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Google Launches 24×7 Phone Support To ‘Apps For Business’ Customers (Hooray For Humans!)

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:48:49 +0000

Google has long been known as a company that favors algorithms and automation — which scale nicely to millions of people — over human-powered services, which don’t. That works well enough for them most of the time, but it’s led to one key issue: if something goes wrong with a Google product, it’s remarkably hard to get an actual human on the phone. It’s hard to get too upset over this when you’re using Google’s free products, but it can be immensely frustrating when you’re forking over money every month to use Google’s Apps for Business suite, which allow business to take advantage of features like custom domains and admin tools. These premium Apps users have historically had some options when things went wrong — Google’s support site includes various automated troubleshooters, and email support. But phone support was limited, so if the issue wasn’t critical, you probably weren’t going to have much luck talking to anyone. Which is a problem when your business is relying heavily on Google Apps. Now that’s changing: during the keynote at its Enterprise-focused Atmosphere event, Google has announced that it’s launching 24×7 phone support to business customers for all issues affecting its core services, which include things like Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and the other key apps. That’s a big deal — plenty of businesses want the peace of mind of being able to talk to someone, and this will doubtless help convince some companies that were on the fence to ‘Go Google’. Google has posted about the news on its Enterprise Blog, which briefly discusses Google’s support satisfaction (80% of small businesses are satisfied, as are 90% of large businesses — Google is shooting for 95%). Since we launched Google Apps for Business in 2007, we’ve been working hard to build a global support offering that’s responsive to the needs of our business customers. In the early days, our customers reached us mainly through email, and our 24 x 7 phone support was limited to critical issues. To improve the experience of our customers, we now provide 24 x 7 phone support to small, medium, and large Google Apps for Business customers for all issues affecting the core services. Our customers may also receive support through our web-based support portal, online help forms, and online help center. All support cases are handled directly by trained Google Apps experts. A support metric that we’re especially passionate about is customer satisfaction. We measure customer satisfaction by asking for feedback on a seven point scale at the time we close a support case. As measured on this scale, 80% of our business customers and 90% of our large business customers indicate that they’re more than satisfied with their support experience. While we’re proud of these ratings, we want to do even better. Our goal is to achieve an overall satisfaction rating of 95%. Image via Epiclectic on Flickr

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Google Launches 24×7 Phone Support To ‘Apps For Business’ Customers (Hooray For Humans!)

