Online Video is Bright Spot in Dark Economy

The business of online video is growing. Numerous recent articles are pointing toward encouraging trends for those of us who are in the business of digital entertainment on the web.

Video advertising appears to continue to sell well according to a recent article in The Economist. Internet advertising will be relatively unscathed in the downturn.

A recent MediaPost article by Mark Walsh seems to support this. "Market researcher eMarketer maintains that video ad spending will buck the downward trend. It expects the category to increase 45% in 2009 to $850 million, or just over 3% of the $25.7 million total projected in online ad spending." See" Video Expected To 'Buck The Downward Trend'

Online Video Advertising Growth

It seems that every time another research firm predicts the size of the online video advertising market, another firm turns around and makes a higher prediction. The realities of the market and the ever-increasing adoption of online video is proving that the predictions are too low. The only thing we can be sure of is that advertising for online video will be huge! This is great news for all of us content creators...if there is money in the market, funding for shows will continue to increase.

Lehman predicts $2.4B in U.S. Video Ads by 2010. See the TechCrunch post.

Parks Associates predict $6.6B in Online Video Ads by 2012. See the NewTeeVee post.

Forrester predicts $7.1B in Online Video Ads by 2012.

Fifty Percent of US Population will Watch Online Video in 2008

Not everyone agrees. "Expectations for online video ad revenue growing faster than the evidence"

Digital Media Content Business News

When I started this blog over a year ago, it was to cover stories in the still-emerging digital content industry. This world of online entertainment and digital delivery is now mainstream, and continues to grow. Popular old-school media companies have begun to embrace the new delivery channels and content-creation techniques. Take the recent examples below as proof.

• PaidContent.org parent company, ContentNext, has been acquired by Guardian News & Media.


• HBO has decided to offer digital versions of its content on iTunes.
  
  
• Media industry grand-daddy CBS Buys digital pioneer C|NET for $1.8 billion.


• Disney Online Creates New Team Focused on Online Virtual Worlds, Communities and Games


• Online-Video Firm Revver Is Acquired by LiveUniverse.


• The new Vivendi multimedia service, called Zaoza, will deliver content across multiple devices and encourage users to share


• Hollywood continues to go digital. Lions Gate Entertainment has decided to strike a deal with Google to share advertising revenue from YouTube clips of it's films.

Follow-Up to My American Marketing Association Webcast

Below is a version of my presentation from my recent webcast for the American Marketing Association. It doesn't have audio or animation so you won't get the full mind-blowing experience.

To see the full-on presentation with audio and animation, visit the micro-site where you will find the following: the slides below, the full archived webcast from the American Marketing Association and my PDF eBook.

| View | Upload your own

5Min: How to Raise Money From VCs

This hilarious (but kinda true) video is available on 5min.com, "a place to find short video solutions for practical questions and a place for people to share their knowledge."

In the video above, an Israeli entrepreneur shares his theories of how to raise money from venture capital investors. As he smokes his cigar, he suggests inserting the logo of another venture firm at the beginning of your Power Point presentation. Then politely apologize to the VCs you are pitching and pretend it was an accident. The theory is that VCs want to invest in companies that other VCs are interested in. Funny...but also true.

5min believes that everyone is an expert in something. So, either share your knowledge or go to the site to learn something. Where else can you get a 5 minute lesson in belly dancing, drawing and street fighting all in one place?

Nerd TV Video Interview Archives

"NerdTV (Soon re-launching as SuperNerds) was a weekly online TV show from PBS.org technology columnist Robert X. Cringely. NerdTV is essentially Charlie Rose for geeks - a one-hour interview show with a single guest from the world of technology. Guests like Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy or Apple computer inventor Steve Wozniak are household names if your household is nerdy enough, but as historical figures and geniuses in their own right, they have plenty to say to ALL of us. NerdTV is distributed under a Creative Commons license so viewers can legally share the shows with their friends and even edit their own versions. If not THE future of television, NerdTV represents A future of television for niche audiences that have deep interest in certain topics."

