SIIA Content Forum: Final Thoughts

Here are the last of my notes from some of today’s sessions:

Sales, Marketing & Distribution in a Fragmented Market

The days of interruption advertising are done. (Neil Ashe of CNET)

It’s not really the content but rather the experience surrounding the content that matters. (Neil Ashe of CNET)

Aggregation is content. (Tolman Geffs of The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.)

Mediocre-open content beats good-closed content every time. (Neil Ashe of CNET)

I’m a big believer in that last point. In fact, I’ve often been criticized for applying it to the print model by referring readers to books from the competition inside our own books. I figure our job is to offer the customer as much useful information as possible, even if that means pointing them to a competitor’s book for a certain type of coverage.

Neil also pointed out that CNET has a site called BNET, which I hadn’t heard of, and is an aggregation of vendor-related content, long-form advertising, etc. He noted that 20% of their audience consists of c-level executives.

One final note on this session: Tolman also mentioned that his employer offers a free M&A newsletter on their site. I just signed up for it today.

New Ad Models & Techniques for Web Content

Only 1% of advertisers market outside the search channel while 95% of consumer time is spent outside of search. (Brett Brewer of AdKnowledge)

The ad/search market will definitely fragment over time, favoring more of the vertical search tools, and tilt away from the Google/Yahoo duo. (David Hills of LookSmart)

Publishers aren’t doing a good job of figuring out what their customers really want; other than the information gathered at registration, publishers don’t ask for more information down the road. Registration is generally the first and last time they ask. (Richard Barker of Kitmondo)

Search Workshop for Publishers

David Meerman Scott gets the award for best presentation props in this session. He held up a variety of Dr. Scholl’s products showing how the same materials are reshaped and repurposed for different uses and sold at wildly differing prices. His point: The same can be done with content.