Abe Peck, ASBPE 2011 National Conference

August 4, 2011

© Abe Peck 2011

“Back From the Future: Cutting Through

Complexity”

Back From the Future

• WHAT? From simplicity to complexity

• WHAT? Content brand circle underpinnings

• WHAT? Around the (content brand) circle precepts, with B2B best practices

Life Seemed Simple

• Sure, we had problems maximizing traditional media’s three-legged stool:– Good content– Effective ads – Circulation to targeted audiences

• But we managed, even prospered

Life Seemed Simple

• One platform per magazine• Audience identified (with) us• Increased and valued professionalism• Defined physical territory for newspapers, TV• Authority: pushed to readers• Rising literacy• Improving technology• Opinion-leading, taste-making• Psychographic “badge”• Known business model, metrics for success

Life Became Complex

• Changing audience habits • Variable professionalism: first vs. right? • Greater ad accountability • Search and Craigslist disruption of

middlemen in buying cycle• “Audience development” vs. “circulation”

– Low entry barrier, many platforms, zillion choices for “audiences” that “publish”: they time-shift, you aggregate– Fragmentation: communities of interest or hyper-local?– Non-traditional competitors, “frenemies” (Google, Hulu)

• Uncertain business models, investor demands, metrics• Questioning of the very value of editors and writers

Complex Organizational Realities

• You work within three different companies:– The existing one

•Earns most of current revenue•Has established rules and roles•May be withering away

– The future one• Will make bulk of future revenue• Has new rules and roles• May be on the rise – may be a false start

– The messy one in the middle, where rules, models, roles and staffers vie for favor

Cross-Platform Chaos?

• How do you gain loyalty with audiences in a “centi-stool” world?

• How do you fend off non-legacy competitors?• How do you avoid chaos, duplication, overwork

when you likely have fewer resources than before?

Cross-Platform Opportunity

• So many more ways to reach audiences more quickly and frequently than ever

– Personalization, loyalty

– User-generated content – Added “dimensionality” of tablets, apps; portability of smartphones– New marketing, revenue streams

– Analytics for “progressive profiling” from rich data on search and purchasing habits of your audience

– Attempts to monetize digital media, not just offer as value-added

What is to be Done?

Work “Back FROM the Future”

• (Brand) circle the wagons – Enrich content vision, strategy,

across platforms– Truly, deeply understand when audiences most need you, and for what– Foster a learning organization

• Maximize content, portfolio management, workflow into a

CONTENT BRAND CIRCLE

Contemporary Pediatrics “Brand Circle”

3 Brand-Circle Underpinnings

• WHO? Know who is “in the middle”

• WHY? Review / honor vision, mission statement

• WHAT? Understand the brand

Followed by seven around-the-circle precepts

Cutting Through Complexity

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”

Albert Einstein

Know WHO is “in the Middle”

• Bridge audience’s demographics, pain pleasure points, aspirationsAND

• WHO you are to them– “Watchdog,” “advisor,” “advocate,” “friend,” “researcher”

•Provide cross-platform contact points for utility, information, inspiration

• Lead them too! – Make them smarter, tell them what they didn’t

know they needed to know

Know WHO is “in the Middle”

• The audience of Campus Safety

embodies targeted demographics…

– Split K-12, campuses, health facilities

– Five job functions, from police to admin – Value training, legislation, trends, products

• …but psychographic passion points unify them

– Importance of public service

– Deploying latest technology– Community with officers, within larger

organizations – “Don’t blow it”

WHY? Honor Vision, Mission

• Harness macro social forces for empowered age• WHY choose you?

– Best? – First?– Most? – Thought leader?– Product info?

WHAT gap do you fill in

a new competitive set?• Reality, not rhetoric• Boil it down into an elevator statement? A tag

line? Live them!

WHY? Honor Vision, Mission, Values

• Empowered values

• More than talk: Every

new employee signs

WHY? Project Vision, Mission

• Why choose you?

• What gap do you now fill?

WHAT? Understand the Brand

• Use “brand” correctly– Not the product itself, or simply what you say it is– It’s a shorthand EXPERIENCE THAT CO-CREATES

“reasons to believe” in the CUSTOMER’S mind – How a product’s or service’s attributes meets

CUSTOMER needs, expectations, desires, experiences and beliefs about a product category

– Motivates CONTACT POINTS to convey POSITIVE POINTS OF DIFFERENCE versus competition

– Lifts products above commodity level to merit higher price

– Can be made into a statementWith thanks to Ed Malthouse and Don Schultz

7 Brand-Circle Precepts

WHAT? Utilitarian Experience

I get value for my time and

money

“This web site gives good tips and

advice”“I learn about things to do or

place to go in this newspaper”

“It shows me how to do things the

right way”

“It helps me make up my

mind and make

decisions”

“I get good ideas from this

magazine”

“This magazine provides a lot of how-to information”

“I learn how to improve myself from

this TV program”


Alibaba MUST deliver on precise search and putting likeminded buyers and sellers together – everything else is just “nice to

have”


Relational database

saves time, money – and makes the surgeon smarter

(another key experience)

Makes Me Smarter Experience

•This ASBPE Magazine of

The Year finalist covers

news / business / products /

buildings / culture / awards /

jobs

•It also makes its audience smarter

through highlighted home-page

real estate for “Continuing

Education” and “Site Visit”

Talk About and Share Experience

Hanley Wood’s

custom tie-in with

Sherwin Williams

sheds traditional B2B

architecture to give

its audience

“something to

talk about”… “bring up…”

…”make myself more interesting…”

Marketing Experiences: Smarter + Talk About & Share

WHEN? Timely Apertures…Seamless

• Mobilize audience aperturesOvert aperture of

Hemispheres Convey

value to travelers by discussing praiseworthy destinations

Covert aperture of Hemispheres

Take mind off hurtling through air 35,000 feet above land in a thin aluminum tube


• Mobilize audience apertures– Web-first? Platform-neutral? App-first?– “News” Known by whom? When?– Shift to new news cycle?• Social media immediacy, stories from comments • Online or e-blasted? • “News analysis” in “deeper, later” media?