Some Guests Have Included:
Macintosh OS programmer Andy Hertzfeld
PayPal co-founder Max Levchin
Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy
Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle
Internet publisher Tim O'Reilly
Father of RSS Dave Winer
Autodesk co-founder Dan Drake
Intel Capital co-founder Avram Miller
Anina High Fashion Meets High Tech
Spreadsheet inventor Dan Bricklin
Computer mouse inventor Doug Engelbart
TCP/IP inventor Bob Kahn
Internet entrepreneur, Judy Estrin

Merlin Mann. Worst Website Ever. SXSW 2008

Merlin Mann is one of the big brains behind 43 Folders. He gave a great presentation at this year's SXSW (South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin). He's a writer, speaker and broadcaster and this performance pokes the whole internet industry in the eyeballs. This is a really funny look at the web from a guy who's seen it all from the inside.

Digital Media Project Surprises

Usually it ain't a good idea to surprise a client. However, an occasional good surprise is ok.

It is best to set initial project expectations and then stick to delivering on those. But as is often said, "under-promise and over-deliver". When you surprise a client with something other than their expectations, use this handy chart to determine if you are offering a good surprise or a bad one.

Good Surprise	Bad Surprise
The project is finishing on time.	We are so totally late, it's ridiculous.
We're under budget.	Yea, let's talk about some budget issues.
We pursued some new design avenues and came up with a stunning interface that plays very well with the focus groups.	We accidentally turned everything purple.
We finished a few extra deliverables.	We haven't really, technically "finished" anything yet.
We found an unexpected revenue stream.	To keep this project alive, we need $10,000 a week.

Top 10 Ways to Create Your Own Business Deals

Sometimes, if you're lucky, the money will come to you. Most of the time, however, you must go get the money. There is no top secret weapon to help you generate business, but if you put in the work then you will begin to notice nice deals coming your way. Here are some of my suggestions on how to generate leads, develop business and keep yourself busy with projects. Remember, the harder you work, the luckier you'll get.

1. Schmooze. See my exploration of schmoozing strategies.

2. Relationship Marketing. Write down 100 people who will take your call, follow up for no reason. Do you know 100 people? Keep a list. Keep that contact list warm and active.

3. The Rags. Follow business and industry publications. Really read them.

4. Become the Expert. Write articles and speak on topics you know the most about. Start a blog. It doesn’t matter if you are the best at what you do, as long as you are better than most. Plus, most people are too lazy to actually get off their ass and become the expert so the competition really ain't that bad.

5. Other People’s Sales Forces. Real partners who help co-sell can multiply your outreach. What you are offering is exciting, but make it more exciting by offering additional value brought by your partners. They'll do the same for you.

6. Walking Billboards. Turn your clients into walking advertisements for your offering. Satisfied clients will share your business card or brochure with leads they run into. Tell them specifically how you want them to help and make it easy. Plus, ask if you can quote them and use them as a reference. Overly document every positive client project with case studies.

7. Cold Calls. If only 1 in 100 will result in work, then you’d better make 100 calls right now.

8. Go Vertical. Choose a niche and dive deep.

9. Competitor's Clients. Watch client lists on the websites of your rivals to learn who's buying.

10. Google It. Search job postings. Who's hiring? Search venture capital lists. Who's got the funding? Who has budget? Find local successes and add them to your target list.

Comic: Rumor Mill On Internet Time

Comic: Stealing Office Supplies

Business Networking Online

My posting from July 2007 listed websites that helped people schmooze and network.(see original post)

Since I posted that, many new web sites are appearing to challenge the mighty LinkedIn for supremecy.

itzbig
Built to serve professionals like you, itzbig puts you in control. Anonymously explore opportunities in real time with instant feedback. Keep tabs on the market in case your dream job appears or a life change pushes you toward a "Plan B."

Jigsaw
Jigsaw is an online directory of more than 7 million business cards. Every card on Jigsaw has an email address and phone number, allowing members to bypass gatekeepers and get directly to decision makers and influencers. Jigsaw has become a required resource for sales people, recruiters, marketers and small business owners.

ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is the premier business information search engine, with profiles on more than 37 million people and 3.5 million companies. ZoomInfo delivers fresh and organized information on industries, companies, people, products, services and jobs.

Ryze
Ryze helps people make connections and grow their networks. Members get a free networking-oriented home page and can send messages to other members.

Viadeo
Discuss different topics, share your expertise and make new business contacts with over 1,800,000 business professionals in the Viadeo network.

FastPitch
Fast Pitch is the fastest growing business networking community in the world. Their online network provides you with a one-stop shop to network and market your business. Make Connections, Post & Distribute Press, Market Your Company, Market Yourself, Promote Your Blog and more.

IncBizNet
IncBizNet is an online business networking community and database created exclusively for private companies.

TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) and Beyond

A new TLA often creates FUD. (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) Has our language become too cumbersome? Are we in such a hurry that we can’t be bothered saying so many words? “I’m sorry,” we say, “I’d love to talk to you but I am in a tremendous hurry. Perhaps I could just say the first letter of each word of every sentence?” WTF!

Every industry has its own particular acronyms. Our internet industry is one of the greatest creators of new TLAs, but we also share many traditional ones as well. I’ve included some fun examples below and I pose the question, “Do we need more acronyms or less?” WWTD? (What would Tim Burners-Lee Do?)

I decided not to list “chat speak” which is a language all its own. These abbreviations are almost emoticons describing fleeting feelings, lol. (Laugh out Loud)

PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair) A subtle way technical support people describe a problem caused by a user who can’t figure out how to use a computer.

RTFM (Read The Frickin’ Manual) A response to an obvious computer question may illicit this abbreviation.

SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities & Threats) A strategic analysis technique developed at Stanford in the 1960s as a way to compartmentalize planning.

CYA (Cover Your Ass) When creating contracts or proposals, this is a more fun way to say “assumptions” or “caveats”.

SWAG (Stuff We All Get) The free stuff given away to those in (or near) the internet industry. But, as I wrote about in SWAG Stories, this one has many definitions.

OOF (Out Of Facility) Originally used in academic settings and has now come to mean Out of the Office in the corporate world.

FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Repair) Borrowed from the military, like many of our acronyms. Used to describe a project that will never get well.

SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Fucked Up) A WWII term the troops used to describe that everything is as screwed up as usual.

IP (Internet Protocol) or (Intellectual Property) I’ve been in quite a few digital studio environments where it was not always clear whether the conversation was about IP numbers for the server or ownership rights regarding a piece of content.

ASP (Active Server Pages) or (Application Service Provider) Many acronyms have multiple meanings, but this one in particular can get quite confusing. An ASP may run ASP, for example.

Even TLA has multiple meanings. It can mean Three Letter Acronym, Trial Lawyers Association, True Love Always or Top Level Architecture.

Want to explore more? Go to the Internet Acronyms Dictionary. We could go on and on… 24/7.

No Schmooze, You Lose

Schmooze to Live, Live to Schmooze. Ultimately, all business is about relationships. Those who are good at making and keeping contacts are the winners in the end. Those who are creepy and dishonest can only survive for a short time before everyone stops returning their calls. The slime gets weeded out, the sincere rises to the top.

Schmooze. To Schmooze. To idly blather in pursuit of gains. Press the flesh. Grab and grin. Meet and greet. Going to the Meet Market. This is a necessary aspect of a successful life in the internet business, be you a designer or salesperson. You need to get out from behind your desk and gab with other people from your industry.

In other contexts, the term is sometimes used to describe getting out of a sticky situation, like talking your way out of a parking ticket. However, in the business world it is used to describe what has become an art and a craft. The fine art of slick networking.

For further research, don't miss Guy Kawasaki and his Theory of Schmoozing version 1.0.

Also, back in July I blogged about business networking sites, which could be considered "virtual" schmoozing. Although these sites cannot compare with real, flesh-n-blood schmoozing.

There are many events that allow digital media professionals to practice their schmoozing. Check out Meet Up, NetParty, Toastmasters, The Rotary Club and various Chamber of Commerce events in your city.

