Techno//Marketer - Matt Dickman on Digital Marketing and Social Technology

Wrap up and thoughts from Seoul South Korea

It was a whirlwind four days in Seoul this week, so I wanted to share my thoughts on this before I forget. I'm writing this from the airport in Tokyo waiting for my flight back to Newark.

First, here is a quick video with some thoughts as I recorded them yesterday.

The IDG conference was pretty incredible. Hopefully you have had a chance to read the posts from Tuesday and Wednesday to see what I mean. I consistently told the organizers that they had created a conference that was on par with any I have been to in the US. Between the conference and having the opportunity to spend time with the Fleishman team in our Seoul office I noticed a number of similarities to the US as well as some differences.

Some Similarities:

• The financial crisis is global and is on the top of everyone's mind
  
• Everyone gets that social media is a huge growth area
  
• Everyone is confused as to how to measure it effectively
  
• Companies are trying to find the balance between offline and online media and are trying to break down marketing silos
  
• Video and mobile are exploding across the globe, but have to be used strategically
  

Some Differences:

• Strong cultural differences in Korea impact everything
  
• Most US companies fail in Korea (Google has around 1% market share in search here) because they localize, but don't fully immerse themselves in the culture
  
• People demand fast service both on and off line
  
• Koreans are very tech savvy, highly connected and love to meet in person
  
• I found people very hesitant to ask questions in presentations
  
• Mobile is ahead as far as services and quality, but devices are extremely expensive here (telecom companies control the pricing and keep it high)
  

Best thinking:

• Bruce Haines from Cheil Worldwide had a number of gems including "banning the word digital" because it's all marketing. He also stressed the need to think across channels and formats to have the most impact, breaking down silos and develop the best message(s) tailored to the right audience.
  
• Gerry Gouy from MTV was great on and off stage. His view from the entertainment side where he is seeing advertisers spend more money across fewer channels was key. He also mentioned that mobile is still not working at this point and most advertisers are looking to reach a 25-34 year old sweet spot through TV and online.
  

Here is the Slideshare of the keynote address I gave. I'll be adding audio to this over the next couple of days.

Technorati Tags:
advertising, branding, marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, social networks, Techno//Marketer, technology, trends, web2.0

I've got Seoul

Next Sunday morning I leave for Seoul Korea to speak at the IDG Next Generation Marketing Conference. I'm giving the opening keynote address on the topic of global marketing trends and then moderating a panel discussion with peers from YouTube, Microsoft, Chiel Worldwide and MTV. It's going to be really fascinating to talk to people there and see how social media is taking hold. There is a huge interest in "web2.0" at this conference and I am interested to uncover if the definition changes on the other side of the globe.

Korea is one of the most connected countries on Earth and I will be paying particular attention to the state of mobile marketing/technology and adoption of social media across countries. I'm going to do a lot of video and take a lot of photos and turn the blog into a real journal over the course of next week to share as much as I can about the culture and the shape of marketing there. It'll be a bit of a time difference (14 hours ahead of US eastern time) so bear with me.

If you have questions or are curious about anything in Korea related to marketing or technology let me know and I'll help you out. If you happen to read this blog and you live in Seoul let me know and we can meet up.

* Photo credit Tyler Durden

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marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, Techno//Marketer, Seoul, web2.0

Vegas or bust; live from Blog World Expo

I am in Las Vegas for the next couple of days for Blog Word Expo 2008. This is my first Blog World and it's shaping up to be a fantastic event. I have the pleasure of running a panel tomorrow morning at 11:30am with two very incredible people, Neil Vineberg and Louis Gray. If you want to ask a question, leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email. I'll send the response on Twitter.

Micromedia: The Next Big, Small Thing - Room F303 This session shows marketers what the true power of services like Twitter, FriendFeed, Pownce, Flickr and Facebook have on a micro level. Also known as "micro blogging", micromedia has exploded with the growth of mobile technology and lets us look into the future of platform-agnostic marketing. Don't be left behind.

If you're in town for the conference please stop by for the panel or make sure we connect. My mobile number is 216-408-3312 and my email is mattdickman@gmail.com. Looking forward to meeting you.

