Monthly Archives: September 2007

PME Day 2: Keynote with Jim Louderback

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Jim Louderback, formerly of ZDNet, recently joined Revision3 that is essentially TechTV version 3.0.

I had a drink with him last night and we discussed their recent $8 million in new funding and how they would be using it.

He talked about the new studio and the vision to be the Discovery/TLC of the Internet Generation.

It is clear that they are in the Digital Media business and not the podcasting business. That has been the theme this year and I can’t agree more.

He has a great quote “we are in the first inning of a very long game”. So true.

Jim is a very dynamic speaker and interviewee and a hell of a nice guy. I can’t wish him well enough and Kevin Rose was smart to hire him.

What is working for them is the in-show sponsorship pitch and discussing the experience with the brand. The ones that are more adventurous see more return from the brand awareness.

Great speech. Next up is Susan Bratton of Personal Life Media on Selling Advertising and Sponsorships for Audio and Video Content

The 7 Secrets of Media Monetization

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Sitting in the PME afternoon sessions I had the opportunity to watch Paul Colligan of PodcastSecrets talk about the “7 Secrets of Monetization that Big Media Hopes You Don’t Figure Out”.

As a summary, here we go:

- You are the media
- Big Media is Big Business
- Always Improve/Never Invent
- It Changes when you stop thinking like a podcaster and start thinking like BIG MEDIA

The 7 Secrets

  1. Content Rental
  2. Content Sales
  3. Merchandising
  4. Product Placement
  5. The Paying Built-in Audience
  6. Ad Inserts
  7. Production Companies

Content Rental
Nutshell: Some people will buy what they can get for free

Content Sales
Nutshell: Some people will for premium content

Merchandising
Nutshell: Free content with profitable schwag

Product Placement
Nutshell: Someone will pay for access to your audience

The Paying Built-In Audience
Nutshell: Starting Over Is Silly, Use you existing audience

Ad Inserts
Nutshell: Boring, But Profitable – Use Podango and Gigavox

Production Companies
Nutshell: Other People’s Money isn’t yours

Awesome stuff…

How Much Do People Talk About You?

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In today’s day and age of “dog eat dog” and marketing and getting ahead and SEO and linkbaiting… how much do people talk about you? Better yet, how often do you talk about other people. Picture the situation. You’re standing around in a crowded bar at a social event after a conference. There are 150 people standing around in various states – some drunk, some not. Everyone’s talking. Most likely, they are talking about some hot button issue in whatever industry you’re in. They might be talking about their newest product or pitching a potential partner. Business cards are exchanged as frequently as George Bush tells us to “Stay the Course”.

In one conversation, an industry expert is referred to and the four people participating in that conversation laugh and nod. In another conversation, another industry experts new startup is opined about and everyone questions the business model. The point is, people are talking about these other people and conversation is flowing. Those people are not present. Can’t give business cards. Can’t pitch their product. Can’t talk about their new experience or their new lines of thinking. Yet, their messages are getting out. For better or for worse, their personal brand is alive and well and well represented in this crowd.

There’s a misconception in blogging and similar industries that if you produce good content, people will come. While that is true to a certain extent, that theory will never amount to much in the broad scope of things. how many web developers are out there? How many people do wedding photography? how many people write 500-750 word posts once a week that are thoughtful and well written, but nobody knows about?

Let me answer that question: Alot.

And why?

It’s important to create great “stuff” (define “stuff” for yourself). It’s really important to stand out above the crowd. It’s more important to get other people talking about you. You are a brand. You are a subject matter expert. Well, you have the potential to be a subject matter expert. But you’re not yet. Not if no one is talking about you when you’re not around.

Here’s a thought. When you write that great content, try to get that content in front of other SMEs. Find ways to market yourself. Give away your knowledge. Speak at industry events. Host meetups related to your industry. Be social and network. Go drink a beer with others in your industry. When an opinion is asked for, be aggressive and share your opinion in a succinct, well-spoken manner.

In the end, you not only can produce, but you become the first person people look to for help or advice. You’re the first feed that someone reads when they open their feedreader. You do want to be the first person people come to – not just a referral. ;-)

Blogging from PME – Keynote with Howard Lindzon

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This morning the keynote with Howard Lindzon he talked about his sale to CBS for a reported $5 million dollars.

Here are some of his opinions about the show:

- motivation to build the show – everything out there sucked.

- what his end goal was – to sell the show

- about interviewing over 600 people to eventually find Lindsey – very boring until she came along

- approaching advertisers – most are just testing the waters and he was making stuff up as he went along. Eventually, there were numbers to have a discussion about but he was still throwing numbers out there for advertising costs.

- on the sale – throwing the numbers out there and the negotiation was the best part for him.

- do you think people can make a living doing this? No, unless you really niche and target and understand who would benefit from it.

- it is all about the editing – you can go out and shoot wacky content but if it is not cut right, it will suck.

and finally, product placement and creative stuff integrated into the show has better impact that stupid 30 second spots.