A Better Way to Advertise

I have a dream: In 5 years, the online banner advertising must not exist as we know it. The experience is so horrible for each one involved. The advertiser gets really low engaging impressions, the user gets over exposure of banners and advertising agencies get ever decreasing rates of advertising.

There must be a better way.



Since we started out at Publishzer, we are looking for ways to deliver a much better experience, by not emphasising the importance of impressions. We are looking into the importance of relationships, into a commodity that retains its value and is able to push advertising towards recommendation-between-people. But what is needed to push Publishzer into selling relationships, not impressions.

1. An offering that cannot be commoditized.
There is an abundance of banner advertising on the web. There is now scarcity of ways to use banners and due to the excess of banner option, the price will plummed as the demand will not meet the offering.

The only way to succeed and leapfrog the other banner-comparable options, Publishzer will be able to command higher price point and give better earning opportunities to the bloggers. Scarcity of sources with huge reach and a product that cements relationship for life could be a killer combination.

2. Advertising should not be onetime conversation
Banners often relay on one-time click to reach the customers. Better way in our minds is the opportunity to offer beautiful magazine spreads, that invite you to understand the context and conversation around the brand. Even better, what is the brand is not advertised, but recommended through an enthusiastic expert the reader is following daily.

3. The service should enhances the experience
Related to the previous point, Publishzer has to enhance the content and context the message is been seen. For example fashion magazine advertising are so compelling that they are actually an important part of the content. The online advertising cannot retain the current way of interruption.

We want to create the same experience on the web, where video, text and images create amazing curated pieces of information. It is beautiful to look at and excited you to understand more.

4. We will guard the bloggersFor us the bloggers are the kings and queens. We will never let the advertisers to dictate the subjective thoughts of bloggers. However, the bloggers have to show their knowhow and enthusiasm for the brands they work with. This approach is the basis of enabling authentic recommendation that really engages the audience and ads to the content.

Overall we believe, there is a huge opportunity for the entire digital media industry. Online advertising has become a commodity (thanks, Google!). With combined effort to make advertising more valuable than offline advertising, we can increase the value of the pie for everyone. And most importantly, make advertising interesting again, rather than interrupting.

Publishzer is getting there

Publishzer, the better way to blog, in which we aim to disrupt the way the you can blog. This is the cover, and soon you'll all be able to try it out. www.publishzer.com

Kill Banners and Purchase Time

Source

A lot of people are spending time online today, so obviously advertising money is flowing to the internet as well. Yet, time is not really a factor at all when it comes to valuing online advertising. The length of time spend with the brand and the ad is the most important factor in determining the effectiveness of the ad. With banners and CPM, the advertising takes no consideration of the time.

I mean sure the repetition lead to clicks and eventual action, but the repetition itself has no real value. Especially as we are more and more "blind" to the banners and when compared to the well thought recommendations from our peers. Also I might close the browser window so fast that the banner didn't even load, still the advertiser pays the same amount when compared to the person who stays on the page for three minutes. A recent comScore study states that 31% of ads are delivered but never seen by a customer.

This CPM model drives publisher to deliver huge amount of impressions that create web page clutter and a poor user exprience. The problem becomes apparent when we think how effective the advertising is within content, or in many cases is the content. People are motived by and are looking to spend time with the content. Therefore the purchase cost for advertisers should be more like cost per second (CPS) model, where each second spend with the content is valued. The most valuable customers anyway spend time with the brand and therefore advertisers should be more willing to compensate publishers for those high-value users.

This is a very simplified expression on the idea that we will most likely develop further. But think about it. What if publishers would rather have less banners, and more highly valuable content that users are interested to spend time with. Isn't that the picture we all want the online publishing to be?

Case: Sosiaalisen median asiantuntija Teppo Hulden

[in Finnish]



Helsingin sanomat kirjoitti nimeni väärin. Ei siis pitäisi olla "Teppo Hulden", vaan Teppo Hudson tietenkin. :)

Helsingin Sanomat teki hienon artikkelin eilisestä Helsingin Kaupungin toimesta keskustella kaupunkilaisten kanssa Guggenheim Helsinki hankkeesta. Illan aikana Jussi Pajunen vastaili 4 tunnin ajan Facebookissa ja Twitterissä. Itse sain olla mukana varmistamassa että ilta voidaan toteuttaa. Oli hienoa olla Jussi Pajusen esikunnassa ja auttaa Guggenheim hankkeen eteenpäin viemisessä. Kyseessä olisi mahtava juttu Helsingille.

Illan toteuttu coco360.fi (jossa työsketelemme läheisesti Zipipop Oy:n kanssa) ja Forum Virium Helsinki yhteistyössä. Tämä vedettiin kasaan 3 päivässä ja täytyy sanoa että Jussi Pajunen oli erittäin tyytyväinen. Toivottavasti Helsingin kaupunki jatkaa tällä linjalla.

Päivitys: Nyt hesari on oikaissut homman ja toteaa että "sosiaalisen median asiantuntija on Teppo Hudson". Tämän avulla google.fi indeksoi minut heti heittämällä ensimmäiseksi. Nice.

Frustration Incorporated

Frustrating times, huge opportunities but they let me wait and wait. So poems to the rescue:


I do,
I don't,
deserve this.

Want to,
but can't,
reverse this.

I tried,
failed to,
preserve this.

False love,
is what,
my curse is.

Been so busy lately. Something new is bubbling as we've decided to set up a new social digiacency coco360.fi. This is in order to fund Publishzer.com and develop it to become a huge success.

