I’ve been invited to be on a panel at a meeting of PR professionals next month. It’s the “January Joint Meeting” of CSPRC/IABC/PRSA. I’m hoping to be able to pronounce the acronym by January 10th. Maybe it’s just me, but I find it interesting that none of these big public relations organizations are using RSS, blogs or podcasts. But they’re talking about it and that puts them ahead of the pack. Depending on the sound set-up, I’ll record it and post it here.
The Art of Demotivation
From the folks at Despair, Inc., a business book that’s “So Dangerous We Had to Put a Lock on It.”
“Ironically, managers attempting to motivate employees by increasing their self-esteem only compound the very problem they seek to solve. Reinforcing employee delusions of grandeur only increases their irrational sense of entitlement to the wealth, stature and privilege that justice dictates be reserved for the truly accomplished and inarguably worthy: namely, Executives.”
These are the same funny kids that produce the motivational calendars and posters.
Quality: The Race for Quality Has No Finish Line – so Technically it’s More Like a Death March.
I’ll share nuggets from TAOD here.
Unbundled Media
“The natural ability of the Internet to distribute unbundled media is disrupting broadcasting’s basic business, and that will accelerate in 2006.” (The Unbundled Awakening by Terry Heaton)
After reading this excellent piece, I can’t get the idea of “unbundled media” out of my head. Like all broadcast media, radio stations offer a bundle of content/programming. Music, weather, sports, news, etc. We bundle it all together in something we call a format and deliver it to the audience (in a very linear manner).
I remember getting calls from frustrated listeners demanding to know when I was going to give the school closing report (I had just given it 2 minutes earlier but they had missed it.) They couldn’t get it when they wanted it because it had to be bundled up with other content/programming.
For the past 20+ years I have worked for a company that supplies content/programming to radio stations and for most of that time, a big part of my job was to insure that our “stuff” made it into the bundle.
And now the unbundling has begun. iTunes has just about any song I might want to hear. Weather.com has my forecast. Cancellations.com (or my school’s website) has the cancellations. Same for school lunch menus.
And RSS means I won’t even have to go searching for all this. It will come to me. Wherever I am.
It seems pretty clear that most people don’t want their media bundled. They like to choose. A bit of a sticky wicket for businesses dependent on being part of the bundle. Is the value shifting from being able to bundle (TV and radio stations, newspapers, magazines, etc)… to creating the content that was once part of that bundle?
Sound trucks and book clubs
It’s happening more frequently. One of our sales reps gets asked about podcasting. Technical considerations (RSS, enclosures, etc) aside… I struggle to explain the conceptual differences between a traditional broadcast and a podcast. After it’s all said and done it’s just audio and that makes it easy to confuse the two. But let’s try this:
Broadcasting is driving a sound truck around town (or a thousand sound trucks in a thosuand cities and towns) with music or talk blaring from the speakers. Some people are paying attention… some or not, but we know that everyone in town could hear us.
Podcasting is a book club that meets every Tuesday night in the basement of the Presbyterian Church. We put a note on the church bulletin board to let folks know and they stop by and join the discussion if the book is interesting. If they have a good time, they come back next week.
The guys in the trucks want (and need) to count everyone in town as a listener. But we know exactly how many people show up for each week’s book club meeting. So, can we “advertise” or “market” to the book club? Maybe.
BAD: “Can you hold that thought for just a minute, Ralph? I’ve asked one of the folks from Piggly Wiggly to say a few words about some of the items they have on special this week.”
BETTER: “I’d like to thank everyone for coming out tonight. Before we get started, I’d like to thank Piggly Wiggly for providing the coffee and donuts.”
We (broadcasters) are quite capable of producing quality podcasts. And we’ll figure out a way to sell some kind of sponsorship or ads. But learning to listen to and really engage our listeners will take some practice.
BASF gets it
Remember when your insurance agent would send you a calendar for Christmas? The tech-savey marketing folks at BASF sent a few of our reporters 4 gig iPod nanos.
You spend the entire year listening to the needs of your audience. So for all of your attentive support, we would like to present a holiday gift that will enable you to hear our heartfelt appreciation. (Don’t worry – this gift doesn’t involve us caroling on your doorstep.) Since BASF is a leader in crop protection technology, we thought it would be appropriate to give you the latest advance in audio technology: the iPod nano.
It’s important to know that this gift extends beyound its small dimensions. You will have already received an email from us with a recorded holiday greeting. Now go to www.AgMediaCentral.com to hear the second part of our message, which you can listen to online or download to your new iPod.
This link also includes a few questions that will help us to listen to your needs. When you visit this link, you’ll receive an additional gift with our appreciation: a prepaid iTunes Music Card worth $15.