Pay for Play or a Headache in Disguise?

Recently, one of my clients was approached by an editor about a potential advertisement and story opportunity with his publication. After careful research about the publication and advertising budgets, my client declined to contribute for an ad placement, but suggested a news article.

Accordingly, we reached out to this editor on behalf of our client, and sold him on a story about my client’s innovative technology and the numerous applications to entertainment, medicine and a number of other uses. The editor even came back with several questions regarding the system specifications and wanted a quotation or two to complete his story.

Yet then at 1:37 a.m. EST, he sends the following nasty-gram to my clients:

{President of company}:

I've been thinking about {your innovative} systems. You said my magazine would be great fit for your products, which is why your pr agency has contacted me several times to publish a story. But I'm still unclear about a few things. It sounds like you want me to publish a story for my 38,000 readers about your products, but you have no intention of ever supporting this or any other magazine because you have no advertising budget. Is that your position? You want all of the benefits of my magazine and others, but you aren't willing to support them, right?

{Pissed off editor}

Whoa! Not so fast.

If we wanted to do an advertorial, we would have inquired about one when you first approached us. We were clear that we did not want to run an ad, and you were clear that there was a potential story opportunity. But now you’ve gone and attacked my client? Big mistake

This is exactly the type of publication we would NEVER want our clients associated with. One that only lends its credibility to the monthly advertising billings. Apparently you don’t have enough trust in your journalistic prowess, nor do you believe that compelling articles and fair reviews are what your audience wants. Instead, you think that building a “magazine” that is completely full-page ads is journalism that any company would want to be associated with.

I’m sorry, but pay-for-play is not our cup of tea. We believe that it completely devalues and discredits any story that might have run. I understand that you may have sales goals. But you should first and foremost have quality goals.

We don’t care if you need an ad now, we care about the quality of story that you might publish. If it’s a great run, we might reward you next month with an ad buy. But if you’re setting paradigms where coverage is only guaranteed or warranted by an advertising contract, adios.

A Call to Arms

By, Chris Michaels and Ben Baruch

Just do it – Mark Cuban – Dancing with the Stars?

No, we will not comment on these segments of pop culture, we'll leave that for Finnegan. We do, however, want to relay Paul Boutin’s message So You Want to Be a Blogging Star?” article in today's New York Times. A fellow colleague brought this piece to our attention in response to the ongoing battle of inspiring colleagues as bloggers. In his article, Boutin shows that anyone, even a billionaire CEO can make time to blog, so why can't we?

“Write about what you want to write about, in your own voice,” Boutin stresses. Fusion allows us, within bounds, to communicate freely with the outside world about our profession and our experiences. Mark Cuban later said in the article, “Blog about your passions. Don’t blog about what you think your audience wants.”

Blogging should be easy. We're passionate about our work and clients. We see and interact with the media all the time. We notice the trends that get picked up and what tips and tricks work best for us. So why not share that with the rest of the clan? Most of us communicate freely/hourly with our friends online through social media portals, why not allow this behavior to percolate into the company Blog.

What are the benefits you might ask? We step out of taking in hyper-technical jargon; we step outside of our buckets, focused on business and technology; but most importantly, we become advocates for our own experiences. The more we share about what's working or what we notice, the better we are as a whole. This is your chance to help your colleagues, even if it's just to point out an article you read recently.

In the adapted words of one of our favorite film characters, “If I can [blog], and you can [blog], we all can [blog].”

David Kirkpatrick points out, in the new issue of Fortune Magazine, “Web 2.0 Gets Over Its Goofing-Off Phase," that Web 2.0 and social media will be the prevailing information hubs and are here to stay. The transparent and accessible disposition will only benefit us professionally. So we ask, shouldn't we leap at this opportunity to educate ourselves about this fundamental medium and benefit from its cooperative nature?

An emphatic yes, we say.

Now, whose turn is it?

Know your Brand Architecture

“So they put over 820 million whosawhatsits on the thingy and provided 2.0 Gigasomethings, coupled with a gizmo that drives another doohickey! …And that’s why we’re the leader in innovation.”

Yeah. Right. What he said.

We’ve all been there at some point, sitting in a pitch, or a brainstorm or a strategy meeting that goes all loco. The kind of meeting where the architects or engineers or people that work in development, are flooding you with technical information that’s over your head. Better yet, they’re trying to push those features or specs into the communications message and strategy.

The kind of meeting where you just want to take their 800amps of power something and shock yourself to make sure you’re still awake.

Just relax. Take a deep breath and remember that you’re not alone.

Let’s face it, we work in the tech industry and have an outstanding book of business because we’ve established a level of trust with our clients. And sometimes, it takes that meeting to listen to the engineer and ask some basic questions, in-order-to gain the trust of not only your client, but also yourself.

I’ve had a wide-range of clientèle, from hospitality to medical, caterers to adult beverage makers. But it was the high-tech clients that taught me the most. I’ve learned from them not only how to be a better client representative, but also how to take a higher-interest in the “behind the scenes” development and innovation that gives us products and services to represent.

For those of you who don’t know, I come from the land of marketing communications and branding. There’s an exercise that I started doing with every client of mine so I could understand more about what they do, their user impact and how the end-user will benefit and make their preference choice. I sit in my office, and develop their brand architecture statements by answering the following questions to the best of my knowledge with as many responses as possible (we’ll use the shoes I’m wearing as an example):

• What are the product features? (non-slip sole, strong arch support)
• What are the product’s functional benefits? (Support, stability, non-slip)
• What are the product’s emotional benefits? (Strength, comfort)
• What are the psycho/social benefits? (When I use this product, I feel/am: secure; ready for the road ahead)

It’s a basic framework. But it gives me a better understanding of the top-level product pitch. Now comes the hard part.

Because I start this on my own, I don’t always know all of the product features. I might know that this shoe has an arch support, or a non-slip sole, but do I know the technical details of it? Why did they choose to support the arch with a hard-plastic or gel base instead of foam? Why is this sole non-slick? Is there something special about the tred?

Sometimes asking those “why” questions about the basics, not only gives us a better product understanding but lets the client know you’re interested. And if you don’t understand something that’s explained to you, have them try and spell it out.

One of my old clients was a medical implant company. They created spinal cord stimulations devices for chronic-pain sufferers and I was in-charge of their re-branding campaign. All the product marketing team kept talking about was “independent current control,” and “1% increments,” and this funny word “parasthesia.” Though tech savvy, I’m no biomedical engineer and I was completely in the dark.

It wasn’t until I had them explain the system to me, teach me Ohm’s law, and show me the cadavers (yes dead people), that I finally understood the impact of their product. They controlled electrical current and nerve stimulation. They got people off of pain-killers for a more functional life. They made pain “feel like champagne.” Moreover, because I took the time to learn, the team was more responsive to my future recommendations.

It sounds daunting. Heck, it’s down right scary sometimes to have these conversations with people more technically-savvy than ourselves. The good news is we’re not expected to hop on the production line and make the next chip. But, if you can build your knowledge and get through the gigabytes, semiconductors, and the nuts & bolts, you’re way ahead of the game.