Technorati Tags:
marketing, Matt Dickman, micromedia, Techno//Marketer, Twitter, BWE08, Louis Gray, Neil Vineberg

Twitter for marketing, branding and customer service

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak to the Cleveland Web Association on the topics of micromedia (Twitter, Pownce, FriendFeed, etc.). This was a follow up presentation to the one I gave back in February and is meant to dive a bit deeper into the subject.

I thought the audience was very receptive to the topic and the examples absolutely help out with that. David Meade of Optiem gave a bit of a more technical primer before me and is who I reference in the first few minutes.

The presentation is available below as a SlideCast (meaning I have added an voiceover audio track to it) which you can access by hitting the green middle button that looks like this .

Enjoy!

| View | Upload your own

[Feed readers click through to the post of click the "View" link above.]

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If you are interested in having me speak to your company or organization, you can check out my other SlideShare presentations here and feel free to contact me for more information.

Technorati Tags:
conversations, customer service, FriendFeed, Identi.ca, marketing, Matt Dickman, micromedia, PR, social media, strategy, Techno//Marketer, technology, trends, Twitter

The most powerful branding tool. Ever.

If I were to give you a tip on the most powerful tool any company has at their disposal to positively impact their brand, would you act on it? When companies talk about branding, they often turn to the standard creative elements. They conduct focus groups and prepare branding briefs before the first pixel is pushed into place on the logo. If you're really serious you have a whole identity package. But that's not branding, that's just a logo right? From there they create the marketing campaign. Print ads are created to build emotional connections with people, TV spots reinforce the company image and convey the same emotions. Hundreds of hours are spent planning the website, the information architecture, the experience design, the content. When it's all said and done you have one damn fine looking marketing campaign.

Most companies know that part (very few do it right). The part they don't get is the tool that I am talking about. Customer service. Customer service is so powerful that it can make up for bad products, downtime and inconvenience. Conversely, poor customer service can kill even the most well thought out, killer product or service.

A brand is the sum of the interactions with an entity over time. Still, the last interaction with a product or service usually sticks with us. How many times have you felt your opinion of a company turn sour when somebody in the store isn't helpful? How many times have you sat on hold waiting in line only to not really get the answer you're looking for?

The last interaction is the only one that matters.

So why is customer service so often overlooked as a branding tool? It's hard to get right. Here are some of the challenges:

• It takes time. Lots of time. Customer service takes training, dedication and people who are aligned with the company's goals. Time is money after all and most companies look at the short term outlay instead of the long term benefit of building customer loyalty and creating a great total brand experience.
• High turnover. Typically customer service is made up of entry level folks packed into small offices strapped to a phone 8 hours a day. Why not really turn to results-based incentives here? Why not dress up their work area so they have a great attitude and convey to your customers?
• Everyone is in customer service. This means the CEO, the VPs, the account people, the programmers, the designers, the administrative staff, everyone. This is a key shift in thinking that needs to take place. One off day for one person will have an impact on your brand image. The last interaction is the only one that matters. You may not get another chance.
• Not just for consumer packages goods. Customer service happens in every industry whether you label it customer service or not. Law firms, ad agencies, PR firms and accountants all are in customer service. The problem is that it's not ingrained in their corporate philosophy, they think it beneath them. That's the
• Too easy to rely on technology. No message board or crowd sourced solution can replace human interaction. Technology is a great way to give people access to basic, commonly asked questions. However, when a person's questions are not answered by those solutions they can be left frustrated. Have you ever tried to reach Flickr, Technorati or Feedburner to get a prompt answer to a question? They make it 100% impossible to talk to a human. Don't be like those guys.

I think David Armano summed it up well in his reply when I posted this on Twitter a couple of days ago.

How do you integrate this common sense into what you do? How can you improve your support system? What will you do NOW to take action to create a customer service culture?

What do you do to make sure every personal interaction is the best it can be?

Technorati Tags:
marketing, Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer, technology, customer service, branding

The future of advertising

Tim Brunelle of the agency Hello Viking and professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) asked me to speak to his class about the future of advertising. I'll also be speaking to the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association. I've come up with a presentation that I'll post on Slideshare tomorrow so you can see my take.

While I've never worked in an advertising agency, I have been exposed to their inner workings. I've also worked in pure digital shops as well as my current role in a PR company. Overall, I think this gives me a unique perspective on the future of advertising/marketing.

