This market. Is dead.

The digital ‘market’. In Asia.

It’s booming- you say. Growth continues. Well, depends on the lens you put on.

Let’s come down from a macro viewpoint- to some factors that could have driven this market, its people, its place.

Instead- we choose Same old rhetoric. Same old routine. Chronically.

Media

Chronic ‘Ad sales’ focus- sell inventory. Buy inventory. Whichever way you slice it.

Vs

Solution focus? Content focus? Product innovation focus? Super niche segments/category focus?

Who is bringing a new audience definition, new engagement approaches, new ways of reaching out?

And yes- Cost per sale ceased to be a new, exciting metric 12 years ago.

Time to evolve.

How many here are talking about 36oº interplay?

Why can’t we think beyond ‘Digital direct response marketing’?

Will someone sell? More importantly- will someone buy?

How many more mobile ad aggregators do we need? How many more years before the Ad exchange ecosystem delivers on the promises made years ago? Still in beta? Who is thinking of media beyond ‘buying inventory’? With legitimacy? Why have media agencies consistently lost in reinventing?

Thought leadership

Who is talking about the next level in their disciplines? Doing something about it? How many people are setting some any  agenda- free from internal politics? Who can think of, hold conversations like this- and be applauded for it?

Rhetoric vs starting something

Taking the case of mobile medium-

Asia is the biggest market for mobile…
People will access internet through mobile first…

Heard this before? Zone out the moment you hear it? Still hear it all the time? Worse- still use this all the time? This rhetoric has been there for about ten years. Sure- finally now it has some legitimacy-

But which organizations  are starting something – by pioneering ideas, by investing in the right people?
Vs
How many are talking about it, waiting at the sidelines for something to happen? Someone to take action, share a case study?

It is the same with ‘SOLOMO’, ‘Gamification’, ‘likonomy’, etc

Agencies

How many agencies are building stuff? Getting the right mix of people? Ideas first cash later?
Vs
How many agencies are waiting for clients to ask? How many are struggling with ‘social’, ‘mobile’, ‘local’ , ‘flavor of the month’(!)?

The investor community

How many are investing in ideas?
Vs
How many are investing in ideas that have already sold? Well formed teams, proven business models…?

People

How many regard local talent to come at the helm?

vs

How many bring in senior people from the West? (The alibi – We can’t find talent here!)

Where are the Avinash, Armano, Rubel, Sterne, Owyang here? If some are indeed there- who lauds them? Who knows them?

Unless we get the mindsets right here. This market. Is Dead.

At the least- from an innovation/leadership point of view.

Vs short term business point of view

Someone give it a jolt.

Featured image attribution: Wikimedia

As a collector and as someone who has a fetish for things illustrated, drawn, sketched, music-tized, videotized and demonstrated- especially information in a graphical format – I try to spread, bookmark and pin whenever/whatever I can/find something of value. Helps me keep a repository and go back to it when I need it- say if I am working on a strategy or need to get inspired for visualizing something.

One thing that struck me recently is that companies/brands have been sending many infographics. These are professionally developed graphics or hand drawn good looking sketches of notes from an event or even just a mind map- explaining a phenomenon or outlining a trend. It can be professionally made or an amateur attempt at creating a short, edgy video or piece of music. And I think that is an awesome marketing approach.

If you are establishing your niche as a thought leader (as a company or as a personal brand)- this works in multiple ways. Provides value to the eco-system, creates consistent contact opportunities with stakeholders (across multiple platforms), is immersive rather than interruptive- and enables the community to become advocates. All this apart from the usual marketing benefits of driving linkbacks, pageviews, registrations, etc.

Since a few years now, I have propagated that the era of Search Engine Optimization as we used to know it- is fast getting over. Evolution in this space has ensured that the era of Social Asset Optimization has begun. And what was SEO- would be a part of social experience for now.

I refrain referring SEO as SEO (if not for the fact that this terminology is understood by people). I have preferred calling it COSE (Cozy)- Content Optimization for Search Engines instead.

