlands, social networking site Hyves is essential to reaching the Dutch market. It is the second most visited site in the Netherlands after Google, but in terms of time spent, it is certainly tops. And Hyves has more users in the Netherlands than the other major social networking sites Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter combined.

In Japan, it is much easier to reach consumers today than when I lived there from 1987-1993. (I established the Wrightson ICAP business and then was Asia marketing director for Knight-Ridder).

Back in the pre-Web days, Japan's media was a monolithic gatekeeper that kept all eyes focused on the agendas of giant corporations like Toyota and Panasonic. And huge physical advantage went to bricks and mortar establishments (like bars) visible from train station exits that were -- you guessed it! -- owned by giant corporations.

The whole system was rigged to keep outsiders from breaking in -- foreign companies AND domestic upstarts. It was like weed killer, designed to keep entrepreneurs from springing up in the cracks.

The real-time online world is blowing that regime apart as innovators such as Kenko.com figure out how to engage Japan's 75 million net-enabled mobile users. Japan’s consumers can now stand in front of a train station with their mobile and instantly find hundreds of bars within a 5-minute walk...

Like Hyves in the Netherlands, you need to engage the Japan market through the services that make sense.

News2u.com is the local press release wire (think PR Web or PR Newswire) that’s optimized for social media in Japan. Founded by Minako Kambara, an amazing woman entrepreneur (Japan didn't have such a thing when I lived there), News2u is 10 years into a mission to crack the Japanese market open to upstarts, home-grown or gaijin.

Until last week there was little in English about News2u, so this is breaking news from me. If cracking Japan's still huge and dynamic market is on your radar, due diligence requires a thorough look at what News2U offers.

Image: Shutterstock / Gl0ck

Thank you for creating a bestseller

I just learned that my new book Real-Time Marketing & PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now hit the bestseller lists.

For the week ending November 7, 2010 Real-Time Marketing & PR achieved the following positions on the business book lists.

#2 Wall Street Journal bestseller
#3 USA Today bestseller

Thank you for your support!

I am humbled that so many of you not only purchased a copy of the book, but tweeted about it, blogged about it, invited me to speak, hosted Webinars, and talked it up. Wow.

And thanks to my long-time publisher John Wiley & Sons for all that they do for me.

In real-time, the Wiley design department created a revised cover to reflect this achievement. Now that’s real-time business!

Developing products based on instant gratification

Instant gratification is a powerful product attribute in the always-on, real-time culture we live in today.

Drive-through donuts Dunkin'. Real-time music iTunes and book Kindle downloads. Overnight package delivery FedEx.

Whatever it is, do it faster and you'll win market share. I'd argue that Google's tremendous rise was fueled by its development of a real-time capability for online advertising. Although Google is known for its search engine, the innovation that turned it into one of the most successful companies on the planet is the real-time Google AdWords application, which allows advertisers to bid for ad placement by keyword.

You can often create a new market niche, and a competitive edge, by delivering faster than everybody else, by doing in real time something that normally takes much longer.

GutCheck it

Consider the market research business. In the old days, the process of doing quantitative research meant a long process of data collection by telephone, mail, or in person. Real-time Web applications like SurveyMonkey allow instant survey creation with results you can see quickly.

In the qualitative research arena, the process of interviewing people in a target market usually required spending a bunch of money to run focus groups or sending interviewers to the mall with a clipboard. The process takes an incredibly long time.

A new company called GutCheck, was founded to be a real-time service to conduct qualitative research. The company recently received $2 million in Series A Funding.

The idea is that when a marketer wants some instant consumer feedback (to hear about new product packaging perhaps, or to test marketing copy), they do it right away on the Web.

Marketers use the GutCheck Web interface to draw locate an individual with precise demographics (from a universe of millions) who is willing to be interviewed by text chat. The "meeting" is instantly brokered, and the marketer pays $40.

Imagine if the Gap had done some interviews prior to the failed attempt to change their logo?

In every industry there is opportunity to do for customers in real time what now takes a long time.

Consider your own marketplace. What task could you make real time? Would your buyers be willing to pay a premium to get it faster? Or is there an untapped market waiting for you to deliver in real time?

I’ll leave that to your imagination. But look around. In almost every field of endeavor there’s an opportunity to harness speed to your advantage and create a product or even an entire company from it.

More examples of real-time products are in my new book Real-Time Marketing & PR which was released on Monday.

Image: Shutterstock / Eugene Berman
Disclosure: I am on the board of advisors of GutCheck

How B2B companies use real-time blog posts to get trade media exposure

For companies seeking media coverage, the conventional method relies on the PR team to spend a week drafting a press release that is then vetted by management and legal counsel. Weeks later, once the release finally gets distributed, PR staffers work the phones to plead with journalists to write about it. Sure, that might work. And you might win the lottery too.

