Message From Michael 
August 23, 2010
YOU READY TO RUMBLE
A CUSTOM MARKETING MANIFESTO
BUDDY CAN YOU SPARE A DIME
COCKTAIL CHATTER -- PASSWORDS
Warning: This week’s Message from Michael, unlike most, has more commentary (although I prefer the word, perspective) than most. So, if you’re looking for your usual dose of facts and factoids, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for insight and understanding… well, this may not be it either. But if you want to have something to think about, this may be it.
YOU READY TO RUMBLE: You journalists and you advertisers? Well, get ready. Two media marketing groups may end up having as much, or more, impact on the future of journalism than media organizations normally associated with journalism. How’s that for an opening statement? Well, it may seem hyperbole, but read on and see for yourself. The two groups are ones you’ve probably never heard of – the Internet Content Syndication Council and the Custom Content Council. They both deal with what’s called Custom Publishing, or Content Marketing, or Custom Media or Branded Content. But some might say a Rose by any other name is still a sales tool with journalistic trappings. Some might say it’s the social networking, new media version of advertorials and Video News Releases. As noted in a previous message and what started me looking at this in more depth is a recent warning from the Internet Content Syndication Council that so-called “content mills” are junking up the Internet by providing low quality content. Basically, content is being cranked out in both publications and on the Web to ‘optimize’ the search engine results and therefore the hits and visits. The group just released its content syndication guidelines which… candidly speaking… any journalist would accept, calling for accuracy (fact-checking and vetting by qualified reviews and citation of information sources); timeliness (clearly indicate date and time for time-sensitive materials); corrections (“balancing the need for speed on the Internet with timely corrections”); and credentials (display the credentials of the sources so users can determine the credibility of the information). The group emphasizes that the guidelines are only aimed at informational and factual content, NOT content that is opinion or entertainment; and that the guidelines are only focused on the procedures for generating the content, not the actual content itself.
What makes all this important is that between the two of them, their membership probably accounts for a large percentage, if not the majority, of content you see, read, hear, view, ingest on any given day. Members of the Internet Content Syndication Council include ABC Radio Networks, About.com, Associated Press, AT&T, Brightcove, CBS, Google, Nielsen, McGraw Hill, NATPE, Nielsen, Reuters, The Tribune Company, Turner Broadcasting Systems… just to name a few. Members of the Custom Content Council include AdAge Group, AdWeek Media, American Airlines Publishing, Disney Family Fun Group, Meredith Integrated Marketing and Meredith Parenthood Group, Penton Custom Media, and Time Inc. Content Solutions… just to name a few.
What also makes this important is the growth in this area – the concept of customizing content to fit the interests of the consumer but also to fit the interests of the advertiser. The Custom Content Council, which also operates under the domain name custompublishingcouncil.com, says “custom media marries the marketing ambitions of a company with the information needs of its target audience.” They offer research that shows 80% of readers prefer receiving information on a company through a custom publication…. 75% feel better informed when reading custom publications… and 60% feel custom publications make them feel closer to the sponsor. The Internet Content Syndication Council describes its “rose” as “the controlled placement of the same content on multiple partnering internet destinations” with those placements directed “to some degree” by the content owner. The key benefit, according to the council’s White Paper is that it “enables content creators and advertisers to attract large audience of users in the midst of a rapidly expanding and fragmenting environment.”
Convinced yet of how much impact this may have on journalism? Here’s a sampling of some headlines on stories published by American Business Media – Custom content helps publishers help marketers with brand conversations; For custom content, the trick is putting readers first, brands second; They’re partners, not clients; Creating Content People Want to Share; Demand Media’s Content Assembly Line; Finding a paid content model that’s right for you; Where’s the buzz around Custom Media; The rise of private news; 5 editorial performance enhancers; Content networks push user-generated content to the next level. And, yes, I have read these articles, and more from ABM, and they are interesting… insightful… and provocative – if you’re thinking about the future of journalism.
