Recently I had to send someone examples of my live blogs and it took me an absolute age to find them. I don't want to lose them again, so here they are in one convenient place:
Today I went to Know Your Place, an event organised by the lovely people at Fused Magazine and BSeen. The event consisted of talks by various influential people in business and the creative industries, including Andy Hartwell from Substrakt, designer maker Eryka Isaak and Julia Higginbottom of Aquila TV, all centred about freelance and enterprise.
Helga Henry, of Fierce Earth, gave a presentation that tied in perfectly with my final MA project. She talked about creating your own brand and I picked up some useful tips:
Everything about you is a part of your brand, from the work that you create to how you write on your blog.
It is imperative that you know your strengths and are able to communicate these confidently.
You need to have more than one web presence so that you can be found easily.
If you can do a lot of things, don't say that you are a 'journalist/designer/photographer/marketer' - you need to wear different 'hats' depending on who you're talking to so that your message is communicated clearly. This ties in with having different web presences - you can have different websites dedicated to the different services/products you offer.
I am one of those people who says that I am a 'journalist/designer/etc...' and not only can this be confusing for whoever I am talking to, but I also manage to confuse myself. In my marketing strategy, I need to acknowledge that I can wear different 'hats', and be different things to different people, and this could also be reflected in my branding.
A part of marketing myself is obviously networking, and this was the first networking event I have ever been to alone, and it wasn't half as scary as I thought it would be. I spoke to quite a few people about my educational magazine business, and I managed to try out different 'hats'.
I now need to start my MA project and begin research on the different client bases/audiences I want to target.
During my time at uni my skill set has grown rapidly; before I began my time at BCU in 2006 I was a qualified Business Administrator with an ECDL certificate and the ability to pull a very good pint (thanks Wetherspoons). Since then i've learnt about print journalism, page design, web design, Flash, social media, PR, media theory and culture, a little bit of TV and broadcast journalism, entrepreneurship and now my final MA project is focused on marketing. Phew.
So i've been reading about IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) and it seems very useful. I'm going to use the principles of IMC to package myself and all of the above skills into a brand. This will involve me devising an innovative marketing strategy (fully integrated of course), harassing more people on Twitter (best to warn you now) and building my website. I'm going to document such fun and games on my Production Lab Blog, which has magically turned into an MA By Practice Blog. You can have a look at it via 'my other sites' on the left.
Today was the third and final JEECamp, held at The Bond in Digbeth (click on the link for full coverage).
My job during the day was to live blog various discussions taking place. First off was a keynote speech by Simon Waldman, Director of Digital Publishing at the Guardian Media Group. He talked about the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation in the media industry - both for small start ups and larger, more established corporations. The larger institutions are so stuck in their ways however that innovation has been difficult, and simply having an online presence is not enough. Being a student on the MA Media and Creative Enterprise at BCU, I knew all of this already but Simon did illustrate some good examples, such as IBM innovating in the early 80's to turn around a huge loss.
Questions from the audience revolved mostly about paywalls for online news, which is a highly popular and much debated issue but Simon suggested that it is useless to fixate on one thing and instead focus our energies on looking at innovative ways to generate revenue, and I agree.
Next everyone broke off into different groups to discuss the latest burning issues around journalism and entrepreneurship and I volunteered to live blog for the most relevant topic to me - Business models and funding. The other three groups covered law, ethics and regulation, community management and news gathering.
There was a lot of discussion in my group about the need for journalists to multi-skill yet focus on a niche, and there were two prime examples present in John Thompson of Journalism.co.uk and Phillip John of Lichfield Blog who have both managed to turn their hobbies into a success because of the niches they focused on.
In the end though, the same problems still came up - a reliance on advertising and increased competition making revenue generation for online platforms extremely difficult. Everyone came to the conclusion that even though no solutions or answers were found during the discussion, having such conversations helps and everyone was confident that a breakthrough will be reached one day!
This was typical of the atmosphere throughout the event - everyone was relaxed. I wondered why this was - because we are out of the recession that we were in the middle of this time last year? Because the entrepreneurial spirit promoted throughout the day gave us hope? Who knows, but it was nice.
Then there were two fringe discussions, one about the MA Courses in the BCU School of Media (my course being one of them) and a talk by Nigel Barlow. Nigel started his local blog 'Inside the M60' last year and he described his difficulty with generating enough revenue. I admit I was a little distracted during his talk because I took a picture of Nigel and thought I uploaded it to Twitter...but infact I uploaded a picture of my house mates instead. I was embarrassed and unfortunately it is still there on the live coverage! I knew I should have brought my laptop and not used my phone.
Finally there was a closing presentation by Stewart Kirkpatrick, founder of the Caledonian Mercury. It was a very funny and inspiring presentation, and he ended with a great point: that in the future journalists will need to come together to work on projects, which will cut out the big publishers. This is again something I have heard and read about before during my course, and I am glad people are beginning to acknowledge that the media industries are inevitably moving towards portfolios and projects rather than the office and '9-5'.
Everyone left the event feeling quite optimistic, and it's a great shame this will be the final JEECamp. Paul Bradshaw has done a great job over the past few years to bring the best journalistic minds together (and give us students a chance to mingle with them).
Last night I went to a seminar at Birmingham University by Kanya King, CEO and founder of the MOBO Organisation.
Kanya described to us her arduous journey from a council flat in London to hosting one of the biggest, most star-studded and most relevant music award ceremonies in Europe. She told us about how she wanted to be an entrepreneur from a young age when she was selling whistles at Notting Hill Carnival, to property development and finally when her sheer determination to make the first MOBO awards work forced her to remortgage her own house.
That huge gamble in 1996 paid off as the first MOBO (Music of Black Origin) awards were held, and featured high-profile guests including Tony Blair and Lionel Richie. The MOBO Organisation snowballed from there and over the years has featured performances from the likes of Destiny's Child, 50 Cent, Mary J Blige, Jay-Z, Tina Turner and Dionne Warwick. Kanya built MOBO into an extremely strong brand and now it has branched out into magazines and community initiatives.
Whilst audience questions were mainly focused on Kanya as an entrepreneur, I was particularly interested in her leadership style. She commands a great deal of respect from her employees due to her sheer determination, work ethic and passion. What I found most poignant was when she repeated a quote I have used in my own leadership assignment: "work on the business, not in the business". Kanya has especially needed to do this because she has a child, and the astonishing growth of her company forced her to hand over some responsibility, which she didn't find easy.
"Getting the right team is difficult" she said. "But I recruit people not so much based on their experience, but more based on their attitude, energy and enthusiasm. Many interns we have here have ended up being employed because we know what they're like. They're not coming here hoping to bump into Beyonce in the office, they're here because they want to do a job."
Kanya is also a great motivator; she is passionate and enthusiastic and balances that with the authority she has earned. She asked everyone in the room to do some impromptu speed networking and everyone did it without hesitation. This is an example of her excellent motivation skills.
Although Kanya regularly rubs shoulders with the biggest stars in the world, she is still down to earth and has not lost her connection with 'ordinary people'. This is one of the reasons why she is so respected and why she has been able to successfully lead her employees towards making the MOBO Awards one of the biggest and best award ceremonies in Europe, and the company still continues to grow.
I'm going to finish with a great compilation video of previous MOBO Awards:
It is a book that from day one of my MA (and before that, actually) I have been encouraged to buy and read. I bought it in time for the course to start, and even read a couple of chapters, but it didn't really 'click' with me.
So today I sat down and read Seth Godin's Purple Cow from cover to cover, in an attempt to spark some inspiration/moment of genius. I needed this inspiration because next week I am taking part in a month-long placement with theVine, a magazine aimed at the BME (Black, Minority, Ethnic) community. I have been at theVine since last October, so my need for inspiration/a kick up the backside may seem strange.
It is because I will be mainly acting as a marketing consultant, when previously my role at theVine was of journalist and page designer. I have no experience of marketing but learning about it through practice and experimentation is the best way, hence why it is part of my production lab assignment.
Innovation is more important than ever; not just in marketing, but everything you do in business and that is one of the most resounding things I have learnt from the Cultural Entrepreneurship module. This is also the philosophy of Purple Cow: it's not a marketing book (despite being lauded by Marketing magazine and similar publications) in fact it looks more at the product/service itself and how that can be developed. It is almost seven years old now but it is still very relevant and fresh - so why hasn't everyone latched on to the Purple Cow concept? simply because it is too risky.
Here are the main points I picked up from the read-a-thon:
New types of network (social networks, social media etc) means ideas can spread quicker than ever before.
It's now about satisfying people's wants, not needs.
You need to target the right people - a passionate and enthusiastic niche that will take the time and effort to spread the word about your business/idea (Seth Godin calls them 'sneezers').
Don't aim for the masses. There is no point in trying to compete with the big brands that already target the masses.
Measure what you're doing and outputs will be optimised.
Create an innovative environment where Purple Cows can be invented and experimented with, without fear of failure.
Don't overdo the marketing/advertising just to look productive - it is better to do nothing than too much - it irritates people.
Marketing is where the marketer changes the product, not the advertisements.
Purple Cow companies have marketers at their core.
In turn, marketers are the new designers.
Being scandalous and cheap are both sporadically effective, but reek of desperation.
You don't need passion to create a Purple Cow; you need to realise that there is no other option. Nothing else is going to work.
Things that have to work rarely do anymore. Again, this points back to the innovative business culture of allowing for failure.
It's easy to say that being innovative and risky will help get a business off the ground; and I've heard many business people, mentors, text books etc say the same, but research and measurement are also important. Along with some good timing and perhaps luck.
My time at theVine is going to be very interesting and I know already that I am going to learn a lot from it. I don't intend to follow Seth Godin's Purple Cow as gospel, but there are elements of it that I certainly want to keep in mind both during the next month and during the development of my own business.
I've started a blog for the MA programme Production Lab module, to help me keep a log of what I'll be doing. I'm acting upon a live client brief by theVine magazine, who have asked me to produce a marketing plan for them.
My house mate has recently been accepted on to Flying Start's 'Make it Happen' programme, which is an online business start up service. You get free business advice, mentoring and access to a funding database. You can get more details and apply at http://makeithappen.flyingstartonline.com/.
Even if you don't get a place on Make it Happen, it is worth registering with Flying Start anyway. They provide access to hundreds of online mentors and run business training programmes and workshops. You can also become a member of various societies where you can interact with fellow student entrepreneurs.
On December 18th (the festive season meant a short break from blogging - sorry) myself and fellow student Hai attended the Procuring Social Media event held at Coffee Lounge, Birmingham. The main point of the event was to discuss what social media is and how it can be used for the benefit of businesses. There were many social media experts on hand to speak and provide advice and guests were required to move between them.
It was interesting to see how each speaker approached their discussions. Anthony Tattum gave an overview of social media and its marketing potential, and James Robertson gave a similar talk in addition to tips on the best social media tools to use (such as TweetDeck). Mark Brill (pictured speaking below) focused more on mobile marketing, and I found his 'do's and don'ts' of mobile marketing particularly relevant to my own business.
It seemed to me however that the event was aimed primarily at social media beginners - people and businesses that want to use social media as part of their marketing but are unsure about how to use it. I already had a good knowledge of social media and so for me I didn't learn a great deal from this event, but it was good to see a great deal of people in attendance that were willing to learn about twitter etc, and the benefits it can bring.
