Vol.26 – How to Effectively Integrate Media/Communication Channels (Part 2)

In the previous article Vol.25: How to Effectively Integrate Media/Communication Channels (Part 1), how media and communication channels can be effectively mixed and integrated for online and offline synergy was discussed. The pattern 3 (online and offline, clicks and mortar), which is the chart below, integrates online and offline media and communication channels, creates more value from digital marketing, and even can create interesting business models.


This article focuses on driving consumers to main part of your business, which is usually spatial channel, i.e. Attention and Interest of AIDA model.

1. How are consumers/buyers drawn attention and interest and driven to online and offline spatial channel?

With the emergence of the Internet, the options to drive offline and online consumers/buyers to the company’s spatial channel to navigate them down the buying process are available.

2. How consumers/buyers can be attracted and driven to online and offline spatial channel(s)?

Below are possible ways in which marketers, PR & communication professionals and business owners can attract attention/interest to drive consumers to their online and offline spatial channel.

The previous article Vol.11: How to Successfully Drive Web Users to Web Contents also introduces possible methodologies in driving online customer/buyers to online spatial channels (website).

1) Driving consumers by online and offline adverting.

Although traditional media contents are becoming available online as well, traditional advertising here is categorized as offline advertising, and all online advertising regardless of format/vehicle are categorized as online advertising.

(1) Traditional offline mass media: TV, magazine, newspaper, radio (mass advertising)

TV commercial is still an effective mass media to reach and get attention of wide a range of audience. This is visual and audio centric presentation of 15 or 30 seconds so its main objectives are attracting attention of the audience and the very least inspire keywords for consumers to search online.

Magazine and Newspaper advertisements are also effective to reach and get attention of mass audience, in more targeted segment than TV commercial. Visual and catch copy are the key. The main objective are attracting attention of the audience and inspire them to get more information by accessing the URL in the advertising page and/or by visiting directly to spatial channel (trade show, event, seminar, store etc.)

Radio is also still effective as a mass advertising media. This is audio only and its main objectives are same as TV commercial of attracting attention of the audience and the very least inspire keywords for consumers to search online.

(2) Online advertising (mass and/or targeted advertising)

With increase in importance and budget in many companies of online advertising, so is the increase in variety (evolution) of online advertising. In addition to traditional banner advertising and text link advertising came search engine advertising, and now online advertising is linked/integrated with constituents of social media ecosystem mentioned in Vol.5: What Social Media Ecosystem Does Web 2.0 Realize? such as virtual world, gaming, microbrogging (e.g. Twitter) and SNS (e.g. Facebook).

2) Driving consumers by other offline media/communication channel

Here again, some other media and communication channels can be online and offline (e.g. DM) and they have been categorized by online and offline to make discussion simpler.

(1) Billboards and posters (mass targeting advertising)

Billboards and posters are still effective in attracting attention and interest of offline consumers. Due to its geological location, this is mass media targeted by geological factors as well other segments similarly to traditional mass media already mentioned. Being statistic, the primary objectives are same as newspaper and magazine advertising, attracting attention of the audience and inspire them to get more information by accessing the URL in the advertising page and/or by visiting directly to spatial channel (trade show, event, seminar, store etc.)

(2) DMs and flyers (mass targeting advertising)

DMs and flyers are still effective in attracting attention and interest of offline consumers. Flyers usually have geological location restriction so they are basically same as billboards and posters; mass media targeted by geological factors as well other segments. Flyers can include more detailed information and therefore the primary objectives are attracting attention and interest of the audience and inspire them to visit store and or other spatial channel, usually offline. DMs are basically the same as flyers, just that they are usually sent by post so in theory they have less geological location restriction and therefore reach mass audience of targeted segments (segmented by factors other than geological location).

3) Driving consumers by other online channel (mass and/or targeted)

Objectives of these are driving online customers first to reference landing page of the company website. The reference landing page might be online special channel or other page, and if it is the latter, online customers need to be navigated to the online special channel web pages.

(1) SEO (targeted)

SEO is one of the most effective ways of driving online customers/buyer.
There are paid search and organic search, and the choice depends on factors such as budget and timeline. In general, paid search is more suitable if sufficient is available and prominent result needs to be delivered immediately; therefore it might be better for season limited campaigns and events. Organic search is generally used (should be performed) at all times, as SEO from both algorithm (key words/phrases, tags etc.) and content (headline, relevance and targeting, frequency of updates etc.) perspective.

(2) E-newsletter and online DM (targeted and/or mass)

E-newsletter and online DM can still be effective and their future lies in integrating with social media, although some people do say with social media these would eventually be diminished. With effective use of DB, these can be mass or targeted, and ultimate targeting is one-to-one (marketing).

(3) Others: e.g. affiliate programme, links (targeted and/or mass)

There are other methods to drive online customers to online spatial channel, such as affiliate programmes and links. A whole book can be written about affiliate programme so the author would like to refrain from going into detail but she would like to emphasize that if planned and implemented strategically based on quantitative and qualitative analysis and other marketing techniques, this can be extremely effective, delivering prominent ROI. There are many types of links and the KFS are relevance, location and link text/icon.

4) Driving consumers by PR activities (mass & targeted broadcasting)

PR activities usually start with news release composition and distribution. Its primary objective might be to drive customers to offline and online special channel of press conference, tradeshow, events, seminars, store etc. because in many cases only some are directly driven to such channels.

This is because in reality, primary objective of PR remains attracting attention of journalists and bloggers (and not directly reaching customer/buyers) so that they would write news and blog articles and/or mention their products/services and company.

