Winning The Web January by Advantage Media Group

A F F I L I AT E S U M M I T W E S T | L A S V E G A S J A N U A R Y 1 7 - 1 9

Winning the Web

S:7 in

JAN 2010

THE DIGITAL

BUSINESS MONTHLY

Conversion Play HOW THE 49ERS SCORE ON THE WEB Habit Reforming DON’T GIVE THEM UP JUST MAKE THEM BETTER! S:10 in

Fear Factor EVEN BABIES LOVE A CHANGE!

Evolutionary Wars LEADING YOUR COMPANY OUT OF THE SWAMP

WE LIVE IN THE

HOUSE WE ALL

BUILD.

Every decision we make has consequences. We choose what we put into our lakes and rivers. We choose what we release into the air we breathe. We choose what we put into our bodies, and where we let our children run and play. We choose the world we live in, so make the right choices. Learn what you can do to care for our water, our air, our land and yourself at earthshare.org. Earth Share supports more than 400 environmental and conservation organizations that impact you every day.

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WINNINGTHEWEBMAG.COM A publication of

COVER STORY:

ANDY DOLICH

SF 49ERS’ COO THE ONLINE MARKETING PLAYBOOK

Are increased sales on the agenda for your next company meeting, conference, or event? If so, let us deliver the speaker with the custom message you need to produce the long-term impact for your bottom-line growth

PAT WILLIAMS

Co-Founder of the NBA’s Orlando Magic • Author of over 50 books • Speaking clients include Coca-Cola, Disney, American Express, Nike

epic events W I N N I N G T H E W E B O N E E V E N T AT A T I M E

STEVE GILLILAND

One of the most in-demand and top-rated speakers in the US and Canada • Often speaks in programs with dignitaries like Ken Blanchard, Rudy Giuliani, Jack Canfield • Speaking clients include Coca-Cola, AT&T, Lowe’s, Glaxo Smith Kline

An Evening with FOCi Group & Epic Advertising FOCi Group & Epic Advertising brought together big brands at STK, Tempest Room, for an evening of drinks and fine dining.

Executives from Epic Advertising

Top players from American Express, NHL, Hertz and Carnival Cruise lines (to name a few) joined in conversations about the challenges and solutions in the digital marketing sector. Photographer: Jorge Jose AbouYoun www.jjmack.com

Guests mingle and enjoy the STK atmosphere

MARK RICHARDSON

One of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurs of the Year in 2006 • Tapped by Home Depot in 2007 to lead business workshops on effective and intelligent business practices • Guest lecturer or advisory board member at Harvard, Virginia Tech, Georgetown and University of Maryland

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ANDREW SHERMAN

Keynote speaker on business growth topics in over 35 countries at thousands of conferences • One of Fortune magazine’s Top Ten Minds in Entrepreneurship • Frequent guest on CNN, CNBC, NPR and many other media outlets • Speaking clients include Berkshire Hathaway, The New York Times, Entrepreneurs Organization

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The FOCi Group team

Epic Advertising and its partners and clients see the value of not only producing revenues and profits but also in getting to know one another socially for the betterment of business together. For this reason, Epic puts a premium on producing high-class events designed to bring together thought leaders from a wide array of industries. We will continue to feature these events on this very page each month.

INTERESTED IN “WINNING THE WEB”? Contact Epic Advertising today to access our full suite of global online marketing solutions. Advertisers and Agencies: Publishers: Public Relations: Our Website: Inquiries Outside of the US:

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Winning This Month

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Andy Dolich, the ‘Niners COO, knows more than just how to monetize a tweet. It’s like, he has ESP! By Zach Smart

The Online Goal

The pro o ga g me in on o line marketing is all about mast ma stering a rapidl dlyy ch c anging field. Here’s how thee Sa S n Fr F annci c sco 49 4 er e s callll tthe h ir web eb bp plays. ANDY DOLICH

TH E A RT T O F A D A P TI O N

Brave the Changes

Evolutionary Success

HabitChanging

Every day, the web reinvents the world as something new and shiny and full of potential. The first thing you need to do is go for it. The last thing you need to do is be afraid.

Leading your company through change is like crawling out of the swamp and growing legs. Here’s how to do it Darwin-style.

By Andre Palko

By Beth Montag-Schmaltz & Tamra Chandler

Clinging to old ways of doing what you’ve always done is a great way to be ambushed by events. Adaptation is richer and more full-bodied than a Lucky. Make it a habit!

Open Mike............................................................... 3 Winning Trends..................................................... 4

Contender File................................................... 21 Dark-Horse.............................................................22 Online Metrics.....................................................22

By Jim Mathis

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THE WI TH WINN NNIN ING G Q& Q AF FO OR JANU NU UAR A Y.