Here is the link to the Slideshare post.   

Technorati Tags:
advertising, marketing, Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer, trends, MCAD, MIMA

Interview with Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus

Reverend Lennox Yearwood is a very passionate, media savvy person and he took some time to chat with me at the WeMedia conference in Miami last week. His organization uses social media tools like Facebook and Youtube to get their message out to the community at large. Bloggers have played an important part in the mission of the Hip Hop Caucus and has pushed many of their issues from the local community to the global community.

Operatives in the field have help raise the profile of important issues to the level where national, mainstream media is forced to pick them up. The organization uses a broad assortment of tools including CD mix tapes, a blog, MySpace, Facebook and other outlets to get their message to the people who need to hear it.

"The revolution may not be televised, but it will be uploaded." ~ Rev. Lennox Yearwood

[Feed readers please click through if you cannot see the video.]

You can see the passion that Reverend Yearwood has for his work and the major impact that social media tools have had on his organization. We often look at this industry as a marketing vehicle for products and services, but it also has huge potential to bring about social change. Now *that's* social media!

Related Posts:

• WeMedia Miami recap
  
• Interview with Jean-Marc Coicaud of the United Nations University
  
• Interview with Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist at Reuters
  

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Technorati Tags:
Conference, marketing, Matt Dickman, social marketing, social media, Techno//Marketer, wemedia

Interview with Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist at Reuters

Last week's WeMedia Conference in Miami put the spotlight on the future of journalism and how it will change. No better example can be found of those changes than the project Reuters is undertaking with Nokia. Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist of Reuters took a couple of minutes at the conference to talk to me about the Nokia partnership and what he expects will come of it.

[Feed readers please click through to the post.]

It was interesting to note that I spoke with Nic about the possibility of doing live reporting and he said that is not their focus right now. He mentioned the lack of quality that is possible with mobile streaming as the main weakness. For the time being, Reuters is focusing on high-quality, original content that complements the rest of their offerings.

Related Posts:

• WeMedia Miami recap
  
• Interview with Jean-Marc Coicaud of the United Nations University
  
• Reverend Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus
  

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To help you stay on top of what is happening and to filter the myriad options, you can now subscribe to the Techno//Marketer podcast on iTunes. Get updates in real time when new videos become available.

If you use another podcatcher you can grab my podcast RSS feed here.

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You can watch this and other Techno//Marketer videos on your video channel of choice:

   
   

Technorati Tags:
Journalism, marketing, Matt Dickman, mobile, Nokia, Techno//Marketer, Reuters, Nic Fulton

Micromedia. The next big, small thing

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Cleveland Web Association today with my presentation "Micromedia. The next big, small thing". The crowd was very engaged and had some great questions and follow up afterward.

For this one, I used Slideshare's Slidecast option so if you play the slideshow below, you'll hear me as the slides advance automatically. The deck is 105 slides, but takes about 13 minutes. I hope you enjoy!

| View

[Feed readers, please click through to the post if you cannot see the presentation.]

If you're looking for a speaker for your next event or conference shoot me an email. I'd love to meet you in person.

Technorati Tags:
event, marketing, Matt Dickman, PR, social media, social networks, Techno//Marketer, micromedia

What events will you attend in 2008?

I think we all have the challenge of identifying and justifying event attendance in our marketing roles. I have informally asked from time to time where people are heading, but results have been hit and miss. Why do I ask? Simple, the most valuable conferences that I've attended have brought me face-to-face with fantastic people. Those relationships lead to great opportunities and incredible brainstorming.

Personally, last year's MarketingProfs B2B Forum was a great conference. I was able to meet awesome people and make some lasting connections. Among those I was able to meet for the first time were Ann Handley of MarketingProfs and Todd Andrlik and I was able to re-connect with David Armano and CB Whittemore.

The most comprehensive marketing event list that I've seen was generated by Chris Brogan and you can see it here. These are only suggestions though. What matters most is the people who are attending. To help everybody out I've created a short (2 question) survey to ask where you are going and why. My thinking it that the more people at an event, the more value you receive.

If you have a minute and want to help crowdsource event attendance, click on the link below. Any other events you think of that are not on the list can be emailed to me or suggested through the form. I'll share the results with everybody in a week or so.

Click Here to take survey.

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event, marketing, Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer