DISQUS

Hi Tim,

I was wondering how you felt about Cuban's advice as it (seemingly) contradicts what Warren Buffett had suggested to you... "I’d put it all in a low-cost index fund that tracks the S&P 500 and get back to work."

Of course Warren Buffett has far better information than most of us, and of course can move the market on any security at will, as can George Soros.

Every advertising and public relations firm should see the MSNBC video you linked on the main page.

KU: "How do we make CEO’s and CMO’s understand a conversation is going on, and that they need to be part of it?"

That's the question, isn't it? Perhaps-- and this sometimes works for me-- show them the consequences of not being part of the conversation that's already happening: there are many examples of reputation ruined by the internet.
I spoke with a window sales rep Saturday that was about to close a deal. While he was doing paperwork, the homeowner went back to his room. When he returned, the would-be customer said, "I'm not buying anything today." Reason: what he had read about the company on the internet. This same rep told me he had lost about $7000 in commissions that year due to similar events. No telling how many leads were lost, appointments cancelled, sales aborted, or contracts rescinded because of that. But the company had a GREAT television and radio campaign. So... big bucks to get the appt, to build the brand, and some anonymous blog subverts all that investment.

"I work with retail businesses on a daily basis and most want instant gratification. Anything that does not increase sales instantly is not considered a worthy investment."
Totally. Short-term thinking is not going away anytime soon... which is why most businesses fail in the first 5 years....

Thought you might appreciate reading this:
http://mashable.com/2008/07/21/internet-radio/

Traditional radio doesn’t pay a dime in royalty rates because it is considered promotional. Has there been a greater promotional tool for an artist since the invention of the barker than the Internet? Even with the 50% cut that the artist receive from Soundexchange, for the working musician, according to Hanson, Internet radio is for more valuable developing a fan base than the “single digit cut they get from royalties.” If these rates are enforced and companies like Pandora go out of business, bands that don’t fit in the broad world of terrestrial radio will have a far more difficult time building a fan base and will lose the revenue stream that is Internet radio.

During my brief time in radio, I learned that corporate decisions about programming are splenetically reactive: their actions show undercutting competitors is job 1.

One company, I'll call it Schmentercom, owns an oldies station with no DJ's, minimal promotion, with only one goal, to splinter a bit of the audience of the other oldies station in the Seattle market, and weaken its Arbitron.
Also, Country KMPS had been on top of the list for the longest time, until the Wolf 100.7 came along: again I don't think that new station is ever expected to dominate the market, but to lower the other country station's #'s just enough that advertisers see a percentage increase in market share in the other held properties, and knock KMPS out of dominant position. It's a mercenary game.

What I think the corporate suits didn't realize was that there was such personal brand loyalty to KMPS, esp Ichabod Crane.
Which brings me to mention: the only time I listen to the radio, pretty much, is on the road. I tend to scan, until I pop a CD in (catching up on my "reading" that way: ever read "The Black Swan" by Taleb?)
There are many people using satellite radio but probably more people like me (haven't looked at the numbers) who figure there's enough content for free, and if not, I've got my CD player (or iPod). Of course, the iPod proves your point: the online ability to create custom content for hours of drive time means LastFM has as much impact on the highway as at the cubicle.

Hi Kevin,

How do you see this connecting with Sirius and XM?

Musicians, comics... and many other variety acts such as magicians and hypnotists are making substantial use of social media. Brilliant illusionist Cyril Takayama is a "YouTube star"-- gaining hundreds of thousands of English-speaking fans even as he performs his magic in Japanese! His magic is just as astonishing with no subtitles.

It's a new American century. Weird Al Yankovic released his "Trapped in the Drive-thru" video exclusively on MySpace.

TF wrote: "The level of competition is thus fiercest for “realistic” goals, paradoxically making them the most time- and energy-consuming. It is easier to raise $10,000,000 than it is $1,000,000. It is easier to pick up the one perfect 10 in the bar than the five 8s."

My thoughts immediately went to the scene in "A Beautiful Mind" in which Nash, in a serendipitous inspiration (equilibrium), is with his mates in a bar watching 5 ladies (1 blonde, 4 brunettes) walk in, and says something like: "If we all go for the blonde, we block each other and not a single one of us is going to get her. So then we go for her friends, but they will all give us the cold shoulder because nobody likes to be second choice. But what if no one goes to the blonde? We don't get in each other's way and we don't insult the other girls. That's the only way we win."

Which is in perfect keeping with what Timothy is saying: the collective result is what everyone is after, competing at the same level. It may be lonely at the top, but that's because the bottom is crowded.

Scene from the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d_dtTZQyUM

Well said. You hit the key point.

The public face should not be a false face-- the original meaning of hypocrisy.

And since the title of this essay references the internet, I'll add another $0.02 : clearly the marketing message presented by a company via traditional media (TV, radio, collateral) can in many cases be invalidated by an internet search. If the online reputation of a well-advertised business causes internet users to completely discard the former message, credibility is gone.

For example, suppose XYZremodeling.com presents a very sharp, memorable, professional image and a warm fuzzy glow about it in TV spots. Then the sales person arrives and is high-pressure and insensitive. Well, the chagrined lost-customer uses the "new media" social tools to become a town crier: their voice is amplified louder than the $1MM campaign. The social proof of their self-represented claims is now out of their hands.

Most companies are failing to close this back door. They do not make sure their positive customer experiences are optimized to bring in direct web traffic, instead allowing distaff sites to besmirch with "negative press" sometimes even when unjustified. Pacesetter Windows went out business because of this neglect. They had good marketing, and the attacks on them were unfairly overemphasized in light of their long-term history, however, pacesettersucks.com became the primary search result for "pacesetter" due to the depth of the web presence of the attack site.

Too many businesses are going to complaint sites and having staff add positive reviews to counter the negative, forgetting that makes the search engines look at those critique sites even more... judysbook and angieslist come to mind. Not only do negative results abort marketing efforts, they can also lead to cancelled orders, cancelled appointments... increasing marketing costs.

If marketing firms want to give comprehensive service they should monitor search engine results for their clients and use social media tools (eg, more site content, optimized press releases, search engine promotion) to overcome the negative results. It takes work, but the ROI is huge. It is also a hedge against losing the value of previous expenditures.

I imagine you have a lot of thoughts on this, as evinced by the TBC... Well let me add my 2 cents anyway.

You wrote: "In today’s internet age people no longer are looking for companies to tell them what they should be doing. They are more into self discovery and individualism. People are do not trust anyone in this age unless they found it to be “true” for themselves. Everything must be researched, reviewed, and tested."

Absolutely, and the form that this truth, or evidence, has taken is mostly "Social proof." Testimonials, personal experience, recommendations. The fortunate thing is that web analytics can help a company see who is talking to each other, and where, and help their happy customers to put their testimonial in that same space, along with their branding message. That's social media.

The peril is of course the two edged sword... As you say, the internet age has changed everything. TV and radio used to be unchallenged one-way formats. Now a customer hears an ad and checks the company online. If they see a lot of negative reviews, the message is up in smoke. Fortunately, a proactive company can overcome it.