EDITOR & PUBLISH ER M ANAGI NG EDITOR CONTRI BUTI NG EDITORS

A RT D I RE C TO R C R E AT I V E D I R E C TO R AD DIRECTOR

Michael Sprouse Cherilyn Earl Brett Lofgren Robert Sheasley Amy Ropp Kim Hall Alison Morse

ADVANTAGE MEDIA GROUP

Publishers of Business, Motivation, and Self-Help Media advantagefamily.com | 843.414.5600 ext.102 CEO COO EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Adam Witty awitty@advantageww.com

What you need to know... ........................... 23 Ask Brett.................................................................. 23 What it takes... ..................................................... 24 WINNING THE WEB: THE DIGITAL BUSINESS MONTHLY Published by Epic Advertising winningthewebmag.com 512 Seventh Avenue, 12th Floor New York, NY 10018 (212) 308-8509 wtw@epicadvertising.com

Gregg Stebben Denis Boyles

Open Mike WITH MICHAEL SPROUSE

Adapting to a new year AH, YES – NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS. Whether its getting to

the gym more often (health clubs must love this time of year), consuming less alcohol, eating better, or committing to a “new you,”the resolutions made this time every year mark the beginning of something new and supposedly the end of something old. But of course the resolutions that sound wonderful at 11:50 p.m. December 31 seem tired and pointless by lunch, January 1. What is the root cause of these unfulfilled promises we make to ourselves each year? Call it what you will – habit, lack of commitment, routine, deep-rooted aversion to change, narcissism – but it happens to all of us. The message however is that we can in fact change our habits, routines and the like. It is possible. Sometimes we need to train our minds, sometimes it takes finding some uncovered discipline, sometimes we need to actually trick ourselves into change. When I was a kid, I had a horrible nail-biting habit. At first, I was told by my parents, “Don’t bite your nails; it’s not good for you and isn’t sanitary.” That didn’t work, of course. So my parents tried bribery. Every time I wanted to bite, I’d think about the extra money I’d miss. That worked for about a week. Finally, to physically force me to change, my mother put a putrid-tasting gel on my nails every morning when I left for school. That worked for good. I can still taste whatever that concoction was years ago. However, even that stuff wouldn’t have kept my fingers out of my mouth if I hadn’t wanted to stop that nasty habit. I became convinced change was a good idea. I believed in it. That’s when I discovered that once the desire to change is clear, change happens; it is inevitable; it should be embraced. But it is rarely easy. Making a smooth-as-sandpaper segue into business: In online advertising, change occurs every year – if not every month, if not every day. Change comes to Google’s search algorithm; change comes to graphical ad units. There are always new technologies, new social networks, new leaders, and new companies trying to vie in a highly-competitive and filled-to-the-rim marketplace. What to do?

If there is one thing the marketing industry – and specifically the online marketing field – has taught me, it’s that some change is always necessary, and much of it can be good.

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” — Louis L’Amour

To your own Epic victories in 2010,

J A N UA RY 2010

MICHAEL SPROUSE Editor and Publisher michael.sprouse@epicadvertising.com

WINNING THE WEB

More often than not, change moves things forward – even when you can’t see it happening. My two suggestions: 1) embrace those changes that are caused by something out of your control – and then adapt; 2) force or lead change where necessary in the areas you can control. The former can be something as simple as a divisional director aligning his team around a new corporate strategy that was decided by someone else. The latter can be a series of decisions executives like you make to actively lead fundamental change and adaptation in an organization. No matter where you sit, change is inevitable, and whether you’re adapting to it or leading it, it can actually be good. But first, you have to believe in it. This issue of WINNING THE WEB covers a variety of issues all centered on the themes of adaptation and change – companies that have done it, authors who have lived through it, and opinions on how to be successful executing it. We hope that as you run off your resolution on a treadmill someplace that you find it interesting. Most of all, let’s hope your resolutions outlast the shelflife of this issue of WINNING THE WEB.

Winning Trends

News, insights and analysis from the Digital Business Monthly.

W H AT P E O P L E A R E T H I N K I N G A N D TA L K I N G A B O U T T H I S M O N T H

Sites-to-go Three sites, three sizes, three separate audiences—one for the local markets, one for hoopsters on the go, and one for everybody under the sun. All three spotlight trends this month in WINNING THE WEB.

Groupon.com

WINNING THE WEB

J A N UA RY 2010

Groupon, an online deal site for local businesses, has raised a $30 million Series B funding round backed by Accel Partners, with contributions from investor NEA who led their Series A round in January 2008 of $4.8 million. Groupon posts a deal a day from a chosen local business ranging from boutiques to restaurants to tanning salons. At Groupon, you’re not just looking at an everyday $1-off coupon, but a seriously significant discount or offer.

The way it works: Groupon will only start taking a piece of the earnings once a specific deal hits a certain number of opt-ins from consumers. If this never happens, then the business does not have to pay. Simple enough? The founder and CEO of Groupon, Andrew Mason, said that the company has been profitable since June. “We want to roll out to another 50 cities or so next year,” he told CNET, “so it’s just going to help us increase the rate of customer acquisition and focus on building new technology.” The company went from 10 to 120 employees in the past year and plans

to continue to grow at that rate, with hopes of also expanding to Canada.

