Apple Makes You Pay For Piracy Without Making You Pay For Piracy

I was reading this bit of news about Apple’s newly launched iTunes Match – touted in the article as “more than just a cloud storage system for songs that fans buy legitimately through iTunes.” What really intrigued me was the value proposition and how Steve Jobs sold it: essentially, Apple has succeeded in making you pay for music piracy without making you pay for music piracy.

What do I mean by this?

Aside from offering to freely distribute new and old iTunes purchases on all of a user’s devices, the Apple impresario unveiled “iTunes Match,” a $25-a-year service starting this fall that will scan users’ devices and hard drives for music acquired in other ways, store it on distant computer servers and allow them to access it anywhere.

The service acknowledges a well-known fact — that most music on iPods, iPhones and iPads was ripped or swapped. Apple reached a deal that gives recording companies more than 70 percent of the new fees, addressing a dark secret that has crippled the music industry, and provides them with some economic payback.

Where Apple is able to identify and match songs from its 18 million-song database, it will transfer them into the user’s iCloud, a storage area housed on servers, including those at a massive new data center in North Carolina.

This is exactly the kind of creative strategic thinking that is lacking in so many businesses and brands today! No wonder we are faced with “more of the same” despite so many new brands coming to life these days. In fact, innovation is highly rewarding:

Industry observers said the new service could translate into big bucks for both Apple and the recording companies.

Apple has about 225 million credit card-backed accounts on iTunes. If only 10 percent signed up for the convenience of accessing music they hadn’t bought there, it could turn into more than $500 million a year in new revenue, said Jeff Price, CEO of TuneCore Inc., a company that helps independent artists sell their music on iTunes and other digital music outlets.

The best thing is that consumers get the sense that they’re paying for convenience, not for things they already own, he said.

“It allows for revenue to be made off of pirated music in a way that consumers don’t feel that’s what they’re paying for, and that’s what I find fascinating about it,” Price said.

Read the full article here (and also learn just how much “better” Apple always tries to make things).

4 Things To Know About Social Media Before You Hire A Social Media Expert, Guru, Ninja, etc.

I like the irreverent way Peter Shankman writes about why he would never hire a “social media expert”. More than that, I especially agree with him about how important it is to properly understand what Social Media is about and what it isn’t about. For starters, Social Media isn’t about doing marketing “for free”, nor is it about “being cool” since everyone is jumping on to the bandwagon to the next frontier. It is, in my opinion, about these 4 things:

1. It’s about transparency. It’s not about lying to your customers, and thinking that a good Twitter apology will suffice when you’re caught. It won’t, and you’ll lose. Customers will run away in droves, because they can. They can go wherever they want now—it doesn’t matter how loyal they were in the past. Lie to them and get caught, and say goodbye. Instead, it’s about using the tools to market to an audience that wants to help tell your story, because you’ve been awesome at providing them with the service they deserve.
2. It’s about relevance. It’s not about tweeting every single time your company offers 10 percent off on a thingamabob. It’s about finding out where your customers actually are, and going after them there. If you’re tweeting all your discounts, and none of your customers are on Twitter, then you sir, are an idiot. Marketing involves knowing your audience, and tailoring your promotions in specific bursts to the correct segments.
3. It’s about brevity. Guess what, if we have about three seconds to get our message across to a new customer, you know what’s going to do it? Not Twitter followers. Not Facebook fans. Not Foursquare check-ins—no. What’s going to do it is good writing, end of story. Good writing is brevity, and brevity is marketing.
4. It’s about knowing your customer. Finally, it’s about knowing your customer, and making sure your customer thinks of you first. Do you know your audience? Have you reached out to them? I’m not talking about “tweeting at them,” I’m talking about actually reaching out; asking them what you can do better, or asking those who haven’t been around in a while what you can do to get them back. It’s not about 10 percent off coupons or “contests for the next follower.”

The crux for me is this:

Social media is not “cool.” Making money is cool. Social media is simply another arrow in the quiver of marketing, and that quiver is designed to generate revenue.

Anything else and I would think that you have lost the plot.

10 Business Models That Rocked 2010

Thought it was interesting to see the new models of businesses that are slowly changing the way we view… well, Business2.0.

I was particularly struck by how “privacy is dead” and how that opens up new opportunities for business (the PatientsLikeMe.com model) – it really blows the mind. Think about it: people willingly divulge their own patient records (the secrecy of which remains a cornerstone of ethical behavior in the medical profession). Personally speaking, I think this is a transitory phase before we reach the end of the pendulum swing and face a backlash (in fact, on Facebook there seems to be a backlash!).

Anyway, here are the 10 models for your consideration:

View this document on Scribd

If You Advertise For Sales, You Should Get Sales

One of the more enjoyable blogs that I read from time to time is by the (in?)famous Drayton Bird – hailed as the father of direct marketing. His credo throughout his entire career has been to ensure that advertising works, which is why he has consistently advocated for direct marketing – because it must elicit a response and you are able to track that response.

Reading his blog the other day, I came across his post Is This The Biggest Advertising Lie? and thought how eerily true his account of the way advertising agencies sell their ideas across was. In fact, he goes on to say that this is the biggest lie in advertising:

This type of advertising cannot be measured. You can’t just count how many leads come in and calculate your return on investment. That would be very misleading. You need a campaign. You have to build “awareness”. Look at what the big advertisers do. They repeat their ads. You need your name out there so people have heard of you and recognise your brand.

I know I’ve heard that used before. I’m pretty sure you have to.

