George Dearing’s Blog On New Media, Marketing And Technology

Recently I’ve been pretty hard on content management vendors by pointing out some of the mistakes that can drive them out of business. While vendor elitism with customers can be a big problem, I can’t let content management clients completely off the hook. There’s a few mistakes that I’ve seen over and over in every vertical.

Hiring Resources Based On Price
Let’s take marketing, for example; it’s hard to show the clear ROI for a dollar invested. I’ve seen more companies that choose to hire a communications or marketing manager that’s inexperienced in the industry, but fairly cheap. This is the person controlling your content, your message to the outside world. If they don’t understand the dynamics of what it takes to manage a modern-day Web site, your brand will suffer. We can make a similar argument within the IT group — if the collaboration software is handled by a non-collaborator, you’re probably doomed to live out your collaborative existence in the meager confines of Outlook. The end result is the usually powerful combination of content and collaboration is deemed another shiny, new technology failure.

Choosing A Vendor Based On Personal Reasons, Not Technology
Similar to reason No. 1, choosing a vendor based on any reason not related to the ability to ensure you look like your own media company is unacceptable. In the past year, I’ve seen companies hand over their content strategies to the CEO’s brother-in-law, the founder’s nephew, the co-founder’s fraternity buddy, and more. I’m not saying some of those folks aren’t capable of providing value, it’s just that most of the time the expectations are unrealistic. Some of the results are actually really funny, in a sad, "how much did you pay them?" sort of way.

Using Technology That Dates From The Wrong Decade
So maybe your company has avoided the first two pitfalls; you picked a solid vendor that delivers good results, and you’ve got the right team in place. Don’t cripple them by refusing to invest in the right technology. Yes, the market moves fast and it might feel like just yesterday you spent a fortune updating your infrastructure. But the best jockey in the world won’t win the race on an old horse. Listen to the recommendations of your team; chances are they’ve already used other tools that might be complementary to what you’re trying to do.

And you know the routine: Send me your customer experiences and we’ll post them here periodically. Don’t worry, we won’t expose them or you unless you give us permission. All details will be removed to ensure everyone can return to their office without having to worry about the content management walk of shame.

• Report says enterprise mashups on the rise
  Forrester says business mashup market will reach $700 million by 2013
  (tags: mashups enterprise+social+platforms web+apps social+software+applications)

I read this PCWorld story and I couldn’t help but think how indicative it is of of the typical command and control mentality within enterprises. I know there’s a balance between fighting the external social network (SoNet) effect and creating a corporate one of your own. With all the technology horsepower and APIs gone wild, shouldn’t we be able to figure out how to create some harmony between the two? The quote from one of the Gap’s web engineers sums it up pretty well:

“Do you really want Facebook to manage it for you in the outside world, or do you want to do it yourself so you have control?”

Control. It’s a word I hear over and over: How will we maintain control of what’s being said by the community?

I’ve talked to more companies than I can count about social publishing, social media, and setting up communities. The enterprises that typically lead the charge tend to be the ones that want to sell software or services to setup the community. But like communities in the real world, who wants to pay for the roads that others will use? When we talk to the brands in the community cross hairs, well that’s when you see the cold sweat start to break out.

The big brands hire in teams of marketing folk from the best B-schools to manage their content. They pay the most expensive consultants to determine what color has which meaning for their brand; what word has which association in middle America vs. big cities; heck how does this kid think vs. that adult. It’s been done this way for years, decades, and now, that level of tight brand control is showing cracks.

For the last decade or more, people with passion for products are expressing their views over the web - the enterprise fear originates when the views aren’t all that rosy. With all of their collective experience, too many companies still have the fear of shelling out big bucks to develop a social publishing strategy. Do they really want to give the rest of the world a forum to say what they’re really thinking?

The bus has already left the station folks; the negative views are already finding their ways through other sites and locations. I try to encourage brands to embrace both the negative and positive discussions their consumers have, preaching that it’s important to learn from the negative and leverage the positive. 

But for all of those brands who don’t want to build the roads that provide more interaction with their consumers: your consumers are taking other roads already available. Enable them to speak freely with and about you.

That’s social publishing.

• SaaS, Web Services Top Software Priorities For Businesses | InformationWeek
  “The No. 1 ranked criteria for vendor selection of SaaS was deployment speed and ease of integration.”
  (tags: SaaS web+services technology+adoption collaborative+technologies cloud+computing)
• Intel® Mash Maker : Browser-based Mashups
  Pretty easy to use and has a nice Windows Media Player plugin.
  (tags: mashup plugin software web2.0 intel mashups mash+maker)
• So What Is an Enterprise Mashup, Anyway?
  Here’s some ROI for you too: “..It combined the service with its loan application system on its Web site. In the first two months, 80 percent of its 72,000 applicants used e-signatures, which cut its costs in this area by 75 percent.”
  (tags: mashups web+apps SOA web+2.0 APIs enterprise+2.0)

Last week I mentioned the danger to companies that disregard trends in the content management space. I’m going horizontal this time and taking a crack at one of my favorites lines of business — marketing.