NBA The NBA is raising the bar again when it comes to mobile apps. This time around, they’ve rolled out a customized NBA Team Game Time app for each NBA team, for three platforms. For $3.99 (the NBA’s least expensive app so far) on Android, iPhone, or Blackberry, basketball fans of any of the 30 teams can download the app. NBA Team Game Time features a custom

design for each team, and provides live scores and stats, live alerts each quarter, videos of the team, game highlights, and twitter updates from the team’s feed. NBA Digital GM Bryan Perez told PaidContent that it’s not the in-market live video package he hopes to offer at some point but it does play up to fans’ passion for particular teams; the other apps the NBA offers are more about the league. The other two extremely popular NBA paid apps (which are top ranked on iTunes) are NBA Game Time, which has all the features that NBA Game Time Lite has, plus live home and away radio feeds, and more, for $10, and NBA League Pass Mobile, produced with mobiTV. It costs $40 for live video of up to 40 out-of-market games every week.

Mahalo Mahalo, started by Jason Calacanis, is a collection of web pages created by users ranging in topics from celebrities to places around the world. What makes it stand out is that contributors don’t need to pay someone to make the page. They make it themselves, then promise to keep it up to date and split the ad revenue from that page with Mahalo. In the beginning, it cost Mahalo about $100 to get each page made, but then as the company got more and more contributors, it got less expensive. In June, Calacanis decided to change his business model, with pages made for free. Mahalo only has to pay contributors if Mahalo itself gets paid, based on the traffic and ad revenue of each page. Big changes were also made on the back end as well. Instead of running off of Wiki software, Mahalo is now using its own custom management system allowing contributors to more easily modify pages and controls via dragand-drop, rather than using the Wiki code.

From the looks of it, the business model change has surely paid off. Since June, Mahalo went from about 4 million global unique visitors to an impressive 12.2 million and growing, as reported by Quantcaast. Groupon is a trademark of Groupon, Inc.; NBA is a registered trademark of the NBA; Mahalo is a trademark of Mahalo.com Inc.

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The rut you get stuck in deepest is the one you see last: Fear of change. Not just the kind of change that shades your highlights or the kind of change that takes you all the way from Lacoste to Polo. No. The real fear is real change, the kind that can turn your life upside down– or make everything right again.

WINNING THE WEB

J A N UA RY 2010

(For a change!)

without knowing it. In fact, I passed it every day on my way to work. Being a chicken wasn’t part of my job description. But fear was in everything I did in my working life. In my jobs, “success” didn’t mean I had taken an intelligent risk and made it pay off. It meant that I’d made it through another FOR YEARS, I LIVED A COWARD’S LIFE

BY A N D RE PA LKO

work-week and that the next week I could return to the same place for the same paycheck. I wasn’t brain-dead. Just ambition-numb – and frightened. I wasn’t the only one. There are lots of people like me. Recently, a British government minister, John Hutton, told his countrymen that “fear of social and economic change” – positive or negative – is one of their “greatest barriers to continued prosperity.” He could have said the same thing about any of us. What Hutton said was surprising: Even the fear of positive change can hamstring your efforts to be successful. How’s that for irony? The explanation, of course, is that a routine, a predictable existence, is comforting. I considered my job to be a fairly good supervisory position: I made decent money, always paid my bills, always had a car and a home, but I had the nagging feeling that there just had to be more. A sense of purpose evaded me completely. I was definitely not living the life I felt was out there waiting for me. My industry was printing, but it could have been anything, really. And I tasted failure early: In my midtwenties, with more enthusiasm than common sense and no real business experience to speak of, my effort to buy a small shop in Florida fell through. I was crushed. Then some wellmeaning local printers convinced me to open a trade bindery. It was a disaster and in no time, I was back to my original job. For ten years, I lived in fear that my first two failures were a pattern, that I wouldn’t be able to replace the income and benefits if I got into another business or looked for a better job. Then 9/11 happened and I got laid off. I was demoralized, of course, and working the graveyard shift doing menial jobs at another printing company to make ends meet didn’t help matters. Sharing my complaints with a friend one night, he asked me, “So what can you do about it today?” That’s when it clicked for me. I realized “today” is all I have to work with. I may not be here tomorrow, and what happened yesterday can’t be changed. But I have today, every day. It was a moment of liberation that changed everything. For me, the secret to overcoming fear of change started with the simple act of keeping it all in the day. Every morning I was opening my eyes to the day before me, but I had always been too fearful to see it for the gift that it really was, or I was so anxious about what tomorrow might bring I let today slide away unfulfilled. I made a simple list. It was only four items long:

First, since all I have is today, I had better make it good. I make a simple plan the night before and prioritize. In those early days, this was a matter of going to work at night, then spending the day split between job hunting, working on a part-time equipment business (I was persistent if nothing else), and looking for other business opportunities. This planning and prioritizing continues to evolve with my education in the business world, but I always try to keep it as simple as possible. Today I ask: “Is this a moneymaking task, and if not, can I delegate it?” The take-away for change: Fear is diminished by organizing helpful information. Chaos is the unknown, and everybody’s afraid of that. The more complete the plan, the more fearless you can afford to become. Second, I don’t take anything for granted. I make a

Sharing my complaints with a friend one night, he asked me, “So what can you do about it today?”

That’s when it clicked for me. This day is all I have to work with.

J A N UA RY 2010

Third, I strive for balance. It’s important in my daily plan to remember that I am a physical, mental, and spiritual being. Physical health is a no-brainer, and most of us know to look after our mental health. But our spiritual health? What’s that? If you don’t know, do what I did and find out what works for you. Daily mass? Weekly synagogue participation? Yoga and meditation? Community volunteer work? All three elements of health need to be in balance. There are plenty of crazy fitness freaks out there, after all.

