commbasics

By Joe Basques Back in December on this blog I posted the story of a potential sponsor regarding a series of content surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare. I recommended we tell the complete story of PPACA from multiple angles, and position this provider as a thought leader on this entire subject. We could have exposed his product to multiple viable markets that he had not even considered.  After multiple discussions it became clear that the potential sponsor wanted some content that simply said “Here’s my product, buy it.” There was no interest in going deeper and telling the entire story.  Over the last several years, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard companies say “we know who our top ten customers are, and we’re already engaging them.”  That’s not really true.  We’ve found that everyone knows a few people in each of the top 10 customers, but know nothing of 10 times the number of cont...

You are not going to attract customers to your in-house media by stuffing your marketing content into a new bag. You are going to have to invest in content producers that have a perspective outside of your marcom. We've had some interesting interaction on this site the past couple of weeks about the future of b2b media. There is an old guard that publically espouses absolute separation of editorial and advertising but the reality is very much different.  And today comes news that Open Systems Publishing is taking the leap into custom electronic publishing. Not print, electronic. From the press release: ST. CLAIR SHORES, MI, April 19, 2013 - OpenSystems Media has announced the next generation in digital publishing - an all new, dynamic E-mag marketing program, giving clients the chance to create their own branded, lead-generating digital magazine - the Custom E-mag Initiative. The Custom E-mag Initiative, which launches today, is an interactive digital publication, featu...

Last week we started a lively discussion about how media is evolving, what is right about it and what is wrong about it.  We also touched on the issue of reliability and ethics. Today an article from emediavitals.com crossed my screen and deals with the issue of ethics and content head on.  You may not agree with it, but it's a statement of what reality is for media today. Let me say this about the issue of ethics: there is no organizational structure that can absolutely ensure content follows a particular ethical standard .  In fact, the reliance on traditional business models in media, rather than actually knowing what the professional standard is has helped hasten the demise of traditional journalism in the 21st Century.  Ethics is a personal construct. You either are or are not ethical.  No one knows for sure where you stand or what you are doing.  Only you do.  Everyone else is just assuming where you stand.  Your organizational ...

Wow, this stuff is snowballing.  Completely missed the news that American Business Media and the Software and Information Industries Association decided to merger... because ABM didn't think they could survive unless they do.  The reasoning is "the  increasing urgency  behind publishers’ transition to digital-driven, multi-platform business models" This announcement comes virtually at the same time that UBM announces their plan to morph into a multi-platform business, rather than just a media company. I completely agree that this means journalism as we know it is in grave danger of becoming extinct.  I think, however, that it means we have to get serious about figuring out what journalism should become. Just sayin'. Related articles Sponsored content: You may not like it, but you better get good at it. Market research is wrong most of the time. UBM kills print, makes killing in events Are journalists necessary?

Yesterday, I posted a story on the change in the UBM business model that has sparked the beginning of an important discussion about journalism altogether.  As luck would have it, Joe Basques and I just finished part two on our vlog, The Power of Story, cosponsored by me!Box Media, on the importance of journalists.  There will be a lot more to this in the coming weeks.   Join the conversation.

Yesterday, UBM Tech officially announced the death of all print publications with a couple of small exceptions, in favor of a new global strategy that merges content with events.  This is a sea change for the electronics design industry and brings up a lot of questions. First, some details.  There will still be publications like EE Times , EBN, EDN and Information Week , but they will all be online.  These publications, however, are no longer publications but “communities” where information is shared and discussed under the eye of content managers...which used to be called journalists.  These managers will still be developing original content on the sites, but that content is meant to drive readers to additional content placed by sponsors...which used to be called advertisers.  Here’s where it gets interesting.  All this content is focused on one direction: the events that UBM puts on including Design West, ARM Tech Con, DesignCon, the Black Hat Con...

The New York Times gave us a story on Sunday about the prevalence of "sponsored content" in to day's media and all I could think of was "welcome to the party pal."   Footwasher Media has been pushing this idea as a means of saving the press for, oh, about 7 years, and we're glad to see that it's finally reaching mainstream.  But here's the thing, folks: If you don't do it right, it's going to come back to bite you. Sponsored content is about thought leadership, not selling products.  Your customers don't trust you and everytime you try to sneak a product pitch by them under this concept, it's going to make it worse.  So plan on hiring someone who knows what they are doing, and make sure it's not someone who's in marketing. Or you can call us. Related articles Sponsors Now Pay for Online Articles, Not Just Ads Building Thought Leadership - Beyond SEO Sponsored content doesn't equal dictated content

As Election Day approached, the opponents of California's Proposition 8 were exulting. polls showed the ballot initiative was heading for a significant defeat.  The champagne was put on ice for the celebration as gay marriage would not be allowed in the nations largest and most liberal state.  The morning after it was confirmed. Prop. 8 had passed.  The opponents were aghast.  How could that have happened? Prop 8 opponents wilt after election results in 2008 Very simply, the polls were wrong.  In fact, according to studies over the past 15 years , polls are the worst form of understanding popular opinion, either for political of commercial purposes.  The studies show that human beings generally don't know what they really want or think at any given moment, Yet organizations continue to rely on them to make decisions on marketing.  So if accepted market research doesn’t work,  how can a company or organization make those decisions?...