Labels: Branding, Canadiens, Logo, Marketing, Purple Cow, share-able, social media, Viral

Labels: 24, CollegeHumor.com, Internet, Jack Bauer, Usage

Two Things Before You Even Start

• Get rid of all Czars. They screwed up everything in Russia and exploited the people. So, why do we put Czars in charge and expect things to get better?

Why don't we think about stuff like this? We don't question words, even when they don’t make sense.

If we are going to fix radio, we have to think more. Which means the first step is...

• Stop lying to yourself. Things are bad. The top people in radio made a lot of mistakes. You can’t take true action till you are honest with yourself. Things can get better – but not if you don't face the truth. It’s like the 12 step program. Start with honesty.

Describe your 'current reality' – honestly. The tension between 'current reality' and what you want to create (your Outcome Statement) is what creates action.

Then, if you still want to take action, use 3 Tools.

Three Tools for Being Proactive Around Growth

• Use Strategic Thinking. This is the most powerful strategic tool in business. Create an Outcome Statement – what 'outcome' do you want to create? Once you have identified what you want to create, identify what you have to 'do differently' to get there. Start making the changes.

• Use a '90 Days' summary. Work with your direct reports and, for each of them agree on what they have to do in the next 90 days.

And, demand that your boss meet with you (in person or on the phone) every 90 days to determine what you have to get done in the next 90 days.

This is the best get-it-scheduled-and-done tool in the business. It worked for Lee Iacocca.

• Practice Listenomics. Get rid of all Czars and be like Lego and Nokia. Empower your fans. Don’t try to control them. Listen to the conversation. More details at gomediafix.com.

The Most Important Thing To Do On-Air

• Focus on what's immediately relevant. Relevant is more important than local. Even though local is important, it is a subset of immediate – not the other way around.

Get rid of all the Czars – the same ones who said HD was the next big thing. The same ones who say the only future is local. They are playing follow-the-leader.

The Litmus Test

• Sell a 20 year old on working in radio. Write a speech to persuade them to come into the radio business. Think your speech through. Write it down. Try it out. Be honest.

If you can't persuade them, ask the 20 year old - 'What would have to change in order for me to be able to encourage you to work in radio?'

Next, ask yourself – 'What would I want to change in radio to make it more attractive to a 20 year old?'

Then, look at your answers and theirs - and set to work immediately on influencing the necessary changes. One step at a time. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Labels: 2009, Future, John Parikhal, Listenomics, NAB, Radio

Labels: Customer satisfaction, Marketing, social media, social networking

RushmoreDrive.com, the first black search engine, recently shut down only a year after its launch. This raised the question about whether there is a market for a black version of Google.

Rushmore Drive was the brainchild of Barry Diller's IAC, which just reported a "first-quarter net loss of $28.4 million compared to a profit of $52.8 million in the same quarter a year ago."

Too bad. Rushmore's failure is not only another negative statistic from the fallout of the economic downturn, but also from questionable planning.

Early on, several folks from both the black and mainstream blogosphere balked at the idea of Rushmore. Bloggers criticized Rushmore for being racist and separatist while others didn't understand the concept at all. Additionally, a few questioned why IAC, whose focus is e-commerce websites, would even consider such an idea. Importantly, naysayers wondered how Rushmore would compete with the powerful Google brand?

At Hunter-Miller, we understand why and how Rushmore (and even Blackbird, the black web browser) traveled down that path. Many African-Americans -- be they business owners who target African-American consumers, students or those who want a deeper understanding of black culture -- look for specific black content, resources and stats. These black-consumer information searchers often complain that the web isn't delivering. We discovered several types of African-American content that appeared on earlier pages of Rushmore's site but appear a lot, lot later on Google and on Bing, Microsoft's new search engine. Thus, it appeared that Rushmore was better than Google at collecting, organizing and disseminating Black information.

There are some who are sorry to see Rushmore go.