A wise friend once said to me that a main goal of any businessperson should be to create a list of 100 people who will take your call...and enjoy it. You don't want folks to sigh heavily when they hear that you are on the phone, you want them to feel relieved that you called.

Some Books you might want to check out:
Mr. Shmooze: The Art and Science of Selling Through Relationships by Richard Abraham
It's Not Your Smarts, It's Your Schmooze: How to Succeed Without Being Brilliant by Ty Freyvogel
The Art of Schmooze, Vol. 1: The Confident Schmoozer by Beth Mende Conny
How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less by Nicholas Boothman
Life's a Pitch!: From Hosting to Toasting...from News to Schmooze by Soni Dimond

Now get out there and GRAB-N-GRIN!

Day Job

An aspect of consulting which I find fascinating is learning about what other people do for a living. Doing internet project work for different companies allows me to peer thru a temporary portal into the daily working life of someone from a different industry. Ultimately what we learn is that we are all facing the same archetypal challenges every day, whether we are a doctor, an electronics technician or a drug dealer. But every trade has it's own set of secrets.

I've recently devoured some media on this subject. Check out the stuff below to learn how to spy on other people's day jobs.

Online magazine The Morning News has a great article by Seattle writer Matthew Baldwin called Tricks of the Trade. "For every occupation, there is a catalog of secrets only its employees are aware of—such as how waiters with heavy platters know to look straight ahead, and never down."

I loved reading "Gig, Americans Talk About their Jobs" which is 650 pages worth of 3-page stories, each from a different profession. Learn the secrets of a Wal-Mart greeter, a bookie and a smokehouse pit cook, among many others.

Of course, Studs Terkel did an amazing job of chronicling people's work lives as a historian, writer and expert interviewer. Read his fabulous book, "Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do". Listen to an NPR story about the 30th anniversary of the book, including some of the original recordings Studs made.

And remember, next time you see someone at work (no matter what they are doing) understand that they know something you don't. But maybe if you ask them nicely, they'll tell you.

SWAG Stories

"Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me."
- Waltzing Matilda by A.B. Paterson

What is SWAG exactly? Traditionally it referred to the cloth bundle a transient Australian vagabond might carry, filled with his clothing and belongings. For our purposes here, let's talk about a contemporary definition meaning the free stuff given away to those in (or near) the internet industry. I'm talking about promotional items, branded souvenirs, marketing giveaways and what we sometimes refer to as "tchotchkes" (Yiddish for "trinket").

There are many definitions and derivations, some of which are:
Marketing speak: Samples, Wearables And Gifts
On the industry floor: Stuff We All Get
Slang: Shit We All Git
Jaded veteran: Some Worthless Advertising Gimmick
Production studio: Scientific Wild Ass Guess

SWAG is one aspect of the internet industry that makes it all worthwhile. When a colleague shows me some new piece of SWAG they just received, it is usually because the gift is either really great or, alternatively, uniquely horrible and ill-conceived.

I've received these trinkets over the last 15 years and have kept many of them. T-shirts are probably the most common variety of SWAG, but the gifts are often of higher value. When we started MountainZone.com to broadcast content to the outdoor sporting industry, we hoped the gifts would begin to roll in. Oh, and roll they did. We received free condo stays and lift tickets from WhistlerBlackcomb resort, branded jackets from Warren Miller Entertainment, and free meals at local Seattle restaurants. Perhaps the greatest SWAG item I ever received was a limited edition K2 "Tricky Glow" snowboard (see photo). They made 750 of them and mine is stamped #666. And yes, it does glow in the dark. Because I need that.

We've all seen the bad gifts, too. What does it say about a company when you use their branded pen and it runs out of ink in a day? What about that key fob/flash drive that looses your data? A couple years ago I attended a medical technology conference and I was given a pen that barely wrote, but I kept it because of it's kitch value. It was promoting a collection agency and claimed they could, "get blood out of a stone." The ink was red.