News and blog articles can be combined with advertising factors. When news article is combined with advertising it will become advertorial, and when article is combined with advertising (e.g. pay-per-click advertising) it can become an affiliate programme.

What needs to be considered and aimed for include making news and blog articles (and advertising) go “broadcasted” and “viral” by the general public and participate in their conversation. This works the best online, leveraging the following, and therefore the approaches needs to be changed from traditional PR and marketing. (The author would like to focus on viral marketing in one of her upcoming article).

(1) News site: e.g. Digg (mass and/or targeted)

Besides monitoring and aiming increase exposure in traditional news media (as done by “clipping”), PR professionals need to do the same for online coverage of traditional news media and news sites. News site is effective because with sufficient information and reliable reviews by experts, online consumers are attracted and interested in the content and be driven to the website.

(2) MicroBlogging: e.g. Twitter (mass and/or targeted)

Microbrogging is extremely effective today to spread the information and get the news go “viral”, as proven by how President Obama leveraged to win the presidential election last year.

(3) SNS: e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn (targeted and/or mass)

SNS is also effective today to get the news go “viral”. With different philosophy and concept of networking (making friends and connection, how information can be delivered in the online community etc.), MicroBlogging might be getter to make news “viral” to wider audience from PR perspective, as pointed out by Greco (2010) in her article “Why We Have Such a Crush on Twitter (and Not On Facebook)”. It seems that SNS is more suitable to make “viral” in more “focused” and “deep” manner


Further discussion of the pattern 3 (online and offline, clicks and mortar) will be continued in the next article.


References:-

Edelman, David C (2010), Four ways to get more value from digital marketing
https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Digital_Marketing/Four_ways_to_get_more_value_from_digital_marketing_2556

Greco, Jess (2010), Why We Have Such a Crush on Twitter (and Not On Facebook)
http://prbreakfastclub.com/2010/03/30/why-crush-twitter/

Vol.25 – How to Effectively Integrate Media/Communication Channels? (Part 1)

In the previous article Vol.24: How Media/Communication Channels Are Changing (Part 2), paradigm shift in media and communication channels, focusing on spatial channel attributed to web/internet, dramatically changing traditional media, was discussed. In this article, how media and communication channels can be effectively mixed and integrated for online and offline synergy is discussed.

1. How were media and communication channels used to be integrated and mixed before the emergence of the Internet? (Pattern 1: offline, bricks/mortar and bricks/mortar)

Before the emergence of the Internet, offline traditional media and communication channels were integrated to form AIDMA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Memory, Action) flow. Media and communication channel were carefully selected and mixed, leveraging characteristics of each of them mentioned in the previous article Vol,22: What Distinguishes Internet/Web From Traditional Media?

There are 3 phases in typical offline media/communication channel integration. First phase is getting attention of consumers and attracting them to the special channel (store, event, tradeshow etc.), which is mostly attention and interest of AIDMA. Advertising of traditional mass media (TV, magazine, newspaper) and direct mail are ideal for this phase.

Second phase is persuading consumers to buy (take action), which is mostly desire and action of AIDMA. Spatial channel is the main channel but other channels such as face-to-face communication (of sales person) and printed matter (for mail order) can also be used.

And the last phase is follow-up. Face-to-face and/or phone of sales person/customer service staff are often used.

2. How are media and communication channels integrated exclusively online? Is that possible? (Pattern 2: online, click and click)

Yes, it is possible to select only online media and communication channels and integrate effectively, although this might be rather rare. This is usually adopted by what we call “IT companies” or “dot com companies”.

This pattern also has 3 phases, with same concept as offline version of pattern 1. In the first phase, e-mail (including e-newsletter and online DM), SEO and online advertising are often used, to drive web users to the website/web content including online spatial channel. Details of this topic have already been explained in the previous article Vol.11: How to Successfully Drive Web Users to Web Contents. After driven to the website/web content, online buyers are navigated to go through the persuasion scenario as explained in the previous article Vol.13: How is Landing Page Optimization Related to Persuasion Scenario?. In some cases, web users are first “invited” to trade show, events etc, which can be regarded as a part of this phase of the total buying process. And in all cases, web users are driven to reference landing page, and its possible methodologies have been explained in the previous article Vol.15: How to Effectively Optimize Reference Landing Page.

In the second phase, online spatial channels (online store, trade show and event online information, webiner etc.) are typical; however, other web contents such as product and other information and social media (e.g. SNS, blog) can be categorized in this phase. Other social ecosystem constituents mentioned in the previous article Vol.5: What Social Media Ecosystem Does Web 2.0 Realize? such as skype, video/audio podcast, streaming and virtual world can enrich web content and help online buyers to go through the buying process smoothly and quickly. And, web users (buyers), going through buying process, will finally navigated to transactional landing page and persuaded to take action (buy), as explained in the previous article Vol.16: How to Effectively Optimize Transactional Landing Page.

And in the last phase of follow-up, media and communication channel such as e-mail, social media (e.g. micro-blogging, SNS) and skype can be used.

3. How are online and offline media and communication channels integrated? (Pattern 3: online and offline, clicks and mortar)

This pattern is the ideal and most common today, regardless of industry, company and organization. The proportion of online and offline, and which media/communication channels used depends on the industry, company/organization and other factors such as physical restriction. IT industry tends to focus on online and conservative industry (e.g. construction) tends to focus on offline. This pattern is mixture of the other 2 patterns.