• Implications of sequencing– 22% of People’s print readers also visit

people.com•WHAT approach do they take?

– People changed print on-sale date to match

supermarket shopping patterns; made millions


• WHEN will THIS audience go online?Research Print List Rentals

Tech training Brand-specific

series custom pubs.

Custom Show guides /

publications dailies

Sponsorships Research

E-letters Association

App (not yet) Web partnerships

Web

WHEN? Be…Seamless

• Web site can’t be a treasure hunt – ZERO TOLERANCE for confusing navigation,

delay, broken links• EXAMPLE: A tool-centric site shows a tiny box with no flagging of major collection of tools •EXAMPLE: A medical, site, the last podcast was 9/09! – Better to delete than risk wrong information, visitor discontent

•Need smooth content management system – (As said during Ramadan, inshallah)

WHEN? Be…Seamless

• Who polices lapses when everybody is busy?• Who wears a big enough “badge” to get them

scrubbed?

HOW? Maximize and Leverage Content

• Your essence, DNA, content advantage? – Know it more specifically than edit calendar•Display strong pillars, customized for print, Web, etc.•Use “niche-organic” terms, not “Departments” / “Features”

•Continue to make online terms keyword-sensitive, for content hits and sales targeting

•Flag consistently across platforms – Web TOC in print

– Print / digital edition online – “More On” boxes, e-letters, to drive Web traffic


Utility / Bread and ButterFranchisesMust-readsBuzz / TalkaboutsCommunity


Utility Franchises Must-readsTalkaboutsCommunity


Utility FranchisesMust-readsTalkaboutsCommunity


UtilityFranchisesMust-readsTalkaboutsCommunity

HOW? Community Content, Social Media

• Audience comes together over you, they share, expand your reach and marketing

• What is goal? Who champions? Who tailors?• Verify social media tips for news items• Policy for posting, moderating?


UtilityFranchisesMust-reads TalkaboutsCommunity


• Traditional text• “Chunked” stories• Infographics • Interactive tools• Video (step-by-step) • Co-created content

HOW? Maximize and Leverage Formats

• Use digital media effectively– Unless you’re news or thought-leadership

based, place interactive or social elements high on page


• Use digital media effectively– Put visual media with like subjects, not only in

a “video ghetto”


• Interactivity – User-generated content policies – Tools / relational databases to empower key

niche trends• E.g., Electronic medical records in medical titles

• Voice– Editorial board, opinion leaders, podcasts, blogs– “Visual voice”– Comment / message boards become your voice

• Ancillary products aren’t “ancillary” any more– Partners? Alliances?

HOW? Maximize and Leverage Corporate Assets

• Custom media

• Education

• Sponsorships

HOW? Maximize and Leverage Corporate Assets

“Events have proven to be thefastest-growing part of our business.” David Synder

publisher Crain’s Chicago Business

in B2B, 7/11

HOW? Maximize Assets

HOW? Format Cautions

• Easy to lose alignment– A title heavily promotes four e-

newsletters to vertical sectors on its Web site

•Important for information, Web traffic, revenue•But no mention of them anywhere in print!

• Avoid “GMOTS” (“get me one of those”) – Don’t let bells and whistles overpower mission, content, seamlessness

HOW? Format Cautions

• Don’t over-assign formats– Glenn Zorpette’s award-winning stories on Iraq power grid, for IEEE Spectrum

– Returning from Iraq, he told writers to pick (only) three formats; quality suffered when he tried to do more

HOW? Transform Your Brand

“The whole notion of ‘magazine brand extensions’

is off, just as much as‘radio brand extensions’

would have been off at the dawn of the TV era.

What each of us needs to make sure of is

that the central idea of our brands is

reaching the fullest possible expression

in the various media at our disposal.”

David Zinczenko, editor in chief, Men’s Health


• Putting it together “around the circle”

+ =

+ +

+…


• Putting it together “around the circle”

=

+

+




• Move “up-market” intellectually and “win” for make-a-difference projects, beyond commodity

– What material can / will beoutsourced?

– What material can / will beauto-generated?

• E.g., new product releases, charts

• What can you add as a “content strategist” while defending the verities?

WHO? Transform Your Staff

• “…With a little help from our friends” – Subject knowledge across platforms – Format knowledge – Identify which team members knows what

•Staff, newcomers, freelancers, vendors• Train and document – Tip-sharing at meetings – Use corporate Intranet for best

practice examples

WHO? Transform

Your

Self /

Complete the

Circle

• You complete the circle

with unique, compelling

material that changes

audience lives, earns loyalty

• Your taste selects, winnows, curates even as you aggregate

• You provide over-the-horizon content that is have-to-have rather than commodity

•Go for it!

[email protected]@northwestern.edu

© Abe Peck 2011

ABE PECKABE PECKCo-editorCo-editor

Medill on Media EngagementMedill on Media EngagementHampton PressHampton Press

Career

Abe Peck, ASBPE 2011 National Conference