Laura Allen, one of the organizers for PodCamp NYC, is famous for her 15-second pitch consultancy, in which she helps refine people’s personal branding statement to 15 seconds or less. Here’s a challenge for Laura and everyone else:
Can you fit your personal pitch, grammatically correct, inside one Twitter, 140 characters?
Should you be able to?
After reading my partner and friend Chris Brogan’s latest post, I’ve put together a list of the Top 20 People You MUST Meet at PodCamp NYC. All of them have something in common, and all of them should be on your “networking list”. More in a minute. First, the list:
Now, what’s the common thread? These people are a selection from the registrant list of new people in podcasting, either looking to get started, or just fresh out of the gates. They are tomorrow’s rockstars. They are the people who are going to bring fresh ideas, fresh concepts, and fresh talent to podcasting, to keep it new and exciting, to dream up ways of using new media that aren’t even on our radar scopes now.
If you come to PodCamp NYC looking to meet rockstars, you will. But if you come to PodCamp NYC looking to meet tomorrow’s rockstars, you’ll get an inside edge that no one else has.
Scott Bourne, author of the PodcastingTricks.com blog, had this to say about PPA recently:
This allows advertisers to define an expected result such as a user downloading a demo version of software or buying a book. When that action takes place (and only when that action takes place) the publisher of the ad gets paid.
Here’s the problem with PPA and other recent advertising schemes aimed at requiring online media advertising sellers to perform at levels over and above their competition. . . It isn’t fair!
Let’s say you run an ad for Visa. The action they are willing to pay for is applying for a credit card online. As the publisher, you only get paid if that transaction takes place as described. For instance, if your audience sees/hears the ad and takes action somewhere else (by calling an 800-number or applying for a Visa card at their bank) you don’t get paid.
So while the advertiser gets exposure, gets to extend or re-inforce their brand, gets to educate their prospects, you ONLY get paid if the transaction happens immediately at your site.
Here’s where I think Scott’s conclusion doesn’t work for me. Advertisers are willing – at least the ones with foresight – to pay more for performance, particularly in highly competitive verticals. The further down the funnel a PPA program can go, the more the advertiser will pay, because you’re offloading risk to your content producers.
As an example, I work at the Student Loan Network, and we have both an affiliate program (which is essentially PPA) and Adwords campaigns. We pay up a fair amount per click via Adwords, but because of constant abuses on the content network, we’ve restricted our spend to the search network only, meaning that podcasters earn NO money from us whatsoever.
Conversely, for every returned student loan consolidation application we get from you as an affiliate, we pay $100. Given that most podcast web sites don’t drive huge volumes of traffic (thereby making CPM and PPC worthwhile), running media-style impression campaigns still won’t pay off.
PPA/Sponsorship/Affiliate programs stand, in my view, to be the best bang for the buck for podcasters because podcasters have a close relationship with their audiences – closer than, say, an advertiser in the NY Times or on FOX. If you’ve earned your audience’s trust, when you tell them to check out product X on your web site, you should see high conversion, and with PPA, that means the potential for some serious revenue.
Are you reinforcing the advertiser’s brand with PPA? Yes – but no more so than with CPM or PPC advertising models. At least with PPA, chances are the payouts will be higher – and if you can’t motivate your audiences to support your show via the advertising channel you’ve selected, then it’s more an indicator that you need to boost your persuasion power with your audience than a flaw in the advertising model.
But I may be wrong, too.
I inadvertently put a twist on blog tag games that makes total sense. When Chris Brogan tagged me with Aidan Hatch’s game, I added to it that you had to keep the chain alive – repost everyone who was tagged before you. This accomplishes three things:
The last time we saw this kind of link generation was with the 2000 Bloggers project, and that brought lots of link love to everyone involved. This is a classic network effect – every person who fully participates brings added value to all the other participants, and encourages future participation, just like the purchase of every fax machine makes previous buyers’ purchases more valuable.
Finally, a benefit to those social scientists among us – this lets you create trees and maps with greater ease.