This is how search is evolving and this is how Social is maturing. We’ve always propagated that Social Media Marketing needs “Social Objects”- and for the context of this article- these infographics can certainly be social objects.

So Content marketing does not really mean starting a newspaper of your own- rather it is about creating opportunities where content could be created or curated across mutiple mediums, expressions, ways, shapes or forms- and enabling it to travel. Consistency and quality are key virtues that will make all the difference- and help stand out from the crowd.

Infographics are an exemplification of content marketing. Multiple opportunities exist for those who want to try. Multiple opportunities to create these Social Objects.

For fun sake I call them creating Social Asset Snacks. So instead of creating full fledged features- create small assets – that could be consumed instantly and in a short span of time- get them out more frequently and let people consume them in chunks. 

Not a three course meal (read- big budget marketing campaign). A Snack. Social Asset Snack.

This is what ‘Viral’ marketing essentially is- though Content Marketing or Social Asset Optimization is better suited and more ‘legit’/less frivolous a description.

So you can imagine- B2B businesses- where the buying cycles are so much more longer, recommendations probably play an even bigger role than impulse products and where thought leadership is everything- this is a phenomenal approach for those businesses.

I have covered various infographics earlier- and lately some more . Here is another one below- sent to me by a company called Online Graduate Programs who are spreading this Infographic on “The Age of Instant”

Enjoy.

Created by: Online Graduate Programs

Featured Image: Fornal from Flickr

Came across this interesting collage for the possibly upcoming trends in Display media.

Well at some point or the other we all have advocated many similar ad formats. And even wondered why publishers were still running standard ad formats from the stone ages.

A few years ago, the IAB formalized ad sizes & formats. And that has been both a good and a bad thing.

Good because it helps set expectations and establishes standards. Bad because it commoditizes the display inventory, creates blindness from viewers and obviously and templatizes creativity by putting it within a box.

Neverthless- here are some display advertising 2.0 – interactive, mobile, rich and attention grabbing written all over some of them:

@shalabhpandey

Part 2 of this discussion here

Been thinking about something.

What ails the world?

The answer is simple. Exactly the same thing that makes this world go round.

MONEY.

The concept of Money- a freely trad-able, fully acceptable, completely fluid system. Been around since centuries now. It is the currency that makes the world go round.

This economics of money has proven to be quite successful. With its success, it has given rise to capitalistic markets, people and governments – the systems influencing the trade of money. These systems and its influences have been constantly expanding in scope and features.

Over a few centuries, these systems have become intertwined, complex and an entangled thread-ball – whose ends are somewhere within- but no one seems to know where.

Before I move on further  to propose a “new economics”-  it is important that I put some context by explaining the basics of modern day economics :

The money economics is based on a simple premise- Money buys you stuff. From services to goods. From personal security to future proofing your risks. It buys your kids a school education, you a health assurance and your family the necessities- a roof on head, food and clothing. If you have more money- you can get these things- and if you have more money, you can get more or higher quality things..and so on.

The more money you have, the more money you make. It gets compounded- the rich get richer. Money begets money.

This system also has an interesting phenomenon. Money never stays stagnant. The system is designed to keep the money moving. Money has to stay FLUID. If it stops rolling, it catches moss. And it stops the world with it.

Now- this system constitutes of people, governments, processes- all of these meant to play a regulatory, authoritative role. Money flow slows, Fed (Government) reduces lending rates to central banks, banks can borrow more at less cost- and then the publics get this benefit in turn. Businesses can borrow more for businesses, people can borrow more for housing..and so on. Money is made to flow- if it does not flow organically.

But in actuality, money never flows organically or systematically. It is dependent on emotions and sentiments. If people ‘feel’ bad about the future, they borrow less, spend less and save more. The rolling stone then starts to gather moss. And it brings the rest of the world to halt too.

Governments give ‘stimulus’, ease it quantitatively, reduce interest rates..nothing works. No borrowing=no lending= money sitting, losing value=stagflation, inflation. Follwed by Negative growth, recession and depression.