This pattern also has 3 phases with same concept for each phase being the same as the other 2 patterns. In first phase, online and offline media/communication channels can be used, with similar concept and methodologies as the other 2 patterns. The media/communication channels used include e-mail (e.g. e-newsletter), SEO, online and offline/traditional media advertising, and online/offline DM are often used, to drive online and offline customers/buyers to the website/web content and/or online and offline spatial channel.

In the second phase, online and offline online spatial channels are typical. Others such as web contents such as product and other information and social media (e.g. SNS, blog) for online and face-to-face communication (of sales person) and printed matter (for mail order) can also be used, although they might be minority today. For online media and communication channels, social ecosystem constituents mentioned in pattern 2 can enrich web content and help online buyers to go through the buying process smoothly and quickly for the same reason.

And in the last phase of follow-up, online media and communication channels such as e-mail, social media (e.g. micro-blogging, SNS) and skype are often used today. But offline channels of face-to-face and/or phone of sales person/customer service staff are used as well, depending on the details of follow-up.

4. Effective online and offline media and communication channels integration (clicks and mortar) make interesting business model.

Pattern 3 (clicks and mortar), effectively selecting, mixing and integrating online and offline media/communication channels, often means interesting and original business model(s), not simply a way of how information/content is distributed to consumers.

A typical example is air ticket and hotel reservation. Customers will know the services by online and offline advertising etc. and today usually they are driven to website, where they use search function etc. and make reservation online. And finally they are provided with services offline (enjoying flight, accommodation at the hotel).

An extremely interesting example is of content business of a Japanese leading DVD/CD rental company called Tsutaya. It has started new business of clicks and mortar, to survive, when online paid content business and iPod is becoming popular, giving negative impact on their business. They recently are trying to attract attention of customers by TV advertising so that they would make reservation online, and have the DVD/CD discs sent to their house instead of handing the discs directly to the customers at their offline store. Customers can return the discs by post.

It is interesting to note that many non-marketing activities of companies/organizations, each activities constituting value chain have been going through evolution, falling into pattern 3. Recent recruiting in which IT is leveraged, introduced in another article How IT Supports Tough Job Hunting of Gradiates in Japan?, is an example of integrating online and offline media and communication channels; therefore, this can be categorized as pattern 3.

In the next article, the author would like to further discuss effective integration of online and offline media and communication channels.


References:-

Mitachi, Takashi (1998), Deconstruction: Disintegration and Reintegration of Value Chain. Diamond Harvard Business Review, October-November, in Japanese, pp110-123.

Vol.24: How Media/Communication Channels Are Changing? (Part 2)

In the previous article Vol 23: How Media/Communication Channels Are Changing? (Part 1) paradigm shift in media and communication channel attributed to web/internet, dramatically changing traditional media was discussed. This article, the latter half of paradigm shift in media and communication channel, focuses on spatial channel.

1. What kind of paradigm shift has been in process (and still is) in spatial channel, with the advent of the Internet and Web 2.0?

The essence is the same as the paradigm shift in traditional media, i.e. in addition to emergence of online media, online and offline spatial channels have been converging. This has been triggering emergence of new communication and business. Moreover, online is truly becoming ubiquitous, attributing to the fact that web 2.0 technologies mean emergence and proliferation of social media, further driven by mobile (platform, applications, devices).

Based on the Media/Communication Channel Paradigm Shift chart, the author would like to briefly explain how such paradigm shift is in progress.

2. How are spatial channels changing?

Online and offline convergence is in process, triggering dramatic changes. This has created some innovative ways of content/service delivery and new business model.

1) Stores

Stores used to mean physical space where consumers visit, interact with staff to see and try products and services to buy. With the emergence of the Internet, websites became popular, which are, regardless of the type (e.g. corporate information, product information, EC = Electric Commerce), can be and often are regarded as stores in website analysis and development. In such a case, top page is regarded as front entrance, left hand menu as level/ground of the building, web content as sections, web page as shelf, and links as doors leading to different buildings, level/ground and sections.

(1) Emergence of online stores led to new business models and paradigm shift in retail industry in particular

Internet marketers realized that websites have potential to play the role of the offline store, including trading by adding EC function, and developed the first online stores such as eBay and amazon, symbol of the Internet business. This meant new business model and paradigm shift in retail industry worldwide. In Japan Rakuten, another type of online store business started whose business concept is online shopping mall. Rakuten is the online shopping mall owner and attracts and supports online business owners to do business in their online shopping mall. Support includes providing the platform and consulting. Today there are many different types of EC websites/online stores, and more new business models leveraging the Internet.

(2) Manufacturers including traditionally brick and mortar companies now enjoy online store business

Online stores are not limited to IT business companies; many manufacturers including traditional brick and mortar companies also do business online leveraging online stores. Dell, famous for its unique and original PC manufacturing and delivery business model leveraging the Internet, extremely enjoys online business with Dell Outlet (leveraging social media), and offline business as well.

Panasonic, a symbol of a Japanese brick and mortar company that had once withdrawn from computer business, re-entered PC business around 2000 and started their online PC business (at least in Japan) when they launched Let’s Note series. Their Let’s Notes series online store started to become popular when they made differentiation between online and offline business by allowing online consumers to select a colour from 16 colours available and order for a particular model, and established an online community website. Large proportion of their revenue comes from offline business but now they do enjoy online business of Let’s Notes series as well.

2) Trade shows

Trade show itself is still online focused in general but usually its content is available online today. Since the objective of trade show web content is providing web users with information of the show and not (directly) selling products and services, one difference from online store is that is does not have EC function, and focuses on information of the show.