The next time you play a game of blog tag, will you preserve the chain?
John Wall, Ronin Marketeer extraordinaire, published a blog post talking about the advent and rise of pay per action advertising in the Googleverse, and what it means for marketing online. His conclusions: CPM (cost per impressions) and PPC (pay per click) models are on the way out for the most part, because CPA (cost per action or conversion) will be at the forefront of advertisers’ demands.
From the perspective of a CTO at an Internet company, CPA is a godsend, because we’ll be able to accurately measure the true results of our advertising campaigns. Ultimately, CPA *is* the bottom line – for the Student Loan Network, signed applications are currency. Clicks on an ad are an expense.
From the perspective of a podcaster, CPA is going to be a gold mine for podcasters. Why? Because podcasters generally speaking have niche audiences, highly focused, highly engaged. Few podcasters have mega-media reach; if Nielsens were available for podcasters, compared to TV, the ratings for any one podcast show wouldn’t even be a rounding error.
However, if the advertising model changes from CPM/PPC to CPA, podcasting is going to be a wealth-building business, because the close relationship podcasters have with their audiences will make CPA a home run. No need to run banner ads, no need to relentlessly flog a web site to build clicks – simply mention a sponsor or advertiser in a relevant, high quality way, and even just a few conversions will be the payday that podcasting has been looking for.
Why? Because most advertisers, including the Student Loan Network, are willing to pay significantly more for a conversion. Example: the Student Loan Network pays $100 per completed, signed student loan consolidation application via the StudentATM program. When was the last time you saw any advertiser paying $100 per click?
Podcasters: get ready. It’s payday.
As promised to my friend and colleague Bryan Person, something of a road map for Bum Rush the Charts and similar flash-mob campaigns. First, something to think about via the HBR Ideacast – the idea of a forest fire. Campaigns can become word of mouth sensations just like a forest fire. If the forest is wet, matches won’t do the job. If the forest is bone dry, even the tiniest spark can create a conflagration to rival the fires of Hell itself.
Likewise, when planning a word of mouth campaign, assess the ground. Is it dry, ready for even the slightest spark to start a blaze, or will you be waging an uphill battle? I’d venture to say that Bum Rush the Charts tapped into the general anti-RIAA, anti-music industry sentiment especially virulent in the world of podcasting, but much more widespread. The ground was ripe for a fire, and the campaign would have likely been successful to a greater or lesser degree no matter who was in charge of it.
That raises an additional question: how long before the forest regrows, dries, and is ready for another fire? Some people are calling out for a second run immediately, but my intuitive sense is that, just as after a forest fire, the tinder has been spent and regrowth needs to take place, even if just for the sake of another fire.
That said, let’s look at the components to this forest fire – spark, tinder, dry ground, high winds, and no firefighters. The spark was Mark Nemcoff and Mike Yusi‘s iTunes takeover announcement on the February 16, 2007 episode of Pacific Coast Hellway. This was the burst of energy that got it all started. Whatever else BRTC became as it evolved and grew, it started with genuine passion and energy from its founders.
The tinder was my role in the process, taking the spark and the first flames and finding a way to add to them, a way to make the fire hotter. I did not start the fire, but the addition of a charitable outlet made the initial fire burn hotter and made it easier to catch. If you were on the fence about whether to support the campaign, the tinder might have pushed you over. If you were already passionate about the campaign, this turned the dial up to 11.
We’ve covered the dry ground – the recording industry’s inability to communicate effectively with its customers or treat them as anything except potential criminals.
Next came the high winds. A fire can burn hot and bright, but without wind, it may stay localized. What happened with Bum Rush the Charts was simply this: an awful lot of people – Connectors – picked up the cause and spread the fire to their audiences, spread the fire by many different vehicles. Press releases, emails, IMs, Twitter, blog posts, podcasts, word of mouth at the checkout line – the new media community took the flames and added high winds to spread the fire quickly and furiously. Before long, the blaze had spread worldwide, and in some places burned even hotter and brighter than in its birthplace. This step was the most crucial – spreading the fire far and wide ensured that even in places where it might have flagged, the overall energy and momentum kept increasing.
