A Six-Step Content Marketing Check-Up For B2B Marketers

By Galen De Young

Content marketing is one of the most powerful tools for B2B marketers, most of whom likely have content development as a substantial part of their 2010 marketing plans. But before you get started with developing more content marketing assets, take a step back to assess your efforts to date. Below are six steps to help you do that. While the list is not exhaustive, my hope is that these steps will help you improve the performance of existing assets and develop strong future content marketing efforts.

Map site content to the buying cycle

Some people segment the buying cycle into three or four stages. B2B Marketing Strategist Ardath Albee segments it into seven stages. However you choose to define it, analyze your buying cycle and make sure you have substantial, valuable content that speaks to each stage. Prospects have questions at each stage in the buying process. Each question represents an opportunity for content. Think about what should be free and what should be gated (Chris Koch and Michele Linn had good posts on this recently).

Also remember people have different learning styles, and consider having multiple media available for each style. Analyze the effectiveness of your existing content vis-à-vis your buying cycle, determine the gaps in your content marketing strategy, and develop a plan to round out your content.

Reduce friction on gated content

Review registration pages for items that reduce conversion rate. Yes, this includes how much information you’re asking for, but it also includes many other things.

Ask yourself, is the page design and intent clear, or do you have many other things potentially distracting visitors from taking the desired action or perhaps even obscuring the desired action? Have you reduced the anxiety of registering? Are the benefits of doing so clearly stated? Have you illustrated credibility, e.g., are there recognized third-party endorsements on the page? Have you told visitors what you’re going to do with their information?

Todd Miechiels had a great post on reducing site visitors’ anxiety last year, and Ben Hanna gave some strong, practical examples of ways to improve B2B conversion rates by reducing buyer risk.

Review your content analytics

Analytics can be great, but too often we fail to actually learn from them. Take a look at last year’s numbers for the content on your site. What was the most popular content? What were your most popular landing pages? What were the sources of the visitors? Did those sources change over time? What organic keywords drove traffic to that content? What did these visitors do? What were the conversion rates? Where did they go next? What made those pages successful? Equally important to analyze is the content you thought would do well, but didn’t.

Compare and contrast the successes and the failures, and you’ll likely find strong clues to help you develop a best practices model. But don’t just use this information for prospective content. You can likely redeem some of your previously less-than-successful content by making improvements or repurposing and relaunching that content.

Capture the value of content

If your content is a web page, it’s pretty easy to track the results. But what if your content is a PDF or some other digital asset? These assets can drive readers and viewers back into your website. However, unless you’ve coded the links appropriately, these visits will show up as direct visits instead of being attributed to your content marketing assets. Obviously, you should ensure future content marketing assets have such links, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t make these changes to existing content as well.

Include sharing options with your content

White papers, eBooks, case studies, best practice guides can be powerful lead generation and lead nurturing tools. At the same time, they’re expensive to create. They’re also hard to get into the hands of the right people. You may get one of these assets into the hands of one of your contacts, but there are many other people at the prospect’s company who will influence the purchase decision. Embedding social sharing options is a great way to help push the reach of great content, and modifying existing content marketing assets to include social sharing options is fairly painless.

Optimized content for search

Finally, optimize your content for search. While social media can play a big role in the visibility of good content marketing assets, SEO will help ensure online visibility over the long term. Make sure your content marketing assets and their related landing pages are optimized and aligned with the keyword strategy for the piece. This includes optimizing copy as well as other on- and off-page factors. While it does take a bit more work, you can optimize PDFs for search as well.

http://b2b-seo.com/index.php/a-six-step-content-marketing-check-up-for-b2b-marketers/?utm_source=eNews&utm_medium=email&utm_content=textlink&utm_campaign=apr10

Written by Galen De Young for B2B SEO


Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

Online Music Marketing: 43 Metrics & 7 Tools To Measure ROI

by Dexter Bryant Jr.

Using the Internet to market and promote your music is one of the most affordable ways to establish and build a following. The abundance of free tools and music-based social networks has made music marketing more accessible than ever for musicians around the globe. Rather than investing boatloads of cash into advertising, PR, and radio promotion, instead musicians invest their time. Through social networking and direct-to-fan engagement musicians can achieve remarkable results with online marketing.