3) Events, forums and seminars

Events, forums and seminars used to be something held offline, but today, similarly to store, online and offline is converging, leading to new forms of events, forums and seminars. With the advent of the Internet, information of events, forums and events held offline started to be provided online, similarly to trade show information. And now, some are now planned and held online, even exclusively online, especially seminars.

Seminar held, often exclusively, offline has become popular, leading to variety of web content and services, which can be said as new business models for some. Online seminar has become so popular, and new word of “webinar” (web + seminar) was coined and has become quite popular among web users. Online training and education can be included in / categorized as online seminar, and many of them have become quite popular, some evolving into new format and/or business. Many companies provide employees around the globe with online training (a European pharmaceutical company calls it “e-learning”). Some business schools provide courses/programmes online in addition to traditional offline courses/programmes or online exclusively. This attracts customers (students) not limiting to their physical location, time of their availability etc., meaning new business opportunity and business model, similarly to online store.


Having looked at paradigm shift in media and communication channel, the author would like to discuss how marketers, PR professionals, communicators and business owners can leverage online and offline media and communication channels to maximize effect in the next article.


References:-

Mitachi, Takashi (1998), Deconstruction: Disintegration and Reintegration of Value Chain. Diamond Harvard Business Review, October-November, in Japanese, pp110-123.

Vol.23: How Media/Communication Channels Are Changing? (Part 1)

In the previous article Vol.22: What Distinguished Internet/Web From Traditional Media?characteristics of Internet/web were compared with those of traditional media to distinguish uniqueness of Internet media and clarify key factors that would contribute to effectively leveraging each media for online and offline synergy.

The topic of this article and the next is paradigm shift in media and communication channel attributed to web/Internet, that dramatically changing traditional media.

1. What kind of paradigm shift has been in process (and still is) in media and communication channel, with the advent of the Internet and Web 2.0?

In short, in addition to emergence of online media, online and offline media and communication channels have been converging, and this has been triggering emergence of many different types of media and communication channels. Moreover, online is truly becoming ubiquitous media and communication channel, attributing to the fact that web 2.0 technologies mean emergence and proliferation of social media, further driven by mobile (platform, applications, devices).

Based on the Media/Communication Channel Paradigm Shift chart, the author would like to briefly explain how such paradigm shift is in progress. In doing so, the author would like to explain changes in traditional media and communication channels in this article, and changes in spatial channel in the next article.

2. How are traditional mass media changing?

Although the speed and degree varies from media to media, online and offline convergence in ongoing for traditional (mass) media, and for some media it may well evolve further more, changing to something quite different from what it is today.

1) Newspapers and magazines

In addition to traditional printed media, newspaper and magazine companies (publishers) now have online content online. As discussed in the previous article Vol.20: How Are News Media to Survive In Web 2.0 World? publishers are trying to develop their own optimum business strategy to establish new business model in the Internet era, which are mostly converging of online and offline business. Examples include making differentiation of printed and online content for co-existence of the two. In fact, Nikkei net, Japan’s leading newspaper website specialized for business and economy, will position (change) their online website as “electronics version newspaper”. Some others are going online exclusively. A Japanese magazine from Recruit (company name) specialized for job hunting closed its offline business and went online only many years ago, establishing new business model. Since the group company also had recruiting business unit as well, which was the leader in this industry in Japan, it had combined the magazine business and recruiting business, leveraging the power of Internet.

2) TV

To the author, online and offline convergence in TV is quite interesting and dramatic. Concept of traditional TV is changing with Hulu.com from consumers watching broadcasting when the content they are interested in are available or recording and watch it later. But now with Humu.com they can watch anytime.

Moreover, interactive TV is emerging and this could change to make revolution in TV media and online interactive TV may well become one of the primary online media in addition to PC and mobile. Interactive TV concept already existed in a vision of a Japanese consumer electronic giant (the company the author used to work for and the author developed web content to deliver this vision) in 2001, with content service called “T Mode” (vs. mobile content service in Japan called “I Mode” that started in 1997). The pilot TV set and content service became available from around 2004, and the author rolled out one of her PC web content to interactive TV (T Mode) content. Interactive TV era might still be “future concept”, it would surely come in not a distant future.

And lately, TV has been collaborating with mobile Internet and phone, at least in some TV programmes in Japan. For example, MCs of the TV programme would ask audience to vote by mobile Internet or by phone, and the result would be announced later in the same TV programme. Voting by phone used to be popular but lately voting by mobile Internet is much more popular.

Another example of TV collaborating with the Internet is in cooking TV programme, MCs would recap the ingredience and recipe at the end then encourage audience to access online page of the recipe by introducing them the URL. Similar tactics/methodologies of linking TV with the Internet are often seen in TV commercials in Japan. At the end of the 15 sec/30 sec TV commercial, search page with the product/service/brand name typed in is shown to encourage audience to get more information by the Internet.

The author feels that Interactive TV and its platform/content services have potential to integrate everything to make it simple. Interactive TV would be ideal for quiz, voting and online shopping TV programmes. Interactive TV would be another driver of further innovation in content distribution.

3) DM and coupons

DM and coupons are no longer only in print. Rather, more and more consumers download them from the Internet, print out, and take it with them in shopping, dining, staying at a hotel etc. DM and coupons are already becoming paperless, and with further evolution of content/web service distribution and applications, it is quite possible that DM and coupons would totally become paperless in the near future.