A CUSTOM MARKETING MANIFESTO: But here’s the one that journalists and advertisers alike among the message readers should read. Titled The New Rules of Custom Publishing, Joe Pulizzi, the founder of Junta42, one of the leading custom content groups, argues that with shrinking media company budgets, the content quality of those media company outlets has dropped, leaving a great opportunity for custom publications to “fill in the vacuum.” In what may be an ironic twist to his argument, considering he’s arguing on behalf of businesses and marketers, Pulizzi says part of the problem is that “sadly” (his word) as ad revenues crater, companies are caving in to advertiser demands to “compromise content.” Add several other factors to the equation: Consumers are tired of “interruptive marketing practices” and would welcome custom content from marketers; Many big companies probably “know more about us than some of our relatives;” New, cheap and easy to use technology means a small company can deliver “great content solutions to a targeted customer base” so that a 10-person might be able to out-market a 10,000-person company “in a carefully chosen niche.” Add it all up, he says, and it’s the “changes that are leading the content marketing future.” All of it, he is careful to emphasize, dependent on “great content… not just any content… great content.” And the clincher -- he argues that it doesn’t matter to consumers whether that content comes from traditional media or custom publications by businesses.
BUDDY CAN YOU SPARE A DIME: Journalism and Mass Communication graduates nationwide face one of the worst job markets in the past quarter century, say researchers at the
All right, about now, many of you are saying – you’ve already heard about this report which has made the rounds of most media outlets. So, confession time, I am late reporting on the survey from my own school. How embarrassing is that? That’s why, among other reasons, we’re going to look at different angles. One of which is the graduates’ concern about their college experience. On that score it depends on whether you look at the glass as half full -- six out of ten graduates say their college experience adequately prepared them for their work experience; or you see the glass as half empty -- four out of ten said there were specific skills they wished they had acquired at college. One out of seven (13.1%) went so far as to say the college experience had not prepared them for the work experience. Much of the training the students wanted was in graphics and, not surprisingly, Internet work. Not surprisingly since the survey shows the 2009 graduates were more likely to be doing web work, with six out of ten graduates either writing or reporting for the web; They were ‘more likely’ to be doing research on the web, ‘more likely’ to be producing video for the web, ‘more likely’ to be producing graphics and photos for the web, ‘more likely’ to be creating advertising for the web and ‘more likely’ to be using the web for promotion. Interestingly, considering the report comes from academics, in their closing remarks, the survey authors say “it would be a pity” if colleges did not take a hard look at what they are teaching in light of the “lousy job market.” They note that the graduates said the job market had changed dramatically in the past five years – about the same amount of time, the researchers note, as it takes for someone to go through college.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: In the movie Blazing Saddles, the sinister Hedley Lamar played by Harvey Korman finds out that the critical password on a briefcase is 1,2,3,4,5 and exclaims what idiot would have that as password – only to have Governor William J. Le Petomane played by Mel Brooks come in two seconds later and exclaim, “somebody has the same password as me.” Well, it turns out that, yes, indeed, most people pick such simple passwords, according to research by security firm Imperva. When it examined 32 Million passwords accidentally released by the social media website RockYou, nearly half were found to be “trivial passwords” such as consecutive digits, dictionary words, or common names. Meanwhile, Technology Review reports that Microsoft Research has developed a system in which the number of times a common password is used by a number of users can be calculated and monitored. Then, once a particularly common password reaches a certain level of common-ness, the password can be banned so no one else can use it. The system is designed for organizations with millions of users.
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1 comment:
Have to support all that Michael says. At TDA Group, we have been seeing a rapid growth in demand for custom publishing and custom content, all designed to effectively deliver key messages to target audiences, by-passing much of the noise and one-click distractions found on the internet. A blended media approach seems to be working best - with print driving traffic to specific web landing pages being the most common angle.
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