SIPAlert Daily – 5 actionable tips from Marketing Conference speakers

October 3, 2013 By

I just read this article in The New Yorker about Claire Danes, the actress starring in the Showtime series Homeland. She apparently loves puns. Needing a gift for a producer friend at a dinner party, she bought a camisole with an image of Sigmund Freud on it: a Freudian slip.

But it’s this later quote from Danes that made me stop and ponder. “I think the more whole you are as a person—the more integrated—the deeper you can go into scary territory. It’s just amazing that we have a means of doing that safely [acting]. What better thing is there? It’s so cool to get that much more of an understanding of what it is to be a person.”

Of course, most of us are not actors—professionally, at least—so we need other ways to get to places that give us more professional meaning, plus that rush of excitement and clarity. Attending live events can do that. Even when I just attend a morning talk, I feel like my mind is working out solutions that normally stay bottled up.

A great opportunity to stretch your thinking will be at SIPA’s Annual Marketing Conference Dec. 11-13 in Las Vegas. A brochure should be landing on your desk this week, or you can take a look at the schedule we have posted online.

Here are some of the issues we will discuss and corresponding tips:

Conquering declining email open rates – Guy Cecala of Inside Mortgage Finance and Tom Pines of Real Magnet will present a case study of IMF’s successful mission to restore strong delivery rates. Tip from Real Magnet: To encourage your contacts to keep your messages in the A-List and mark them for inbox placement, try time-sensitive offers in your emails and then use your social channels to let people know they are coming to the inbox only. Your social engagement acts as a catalyst for email engagement that can result in higher response rates to your email offers.

Selling even more webinar slots – Leslie Davidson of Davidson Direct has been there and done all that in the webinar field. A great thing about Leslie is that she’s always looking ahead. Her tip: Put your webinar on SlideShare. SlideShare is like YouTube for PowerPoint presentations. It’s slick and popular for people who like visual information, and it creates great SEO opportunities for your website. The account takes just a few minutes to create. You can put your slides in a nice gallery for users to flip through at their own pace.

Developing a content marketing strategy – Consultant Molly Lindblom delivered an excellent webinar for us recently on Lean Start-up, so her presence leading this session makes it one of the most highly anticipated in Vegas. Her tip: Asked about concern for competition and giving away ideas (through Lean Start-up), she replied: “The goal is to learn about your customers. Your competition is just as smart, so the key here is speed. This is a quick way to vet your ideas so you can get [a new product] to market earlier (Members can check here for the audio of that webinar.)

Using Gamification to engage your audience – You’re seeing more and more of this marketing device today. Joel Rothstein, vice president, technology strategy and innovation, global information resources, for Marriott International, is the speaker. The tip: Marriott developed a game called My Marriott Hotel that invites people to play various hotel roles, develop a basic understanding of how they work and apply for a job. The ease of use of My Marriott Hotel led to over 25,000 players joining in the first week, and is part of a major growth cycle of similar training games.

The new rules of marketing live events – Many SIPA members are themselves turning to treating their subscribers as members. Thus you need to offer more benefits and one of those benefits is live events. But how best to market them? Bill Haight, president of Magna Publications, will be a presenter for this, and here is his observation about bundling services for memberships: “We’re finding that people don’t have a lot of time. That’s the biggest trend we see. Make decisions, get approval, have things signed. If we include everything in one package, then that’s just one decision they have to make.”

You can save $300 by signing up now, before the early bird deadline of Nov. 1.

 

To subscribe to the SIPAlert Daily, go to the SIIA website.

Ronn LevineRonn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline

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Filed Under: SIPA, SIPA Con, SIPA Events, SIPAlert Daily, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

SIIA Names Heather Cejovic Director of Sponsorships and Recruitment

October 3, 2013 By

Heather CejovicSIIA today announced B2B media executive Heather Cejovic will join as Director, Sponsorships and Recruitment. She will report directly to SIIA President Ken Wasch and will work with SIIA and its newest division, American Business Media (ABM) to recruit members and increase sponsorships. SIIA merged with ABM in June.

Cejovic most recently was Vice President of Client Services at Computer Fulfillment where she was responsible for sales and client services. She also liasoned with audit bureaus and industry organizations. Cejovic was also Eastern Regional Manager at BPA Worldwide, where she managed, recruited, hired, trained and evaluated staff and monitored quarterly forecasts. She is an active member of the BPA Worldwide Fulfillment Managers Advisory Committee and ABM’s Audience Development Committee, and a former board member and past president of the National Trade Circulation Foundation.

Cejovic said:

“The merger of SIIA/ABM and SIPA offers a much broader platform through their joint content industry events. Combining the memberships and content can only benefit the industry by offering more opportunities for networking, enhanced education and pathways to innovation.  I am truly looking forward to working together with the SIIA team to further serve our industry.”

Wasch said:

“Heather is a strategic executive with deep experience serving information and media companies. I look forward to working with Heather to build our relationships with leading and emerging B2B media companies.”

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Content, Events, SIPA, Software, Software Events Tagged With:

Yes, We Can Protect the Nation, Advance the Global Economy, and Respect Civil Liberties

October 3, 2013 By

By Yael Weinman, ITI, and David LeDuc, SIIA

We’ve all read the news stories and are concerned by the reports of how the U.S. government collects data for surveillance purposes. Our members, the world’s leading information technology companies, work to protect their customers’ privacy as they provide them with innovative products and services.  We are committed to working in partnership with others involved in these discussions on how to achieve greater transparency and provide appropriate protections in the government’s operations.

That’s why SIIA and ITI have joined together to provide the White House’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology with a set of tangible policy recommendations that the review group members should consider as they examine the government’s intelligence-gathering programs.

We believe that there are clear steps that the U.S. government can take to incorporate better privacy and civil liberty practices without compromising the government’s responsibility to also protect the nation. These steps start with a greater commitment to transparency and oversight.  In taking these steps, the U.S. government can be a pacesetter in transparency, accountability, and privacy protections.  Our proposals for the review group are based on three principles:

  • Economic security and national security are deeply connected;
  • Security can be advanced in a privacy-protective manner; and,
  • Restoring trust, both domestically and internationally, must be a driving force for the review group’s work.

The U.S. government must take action to regain the public trust, as the repercussions for U.S. businesses operating globally will be significant.  Already, major trading partners like Brazil and the European Union are considering strict measures that would begin to unravel the global economy by forcing companies wanting to operate within their borders to house all operations there or restrict the transfer of data outside their jurisdiction.  That’s a prescription for a balkanized (and broken) worldwide economy.

Through discussions with the broader business community, privacy organizations, the government, and others, the tech sector will continue to look for policy prescriptions to these challenges.

Yael Weinman is Vice President for Global Privacy Policy and General Counsel at ITI.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. 

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Privacy Tagged With: ,

Progressive Policy Institute Says Patent Trolls Add No Economic Value, Just Engage in Litigation Arbitrage

October 3, 2013 By

In its excellent new study of the role of patent-assertion entities (PAEs), aka patent trolls, the Progressive Policy Institute concludes:

“Patent trolling adds no economic value. It is an affront to American ingenuity and threatens our innovation-based economy. As Senator Leahy said, “We must combat [this] abusive behavior to preserve and advance the patent system envisioned by the founders and provided for in our Constitution.” When Thomas Jefferson and the other founders granted Americans the right to patent and protect intellectual property, litigation arbitrage was not the ideal they had in mind.”

The report encourages progressive policymakers and advocates to “search for the right solutions to PAE litigation.”  That’s the right message.  The need for reform is urgent and the time to develop solutions is now.

The report lists several proposed improvements that SIIA has endorsed including limiting discovery by requiring litigants to pay the costs of discovery if they seek information beyond “core documentary evidence and requiring patent holders to provide updated patent ownership information.”  This search for legislative reform to abusive patent litigation tactics is far from over – indeed, it might be simply at the end of the beginning.  But it is good to have the Progressive Policy Institute call for progressives to  join the effort for reform.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA. Follow Keith on Twitter at @keithkup and sign up for the Intellectual Property Roundup weekly newsletter here.

