In a recent conversation with Brad Werntz of Pemba Serves we were discussing the new business models that would develop due to new media.

For some reason my mind came up with a funnel and I started talking about it. By the time I was finished it made a lot of sense, which wasn’t surprising to Brad but a shock to me.

So the communication funnel has been upside down for a long time. Why?

Until recently all messaging by brands went into strict portals like magazines, radio, television, newspapers. Went into the top of the upside-down funnel. Media would receive the messaging, charge for it, place it in their formats, and then distribute.  Advertisers and the media told the brands that they could reach more people more cost-effectively then any other method.

And they were right.

So, all of this messaging went into the top of the funnel, got processed, and then was delivered to the target markets, and hopefully to a lot of people.

With new media this has all changed.

The funnel is now right-side up. Meaning that anyone can publish and can do it at no charge. The top of the funnel is open to the public. Opinions, product reviews, customer complaints, brand messaging, sales pitches, you name it…is flowing into the distribution systems.

Now, all of this information gets seen, and if good, it gets passed around. And if really good, it gains momentum and readership as it moves down the funnel. It also gets directed meaning that many people are involved and directing this information virally to the target markets that would be most interested. People like them.

So, with new media everyone can publish, everyone can express an opinion, everyone re-channels, and in the end the good information gains momentum and hits its proper target market.

So, why do brands still believe they control the message?

First, I thought ORSM09 was a very positive show. Two things continue to happen. The stock market continues to move upward, reaching 9000 just before the Show. Second, this staycation thing is the real deal. People are staying home, taking up new sports, planning local family vacations, and the outdoor industry is benefiting.

It’s all working and our industry, although listing to port a little, is not capsizing. 

And I like the general attitude. “Yeah, things could be better, but we are still making some money, running a tighter ship, and we will make it through.” 

New media is growing in the outdoor space. Tweet-ups, constant tweeting from the Show floor, and many of the major brands looking at or engaging in the blogosphere. Outdoor Retailer is embracing new media and supplying more portals on the Show floor. All good. 

I still strongly believe that the Show should open its doors to the public on the last day. It will happen someday. It is inevitable. 

Now, to the darker side. I heard from several very reliable sources that a certain large retailer threatened several large brands if those brand did business with online powerhouse Amazon.

Let’s start with this. After too many years in the marketing business I must emphasize again that retailers and brands can not fight the market forces. For example, I remember about ten years ago, medium sized specialty retailers were running around the Show telling the brands that they would drop any brand who sold online. Several brands sought my advice. I asked this question,” where is your growth?” And they replied, “Online.” And I asked why? And they said, “Because we think that is where a growing percentage of the consumers will be.” 

Right direction. Right thinking. 

YOU MUST FOLLOW THE CONSUMERS. YOU WILL NOT LEAD THEM. YOU CAN NOT BULLY THEM. THEY ARE TOO BIG. THEY ARE IN CONTROL. THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN IN CONTROL. AMAZON IS GROWING FOR A REASON. 

So, to this large retailer, I say, you must stop this nonsense. Brands will follow the money. They will sell to retailers who bring them customers and offer growth. They have no choice. Their shareholders have put a bulls-eye out there and told management to hit it. Unless, you, large retailer, want to guarantee the returns necessary to keep these shareholders happy, then you must do it the old fashion way.

You must compete. You must continue to create a unique position in the marketplace, buy creatively, attract more consumers to your doors and online, offer great customer service and sponsor customer loyalty programs. You will sell more, and order more merchandise. And the brands will support you more. 

And speaking of support…how can you, large retailer, threaten brands when almost 50% of your floor space is now your own branded products? You, at times, drive consumers into your stores using other brands as the bait, and then you offer your branded products at a lower price while your salesforce whispers that your product has the same quality only it costs less.  

So you are partners with the brands, you compete with them in your own stores, and now you threaten them because they want to grow their businesses. No wonder brands are confused and, at times, angry.

You are a retailer. A damn good one. Probably, the best.  You have been solidly on the side of “good”. You have helped grow the outdoor business. Now, others with a different business model, want to do business and help grow the industry. Invite them in.  And sure compete with them, hard. But also talk with them. Educate them about expectations. Talk to them about the environment, sustainability and participation. Show them how to be a force for good in the business. Both of you will profit. Why? Because you are both capable of bringing millions more consumers into our business. And everyone will profit. 