WINNING THE WEB

point at the end of each day to be grateful for the blessings of the day. Even on the most difficult days, there is much to remember in gratitude. Not once in my life have I gone without food, clothing, or shelter. Problems usually turn out to be opportunities in disguise. For instance, had I not lost my job, I would never have found the opportunity that grew into today’s successful business. An attitude of gratitude is critical. The take-away for change: You can conquer fear by realizing how much you’ve already conquered just to get where you are.

The take-away for change: Change can mean loss of control, if you aren’t careful. So focus on what you can control: Nutrition, fitness, education, aspiration. Control those things and there won’t be much left for you to fear. Fourth, see those roses? Stop and smell ‘em! I remember to schedule time for fun stuff as well. It’s strange now to think about how I thought the last thing I needed in my life was fun. But in fact it was just what I needed in order to realize the importance of the other three things on this list. The take-away for change: Change can represent something terrifying. But change is also interesting. And if it’s managed well, it can even be fun. And fun? Learn to recognize it when you see it! Fear will isolate you from the limitless opportunities that surround you. It’s reactive rather than proactive; it puts you in a defensive position, one that lets others determine what will happen to you. To defeat the fear of change, have faith! Have faith that there is a position of value for you in the world and, that once you find it, you will be rewarded. Have faith that if you make a mistake, good can come of it. Have faith that others want you to succeed and will not block your path toward happiness and change. Change is fantastic, not fearful. And it’s closer than you think. The fact that you took a moment to read how to overcome the fear of change is proof that, as FDR once said, you have nothing to fear but fear itself. So for a real change, be fearless. W

WINNING THE WEB

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Andre Palko is president of Technifold USA with his wife and business partner Gina. Visit technifoldusa.com for more information.

Fear will isolate you from the limitless opportunities that surround you. Fear is reactive rather than proactive; it puts you in a defensive position that lets others determine what’s best for you.

MASTERING CHANGE and learning not to fear it is part of a life lived fully. Here are four more things to make change an opportunity, not a trauma.

1. Never stop learning. Every book, seminar, business coach, and CD or DVD course is an investment that helps make each day more productive. Some of these things are expensive, but the truth is, you can’t afford not to invest in enrichment – especially when it’s yours. 2. Avoid negative people. Seems simple, but pay attention to how many people around you spend their time complaining or anticipating failure. Those people are toxic. Stick with positive, like-minded people who share your vision and interests. And don’t be afraid to lead, when necessary. 3. Persist. Look, every good marketer knows that every “no” brings you one step closer to a “yes.” There is value in failure as long as you persist in moving forward and lerning from your mistakes. My ten years in limbo is now a major asset in my business. If I didn’t have that experience, I never would have recognized the fantastic opportunity that led me to what I’m doing today. Don’t give up before the miracle happens. 4. Give back. The popular wisdom is that the world is a zerosum game, that if one person is making money, another must be losing – that there’s only so much to go around. No. That’s a myth based on fear. The truth is that wealth is infinite, with enough to go around for everyone on earth. – AP

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TWEET GOAL For Andy Dolich, the game’s now online.

“NOBODY WAS SENDING OUT A

WINNING THE WEB

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TWEET IN 200 BC,

10 10

SAYING, ‘WOW! SPARTACUS REALLY LOOKED GOOD IN THAT THIRD KILL!”

BY Z A C H S M A RT

about being technologically inept, but talking to a reporter about the latest newsof-the-wired, it’s the immediacy of the blogosphere that triggers the biggest response from him. Dolich, 61, the COO of the San Francisco 49ers, knows that to his best customers, sports is the news that matters, so it’s not surprising that he understands that with today’s technology, sports fans want what matters (and those scores) instantaneously. With online news moving at a frenetic pace, sacking newspapers and magazines, and sports fans demanding an accurate account of sporting event at a moment’s notice, Dolich sees the fan base of pro franchises spreading like wildfire, as individuals are now getting more content than ever through the web, bringing them closer to the game and the players than ever before. ANDY DOLICH MAY JOKE AROUND

Rewriting the pro playbook FOR YEARS, PRO SPORTS FRANCHISES SPREAD THE WORD TO FANS BY USING RADIOS AND NEWSPAPERS, AS IF EVERY GAME WAS BEING PLAYED AT THE SMITHSONIAN. NOW THE WINNING PLAYS ONLINE FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY “TXT.” HERE’S HOW ANDY DOLICH AND THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS ARE USING THE WEB TO MARKET THE TEAM.