How Leading Fashion Brands Are Embracing Online Video

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:06:12 +0000

The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot , an inbound marketing software company based in Cambridge, MA, that makes a full platform of marketing software, including lead generation tools . A video commissioned by Kate Spade New York for its “Live Colorfully” campaign. Prohibitively high costs have historically kept TV out of the media mixes of all but the most securely backed fashion brands. But the web has given brands an opportunity to cheaply host and distribute video content for the first time, and many are now developing video content to bolster their online and offline retail businesses. Cecilia Liu , digital marketing manager at Kate Spade New York , says that video had long been on the back burner for Kate Spade before it released its first “major” video in the spring of 2009. It wasn’t until Kate Spade’s ecommerce business started to take off that the opportunity to make campaign images “more alive, interesting and interactive … through video” became clear, she says. This year, Kate Spade commissioned a different artist each month to create a video around a color for its “Live Colorfully” campaign, including the one above. The brand has also developed behind-the-scenes videos , as well as short animations for its website . The opportunity in online video for brands is a big one. More than 3 billion videos are viewed per day on the web’s largest video-sharing platform, YouTube , whose monthly traffic hovers around 800 million unique visitors. Nearly three-fourths of U.S. citizens have visited a video-sharing site in their lifetimes, and more than a quarter visit video-sharing sites on a daily basis, according to a July survey published by Pew Research Center. Early Successes There have been some notable — a.k.a. “viral” — online video successes among fashion brands, as seen in this chart from luxury think tank L2 , above. A blurry video of Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection show, during which Lady Gaga ‘s “Bad Romance” single premiered, has amassed nearly 3.5 million views on YouTube from a non-branded account. An Emporio Armani ad showing Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo has been watched nearly 2 million times on the brand’s official account , and more than 1 million additional times on non-branded accounts. What has made these videos so successful? In a recent Tumblr post , Jessica Coghan-Kia , director of digital media at Starworks Group , broke down the 12 most-viewed videos of all time on YouTube and stacked them against some of the best-performing videos from fashion brands this year. She found that videos with some form of celebrity involvement — whether in front of or behind the camera — as well as videos with a humorous element tended to perform the best. She pointed to Lanvin’s lighthearted Fall 2011 campaign video in particular, which has been viewed nearly half a million times since it debuted in August despite the lack of celebrity participation. “Lots of luxury brands still feel like they need to take their brand DNA, translate it into this new medium [of online video], and then shove it down everyone’s throats,” Coghan-Kia tells Mashable . “When brands create videos, they need to think about the viewers and about creating something they would want to watch and share with their friends first.” Lanvin’s Fall 2011 campaign video has racked up nearly 500,000 views. Videos rarely became viral by themselves; seeding generally plays a large role in a video’s success. In fashion, reaching out to online media, including bloggers, can help that brand’s video quickly reach a large online audience of fashion enthusiasts. Coghan-Kia recommends doling out pieces of exclusive video to a concentrated set of bloggers with a voice and aesthetic that align well with a brand, rather than canvassing the same video to a greater volume of bloggers. Brands should also of course embed and share out their videos across their other social channels, and should consider investing in targeted paid advertisements at launch to build early awareness of the video, she says. Partnering with video bloggers (“vloggers”) who already have large followings on platforms like YouTube can also be a smart strategy for a brand. Although not in the fashion category, cosmetics brand Lancome has had particular success through its partnership with vlogger Michelle Phan , whose how-to videos — which now utilize Lancome products — have attracted more than 1.6 million subscribers and nearly half a billion total views. Beyond Viral Popular vlogger Michelle Phan is a spokesperson for Lancome Paris. But are brands’ efforts best invested in chasing after the elusive “viral” video? Or should they be investing in creating a catalogue of steady but solidly performing videos? Coghan-Kia says that depends on a brands’ individual goals. Brand awareness campaigns, like the one Lanvin staged for its Fall 2011 campaign, should aim to be seen by as many people as possible. But awareness isn’t the only thing brands can achieve with online video. SEO is another major benefit afforded by online video. The more content a brand puts out on high-ranking websites — YouTube included — the more relevant that brand and its properties become to Google . And the more relevant the brand, the cheaper its cost-per-click rate becomes in paid search, which Coghan-Kia says “should be at the heart of any brands’ online marketing mix and the larger revenue driver.” Online video can also be used to drive sales on-site. Coghan-Kia cites William Sonoma’s catalogue of recorded product reviews as example of online video that helps sales at points of purchase. Fashion retailer Saks Fifth Avenue also does a great job with videos on its website , which show shoppers how an item moves on a model, she notes. There are myriad ways to approach online video and, like other forms of online marketing, a set of best practices has yet to be firmly established. Needless to say, we’re looking forward to seeing what brands develop as they increase in their investments in the space. Series supported by HubSpot The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot , an inbound marketing software company based in Cambridge, MA, that makes a full platform of marketing software, including lead generation tools . More About: Digital Marketing Series , fashion , features , luxury , Marketing , mashable , ONLINE VIDEO , Social Media , social media marketing , YouTube For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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How Leading Fashion Brands Are Embracing Online Video

Where Are They Now? A Look Back at the 2010 Mashable Award Winners

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:48:48 +0000

As excitement builds for this year’s Mashable Awards , we thought it fitting to take a look back at last year’s winners. The worlds of social media and technology move so fast. Companies and products can fall out of favor in a matter of months. Not so, for many of last year’s Mashable Award winners. Here we highlight seven category champions still going strong. Let us know in the comments whom you expect to be picking up the honors this year. 1. Breakthrough Website Design: Twitter Twitter scooped the “Breakthough Website Design” in 2010. Since then the micro-blogging service has introduced a fresh look for web visitors with a brand new homepage . In August of this year, the site also unveiled two new activity-based tabs — “@[username]” and “Activity.” As social media users are often reluctant to embrace change, only time will tell if Twitter’s 2011 updates prove as popular as 2010′s old design. Click here to view this gallery. How To Nominate Nominating your favorite digital startups, companies and personalities for a Mashable Award is easy. As in years past, Mashable has created a unique and social voting platform. Submitting your nomination requires four easy steps: Step 1 Visit mashable.com/awards . Click here to view this gallery. You may nominate once per day in each category. If there are multiple entries for your nomination, for example, ‘Mashable’ and ‘mashable,’ don’t fret! The categories will be combined at the end of the nomination process. Promote Your Nomination If you are a company or individual up for nomination (you can nominate yourself — go ahead, we won’t tell!), you can help spread the word by including a nomination button on your blog, Fan Page or website. Just go to the Promote page, and use the code generator to create a promotional badge. Simply select the category from the drop down menu, enter the desired nominee in the box and click ‘Generate.’ The generator will create code for eight different badge styles. You can create and use as many as you want! Awards Timeline The nomination period for the 2011 Mashable Awards will run until 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 18 . Nominations will then be counted and tabulated in accordance with the official rules , and Mashable ‘s editors will select seven finalists for each category from among the most nominated submissions. Your nominations will greatly influence the editorial selection of the finalists. Finalists will be announced on Monday, Nov. 21 , which will also kick off the public voting period. Remember, you may nominate once per day in each category. The Categories Social Media Best Social Network Up-and-Coming Social Media Service Must-Follow Actor or Actress on Social Media Must-Follow Musician or Band on Social Media Must-Follow Athlete on Social Media Must-Follow Media Personality on Social Media Must-Follow Business Personality on Social Media Must-Follow Non-Profit on Social Media Must-Follow Politician on Social Media Tech Best Smartphone Best Mobile Game Most Useful Mobile App Most Innovative Mobile App Most Useful Tablet-Based App Best New Gadget Business Viral Campaign of the Year Most Innovative Use of Social Media for Marketing Must-Follow Brand on Social Media Best Branded Mobile App Best Social Good Cause Campaign Most Digital Company of the Year Breakout Startup of the Year Entertainment Game of the Year Viral Video of the Year Best Music Service or App Best Online Video Streaming Service or App Most Social TV Show Best Social Movie Campaign The Winners Award winners will be announced on Mashable on Monday, Dec. 19 . Following the competition, we’ll celebrate our winners at MashBash CES on Jan. 11, 2012 , at the 2012 International CES convention at 1OAK , the hot new nightclub at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. The 2011 Mashable Awards Are Presented by Buddy Media Buddy Media is the social enterprise software of choice for eight of the world’s top ten global advertisers, empowering them to build and maintain relationships with their consumers in a connections-based world. The Buddy Media social marketing suite helps brands build powerful connections globally with its scalable, secure architecture and data-driven customer insights from initial point of contact through point of purchase. More About: mashable , mashable awards , Social Media , Tech

Docphin Launches A “Bloomberg For Doctors”

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:00:58 +0000

Today, Docphin is launching a new Web service the company likens to a “Bloomberg for Doctors.” The site aims to help physicians organize, bookmark, read and track medical news and research from a number of sources, all within a single dashboard interface. Included with the service are simple tools to view and filter through hundreds of medical journals, something which has been difficult to do using traditional research methods. The service even offers a built-in personalized Twitter widget for keeping up with medical societies, sources and other leaders in a doctor’s given speciality. One of the most important things to know about Docphin is not the sum of its features, but who’s behind it. This is a company built by doctors- slash -entrepreneurs who have direct knowledge of what their fellow physicians need. The service’s founders include Mitesh Patel, Derek Juang and Sachin Nanavati. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Patel is also a physician and clinical researcher, and has served as the business development consultant for more than ten healthcare startups. His research has been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine and The New York Times. Meanwhile, prior to Dochpin, Nanavati worked at IMS Consulting Group, which specialized in global strategies for pharmaceutical clients. He also has an MBA in Healthcare Management from Columbia Business School. Finally, Juang, like Patel, is an MD. He currently works as a staff physician at the Department of Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California in San Diego. Essentially, the concept for Docphin is that of a personalized news dashboard – something which numerous startups have built in the past, but mainly for consumers. Like any good news dashboard, Docphin is simple to set up and use. In less than five minutes, a new user can create their own page to aggregate information from medical journals, news media and Twitter feeds. The site’s filters and tools let doctors sort and browse through the articles, share articles with their colleagues, start discussions by posting comments, bookmark articles for later reading and more. Docphin has been in testing for over a year, and has established partnerships with three academic medical centers: the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and the University of California-San Diego. The company plans to expand nationwide in 2012. Docphin is currently self-funded and looking for angel and VC funding.

Hosain Rahman Shows Me His UP (TCTV)

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:52:40 +0000

All of the dudes in our office (okay, only Rahul ) want one of these UP bracelet things. Apparently they use your wrist movements to determine how healthy you are, and then constantly judge you graphing your healthstyle against your friends’. Because I am insatiably curious and extremely health conscious, I swear, I took Jawbone founder Hosain Rahman aside earlier this week and asked him to show me the goods, which to his credit he did. Note to non-regular readers: This post is a subtle homage to this other post , which I find well, pretty silly. Sorry if you don’t get it, I’m pretty terrible about conveying context. So sue me.

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Hosain Rahman Shows Me His UP (TCTV)