So, be the leader that you are, and stop baring your teeth.

Peace. 

Out.

Patric Welch writes a blog called Noobie, an advice column for people wanting help with technology. Welch wrote a piece about how Best Buy broke his son’s heart on Valentine’s Day. Welch had ordered a Madagascar DVD on BestBuy.com and it wasn’t delivered with the promised “plush penguin” gift. His son was very disappointed. Here’s what he didn’t get. 

Here’s the reply and the course of action from Best Buy.

Dear Patric,

I’m Jason, Community Connector for Best Buy. We frequently review our customers’ blog and forum posts to gain insight into their experiences to identify areas of improvement.

Valentine’s Day is a special occasion for many individuals and I am sorry to hear you were unable to get your son a plush penguin. I realize it can be frustrating when you do not receive the service you expect and I am disappointed we did not meet your expectations. I would like to invite you to discuss this issue with us further by emailing me at jason.communities@bestbuy.com. Please reference issue number 57801142 and we will do our best to assist you.

Sincerely,
Agent Jason
Community Connector

Best Buy has a team of 10 community connectors that search the Internet for customer relations problems. So Jason went to work after a search pulled up Patric’s problem.  Several online discussions proved that Jason was having a tough time finding any penquins.  Suddenly Patric found two “plush penquins” in the mail; one for each of his sons. Patrick and his sons were ecstatic. Best Buy also credited the Welch’s account for the DVD. 

20 comments have come into the Noobie site, all expressing admiration for Jason the Community Connector and Best Buy. One has even said this story is turning around his impression of Best Buy. 

You cannot buy this. And this is New Media at its most powerful. Where real people from brands help customers by searching online for complaints, reaching out and solving the problems. Now Best Buy has a powerful ally. Do you think Patric will recommend Best Buy to his readers and customers when suggesting technology to solve their problems?

And how about the viral component. This story was emailed to me by a friend. Major media picked up on the story and ran with it. Other bloggers, like me, are picking up the story. And how many people will be talking about the “plush penguin” story in conversations. How many people will congratulate Best Buy? How many Best Buy employees will hear about this. And what kind of positive momentum will this little story sponsor across all distribution channels for Best Buy. 

How many unsatisfied customers do we have in the outdoor recreational space? How many hundreds or thousands of customers are out there talking and writing about certain brands due to incompetence from either online partners or brick and mortar retailers? How many products are stashed in closets, their customers disgusted with the fit, performance or both.   

Don’t have a program to uncover many of these problems? You should. 

Here’s a belated Happy Valentines Day, Best Buy. You earned it.

Skittles, the candy company, is trying something different, again. When you login to the web site www.skittles.com up comes the Skittles Facebook page. 

Last night Skittles pulled the first idea, which was to have the viewer go to the Skittles Twitter Page when visiting the home page. Well, that lasted for about a day. At first, consumers inundated the site with solid and fun stories about Skittles. “My dog loves them.” ” I love the Skittles rabbit!. “I take them with me everywhere.” Stories that fueled the brand forward. 

Then the chatter turned negative. Pranksters got going on the site and it became unmanageable for the brand. Too much negative and not enough positive to shine a good light on the candy.

So, now you automatically go to the Skittle’s Facebook site. True, tighter security here and the community will police itself better.

But let’s look at what the company is really doing…going straight to the online conversation.  It’s like the company says, “you want to know something about Skittles? Here. Here’s everything being said about Skittles at this very moment. Join in.”

Interesting approach. Surpass all of the boring brand messaging about the company and just jump into the Skittle mosh-pile. Skittles put all of its brand messaging in control of the consumers.

And it backfired. How long can people talk about Skittles? It’s fresh now, but will the rapid-fire comments keep coming? I doubt it. And in a week or two when this is over and the conversation dies down, or worse turns negative, then where is the juice? 

The Twitter initiative really failed because it was not authentic. Certain consumers sniffed that out and they went on the attack. Others piled on.  In short, consumers will not play ball all day long if they think they are being used, and in my view that is what happened.  

Now if Skittles complements this new Facebook initiative with well placed, well timed authentic content, and that content fires up more conversation, well now we have something. 

What kind of content?  Producing more company sponsored YouTube videos, creating a contest in every state to find the most interesting character who loves Skittles, publishing new company green programs or sponsoring grass roots events.  And use many distribution channels; Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc. 

