Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 267
November 25, 2013
Forget Snakes On A Plane, We're About To Get Talking On A Plane
Every morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
The value is live traffic for GPS and mapping applications
Whether or not government's should compensate IT consultants to encourage them to do more social work.
The digitization of society, our health records and our signs.
The Internet of things... including your toothbrush.
Using mobile phones on a plane.
My app of the week: Garage Band.
Listen here...
Tags:
chom 977 fm
chom fm
ctrl alt delete
ctrl alt delete with mitch joel
digital health care records
digital media
digital signage
garage band
gps
guest contributor
it consultants
mapping applications
mobile phones on a plane
montreal radio
morning show
mornings rock with terry and heather b
radio segment
radio station
social media
soundcloud
technology
the internet of things
traffic updates
November 24, 2013
The Unbreakable Laws Of Selling With Jeffrey Gitomer
Episode #385 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
True story: when we first started Twist Image back in 2000, I wasn't sure how we were going to get any new clients. I started reading books, attending seminars and doing anything I could to up my game in regards to sales and selling. At every turn, the name Jeffrey Gitomer kept creeping up. From his amazing (and free!) e-newsletter, Sales Caffeine (which I still read religiously), to seminal books like The Sales Bible. Back then, he was offering up teleseminars (like Webinars, but over the phone). They weren't that expensive, but I would still order them, invite a bunch of people over to my office, and we would all split the fee as a way to save some money. I'm sure Jeffrey didn't allow that, but I didn't have the money so I got resourceful. Since then, Jeffrey has continued to pound out bestselling business books at a frenetic pace and it's a crazy world that allows me to also call him a friend. Most recently, he published Jeffrey Gitomer's 21.5 Unbreakbale Laws of Selling - Proven Actions You Must Take To Make Easier, Faster, Bigger Sales... Now And Forever (now that's a title!). As part of the book launch, Jeffrey invited me to add some bonus material for those who would purchase the book on launch day. We recorded this conversation as a that bonus content. Thankfully, Jeffrey was kind enough to allow me to release it now that the launch phase of the book has subsided. I'm thrilled to share this with you. Enjoy the conversation...
You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #385.
Tags:
21 5 unbreakable laws of selling
advertising podcast
blog
blogging
brand
business book
business podcast
david usher
itunes
jeffrey gitomer
marketing podcast
podcast
podcasting
sales
sales caffeine
selling
the sales bible
November 23, 2013
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #179
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
Transport Buzz - No More Shouting Into The Void - Transport API . "Hugh and I have talked about APIs before. Here's what happens when we hook data up to transportation, and see what happens. Turns out people like to complain about eating food in public." (Alistair for Hugh).
James Murphy And 2ManyDJS Bringing Their Despacio 50,000 Watt Soundsystem To London Next Month - Fact . "I like good sound as much as the next guy, and I've even built some sound stages and installations in my time. But nothing comes close to the insanity of this 7-tower, custom-tuned system, the brainchild of (appropriately) LCD Soundsystem 's James Murphy . It has 48 amps -- each of which cost $50K. Insane." (Alistair for Mitch).
Russian police -- Get lucky cover (Daft Punk) . "You are not likely to witness a more bizarre cover version of a Daft Punk song this week." (Hugh for Alistair).
Giorgio loves Sonic - YouTube . "You are not likely to witness a more enjoyable drive-through order this week." (Hugh for Mitch).
Healthcare.gov and the Gulf Between Planning and Reality - Clay Shirky . "Well, the Obamacare website is still grasping for life as people from all walks of life (politicians, bloggers, every day people and media pundits) take their turns swinging at it like it's some kind of pinata. I have my own perspective on it (which you can read right here: When Important Websites Crash ). Sometimes, smarter people take a swing (and it's not all that bad). People like Clay Shirky (there are few individuals whose opinion I respect more). It's a smart and credible perspective, still you can feel the politics getting tangled up in the comments (as to be expected)." (Mitch for Alistair).
Moose-eating shark rescued in Newfoundland harbour - CBC News . "I know that no one loves a good, Canadian story more than Hugh. This story (which is anything but fiction) sounds like the perfect premise for a Canadian version of Sharknado . You just can't make this stuff up. What more commentary can I add than to just encourage you to re-read that headline, check out the story and ask yourself, 'WTF?!'" (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.
Tags:
alistair croll
bitcurrent
book a futurists manifesto
cbc news
clay shirky
complete web monitoring
daft punk
fact
get lucky
gigaom
hugh mcguire
human 20
iambik
james murphy
lcd soundsystem
librivox
link bait
link exchange
link sharing
managing bandwidth
media hacks
obamacare
pressbooks
sharknado
social media
solve for interesting
sonic
transport api
twitter
year one labs
youtube
A New Golden Age For Television
Brands are all hot over the Internet and digital marketing, but is television entering into a new golden age?
From a purely content and technology perspective, there is no doubt that television has evolved at a rapid pace in the past decade. Some might argue that this was a needed shift in a world where the Internet has captivated the world's attention, while other's might argue that this is the natural evolution of the medium. Regardless, it's impossible not to consider TV as a primary media channel.
Thinking differently about television.
Charlie Rose pulled together an amazing panel to discuss the current state of the television and where this is all going. Joining Rose on The Current State of Television is:
David Carr - New York Times.
- New Yorker.
Josh Sapan - President of AMC.
Terence Winter - executive producer for Boardwalk Empire.
If you're in the media and marketing business, you should spend a few minutes watching this:
Tags:
amc
boardwalk empire
brand
charlie rose
content
david carr
digital marketing
emily nussbaum
golden age of television
internet
josh sapan
media channel
new york times
new yorker
technology
television
terence winter
the current state of television
tv
November 22, 2013
Moon Shot
Big ideas + dreams + technology + innovation + passion + powerful presentation skills + forward thinking =
From 1962 (50 years ago).
Put your politics aside. Dream big.
Tags:
big ideas
dreams
innovation
jfk
john f kennedy
moon shot
passion
powerful presentation skills
technology
A New Golden Age For Television
Brands are all hot over the Internet and digital marketing, but is television entering into a new golden age?
From a purely content and technology perspective, there is no doubt that television has evolved at a rapid pace in the past decade. Some might argue that this was a needed shift in a world where the Internet has captivated the world's attention, while other's might argue that this is the natural evolution of the medium. Regardless, it's impossible not to consider TV as a primary media channel.
Thinking differently about television.
Charlie Rose pulled together an amazing panel to discuss the current state of the television and where this is all going. Joining Rose on The Current State of Television is:
David Carr - New York Times.
- New Yorker.
Josh Sapan - President of AMC.
Terence Winter - executive producer for Boardwalk Empire.
If you're in the media and marketing business, you should spend a few minutes watching this:
Tags:
amc
boardwalk empire
brand
charlie rose
content
david carr
digital marketing
emily nussbaum
golden age of television
internet
josh sapan
media channel
new york times
new yorker
technology
television
terence winter
the current state of television
tv
How Much Does It Cost?
Let's talk about money.
The marketing agency business is a strange bird. Brands are strange birds too. It's a complex web of relationships that is often confusing, evolving, thrilling, beautiful, painful and more. As the marketing industry evolves, we have all experienced massive shifts in how the business is won and done. First, there is the procurement component. More and more, the procurement department is leading the charge not only in the negotiation of fees, but in the running of the bidding for the business. That, in and of itself, is book-worthy content. For the moment, let's put that aside and look at a more predominant and frustrating component of pitching. Let's talk about when there is no budget allocation.
Why would anybody pitch on a piece of business without a budget?
It happens all of the time. Agencies will be given these massive RFPs (Request For Proposals) or RFIs (Requests For Information) that take days, weeks and more to complete. These phases in agency new business are not only disruptive to the work flow (because agencies never know when they are coming in and then have to divert resources to make a run at this new piece of business), but cost a tremendous amount of money to complete. It's amazing - after all of these years - how brands fail to understand the simple business model of the marketing agency (which is this: agencies charge more for a human unit of time than they pay for it). From there, it has been well-documented that these requests for proposals or information are usually littered with unreasonable requests (like providing strategic and creative direction for a particular problem with no promise of compensation). As a brand, to not afford the agency the courtesy of knowing and understanding the budget that is being laid against the request demonstrates a complete lack of understanding as to how this business works.