What is worse is, these problems are compounded by intertwined money markets, lending institutions and investment corporations. Globalization ensures that this animal is not restricted to any geography either. A worldwide recession.

Now this is not a rant about economic theory or the failure of the capitalistic mentalities. They have proven to work. But only at a certain level.

We need something else on top of clinical, theoretical, money market workings.

We need to change the world and its economics as it exists today. And I will share some thought starters in my next muse- read it here.

Image attribution: Tax Brackets

Internet was always about faster access- access to content and access to people.

And just about lately- the powerhouses of the web are moving towards real time internet- in an unprecedented manner.

Just when we thought real time location based chek-ins and personalized content dissemination were becoming mainstream and conversation monitoring systems were coming of age- the biggies of the web almost surreptitiously inserted more social, more ‘instant’ features on their interfaces- taking things a step further.

The phenomenon is noteworthy because the net product is more than the sum of its parts.

Shalabh Thinks: Innovation on the web proliferates faster than Moore’s law on processing power of chipsets. Sometimes little steps for the internet can be one giant leap for mankind.

Two examples that caught my attention recently - are Google and Bing- both riding the social wave. And in an unconventional manner (they have been trying their hands at it since some time)- direct integration of Social in search results.

Full on!

I am already impressed by what Google can do with social features integrated with results on search.

Dig the Realtime function on Google- If you haven’t tried yet- go to Google click on the left hand sidebar- Realtime link- and there you go.

It gives you neat little LIVE updates (mostly twitter)-against pre-defined keywords- and a nice little buzz chart at top right. Right sidebar also mentions key/most shared/important social feeds.

What’s more- they just rolled out their Social Search globally. It leverages publicly available data from sites like Flickr, Twitter (something’s brewing with Twitter and Google it seems?) and other Google sites like blogger, gmail contacts etc- and present it you mapping with your social graph.

Neat. More here in this video:

Along similar lines, Bing from Microsoft – leveraged its alignment with Facebook- and did some stupendous work. And they seem to moving in the right direction in nibbling away some of Google’s search share.

So if you haven’t recently- go to Bing. If you are logged in to Facebook- Bing reads it via cookie identification- and you will see your Facebook pic on top right. This means you can now see your friends recommendations (likes etc) on search results- and they can see yours. If you want to. If not- you could disable the function too.

More from this recent video from Bing:

If you are interested- check out the Twitter maps integration with Bing- real time visualization of tweets on a keyword layered on top of a map. Yoiu could grab a code and embed on your website. All good- except it is a bit buggy.

I had suggested earlier that 2010 would be the year of Systematic Web

I sense that 2011 is the year of the Instant Web

And I predict that 2012 will be the year of the Intent web

By God’s grace, in this field, I haven’t trumpeted empty predictions-give or take a year.

So the next most powerful thing after this wave of instant is easy to guess-It is already happening in many ways- and with unification of data across channels – will become a reality soon- is “The Intent Web”. Services guess your intent based on your past behavior and meta data- coupled with those like you. And serve you content and ads based on guessing what will you do or want next.

The Intent Web.

Or call it what you want- but think about it

Shalabh

@shalabhpandey
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rizzato/3488201179/sizes/s/in/photostream

I can’t stand status quo. Somehow. I want it sometimes- even long for it. But I can’t seem to stop challenging it.

In my many years of working life, I have always found myself at the center of change. From the time I managed marketing for network center solutions (enterprise level networking solutions- mostly to dotcommers of the early millenium years)- to consulting on developing web apps/sites to the time of starting Digital Media departments in a few agencies- introducing search engine marketing and developing digital marketing frameworks for my agencies- to starting a completely new agency in a completely new country- to dabbling with starting-up and independent consulting.

It was not easy. It has never been. But many of these have been successful stints. Satisfying and I have brought value to the table.

The only common thing with these challenges has been the fact that I was brought in to be- or expected to be- or turned out to be- The Change Agent.

Digital Marketing field is a field where you can either be like a monkey- sitting on a tree and making some noise- or you get into the jungle and ride the tiger.