The question that often comes up is how do you know if your online marketing is working? Also, how do you know where your marketing is the most effective?

ROI (“return on investment”) is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. In the case of music marketing online, your time is your main investment. Tracking the results of your music marketing efforts online is crucial to figuring out where your time is being wasted and where it is best spent so that you can amend your actions accordingly.

Below I have listed 43 metrics for measuring ROI and 7 tools to measure with.

Metrics:

1. Number of subscribers on your mailing list
2. Twitter followers
3. Friends/fans on TheSixtyOne.com
4. YouTube channel subscribers
5. YouTube plays
6. YouTube uploads of your songs by other users
7. We Are Hunted chart positions of your songs
8. Blog mentions or reviews of your music
9. Backlinks (blogs and websites linking to your website or blog)
10. Mixtape/album downloads
11. Individual track downloads
12. P2P downloads and sharing of your music
13. BitTorrent downloads, seeds, and sharing of your music
14. Last.fm plays
15. Last.fm friends
16. PureVolume friends
17. PureVolume plays
18. Facebook fans
19. Twitter plays through twiturm.com or twt.fm
20. Plays and listeners on blip.fm
21. Plays on podcasts
22. Plays on Internet radio stations
23. Use of your music by DJs in podcasts, online radio, & in night clubs
24. Your songs featured on digital mixtapes by well-known DJs
25. Online plays streamed longer than 30 seconds (on various music social networks)
26. International audience: number of countries where people are engaging with your content (plays, downloads, reads, shares, subscriptions, etc)
27. ReTweets of your content (songs, mixtapes, articles)
28. 100+ concentration of fans in a specific region (touring becomes viable in that region)
29. Eventful.com Demand stats
30. Digital singles sales
31. Album sales
32. Remixes of your music
33. Attendance figures for live concerts broadcast on ustream.TV or similar networks
34. Attendance figures for concerts offline
35. Number of credible professionals in entertainment, journalism, marketing, and other related industries who support your music (maintain a collection of quotes from these individuals)
36. Customer and client testimonials
37. Comments about your music on multiple social networks (positive or negative)
38. Myspace plays, profile views, and friends
39. Plays, reviews, and fans on http://www.jamendo.com
40. Fans, plays, and chart positions on Soundclick.com
via Brian Hazard:
41. Your website’s Alexa ranking
42. Monthly unique visitors to your website
43. Number of subscribers to your site’s RSS feed

Use these web 2.0 tools to measure social engagement, identify fans, find hot markets, and gauge your band’s online presence and popularity:

1. Music Xray - http://www.musicxray.com/
2. Band Metrics - http://bandmetrics.com/
3. Next Big Sound – http://nextbigsound.com/
4. RockDex – http://rockdex.com/
5. Topsy – http://topsy.com/
6. Backtype – http://www.backtype.com/
7. Trendrr – http://www.trendrr.com/

About the author:

Dexter Bryant Jr [d.BRYJ] is the hippie tribe's favorite producer+songwriter of dance rock and electro crunk music. As a digital branding consultant Dexter helps brands and bands strategically plan and manage their online presence. Dexter is the Digital Marketing Director of Dynasty Music Entertainment and d.BRYJ Music. Dexter blogs about music and business @ http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/online+music+marketing+38+metrics+and+7+tools+to+measure+roi

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/D.I.Y.-Tips/Digital-Solutions/Online-Music-Marketing-38-Metrics-and-7-Tools-To-Measure-ROI.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25347523/Online-Music-Marketing-38-Metrics-and-7-Tools-To-Measure-ROI

http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/online-music-marketing-measure-roi/

http://www.musicthinktank.com/mtt-open/online-music-marketing-38-metrics-and-7-tools-to-measure-roi.html

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

Digital Branding With Music & Mobile Apps

by Dexter Bryant Jr.

Music-based mobile apps are one of the most powerful tools in a musician’s digital marketing arsenal. Apps are a hot commodity with customers, especially the gen-Y market. Beyond that, apps provide an avenue for deeper engagement with your audience.

