What do you think of when you hear “strategic partnership”? Do you envision Coke and a movie theater franchise? Or a mattress manufacturer and a chiropractor? Or even a spedometer design firm and the local traffic enforcement brigade?
Whatever the alliance, it’s easy to see how some complementary arrangements develop. The same holds true in social media marketing, but the lines are a bit blurred.
Does it make sense for ad agencies to partner with social media trainers? Perhaps. Especially if the agency is still developing its menu of services.
How about a restaurant and a social media marketing agency? Maybe if the agency has some traditional background as well.
And what about similarly skilled pro’s in this social media space? Would you want to form a collaborative with folks who are blessed with the same skills? Isn’t that the same as putting 12 dentists in the same medical building or Quizno’s, Subway and D’Angelo’s side by side in a strip mall?
Maybe not.
In this evolving space, people bring a lot to the table that’s beneath the surface. My friend Mike Langford could teach businesses how to use social media tools as well as my friend Gradon Tripp. They both know the tools and both have the same exposure. But Mike brings a financial services and investing utility belt to the table while Gradon puts design acumen on the table.
Who’s better to teach Fidelity? Maybe Mike.
Who’s better to teach IKEA? Maybe Gradon.
Then what about the fish in this bowl who don’t have a background? Those gurus who are only versed in the tools? Are they worth hiring?
It’s an interesting question. Unlike employers who were on a “hire any liberal arts graduate” kick a few years ago because they were looking for balance instead of tunnel-vision, the market has swayed the other way. The more quills in your quiver, the better poised you are to deliver value to any client.
If four of us know the tools equally well, but only one of us has experience in multiple other fields, who would you pick to do your work or conduct your training?
Isn’t it in a company’s best interest to take a harder look at the entire package they’re purchasing than to jump at the shiny new object?
Hey, I like the $1000/hour gigs as much as the next guy, but I’d be dishonest if I told you I knew the history of Fred Olmsted and his contributions to local and national open spaces. And I’d be doing everyone in this social media specialty a disservice if I still went forward and bungled a job that would have benefited from that knowledge.
Maybe it’s time for every guru to look around and ask what else they bring to the table before they jump at the chance to talk to anyone who will pay them to explain ‘the twitter’.
And maybe it is time for us to start collaborating and forming the partnerships that allow us to offer more robust services. The rising tide is bringing all boats higher, but that could change pretty quick if we don’t share some of the wealth.
Because if you go it alone and scare off enough companies with your incompetence or narrow skillset you make it hard on the rest of us.
I’m not worried about me, I’ve got a finance guy, some political people, a printer, designer, CFO and some CMOs and agency people in my camp. But wouldn’t it be great if everyone were happy?
What do you think? Should we just let the market decide by chewing up and spitting out the idiot gurus? Or is it time for the partnerships to begin?
Jim Storer mentions in his latest blog post that it’s foolish not to begin a week of insanity, sleep deprivation and critical client networking with a few naps and then a few more naps to ensure you’re bright-eyed and bushy tailed for the challenge. He also implies strongly that some opportunities in life are too interesting and possibly philosophically lucrative to pass up.
With the scales nearly flipped over sideways in favor of getting some sleep and being prepared for the non-stop energy suck that is South by Southwest (#SXSW), Jim jumped at the chance to drive a pre-release 2010 Ford Escape from the tip of the Great Lakes to the center of Austin Texas with a few other creative types.
I’m one of those aforementioned CT’s. That’s right. I’ve had my arm twisted to join a crew of social media experts and strategists on a four-wheeled excursion (the name of another Ford product – unintended connection) through the heartland of America.
On this journey I don’t think we’re going to run into turkeys or lions or tigers or bears – oh, my. But I do harbor some hope of connecting with the ever elusive Twitterer. You know the one. You’ve seen the name online constantly. They have some of their comments retweeted by luminaries like @jimmyfallon or @therealdvorak, but they’re seldom in the wild.
I also am seriously thrilled to chronicle the journey in words, images and sound. To that end I’ve pitched a handful of publications and will be making my missives (likely three or four per day) available here at jeffcutler.com.
I encourage you to link to the original work and add comments on the posts.
If we run into trouble, I’ll tweet about it and share those events and fears at my other blogs.
What do you think? Where do you want us to go? What do you want me to ask of the guys in the car and of the people on the road?
In the past week I went from moderately famous podcaster, journalist and philanthropist to the echelons of household name…at least when it comes to National Public radio reporting.
That’s right, NPR sent me to the Consumer Electronics Show to report on the gadgets that make Americans drool. I came back with lots of audio, many blisters and a great deal of respect for the cab drivers in Las Vegas.
Further, I came back with content. I’ve sent some to MobileMag.com and some to Technology Review. But the bulk of my research and interviews have been used on the air at Boston’s NPR radio station – WBUR.
If you’re having trouble listening – because they require Real Player, then just click below for the audio of my clips.
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Please realize that WBUR is public radio and they enjoy support from listeners like you. It’s even more important that you give them money now because I loved working with them on this project and look forward to many more adventures. For that to happen, they need your suport.
WBUR.org is the Website and Here-Now.org is where you can find more great stories any day of the week.
Actually, the Consumer Electronics Show isn’t nearly as bad as my headline. My feet are blistered (as is my wallet), but the people I’ve met and the pieces I’ve put together for various clients have been awe-inspiring and fulfilling, respectively.
From the arrival Sunday – and please realize that we’re only at day two of this massive show – I’ve been at the microphone, on my feet and in the face of anyone with a product to sell and a story to tell.
If you’re not familiar with the machinations of a journalist at a trade event, the blueprint/gameplan/schedule is pretty much as follows…
Set up interviews, meetings, outlines, story ideas, assignments, timelines and leisure plans before you drive to the airport.
People you’ve never met send you literature and pitches asking you to cover their products in your segments. At this point, you don’t even know what the real stories are or in my case, who you’re writing or recording them for, but that doesn’t deter the PR armies from filling your inbox faster than a new Viagra drug note or a god/prayer/Nigeria/hoax email from family, friends and that nice guy named Nigel overseas who wants to give you $40Million.
You then play the planes, trains and automobiles dance to get to your hotel. I’m lucky that mine – reserved sight-unseen (or should that be site-unseen?) – was amazing. See this video for a walk around the estate.
Next you start working. For me, reporting for NPR’s Boston station WBUR meant that interviews and information had to be compiled before the show floor was even open to the media. To this end I had to attend multiple press events and consume large amounts of complimentary refreshments.*
After doing my taping of a program for Here and Now – a syndicated, immensely popular and brilliant show – I had to press the reset button on my soul and go back at it. I have other segments to write and produce for the radio station and also have three other clients in the publishing world who need content.
It’s only Saturday and the show doesn’t end for another 40 hours. If you are keeping score, I’ve met @scobleizer and @jaffejuice in person, I’ve rubbed elbows with Dick DeBartolo, have interviewed really smart people with really silly products, have interviewed really smart people with really great products, have been on high-lust status for the technology I’ve seen that may never make it to market, have lost some money at poker, and I’m still going at it.
I’ll be giving a more comprehensive detail of the things I learned about at CES, the pieces I’ve written and recorded and some of the less professional fun I’ve had out here, soon.
For now, it’s back into the fray with microphone in hand and a smile on my face.
As the world of computing changes, those of us who use computers in our personal and professional lives are faced with a variety of choices. Aside from the platform we use – Macintosh is my choice, but you’re free to use Linux or Windows – there’s a slew of software created to help us work more efficiently or to entertain us.
Alex Payne created a blog post that gave us a list of the software he spent money on but no longer uses. He said he’s not so big on comments – and doesn’t allow them on his blog – so I’m going to comment here on some of his software choices and then give you a few of the greatest applications I’ve got running on my Macbook and iPhone.
Here we go…
Acquisition. The file-sharing software is a godsend. Payne says that he has some regret at this purchase. I think it’s still very useful – but I have yet to upgrade to the pro version. It’s great for finding music, software trial versions and other data online.
Chax. Really useful iChat application and well worth whatever you decide to donate. Payne didn’t like it. I think it gives you more functionality than iChat alone. I like it.
CS3. Can’t live without it. With Photoshop full version, Dreamweaver and InDesign, there’s nothing I can’t do to make my publications, Websites and photos look better.
Pages. This writing program comes with the Apple iWork suite which is well worth the cash. I think I paid $80 for it and I hardly ever use Numbers, but Pages is more versatile than MS Word and allows me to do everything I need to do with words. Seeing that writing is my job, that’s pretty important.
Cyberduck. I’m doing a lot of Web work these days and being able to FTP files is important. Cyberduck is a donation application and I’ve given my share of cash and gotten it back in spades. The program works fast and is always being updated.
Audio HiJack Pro. Fantastic for podcasting and manipulating any sound you put into your Mac. I use it to record and route sound via Skype interviews and Garageband recordings. I think it was about $30. Would gladly pay twice that.
Toast Titanium. Just the best disk-burning software around. Well worth the cash and also an application that’s always being improved.
SuperDuper. If you don’t back up your hard drive regularly, you’re an idiot. SuperDuper is the fantastic utility that can be used for free to do this crucial work. The paid version gives you even more functionality and is definitely worth the $30 I think I paid.
MacSpeech Dictate. I’m only a few days into reviewing this software for a publication, but I’m floored at how easy this software is to use. It’s speech recognition for the Mac that puts everything else I’ve tried to shame. It took me a grand total of nine minutes to train the program and get it to recognize my third-party microphone. Now I’m using it to operate iChat, ‘write’ documents in NotePad and in Pages, and navigate around my Mac. It even allowed me to open a few different apps like GarageBand, iCal and Safari. Retail price on it is $199, and well worth the investment if you’re looking for an easy way to speak your documents and save on typing.
Lastly, let’s talk iPhone. I have purchased one iPhone application. There isn’t anything I’ve found – save a Halloween application written by a friend of mine – that I can see paying money for in the iTunes Application Store. People are paying for a ‘Pull My Finger’ app. C’mon.