Donna Smith-Bellinger, co-founder-VP of PCG Technology Services, a digital strategy company, says: "We need special search engines like Rushmore Drive to make it easier to identify and locate African-American information online. An African-American search engine not only helps other African Americans find Black-owned business websites, but it can also aid corporations looking for minority companies to hire."

Additionally, Donald Moore, newly appointed president of Burrell Digital, added: "I believe that ethnic search engines have a place in the digital space. What I do question is how will they build scale and sustainable profitability?"

However, business strategist Jaclynn Topping doesn't agree. After learning about Rushmore's failure on Huffington Post, Topping questioned Rushmore's strategy. "There was nothing missing [from using Google] as a Black person. The concept of a race-based search engine (or browser) is ridiculous, especially in the face of the move to open platforms. The world-wide-web is color-blind, gender-blind, disability-blind. No barriers. It's all about the tag, keyword density and linking strategy. It's the Internet's greatest strength. What is Rushmore giving me? What's Black about browsing?"

John Parikhal, co-author of this post, and an expert on both the internet and black consumer preferences, provides another perspective: "Rushmore's failure is really about a lack of consumer understanding. They didn't recognize the difference between search and engagement. Search usually starts with utility -- just give me something I want. That's what Google, Yahoo and Bing are fighting over. It has less to do with color. But engagement (which really makes ads work) is different. That's where understanding Black America really pays off."

~ ~ ~
John Parikhal is a "practical futurist" and consultant specializing in media strategy, marketing, research and consumer trends.

Pepper Miller is founder and president of the Hunter-Miller Group, Chicago.

Labels: AdAge, African-Americans, Black, Parikhal, Pepper Miller, Rushmore, Search engines

Labels: Effectiveness, Effies, Mercury Awards, Radio, ROI

Labels: Amazon, format, Google, growth, Zappos

Labels: Alexa, Canada, Online, Radio, Top 20, web traffic

Labels: Conan, Late Night, Tonight Show, TV

Labels: 2009, Google, Media Trend Watching, search

Labels: Change, Drucker, Future, growth, Leadership, management, NAB, Radio, Thinking

People use Twitter for all sorts of reasons. But what are those reasons, exactly? Is it about marketing, gathering intelligence, connecting, community? Is it for social reasons?

In a word: Yes.

Twitter may be used as just another lead-generation tool. Or it may be about connecting with new friends. But above all, people on Twitter are truly motivated by learning new things and getting information real-time, as it’s developing.

Labels: Learning, Motivations, social media, Twitter

Labels: 1984, Creativity, Engagement, Howard Stern, Interactivity, NBC, Viral Video, YouTube

"Internet companies are checking out the customer six ways to Sunday. But radio will tell you they don't have the money to research their customer. I truly think we’re at the tipping point, because for any business, you have to know who your customers are.

For radio, it's 5 different customers:

#1 - Wall Street or another 'lender'.

#2 – The advertiser. And radio should focus a lot more on the advertiser, because it has given them very short shrift. The more innovative companies are trying to become the digital and media marketing experts for the local guy, to help them move more product. Their competition is Craigslist and emerging online city directories.

#3 - The FCC, and I sense that radio will be hearing from them within a year.

#4 - The employees. With a few notable exceptions, they have been treated the way no customer should ever be treated. This whirlwind of firings and layoffs has nothing to do with performance, and the message it sends is very negative. People are now very, very wary about making radio a career.

#5 - The listener. But radio thinks 'all we have to do is keep the listeners we’ve got.' That’s a fool's game. You have to grow the pie, and to do that, you need to know more about your listener than their favorite songs or that they like sports on the radio. The listener doesn't care that radio is in a recession and won't invest in understanding their changing needs."

Labels: Customers, John Parikhal, Media Trend Watching, Radio, Radio-Info, Tom Taylor

Labels: Celebrity Apprentice, customizing, LifeLock, Trump, Viral Video