Use your blog to get your voice heard in real-time

When working on a fast-moving story, journalists often seek background information and quotes from experts' blogs immediately. When you have something to say, it is a great idea to blog about it as fast as possible to get your ideas into the information mix.

That's what Joe Payne. Eloqua CEO did when one of his company's competitors was acquired. As a result he got tons of B2B ink.

Journalists want quotes now

Here's another example of real-time brand journalism, this time from Amdocs, a company that provides customer care, billing, and order management systems for telecommunications carriers and Internet services providers.

On October 14, 2010, officials from the US Federal Communications Commission were holed up in meetings to discuss the issue of bill shock - the surprise a consumer experiences when receiving a mobile phone bill with higher charges than expected.

While the meeting was taking place, Jeff Barak posted No need to be (bill) shocked on the Amdocs blog. Jeff argued that it’s actually in the mobile phone service providers' interest to work with customers to avoid bill shock because preserving customer loyalty is so important in a highly competitive market.

Amdocs was rewarded soon after when Connected Planet, a Penton Media publication, devoted an entire blog post to the Amdocs position in a piece called Not being shocked by bill shock. Reaching an important industry journalist in real-time gets you noticed. The relationship that's built lasts much longer than just that moment.

After this went down, the FCC published its proposal for new rules requiring companies to notify customers when they are about to exceed plan limits and incur extra charges.

This real-time technique only works if you're quick. Tomorrow is too late.

Your blog is a great place to add your take on a story as it is happening. But don’t just write the post and walk away. Alert people to the information by tweeting about it, posting it in your company’s media room, or sending a link to the journalists who might be interested.

Image: Shutterstock / sportgraphic
Disclosure: I recently led a series of strategy meetings for Amdocs marketing & PR employees.

How real time communications drives measurable ROI at Fortune 100 companies

UPDATE November 2, 2010 - Partly as a result of the buzz generated by this ebook release yesterday morning, over the past 24 hours, my new book Real-Time Marketing & PR has ranked between #6 and #22 overall of all the millions of books books sold by Amazon.com. Thank you to all who purchased a copy.

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In a new free ebook releasing today, I describe my research of the Fortune 100.

Breaking news!

Interestingly, the Fortune 100 companies that engage in real-time communications beat the S&P 500 stock index on average while the companies that do not communicate at speed underperformed.

Download Real-Time: How Marketing & PR at Speed Drives Measurable Success now.

I name names.

In my research, I contacted the communications departments of the Fortune 100 companies and found that only 28 percent engaged with me in real-time. Many of those 28 companies have comprehensive real-time communications programs in place, which I describe in the ebook.

Download the ebook

Download a package of real-time images to use in presentations and on blogs

I'm using hashtag #RealTimeMPR

What is the ROI of real-time communications?

My research is an attempt to answer a simple question: How much of an effect does real-time communications have on the performance of companies?

Watch an interview of me talking about the research.

Comparing the closing stock price of each Fortune 100 company on December 31, 2009 through closing prices on September 3, 2010 (when my book manuscript was due to my publisher - John Wiley & Sons), I found that the stock prices of 67% of companies that operate in real-time were up, while only 42% of those that do not were up in 2010 year-to-date.

In the ebook I provide much more information from the research including those companies that responded with helpful and relevant responses, such as State Farm Insurance and Boeing, the companies that did not respond at all, such as Wal-Mart and Exxon Mobil, and those that simply sent automatic, canned auto-responses with irrelevant information, such as Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance and Walgreens.

Portions of this new ebook appear in my brand new hardcover book, Real-Time Marketing & PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Consumers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now, which is released by Wiley today.

The realities of online privacy vs living off the grid

When I talk about real-time, data-driven marketing and sales, people sometimes get uncomfortable. All this stuff sounds too much like "Big Brother is watching." People feel there is somehow a creepy, stalking quality to these ideas.

For example, many people get creeped out by Foursquare: "You mean anyone can find out where you are in the world?"

And they recoil in horror about the ways that a company can understand a great deal about you by your online behavior.

Technology is reality now.

Well, there is a choice - but the only option is to live completely off the grid. Other than Ted Kaczynski, very few people are willing to do that.

Sure, when I suggest that a nonprofit monitor the news to see who gets new stock option grants so they can hit them up for a charitable donation I can understand why that seems a bit predatory. That's exactly why it’s imperative to use these tools sensitively.

To learn more about how people's behavior is used by companies in real time, and to get some of the privacy issues out into the open, I spoke with Brian Kardon, chief marketing officer at Eloqua, a marketing automation technology company.

