Jump In #31: Second Draw Down, part 2

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( more info: http://ijump.co.nz ) ... The conversation continues with Ludwig and Novia, producer and host respectively of Second Draw Down, New Zealand's newest video podcast.

Happy travels

Yesterday saw the first of a lot of travel in the next few weeks. We were in Christchurch for a day-long workshop for a client. We're back there again next week to talk about social media (of course!) for the Marketing Association.

A summary:

• Monday, August 4th, 7:30am - 9:30am, at Lowndes Associates‘ Business Intelligence Workshop, at the Stamford Plaza in Albert Street, Auckland. Subject is “Online Strategies for Non-Online Businesses” Bookings here.
• Thursday, August 7th, 12pm-2pm, at the Marketing Association’s Southern Luncheon at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, 161 Cashel Street, Christchurch. Subject: Making Sense of Social Media. Bookings here.
• Wednesday, August 13th, 2:30-3pm as part of the day-long Digital Future Now summit, at the SkyCity Convention Centre in Auckland. I’ll be on a panel with Paul Reynolds and Nicholas O’Flaherty discussing how social media can help business. Bookings here.
• Monday, September 15th, 4:15-5pm as part of the day-long 6th Annual Media Relations Conference at the Wellington Town Hall. I’m chairing a “champagne roundtable” (hic!) on exploring the potential of social media. Bookings here.
• Tuesday, September 16th, 1:30pm-5pm in a workshop entitled Blogs: Friend or Foe? Also at the Wellington Town Hall. Bookings here.

And if you can’t make it to any of these, we’ll still be producing the weekly Jump In video podcast, and appearing from time to time on Radio NZ National’s Virtual World segment with Jim Mora.

Jump In #30: Online video secrets from Second Draw Down

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( more info: http://ijump.co.nz ) | They're 17, and they produce a weekly video show. They're Ludwig Wendzich and Novia Ng, part of the team behind Second Draw Down, and this is our live interview with them at BarCamp Auckland. They have a lot of lessons for anyone interested in making online video.

Jump In #29: Innovation and Creativity with The Hive

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(More info http://ijump.co.nz ) | Innovation is crucial to business growth, but it remains a mystery to many. Recently Simon attended a workshop by The Hive Innovation ( http://thehiveinnovation.co.nz ) and shares some of the gems.

Somebody reads my online marketing column!

Writing a monthly online marketing column for NZMarketing Magazine has it's good and bad points.

Good: I get paid for it!

Bad: No comments field.

But it was great to get this email from Greg Randall at Alkemi, responding to my latest column, where I talk about the ongoing task of educating marketers about the possibilities of online marketing.

It's free advertising for Alkemi, but hey, they're doing something really well. If you're interested in the whitepaper Greg mentions, leave a comment.

Simon,

I just read your article about the Online Myths in NZ Marketing, and really liked it. I believe your question at the end of the article is extremely valid. I attend many of these “Brainy Breakfasts” and listen to my colleagues bamboozle the potential market with acronyms and ridiculous jargon.

In terms of your questions about what should be done, “dumb down online”, or “shout from the rooftops”, we do both. We need to be seen as strong advocates for the Online Channel, but at he same time be able to communicate in language people can understand. Many Online Companies capitalise on ignorance, we disagree with this approach and feel transparency is key.

Our company’s success relies on the ability to educate our clients. We do not expect our clients to understand the technical elements and the jargon in order for them to make money online. We have a very complicated service offering and internally our team easily fall into the trap of “jargon speak”. The analogy we use is being “inside the bottle, and reading the label on the outside requires serious mental contortions.”

The more we educate our clients the more services they will eventually use with us. Because of this we have developed a client “Learning Path” which is driven by our Marketing Manager, who has a key account function solely for this purpose.

One of the key mechanisms for facilitating learning is our ability to communicate wins within the Online Campaign. Because we are so results driven, we ensure our clients investment has strong ROI. Once we show a $5,000 investment translates into $100k in revenue (for example), the learning happens quickly. There are key metrics (such as conversion and media cost of revenue – jargon - sorry) which can easily translate campaign effectiveness for our clients. Impressions and click through rate or indicators of campaign performance, however, add little value to the client.

Paul Webster is very aware of our approach. He has seen the results we have delivered for both Avis New Zealand and Budget Rent A Car.

Take care, and great article.

FYI - I have attached a white paper which provides our approach, and is one example of an education tool.

I use the "reading the label from inside the bottle" analogy a lot myself. I first came across it from Roy H Williams. It's a very vivid analogy!

Why did I post this? Because the biggest need in business, in society, right now, is for the smart geeky people and the conservative, business-minded people to speak something like the same language.

Jump In #28: Saatchi Strategist Murray Streets, Part 2

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(more info: http://www.ijump.co.nz ) Murray Streets joins us again to discuss some of the most common objections to companies learning about social media, and why the internet is like a party! Don't forget to subscribe to Jump In and never miss a show!