Here’s some ways content management is changing marketing:

3: Killing direct mail. I learned years ago that a successful direct mail marketing campaign has a 2% response rate. That would mean that 98% of the papers cluttering our mailboxes are meant to be unused. Whether we consider this a junk mail issue, a snail-mail spam issue, or a green issue, does anyone really need to incur the costs associated with stacks of unread fliers anymore? Deliver your content over a more targeted electronic medium, and maybe you’ll have the added benefit of also annoying fewer potential customers.

2: Improving measurement and analytics. People get Ph.D.s studying and trying to generate ROI models for marketing. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to tie back exact dollar amounts to individual marketing campaigns. That said, many of the newer ways to deliver content to target markets allow for immediate and measurable responses. If you have the right content analytics in place to track clickstreams and other behaviors, marketing programs can be tracked immediately, something that helps marketers re-tool strategies in almost real time.

1: Marrying IT and marketing. Marketing always has held the creative types, while technology holds the rest of us geeks. If this split is maintained now, though, the best marketing content won’t be delivered over the latest platforms, and entire market segments may be missed. Mobile applications, targeted e-mails that make it through spam filters, optimized Web sites, and ad widgets weren’t part of marketing history, but are taking over the present and the future. Internal company departments need to work together now more than ever. The marketing types don’t always need to understand exactly how to set up a blog or track feedback, but if no one on the team does, well, what a shame to waste good content.

And BTW, if you like stuff like this, you might want to subscribe my blog at InformationWeek.

Several months ago a content management vendor told me that the oncoming recession was causing it problems with revenue generation. I said perhaps, but it’s also possible its problems were related to the fact that its customers were really angry and really vocal. It’s too easy to blame market conditions without taking a hard look in the mirror sometimes.

For this top 5 list I won’t name any names, but I encourage everyone to try to clean their own closets occasionally. Maybe these items will add up to survival in either a recession or peak market conditions. The top reasons a content management company will go out of business:

No. 5: You forgot to eat your own dog food. I’m amazed at the number of companies that offer content management options while their own Web content and marketing materials haven’t been updated since 1997. If you have the teams that can deliver for your customers, let them practice on your real estate first. Would you buy a suit from a man wearing rags? Maybe, but many people wouldn’t.

No. 4: Your customers hate you. The best technology in the world won’t save you if your own customers tell everyone that you’re a jerk. Please don’t ever tell your customers that it’s their fault if they can’t figure out how to use your products. Yes, content management is not rocket science, and yes, some people are amazingly nontechnical. That doesn’t excuse elitism, and if the words “The customer is just stupid” have ever come out of your mouth, you may deserve to go out of business. It sounds like I’m making this up. I’m not.

No. 3: You try to develop everything in-house. The market is moving fast, your R&D teams can’t always keep up. This isn’t necessarily a weakness — sometimes you need to pick your differentiators and source the other items. If you find that you’re missing release deadlines again and again on items readily available from other vendors or as open source, please evaluate your business model. You’re burning cash for fun, not profit.

No. 2: You disregard trends. I’ll say it again. The market moves fast and what’s on the horizon sometimes seems just plain silly at first. But we’ve all heard the famous miscalculation that the world only has need for about five computers — the smartest people have made mistakes. For those who have told me that “Green is just a fad” and “Blogs are overrated,” (both of those are direct, recent quotes) be careful of what you dismiss. Don’t fall behind your competitors because you personally drive a Hummer and wear polar bear fur earmuffs (that’s a green reference, people). Fads and trends have a way of catching on, becoming important, and filling real business needs. Be open to change, and maybe your revenue will grow.

No. 1: Your employees turn over faster than the toilet paper is changed in the corporate restroom. Whether the job market is tight or technology workers seem a dime a dozen, employees are the face of your company. If they’re leaving in droves, or you’re replacing them quarterly, it’s a morale killer and your customers sense it.

Send me your reasons for part two and we’ll post them next week.

Cross-posted on InformationWeek’s Content Management Blog.

• Google, Amazon Lead Disruptive Cloud Computing Wave, Microsoft Again Behind Curve
  Blodget comments on Microsoft’s SaaS strategy
  (tags: microsoft google trends SaaS cloud+computing amazon)
• Nokia CIO Aims for Enterprise Web 2.0 Balance
  “[Many Web 2.0 services] are good from a consumer point of view, but don’t lend themselves to corporate demands and rigor. If they were, why didn’t Microsoft and SAP go out of business overnight?”
  (tags: C-suite nokia web+2.0 business+strategy enterprise+2.0)

• SharePoint altering ECM landscape, survey says
  It has utility but lacks a user experience focus.
  (tags: sharepoint ecm ecm+vendors content+management collaboration microsoft)