In order to maximize your potential for connecting with audiences, your app must be user-friendly and addictive. You do that by providing value to users. Make it simple to use and allow opt-in subscriptions for your podcast(s). Subscribers get new podcast episodes forwarded directly to their phone.

Your mobile app should also include additional features that are engaging and addictive for users. These features will add entertainment value to your app if executed properly. Make some app features default and others opt-in so users can customize their experience and dictate their level of engagement with your app.

Ideas for app features:

• Music biz news feed (RSS)
• Twitter feed
• Blog/website feed (RSS)
• A rhythm game like Tap Tap Revenge that showcases your music
• A search engine for streaming your music
• Video feeds for web concerts (on ustream.TV and other digital networks), video blog updates, behind-the-scenes footage, music videos, and anime mini-series
• MP3 feed of your latest songs and mixtapes

Allow users to comment on your app content from their phone via Twitter. Facilitate sharing (and comments) to your social media pages (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc). Invite users to live chats with your band members through Skype and other networks.

Don’t stop there though. Give users access to your entire multimedia library of original content. Let them search and download your mp3s, e-books, and other content directly to their phone. But please DO NOT skip over optimizing all content for mobile phone use, otherwise your files will be too large and the user experience will be poor. Get the user experience wrong and people will use your app once and never return.

Free vs Premium
Marketing through mobile apps takes you direct-to-fan and connects you with your audience. It’s your choice whether to sell your app but keep in mind that more users with your app means more people with access to your music. I personally recommend offering a free app in addition to a premium version with value-added features and content.

Even when downloaded there’s no guarantee that your app will be used or your music listened to. But if your app provides value and is engaging for your users, there’s a good chance that your music will get heard.

Links with more information on how to create a great mobile app for your music:
5 Ways To Create An Engaging Artist/Musician iPhone App
Ten Most Popular Artist/Musician iPhone App Strategies Reviewed

About the author:

Dexter Bryant Jr [d.BRYJ] is the hippie tribe's favorite producer+songwriter of dance rock and electro crunk music. As a digital branding consultant Dexter helps brands and bands strategically plan and manage their online presence. Dexter is the Digital Marketing Director of Dynasty Music Entertainment and d.BRYJ Music. Dexter blogs about music and business @ http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/

http://blog.discmakers.com/2010/03/digital-branding-with-music-mobile-apps/

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/digital+branding+with+music+mobile+apps

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/D.I.Y.-Tips/Digital-Solutions/Digital-Branding-With-Music-&-Mobile-Apps.html

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

Apple's Media Ambitions

In the following article Jerry argues that Apple is taking over the media business and explains exactly how Steve Jobs is doing it. Jerry advises companies in the radio, media, music, and publishing industries to get on the Apple bandwagon.

By Jerry Del Colliano

Apple has been making a lot of news lately that will have more of an impact on traditional media perhaps than it will even on the consumer electronics industry.

That is saying a lot about a company that last night reported record quarterly earnings.

But this morning I thought I would share with you some signs that I am seeing that this giant hardware/software/everywhere company is encroaching on some sacred ground -- charging media companies to purvey content to consumers.

Unfortunately even smart media executives don’t seem to be reading the tea leaves right. Many are in denial about any further damage that Apple products and services could cause, say, the record industry.

But there is no doubt in my mind that Apple has eyes for an increased presence in the media business even beyond selling 99 cent songs in its iTunes store.

This does not come as a surprise because Steve Jobs was also one of the masterminds behind Pixar, an animation company that he eventually sold to Disney. And few can argue Steve Jobs’ savvy when it comes to understanding the mindset of media executives and the fickleness of consumers.

When Apple changed its name from Apple Computer to Apple the move apparently meant more than just words.

What is Apple and what are they up to in the media end of their business?

I think Apple is a consumer electronics company and increasingly an entertainment company. This gives Apple a distinct advantage over cable companies, cellular carriers, record labels and even radio stations -- yes, I think Apple will be offering some “radio” competition ahead. Let’s see if I turn out to be right.

The popular line is that Apple makes its money by selling electronics and Jobs never forgets that.

True enough.