T H E W I N N I N G Q & A F O R J A N UA RY The first thing they know is the score at halftime. The second thing they know is how to find ESPN.com so they can find out the first thing. Sports has gone online bigtime. It’s one of the busiest categories online, and because it’s a passionate interest driven by numbers, it’s everywhere there’s a man and a chip and a tiny little screen. Ironically, the teams themselves are playing catch-up with the fans and their favorite bloggers and gadgets. The sports pages? What are those? MEN ONLY KNOW ABOUT TWO THINGS FOR SURE:

ANDY DOLICH, COO OF THE SF 49ERS

WINNING THE WEB J A N UA RY 2010

It changes the rules for sports marketing completely. “If you start from the Roman Colosseum, you’ll see they had skyboxes, they had intermissions,” says Dolich. “But nobody was sending out a tweet in 200 BC, saying, ‘wow, Spartacus really looked good in that third kill!’ But it was all about communication.” Dolich knows a thing or two about communication. Having worked for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA, the Oakland Athletics of MLB, and the Washington Capitals of the NHL, Dolich has done his fair share of negotiating and maximizing the efficiency of professional sports programs’ relationships with television and radio companies – all this, in addition to handling the tasks of some of the aforementioned pro teams’ marketing and sales. During his stay at Ohio University, where he earned his MA in sports management, the Brooklyn, NY, native relied on obtaining information the old-fashioned way – via radio, television, and the daily newspaper. While he is still acclimatizing to a part of the world where Twitter updates dominate and receiving a score update on a Blackberry is the norm, Dolich says the 49ers organization is reaping the benefits of the new technology. The growth of the internet has altered the 49ers marketing for the better, says Dolich, and he believes that this is only the beginning. Online blogging and fastpaced news helps generate revenue, sell tickets and merchandise, and provide a new avenue for sponsorships. Google advertisements, which are used on various sports blogs and websites, are indicative of this, he says. In a place as heavily wired as the Bay area, the internet is perhaps more crucial to the San Francisco 49ers than to other franchises in other parts of the country, since it gives the organization a new method of communicating directly with a community of fans who habitually experience sports events through multiple channels – including old fashioned eyes and ears. Watching the game, blogging the game, tweeting the game, scanning the game, TiVoing the game – it all happens at once, and it all happens with every single game. “It’s about revenue, and it also keeps us current,” says Dolich. “That’s really a key factor in the internet and these kinds of communications. It’s not old, it’s instantaneous and it’s what’s in the future. You are getting immediate feedback, good, bad, or ugly.” And ugly feedback is never a rarity in sports these days. A number of athletes – including Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks, Terrence Williams of the New Jersey Nets, and David Clowney of the New York Jets, to name just a few – have garnered negative publicity and put themselves in hot water because of controversial tweets. Have the 49ers experienced any of the same problems with players revealing too much via Twitter accounts? “Absolutely not,” said Michael Williams, the Vice President of marketing for the 49ers. Williams said Niners coach Mike Singletary is strict as far as keeping his

WINNING THE WEB

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“I’M SURE THERE WILL BE INTERCRANIAL TWEETING. YOUR ESP WILL BE ABLE TO TELL YOUR 4,200 FACEBOOK FRIENDS WHAT THEY THINK THE NEXT PLAY WILL BE.”

LAL HENEGHAN, EVP OF FOOTBALL ADMINISTRATION WITH DOLICH

players on the same wavelength and making sure no players are too far out of bounds in interviews. After all, you never know what kind of firestorm or disruption in the locker room a single tweet could create. “Coach Singletary has a one-voice, one-message mentality that is sort of carried out throughout the organization,” said Williams. Dolich acknowledges that sports fans, journalists, and inquiring minds are always trying to get a behind the scenes, inside-the-locker-room look. The fact that it is possible to do so with the click of a mouse while sitting in front of a computer makes it that more enticing. “There’s no question that, if that wave of interest continues to grow, I think there’s a challenge that we all have. Does [a sports story] have two or three sources, or is somebody, in any context, just saying, ‘Hey! I know this!’ It goes as news, when in actuality, it’s rumor or opinion.” While high expectations, hype, and hearsay may emerge from these internet sources, Dolich sees it ultimately producing an uptick in the San Francisco market. The non-traditional media sources, he says, help propel a more communal following because of the new, different content that builds up more exposure and is capable of being sent from friendto-friend via the internet, cell phones, PDAs, the gadget-du-jour, whatever it is. “People can communicate on multiple levels,” says Dolich. “Now it’s social networking, or it’s the ability to TiVo – it’s the ability to move into the future. What you’re dealing with now is the essential nature of possibly a great change in the way people actually consume live sport. Are they watching the game? Are they getting their own angles on their mobile devices? God knows what they’ll be six months from now, six years from now. They’ll be much more sophisticated I’m sure. I’m sure there will be inter-cranial tweeting. Your ESP will be able to tell your 4,200 Facebook friends what they think the next play will be.” W Zach Smart is a freelance sportswriter who writes for Slam, ESPN Hoops and a number of other online ‘zines and New York-area newspapers. He blogs at zsmart.blogspot.com.

WINNING THE WEB wanted to find out how one of the great pro teams is dealing with the changing rules of web marketing. So we asked pro sports management expert Andy Dolich – a veteran of front offices in every major sport: hoops, hockey, major-league baseball and, now, the COO of the San Francisco 49ers. His answers were almost tweetable!

HOW HAS THE INTERNET CREATED A NECESSITY FOR CHANGE IN MARKETING THE CLUB? These days fans want the latest information immediately and if we cannot provide that to them, they will go elsewhere for it.

