CONTENTed

In May 2015 Cannabiz Media was formed.  As one of the co-founders, I've learned a lot about this fascinating industry.  In order to share what I've learned I have compiled the following list of resources to help you learn about key companies, recruiters, associations, newsletters and financial institutions Newsletters/Blogs  – This is a sampling, there are a lot out there.. General Cannacurio Highly Objective - excellent analysis and reporting.  Weekly with content I don't find elsewhere. MJBiz Daily -  https://mjbizdaily.com/ Cannabiswire – long form journalism -  https://cannabiswire.com/newsletter/ Marijuana Moment --  https://www.marijuanamoment.net/category/newsletter/ GreenMarket Report – Debra Borchardt   https://www.greenmarketreport.com/ Gangapreneur Cannalawblog  - from law firm of Harris Bricken.  Excellent overviews and insights on many cannabis and psychedelic topics via another blog Regional / International GrownIn ...

You Should Never Say "What Customers Need to Understand is..." I always cringe when product people utter the words “What customers need to understand is…”.  To me it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how to serve a market.  I saw this sentiment reported in a recent  New York Times article  on the hearing aid market which explained that the pricing model is essentially a forced bundle where two thirds of the price was for service, including hearing evaluation, counseling and adjustments over the life of the product.  This approach has put a pair of hearing aids at or about $5,000. The manufacturers believe, and perhaps rightly so, that diagnosing and treating hearing loss are too complex for consumers to do using consumer devices, without the aid of a professional and therefore justifies the forced bundle.  However, in this age of self-service people will search out their own solutions. By assuming a status quo approach with forced bundles a...

Social Local Mobile Running Info I've been running road races with some consistency for the last ten years.  I'm perhaps a bit faster now than when I started so I am glad for that.  What has been interesting for me has been the evolution of how sign-ups and data sharing work.  Many race organizers rely on multiple vendors for these tasks. They'll use Imathlete or Active.com or some ticket website to gather sign-ups.  Usually a local firm handles the timing and chips because onsite work is required.  Finally the starting gun goes off and the racers cross the timing mat and head out on the course. If it is a 5-K race the speedy finishers cross the line in 16+ minutes and look to see what the big time clock says.  As more racers come in the computer dutifully logs in their time until everyone finishes.  Meanwhile the timing company starts printing out result sheets and taping them to tables or walls so people can see how they did - and some wil...

A few years ago I had the chance to speak at a panel at the O’Reilly Tool’s of Change conference. As part of the attendee registration package I was given a copy of the book Confessions of a Public Speaker , by Scott Berkun . It was a great read packed with humorous insights as well as useful tips that the author has honed over the years. I enjoyed it so much that I took it as one of my vacation books and have bought copies for colleagues. Here are a couple of highlights: 1. Good Discussion of the Practicalities of Public Speaking – Berkun has been on his own making a living by speaking and writing. As a result he’s compiled a lot of best practices and tips that come from his extensive experience. Some are obvious like showing up early while others are clever like wiring the microphone through your shirt so the cords are not swinging while you are speaking. 2. Tools of the Trade – Berkun writes about what kind of equipment to have, what kind of back-ups to use and s...

Publishing Industry Contacts (Updated December 2019) As I've moved through the information industry I've collected contacts about associations, financial firms, companies, recruiters and consultants.  I've maintained it as a word document and am finally moving it online so that I can refer job seekers and industry researchers there.  I'm hoping it will be easier to update and more permanent.  Please send any additions, deletions or corrections to ed.keating@gmail.com or use the comment feature below. 1) Associations a) SIIA – Software & Information Industry Association. They cover the content and software area quite well. . i) FISD.net – Financial division of SIIA b) SIPA – Specialized Information Publishers Association (merged with SIIA) c) American Business Media – Founded in 1906, American Business Media is the association for business-to-business information providers, including producers of print publications, websites, trade shows and other medi...

Trading Print Dollars for Digital Dimes in the Paperless Cockpit There was a fascinating article in the New York Times entitled the Paperless Cockpit . It describes the trend of airlines and private pilots to trade off 40 pounds of paper for a 1.5 pound iPad. One interviewed pilot summed the benefit up succinctly: “ When you need to a make a decision in the cockpit, three to four minutes fumbling with paper is an eternity.” There were a couple of other noteworthy points that the information industry can relate to as pilots embrace the “electronic flight bag”: Form Factor – The small, easy to carry tablet affords many benefits to pilots. As all professional publishers know, the shift to electronic offerings has been going on for decades. The Information Industry Association, the predecessor to the SIIA was founded over forty years ago for pioneering digital publishers. Early electronic products focused on news and financial data. However, accountants, consultants and ...