Pump content into the new media channels. Make it real. Make it fun. Make it interesting. And make it brand building. 

Consumers are still in control, but the brand is now a big authentic player in the conversation.

Time Magazine came out with a recent article about the continuing devaluation of content. In short, publishers are not getting paid as much for content because content has lost much of it’s value. Here’s the article. Time’s take on content.

So, if content has been devalued why is everyone in new media addressing the importance of content?Because there is a difference between packaged content to attract a mass audience and the major advertising dollars that go with it, and content that serves a much much narrower market. 

Traditional magazines and newspapers are broadcasting in a traditional media format. They write about Obama, recession, weather tradegies, wars, and the latest movies. Stuff that millions may be interested in. But it is general, and the information is pushed to the reader without the option of the reader responding. It is not dynamic, and the reader must pay for it in this traditional format. Ironically, the reader can go online and get much of this content for free. So, of course, they exercise this option. 

New media is narrowcasting…writing to a very specific audience, an audience that highly values the content. Let’s take weather, and more specifically tornadoes. Those interested in that topic, search, find the blogger experts, and opt in to read their stuff by email, rss feed, yahoo, etc.  And they can’t get enough of it. Because this writer is writing directly to them, and their tribe. And they respond with posts, and the author responds back, and a community begins to form about tornadoes: how they build, what precautions to take, tons of pictures, and most importantly, personal experiences. It is dynamic. 

Now, next time a tornado happens in the midwest, these passionate followers will be living it. Reading the tweets, getting hourly updates, seeing the latest photos…all well before traditional media can deliver it. 

That’s the new world. People find their hobbies online, find others with the same passion, and connect. Communities are built, and those in it…live it. 

People do want an overview, so broadcasting will stay with us, but it will migrate to being even more online. It will also shrink because consumers want the latest news and then they move on. Consequently large advertisers will only spend so much money with traditional media. Now the big money is searching for viable ways to connect with new media. 

And how about the outdoor recreational brands? What can be learned here? Consumers are in control. They know what they want, how to get to the information, and how to discover who writes it. The brands that learn to listen, post good content, engage with consumers, and build communities will reap the benefits. These brands will get massive help with product development, customer service and sales. 

How? It starts with finding the unique humanity in your brand. And once you’ve found that, you build a strategy, and begin to produce authentic content.

Your brand is whatever your customers say it is.  And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide.-Groundswell

Many companies in the outdoor space are considering new media. Makes sense.

Our business is filled with, shall we say, dedicated users. Or as Yossarian in a TGR Forum writes, “hard-chargin’, story-writin’, zappa recitin’, flame-throwin’, 24-7-365 thinkin’ (about skin’ and boardin’, anyway), gear-debatin’, pow-ridin’ people in the world!”  There are many of them, and a growing list is publishing in new media: blogs, forums, facebook, twitter, etc.  And many other consumers are reading, commenting, and round and round it goes. 

In the old days we just talked to ourselves. Decided what was cool and what technology would be best, and then pushed that messaging into the marketplace. With new media, manufacturers push product into the marketplace, and the response comes roaring back within days. 

So, how does a company begin the new media journey? Let’s start with what you don’t do:

1. Think you will start small and see where this goes. (Might as well drink from a fire hose.)
2. Assign a mid-level employee to the task of monitoring and responding to new media.
3. Believe that the old push strategy of messaging will work when you respond to a post.
4. Assume that one department can handle new media. 
5. Take your time
6. Just talk

 Let’s take these one at a time:

1. The new media communication initiative needs dedicated support from top management. Without support and guidelines it will whip a company around like a rag doll.
2. A company’s new media person is the “point” for a potential tsunami of information. As blogger Tom Vanlerberghe (www.tomvanlerberghe.com) writes, “being able to speak for your company is a great responsibility, a responsibility not everyone can or will handle.”  
3. This market wants authentic conversation, so stay away from marketing drivel. Tell the truth. 
4. New media will affect most of your departments, particularly customer service, sales, marketing and product development. Why? Because there will be comments and questions about pricing, slow product replacement, brand issues like environmental support, and product feature and benefit criticisms and praise. 
5. Take your time and you allow a negative post to work through the viral world unchecked. The perception, and the reality, grows. 
6. Just talk and you will watch dollars, lots of them, fly right out the door.  Have a communication strategy for new media. 

Next Up: Strategy? How do you attach a strategy to a conversation coming from everywhere?