• There were (and still are) few systems in place- which implies you could establish a new paradigm- or wait till someone else does it.I did it myself.
• You had to learn the ropes yourself. Self learn -take time away from family. Be “always on’. Learn to swim or drink the water on your way down. And let me tell you- I drink a lot of water- but somehow always surface
• New storms are always on the horizon – but you have to keep on chasing the storm- riding the tiger. (Oh yes!- and if you survive- you need to train everyone else how to do it- over a weekend)

As a change agent, I have always been commanding positions yet without directions. Performing various tasks, yet resource deprived. A digital specialist but also a planner, suit, salesperson, project manager, ad trafficker, et al. Always in start-up mode- always on.

But too much change never worried me. What always scared me though was too little change.Perhaps it is the Indian roots- there is a naturally high tolerance for ambiguity. Mix it with the attitude- “I can do this and I can do this better- because I am passionate about this and willing to go the extra mile”- and the concoction would define a change agent.

But I have been a change agent not just for the sake of change- I have been in situations that demanded change. And someone had to bring it. A start-up, a new set up, an innovation- whatever it was.

Many a times, the challenge was to define change itself.

The times demanded change- and it had ‘something to do with digital’. This was the untold directive. What it actually was, how to leverage and how to solve whatever it was, had to be defined, managed and executed.

Thankfully, leading that change and translating it into something meaningful and demonstrating success was something I have been able to achieve. More in some places, lesser in others. Notwithstanding the degree, it did make some difference. And not without the help of friends and colleagues.

In the initial years- the challenge of making everyone understand the logic of failing fast and failing quick- was immense. As a ‘digital’ specialist- you are expected to know what is going on!

Most of the times, the complexity of the change came not from market forces or even defining the change- it came from internalizing/fitting that solution within the existing dynamics of the organization. That is the biggest challenge.

Life continues throwing new challenges- and with them come some wonderful opportunities.

I am finding myself at the center of another big change agent role- and a wonderful opportunity. I have joined Nokia in Singapore- as the Head of Earned media for South-East Asia and Pacific.

I am getting to define, manage and execute change – all over again- and I do hope to get your support, encouragement and tips.

Chasing the Storm continues to be independent of my professional assignments- and will continue to carry personal thoughts (though a little intermittently) on Ideas, innovations and inspirations.

Happy New Year and god bless.

Shalabh

National sales and marketing congress, an annual event organized by Marketing Institute of Singapore invited me over for taking a one hour session with the audience. The topic? I evangelize (what I refer to as) Engagement led marketing and this seemed to be a good gathering to tackle the subject.

Engagement led marketing, by the way- is exactly that- marketing that is engagement driven. And engagement (to me) is glue that has the potential to tie together different digital (and other) disciplines.

A lot of effort went into this- specially designing and visualization (and I hope it is apparent). I am a bit of a sucker for visually appealing presentations with substance- and I hope I was able to deliver on both.

The presentation was quite well-received and thank God- all that effort was appreciated.

It is said that a one hour presentation requires 30 hours of effort- and I could not agree more. Apart from clearly presenting your own thinking, you need to provide context through research- latest wherever possible, and retain audience interest by making it visually relevant (thank God for photo sharing and creative commons, but finding the right images that tell the story you want to tell is a task- I tell you). Those things take time. (“A whole lot of precious time” as Paul McCartney would say)

On that topic, there are some guidelines I have started following regarding presenting to an audience- and time willing, I’d love to share the key points of delivering a presentation in a conference.

But that later.

I am approached by quite a few people complaining about the pace of technology, fragmentation of media and silo-ised disciplines. This presentation is an attempt to make people appreciate that all marketing disciplines need to work together; engagement led marketing thinking is the common ground/glue- and the key steps in drafting an engagement led integrated marketing strategy.

Think About it

Shalabh

Twitter: @shalabhpandey

Had an interesting session at the MediaMind Digital Experience Day.

The topic I was given was:

The Brand Exchange- Maximizing your reach

Historically exchanges have been widely utilised by agencies and clients as an effective way to drive DR goals… but for building brand? Can this channel ever be utilised to achieve branding goals? Could a brand-focused client take advantage of the available reach and frequency that exchanges offer?