3. Are similar changes in progress in other communication channel as well?

Yes, changes that are same in essence are in progress in other communication channels as well. Face-to-face communication in person and is offline but with skype, similar benefit can be obtained online. Same goes for phone. Benefit similar to radio can be obtained by podcast. Skype and podcast are both of web 2.0 technologies, as explained in the previous article Vol.5: What Social Media Ecosystem Does Web 2.0 Realize?


Changes in spatial channel are also dramatic and interesting. This will be discussed in the next article as Part 2.


References:-

Mitachi, Takashi (1998), Deconstruction: Disintegration and Reintegration of Value Chain. Diamond Harvard Business Review, October-November, in Japanese, pp110-123.

Vol.22: What Distinguishes Internet/Web From Traditional Media?

In the previous article Vol:21: What To Learn From News Media's Survival In Web 2.0 World? how news media as the organization are changing to survive in web 2.0 online world was discussed, as learning for marketers, PR representatives, communicators and business owners. The topic of this article is to compare characteristics of Internet/web with traditional media and distinguish uniqueness of Internet media, in order to clarify key factors to effectively leveraging each media for online and offline synergy.

1. What are main characteristics of traditional media and the Internet/web (including social media)?

From perspective of new way of content distribution, the author would conclude that it is “pull media” among many characteristics of the Internet/web and traditional media such as interactivity and personalization that is the key. Traditional media are mostly push media, and can reach audience even if they are reactive, especially TV and radio. However, the Internet is a pull medium, (similarly to “spatial” media), which means tactics to drive web users to the website is inevitable, and this often means using and mixing with other media/communication channel.

Other important characteristics that distinguish the Internet/web from traditional media are interactivity, ubiquitous and 365 days/24 hours, and customization. Interactivity is not necessarily zero for traditional media such as by contribution article and survey, but traditional media are basically of one-way communication. Traditional media and “spatial” media have some kind of restriction in terms of accessibility (scope of reach/delivery and time). And traditional media is mostly designed for mass marketing and advertising, little room for customization.

2. What are the characteristics of each media/comunication channel?

Based on the media/communication channel comparison chart, the characteristics of each medium/communication channels can be briefly described as below.

1) TV

TV, symbol of mass media and mass advertising, is still excellent media for visibility and reach, although the cost production and getting on the air) is usually quite high. With creative scenario, visual and audio effect, it can deliver extremely strong message in a short time, although detailed information needs to be delivered in other media. It is excellent for “Attention” of AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) model. Statistic data is available with Nielsen research data and analysis.

2) Radio

Radio is good in reach. It is less expensive than TV and more “ubiquitous” with portable and car audio. Only delivering information by audio, it is inferior in terms of visibility but can deliver live news unlike many printed media with detailed information.

3) Magazine

Magazine is also good for visibility and reach. It is better than TV for targeting by customer segment, and although it is static with no audio unlike TV, it is less expensive than TV and more flexible in general can include more detailed information.

4) Newspaper

Newspaper is inferior in terms of visibility but is good in reach. Compared to the other primary printed media of magazine, it is more flexible and much better to deliver recent news and update of information.

5) Brochure

Brochure can be good for visibility, if distributed sufficiently to appropriate target audience, (although may not be as good as newspaper and magazine). It can include detailed information although in static form, and usually less expensive compared with other printed media issued by professional publishers.

6) Flyer (& DM)

Similarly to brochure, flyer can be good for visibility if distributed sufficiently to well-targeted audience, especially when it is distributed with the help of newspaper distribution (at least in Japan) and/or sent by DM (Direct Mail); the issue would be whether the audience opens the DM. Flyer is usually less expensive but can include less information than brochure.

7) Bulletin board and poster

Bulletin board and poster are not ubiquitous and thus inferior in terms of visibility and reach because of physical restraint (physical place it is located) and audience need to be at that particular location to see the message. Posters are usually of reasonable price. Bulletin board can be of reasonable price or rather expensive according to factors such as the material it is made of and cost of acquiring the space of display. Amount of information is usually extremely limited but more flexible (easier to customize etc.) than other printed media.

‘8) Offline face-to-face, one-on-one communication

Offline face-to-face, one-on-one communication is of pull media and with physical restriction (opposite of ubiquitous), it is inferior in terms of visibility and reachness, but is the most flexible; it is interactive, can deliver rich and customized, updated information. Unless it is walk-in sale, this is used with other media/communication channels (for making appointments etc.) such as phone and e-mails (Internet). The cost depends on the traveling.

9) Offline spatial channel (events/forums and stores)

Offline spatial channel of events/forums and stores is pull media similarly to the Internet/web and face-to-face, one-on-one communication. Therefore, tactics to drive audience/customers to the spatial channel using other media and communication channel but can deliver the highest realistic sensation with all 5 senses, and is ideal for Interest, Desire and Action of AIDA model. This can be of reasonable cost or expensive on the size, location etc. and customization and interactivity varies according to factors such as number of audience/participants and programme of the event. Smaller the size, more it is similar to face-to-face, one-on-one communication.

10) Internet/web

Characteristics of the Internet/web have been introduced in the previous article Vol.8: How to Start Web 2.0 / Internet Marketing. It is, in theory, ubiquitous and can reach many web audiences. Therefore, it can be good in visibility, operating 365 days/24 hours, interactive, can be customized/personalized, and easy to update. With web 2.0 technologies, it can be rich with audio, video, photo, virtual world as well as text. It can deliver detailed information because it has no space limitation like printed media (the issue would be acquiring optimum space for advertising etc.) Cost can be high or low, according to factors such as how the visual and web page is developed.