The last factor was the lack of firefighters. Absolutely, there were negative comments and negative momentum, particularly in social news outlets, but this did little to nothing to dampen the blazes already burning. The only thing that brought the fire to an end was running out of fuel, having reached its maximum range, and by the time that limit was reached, the campaign had achieved some incredible results.
So, what’s the road map of this analogy? Passion has to start the fire in a place favorable and receptive to starting the fire. Ideally, you find ways to magnify the scope and appeal of your social campaign, and then once done, you set it free, letting others take ownership of it and spreading it to their audiences. Finally, you build enough momentum that even naysayers are overwhelmed.
If you’re missing any one of these ingredients, you may not get the results you want. What would make future movements even more successful? Well, add to the steps here. Instead of one spark to start the fire, many sparks – get community involvement early on, and you’ll have that many more blazes. Give lots of tinder from different sources to make the fires insanely hot. Help others find a way to plug in their altruistic or community-focused projects to increase the power of the benefit. Give the winds more than just hot air – give them gasoline and matches, too! Help fire spreaders become fire starters, not just relying on word of mouth already existing, but give them the tools and the power to start or enhance fires. Get things burning so hot that firefighters don’t even attempt to step in – they just quarantine the area and wait for the fire to burn out.
The blogosphere’s alight tonight with the story of Kathy Sierra and the threats made against her. Most of the big blogs have it – Mr. Scoble, Mr. Arrington, Mr. Rubel, Mr. Chapman, and more. Not much else that can be said in terms of expressing outrage in and of itself – lots of other people are doing that plenty well. A few thoughts.
I’m glad the police are involved. I’d encourage anyone with any information to contact the Boulder, Colorado police.
Boulder Police Department
1805 33rd Street
Boulder, CO 80301
303-441-3300
I hope any legal professionals at the top of their game offer pro bono assistance to Kathy and help her litigate the parties responsible into oblivion. Nothing says “zip it” like a $12M lawsuit.
Want to DO something? Encourage others to learn about and develop effective tools for dealing with the threat of violence. Go read the Gift of Fear by Gavin deBecker, one of the finest books in the genre, masterfully written, then gift it to someone you know who needs to read it. There’s a sequel if you’re a parent titled Protecting the Gift, also a great read.
Offer assistance and outreach in your community. Learn and teach self protection skills. Create a neighborhood watch in your community. For every Kathy Sierra, there are millions of women whose voices are equally threatened or worse, but don’t have the readership or “A-List” status that she does to give her voice. If you’ve got a truly solid constitution and the ability to keep it together under the worst strain, volunteer at a battered women’s shelter.
Online, take a stand against incivility. Be willing to step up and call bullshit on a keyboard kommando. Most of all, learn the tools of new media and the ability to influence crowds, and help guide people toward or away from online destinations which foster hatred. We will likely never get rid of hatred or violence, but we don’t have to subsidize web sites that encourage hate with our traffic. In the end, money and influence are powerful weapons that we have at our disposal. Use them.
Young Aidan Hatch has managed to create another round of blog tag, asking for 7 songs we like. I got this via Chris Brogan, and had to give it some thought. If I were a parent of a 7 year old online, I’d probably NOT want to see people recommending songs that frankly, as a parent, I’d not want my child to listen to, so here are 7 songs for a 7 year old that are podsafe.
Aidan, if you read this, please remember this simple thing: independent music is the best thing there is, and music from an RIAA record label may cause your mom and dad to get sued and then you’ll be living homeless on the streets, and that would be sad. The only surefire way to protect yourself is to never listen to music from any RIAA label or artist, no matter how cool the other kids at school think they are. Share with them the music YOU will learn about in this blog tag game.
People I tag: C.C. Chapman, Eric Skiff, Ed Roberts, Karen Cardoza, and pretty much all of my Twitter followers. The rules – please link back to Aidan, Chris Brogan, and this post.