WikiReader -- good enough technology? Last month I was in a big box store and came across this product -- the WikiReader. It offers offline access to 3 million plus articles from the english version of Wikipedia. It does this without a wifi or 3G connection. But rest assured, you can get updates via a computer that will let you update an SD card. The whole thing runs on a few batteries that last about a year. As I sit in my office surrounded by a laptop, iPhone and iPad - I think the product is kind of silly but maybe it has utility for some. For example, before the Apple/Gizmodo stolen phone brouhaha came up, the term "apphole" referred to one of those people who was always checking their phone to answer questions that came up in coversation. Maybe peoplie like that would buy it. In a similar vein, I read years ago that the Guinness Book of World Records was devised to resolve bar bets. Perhaps the WikiReader may serve the same purpose in watering holes without wifi or 3G. ...

Ken Doctor, in his book entitled NEWSONOMICS: 12 New Trends That will Shape the News You Get , adds some great points to the debate about the future of news. He weaves in interesting facts and figures and interviews many industry thought leaders. He’s been a frequent speaker and contributor to SIIA events so it was interesting to get his take on the topic. A few points that really jumped out at me include: How much influence will be exerted by whoever pays for the news in the years ahead? He reminds us that “Someone always pays for the news, and the support has always spawned debates about who news organizations favor or fear.” As news organizations experiment with hyperlocal coverage at The New Haven Independent or the non-profit business model of The Texas Tribune , we get some perspectives on how that news will get paid for and delivered. Ken also points out that “News is unlike any other business. It balances profit-making and public service at it score. Citizens across the globe ...

Do You Know How to Make Your Spoken Content Memorable? A few months ago I had the chance to speak at a panel at the O’Reilly Tool’s of Change conference. As part of the attendee registration package I was given a copy of the book Confessions of a Public Speaker , by Scott Berkun . It was a great read packed with humorous insights as well as useful tips that the author has honed over the years. I enjoyed it so much that I took it as one of my vacation books back in March. Here are a couple of highlights: 1. Good Discussion of the Practicalities of Public Speaking – Berkun has been on his own making a living by speaking and writing. As a result he’s compiled a lot of best practices and tips that come from his extensive experience. Some are obvious like showing up early while others are clever like wiring the microphone through your shirt so the cords are not swinging while you are speaking. 2. Tools of the Trade – Berkin writes about what kind of equipment to have, what ki...

Paid Content on "the office" I was catching up with some episodes that I had recorded and saw the entitled The Office Murder . Michael Scott, Regional Manager for Dunder Mifflin, hears some bad news about the company from his boss who cites an article in "The Journal" that talks about impending doom for the company. Michael and the staff rush a nearby computer and look up the article, only to be stopped by a pay wall! Michael shrugs it off with an "oh well". One of his staffers pulls out a credit card so they can access this important story that gives them details on the impending bankruptcy. As more news sites ponder the pay wall, pay ramp and pay ladder approaches -- these vignettes may play out in lots of offices. We will undoubtedly start to see more password sharing.

You Should Crave the Rave! I recently finished reading David Meerman Scott’s latest book World Wide Rave . It is a great how-to book on creating “triggers that get millions of people to spread your ideas and share your stories”. With the same quick pace of his past books Scott introduces readers to his six Rules of the Rave: 1) Nobody cares about your products (except you) 2) No coercion required 3) Lose control 4) Put down roots 5) Create triggers that encourage people to share 6) Point the word to your (virtual) doorstep In the following chapters he shares some powerful examples of how PR, marketing and product professionals took advantage of these ideas to raise awareness. My favorite story was how Cindy Gordon, VP of new media at Universal Orlando Resort, hyped the upcoming Harry Potter attraction by telling just seven people. These seven were so influential that eventually 350 million people heard about the attraction. He also weaves some best practices like creating buyer person...

Stephen King & Intertemporal Pricing About 11 years ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled The Future of the Book. It was written by Daniel Akst on December 18, 1998. It made a real impression on me because he made some prognostications about what would happen to the price of books when they became digital. Akst argued the following: The cost of books ought to plummet once they are distributed and consumed electronically. Consider that a hardcover book retails for $30 and wholesales for $16. Out of that sum, $6 goes into manufacturing (paper, printing, etc) to say nothing of shipping, inventory costs and publisher’s overhead. Editorial expenses are a mere $.67, and the author’s royalty is $4. Publisher’s pretax profits is $1. E-distribution could radically lower the cost of publishing – and the barriers to entry in the publishing business. I was reminded of this article (subscription required) recently when I read about Scribner’s decision to delay the ...

Content Nation Review I just concluded John Blossom's Content Nation. It was a great read that taught me alot. As promised, here's the reveiw I posted on Amazon.com: I have found Content Nation to be an informative read on several levels. I like how the author shared a variety of rules and guidelines including Seven Secrets of Social Media, Content Nation Marketing Rules, Content Nation Enterprise Rules etc. The benefit of these distillations is that they can help the practitioner evaluate their current and future social media strategies using these tools as guidelines. Moreover, each of these is illustrated by case studies and examples that help explain the concept. I learned about many new companies and brands as a result of reading Content Nation. I also found it useful that the author shared both the positive and negatives of this phenomenon and provided cautionary tales for people who might seek to deceive the marketplace. Blossom has created a very useful tome that puts...