PRESUMING MORE AND MORE FANS ARE SPENDING TIME ONLINE OR ON WIRELESS DEVICES RATHER THAN SITTING AT HOME WATCHING TV– HOW DOES THAT CHANGE A TEAM’S ABILITY TO CONNECT WITH FANS? We are able to communicate with fans instantaneously on a much larger platform, nationally and internationally. The fact that fans can watch our games from their phones and computers allows them to stay constantly connected to the team, thereby building stronger brand support. Fans feel a vested interest in rooting for their teams, and we welcome the chance to share with them insight and behind-the-scenes information, wherever they are. W

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WHAT ROLE DOES THE INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY PLAY IN THE CLUB’S FUTURE MARKETING EFFORTS?

It gives us the opportunity to give our most faithful fans information as soon as it becomes available. You no longer have to wait for things to be posted or printed the following day. Fans can now receive information in real time. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND SOCIAL MEDIA, ESPECIALLY NOW THAT PLAYERS ARE TWEETING FROM THE FIELD?

It not only is another avenue as far as media is concerned, but it offers us the opportunity to connect with younger fans on a whole new level. Digital media is something that is here, it is only going to continue to grow, and in doing so, all good teams – and businesses – should ultimately embrace this because it is the way of the future. Our players and staff abide by the league-mandated rules regarding social media. HOW MUCH CONTROL DOES THE CLUB HAVE OUTSIDE OF THE NFL TO CONTROL THE CONTENT ON ITS SITE AND TO MARKET ITSELF? Complete control. WHAT RESOURCES DOES A PROFESSIONAL FRANCHISE DEVOTE TO THE WEB?

They’ll help people get not only information about their team, but merchandise, tickets and, ultimately, connections with their team on a very personal level.

OUR GAMES FROM THEIR PHONES AND COMPUTERS ALLOWS THEM TO STAY CONSTANTLY CONNECTED TO THE TEAM, THEREFORE BUILDING STRONGER

BRAND SUPPORT.”

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HOW WILL THE INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY HELP PROFESSIONAL FRANCHISES IN THE FUTURE?

FANS CAN WATCH

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We have a digital media manager, a producer, writers, photographers, and graphic artists. All of those are resources we have to make sure our site is cutting-edge and up to date, so the team’s site is the place 49ers fans go for their news and content. We also have an outside agency, the NFL Digital Media Group, that helps us out with our website.

“THE FACT THAT

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CHARLES DARWIN, 14

IN THE CORPORATE SWAMP, THE CRITTERS THAT LEARN TO ADAPT AND CHANGE, THRIVE. THOSE WHO FAIL TO EVOLVE BECOME EXTINCT. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW LEGS? B Y B E T H M O N TA G - S C H M A LT Z & TA M R A C H A N D L E R

OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST YEAR, during a period of increasing economic difficulty, businesses have been failing at a faster and faster rate. That the climate for business is terrible is not a secret. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be tempted to say all you have to do is read the newspapers, but newspapers are among those dying businesses. According to a study released in Q3 2009 by Tenon, a recovery and turnaround specialist firm, the number of failures in 2009 had already exceeded those in all of 2008

IN YOUR CAREER, HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THE FOLLOWING? • Projects that ran over budget, were late, or never completed • Projects that were attempted more than once because initial efforts failed • New processes or systems were adopted by only a small part of the organization • When the project went live, critical business systems were halted, causing loss of revenue, increased costs, dissatisfied customers, and frustrated employees • Areas of the business (or possibly the entire organization) eventually reverted back to the old way of doing things prior to the change • The ROI and/or stated benefits were never realized • The project cost the business more money than it made.

You are very lucky if you have never had one or more of these experiences. So now here’s the big question: As an executive in your organization, what part might you have played in those poor results? While most leaders will go through one or two largescale business transformations during their careers, consultants (like us) have the opportunity to observe literally hundreds of companies going through significant change. This vantage point allows us to observe and collect data from a variety of companies, in different industries and countries, with different customer bases, products and services, and unique cultures – all going through many different types of change. The advantage these experiences have provided are the facts from which to develop a frame of reference that embodies three key truths about change that apply to all companies, no matter what the change is. Here they are:

THE THREE TRUTHS ABOUT CORPORATE CHANGE

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1. Change Is Inevitable Clearly, to remain competitive in today’s environment, organizations must continually change and adapt. However, what is frequently overlooked is that, if a process or a technology is changed, those changes will drive other changes, anticipated or not.

WINNING THE WEB

by nearly 20 percent—and that was with a whole miserable quarter left to go. An interesting question for policy-makers and economists is how we went from growth to stagnation. But there is a more pressing question is for corporate executives. It’s this: How could so many businesses run by smart, educated imaginative people have failed to adapt in order to survive? The answer may be that failure takes place when change is attempted as readily as when the need for change is ignored. And that’s an even greater tragedy. As an executive, you know that failure is unthinkable when you’re accountable for investing your organization’s resources in implementing large-scale change initiatives. However, when reviewing current media reports, trade journals, and industry and academic research, the findings continue to demonstrate that hundreds of organizations are still reporting that their change initiatives are less than financially successful. In fact, in many cases, the bottom line shows that the initiative’s costs outweigh the actual benefits. Beyond the negative financial impact, failure can also mean a loss of a competitive advantage or other significant strategic implications. Interestingly, in this era, failure to drive value will not only affect executives at a company level, but for CEOs, it’s getting personal. With salaries far in excess of most employees, executive accountability and pay-for-performance has been a much debated topic. In 2006, for example, the median pay for CEOs that work for one of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies was $8.3 million per year including salary, bonuses, perks, and all stock options and awards. Given recent scandals regarding executive compensation, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now requiring extensive documentation for pay-for-performance when reporting to their shareholders. It is the most sweeping move on executive accountability and compensation by the SEC in 14 years and for good reason. In short, the SEC is requiring companies to disclose and provide explanations for the thinking behind their CEO pay packages. This includes detailing how the corporate board has set executive compensation and the correlation of the executive’s performance to the achievement of the company’s goals. Never before have compensation decisions been so tightly linked to corporate business cases with explicit rationale for executive accountability. And not only will executives be held accountable for delivering real financial results from their corporate initiatives investment, they are also the single greatest influence on the initiatives’ potential success. Research – ours as well as that of many other noted authorities – has shown that what’s required of an executive to lead change is vastly different from the requirements of day-to-day leadership. Do you possess the necessary skills to lead adaptation? Here’s a pop quiz that will help you find out.

2. The Stages of Change Are the Same Whether you are personally making a change in your life or your organization is making a change, there are three stages of transition that you or your organization must complete for the change to be successful. The timing and the experiences may be different, but the stages in the transition process are identical for all change. 3. Change Fails for Consistent Reasons Since corporations began taking on large change initiatives, the research shows that the reasons they fail are invariably the same.

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The good news is, because the reasons for failure are consistent, there are proven ways to prevent failure. But one skill is paramount: To succeed in navigating change, you must develop adaptive leadership skills and capabilities The leadership skills required for leading large-scale change versus day-today management are in fact very different. One of the capabilities of leading change is to accept that 80 percent of any group will resist change. The other 20 percent will get behind the change effort and can pull along the other 80 percent if the process is well managed. But in order to motivate those 20 percent and eventually enroll the other 80, a leader needs the right style and skills. To become an adaptive leader is to adopt a leadership style that is highly people-centric. This may mean stepping away from more authoritative, dictatorial styles that many managers are comfortable with for day-to-day management. It also means stepping beyond the management of routine tasks and getting into the business of leading personal transitions. Here are four essential tools for any one trying to lead through change.

1. CREA ATE DIALO OGUE. One of the primary contributors to a leader’s failure to enable change in many of the cases we’ve examined is attributed to his or her communication style. Too often leaders do not recognize the distinction between asking and telling when choosing a communication style. Change leaders must spend time engaging their stakeholders in an interactive dialogue, which requires the leaders to ask and listen. If the communication style is purely dictatorial, employees may feel threatened and build resistance to the effort. Asking versus telling is one of the keys to reducing the resistance to change, thus keeping the project on time, within scope, and on budget. 2. AC TIIVELY Y MAN NAGE CON NFLIC C T. An effective leader of change understands that change naturally creates conflict. So, not surprisingly, a leader’s

ability to handle conflict will directly affect his or her success in leading change. As an agent of change, a responsible executive will move stakeholders to a place where they can see the change as an opportunity rather than a crisis. This can only be done if the leadership adopts a collaborating method of conflict resolution and is attentive to the need of others to speak and be heard. 3. UNDERST TAND THE STR RENGT THS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE CHANG GE LEAD DERS. If management has been wise, change leaders were selected because of their ability to help an organization make a planned transition. Each individual leader, however, comes with unique strengths and weaknesses. To be a strong adaptive leader, these strengths and weaknesses need to be understood. Once they are understood, weaknesses can be mitigated through training and by developing plans that include involvement of other leaders, leveraging their strengths more effectively to support the change effort. 4. DEVEL LOP P A ST TRA AT GY EVER ATEG RYONE E UNDER RSTANDS.. It’s very hard to lead people when they don’t know where they’re going – and the transition represented by any change is, by definition, a walk into the unknown. Taking the time to clearly spell out processes, revisions, alterations, and consequences is a smart investment for any change leader. • It creates a personal engagement roadmap • It reflects the diversity of the leader’s stakeholder groups • It’s aligned to address the concerns of individual groups Workshops are especially effective for creating and discussing the plans for change. It’s far more effective, if also more time consuming, than email or even conference calls as it gives the change leadership an opportunity to exchange ideas, role-play engagement plans, listen to concerns in a productive and safe environment. The research tells us the same thing year in and year out: effective leadership is the key to delivering the desired results expected from adaptation. When change is essential, executives not only need a new process to ensure that the objectives, goals, and initiatives are reached, but they also need a reliable method to ascertain risk and mitigate it, and an analytical measurement method to determine the economic value they are providing those they lead. The good news is it does not take extraordinary efforts to achieve these types of extraordinary results, if you just know how to stop managing and start leading your company out of the swamp and back into the jungle. W Beth Montag-Schmaltz and Tamra Chandler are principals at Hitachi Consulting. For more information log onto www. hitachiconsulting.com.