But now I want you to keep an eye on Apple’s media ambitions -- that is, they increasingly control mobile devices and they make it clear to me that Apple wants to control the content and revenue as well.

Notice how Google rushed into Apple’s domain when Apple board member and Google CEO Eric Schmidt went Benedict Arnold on Jobs then proceeded to produce Google’s android answer to the iPhone.

Schmidt is no dummy. He sees what’s going on -- maybe had his fill of it as an invited friendly Apple board member.

Google has to have more of a presence in the electronics business because Apple is getting into the content and revenue side.

Now with Apple claiming over four billion iPhone apps sold to date, the company has announced its intention to sell mobile ads in their apps.

Imagine the business Apple would leave on the table if it didn’t.

Let’s run down the ways Apple will make its presence known to media executives who will soon find themselves behind the eightball if for no other reason that Apple owns the electronic devices on which consumers are enjoying content.

iAds

Soon makers of apps -- and there are hundreds of thousands -- will be able to sell advertising that resides within the open application through the Apple store gateway.

It’s good advertising, too, because unlike competitors, mobile consumers will be able to touch to see an ad without leaving the app they're in. This seamless operation may make “click through” rates better.

Oh, an Apple keeps 40% of the revenue while app makers running ads (often advertisers and consumer companies themselves) keep 60%. Apple could argue that it is tantamount to 60% more money for app makers. And it is. But it also represents 40% more money for Apple and they don’t even have to hire a sales force.

I remember my mentor Jerry Lee in Philadelphia once had radios manufactured that only played his radio station. He gave them to advertisers to play at their retail establishments and businesses. It wasn’t really legal. You can’t make a radio that just plays your station, but ...

Apple is kind of doing just that today when in essence they sell the predominant mobile devices to play the content they distribute and from which they will soon profit.

Books, Music and More

The iPad will have a reader that will put the Kindle to shame and Apple gets a piece of each book the publishers sell.

That’s 30%.

You already know about the 30% record labels begrudgingly pay them for selling songs on the iTunes store.

TV shows and movies -- more money from the content providers for making their shows available on Apple devices. Get a calculator, more profit sharing for Apple on content they don’t spend a dime to produce.

But there is more coming.

TV Channels on iPads and iPhones

Apple is reportedly working on a plan that could involve subscriptions to allow owners of their mobile devices to choose which TV channels they want to watch. This would be an improvement over cable TV because the shows could be served up on-demand (I know, so can cable), but instead of having to choose a basic package or premium plans, Apple customers could cherry-pick the “stations” or “subjects” they want.

Cherry-picking should be a trademarked term by Apple because that’s how the company frees consumers from having to buy entire albums to get one or two songs that they really like.

Imagine this in television.

Imagine if all these new channels linked effortlessly to Apple TV, Steve Jobs' "work in progress".

Radio on the Cloud

I would not at all be surprised to see Apple launch a new type of radio that was akin to constant music discovery channels once its Lala-based cloud technology enters the iTunes store. Apple bought Lala not for its name but for its technology.

Streaming content that doesn’t have to ever be downloaded because it's always available on the cloud would be a game changer.

Jobs knows that consumers -- especially early adopters -- want on-demand content. Can you see a driver riding around in a Ford automobile using its fabulous Sync entertainment system to bring their iTunes library, music stations, Pandora and God knows what on demand?

And Pandora?

I think Apple is working on their answer to Pandora's 40 million plus fans using the newly acquired Lala technology.

Of course, Jobs will not be the one creating the content. That’s not really his thing. He can come up with a good operating system or two but Apple is going to generate more revenue from the sweat of others while taking a healthy commission on each sale.

Worried about piracy?

No need.

Apple will continue to use its own Fairplay proprietary system and let the record labels worry about piracy. His devices happily play pirated music, but you'll note only Apple-approved apps work on Apple mobile devices.

Other electronics companies can come out with phones and tablets and the like but unless they own critical mass, Apple remains in the drivers seat distributing and profiting from others content.

How is it that Apple has out distanced Sony, made fools of the record labels (not that they weren’t that already), rearranged the cell phone business, given terrestrial radio their eventual walking papers and at the same time sold lots of electronics?

How?