New York Times Automotive UGC In a recent NY Times "Wheels" email, I clicked on a curious link entitled 2008 Collectible Car of the Year Contest (I must have missed it during the last six months of emails). I was brought to a user generated photo gallery where readers had submitted photos and descriptions of their cars for the community to vote upon. The winner, in case you were wondering, was The Marquis de Soto . The fact that users are submitting this kind of info to the web is not new. Rate My Space, which was constructed by SIIA Member Neighborhood America does this for living spaces, and I'm certain that Car & Driver, Road & Track, as well as Hemmings Motor News are doing this for cars. What impressed me was that the venerable NY Times was trying to build such a niche audience. I dont' know how successful this venture has been, but I'm sure that many readers of the NYT have the disposable income to buy collectible cars. By creating a way to draw us...

= Panels? In looking at some of the people I follow on Twitter, I'm impressed and intrigued by the number of followers they have accumulated.  Then it dawned on me that perhaps there's a way to make some money by selling access to your twitterati.  Suppose you wanted to gain some insight into what David Meerman Scott's followers had on a PR or Marketing idea you had.  For a price and maybe a $ on the hash tag you would be permissioned to survey his list.  Same could go for someone who wants to know what David Pogue's followers have to say about a new gadget or device. Is anyone doing this now?  Do you think it is similar to the panel business that market research firms have built?

Substitutes & Complements If you've ever taken a marketing or economics course you've been introduced to the notion of substitutes and complements -- these are products or services that could either replace your offering or could make it better. I had a real life example of that concept this morning at Union Station in Washington DC. I had to catch a train to New York and had limited time before the train and headed toward the Starbucks and saw a line that had at least 20 people in it. Doing the quick calculus I figured I'd miss my train so I opted for a substitute -- Primo Cappucino that had virtually no line. Big surprise that the espresso was lousy, the scone was stale, and the yogurt tasted like strawberry frosting. In the information industry we've talked about the phenomenon of "just good enough" replacing premium services. As in the breakfast example above, you get what you pay for and next time I'll get up earlier for the premium service...

Content Nation now available from John Blossom John Blossom, a friend and longtime member of the SIIA has recently published his first book. I've already ordered mine from Amazon and will post a review after I read it. Here's a description from John: Content Nation: Surviving and Thriving as Social Media Changes Our Work, Our Lives and Our Future How will you survive and thrive as social media changes our world? What are the best ways to use social media to succeed in our work, our lives and our future? "Content Nation" is a wide-ranging look at what makes social media tick, offering case studies and practical tips as to how we can conduct our business, our politics and our personal lives using social media and a look at how a future shaped by social media will be very different in many ways than the civilizations of the past several thousand years. In the process of changing our world, social media will bring us back to our pre-historic roots and simultaneously thrus...

GOOD -- brought to you by Starbucks A few months ago I noticed a new newspaper available at Starbucks. It is quite small, free and is distributed right where one waits for coffee (at least in Madison, CT). The idea for this came from the Mystarbucksidea.com website. The paper takes advertising, covers one topic and helps disseminate useful information all while you wait for your double tall nonfat dry cappuccino. I remember reading years ago that the articles in People Magazine were short enough to be read during a visit to the restroom -- perhaps the Good sheet fills up the time while waiting for your coffee. More details here: http://www.good.is/

F l o o g l e I read with interest about the new service that came out of Google's philanthropic arm. By culling data from the last 5 year's of searches and running it against reports for the Centers for Disease Control Reports, Google found that they were two weeks to ten days ahead of the CDC in learning about the outbreaks. I hope they call it "Floogle". What a great use of "data exhuast". I think it also shows how important it is for publishers to see and understand how their customers construct queries on their databases. It can be such a great data set to mine for new products or to improve existing ones. 20 years ago while working in Washington DC, I used to file Freedom of Information Act requests at the Securities & Exchange Commission for all the other FOIA requests that had been filed. We found some great product ideas and market insight in those letters. The Internet makes the process a whole lot easier!

No Free Launch I attended the InfoCommerce Conference in Philadelphia this week and caught Ann Michael’s interesting session on launching products. She was joined by Michael Balsam , VP Products & Services, Onvia and Adam Bernacki, VP Sales & Marketing Leadership Directories . Ann started out by remarking how change has affected product launches. Back in the day of books you had to be perfect because if a mistake was made it would live forever. This is not true in the Internet world – you can no longer afford to be perfect as you'll never get the product out the door. The panel addressed this phenomenon by reviewing its impact at several places along the development process. Michael talked about how Onvia publishes 60+ million pages per year with all sorts of detail about government contracts. This information can help clients like Dell know a year ahead of time when and where a new school would be built. Dell can use information to help them size future markets Onvia’s de...