Irony? Perhaps. Especially when you think about what I do — I create content in various forms for myriad clients. Listening to Margot Bloomstein and Colleen Jones, I actually got a few new nuggets of assistance on how I might better manage my day-to-day operations as a content catalyst. And also what I can jettison in my list of things to do.

Here’s that session overview. For more, hit up either Margot or Colleen on Twitter – they’re at @mbloomstein and @leenjones.

Right from the start, Margot struck a chord with her question about content strategy. She asked…

“When did a clear plan and concrete communication goals become nice-to-haves?”

Seriously. How often have you been in a meeting where the communication’s plan was driven by what management wanted and not by what might motivate the audience? I know it happens to me all the time with some of my corporate clients. They pay me to create missives, brand messages, customer profiles and spec sheets. And for the most part I have freedom to do the job the way it should be done. But from time to time I find myself hamstrung by directives from on high.

When facing this forced track, I often have to alert the client that content isn’t what they want to hear. Not what they feel like saying to themselves about themselves (can you say daily affirmations?), but messaging that means something to your paying audience.

Essentially, this gets down to the entire team knowing what content strategy really is. Margot gave the definition:

Content Strategy is Planning for the creation, aggregation, delivery and governance of useful usable and appropriate content in an experience.

What this definition really does is set content strategy apart from other types of communication. Underlying this philosophy is the belief that the Web isn’t a static medium. It does not exist in one point in time. How will interaction occur in the future.

Essentially, before you can create a message, share it with the world and then start counting your receivables, you need to have a plan. A truer sentiment in business operations has seldom been shared.

The session went much deeper than this, but right now I’ve got to run across town to look at some new cars and see what’s happening at the Auto Show.

But for the first time in a while, I was able to sit back and really listen to the content…how very appropriate.

And I liked the session because it really dug into the nuts and bolts of sharing a vocabulary between divisions and professionals. It gave ideas on how to collaborate, refine messaging and really determine what a company is looking to convey in their messaging.

This and other sessions are continuing throughout the day today at Gilbane. If you have a chance and want to learn something about content, you might want to head over to the Westin.

How do you manage your messages? Do you even know what your most important content is? Please share in the comments here.

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cms, conference, content strategy, gilbane boston, tradeshow

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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?

I welcome your comments.

Keep reading!

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gurus, Jeff Cutler, new media tools, social media training, twitter

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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?

It’ll be fun having you along.

Keep reading!

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: #iroadtrip, Colin Browning, Ford, Jeff Cutler, jim storer, new marketing labs

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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.

Here is the first clip that ran last week.

Interview with Anthony Brooks – 1/8/09

And here is the clip that ran earlier today.

Boomer and Kid Tech – 1/14/09

If you’re having trouble listening – because they require Real Player, then just click below for the audio of my clips.

Here and Now, WBUR.org – CES Report – Jeff Cutler

Here and Now, WBUR.org – Tech Boomers and Kids – Jeff Cutler

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.

Keep reading….and listening!

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: #ces09, Jeff Cutler, NPR, technology, WBUR.org

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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.

My second NPR segment should air the middle of next week and my first is right here for your listening pleasure… ENJOY.

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.

Keep reading!

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CES, Here and Now, Jeff Cutler, NPR, Technology Reporter

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