A photo from my current workstation:

Future of Curation Networks

One of the hottest social networks right now is Pinterest. It his a nice spot at the need for organising huge amounts of information and our look out for beautiful inspirations. One important aspect is a high rate of female adoption, that continues to drive the adoption of eCommerce. Hence Pinterest is interesting for commerce, as some sources indicate that every click to an webshop site is worth an average of $5 in purchases.

What I am interest is the communal aspect of the service. It heavily focuses on recipes, travel imaginary and to some length fashion. For anyone interested in these, the site is interesting. However, the huge and growing adoption of Pinterest might eventually be the downfall. It might not be able to hold up to its community and therefore loose users to more highly niche focused communities. Curation is not curation if will not be able to edit out the unnecessary noise. Even following feature will not be enough eventually.



So what if we look this from another perspective. What is we think curation as a disruption to marketing, rather than just another social network. Currently online marketing is push with high volumes of banners. What if marketers would enable cashpools for users to create curated contents around topics, and earn real revenue from their curation work.

I think by creating well operating service that enables focus around nodes of interest or brands, we can enable these nodes to create actions that are fulfilled by the crowd. This crowdsourcing will boost highly focused and curated content for relevant target groups. All evolving around the node, rather than in a huge mass of different content. That is the real disruption potential of curation.

Marketers, remember. This could also make the world better by distributing revenue around to the best users. Do not think people are willing to work for free forever. I’m most certainly going to look at niche-curation content platforms as a powerful way to encourage a meaningful interaction with prospects and buyers.

About saving the magazine industry

Everybody wants to be digital today and most magazine executives today seems to be building iPad apps. Yet the user experience of a print magazine is unmatchable: they’re cheap, never out of battery charge, not a target for thieves and they have twice the screen space when spread as an iPad screen.



The concept of magazines is great and without bringing it to the same level on digital, the executives are running a losing war. Lets consider the recent experience of one of my favorite magazines, The Economist. I subscribed to their iPad mag. First of all, the subscription takes me away from the app, to website with 2 options. €32 13 weeks and 125€ for 51 weeks. But I'd like to pay monthly as is the status quo on most of my subscription services. Sure I could pay per issue, but then there would be no auto-renew.

Granted, this is a small issue in the grand scale. But come on, take a que from something like Spotify, where I do not need to renew, they have my credit card info and its conveniently everywhere I go. That is a well done subscription service. Secondly, most successful magazine concepts in digital media are blog communities. No fees, no limits but high quality accessibility, funded by quality and relevant advertising.

I believe the key on saving the magazine industry is accessibility. Whether it is magazine subscription or advertising funded, the key is to provide seamless accessibility. Let me work a little at the beginning if needed, but aim to guide me to a state where I have the magazine when and where I want to, without forms to fill. This obviously needs security matters, but that I trust you've taken care, right? That is accessibility.

So remember that:
- Monthly fees appear lower than yearly fees
- Cancel anytime feature will enable easier testing
- Have auto-renew as default
- Advertising should be relevant and considered part of the content

If this is taken care, all you really need to focus is having great content.

Photo by: Teppo Hudson

Mark Cuban's 12 rules for Startups

These are reblogged from Mark Cuban's post on Entrepreneur.com site. Love the suggestions. Embody these.


1. Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love.

2. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession.

3. Hire people who you think will love working there.

4. Sales Cure All. Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales.

5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but aren't as expensive to pay.

6. An espresso machine? Are you kidding me? Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. Lunch is a chance to get out of the office and talk. There are 24 hours in a day, and if people like their jobs, they will find ways to use as much of it as possible to do their jobs.

7. No offices. Open offices keep everyone in tune with what is going on and keep the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show him or her how to use the lock on the bathroom. There is nothing private in a startup. This is also a good way to keep from hiring executives who cannot operate successfully in a startup. My biggest fear was always hiring someone who wanted to build an empire. If the person demands to fly first class or to bring over a personal secretary, run away. If an exec won't go on sales calls, run away. They are empire builders and will pollute your company.

8. As far as technology, go with what you know. That is always the most inexpensive way. If you know Apple, use it. If you know Vista, ask yourself why, then use it. It's a startup so there are just a few employees. Let people use what they know.

9. Keep the organization flat. If you have managers reporting to managers in a startup, you will fail. Once you get beyond startup, if you have managers reporting to managers, you will create politics.

10. Never buy swag. A sure sign of failure for a startup is when someone sends me logo-embroidered polo shirts. If your people are at shows and in public, it's okay to buy for your own employees, but if you really think people are going to wear your branded polo when they're out and about, you are mistaken and have no idea how to spend your money.

11. Never hire a PR firm. A public relations firm will call or email people in the publications you already read, on the shows you already watch and at the websites you already surf. Those people publish their emails. Whenever you consume any information related to your field, get the email of the person publishing it and send them a message introducing yourself and the company. Their job is to find new stuff. They will welcome hearing from the founder instead of some PR flack. Once you establish communication with that person, make yourself available to answer their questions about the industry and be a source for them. If you are smart, they will use you.

12. Make the job fun for employees. Keep a pulse on the stress levels and accomplishments of your people and reward them. My first company, MicroSolutions, when we had a record sales month, or someone did something special, I would walk around handing out $100 bills to salespeople. At Broadcast.com and MicroSolutions, we had a company shot. The Kamikaze. We would take people to a bar every now and then and buy one or ten for everyone. At MicroSolutions, more often than not we had vendors cover the tab. Vendors always love a good party.

Fotoshop by Adobé

No surprise this went viral like a wildfire. Everything is spot on: concept, production, design (especially the package design), talent, voiceover, and most importantly the satire that is so true.

Top 10 Blogposts 01/2012

I will be curating 10 great blogposts each week. Published at Publishzer obviously! Below is the first one for this year!