When I got the topic, I looked at it- and the first thought was “What the heck is a brand exchange”? But after a little thought, it was clearer.

We have used digital media as largely a direct response channel. And that will change soon.

Not a visceral prognostication, but the signs are there for those who want to see it. It is coming.

Even till now, banner planning/display advertising planning has always begged for much more than impression/click planning, and intelligent, forward thinking and brave minds have tried to explore beyond what they were being told to.

The event was much bigger than I expected, and I went in a little unrehearsed. I prefer it that ways. It lends a little spontaneity to the show, brings in a raw, conversational element, and if you are comfortable with the story you are telling, things flow.

All said, it went off well. And in an audience consisting of hard core digital media guys, I was glad that it was as well received as it was.

Here’s the presentation:

Privileged to be chairing a day at Social Media World Forum for 23rd September in Singapore.

Will write more about it- though for starters- here is my Introduction note for the day:

===========================

Welcome to the second day of immersing within the Social Media environment.

The Media and Marketing industry is undergoing a paradigm shift, and a quick and clear understanding of the opportunities available today and those shaping tomorrow is extremely important and challenging at the same time. In the course of this two day immersion schedule, you will surely get a flavor of what are some of these opportunities and how to make maximum use of them.

I am excited at chairing the second day of this conference. Social Media has moved beyond the initial introductory stage and has fast climbed the ladder of new media adoption hierarchy. The wide scale interest is converting into adoption and business impacting processes are being developed and deployed regularly.

This discipline has fast become a part of mainstream marketing and the ‘social’ thinking within marketing now spans beyond customer service and ‘buzz’ to more marketing functions like CRM and even demand generation. The social media discipline is also disrupting business models- especially on the agency side. It is redefining the traditional agency outlook and is forcing everyone to ‘think digital’.  Or rather ‘think social’.

The Media industry is obviously feeling a ‘shake-up’ at this point of time, and many media companies are transforming themselves to better incorporate the social element. The ‘social media’ aspect has had impact on technologies too and newer ‘social’ led technologies are to be seen in the near future with integration with television, mobile and across multimedia content platforms.

Asian markets are at a forefront of this revolution. Asian users are creating content and participating in group and personal communication in their own unique ways and across mediums. This landscape is unique – and some models are now shaping global adoption and business models.

From my perspective, the interplay of various elements within the marketing mix is what excites me and understanding the impact of each new medium on overall marketing objectives is my pet topic.

We will discuss all of this in today’s conference. I look forward to hearing thoughts and opinions from industry thought leaders and young executives. Their opinions and understanding shapes the future of this medium and so do your opinions and understanding.

Wish you all the best in sharing and indulging in meaningful conversations throughout the day.

Shalabh Pandey

@shalabhpandey

At the risk of reinforcing my (somewhat fallacious) positioning as a  ‘Social media’ guy (I am a digital marketing person- and a proponent of engagement led marketing), here is an interesting and relatively new (end June 2010) content on digital (mainly social media, I would say) strategy from a leading brand.

A session by Alexandra Wheeler- Digital Director at Starbucks.

Listing the video along with the presentation here- as noticed on the Digital Buzz blog

Some key points from the presentation (you’ve heard a lot of this before- and the reason might be that it is becoming standard practice now across many firms)

• Social media is about relationships and engagement- so be authentic and don’t outsource your voice (Hmm…not outsourcing your voice could be debatable- and I would argue it does not play with all brands across all situations)
• Digital within Starbucks fits within a larger integrated marketing strategy ( I like this statement. As someone exposed to all marketing disciplines- especially within the digital domain- no one can vouch for this more than me)
• Revisiting Starbucks digital (social actually) strategy- some key success areas were- building a coalition (finding a common cause with the community); making a commitment and acknowledging mistakes when they were made. Crowdsourcing ideas worked for them -the “Free WiFi”  idea came up from the “My Starbucks Idea” platform and an organic community build-up led to ‘real’ fans coming in contact with the brand
• I love the importance they laid to curating content. Content became an engagement vehicle (something I’ve been reinforcing the whole of last year- and continue to do so) Creating great content and seeding it meaningfully scored high points (what I have called GermFeeding and GermSeeding)
• We need to put resources behind digital/social- Completely agree. To make it a committed effort- this needs investment in right people, tools and processes.