With such characteristics, the Internet might seem ideal, but only if its characteristics/uniqueness truly understood and not over-estimated, and leveraged based on essence of strategy planning/implementation and marketing, otherwise, the result would be failure like many dot.com companies and IT bubble. Some of the things to take into account are the fact that the Internet/web is pull media and therefore driving web users to the website/page is inevitable; and being flexible and the Internet is often said as “living”, continuous maintenance is vital and need to be planned and operated from mid/long term viewpoint.

In the next article, the author would like to discuss how offline and online (Internet/web) are converging, leading to paradigm shift in the relationship of traditional media and the Internet/web (including social media), from viewpoint of marketer, business owner, PR professional and communicators.


References:-

Mitachi, Takashi (1998), Deconstruction: Disintegration and Reintegration of Value Chain. Diamond Harvard Business Review, October-November, in Japanese, pp110-123.

Vol.21: What To Learn From News Media’s Survival In Web 2.0 World?

In the previous article Vol.20: How Are News Media to Survive In Web 2.0 World? how news media as the organization need to change to survive in web 2.0 online world was discussed. The topic of this article is further discussing how they survive, clarifying methodologies, from which marketers, PR representatives and communicators in general can learn to become successfully social in web 2.0 online world.

Following how news media becoming collaborative mentioned in the previous article, the author would like to briefly explain the two primary KFS mentioned; controlling distribution channel and improving content quality, then conclude by how new media are to create establish infrastructure and create optimum environment for the KFS.

1. How are news media to control of distribution channel and/or improve way of delivery?

As in the previous article, control of content distribution channel is vital, which often is about new platform or way of delivery of content. According to Jaffe in his article The Changing Paradigm for Entertainment (2010) 65% of executives believe that main source of future revenue for entertainment industry will be from new platform/way of delivery, and as a same content industry, this is a learning that news media need to leverage. However, unlike entertainment industry, it is not easy and/or realistic for news media to close print media business, even though as Steiger (2009) says in his article Investigative reporting in the Web era, there are some news media that has gone web (online)-only such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Realistic measures for survival are as below.

1) Develop a new strategy that emphasizes leveraging multi-platform and multi-media.

Multi-platform and multi-media could include traditional media of print (newspapers, magazines, flyers etc.), TV and radio, and web. Differentiation among traditional media have been the issue before the Internet era, and now the issue is differentiation between traditional media (especially print) and web/online. This needs to be done based on the characteristics of each media and platform, and effectively mix them to generate synergy.

2) Develop multi-platform online strategy.

Online strategy no longer is exclusively of PC platform; it is of multi-platform including mobile and TV, with proliferation of mobile and advent of interactive TV. In addition, with video and audio podcast on the web, streaming content (of YouTube) is now quite popular. Also, with virtual world and gaming, social gaming and virtual content is becoming popular. Thus it is often said that (PC or mobile) web, TV and radio are converging. Integrated multi-platform web strategy leveraging such paradigm shift is critical for effectively developing and delivering content that maximizes revenue.

Use of online video is a new model of distribution and an opportunity to partner web with video. This is explained by Lewis (2009) in his article 5 Ways Traditional Media Companies are Using Online Video. The five ways mentioned by Lewis are as below.

(1) Adapting to new customers: e.g. Customer Report. Printed report is for depth of information and online video is for quick reference for customers deciding between different brands.

(2) Private-label news networks: e.g. Forbes started Forbes Video Network.

(3) A literacy video channel: e.g. Harpercollins.

(4) The video wire service: e.g. AP (Associated Press).

(5) Standardizing ad formats: e.g. French ad giant, Publicis Group.

3) Customized delivery is also a key for online strategy.

Customized delivery is also a key for online strategy, because this cannot be done with traditional media. Customization is one of the characteristics of the Internet, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.8: How to Start Web 2.0 / Internet Marketing. This can be a key for differentiating from traditional media.

2. How are news media to improve content quality?

News media needs to go niche. This means effectively segmenting for positioning themselves by to differentiate from competitors. The Huffington Post, as Lewis (2009) states in article e Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future, is an example of successful; it is now a leader in today’s social journalism.

Whatever the positioning may be, needs for reporting remains regardless of the popularity of web 2.0, and some reporting can only be done by professionals, by news media, so it is all about content quality based on effective positioning. Moreover, there are some methodologies that can only be adopted by news media/ journalists, leveraging their professional expertise and/or network and organizational skills.

1) Breaking news and living story news content is of high value, especially with curation and contextualization.

It is no doubt that breaking news and living story news content is of high value, and although citizens can be journalists, many such news contents that can only be reported by professional journalists. Many of such news (e.g. news on politics/government, global/society/industry trend) require systematic and organizational information channel, high expertise of reporting and/or extensive and intensive planning/concept making and execution (meaning much resources as well as expertise required).

What is more, the news content value further enhances if content are curated and contexualized, which few citizen journalists are capable of.

2) Real time streaming/reporting is content of high value.

Real time streaming/reporting is also high value content, and although there are some exceptional cases in which citizen journalists sometimes happen to report real time by Twitter and streaming, it is usually difficult for them to report first hand information of such news. Some examples of such news include news of abroad, terrorism, and accident, to name a few.

Furthermore, in many cases, professional journalists specialized in a particular field alone can curate and contextualize spontaneously when reporting a news real time.

3) A better news search experience by directing consumers to the news organization that breaks the news adds value to news content.

This effort is actually ongoing as one way that news media is raising the value of news content overall. According to Curley (2009) in his article Crossing the burning bridge, this effort is called AP3P or Protect, Point and Pay, by AP’s aggregated body of unique news content called NewsGuide curated by news editors.