Then, in his usual hard-hitting style, he goes on to give what he calls “The Truth About Advertising”. These are great principles to remember:

• If your ad doesn’t work once it will never work no matter how many times you run it.
• People who measure their results know that the first time an ad runs it attracts the keenest prospects. If it doesn’t work then, it never will.

However, he goes on to rail that “Brand and awareness are terms often used by ad agencies and magazine and newspaper sales reps to make excuses for not measuring the results of their work. Many advertising companies have used this method for decades to keep their customers in the dark about how effective their work really is. The plain, unpleasant truth is that most advertisers have no idea whether their advertising works at all or they’re just wasting their money.”

I can’t really agree with this because there is a time and place to advertise for “brand” and “awareness” – and later on in his post, Bird does say something similar:

Am I saying that Coca Cola, Nokia and Adidas are run by a bunch of dim-wits who are pouring their advertising money down the drain? No; I am not. Their sales process is not the same as yours. They are selling through retail in a global consumer market where image rules. Their ads are designed to stick in the mind and make people choose them when they reach the shop.

And their margins and numbers are so colossal that they can afford to throw millions at advertising. You can’t. You build and sell property [Note: Bird was talking about this in reference to one of his clients, a property developer]. You need a return on your investment – and pretty quickly.

So, if you are the kind of business that is advertising for sales – then you better make sure your advertising works and draws in the kinds of sales you need. Otherwise, you better make sure you are ready to go the way of “Coca Cola”, “Adidas” and “Nokia”.

Of course, you could also do what Bird advises:

So the next time your advertising salesman asks you for a big cheque think twice and ask him some simple questions, like:

“Really? Show me the sales results.”

And, “Can I talk to a few of the people who are getting sales through you?”

And, “Please explain to me why and how that ad you’re suggesting will work?”

Or even: “How about I pay you on the results? The replies can go to you and I’ll pay you so much a lead.”

 

A Helpful 3-step Web Asset Strategy

Got this from that free e-book on what should the hub of your social media marketing be, which I recently read. Although the person quoted, Mike Sweeney (managing partner, Right Source Marketing) didn’t exactly phrase it as a “web asset strategy”, it’s still a great way to view how best to use your web assets.

Our website tells people what we do.

Our blog tells people how we think.

Our presence n social media properties – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. – serves as a distribution engine for the content produced on both the site and blog.

 

Brands Are The New Religions

Thou shalt not worship false iPhones

As I was fiddling with my iPhone today, I started thinking about how some of the rabid Apple fans I knew spoke about Apple and its related iProducts with almost-religious fervour in almost-religious terms. I mean, though I don’t consider myself a “rabid” Apple fan, but even I am guilty of this: I talk about my recent purchase of the iPhone4 and subsequent adoption its technology in religious terms! I frequently mention to my friends about how I’m now a “convert” and have “seen the light”… and I even go around proselytizing – telling everyone about the “Good News” that I’ve found in the iPhone!

And then,  I stumble upon this article over at Fast Company that talks about how a university study reveals that the Apple Logo Is an Agnostic’s Crucifix, Star of David! The study by Duke University reveals that:

The brand name logo on a laptop or a shirt pocket may do the same thing for some people that a pendant of a crucifix or Star of David does for others.

The Zag Brand Marketing Strategy

I was reading this Ad Age article about how Yahoo! is trying to find a strategy to compete with Google on search (Yahoo Changes Search in Bid to Differentiate Itself From Google). It got me thinking about a conversation with someone I know from the SME industry who is facing a situation in his industry where there is an overwhelming giant dominating the market. Further than that, the industry giant has successfully mitigated some of its weaknesses and is further able and willing to slash its prices in order to maintain market dominance.

So, in such situations, what do you do? What can you do?

One of the best answers I ever got was this: When everyone zigs, zag.

It’s not so easy – and it also often goes against conventional wisdom (there is strong tempatation to fight head-to-head because the consumer base is already “familiar” with what everything entails). But I think it’s still one of the best ways to carve out your brand: Be great and be different.

Here’s what I mean:

Top 10 Social Media Presentations on Slideshare

I got this listing via Digital Buzz blog here and I’m sharing this here so that it serves as a convenient reference for me too. Enjoy!

P.S. Gotta love Slideshare!

(Presentations after the jump!)

10 Questions Brands Should Never Stop Asking Themselves

I really like this reminder by Marc Kramer, via Forbes: 10 questions that brands should never stop asking themselves – regardless of how “old” or established they are. Keeping these questions in mind ensures that the brand remains aware and agile in responding to the rapid, continual changes of the marketplace.

Do You Have a BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goal?

Jim Collins and Jerry Porras introduced the concept of a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (or BHAG) in their 1994 book Built to Last. According to Collins and Porras:

A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as a unifying focal point of effort…It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal. It is tangible, energizing, highly focused. People get it right away; it takes little or no explanation.

BHAGs are more than just the set objectives or goals that describe what companies hope to accomplish over the coming days, months or years. While these goals help align employees of the business to work together more effectively, often these goals are very tactical, such as “achieve 10% revenue growth in the next 3 months.”

BHAGs define visionary goals in a more strategic, in the form of a vision statement “…an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future.” According to Collins and Porras:

A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines.

Set correctly, BHAGs work – where it can even change the very nature of a business’ existence. And get this, I believe BHAGs work great in a branding and marketing context as well.

But what makes a good BHAG? From Collins and Porras, a good BHAG has four qualities: