Distribution is Marketing

When we podcast the 2005 MIMA Summit – someone suggested we restrict access to the recordings. They’d be correct if the value of the conference was in the sessions. It’s not.

The value is in the hallway conversations, the handshakes, business card exchanges, and direct personal interactions. The sessions themselves are strictly the focal point, the common conversation piece, the marketing.

Every session ITConversations distributes is marketing for them, the conference, and the speaker.

Mark Cuban talks about the same phenomenon in the movies and television:

“It wasn’t that long ago that some people in the sports business thought that having games on TV would reduce attendance. After all, why go to the game when you can watch it for free on TV? Then someone decided to do some research and as it turns out, the more games you broadcast on TV, the more people who go to your games.”

This is also why the most effective use of ad dollars is in product development.

Update 21 January 2006:

“…a downloaded file is not a lost sale it’s a gained fan…” – Joichi Ito

We Need to Build More Parks Not More Prisons

Smarter people than I can debate the title of this post literally, I’m using it as a metaphor for web development and customer relationships overall.

Vendors don’t have full control over their customers. Never did. Best they can do is encourage, support, and remove obstacles impeding their customers’ success. Especially if the vendor wants to build any notion of community among their customers.

This is where the metaphor comes in.

Each business needs to be an ecosystem where customers are free (free to move to a different vendor, free to congregate) rather than locked-in or “allowed to”. The same reason file formats should be plain text, xml, or another standard format, is the same reason DRM is a bad idea – it’s not usable if the vendor disappears.

The next question is whether we build one big park or a system of smaller ones. Personally, I’m a fan of the system (if I wasn’t I wouldn’t publish regularly to multiple blogs). It allows focus and gives you the power to say, “No, We don’t do that here – we do it over there.”

In the end, best we can hope for is customers leave the place better than they found it.

Update 21 January 2006:

“…you don’t try to force a behavior change, you look for a behavior change and try to make products for it…” – Joichi Ito

A Proposal for a TiVo, iTunes, Podcast Ad Formats

30 seconds is way too long. On the TiVo, we’re fast-forwarding through the commercials and other boring bits. We’re still watching as we fast-forward (we get the brand-impression, just more quickly and without sound).

Same with podcasts. As I’ve mentioned earlier, we’re not skipping the ads, just getting through them more quickly. I know one of the podcasts I listen to is sponsored by Earthlink. The host mentions it the moment before I start fast-forwarding. I don’t need to hear Earthlink themselves waste my time – the host already told me everything I need to know. Using 3 words – “sponsored by Earthlink”.

Likewise, television advertisers need to embraces the fast-forward and create media entertaining at both speeds. Something akin to the Levi’s ads from the 80s – a big logo taking up most of the screen surrounded by entertaining animations. This would scale to smaller video devices like the iPod, PSP, and Archos while giving TiVo viewers a reason to replay.

Good Prototypes Remove Everything Else

Back in ’97 I spent some time at a Shockwave game boutique (didn’t we all). One day, a technology vendor sent over a prototype game – highlighting a new interaction model.

The game was obviously a prototype but we weren’t sure of what. All the elements on-screen very simple shapes and a random color (is that what we’re looking at?). The controller worked a little differently than we expected – is that the prototype? Unsure and unimpressed, we put the game aside and went back to work. Later that day, the vendor came by and explained the magic. Just like how an explanation deflates the funniest joke. The moment had past.

Fast forward a couple years and I’m working on the information architecture for a very large site redesign. We were hashing through hundreds of wireframes (paper prototypes) a month, each time a section of the page was signed-off on, it was removed from the wireframes and replaced with a box and a ‘see page ## for details’. The page header, footer, side nav, and many other sections were all treated this way. Unlike the game I described earlier, this removal of detail allowed us to focus the conversation and the prototype on the unknowns, while setting context and telling a story.

Otherwise, Seth Godin is right – the smart people, won’t get it. They won’t get it because they won’t know what they’re looking at. Black & white can tell a very good story without being close to the finish of the final product.

From my perspective, a protoype is rarely about the thing. It’s about having a focal point for a conversation, and the conversation should always change the prototype.

ID3 – The Podcast Magazine Site Launches

Kris Smith and Todd Andrlik launched ID3 – Podcast Magazine website yesterday. Yes, that’s right – they’re working on a bimonthly print publication covering podcasting.