Jobs is doing what I’ve been imploring media companies to do -- look away from investment banks and look to the consumer revolution that is going on.

It may not be a Tea Party.

It’s an “i” party.

The radio industry flubbed its chance when all it could come up with is HD radio. That flopped and foolish radio people are still trying to bring it back from the dead.

Jerry Lee may have had the right idea when he was making his own illegal radios that only carried his one station.

Not the part about carrying one station.

The part about controlling the radio that his station was heard on.

Now, in its own way and without the burden of FCC regulations, Apple is going to make life tough for media companies that don’t play ball with his products.

If I’m a television, radio, music or publishing company, I am getting in on this even if I have to cough up 30% and pay royalty fees.

After all, media executives are the ones who let Jobs steal their businesses while they were out high-fiving each other over their fleeting success of consolidation.

Now Apple gets to play monopoly in the entertainment business like it or not.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/apples-media-ambitions.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media


Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

ITunes Radio is Coming

By Jerry Del Colliano

"Radio" is coming to Apple.

Unfortunately for terrestrial radio it will not necessarily be their existing radio stations.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is way ahead of the curve on this. It has confounded the broadcast industry that Apple offers just about everything on its mobile devices but a radio tuner.

I know that iPod and iPad users can access radio using third party apps. Apps arguably saved Pandora's franchise. Still there is no direct link to Pandora on these popular devices. Yet Apple seems to consider radio not an essential part of what it is doing.

The Apple Nano has an FM Tuner on board and in spite of the radio industry's campaign to get Steve Jobs to make an iPod radio, the Nano has not really turned an iPod into a radio. The tuner feature is marginally at best helping to sell Nanos.

The "radio" that Apple sees in its future is one that terrestrial radio executives do not have in their sights.

It is a music service -- located on a "cloud" -- available to users of mobile devices either as an instant way to get access to their music libraries or a subscription service offering all the music that fits to hear.

Or both.

The signs are all there.

Apple spent $85 million to purchase Lala, a streaming service that uses such a "cloud". Music can be accessed instantly without waiting for a download from any browser or Internet device.

Apple could offer consumers a subscription plan, but Rhapsody-type programs have not been successful. Apple could make it successful by its sheer heft, but some people believe what Apple has in mind is a major revision in iTunes that will transfer each consumers library of music to this new "cloud" iTunes store and thus make it available virtually everywhere on-demand.

From day one it would be a success with over 100 million iTunes users already in place.

This creates a new form of iTunes "radio".

I use "radio" in this way because much of the next generation uses online or mobile music as a replacement for music they can hear on terrestrial radio.

It gives them more potential variety -- not limited to the short playlists still popular on terrestrial music stations. They can also listen on-demand.

Terrestrial radio owners looking to cutback the expense of enhanced music presentation (i.e., popular djs) have played into Apple's hands. Given a choice between instant access to your music library by using a simple Internet connection to your iTunes account or turning on a radio, Apple would be betting that the "cloud" model would win the day.

An article in Apple Insider earlier this year added:

"In addition, analyst Maynard J. Um of UBS Investment Research said in early December that he believes iTunes content will become available from a Web browser and other Apple devices. The purchase of Lala could tie in to Apple's $1 billion server farm in North Carolina".

Apple is in the midst of transforming -- not to radio -- but to mobile content and there is no reason to expect that it would not build its iTunes store into the new "radio" by making it on-demand, customized for personal musical tastes and easy to manage.

I believe there will also be a music discovery aspect to the Apple plan when all is said and done. After all, the one thing the next generation is screaming for is more music variety. The record labels have seen fit to ignore this plea and you know what radio consolidators think about music variety when they opt for voice tracking and short playlists.

What is happening here is that the radio and records industry is holding onto models they want to preserve (CD and broadcast radio) while consumers have moved on to on-demand, personal and universal.

To make matters worse, the labels are at their lowest with regard to finding and helping new artists grow. Even worse at pushing out new music genres.

The radio industry has cut on-air personalities in favor of voice tracking or cheap syndicated shows making them even less viable if Apple succeeds with its transition to instant, personalized music "radio".

