I have been thinking lately about how we get our stories to people…distribution points. The one thing that I consistently preach to my students and my clients:

1. Audience – Who are the audience(s) you are trying to reach..list them ALL!
2. Purpose – What is the sole reason you have something to say or tell.
3. Delivery – What are you going to use to get that message to those audience(s).

These points create context…context for the message. As you notice…they are intertwined. Well, you may have a great story, but if you do not know how the audience can access the message…then you might be creating the best Super Bowl message for an audience who does not have a television. You might be creating the most unbelievable email marketing campaign, and your target audience does not open emails.

We have to think about distribution…yes, it comes down to delivering the message. Here is a list of distribution methods:

1. Web
2. Blogs
3. Television
4. Home Phone
5. Mobile Phones
6. PDA’s
7. Text Messaging
8. Twitter
9. Facebook
10. Fax
11. Mail
12. Brochures
13. Business Cards
14. White Papers
15. Annual Reports
16. Online Video
17. Mobile Video
18. Newspaper
19. Radio
20. Satellite Radio

Now let’s look at major “Anchor” tools where stories can be told, the beginning of the food chain:

1. Web
2. Blogs
3. Newspapers
4. Brochures
5. White Papers
6. Annual Reports
7. Television
8. Radio
9. Satellite Radio

These places are where the stories are produced and created for audiences to eventually find themselves enjoying content. But, we have different distribution points to bring these audience back to the original source…teasing them with a hint of what’s to come:

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. Mail
4. Fax
5. Business Cards
6. Radio
7. Text Messaging
8. Mobile Video
9. Home Phones
10. Mobile Phones

The point here is when we create stories, we can use these “Anchor” tools to place our stories and use the distribution points to bring audiences back to this place…to learn more, read more, or hear more. The new face of our organizations is our “Web Property”… our main website.

Organizations are learning that they must invest just as much time, effort, energy, resources, and money into shaping their main web property as the major distribution point of information. The organization internally must support this new media and begin using the distribution tools necessary to funnel audiences back to this portal.

Organizations are also learning to re-shape marketing budgets, pr budgets, and IT budgets to allow resources necessary to create, provide, and drive traffic to a web portal and IT providers are learning to build robust systems to support this audience base.

Organizations are also starting to learn that Social Media Technologies are just as efficient as other distribution tools to gain audiences attention with “Teasers” of content, finding new ways to tell stories in a distributive method. This distributive method is now the online community building technologies. Providing portals of conversation where people can engage and connect…and allowing the “Tribe” mentality to shape the community which becomes the online cheerleading section.

So now that ealier way to analyze context of a story is starting to take new shape:

1. Audience(s) – Name all the audiences
2. Purposes(s) – What is the purpose of the over-arching message and for each distribution points
3. Delivery – What is the main point of delivery and what are the sub-distribution points that will tease audiences back to the mother ship.

To me…this is a game. How do we tell one story with multiple layers. Allow the audience to follow the “red-string” along the many paths of distribution points to ultimately get to the main story. What is your story, how are you telling that story, how are you reaching your audience(s), well…I am listening!

1931

not exactly a great year to start a business

but

that is when allstate opened it’s doors

and through the 12 recessions since

they noticed after the fear subside

a funny thing happens

people start enjoying the small things in life

a home cooked meal

time with loved ones

appreciating the things we do have

the things we can count on

it is back to basics

and the basics are good

protect them…

put them in

good hands

~ I can identify with these words…one of the best written spots I have seen…wonderful soft sell!

Organizations right now are having a real hard time telling there story…it is not because they do not have compelling stories to tell, it is because they are not properly equipped to craft and deliver the stories.

Over the past few months, I have been finding large to medium size organizations who are in a new media, operational conundrum. They have for so many years been staffed to handle lots of the traditional means to deliver stories. Now their organizational structure does not support the staff or resources necessary to keep up with the drastically changing movement of audiences to more new media outlets.

Let’s face it…a company/organizations ‘website’ or ‘web-portal’ is now the face of the organization. Now I say this just in the present tense…who knows where new media will take us, because as we know…everyday, new media is old media in this ever changing environment.

Large to medium size organizations are typically staffed (or outsource) with graphic designers, copy writers, and other organizational marketing and public relations professionals. They are trying to rapidly convert these resources to not only meet the demands of the new, mainstream media…but they are also still trying to keep up with their current tasks. We are finding that much of these professionals are not embracing the evolution and not translating their skills to new media standards. For example, the websites and online newsletters look like print publications and print newsletters and press releases.

Today’s audience wants engagement, a bi-direction path of communication.  Organizations can not longer just deliver information in a one way pattern, they must find ways to engage with the audiences and evolve with their needs. Traditional ad agencies are finding themselves caught up in this conundrum right along side with the organizations that they represent. FYI…I do find tremendous value in the combinations of use between traditional and new media(s). PRINT IS HERE TO STAY. Audiences still like to pick up a book or a magazine to read…but these publishers are learning to become lean and targeted with thier content.

So how do organizations learn to not only embrace new media strategies but also maintain the equity they have the traditional sources of delivery. IT IS ALL ABOUT AUDIENCE! We have lots to learn from news organizations. There is a new boss in town and they are now the CCO…the Chief Communication Officer! All information must flow through this person. They must create a new media strategy that funnels all of their information through web portals and use them to promote and support traditional means of delivery.