Enjoy the talk and the presentation below:

Just caught up with Sean Rach, Prudential Corporation Asia’s Director of Media & Corporate Events over email (with help and prompted by their PR agency Burson Marsteller)

Discussions started with the fact that Prudential had launched an iPhone application on retirement planning- the first insurance company in Asia to launch a mobile phone application as a marketing platform.

I found the concept interesting- specially with the perspective that it is a first in the industry, though I’d say the real deal will be how the concept is extended and moves forward.  Media is where people attention shifts to- and marketers need to quickly adopt their marketing to fit the new tools.

Alongside, think I need to migrate quickly to the voice/video based Brainstorms as they allow for taking a more conversational approach and a more dialogue based interaction- but here it is- perspectives from Sean on his (and Prudential’s) viewpoint towards Digital Media:

What are the key challenges to the insurance industry today and how can the digital medium help mitigate those challenges?

In keeping with our brand credo – - “Always Listening, Always Understanding” – - we understand that consumers and our customers are using digital media everyday in many ways. We are exploring ways that we can appropriately reach out to prospects, as well as, serve our customers through our digital platforms. As we have a very large agent network, digital media is becoming key in providing our agents with the latest customer information, product details, and training.

Could you elaborate on why and how the idea of the ‘Retirement calculator’ iPhone app was conceived? What exactly are the main points it is trying to address and how has the audience reaction been till now? There are many insurance calculators/retirement planning tools on the internet- could you elaborate what is special about migrating an app like this to the mobile web? (going beyond the fantastic point that it is a first in Asia)

Background and key points

The “What’s Your Number?” Retirement Calculator is an evolution of PCA’s existing – and very successful – “What’s Your Number?” retirement campaign, which was established to address growing retirement protection needs across Asia.  Prudential is committed to helping people understand that careful planning is critical for a carefree retirement – people need to understand what their retirement goal should be and how to get there.

Migration to mobile

Seeking to reach people via mobile is natural given the penetration and usage of mobile phones in Asia – in most markets much more than the penetration of the internet. Mobile marketing via SMS is a very common and effective way of reaching out to prospects, customers and even our agents.

We developed this application as a “branded utility”, which aims to drive greater awareness and understanding about the importance of retirement planning. Taking learnings from our web-based calculators, we have sought to create an intuitive way to determine your “retirement number” – the first step to effective retirement planning.

In testing, we found that by placing this calculator in their hands, we allow users to determine a range of scenarios that they might consider. This is the power of mobile – the most personal form of media.

Audience reaction

As we have recently launched the application, we are receiving comments on a daily basis. Most users find it very user friendly and surprisingly comprehensive. It has been noted that it has started conversations among family members and increased the realization that a retirement plan is needed.

What are some of the other ways in which you are using the digital medium for marketing purposes? (It could be anything related to branding awareness, customer engagement, agent empowerment or closing sales) How do you measure success for these activities?

Prudential has for some time sought to leverage digital media. Whether with consumer websites, extranets, intranet, email newsletter, or sms, we recognize the opportunity to reach out and appropriately communicate using these media.

Measurement is key to any form of marketing, especially digital marketing in the financial services industry. We use a range of web and mobile analytics tools to monitor and optimize the success of our campaigns. Digital media, as the most measurable media platform, provides a valuable listening opportunity for Prudential.

What roles did your various agencies play in developing this app?

To develop this application, we worked with a team from both OgilvyOne and Cherrypicks.- – with OgilvyOne taking the creative lead and Cherrypicks leading the technical implementation.

What role do you think the various ‘types’ of agencies could play in the near future when it comes to digital marketing? Especially with respect to mobile marketing? Which of the existing agency ‘types’ is best suited for leadership in the digital space? (PR/creative/media/digital). Do you think there is a future for digital ‘specialist’ agencies?