• CIO - Web 2.0 - it may be social, but is it profitable?
  It’s still about traffic and how to monetize it.
  (tags: web2.0 CIO social+computing digg business+strategy startup social+web)
• Web 2.0 finally gets down to business - Fortune
  “If we hadn’t seen those Twitters, we might not have fixed that problem for six months.”
  (tags: technology trends twitter web2.0 networking facebook social+web linkedin)

• Welcome to Conference 2.0
  Good piece on how participants are taking more control at events using social media.
  (tags: conferences facebook socialmedia twitter web2.0 unconference)

• How Microsoft Is Fighting a War on Three Fronts | GigaOM
  GigaOm analyzes Microsoft’s challenges.
  (tags: microsoft google enterprise+2.0 software business gigaom)

• Google Goes After Another Microsoft Cash Cow
  If Sharepoint can bring in $1B a year, anything’s possible.
  (tags: collaboration Google internet web2.0 tools microsoft web+apps microsoft+office)

• InformationWeek’s Content Management Weblog
  Hope you’ll bookmark Information Week’s Content Management Blog..send your questions and comments on to me at george@dearinggroup.com
  (tags: information+week content+management CMS information+management CMP+Media technology+blogs)

• Web 3.0: The Next Web
  The machines are getting smarter.
  (tags: web+3.0 semantic+web mashups internet)

• Make Web 2.0 deliver business benefits
  “When we start talking about problems, we have to find people and content that could help through a community. Blogs have become like lighthouses. If the world is flat, then blogs and wikis are the hills by which you can see everyone.” - Andy Mulholland,
  (tags: web+2.0 cap+gemini enterprise+2.0 tools blogging wikis RSS)
• Selling Web 2.0 projects to the business
  It’s not that hard to sell if you start small and solve a business problem.
  (tags: web2.0 business+strategy technology blogs wikis social+computing social+networking)
• Social Media Will Change Your Business
  “Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up…or catch you later.” - BusinessWeek
  (tags: social+computing social+media tech+trends blogs web+2.0 business+week)

• Enterprise 2.0: Five Innovations the CIO Shouldn’t Miss
  “E2.0 social networking innovators like Facebook are on the leading edge of application integration—using mash-up technology to introduce new functionality quickly.”
  (tags: social+media social+computing C-suite CIO enterprise+2.0 social+networking blogs sharepoint)

• Pointing The Way To New Web Worlds
  “..it was clear from the mass deployment to tens of thousands of workers at Wells Fargo and other major firms, that Enterprise 2.0 can unleash better collaboration, communication and innovation amongst employees and between organizations.”
  (tags: enterprise2.0 jive+software social+text wells+fargo web+2.0 social+computing)

VC heavyweight Tim Draper described how differently content is distributed and syndicated into today’s market, which apparently is influencing the way venture firms like Draper Fisher Jurvetson develop investment models.

John Shinal at vator.tv interviewed Draper at the OnMedia Media conference recently about the changing new media landscape.

..it may be a little like a producing company and a little like a venture capital model..but somehow we’ll pull those two things together and end up with a new model for venture investing that none of us has quite envisioned before.

It just validates how the social web is redefining how content is controlled and monetized. If you’re a marketer and not positioning your company to operate more like a media company, you should beware of being replaced.

If you’re into content management, or in a broader sense, information management, I hope you’ll pop in occasionally at one of my new homes on the web. (RSS feed here)

I’m part of Information Week’s blog crew and recently started covering all things related to content and information management. And what the heck isn’t related to managing content these days? It’s such a broad topic I know, but my goal is to bring a business person’s voice to it all.

If you’re a vendor, make your PR pros earn their money by sending along story ideas and vendor news. If you’re a client and want to get some pub on how you’ve mastered the content beast, you can also drop me a line.

Here’s some of my latest posts..and as always, thanks for reading.

• Top 5 Content Management Trends For 2008
  
• Oracle’s BEA Acquisition Makes Things Interesting
  
• Oracle Captures A Key Component To Its ECM Strategy
  
• Clickability Clicks On All Cylinders
  
• How Web 2.0 Affects Content Management
  
• IBM Hints At FileNet 2.0
  
• Open Source Funding Signals CMS Shakeup
  
• Engineering Content Management For A Web 2.0 World
  
• Are Enterprises Finally Waking Up To RSS?
  
• SaaS Trendwatching With Clickability

Explore The Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Network (a FeedBurner Network)

• IBM’s Web 2.0 scuffle will dwarf clashes against Microsoft
  Big Blue’s got some catching up to do.
  (tags: IBM microsoft enterprise+2.0 enterprise+software social+computing web+2.0)
• Are You Obsolete?
  No, are you? Read on about how corporate tech groups are changing the way technology is delivered.
  (tags: enterprise2.0 information+technology web+2.0 C-suite technology ROI innovation)
• KonoLive | Instant Collaboration Software
  Looks like a useful collaboration app..i like the rich media apps that integrate all your communication tools.
  (tags: collaboration IM software kono+live web+office web+apps web+2.0 demo+2008)