Harsh? But it's true.
I have been in the marketing business since the late eighties. I've worked on the publisher side, the brand side and the agency side. From a brand perspective, this all makes sense. They can milk and bilk as much free information out of as many agencies that are willing to play along and then choose one, while still benefitting from the knowledge and insights of many. Smart. From the agency side, this is another story. This is why organizations like the American Association of Advertising Agencies (aka 4A) exist. It is also the reason that they have an extensive resource section on their website with documents like, Best Practice Guidance: Ownership of Agency Ideas, Plans and Work Developed During the New Business Process. Sadly, all of that hard work goes mostly ignored when there is an opportunity for a brand to grab a bunch of ideas off of agencies who are doing a ton of comp work on the front end to score the business.
What is the prize?
Most RFPs and RFIs have a section titled, budget. Sadly, in the past few years there has rarely - if ever - been a true, formal and final number assigned to that part of the document. More often than not, you will see language like: "we're looking for a best-in-class solution and are open to defining the budget once we see the thinking and costing based on the agency's work and ideas." The unspoken truth here is simple: if a brand tells an agency how much they're willing to spend, the agency will spend that entire amount (and maybe a little more). And, while that may have been true in the past, the argument could also be made that agencies simply want to know what the potential business reward will be against the amount of time, effort and cost it will take to complete the RFP or RFI in an effective manner.
Why else does money matter?
Here are some other reasons why allocating a firm budget to a piece of marketing business matters:
It demonstrates that the brand is serious and has committed the financial wherewithal to make it happen.
A budget also gives the agency "rails" to work within. In a world where no budget exists, the brand will get a myriad of responses that are all over the map and will not allow them to compare apples to apples.
A budget demonstrates the brand's knowledge of the space. When a brand doesn't know how much something costs, it is an early indicator that they are not sophisticated.
A budget allows an agency to better understand if this is the type of client that they can work and grow with. I recognize that this may be a contentious issue, but it's true. There are many agencies that are scaled to operate a certain way and budget is a prime indicator in relation to fit.
Budget is a two way street: in as much as the brand is trying to find the right agency, the agencies are also trying to find the right brands. Budget is a major factor in this.
How much is a house? Without a budget, you may as well be asking a contractor, "how much does a house cost?" It depends on the location, value of real estate, how big of a house, how many rooms, how many floors, what the needs are and beyond. If a brand doesn't know what kind of house they want (in terms of the raw info) along with what they're budgeting against it, what is the point?
Brands will get what they deserve. I've seen this happen time and time again. You have inexperienced agencies willing to lose money on the upfront to win a client, so they can add the brand logo to a PowerPoint deck slide to impress others, and the brand winds up getting cheap work with minimal (if any) impact.
It sounds like bitterness, but it's really about transparency.
This isn't about procurement or sour grapes, it's about a healthy and transparent partnership because that's what the best brand/agency relationships look like. If you're hiding what the true value of the work is from the beginning, the relationship starts out in a deficit. This is the marketing business. In business, all parties should be clear on how the process will unfold, who the participants in the competition are and what the prize will be for the winner at the end. This shell game of fishing for ideas, creative and strategy with no commitment to following through on the mandate is a thorn in the side of the marketing industry that doesn't need to be there. Things have, sadly, progressed to the point where agencies are putting weeks against a competitive pitch to only uncover that the project has been shelved, budget wasn't allocated or the brand was simply kicking some tires to see if a better solution was out there.
Brands may think that this makes them smarter at the marketing game, but look at the overall results and costs for that effort? Sadly, this strategy seems like a lose/lose for all parties.
Tags:
4a
agency brand relationship
agency compensation
agency fees
american association of advertising agencies
brand
budget allocation
business model
business relationship
creative direction
marketing
marketing agency
marketing agency new business
marketing business
marketing industry
money
new business
new business process
powerpoint
procurement
publisher
request for information
request for proposal
resources
rfi
rfp
strategic direction
transparency
Moon Shot
Big ideas + dreams + technology + innovation + passion + powerful presentation skills + forward thinking =
From 1962 (50 years ago).
Put your politics aside. Dream big.