I am constantly fascinated by how language and words mutate and develop. The term SWAG has a twisted history of spellings, derivations and origin stories. Explore for yourself and derive your own conclusions, I'm too busy playing with my branded plastic toys!

Wikipedia has a deep history of SWAG.

A similar spelling, Shwag, is often used to reference marijuana of questionable quality.

Another spelling is Schwag as used on the new website Start Up Schwag. This is the place to go to get branded T-shirts from the internet industry.

Some internet industry folks are taking photos of their loot and posting them for all the world to see. For example, Yahoo! employees have begun collecting SWAG from their company and photographing it all.

So, before you say, "I Survived the Dot Com Crash and All I Got Were These 3,000 Lousy T-shirts" remember that you are part of history! Join me in saving photos of these items for history to view. Send me photos and, if I get enough, I'll start an online SWAG museum.

LinkedIn Competition

Some of the more successful social networks to emerge are focused on a specific audience. For example, business networking sites have taken common tools found on community sites and created value by connecting professionals in new and useful ways.

LinkedIn is the big kid on the block and has become extremely popular. It gains value as more users join.

I have also found biznik to be useful. They bill themselves as "Business networking that doesn't suck." Their software allows professionals to arrange in-person events and promote them.

For those in the media industry, there is MediaBistro.com. They are "career and community for media professionals." They've done a good job of raising awareness of their services in Seattle by throwing networking parties in local bars.

Some organizations are taking the next logical step by creating their own social networks using enterprise social networking tools from companies like Connectbeam who talk of harnessing the collective mind of your company.

We'll have to wait and see if anyone can catch the front runner, LinkedIn. They have a huge community, but will some upstart with better tools swoop in to steal the show?

Start-up Companies Sprouting

It's finally summer in Seattle and that means all the little start-up companies that sprouted in the spring are growing full-bloom and are spreading across the land. I believe there are more new web ventures now than there were back in the late 90s. There is definitely a leaning toward social networking and video entertainment, but this new crop of companies come in all colors and varieties.

John Cook put together a list of over 60 Seattle "Web 2.0" Internet companies. Geeking with Greg organized the list and stacked them by Alexa traffic rankings.

Seattle-area company-watchers have always been able to turn to Seattle 24x7 for a good overview of Internet and new media companies.

The phenomenon is happening across the country, with more new Internet companies cropping up than ever before. Baris Karadogan posted a great list of companies from all over the place.

Online Advertising Rollup

The $40 billion global digital advertising market is growing and is in need of services and content. This is good news for those of us who provide the skills, imagination and talent to new media enterprises. We have some very busy times ahead as the battle for eyeballs begins and is waged on the TV screen, computer and mobile phone.

Last month Microsoft purchased one of my neighbors, aQuantive, for $6 Billion. They’ve come a long way from being AvenueA who placed banner ads on my previous company's site MountainZone.com back in the dot com days. What we in the web services industry are watching for is what Microsoft does with the agency side of the business. Can they really support a web shop that builds sites for its competitors? Can they re-focus the team to build internal projects?

WPP, one of the world’s largest communications companies, recently bought 24/7 Real Media for $650 million. WPP owns JWT and the Grey Global Group and is well positioned for this worldwide shift to online advertising.

Back in April, Yahoo! purchased the advertising network RightMedia for over $700 million. It actually bought 20% of the company last year and with all the activity in this space, they finally bought the rest of the pie.

And then there’s Google, always a formidable competitor, who stepped up their efforts in April with a purchase of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. Combine that with the acquisition of YouTube and you’ve got yourself a full-meal media empire.

International marketing company Publicis bought Boston-based Digitas for $1.3 billion and then Digitas turned around and bought a French web agency, Business Interactif, for $182 million. Their advertising and marketing clients apparently have a great hunger for services.

So, it remains to be seen what these acquisitions will produce in terms of work for creative agencies and studios, but I predict busy times ahead. With all the interest and budget behind online advertising and marketing, we are quickly moving beyond the banner ad. Branded content, sponsored games and private label social networks are just the beginning. The audience is moving to the web and the advertisers are following.