This is a rather broad question.

Having led a leading digital and direct marketing agency for several years, I view your question in a slightly different way. Given consumer’s media consumption habits, I feel that the best marketing solutions come from understanding all the possible ways to reach and influence your desired audience. This may be through earned media (PR), paid media (advertising), word of mouth, direct marketing and the list goes on.

A truly integrated solution can be accomplished with one lead agency coordinating partners as there is no “one-stop shop” or with a selection of agency partners coordinated by the client.

Digital specialist agencies do offer a great deal of value in understanding the intricacies of how the various media options work, especially regarding mobile media. As digital is often technical, this understanding of capabilities can mute some of the ability to manage the interplay between media options. Thus, digital specialist agencies run the risk of pursuing ideas that fit their particular media versus ideas that can be integrated and brought to life across various media platforms.

From my point of view- this stands for all types of agencies- digital or non-digital. The non-digital ones have difficulty porting the concept to digital, and in many ways, vice-versa. Though in the not-so-distant future, both will do each other and everyone else’s jobs.

Think About It

Following up on my much earlier post on some practical uses of Augmented Reality for marketing, here is one on what it could look like in the future- have seen many around the same topic, but this one struck- and thought should share. If for nothing else, then for the pure eye candy and the ‘cool’ factor that marketers are mostly after.

The setting could be in your kitchen.

Enjoy.

In past life, I have been a salesperson. As a matter of fact, I still am one. Come to think of it, we all are, in a way.

More so those who have been around in the digital marketing industry (across its various disciplines).

In the founding years of Digital Marketing in Asia (1999-2006), if you had anything to do with digital marketing, you essentially had to sell hard. Everyone loved to listen, but few actually bought what you were selling. Specially ‘digital media’ was an abstract thought in the early days (“it is all a scam”)

So I know what it means to be a sales rep. And just like people from all walks of life, there are some good ones and others who are simply a pain in the butt.

And as a digital marketing consultant and buyer of media and technologies, I deal regularly with publisher representatives/media sales people day in and day out. As someone who has been on both sides of the table, here is what I look for when it comes to setting rules of engagement with salespeople. Applies equally for salespeople across all industries:

1. Bring value to the table- not a hook : The agenda is value- how can you impact my business, my client’s business -and your business in turn. Give me value- not a hook. Better efficiencies? tick. Innovations? tick.  Allowing agency to help media create a better solution? tick. We are all in the business of consulting, innovation and accountability. Even commodities (ad space) can be innovated upon. Lunch/coffee/dinner/beer can wait.
2. Be genuine: Sales is not only about, well, selling. It is about relationships. Work that out- it helps. have genuine relationships. In the Asian context, it works better culturally- and is bound to rub off on the business.
3. Share: Media and agency folks are hungry for knowledge/information. Load them up. White papers, learning sessions, special webinars, the works. Think of a route to share- even if you are in the business of selling ‘general’ content.
4. Don’t (try to) intimidate : Appreciate you are God’s gift to your company. But please. Understand the business you are in. It is not the media business. It is not a ‘sales’ business. It is a business of relationships. It exists due to relationships. So if you have come from a more ‘advanced’ country or represent a big search engine- give me the value- and spare me the attitude.
5. And I should comply because you met the ‘client’?: So you met the client. And are thinking eff the agency. (“We met the client yesterday and they want to go ahead with our solution. Raise the IO”) Guess what? Bad idea. There is a reason Brands trust their agencies. Domain knowledge, accountability, consistency- all the things that an agency brings on the table. Media Strategists meet these ‘James Bonds’ every day. In a B2B2B ecosystem, piss off one party involved in decision making- and say bon-voyage en-route to eternal alienation. Alas, Bond is fiction.
6. Be fast (not furious): Agencies need things fast. ‘As of yesterday’ is more than just a cliche here. Prompt deliveries will ensure that you are top of mind in case of any new business requirement. Fret on deliveries and there is always someone else who is faster and eager to make that sale.
7. Management introduction: Introduce agency partners to your management. It makes you look good and the agency get the bigger picture. Make sure that the conversation is elevated here- and moves beyond nice exchanges. International trends? Bigger partnerships for betterment?