Tags:
big ideas
dreams
innovation
jfk
john f kennedy
moon shot
passion
powerful presentation skills
technology
November 20, 2013
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #178
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
Who is Eleanor? - Kaleberg . "2 weeks ago, I was walking through New York when I saw a strange sign, above a building on 56th Street. It said, 'She Who Must Be Obeyed.' Curious, I grabbed my phone and started searching. Soon, I found out that this was Eleanor's building. This page explains it a bit, and it seems others had been down a similar rabbit hole, leaving a trail of their findings that popped up in the New York Times in 2005. The story is cute; more interesting to me, however, is the way this became an ongoing digital narrative, a signpost in the real world that easily linked to an online detective story." (Alistair for Hugh).
Makers: the New Explorers of the Universe - Make . "David Lang thinks the 'maker' movement, spurred on by small-batch manufacturing, crowdfunding, cheap tech, and the availability of modular components, qualifies as the new frontier of exploration. '[In] the last century, discovery was basically finding things. And in this century, discovery is basically making things,' he quotes Stewart Brand, one of the framers of the Web as we know it. His article makes a great case that, in an era lacking patrons, with corporations focused on the next quarter and for-profit universities abandoning hard research in favor of licensing, Makers are our best hope." (Alistair for Mitch).
Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders - Amazon . "Every year since he took over the company in 1967, Warren Buffett - the greatest investor of them all - has sent a letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. Here these letters - four-and-a-half decades worth - are collected in one place (and on sale, as of today for $3.03 in the Kindle store). Warren Buffett is not only one of the most successful businessmen ever, but is a charming writer, a good man. Anyone with a passing interest in business will be delighted reading what he has to say." (Hugh for Alistair).
Instagram Is Spoiling Your Dinner - The Connectivist . "I am pretty sure that the first Instagram photo that I ever shared was a plate that had two hard boiled eggs on it with a piece of banana bread all strategically placed to make it look like a face. Yes, it was a picture of food. I often find myself watching the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives. Yes, a TV show that is nothing short of food porn. With that, I have no idea why I (or anyone else) takes pictures of their food and why we - collectively - have such an innate desire to share that with others. Until now..." (Mitch for Alistair).
Google Finally Gets Legal OK to Scan the World's Books - MIT Technology Review . "It's interesting to see that a project Google has been working on since 2002 suddenly has the legal green light to move forward. It also resurrects the much-heated debate about what, exactly, is fair use when it comes to books and literature. Some might argue that there will be significant copyright issues with this legal judgment, while others (like me) will be thrilled by the notion that the digitization of all books can (hopefully) mean the availability of knowledge and information to every human being on this planet with ease, speed and a low cost of entry. Pretty cool stuff in terms of the book world." (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.
Tags:
alistair croll
amazon
bershire hathaway
bitcurrent
book a futurists manifesto
complete web monitoring
david lang
diners drivein and dives
food network
gigaom
google
hugh mcguire
human 20
iambik
instagram
kaleberg
kindle
librivox
link bait
link exchange
link sharing
make
makers
managing bandwidth
media hacks
mit technology review
pressbooks
social media
solve for interesting
stewart brand
the connectivist
twitter
warren buffett
year one labs
How Much Does It Cost?
Let's talk about money.
The marketing agency business is a strange bird. Brands are strange birds too. It's a complex web of relationships that is often confusing, evolving, thrilling, beautiful, painful and more. As the marketing industry evolves, we have all experienced massive shifts in how the business is won and done. First, there is the procurement component. More and more, the procurement department is leading the charge not only in the negotiation of fees, but in the running of the bidding for the business. That, in and of itself, is book-worthy content. For the moment, let's put that aside and look at a more predominant and frustrating component of pitching. Let's talk about when there is no budget allocation.
Why would anybody pitch on a piece of business without a budget?
It happens all of the time. Agencies will be given these massive RFPs (Request For Proposals) or RFIs (Requests For Information) that take days, weeks and more to complete. These phases in agency new business are not only disruptive to the work flow (because agencies never know when they are coming in and then have to divert resources to make a run at this new piece of business), but cost a tremendous amount of money to complete. It's amazing - after all of these years - how brands fail to understand the simple business model of the marketing agency (which is this: agencies charge more for a human unit of time than they pay for it). From there, it has been well-documented that these requests for proposals or information are usually littered with unreasonable requests (like providing strategic and creative direction for a particular problem with no promise of compensation). As a brand, to not afford the agency the courtesy of knowing and understanding the budget that is being laid against the request demonstrates a complete lack of understanding as to how this business works.