An entire generation that preferred Internet and mobile to access entertainment will enjoy music anywhere at anytime -- without personalities, of course.

Radio offers a limited playlist -- increasingly without personalities, of course -- for free and all it takes is a radio to take advantage of it.

And that's where we learn yet another lesson about the critical importance of studying sociology along with technology.

The next generation will pay for that which it wants and will reject even what it can access for free if it does not:

a) Give them the specific music they want
b) When they want it
c) Wherever they want it

What the radio industry should be doing is building local programs with local personalities featuringlocal bands and artists and originating from local stations.

That's what Apple is not going to do.

And that is something that will never go out of style even in the era of iTunes, cloud computing and iPods.

Sadly for the broadcasting industry, Apple "radio" is coming just when terrestrial radio is going.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/itunes-radio-is-coming.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

How To Monetize Podcasting

By Jerry Del Colliano

Adam Carolla, the funny star of radio and television, got 50 million iTunes downloads the first year he became a podcaster.

And he still isn't making money.

That's 50 million downloads -- and chump change for his efforts.

Do you think we broadcasting types need to go back to school to learn media sociology and technology?

Taking nothing away from Carolla or any other podcaster that can attract a following, making money in new media requires breaking away from an unhealthy dependence on spots.

And getting away from the radio model.

With podcasting, you no longer need to follow radio formatics because your fans choose you every day and invite you into their ear canal. That's damn personal.

Carolla is talking about starting a podcast network and that's kind of scary when he's not making money on his first venture.

Most of my readers are familiar with my view that podcasting is one of the new media tools that shows great promise as a revenue producer. To reiterate, podcasting should not sound like radio and should not be sold like radio.

Podcasters are never going to make a lot of money selling commercials in 30-minutes of content and advertisers will probably jawbone the rates down to nothing if you can get them to buy.

Still, podcasting is a winner because it cooperates with the inevitable which is it can be consumed on-demand.

It can be video or audio or both.

It can include text through companion web or iPad pages.

Plus, social networking.

I've been suggesting to radio groups that they should investigate operating new media platforms separate and apart from their broadcast operations.

They don't like it.

So, if you're an ex-broadcaster or an entrepreneur, here's your opportunity to do what they are resisting because radio broadcasters only want podcasting that is somehow connected to terrestrial content. And that's a mistake in my opinion.

Terrestrial broadcasters are still talking about filling up their HD channels when consumers have voted HD out of their lives (not that it was ever in their lives). The radio broadcasters who are with me on this know that they are tying their hands behind their backs when they limit or link new media revenue to terrestrial content.

So, say you take my advice.

What will happen?

On another day we'll talk formatics, acquisition of audience through social networking and assuring in-demand content, but for now, look at how podcasting can make money.

There are three ways:

1. In-content Commercials

Obviously, not my favorite. But if you go this route, make them live-reads. Un-commercials. Refreshingly frank and real. There are ways to get into commercial content without abruptly doing it. NPR-style sponsorships will also work.

2. Subscription Models

Even my true believers don't believe me on subscriptions. The consumer is telling you they are willing to buy things (downloads, apps by the ton and entertainment-related Internet content). If -- and I emphasize if -- podcasting is compelling and addictive, they may pay for it. The right price is the price that is affordable. Trade content can be priced higher than consumer content, but there is a price and there is a motivation if the content is compelling.

3. Event Marketing

I've saved the best for last.

Build an audience and continue to provide excellent content.

Then, build a series of events -- once a quarter or every month if you can (and radio companies can!) -- where you direct your fans to the event.

If you have an AC station and have developed a following, you offer a podcast separate and apart from on-air content that is compelling and addictive. Then, in January the 2011 version of a bridal fair would work. You market to sponsors. Get a venue. Add entertainment. Drive fans to the event through your podcast (but not by doing promos). Ring the cash register.

There are events possible for sports events, outdoor, travel, employment, back to school, auto and just about every category that has eager companies dying to get into new media.

Not commercials on a podcast.

Sponsorship of events.

The Wango Tango of just about every good category that has willing sponsors ready to spend on local events.

I even have one for Lew Dickey.