10 Things Entrepreneurs Don’t Learn in College

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:15:15 +0000

Editor’s note : James Altucher is an investor, programmer, author, and entrepreneur. He is Managing Director of Formula Capital and has written 6 books on investing. His latest book is I Was Blind But Now I See . You can follow him @jaltucher . I’ve written before on 10 reasons Parents Should Not Send Their Kids to College and here is also Eight Alternatives to College but it’s occurred to me that the place where college has really hurt me the most was when it came to the real world, real life, how to make money, how to build a business, and then even how to survive when trying to build my business, sell it, and be happy afterwards. Here are the ten things that if I had learned them in college I probably would’ve saved/made millions of extra dollars, not wasted years of my life, and maybe would’ve even saved lives because I would’ve been so smart I would’ve been like an X-Man. 1. How to Program – I spent $100,000 of my own money (via debt, which I paid back in full) majoring in Computer Science. I then went to graduate school in computer science. I then remained in an academic environment for several years doing various computer programming jobs. Finally I hit the real world. I got a job in corporate America. Everyone congratulated me where I worked, “you’re going to the real world,” they said. I was never so happy. I called my friends in NYC, “money is falling from trees here,” they said. I looked for apartments in Hoboken. I looked at my girlfriend with a new feeling of gratefulness—we were going to break up once I moved. I knew it. In other words, life was going to be great. My mom even told me, “you’re going to shine at your new job.” Only one problem: when I arrived at the job, after 8 years of learning how to program in an academic environment—I couldn’t program. I won’t get into the details. But I had no clue. I couldn’t even turn on a computer. It was a mess. I think I even ruined people’s lives while trying to do my job. I heard my boss whisper to his boss’s boss, “I don’t know what we’re going to do with him, he has no skills.” And what’s worse is that I was in a cluster of cubicles so everyone around me could here that whisper also. So they sent me to two months of remedial programming courses at AT&T in New Jersey. If you’ve never been in an AT&T complex it’s like being a stormtrooper learning how to go to the bathroom in the Death Star where, inconceivably, in six Star Wars movies there is no evidence of any bathrooms. Seriously, you couldn’t find a bathroom in these places. They were mammoth but if you turned down a random corner then, whallah!—there might be an arts & crafts show. The next corner would have a display of patents, like “how to eliminate static on a phone line – 1947″. But I did finally learn how to program. I know this because I ran into a guy I used to work with ten years ago who works at the same place I used to work at. “Man,” he says, “they still use your code.” And I was like, “really?” “Yeah,” he said, “because its like spaghetti and nobody can figure out how to modify it or even replace it.” So, everything I dedicated my academic career to was flushed down the toilet. The last time I programmed a computer was 1999. It didn’t work. So I gave up. Goodbye C++. I hope I never see you and your “objects” again. 2. How to Be Betrayed. A girlfriend about 20 years ago wrote in her diary. “I wish James would just die. That would make this so much easier. Whenever I kiss him I’m thinking of X”. Where X was a good friend of mine. Of course I put up with it. We went out for several more months. It’s just a diary, right? She didn’t really mean it! I mean, c’mon. Who would think about someone else when kissing my beautiful face? I confronted her of course. She said, “why would you read through my personal items?” Which was true! Why would I? Don’t have I have any personal items of my own I could read through? Or a good book, for instance, to take up my time and educate myself? Kiss, kiss, kiss. Why can’t they have a good college course called BETRAYAL 101. I can teach it. Topics we will cover: Betrayal by a business partner, betrayal by investors, betrayal by a girlfriend (I’d bring in a special lecturer to talk about betrayal by men, kind of like how Gwynneth Paltrow does it in Glee), betrayal by children (since they cleverly push the boundaries right at the limit of betrayal and you have to know when to recognize that they’ve stepped over the line, betrayal by friends/family (note to all the friends/family that think I am talking about them, I am not —this is a serious academic proposal about what needs to be taught in college)—you help them, then get betrayed – how to deal with that? Then there are the more subtle issues of betrayal – self-sabotage. How you can make enough money to live forever and then repeatedly find yourself in soup kitchens, licking envelopes, attending 12 step meetings, taking medications, and finally reaching some sort of spiritual recognition that it all doesn’t matter until the next time you sink even lower. This might be in BETRAYAL 201. Or graduate level studies. I don’t know. Maybe the Department of Defense needs to give me a grant to work on this since that’s who funds much of our education. 3. Oh shoot, I was going to put Self-Sabotage into a third category and not make it a sub-category of How to Be Betrayed. Hmmm, how do I write myself out of this conundrum. College, after all, does teach one how to put ideas into a cohesive “report” that is handed in and graded. Did I form my thesis, argue it correctly, conclude correctly, not diverge into things like “Kim Kardashian will never be the betrayer, only the betrayed.” But this brings me to: Writing. Why can’t college teach people how to actually write. Some of my best friends tell me college taught them how to think. Thinking has a $200,000 price tag apparently and there is no room left over for good writing. And what is good writing? It’s not an opinion. Or a rant. Or a thesis with logical steps, a deep cavern underneath, beautiful horizons and mountaintops at the top. It’s blood. It’s Carrie-style blood. Where everyone has been fooling you until that exact moment when now, with the psychic power of the written word, you spray pig blood everywhere, at everyone, and most of all you are covered in blood yourself, the same blood that pushed you out of your mother’s womb, until just the act of writing itself is a birth, a separation between the old you and the new you—the you that can no longer take the words back, the words that now must live and breathe and mature and either make something of themselves in life, or remain one of the little blips that reminds us of how small we really are in an infinite universe. [See also, 33 Unusual Tips to Be a Better Writer ] 4. Dinner Parties . How come I never learned about dinner parties in college. Sure, there were parties among other people who looked like me and talked like me and thought like me—other college students of my age and rough background. But Dinner Parties as an adult are a whole new beast. There are drinks and snacks beforehand where small talk has to disguise itself as big