4) Geo-location is another solution.

Although there are no boundaries in the Internet world, geo-location is one of the current trend and location-based social networks are being established. Location is one factor of market segmentation and this is one way of segmentation and positioning for news media to go niche.

5) Content development leveraging social media ecosystem is also effective.

There are numerous ways of news content development leveraging social media ecosystem that adds value to the content. Some examples include blogozines, distributed social news, social news gaming, and UGC (user-generated content).

6) Building community is vital in social journalism.

This can be said as a type of UGC. There can be variety of community such as branded community and story-based community to name a few.

3. What news media needs to do to create an environment and establish infrastructure for social journalism?

There are mainly the following.

1) Encourage social journalists.

In fact, some media have actually explicitly announced policy of either their journalists become social or leave, as in recent article New BBC Director Mandates Journalists Use Social Media by Grove (2010).

2) Composite guidelines and policies for using social media tools.

Similarly to companies making guidelines, news media are starting to make guideline and policies for using social media tools, as explained by Betancourt (2009) in her article How Social Media is Radically Changing the Newsroom.

3) Leverage web 3.0 or the semantic web.

News media may well get ahead by leverage web 3.0 or the semantic web. This means contents that used to be created manually are change to contents automatically performs heavy lifting, as mentioned by Callari (2009) in his article “Social Media Predictions for 2010”.

4) Find and acquire relevant resources.

This includes finding a strong technology partner and pitching the editor-in-chief. Acquisition of appropriate technology (by partnership is effective) and key person for effective delivery of high quality content are also vital.


Companies and individuals can learn much from how news media is doing to survive, and the above methodologies for the 3 KFS can be applied to their marketing and PR in the web 2.0/Internet online world. The author would like to discuss them in the upcoming articles.


References:-

Betancourt, Leah (2009) How Social Media is Radically Changing the Newsroom
http://mashable.com/2009/06/08/social-media-newsroom/

Callari, Ron (2009) Social Media Predictions For 2010
http://inventorspot.com/articles/social_media_predictions_2010_35277

Crocker, Nick (2009) 4 Things Old Media Can Learn From the Music Industry’s Last Decade
http://mashable.com/2009/10/08/news-industry-music/

Curley, Tom (2009) Crossing the Burning Bridge
http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/internet/crossing-the-burning-bridge

Defren, Todd (2009) Mainstream Media Relations: More Important Than Ever
http://www.pr-squared.com/index.php/2009/09/mainstream-media-relations-more-important-than-ever

Fisher, Lauren (2009) 10 Industries That The Internet And Social Media Will Revolutionize
http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/10-industries-internet-social-media-revolutionize/

Grove, Jennifer Van (2010) New BBC Director Mandates Journalists Use Social Media
http://mashable.com/2010/02/10/bbc-social-media/

Jafe, Mark (2010) The Changing Paradigm for Entertainment
http://mobilemandala.com/2010/02/07/the-changing-paradigm-for-entertainment/

Joel, Mitch (2009), Six Pixels of Separation – Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. Business Plus

Lavrusik, Vadim (2009) 12 Things Newspapers Should Do to Survive
http://mashable.com/2009/08/14/newspaper-survival/

Lavruski, Vadim (2009) 7 Ways News Media are Becoming More Collaborative
http://mashable.com/2009/12/29/7-ways-news-media-are-becoming-more-collaborative/

Lewis, Woody (2009) Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future
http://mashable.com/2009/04/07/social-journalism/

Lewis, Woody (2009) 5 Ways Traditional Media Companies are Using Online Video
http://mashable.com/2009/07/31/traditional-media-online-video/

Mohsin, Umair (2010) The Future of Paid Content http://animoney.thoseinmedia.com/2010/01/07/the-future-of-paid-content/

Steiger, Paul (2009) Investigative Reporting in the Web Era
http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/internet/investigative-reporting-in-the-web-era

Vol.20: How Are News Media to Survive In Web 2.0 World?

In the previous article "Vol.19: What is Ideal Web 2.0 Wocial Journalism / Jourlist?", ideal journalism and journalist was discussed. The topic of this article is how news media as the organization (and employer of journalists) need to change to survive in web 2.0 online world.

1. What does news media need to know to succeed in Web 2.0 online world?

News media need to be aware of the drastically changing environment and the paradigm shift in the business model of journalism, attributing to the game change of news and all content business by Internet/web 2.0. This is supported by Fisher’s article of 10 Industries That The Internet And Social Media Will Revolutionize (2009), with print media as #1, television as #3, music as #6 advertising as #8 and public relations as #9.

2. What is happening in the news media and all content media industries?

There have been scrap and build (such as of AOL and NCB selling announcements), and staff cuts in news media and other content industries. Focusing on news organizations, some examples are mentioned by Steiger (2009) in his article Investigative reporting in the Web era, including closing of business, operating in bankruptcy proceedings, and drastic cut in team and staff/journalists. According to Steigner, newspapers have bought out or laid off nearly 26,000 journalists, which is the equivalent of more than 20 New York Timeses.

3. Are news and other content business market really shrinking?

No, it is not; it is actually on the increase in total. It may seem to be shrinking if looked focusing on traditional media business and/or as an extension of traditional business; however, total news and all other content business is not shrinking but potential demand is increasing. Take music industry for example. It is true that CD business is decreasing with the advent of online music business but with easier access to more online music content, more people are actually consuming more music content and thus total music business has expanded.

