I've had thousands - and they're all rubbish!
If you want a run down of some of the more creative ones you can see a list over at our ClickZ site. The chance to send a tatooed santa was good..
Ho, Ho, Ho.
Rory Brown, Incisive Media
The B2B industry has never been well covered by the mainstream press but with the rise of blogging there are now some great, thought provoking sites to read. Here are 6 I read every now and again:
Anyone got any others they follow? Leave a message below.
Rory Brown, Incisive Media
We're planning ahead for the 2008 SIPA UK Annual Congress. It'll take place in July and we'd like to know your thoughts on the major issues in the industry before putting the programme together.
Please take our survey. It will only take 5-10 minutes. Link is here
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2f5byq7YSrSji6_2fY7Kp_2bVng_3d_3d
Thanks,
Rory Brown, Incisive Media
As is traditional in media circles the end of December is the time to look back on the previous year and review some of the key moments. Obviously this is hard-hitting editorial and has nothing to do with most journalists being in a semi-commatose state & unable to write anything ground-breaking as a result of various Christmas party excesses..
As SIPA UK Chairman in 2008 I would like to do the same.
First off, I'm pleased to be steering an association in such rude health. The transition from the old 'print newsletter era' to specialised information providers is well behind us and last year saw more new members join the association than ever before. Some of the new members are from the familiar old stalwarts of publishing who have often re-discovered the benefits of SIPA. Others I am less familiar with but very pleased to see joining. A selection of our new members are listed below:
Welcome everyone and I hope you find SIPA a good home. Please participate actively. As with all good things you'll get so much more out of the association if you put a bit in. Come to the great series of events we will be hosting in 2008 and tell your friends and colleagues in similar organisations to join.
The specialist information community is a hotbed of talent and creativity ideally placed to take advantage of all the opportunities that our new media world offers. SIPA will continue to provide an opportunity to get out and share experiences with others in the field.
I would like to personally thank Julian Turner of Electric Word for his sterling work as Chairman in 2007. Also Karen Hindle, without whos help the whole association would rapidly grind to a halt. Thanks Karen.
The committee for UK SIPA also put in huge amounts of time alongside extremely busy day jobs. Thanks to:
Rory Brown, Incisive Media
Following an enthusiastic show of hands at the latest SIPA UK E-marketing conference a couple of weeks back, I have now set up a Facebook group for SIPA UK members.
This is the Facebook group for UK specialised information publishers, large and small, to discuss their challenges, share ideas and network with their peers.
If you are already a Facebook member, you can find the group at: SIPA UK Facebook group
Alternatively, you can join the rest of the world's population on Facebook by signing up now.
Although, I would be first to admit that take-up amongst Melcrum staff has been slow. Why? Because, a lot of people see Facebook as a place for friends. But those divides between work and play are tumbling down. After all, is work a place you go to each day, or something you do?
With more of us working remotely, social media brings colleagues and friends closer together.
But what do you think? Is Facebook a tool for business too?
Robin
Without wishing to add to the overall media hysteria about Facebook I would like to highlight the usefulness of the 'groups' function to specialist publishers. For a long time our events teams have talked about building social networks around conferences and exhibitions. We have worried that our delegates and visitors don't get enough opportunity to interact and that the audience we have spent so many marketing dollars to collect then go away until you start promoting to them for the next related event or the following year.
Now, there are several simple solutions that don't require any technology investment on your part. Why build a social network when they already exist and can be adapted to your business needs? The groups function on services like Facebook and LinkedIn is so easy to use and set up & link to that you can quickly gather hundreds of 'friends' to your brand or event.
Want to see an example?
Here's the plug. From December 4-6 at Olympia in London Incisive Media will host the Online Information show. It is aimed at knoweldge managers, information professionals and e-publishers & features over 200 exhibitors, a range of free to attend seminars and a 1,000 person conference on 'Applying Web 2.0 technologies in your business'. It's a fantastic event that a lot of SIPA members both attend and exhibit at. Please come along. This year, for the first time we have established a Facebook group for the event where delegates and exhibitors can come together to arrange meetings, make product announcements and ask advice.
In the 3 weeks since it was set up we have over 150 members and the discussion has started. With hindsight we should have set the group up as Online Information rather than a group specific to this year's show but it's been an interesting experiment and one which I would encourage you all to play around with (assuming Facebook hasn't been barred on your company servers...)