When I talked with Lew at the NAB Radio Convention he passionately convinced me that radio should be seeking health care dollars. That's great. Well, then -- a health fair. Health clinic.

Of course, most broadcasters would use their terrestrial stations to drive listeners to these events and most companies don't want the expense of ground crews they would need to organize event selling. They like orders that get phoned in to the last salesperson left standing.

But you ....

Well, thanks for the opportunity.

If you have a podcast for humor, you can do a "Laugh Off" and have fans attend and participate. Sell to sponsors.

If you can do a travel podcast and get a loyal following, think of the help the travel industry will need getting back on its feet.

Podcasting is not broadcasting.

It's not even really narrowcasting.

Podcasting is appointment selling.

You have their interest and now you channel fans -- direct them, if you will -- to events they might like that you just happen to own.

When a psychiatrist or psychologist can attract a podcasting audience through appointment selling, the most interested fans will likely choose to attend forums (that can be sponsored by medical companies) or fairs.

Start with one.

Then do another.

Then eventually do one every month of the year if possible.

I use this concept with my media labs.

I talk to my readers every day (in this blog) then attract the people most likely to want to attend one of my conferences (which reminds me, the next Media Solutions Lab is January 27, 2011 at the Phoenician in Phoenix -- save the date).

Then I can do other events on varying topics such as "iPad for Radio" and the best prospects (my readers) opt in.

It's no different than running ads in trade papers but it is also very different.

We are having a "conversation" here and podcasting is also a conversation between interested parties.

I get hundreds of emails a day on specific topics I write about and I answer every one that is directed to me. I have come to know many of you personally through this site and have made friends from the 200,000 plus visitors we get every month.

So, think outside the radio.

Radio talent, content providers, marketers and managers are future podcasting entrepreneurs.

If I ran a major group, I'd hire back the people that were fired and give them entrepreneurial deals where they keep a fair percentage of the earnings and the company owns the podcast.

The WPA of Radio but instead of building dams to harness electrical power, do deals with the talented people you let go to give you juice in new media.

If they can grow the event part of it, they get additional money.

You see, it doesn't have to cost a tightfisted radio company a penny.

The only investment is in time and learning about the exciting and profitable world of new media.

A radio brand is most valuable when it can give birth to content that can be marketed in the digital mobile space.

That's why companies should do the best terrestrial radio they can -- local and live and full of local personalities.

The way it is right now with radio groups spending next to nothing on new media, they are squandering their opportunity to use their local brands to spin-off independent and profitable new media ventures.

(Here's a great Fast Company piece on the king of podcasting downloads -- Adam Carolla).

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-monetize-podcasting.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

iPad Radio

By Jerry Del Colliano

The new Apple iPad is a product almost everybody seems to want but they don't always exactly know how they are going to use it.

Friday’s Wall Street Journal did a splash by Walter Mossberg wondering whether the iPad was a bird, a plane or Superman (more here). That is, is it a replacement for a laptop or something entirely different?

Stop for a minute and think.

Imagine what Steve Jobs has done this time by creating an entirely new product category and people started lining up Saturday to buy it first and ask questions later.

I was among them.

I returned some of the money my Apple stock has made me over the past year to Jobs.

In other words, iPaid.

Two 3G iPads put on order that I will probably receive by the end of the month. Then, I will run down to the Apple store and take a little spin around the device. I can hardly wait for a product that has been much anticipated for years. I’ve been writing about it because I saw unique opportunities coming for traditional media industries such as music, radio, television and publishing.

Opportunities to merge together and become one.

Chances to go directly to the consumer and bypass Clear Channel or Universal Music or Gannett.

Many of my readers have asked me to review the iPad, but I’d like to review its potential to the traditional and new media business instead.

Rule #1: Start with Apple creating the dream -- something you know you have to have but don’t know why.

My guess is we still won’t know what an iPad is 30 days after we own it. One teenage boy, his braces beaming from one side of his mouth to the other, stood next to me at an iPad firmly bolted to the table. He was selling it to the young salesperson. He wanted his iPad so badly.

In radio, TV and music, we’ve forgotten how to create magic.

Start with that.

There has been little new in radio in over 20 years.

What was the next big radical format after all-news?