Many of the myth of news and content business are not quite right. Curley (2009) says in his article Crossing the burning bridge, under the new game in the Internet era, “it often appears as if the more our content is distributed, the more revenues decline”, but his stance is also that it all depends on how professional news media adapts to the changing business environment. The myth attributes to inappropriate, obsolete business model of many current news media and other content business organizations, not knowing the KFS under the new game rule.

4. What are the KFS to succeed in new game?

KFS to create demand and market to succeed in news and other content business are quality and distribution channel of content.

1) High quality content is a must.

It is true that news business seems to be on the decline in general, demand for high quality news content does exist and even seems to be increasing.

As mentioned in the previous article Vol.10 – How to Successfully Develop Web Content to Directly Reach Buyers, content is the king, and in addition, context the queen, as Joel (2009) advocates, and online consumers do pay for high quality content. This means that content business can be successful even thought many free content are available online. The issue is quality of the content.

According to Mohsin’s article The Future Of Paid Content (2009), global online consumers still place more value on content produced by “professionals” and pay for (perceived) quality content. Steigner (2009) is also of the same stance. This is the very reason why Comcast, the “content distributor” company decided to acquire NBC, the “content” company.

2) Controlling distribution channel to deliver content is also vital.

Controlling distribution channel to deliver high quality content is also a crucial competitive advantage under the new game with the emergence of Internet and web 2.0. Lewis (2009) says in his article Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future, the future of social journalism will be driven by disintermediation, the replacement or removal of middlemen in the supply chain, and the author feels this has already started. This is also mentioned by a Japanese authority in this field in his online article series about IT and media/content business that he posts regularly on a prestigious media website.

Disintermediation is KFS for many traditional offline company businesses (manufacturers, retailers etc.), Dell model being an excellent example, and is indeed crucial KFS for online business. Some examples to name a few include Amazon, eBay, Yahoo! and iPod of Apple to name a few, all of which resulted to development and establishment of new business models. Such companies stimulated potential customer demand, created new market, and became the market leader, leveraging first mover advantage.

3) Collaboration is the key to achieve and leverage both quality and distribution channel of content.

With the objective of effectively and efficiently produce high quality content meeting customer needs and delivering them directly to online customers, collaboration has become a trend among news media organizations. This is quite natural when many companies in other industries (including offline traditional industries) are making alliances and collaboration to improve their competitive advantage.

Lavruski (2009) introduces with concreteness how news media are doing this in his article 7 Ways News Media are Becoming More Collaborative, mentioning the 7 points below. These are in line with what the author described as ideal social journalists in the previous article Vol.19 – What is Ideal Web 2.0 Social Journalism / Journalist?

- Curating and filtering the stream.
- Working with the audience.
- Leverage collaborative tools (e.g. Google Wave)
- Social media partnership.
- Large news partnering with blogs
- Local news organization teaming up
- University partnership

5. What do news (and other content business) organizations need to know and do immediately?

News media and all other content business organizations are required to change their mindset and overcome the mission in the next few years to survive. Curley (2009) describes this by saying “get all the way across the burning bridge, from analog to digital journalism, and make the difficult choices that this crossing presents”.

Leveraging learning from, for example, Crocker’s article 4 Things Old Media Can Learn From the Music Industry’s Last Decade, news media and other old media need to know that myth is exaggeration and change their mindset. They need to fully understand the essence of the paradigm shift in their business environment triggered by web 2.0/social media ecosystem and determine correct KFS. Social media ecosystem introduced in the previous article Vol.5 – What Social Media Ecosystem Does Web 2.0 Realize? could be of reference. Then they would be able to develop and establish new business model meeting the new era to win the new game.

It is with successfully adapting to paradigm shift and developing/establishing new business model that the value and importance of professional mainstream news media would increase more than ever, as Defren (2009) insists in his article Mainstream Media Relations: More Important Than Ever.


In the next article, the author would like to further discuss some of the actions news media (organizations), one of the primary content business players, are expected to take survive in web 2.0 world. The author believes that marketers, communicators, PR representatives and online business owners can learn from such actions how to succeed in their web/Internet marketing and online business.


References:-

Betancourt, Leah (2009) How Social Media is Radically Changing the Newsroom
http://mashable.com/2009/06/08/social-media-newsroom/

Crocker, Nick (2009) 4 Things Old Media Can Learn From the Music Industry’s Last Decade
http://mashable.com/2009/10/08/news-industry-music/

Curley, Tom (2009) Crossing the Burning Bridge
http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/internet/crossing-the-burning-bridge

Defren, Todd (2009) Mainstream Media Relations: More Important Than Ever
http://www.pr-squared.com/index.php/2009/09/mainstream-media-relations-more-important-than-ever

Fisher, Lauren (2009) 10 Industries That The Internet And Social Media Will Revolutionize
http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/10-industries-internet-social-media-revolutionize/

Joel, Mitch (2009), Six Pixels of Separation – Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. Business Plus

Lavrusik, Vadim (2009) 12 Things Newspapers Should Do to Survive
http://mashable.com/2009/08/14/newspaper-survival/

Lavruski, Vadim (2009) 7 Ways News Media are Becoming More Collaborative
http://mashable.com/2009/12/29/7-ways-news-media-are-becoming-more-collaborative/

Lewis, Woody (2009) Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future
http://mashable.com/2009/04/07/social-journalism/

Mohsin, Umair (2010) The Future of Paid Content
http://animoney.thoseinmedia.com/2010/01/07/the-future-of-paid-content/

Steiger, Paul (2009) Investigative Reporting in the Web Era
http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/internet/investigative-reporting-in-the-web-era