Rory Brown, Incisive Media
At SIPA UK we are trying to get a bit of a head start on planning for the big annual conference.
In June this year Julian & Karen did a terrific job and the conference was a resounding success. However, each year I come away thinking it would have been so much bigger and better if we had got our act together a bit earlier and given potential delegates and sponsors a bit more notice. So, with that spirit in mind I am getting the ball rolling now & would like feedback from you.
Questions I will raise initially are:
1/ What great new initiatives have you made recently in your business? Do you have case studies and information you would be happy to explain and share? They could involve new electronic developments, social networks, events or brand launches.
2/ In 2007 we split the afternoon tracks into 3 sections - sales, marketing and publishing. Did this work? Any other suggestions?
3/ The event is currently 1 day with 2 half day forums the day before. Is this long enough? Too long?
4/ Any ideas we can steal from other events you like?
Please leave messages or ideas in the comments section below. Alternatively e-mail me at rory [dot] brown [at] incisivemedia [dot] com.
Our 2008 event is likely to be held in the 3rd quarter of 2008 so we've got plenty of time to develop a blockbuster event. I look forward to hearing your ideas.
Rory Brown.
I recently moved office. No great drama but so much stuff...
As I was packing up I realised it fell into 3 main categories:
a) Bits of random clothing (I think it was mostly mine...) **
b) 'Swipe files' full of good ideas to nick from competitors
& c) A load of unopened magazines.
It was then that it dawned on me, I had all but stopped reading the magazines.
So, how was I getting the information that I used to read in Marketing, Marketing Week, New Media Age, Revolution, dare I say it Hotline or any of the other titles that I used to consume so avidly? It's not quite as simple an answer as you might expect.
Initially I had switched to e-mail newsletters and Google alerts. I had set up a webmail account and used to scan it a couple of times each week to see if anything interesting was happening. Now, that webmail account is only rarely visited. 90% of my information comes from RSS feeds on a personalised Google homepage and the way in which they draw me back to key sites.
And your point, Rory, is?
I did a quick scan through a few publishers sites at lunchtime today. Very few seem to be implementing RSS effectively and making it easy to sign up. I would say that the Euromoney site was probably the exception with a big feature on the middle of the homepage encouraging sign up. Nice.
All too often when I visited sites RSS options were hidden away or made really difficult to sign up for. I don't know about you but I cannot believe how many sites I still visit where I want to sign up for a feed but when I click I am faced with a screen full of code - what's that all about? Make it easy for your users with a clear label and list all the chicklet buttons (Add to Google etc.). Watch your feed traffic grow.
I'd be interested to hear others thoughts about how they consume media. Which business related magazines do you still read regularly? Leave a comment below.
Rory Brown, Managing Director, Incisive Media
** I suspect I'm not alone on the strange office moves stakes. I saw one colleague pack a huge orange crate up and stick a label on the side saying Fragile - Champagne and Shoes. Naming no names but some of you might be able to guess...
Hello,
Are you interested in writing a regular post for the SIPA UK Blog?
This can be anything along the lines of: marketing innovations you are trying, industry news, top tips and tactics, best-practice, thoughts that occur to you. Anything that other publishers and marketers would find interesting and useful.
Please get in touch either by posting a comment to this post or contacting Karen Hindle at SIPA UK headquarters.
Thanks in advance.
Robin.
Today marks the start of the SIPA UK's Annual conference with roundtables today and the main conference tomorrow. You can download the full brochure here.
This morning there's a Marketing Directors' Forum and later on, I am running a roundtable on International Marketing, which will cover the following:
Logistical issues offline and online
Delivery of products, correctly formatting order forms, charging for shipping etc
Language and cultural issues
Language barriers, should you translate, differences in US/UK english, format preference in different countries
Global v multi-national approaches
Does one size fits all approach work? Segmenting your database etc.
Maintaining international databases and lead generation
Where to find lists that work, how to build an international database
Currencies, pricing, order processing
Which currencies should you offer, how should you determine pricing?
Local marketing tactics
Using a local agent, local telemarketing, talking to customers, tradeshows etc
Marketing and the law
The do’s and don’t of international marketing, what to watch out for
Should be a great session and a fantastic conference, so see you there.
Robin.
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