Disqus - Latest Comments for taulbeejackson

Re: Obama backs Net Neutrality, equates Internet with public utility

taulbeejackson — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 16:44:08 -0000

This is great news for anyone that has to use the internet to do business. Bravo!

Re: How to Choose the Right Content Marketing Agency

taulbeejackson — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 12:35:08 -0000

Well - in the context of content marketing, you are kind of supporting my point . . . the job of a subject matter expert is to be an expert at what ever the topic is, not to be a storyteller. Asking those people to actually produce content that is meaningful to an audience and accomplishes a marketing goal is a very bad idea. Every publication you mentioned is in the audience business - not the "make sure we include everything in every story" business. Oversights and omissions? We call that "editorial". And when you're talking content marketing, agendas and hype is what it's all about. We're trying to sell something at the end of the day.

The job of a journalist is to find and tell compelling stories. If they are just "repeating what someone tells them" then they are "reporters" not storytellers using a journalistic approach to gather the information they need for a story. Subtle but important difference. People often confuse the concept of journalism and that approach to storytelling with it being "hard news" reporting. They are two closely related but different things.

The point I am making is that the same kinds of journalistic storytelling skills a reporter uses can be applied to content marketing, and is a superior approach to having a bunch of subject matter experts who know everything about a topic, but nothing about how to engage an audience. That is an entirely different skill set.

The disconnect is that people think because you know a lot about something, you should be able to create great content about it. Absolutely not the case. In fact, most of the PR and Marketing people I have met can't even make great content. They can make great ads - and great press releases - but not great content. Everyone can type, but few can write. Everyone can draw, few are artists. Everyone can sing, but few are singers. Everyone can take pictures and shoot video, but few are photographers. Everyone can tell a story, but few are storytellers.

I agree that subject matter experts play an important role - but only as a source. They definitely are not mandatory. I wouldn't let an aviation subject matter expert write a blog post for my plane company any more than I would let them fly my plane. If my job is to use content to build an audience and monetize it, I'll take one good professional journalist who's never even flown before over an entire army of sales people, marketing and PR people and subject matter experts any day of the week.

Re: How to Choose the Right Content Marketing Agency

taulbeejackson — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 11:28:19 -0000

Chuck, I think your answer here contradicts the need for "subject matter expertise" - the point of using "journalists" isn't that they can write, it's their ability to independently research, use sources, etc. to create a story on ANYTHING, regardless of the subject matter. In fact, I think agencies that have exposure to a broader range of verticals does a couple of positive things - first, it keeps the writers fresh and helps them maintain an external "audience" perspective rather than an insiders POV, and second, it allows those content producers to be exposed to lots of best practices from multiple industries. Great article, thanks for contributing this!

Re: Inside the Super Bowl Social Media Communications Center

taulbeejackson — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 10:47:31 -0000

Congratulations to Ian Schafer's team at Deep Focus on taking it to the next level - Natalie Velichko, Michelle Barna and Lynn Lim and I'm sure lots of other people on the Deep Focus team have put in countless hours on this. Nice work guys!

Re: Hoosiers: Don’t let the federal government give YOUR internet away. - Taulbee Jackson | TechPoint

taulbeejackson — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 16:02:29 -0000

Here is an opposing viewpoint from former FCC Chairman Powell - who is currently President and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Associations, a lobbying group for the ISP's. Wonder why he's the FORMER chairman... http://www.usatoday.com/sto...

Re: Hoosiers: Don’t let the federal government give YOUR internet away. - Taulbee Jackson | TechPoint

taulbeejackson — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 15:47:42 -0000

These are good points Kevin. I think a lot of the challenge in this issue is the amount of crystal ball gazing that happens. I did find a piece by The Atlantic that sort of looks for the silver lining, but not necessarily a "support" piece:

http://www.theatlantic.com/...

I think the really critical piece of the puzzle with this is that the FCC's legal mis-step does not protect the internet as a "common carrier", which leaves the decision-making about whether or not any of those potentially good things happen to the ISP's... who answer only to their shareholders.

The FCC's role is to regulate telecommunications services as utilities (which the internet surely is, but is not currently classified as such, which is why the courts made the decision they did in the Verizon case). The FCC answers to Congress, Senate and the President, who all answer to us.

Without that oversight, all the decision-making about how the internet is used is completely out of the hands of consumers.

Re: Hoosiers: Don’t let the federal government give YOUR internet away. - Taulbee Jackson | TechPoint

taulbeejackson — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 15:28:30 -0000

In a democracy, it's on each of us to be aware of and advocate for our positions on the issues that affect us. We elect representatives to do that on our behalf with the Federal government, and I look forward to hearing about their positions and their action plans on this critical issue that affects not only Hoosier tech companies, but each and every Hoosier citizen.

Techpoint (and Twitter and LinkedIn, etc.) provides a public forum for this, which is one of the very things Net Neutrality could have a negative impact on... the issue is not whether Techpoint is doing anything, it is whether the people reading this article take action.

As a CEO that has benefitted from the business climate Indiana has created (thanks in part to organizations like Techpoint, Verge and others), I personally see it as my obligation (and the obligation of other leaders and job creators in marketing tech) to serve the public interests and the business interests of this state on key issues related to our sector - particularly when it effects our employees, our clients, and our means of business operation so directly.

I used Techpoint's channel because I hope that its audience of business leaders in the Hoosier tech sector will help drive awareness of this critical issue with influential job creators in the Indiana tech sector, and ultimately with our elected officials.

I hope that our leaders in the tech sector take some action to make sure our representatives in Washington are aware of this issue, and the implications for Hoosiers... that our representatives communicate their plans for fixing the situation... and that our representatives know that the tech community here is full of smart people who can help in a positive way, and will support efforts to lobby for the well-being of Hoosier citizens and businesses.

Re: Towels for Everyone: Separated at birth? You decide. Raidious v....

taulbeejackson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:31:04 -0000

That is the exact same thing Tim Wallis at Meyer & Wallis said . . . : )
He apparently had not seen Target's logo prior to making the logo for Meyer & Wallis . . . : )

Best I could without a designer... Next time I'm hiring you.

Hope you're doing well, we should grab a beer some time . . . I hear there's an Upland Brewery coming downtown . . . : ) yum.