Harsh? But it's true.
I have been in the marketing business since the late eighties. I've worked on the publisher side, the brand side and the agency side. From a brand perspective, this all makes sense. They can milk and bilk as much free information out of as many agencies that are willing to play along and then choose one, while still benefitting from the knowledge and insights of many. Smart. From the agency side, this is another story. This is why organizations like the American Association of Advertising Agencies (aka 4A) exist. It is also the reason that they have an extensive resource section on their website with documents like, Best Practice Guidance: Ownership of Agency Ideas, Plans and Work Developed During the New Business Process. Sadly, all of that hard work goes mostly ignored when there is an opportunity for a brand to grab a bunch of ideas off of agencies who are doing a ton of comp work on the front end to score the business.
What is the prize?
Most RFPs and RFIs have a section titled, budget. Sadly, in the past few years there has rarely - if ever - been a true, formal and final number assigned to that part of the document. More often than not, you will see language like: "we're looking for a best-in-class solution and are open to defining the budget once we see the thinking and costing based on the agency's work and ideas." The unspoken truth here is simple: if a brand tells an agency how much they're willing to spend, the agency will spend that entire amount (and maybe a little more). And, while that may have been true in the past, the argument could also be made that agencies simply want to know what the potential business reward will be against the amount of time, effort and cost it will take to complete the RFP or RFI in an effective manner.
Why else does money matter?
Here are some other reasons why allocating a firm budget to a piece of marketing business matters:
It demonstrates that the brand is serious and has committed the financial wherewithal to make it happen.
A budget also gives the agency "rails" to work within. In a world where no budget exists, the brand will get a myriad of responses that are all over the map and will not allow them to compare apples to apples.
A budget demonstrates the brand's knowledge of the space. When a brand doesn't know how much something costs, it is an early indicator that they are not sophisticated.
A budget allows an agency to better understand if this is the type of client that they can work and grow with. I recognize that this may be a contentious issue, but it's true. There are many agencies that are scaled to operate a certain way and budget is a prime indicator in relation to fit.
Budget is a two way street: in as much as the brand is trying to find the right agency, the agencies are also trying to find the right brands. Budget is a major factor in this.
How much is a house? Without a budget, you may as well be asking a contractor, "how much does a house cost?" It depends on the location, value of real estate, how big of a house, how many rooms, how many floors, what the needs are and beyond. If a brand doesn't know what kind of house they want (in terms of the raw info) along with what they're budgeting against it, what is the point?
Brands will get what they deserve. I've seen this happen time and time again. You have inexperienced agencies willing to lose money on the upfront to win a client, so they can add the brand logo to a PowerPoint deck slide to impress others, and the brand winds up getting cheap work with minimal (if any) impact.
It sounds like bitterness, but it's really about transparency.
This isn't about procurement or sour grapes, it's about a healthy and transparent partnership because that's what the best brand/agency relationships look like. If you're hiding what the true value of the work is from the beginning, the relationship starts out in a deficit. This is the marketing business. In business, all parties should be clear on how the process will unfold, who the participants in the competition are and what the prize will be for the winner at the end. This shell game of fishing for ideas, creative and strategy with no commitment to following through on the mandate is a thorn in the side of the marketing industry that doesn't need to be there. Things have, sadly, progressed to the point where agencies are putting weeks against a competitive pitch to only uncover that the project has been shelved, budget wasn't allocated or the brand was simply kicking some tires to see if a better solution was out there.
Brands may think that this makes them smarter at the marketing game, but look at the overall results and costs for that effort? Sadly, this strategy seems like a lose/lose for all parties.
Tags:
4a
agency brand relationship
agency compensation
agency fees
american association of advertising agencies
brand
budget allocation
business model
business relationship
creative direction
marketing
marketing agency
marketing agency new business
marketing business
marketing industry
money
new business
new business process
powerpoint
procurement
publisher
request for information
request for proposal
resources
rfi
rfp
strategic direction
transparency
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