talk and then there’s the parts where you know that everyone is equally worried about what people think about them but that still doesn’t help at those moments when you talk and you wonder what did people think of me ? Nobody cares, you tell yourself, intellectually rifling through pages of self-help blogs in your mind that told you that nobody gives a sh*t about you. But still, why don’t we have a class where there’s Dinner Party after Dinner Party and you learn how to talk at the right moments, say smart things, be quiet at the right moments, learn to excuse yourself during the mingling so you can drift from person to person. Learn how to interrupt a conversation without being rude. Learn how to thank the host so you can be invited to the next party. And so on. Which brings me to: 5. Networking. Did it really take 20 years after I graduated college before someone wrote a book, “Never Eat Alone.” Why didn’t Jesus write that book. Or Plato. Then we might’ve read it in religious school or it would’ve been one of those “big Thinkers” we need to read in college so we can learn how to think. I still don’t know how to network properly so this paragraph is small. I’m classified under the DSM VI as a “social shut-in”. I’d like to get out and be social but when the moment comes, I can only make it out the door about one in ten times. I always say, “I’d love to get together” but then I don’t know how to do it. Perhaps because not one dollar of my $100,000 spent on not learning how to program a computer was also not spent on learning how to network with people. [See also, my recent TechCrunch article, " 9 Ways to be a Super-Connector "] 6. Politics. My very first girlfriend, the girl who first laughed hysterically when I showed her a piece of chewing gum I found on the ground that had sculpted itself into the muddy shape of a heart, took me to a movie called “Salvador”. Then there was a discussion group afterwards about how the Contras are bad, or good, I forget, and everyone was nodding and speaking in a Spanish accent. And afterwards my girlfriend was upset, “why aren’t you talking?” Because truth was I was so tired I couldn’t think but nobody ever taught me how to tell the truth so I lied and said, “it moved me so much I’m still absorbing it” and my girlfriend said, “yeah, I can see that.” And nobody ever taught me that there’s more than one acceptable opinion on a college campus. My roommate for instance would tell me, “Reagan is definitely getting impeached this time. ” And I visited his dad’s mansion over Christmas break and he told me all about Trotskyism and the proletariat and I had to work jobs 40 hours a week while taking six courses so I could A) graduate early and B) pay my personal expenses and when I would run into him he had long hair and would nod about how a lot of the college workers (but not the lowest-paid, poorest treated ones—the students who worked) were thinking of unionizing and he was helping with that. “Do you have a job?” I asked and he said, “no time”. And that’s politics in college. What about the real politics of how people try to backstab you at the corporate workplace or VCs never properly explained the “ratchet” concept to you before they kicked you out of the company and then re-financed. Nobody told me a thing about that in three years of college and two years of graduate school. I wish I would’ve known that for my $100,000. 7. Failure. Goes without saying they don’t teach you this. If you are going to pay $100,000, why would you fail? You might think you were wasting your money if the first mandatory elective you had to take was about failure. About wondering how you were going to feed your family after you got fired when something that was not your fault: Post-Traumatic-Lehman-Stress Syndrome, a common medical condition coming up in the DSM VII 8. Sales. When I was busy learning how to “not program” nobody ever taught me how to sell what it was I was programming. Or sell myself. Or sell out. Or sell my ideas and turn them into money. Or sell a product to someone who might need it. Or even better, sell it to someone who doesn’t need it. Some business programs might have courses on salesmanship but those are BS because everyone automatically gets As in MBA programs so that the schools can demonstrate what good jobs their students get so they then get more applicants and the scam/cycle continues. But sales: how to demonstrate passion behind an idea you had, you built, you signed up for, so that people are willing to pay hard-earned after-tax money for it, is the number one key to any success and I have never seen it taught (properly) in college. 9. Negotiation. You’ve gotten the idea, you executed, you made the sale and now…what’s the price. What part of your body will be amputated in exchange for infinite wisdom. Will you give up one eye? Or your virility? Because something has to go if you are up against a good negotiator? What? You already thought (like most people without any experience do) that you were already a good negotiator. A good negotiator will skin your back, tattoo it with “SUCKA” and hang it up above the fireplace in his pool house if you don’t know what you are doing. The funny thing is, the best sales people (who are just aiming for people to say “Yes!”) are often the worst negotiators (“it’s very hard to say “No” when you are trying to get people to “Yes”). These are things I wish I had learned in school. I’ve been beaten in negotiations on at least five different occasions, which fortunately became five valuable lessons I’ve learned the hard way, instead of studying examples and being forced to think about it for the $100k in debt I got going to college. People will say, “well, that’s your experience in college. Mine was very different.” And it’s true. You joined the sororities and learned how to network and dinner party and be political and know everything there is to know about betrayal. My college experience was sadly unique and probably different from everyone else’s so you would be completely right to quote me that inane statistic about how college graduates earn 4% more than high school graduates and are consequently 4% happier . (Another thing, 10. Happiness. We never learn how it’s a combination of the food we eat, our health, our ability to be creative, our ability to have sound emotional relationships, our ability to find something bigger than ourselves and our egos to give up our spiritual virginity to.) So I can tell you what I wish I did. I wish I had gone to Soviet Russia, and played chess, and then gone to India and learned yoga and health, and I wish I had gone to South America and volunteered for kids with no arms, and did any number of things. But people then say, “haha! but that cost money.” And they would be right. It would cost less than $100,000+ but would still cost some money. I have no idea how much. But one of these days when the scars of college go away and I truly learn how to think. I might have better comebacks for these people. Or if I truly learn, I would learn not to care at all. – Follow me on Twitter. Or, just as good, buy “ I Was Blind But Now I See” , send me the receipt and you get my next self-published book for free (PDF). Photo credit: Flickr/ Herry Lawford