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property

SIPAlert Daily – New products require clear communication to succeed

October 2, 2013 By

New products. Everyone needs to create them, but, of course, it’s not easy. At the Publishers Roundtable here on Monday, publishers went around the room discussing a product they were developing. It soon became clear that one of the most important parts of this process is communicating clearly to your audience:

- What the product does.
- How it best functions.
- How do we train our customers to use it? How do we price that? Is it included?
- Do we need a customer service department to work with sales?
- Do we develop separate training webinars or dvds?

Geoffrey Tumlin (pictured here), author of the new book Stop Talking, Start Communicating: Counterintuitive Secrets to Success in Business and in Life, argues that expediency—not comprehension—has become the crux of our communication exchanges today. “We want to plow through our inboxes, respond to new text or voice messages as soon as they come in, and get face-to-face conversations over quickly so we can move on to the next thing.”

There’s even expediency in getting products out to the market. It used to be you could take time to get a new product in the marketplace, but today, it’s better to roll it out, listen to the feedback and make it better. That makes sense. But Tumlin would want you to be careful:

“The glut of messages we process on any given day encourages us to think of communication as something we do mechanically, when, in fact, communication is how we make our life. Smart communicators slow down when forming a message and consider whether or not the other person is likely to understand what they’re communicating. Without understanding, there’s no communication.”

Tumlin’s thing is that digital communication has let us pretend that overall communication is now better whereas it may just be faster. “…no matter how fancy our devices may become, they’ll never be able to eliminate the misunderstandings, the confusion, and the errors that occur when people talk,” he said.

There’s another interesting parallel: “…communication gets much more difficult as you increase the number of people [you’re sending to],” says Tumlin. “More people means more perspectives to consider. When we fail to account for these additional viewpoints, we run the risk of talking, texting, or typing right past each other…It’s not practical to think through every possible perspective before posting to Facebook or sending a group email. But we should take the extra step to consider key viewpoints…”

So what’s the answer?

1. Involve everyone from the start. If your marketers and editorial people—and even those who may answer the phone—understand the product, there’s a much better chance the customers will as well.

2. Start or propel your community/forum. This will give people a place to air their concerns and you a chance to listen and respond.

3. Communicate your vision of the product well to your customers. Perhaps send out a couple test emails to customers who you know well. See what they say.

4. It’s not about you; it’s about them. “Technology has encouraged communication on our terms and led to an explosion of self-expressive, me-first messages,” says Tumlin. Survey your customers early on or call a few one-on-one. Find out what they need to become better.

5. Think about rolling it out at a live event. “Our devices can’t handle anywhere near the amount of interpersonal nuance and complexity that human interaction entails,” Tumlin said. This might be a way to get your “champions” on board (and social media-izing). “If we put people back at the center of our conversations, this really could be the golden age of communication.”

6. Empathize with your customers. Teachers are harried, health workers may be lost in a sea of red tape, HR people are drowning. “Our technical capabilities have raced ahead of our actual abilities,” Tumlin said. Be realistic about your audience.

 

To subscribe to the SIPAlert Daily, go to the SIIA website.

Ronn LevineRonn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline

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Filed Under: SIPA, SIPAlert Daily, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

10 Reasons Why You Should Attend DataContent 2013

October 2, 2013 By

DataContent 2013 is only 14 days away. Here are 10 reasons why you should not miss DataContent 2013:

1. Learn – how to grow your data business from the most respected and dynamic publishers, and media companies and data experts in the business such as IDC, BrightScope, BIZO, RetailNext, Content Analyst, PrivCo, Capital IQ, Buyers Lab, Information Evolution, Connotate and many more!