So if you’re looking to beef up your Macintosh application list, take a look at my choices. And if you’ve got favorites of your own, leave your comments right here…I welcome them.
While working at WBUR Boston tonight, I spoke via email with Ron Sylvester about his remembrances of past elections. Follow him on Twitter if you’re so inclined. And read here some of his thoughts about the voting process in the United States and his experiences. Enjoy.
I’ve always been interested in presidential elections, probably because my father was a broadcast journalist. I remember getting to stay up late to watch the returns of Humphrey/Nixon. It went into the wee hours, and I had to go to bed before the election was decided. I woke up and Nixon was president. I was like in the fourth grade then.
Nixon won re-election in a landslide. Not every exciting, and after Watergate Carter’s election was predictable.
Carter/Reagan was the first election I got to vote in. Voted for Carter. Cable was new then and me and college buddies sat and drank beer all night and watched TBS show a Reagan marathon after he won. That’s what I remember about that night.
We expected an exciting election in ‘92 and friends were ready for an exciting night, keeping track of the states as they came in. We were all supporting Clinton and were sure he was going to change the country, as the first president of the rock ‘n’ roll generation. That didn’t last very long: Clinton began winning states and it was evident early that he was going to roll. But the lead-up to that night, the anticipation that the leadership of the country was ready to be handed to a new generation, was very close to this one.
Of course, 2000, was the most exciting, with the Florida goes to Gore, no, to Bush, wait, who voted, now it goes to the Supreme Court. It doesn’t get more dramatic than that. People went to bed that night thinking Gore had won and woke up not knowing who was going to be president.
But I think the excitement of tonight goes beyond the race, the numbers, the margin of victory, as we look toward an historic election.
I grew up remembering vividly the days Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were killed. Those were moments that defined my generation and changed our country. I often wonder what might have happened if RFK had gone on to be president. We might have avoided Watergate, and all the damage that did to the faith in the country. On the other hand, in hindsight, we have seen the Kennedys can also contribute to their own scandals. But I like to think things would have been different. Obama offers that same kind of hope Bobby gave in those stirring speeches, which I can still remember, despite being so young.
There are some key issues that define this election. I believe we are going to see big crowds of people, who have never voted before, who have felt disenfranchised in previous elections, getting out to vote. And I believe that could point to a more decisive victory for Obama. I also wonder what might happen if McCain pulls an upset, and what this might say about our country.
The reason this is such an exciting election for me is the promise that, after all these years, Martin Luther King’s dream might be realized: today, a man will be judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin.
I was hungry once. For about five weeks. But that passed.
I was in the hospital being starved by my physician in an effort to quell the anger in my gut. For more than a year the doctors had tried to fight the ravages of Crohn’s Disease on my 16-year-old form, but not much had worked.
Horrible medications bloated my body and caused similar symptoms to the ones they were prescribed to treat. So surgery was the best chance I had to get back on a healthy track.
I wasn’t fibbing. I entered the hospital in the summer of 1981 and wasn’t allowed to eat anything for five weeks. No water, no bread, no crumbs. Nothing.
But all the while, I knew that I would be able to eat again. I didn’t fear an existence without food. Or shelter. Or even medical care. I was fortunate.
This isn’t a column about my experience with poverty. If it were, you’d be done reading by now because I haven’t had to deal with the hardship or fear that accompanies lack of money, food and care.
It’s actually an early thanksgiving message because no matter what my situation, I’ve still had clothes to wear, a roof over my head and food to eat. Not everyone is so lucky.
In 2007, according to the United States government, the poverty line was $10,787. That’s how much an individual had to earn to ensure that he or she was above the poverty level.
Can you imagine? Many of us spend twice that amount on our car.
What about the people involved in new media or technology? While it’s a fun field to participate in, many people in the fishbowl spend about half that on all their gadgets and travel and new media event participation.
Ten-thousand bucks. That’s what it cost my insurance company for ONE dose of ONE medication in the late 1990s.
People spend that much money on a honeymoon and five times that on a wedding. And they’re often still complaining about their lives.
What if you didn’t have the cash? What if you didn’t have the support network? What if you were poor? What if yours was the face of poverty?
The recent admission by Lance Armstrong that he’s planning to try and win an eighth Tour de France title has me reeling. I’ve seen Lance in the Tour IN PERSON twice and would likely make every effort to attend his next attempt if he follows through with this promise.
Here’s are two shots I took of Lance in 2005 on the slopes of the Alps near Courchevel France. One is of the finish on the Alps, one is of the downhill start the next day.
You can see that he’s all alone and is hammering up the hill. OK, you can see only that he’s alone. And he actually came in second on that stage, but it was great to see him in person and to have the ability to take photos and report on the event.
In the other shot you can see he’s in yellow and poised to win his 7th Tour de France.
That’s what I’m thinking about today as I look forward to assignments at CES in January and Spring Training in Florida in February and March.
If you’re at a news outlet and need a versatile freelancer for these types of assignments, gimme a shout in the comments on this post or send me an email… jeff (@) jeffcutler (dot . ) com.
Oh, if you want the full resolution shots I took at the 2005 Tour de France, get in touch. I’m willing to sell one-time rights.
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