It’s an interesting project, one I’ll be tracking and talking about more. Especially considering I’m on the ID3 Podcast Magazine Editorial Board.

To me, the most interesting bit is to answer the following question; In this age of weblogs, Google, and immediate answers – what value does a print publication have? Especially one on a fast-moving, technical, internet-native topic like podcasting.

Wanted – Real Estate Agents to Blog

Before I bought my current place, Jen and I talked with a handful of real estate agents. We didn’t purchase from any of them. In general, they didn’t feel authentic, connected, credible. Felt like the stereotypical used car salesman. With a housing boom like this – I don’t blame them. Problem is, demand won’t always be this strong, interest rates this low, and the need for agents will only diminish.

At some point in the next year or so, there’s a very good chance I’ll need their services. This is what I’m looking for in the next real estate agent I work with:

  • A weblog that’s about 60% ‘business’ – properties, housing market, interest rates, mortgage stuff. With the rest of it more personal and hopefully completely off topic. Ideally, some posts will cross both sides – likes restaurants and events in the neighborhoods they really like.
  • Yes, the weblog needs to have an RSS feed filled with photos so I can automatically stay up-to-date on the home sales in the area.
  • I’d also like an iCal calendar available, so open houses can be loaded into my things-to-do this weekend.

These 3 items help me build a relationship with an agent, on my terms and without the risk of spam and unwanted phone calls. While at the same time, building the agent’s reputation, credibility, and network. This is very much the agent equivelant of Alex Stenback’s Behind the Mortgage.

Historically, real estate agents have operated in a world where market information is difficult and inconvenient to consolidate. Google Maps mash-ups like DC Homeprices, HousingMaps.com, and ChicagoCrime.org bring buyers, sellers, and agents closer to the same level. Not to mention neighbors with blogs.

Anyone out there doing this today?

Elsewhere: 20 Aug 2008:

“…consumers are accessing agents’ ever-more-common blogs, social network pages or viral video campaigns — all of the burgeoning options that have been called Web 2.0 — to tap their expertise and get a sense of their personalities” – Simone Baribeau, Washington Post Staff Writer

First Crack 71. Peanut Butter Goes Nuts at PBLoco

I grabbed a few moments with Keri, Jodene, & Ken – the owners of PBLoco and they share the history of their company and some peanut butter sandwich recipes you probably haven’t tried.

On the business side, they went into the rationale behind launching in Minnesota, rather than either coast.

Listen to Peanut Butter Goes Nuts at PBLoco [15 min]

Some Powerbook Keys Not Working

Oddest thing. I pulled the PowerBook out the laptop bag and a handful of keys stopped responding.

I’ve opened up the Keyboard Viewer to confirm. Here’s the list thus far:

  • return & enter (came back after restart)
  • Tilde
  • Caps Lock
  • F12 (initiates my Dashboard)
  • Disc eject
  • Left square bracket
  • Arrow up
  • Arrow right

I plugged in the USB keyboard from the eMac and that brought everything back. Weird.

Update 14 January 2006
Problem came back today – lost ‘Q’ through ‘P’. Seems to happen when waking from sleep. This time plugging in the external keyboard didn’t fix it, nor did restarting. Waiting did. Maybe 10 minutes and all the keys came back.

Update 15 January 2006
‘Q’ through ‘P’ is gone again. I’m typing this from the keyboard viewer. Annoying. Apple says I need to replace the keyboard. Blah.

Ok. After a couple hours sleeping. The top row is back, but and all those other keys are gone. Oddly, this is less annoying. Let’s see what happens on restart.

Everything was going great until I plugged the PowerBook in after running down the battery for 2 hours. Then, I lost the keys again. Not all at once. First delete and the arrows, then a couple minutes later – the top row.

Top row is back. Space, delete, and arrows are still gone.

Update 16 January 2006
Stopped by the Apple Store – Roseville this afternoon, got the keyboard diagnosis confirmed and put one on order. Thankfully, they can handle the repair locally.

Update 21 January 2006
Took in the PowerBook for the repair this afternoon. I got a call as soon as I left the Apple Store saying the keyboard’s connecting cable was loose. They firmly plugged it in and everything’s back to normal. No repair necessary. Definitely a downside of locking the PowerBook down so tightly – not even the Geniuses could correctly diagnose the problem.