Why are almost all talk shows the same and aimed at the same age group?

Why do music stations sound absolutely the same as they did two or more decades ago -- minus the personalities?

Why are we still playing the same tight playlists in a world where listeners can click and find new music online at will and then share it for free with others?

The iPad presents new opportunities, but I’m predicting here and now that most traditional media companies will make the same mistake they always make.

Rule #2: Don’t cram the same old thing into an entirely different medium.

Putting The New York Times on iPad’s impressive screen is, well -- just making the iPad a mini-Internet device. Without a new look, new voice, new pictures, new video and new way for readers to talk to each other, a newspaper is still an imitation of its printed edition.

Not good enough.

Rule #3: Study the user not your own business.

Radio execs (at least the ones not trying to turn bankruptcy into a profit center) are used to doing radio the way they like it, not the way a changing audience might want it.

There is absolutely no innovation going on in the radio industry today, I am sorry to say.

The sociology of the listener would tell radio companies what they are doing wrong and that would be a long list.

Listeners want music discovery.

Information on-demand not broadcast 24/7.

Pictures, video and connectivity at a glance.

They want all of this on their phones or mobile devices. And no, they don’t even listen to their beloved Pandora the way previous generations listened to the Walkman.

In other words, ten years into the Internet revolution and radio companies still want to do radio their way instead of adapting. Still married to the idea that what they do must go through a transmitter and then a tower to a radio.

About the only concession they are willing to make is to put this product onto an alien device like a cell phone, iPod or now iPad. They think HD radio is still viable. Really! HD was a dud from the beginning.

It’s not that consumers don’t want the content radio stations could give them. They just don’t want it the way operators insist on doing it.

Talk radio is dead with anyone under 50. Maybe even under 60. But the concept reinvented could work on a mobile device or iPad. And if you make it polarizing, Gen Y is likely not going to tune in. Make it civic-minded and environmentally charged, then you're appealing to a new generation.

News radio could be a better source for news and information than newspapers in the iPad world because I’m saying news in the digital space must now have as a requirement video, audio and social networking way beyond links to Twitter and Facebook.

Tell that to all-news stations who spend 95% of their budgets on traditional radio while their franchise is being eroded among the young.

Music stations that think they can get listeners to listen on a telephone or iPad have another thing coming. The iPad audience that could be 20 million strong in two years wants content providers to play in their playground not the old school.

If radio and record execs continue to ignore the methodical study of a changing consumer base, whatever they come up with will not be part of the coming mobile Internet revolution.

Apple’s iPad will not revolutionize the book industry or the music business or the movies or television.

No, it will revolutionize the consumer.

Apple wrote the book on programming to the consumer. Radio, TV and newspapers have long lost that skill.

Apple studies, learns and designs products and services (don’t forget the iTunes store) for the youth market and what do you think promptly happens?

The older consumer begins to adopt the products of the young early adopters. Not the other way around.

Newspapers will fall flat on their printing presses if they don’t revolutionize the newspaper reader -- iPad or not.

Same for book publishers if they think reading the same print on an electronic device will be a boom to them. It won’t -- unless they add lots of inter-connectivity.

And radio?

When Lew Dickey, John Hogan and Fagreed Suleman run the biggest and baddest radio groups, are you expecting new content or old ideas?


Well, they’re all firing talent (on-air, off-air, sales, management). That’s not wise.

Radio on an iPad will be another dud.

Unless ...

Unless some radio group leads the way and properly funds and executes inventing an entirely new business that no longer relies on towers and transmitters.

Fail to do that and radio won’t become a growth industry ever again. I think the analysts and financial gurus are telling us that now with their unremarkable revenue projections.

Stuff radio formats into new media devices and you’ll get some new media money but -- still -- no growth industry is possible.

Think like Apple -- differently -- and build content, products and services in entertainment and information for their world and their devices -- totally new approaches that don’t look or sound like traditional radio -- and you’ve got it.

But when radio consolidators are left to their devices, the future is a commodity and the only thing that is creative is how to get more for less.

The iPad will revolutionize the next generation.

Not the media business.

Better look in the right place.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/ipad-radio.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group