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10 Things Entrepreneurs Don’t Learn in College

Can Content Producers Be Disruptors Or Is Content Only Meant To Be Disrupted?

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:07:33 +0000

Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo . Follow him @ashkan . Why is content such a dirty word in venture capital? We have seen a few generations of technology entrepreneurs and investors, but there have been far fewer successful outcomes for media startups. In fact, most of the value has remained in the hands of the Traditional Media Companies (TMCs), and as such, executives in those fields have not really had the vast war chests to fund new startups in media. And frankly, many content executives have been shell-shocked by technology disruption, so they tend to avoid content investments and favor media technology startups when they move over to investing. If you look at the “digital media” companies in most VCs portfolio, it’s not content but rather tech that focuses on the media industry. VCs Look for Disruption While all VCs look to invest in passionate entrepreneurs and companies that operate in big markets, some particularly fancy businesses that can shrink a market: “We love investing in technologies and business models that are able to shrink existing markets. If your company can take $5 of revenue from a competitor for every $1 you earn – let’s talk!” boasts Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital, who has gone on to invest in Appnexus, Say Media, Uber and Turntable to name a few. The Internet shrinks industries by disrupting the incumbents. We have seen this in technology and in media. Newspapers have shrunk, magazines too. The next frontier remains television: a $75 billion advertising industry in the U.S. and a $250 billion one when you include theatrical and home release sales. It’s a big market, and everyone from Google to Apple and Amazon are looking at disrupting it. And they have a good shot at doing that. Apple’s late Steve Jobs is said to have “cracked it” – it being television. Google is further ahead, in large part to the $1.65 billion YouTube acquisition. YouTube is now forking over hundreds of millions of dollars to content producers to lock up more premium, brand-safe programming. Incidentally, despite all of the buzz and money that is flowing into the space, the VC community is standing idle. Why? Why are VCs Allergic to Content? Speaking of First Round Capital, they were one of the first VCs I spoke to when I launched WatchMojo. They were also one of the many VCs who turned me down because they “didn’t like content”. It’s no secret that VCs have shown an aversion to investing in content. In fact, to some like Brad Feld, their definition of investing in content is investing in a platform that aggregates user-generated content (UGC), what marketers and producers generally view as anti-content, if such a thing existed. That kind of thinking is why VCs have had a poor batting average in video investing: content will be ad-supported and marketers have rejected advertising alongside UGC. On the one hand, most VCs hail from technology companies and they just don’t understand the content business. On the other hand, most video content investments have been duds because they have sought to duplicate television on the Web; that is a recipe for disaster. Ripe raised $45 million, Next New Networks raised $30 million. We adopted a more efficient model and are trying to disrupt cable in our own small way. We’re not alone: VC Mark Suster is making a big bet on Maker Studios , which has scaled by focusing on low-cost content and aggregating views on YouTube: “the reason most content companies have failed is that they sought to build own-and-operated properties and had high cost models”, he stated on a panel I was moderating at Streaming Media West. He’s right. He pegged YouTube’s investment in content at closer to $250 million, and not the $100 million that the media has reported. It’s Google’s attempt to scorch the online video world and try to lock up a large chunk of the premium content segment. There’s another way Google is scorching video advertising: skippable ads and their TrueView initiative, but we’ll leave that for another article. Will Television Suffer the Same Fate as Print and Music Industries? While few people predict the television industry to suffer a fate similar to the print or music industries, it’s no secret that Hollywood is bloated and it’s likely that its cost structure and revenues will shrink, but it is and will remain a powerful industry. In fact, it has always been far more tech-savvy and aware than its print and radio brethren, but history repeats itself and thinking that somehow the Traditional Media Companies (TMCs) can hold back time is foolish. The genie is out of the bottle. Then Why Aren’t TMCs Investing in New Media Programming The Traditional Media Companies are not investing aggressively in lower-cost, made-for-Web (and mobile, tablets) programming. They have absolutely no financial incentive to see online video advertising grow and hit the projections because a lot of that will invariably come at the expense of television. Ultimately, online video content can be promotional or commercial . To TMCs, in all likelihood, it will be promotional: it allows them to bring down distribution and marketing costs. Video content is an investment, a cost of goods sold or marketing expense, but it’s a necessary part of the marketing mix and the most popular activity online, what people spend 47% of their online time doing. This Creates an Opportunity for New Media Content Producers Content is not a zero-sum game, so long as new media producers create content to fill the hole and demand online, then they can over time replace the mindshare previously held by the TMCs. If you doubt that look no further than Disney’s decision to partner with YouTube even though it’s an investor in Hulu. You also have to wonder when Viacom will sign a peace treaty with YouTube. How much longer do they really want to not be on the largest video platform in the world? How does that now grow the MTV brand and Viacom’s revenues? VCs Remain on the Sidelines You would think that VCs would see this opening and aggressively fund content, especially when you consider that we’re in the content consumption phase of the Web’s evolution: we have built the infrastructure and platforms, now it’s all about feeding the insatiable appetite of consumers who spend 33% of their time on new platforms (web, mobile, tablets) while marketers are only spending 19% of their ad budgets accordingly. Kleiner Perkins’ Mary Meeker sizes the opportunity at $20 billion (see slide above). Until more VCs come along who get the dynamics of media and online video, and back content plays, then they will be leaving a lot of money on the table.