2. Connect - and do business with more than 130 executives already confirmed to attend from companies such as: Swets Information Services, Farm Journal Media, Leadership Directories, Inc., LexisNexis Group, Asset International, Inside Mortgage Finance Publications, FactSet, Blue Book Building & Construction Network, Meister Media Worldwide, Hoover’s, Inc., Dun & Bradstreet, Northstar Travel Media, Buyers Lab, Moody’s Analytics, Reed Business Information, CFO Publishing, Columbia Books & Information Services, and many more!

3. Models of Excellence – Meet the minds behind the Models of Excellence award recipients, Enigma, Equilar Atlas, Entelo, FindTheCompany, RepariPal, Relationship Science, Segmint, and Stella Service. These are the InfoCommerce Groups’ picks for the most well-executed, creative, enriching, and astonishing data information products of the year.

4. Network, Network, Network – Take advantage of all the networking opportunities–Speed Networking, Welcome Reception, Models of Excellence Networking Dinner, and several networking breaks–to connect with your next partner or customer.

5. Thought Leaders – Hear from Jeanette Horan, CIO, IBM talk in her keynote on Using Data to Drive Growth for your business.

6. Strategies for Success – Find out about cutting-edge success strategies you can implement and execute on BEFORE your competition does.

7. Boot Camp – Attend the Data Marketing Bootcamp to learn where data fits in your future, and get prepared for the rest of the conference!

8. Discover New Technologies - to develop and deliver smarter, deeper, and timely data strategies for your specific data and publishing business.

9. Roundtable Discussions – Brainstorm with key executives who lead the InfoCommerce Group and SIIA.

10. All About Data – Take part in the only industry event that delivers the ideas, contacts, strategies, and products that define YOUR world.

Whether you need ideas, intelligence or implementation, DataContent will deliver it to you.

Register now so you don’t miss out!

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Filed Under: Content, Content Events, Data Content, DataContent Tagged With: , ,

SIIA Digital Policy Roundup: Revised Patent Litigation Abuse Bill a Big Step Forward, SIIA Makes Policy Recommendations for the Internet of Things, Joins Call for Surveillance Transparency Legislation

October 2, 2013 By

Revised Patent Litigation Abuse Bill a Big Step Forward
Last week, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, released as second discussion draft patent bill that addresses the problems caused by litigation abuses brought by Patent Assertion entities, also referred to as patent trolls. The discussion draft is a revision of an earlier discussion draft. It includes provisions on pleading disclosures in patent infringement complaints, the awarding of attorneys’ fees, joinder of interested parties to a suit, limitations on the timing and costs associated with discovery, disclosure of real-parties-in-interest, revisions to the covered business methods program at the USPTO and several other changes and studies. SIIA welcomed the release of the patent reform discussion draft, recognizing the revised draft as a crucial legislative step toward achieving strong and effective patent litigation reform this year. More in Reuters.

SIIA Makes Policy Recommendations for the Internet of Things
Yesterday, SIIA’s David LeDuc, participated in an important discussion at the National Press Club about building trust and confidence with regard to the “Internet of Things.” At the Internet of Things Global Summit, LeDuc explained that we are at a key inflection point in the evolution of information technology (IT), as it has transformed from a specialized tool into a pervasive influence on nearly every aspect of everyday life. Highlighting the tremendous economic and social value of data-driven innovation, LeDuc proposed a policy framework for maximizing the beneficial outcomes of the IoT. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

SIIA Joins Call for Surveillance Transparency Legislation
On Monday, SIIA joined with a broad group of tech companies and civil rights groups including Google, Apple, Twitter and the ACLU in support of legislation that would improve transparency around government surveillance of the Internet. In a letter to Senate and House Judiciary Committee leaders, the group urged consideration of Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-CA)Surveillance Order Reporting Act of 2013, proposals that would clarify that companies have the right to publish basic statistics about government demands for user data that they receive. Such transparency is important not only for the American people, who are entitled to have an informed public debate about the appropriateness of that surveillance, but also for international users of U.S.-based service providers who are concerned about privacy and security. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Policy Tagged With: , ,
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