"Not so long ago, a person might actually walk into a car showroom and ask a salesperson questions about the car they were considering," Kardon says. "Today, before walking into the showroom, a consumer has likely read multiple car model reviews online, posted status updates on Facebook and Twitter ['Looking at new Audi A4 . . . Waddaya think?'], downloaded product specs from Audi’s Web site, and a whole lot more. This is their digital body language."

There are hundreds of underlying consumer technologies that record digital body language that are embedded in the devices and services we use every day, including mobile phones, computers, credit cards, electronic toll collection, Web sites, ATMs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and much more. So, in reality, the only way to achieve true privacy is to live off the grid: No credit cards, no mobile phone, no Internet, no car, no bank account.

"Every day, consumers are leaving digital clues about their interests, intents, likes, and dislikes," Kardon says. "Like it or not, every move you make in the digital world is being recorded. That book you bought about vacations in Italy? Yep. That song you downloaded? Yep. That job posting in Philadelphia you looked at? Yep. It is all being recorded."

Companies like Eloqua extract data in real time and make it useful for marketers and salespeople. "There is a lot of data," Kardon says. "Eloqua processes more than 2 billion transactions a day. There is no way for mere humans to process it. And forget about Excel. You need huge servers to store the data, algorithms to analyze it, programs to segment it. At the core, marketing automation is about extracting patterns from huge amounts of data. In the most successful organizations, these three systems are integrated and provide one view of the world, processing your digital body language, and millions of others, often in real time."

As in any human interaction, discretion is essential in any contact with customers. So you will need to use what these new tools reveal about your customers with care and sensitivity. Doubtless, we’re going to see some gaffes that make us wince. But I’m absolutely convinced that tomorrow’s most successful marketers will be those who understand the new real-time technology infrastructure. The winners in the always-on world will be those who are most accurately and quickly driven by data.

Image credit: Shutterstock / 3DDock

Disclosure: I am on the board of advisors of Eloqua

Real-time social media #fail by Massachusetts State Auditor candidate Mary Z. Connaughton

My friend Joe Chernov told me about his experience where a lawn sign advertising Massachusetts State Auditor candidate Mary Z. Connaughton dislodged from a truck delivering signs and crashed into his car as he was travelling on a highway. The sign impaled his bumper, causing damage that someone needs to pay for.

Chernov reached out to the candidate by email Twitter, and Facebook and included photos of his damaged car. But he got no response. And the Facebook message was deleted.

Joe blogged it. And I just wrote about it on Huffington Post in an piece titled Attention candidates: Facebook and Twitter are two-way communications requiring engagement, not advertising.

This is a great example of a real-time fail. Non-engagement and “no comment” don’t work in today’s networked world.

Real time, data driven marketing and sales

My first job was on a bond trading floor at a Wall Street investment bank. It's impossible to overstate the impact of innovations in computing and telecommunications on the financial markets in the 1980s.

Within a decade finance was transformed from a clubby, old-boys' network to a 24-hour global trading system.

With that revolutionary shift a new currency of success emerged: the ability to gather, interpret, and react to new information in fractions of a second—real time.

Today, no financial professional would ever consider making a transaction without understanding where the markets are trading right now and what’s happening in the news at that precise moment.

It has taken a quarter century. But in fields like marketing and public relations the impact of the real-time revolution in finance is finally beginning to be viable for any organization.

Here is just one aspect -- a data driven real-time website -- of what the instant environment offers:

As a buyer visits your Web site and registers for a webinar, an alert is triggered on the salesperson's real-time dashboard, providing details about the buyer based on the page that person is visiting. The alert notes that the person downloaded a white paper a few days ago.

In fact, the alert is flagged as high priority because that combination of actions (white paper download plus webinar registration) is highly indicative of a propensity to buy.

The alert automatically pulls up information on the buyer's company. Are they already a client? Have others from this company visited the site before? What do third-party information providers say about the company? News stories from Dow Jones or Bloomberg appear along with a company snapshot from an information supplier like Hoovers.

Even the buyer's LinkedIn and Twitter profiles appear. And all this happens in real time.

This is just what happens with a real-time website.

There's similar revolutions happening with real-time product development, real-time media relations, and real-time marketing.

In the emerging real-time business environment, where public discourse is no longer dictated by the mass media, size is no longer a decisive advantage.

Speed and agility win.

But you need an infrastructure much like a Wall Street bond trader to play in this new world.

More in my new book Real-Time Marketing & PR, which officially releases in North America next Monday, November 1.

Trading floor photo courtesy of Jeffries & Company