In short, Value, Relationship and Delivery -three key issues to engaging well with your prospective clients (b2b or b2c or b2b2b or b2b2c or whatever….)

That said, not that agencies do everything alright. They have their share of jokers too. More on that later.

Think About It

It’s that time of the year again. Conferences. forums and industry gatherings – some large scale and some niche ones.

ad:tech falls in the former category. For those within the digital marketing industry, it is not just large scale. It is BIG.

I have attended ad:tech events in the past and have shared my experiences. (Can’t believe its been a year since I wrote on this topic). This year, it opened today (in Singapore- 3rd June 2010) and what a bummer- I had to miss the first day.

However thanks to tweets from my group and the update emails from Si Ting Sng from Bite Communications (thanks!), I at least have a flavor of the event.

From one of the email updates- this section summarizes the event proceedings- reproducing verbatim:

ad:tech Singapore 2010 consists of 6 keynotes and 24 breakout sessions with over 30 exhibitors and sponsors including publishers and media owners taking part.  Among them, technologies and solutions from mobile marketing to analytics, e-mail marketing to Search Engine Optimisation will be showcased.

Seem to be everything I spend a regular day on. Hope to visit tomorrow- on the second day of the session and whet my appetite for Digital Marketing information.

What is also interesting is one full stream dedicated to advanced marketing and branding.  ‘Digital’ as a branding medium still has a lot of miles to cover- but really, that is the imminent future. Add to this the fact that leading brand marketers-  alongside consultants/agency representatives are now speaking on this topic- sends the right signals. Measurablity is an inseparable part of digital marketing – but the real power of digital will arrive when it moves towards a balance of brand metrics and hard RoI metrics (both of them dear to  me).

Consider this- the sessions started with this keynote:

• The Future of Brands on the Internet: Alex Hunter, Independent Brand Consultant

and the second day will cover a similar subject, though it seems more specifically in context of a brand

• Driving Marketing Excellence Through Digital – The Kraft Foods Asia-Pacific Journey

Keynote by Shawn Warren, VP Marketing, Asia Pacific, Kraft Foods: who will discuss the important role digital marketing plays in building power brands across Asia Pacific.

Great stuff.

Another thing I missed the first day- keynotes on ‘Digital in South east Asia’. I am a huge ASEAN proponent- and it sucks that I missed the first day keynotes on this topic.

But there’s always tomorrow. Hope to be there. And write about it if I do.

Think(ing) about it.

Shalabh

One of the most misunderstood and favorite punching bag of all. Online Display advertising. Also mistakenly called “Banner advertising”.

Mistakenly because there’s more to display advertising than banner advertising. Why, there is more to Banner advertising than just “banner” advertising-but more on that later.

Display media, as it matures, is undergoing multiple transitions. It still commands majority of media ad dollars though sources claim- at declining growth rates. But this will soon change, as metrics related to brand awareness/positive predisposition attribution, and advertising’s role in defining a holistic web strategy evolves.

Till then, digital display advertising is ridden with demand generation implications. Banners are a commodity- and there is a reason why ad networks are making the hay while the sun shines.

There are undue pressures on Banner advertising, and because it is treated like a commodity, there is always a price ‘push back’ phenomenon- buy cheaper for better conversion attribution and RoI.

And largely because of this, a whole ‘big scale’ cottage industry now thrives to  make Display advertising more accountable for conversions.

The landscape below:

Look at tools that provide ‘Data Optimization’, ‘yield optimization’ and ‘Creative optimization’.
Ad exchanges, networks and performance networks (another variety of ad networks) are thriving and mushrooming- and that is a good thing as well as a not so good thing.

While I discuss that at another time, what is important to note is how the Digital media planner’s skill set changes due to the introduction of these new variables and tools in media planning.

Think about it
Shalabh