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Can Content Producers Be Disruptors Or Is Content Only Meant To Be Disrupted?

Create Your Own Online Clothing Boutique, Earn 10% of Sales

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:04:04 +0000

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Create Your Own Online Clothing Boutique, Earn 10% of Sales

10 Essential Tips for Planning the Perfect Industry Event

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:37:44 +0000

‘Tis the season to plan your 2012 event strategy. Here are 10 quick tips to help make event marketing work for your brand, strategy and your bottom line. 1. Don’t Reinvent (Or Compete with) the Wheel If a non-competitive brand plans to host an event, consider partnering with that company instead of trying to one-up it. Even if your brand is a long-standing household name, you’ll likely tap a new community. A solo attempt to appeal to that company’s audience would be challenging and, without help, risky. The fee you would incur to sponsor the event would replace the money you would spend to solicit attendees on your own — with a smaller personal task list and headache. 2. Paying To Play Is Not Selling Out Your crucial goal is to avoid coming across as “selling something.” Savvy influencers are unlikely to throw money at flashy promotions that lack novel experience. Therefore, work closely with your partner company early on, and learn from that team’s experience and event vision. Steer clear of thinking you can deliver an overused “event in a box.” Instead, get creative by cycling between the digital and live event experience with something their audience wants, not what you want for their audience. 3. Leverage your Existing Partnerships on Behalf of Your Event Partner An event can add value to your existing relationships. For example, if your brand has endorsement deals with athletes or celebrities, that talent might be willing to market to an event audience alongside you. Be sure to promote that VIP presence across your partner’s social channels and your own. Everyone wins with a VIP networking opportunity — it’s worth every premium dollar, especially when it means you can add key contacts to your own Rolodex. 4. Support the Community Consider supporting an organization (for or not for profit) that your target audience is passionate about. Because many organizations can’t afford extensive event planning, your third-party support means a lot. Furthermore, these events are generally easy on the wallet and create brand loyalty with core influencers who attend. Added bonus: This passionate audience is likely to share event photos, posts and other highlights across their social media channels, which, if watermarked with your logo, means a great ROI for your brand. 5. I Scratch Your Back, You Scratch Mine If you are sponsoring a brand’s event, why not negotiate by asking it to support one of your future events? Establishing these long-term partnerships will benefit your reach within their community. The alliance benefits the partner brand too, netting it more impressions and activity on a larger industry scale. Don’t expect them to repay you in dollars, however, but rather in barter — whether through digital or print ad units or (gasp!) editorial support. This collaboration will save you costs on your bottom line and create a priceless buzz. 6. Be Careful Not to Get Lost in the Brand Parade CES, SXSW, Blogworld, film festivals, etc. are great places to access reporters and consumers in one place, but these event-saturated gatherings can often get jam-packed. That means it can get difficult to differentiate brand party A from brand party B when everybody is under one roof. There is another high risk: You’ll never know what other brands have in their pockets to easily one-up your flashy spend. Therefore, carefully analyze your full event budget. If you can pull a large crowd without expending too many resources on additional PR and marketing strategies, then a solo event is best. If you need some help, consider paying another brand to manage a guaranteed attendee list. It will mean a better use of precious resources and less of a headache than soliciting your own attendee list. 7. Strategically Navigate Crowded Brand Tiers It’s hard to predict exactly how many other brands will end up in your partnership circle, but you can anticipate your placement in the tier. If your goal is to generate straight media impressions, for example, your best option is to fork over for the top placement dollars to stamp your name, and thus, guarantee press hits at every possible instance. If you just want into the crowd, pay the minimal amount and get creative with your brand’s onsite presence, being sure to integrate your event partners’ goals with your own. If you find yourself in a crowded tier, remember there’s a lot more power and reach when you activate everyone’s social network and resources for the greater good. 8. Bridge Online and Offline Experiences Event planning means combining traditional digital media buys with robust face-to-face experiential activations, especially in today’s 360-degree landscape. Events should be used to gather content for digital sharing later, to initiate a campaign’s activation points and to bridge online and offline experiences. 9. You Will Be Very Meticulously Measured Every Step of the Way Mere estimates of impressions and reach are now unacceptable forms of reporting. Now every hashtag and livestream is not only available, but also immediately collectable, quantifiable and deliverable. Because anyone can potentially double-check your wrap report facts, it’s important to use reliable third party tools to back up your ROI claims. Many of these tools, such as RowFeeder and Klout , require setup prior to the event for comprehensive results, so be sure to set these in motion as soon as you’ve created that event hashtag. 10. “Good, Fast, and Cheap” – You Can Never Have All Three Event planners always hear this request from our vendors. But let’s flip it on ourselves instead. Although we presumably exhibit pragmatic planning character, we notoriously wait until late in the game to secure partnership deals — in order to negotiate the “last minute deal” price. Therefore, we end up with “fast” and “cheap,” but let the “good” fall short. For the 2012 event year, reach for the “good” and “cheap” combo instead. Sign up early with your partners. You’ll be pleasantly surprised that getting in on the ground floor before an event becomes non-refundable is very refreshing. Plus, that collaborative, co-branded integrative strategy will net measurable ROI impressions, cultivate true loyalty with your target core market and give you time to create a (perhaps cheaper) event that with a longer tail of impact. Image courtesy of Flickr, eveos , toolmantim More About: event planning , Events , features , Marketing , pr For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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10 Essential Tips for Planning the Perfect Industry Event

Tidal, the Startup That Gets Big Exposure for Blog Posts

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:15:14 +0000

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark . If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here . Name: Tidal Quick Pitch: Tidal puts content from independent blogs onto large publisher websites. Genius Idea: Unlimited content for publishers, exposure for bloggers. The Huffington Post started a trend of exchanging exposure on websites for unpaid contributions.Tidal, which opened to the public on Thursday, has made this exchange convenient — but with a focus on passionate bloggers who write about topics such as fashion, food, sports and home improvement. Here’s how it works: Bloggers sign up on the Tidal website and tell the service what their blog is about. The service looks at factors such as Klout score, comments and other indicators to decide what publisher would be a fit for the content. Meanwhile, publishers who pay a monthly fee get a dashboard where they can browse blog posts recommended for them. They can instantly publish posts they like on a dedicated site. Bob Vila Nation , Zagat Fork & Tell and Teen Vogue Fashion Click are three clients who have started to aggregate blog posts using Tidal. Founder Matt Myers says that branded sites and ecommerce sites have also signed up. Tidal publisher dashboard Tidal seems like a no-brainer for such publishers. Instead of paying for each piece of content from a source such as Demand Media or Contently , they pay a monthly fee for access to as much content as they want. Lack of compensation for their work makes the system seem like less of a good deal for writers. But Myers says that the company focuses on content from blogs people write for fun. “For them it’s the exposure, opportunities for promotion, events,” he says. Bloggers who syndicate with Tidal get dashboards to track where their content is posted and how much it is seen. Although their full blog posts — not excerpts — are posted on publisher sites, those sites do link back to the original posts. Myers says that “traffic does leak back,” and writers keep all ownership of their work. Without an excess of quality posts to populate it, Tidal would lose its appeal among publishers. Its success depends largely on whether passionate bloggers are willing to make the trade of content for visibility on these terms. Throughout the beta, more than 5,000 of them have been. Image courtesy of iStockphoto , Auris Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark , a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today . More About: bizspark , blog , content , Tidal For more Business coverage: Follow Mashable Business on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Business channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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Tidal, the Startup That Gets Big Exposure for Blog Posts