Organizations also need to re-evaluate their current personnel! They no longer can just be staffed with an IT professional, they need a communications group that supports new media designers & developers, content creators & distributors, community builders, and rich media creators (video/fluid media). Organizations also have to take control of their silos of information hoarders and create internal relationships of trust that allows them to control/regulate brand, and control/regulate release of content. Organizations also have to empower their members to become owners of a bigger plan, to take part in the tribe and be a part of the communication strategy.

So where are these silos formed, how are they created? This has to be understood and examined in-order to create synergies between silos within the organizations. These silos can be found in universities, hospitals, and other large organizations with many verticals under one roof. These silos are created based on these verticals, these internal groups which represent revenue streams. These particular verticals have level of communication strength and represent brands that are well supported financially.

So how do we begin to bridge these gaps of communication?  It is time to find new ways to realign, reposition, and repurpose experts within the organization. Leadership has to be cognizant that the bigger the silos, the more disjunct the umbrella brand becomes, and a smaller vertical becomes the focus of the organization. There is value of telling lots of little stories to reinforce the bigger brand as long as it meets the rhetorical position of the over-arching brand.

If you are such a “Social Media” expert…are you a real storyteller or just a story deliverer? Hmm….can you really craft a story or are you just damn good at putting the story in the right hands.

What does a “Social Media” person really do? Do they craft a campaign or are they like the pizza delivery guy? They make money off of the refrequency and the effectiveness of the delivery but have nothing to do with the crafting of that pizza pie!

So what is so damn special about us peeps that love using social media…is their a place for us in the market place? Well….if we know how to tell really good stories and then know how to deliver them to the right people at the right time.

So in-order to move up from pizza delivery guy, you have to learn the craft of the delivery mechanism which helps you learn how these stories get in the right hands at the right time. You know that the pizza delivery guy understand when he/she walks up on that porch and can create a great customer experience. He hands over that well crafted pie…and the smell that emerges out of the insulated cover, from around the box reveals the aroma of perfection…one that places the delivery person front and center as the brand deliverer. Yep…they are the ones that get the tip!

So are we satisfied with just the delivery, the craft of placement? Well, we are the new age media planners and buyers. We use our open-source platforms to take stories, and place them in the market place at the the right time…for perfection. Sometimes we are too frequent, placing them all over….in too many different media delivery mechanisms. We flood the market place with our mass media because we want our people to listen.

If you order too much pizza, you get a freaking doubled over belly ache that leads a to a late night rush to the porcelain god!  Do we want this experience for our well crafted pizza pie?

So we haft to craft our delivery strategy.  This is when we move up from pizza delivery guy to pizza maker. We have to value the craft of the pie, the craft of the campaign. We have to put our heart into the message, moving away from being ‘technician’ to ‘practitioner’. The craft is too important to flood the market place…you want some demand.

It is ok to just be the deliverer of the message, if it is your craft…then master it oh swami of pizza delivery. But if you want to be a practitioner of the story, you have to create the story and understand the way that the pie is delivered each day!

So what is your story and how will you deliver it to your target market?

FYI…I know that I am talking about myself…I bet delivering pizzas is all I will do after publishing this post!

Ever thought about using online video to promote, raise awareness, or distribute a message that is important to a target audience? Well, the experts think you should embrace online video as a professional means to spread your targeted message to your targeted audience.

Video Sharing Market
The market is huge and continually growing. 14.3 billion videos were viewed online in December, 2008 and increased by 13% in February 2009.

“For both startups and Fortune 100 companies, getting on board with online and mobile video is increasingly key to attracting and engaging a fickle audience. The next generation of big-time consumers (those under 18) are already more likely to be watching video on a computer or mobile phone than they are on a traditional television set.”

“Deliver content consistently. There should be a predictable pattern to retain and grow your audience. Sign up for long-term deals, so your audience doesn’t find that you dropped their favorite video content from your site.”

“For both startups and Fortune 100 companies, getting on board with online and mobile video is increasingly key to attracting and engaging a fickle audience. The next generation of big-time consumers (those under 18) are already more likely to be watching video on a computer or mobile phone than they are on a traditional television set.”

Know, engage, and interact with your audience. Understanding exactly who you are targeting with your video content and what their needs are in terms of information or entertainment will help you make a compelling proposition to potential advertisers and ultimately sell ads, especially if you cover a niche topic.

Record year for video content consumption
“How could it not?! Video consumption continues to grow at an astonishing rate. As of October 2008, 13.5 billion videos were watched online. That is a 45% rise on the number watched in October 2007. The availability of super high speed broadband along with more HD video content will drive more people to consume more video online.”

Video monetization becomes reality
“Professionally-produced content, targeted to specific audiences, will see a burst of excitement as advertisers will see this as a safe bet to put their money on. In response to the influx of advertising dollars, video publishers will need scalable platforms with a wide range of performance metrics.”

“The good news is top notch content should eventually stand out from the marginal stuff. And the vast majority of Web content would probably fall into the marginal category, if that. So it’s important to put some extra time and effort into consistently creating good stuff — the kind of content that will turn heads, lead to conversations, and eventually build long lasting relationships. And that’s really not so bad after all, now that I think about it.”

Sources: Mashable.com, Clemson University’s Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurship, and Inc.com Technology