Online Intelligence, Inc. Click Fraud Protection. Negative Keyword Search. Off-brand Placements. Online Intelligence provides proactive web-crawling, spidering and brand protection throughout the entire advertising process, arming advertisers with transparency and trafďŹ c metrics. With this information, Online Intelligence protects clients from click fraud, negative keyword searches and offbrand placements. This venture builds on eight years of Epic Advertising driving industry compliance and integrity procedures across their global network of more than 45,000 publishers. WINNING THE WEB J A N UA RY 2010

W W W . O N L I N E I N T E L . C O M

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HABIT REFORMING

SELF-IMPROVEMENT IS SO MUCH HARDER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE. FOR EXAMPLE, TAKE THOSE HABITS OF YOURS. YOU DON’T NEED FEWER HABITS— YOU JUST NEED TO CHANGE UP TO BETTER ONES. B Y J I M M AT H I S

EVERYBODY KNOWS that desire is the key to success or failure in changing any behavior. If you want to change, you will.

In theory, this can go two ways. Say you’re a smoker. You could quit, which is a good change. We’ll call it a change up. Or you could smoke more, which is not such a good idea – a change down. Or let’s say you have a habit of tossing your spare coins into a jar in the kitchen. Change up by tossing all your pocket money in the jar, not just the noisy stuff. Change down by using the cash for lotto tickets and tossing all the losing ones in the jar. Either way, you’re breaking a habit, and most people agree that’s very hard work. So, as long as you’re putting in the effort, you might as well change up every time. It’s actually not as hard as you might think. Many time-management experts tell us that in three to twentyone days, most people can change

any habit. If you consistently practice the new habit for, say, three weeks, it will become the predominant response behavior. At that point, you will have replaced the old habit with the new one. But how do you start to replace selfdefeating habits with self-reinforcing ones? With this list, right here:

1.. IDENTIFY THE 1 E BAD B AD HABITS. If you want a changed-up life, yyou k controll off your habits. h bi Old O must take ones that have consistently interfered with your progress or kept you from your goals have got to go. Good ones that help you in even small ways have got to be enhanced.

• Now is the time to act! Procrastination is never your friend.

in time to get ready. Perhaps you allow outside (external) forces to control your time, causing you to not meet deadlines.

• Learn to keep track of your time in a Day-Timer, Outlook or ACT Calendar, Personal Data Assistant (PDA) or similar method for recording your steps. You will improve your time-management habits only if you are honest with yourself and develop a realistic, doable action plan.

Often our worst habits have been with us for many years. If need be, look back over your early years for clues to your behavior. What were your study habits like in school? Did you have difficulty turning in assignments or starting them on time? The more you know about them, the better you’ll be able change your old habits.

• Begin by recording what you want to change on paper in a journal. Journaling is a great way to keep track of not only your time, but your progress as well. The best time masters keep track of their schedules, plans and goals, so they can keep tabs on their own progress to see where they have come from, and where they are going.

2.. C 2 CREATE REATE A NEW HABIT HABIT. T. One of the best ways to get rid of an old habit is to replace it with a new one. Don’t leave a void where the old habit used to be. Replace it with something better. If you are in the habit of eating junk while you watch TV, find something valuable to do instead—maybe doing wrist curls or knitting. Make that your new habit.

Before you know it, a host of new, positive, life-affirming habits will fill your schedule, in place of the old bad habits you never wrote down!

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• Examine your assumptions to see if any of them are holding you back from achieving the change you desire. Are you consistently late for work or meeting deadlines? Examine the behaviors that lead to your not being on time. Maybe you like to stay up late and don’t get up

It’s not as hard as you might think. In just three weeks you can change any habit.

WINNING THE WEB

• Begin by identifying the bad habits you want to change. The more you hen know about what you do, when you do it and why, the easierr it will be to identify habits that are our hurtful or detrimental to your work life. This means you need to analyze your behaviors and the hen situations where they occur. Then identify the precise behaviors you want to change.

• Define the new habit you wish to develop. You might admire someone else who has mastered this habit and want to consult with him or her about how they developed this behavior. This person might possess a habit you have wanted to adopt for some time, but you have been putting the change off.

4. DON’T GIVE UP! Obsess a little. Never deviate until your new habit is firmly established. Keep the pressure on!

3. ACT WITH PURPOSE Begin the new behavior as purposefully as possible. As the old saying goes, every journey starts with the first step. Make yours a step in the right direction. • Once you have identified the new habit you want to develop, tell people about it. If everyone knows what you’re doing, you’ll be less tempted to fall back into your old behavior.

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• Establish new routines associated with your new habit. Put up signs on your workstation, in your car or your bathroom mirror to remind you of your new behavior. It is important that you do everything possible to alter your environment to give the new habit a fertile place to take root and grow.

• Listen to motivational tapes that both encourage and inspire you to change and stay with it. Associate songs or poems with the new habit that you can repeat to yourself or remember in your head as you stay with the new behavior. It is also very important to set a date that you are aiming for you to have the new habit established as your regular behavior. Write it down. Establish a deadline. Remember: people who don’t set goals will never attain them.

Joe Bonura, a famous and successful motivational speaker, tells of a young man who was working on a marketing campaign. He had some successes and failures. Curiously enough, the successes did more harm than the failures. Once he succeeded, he decided he didn’t have to work as hard the next day. Sure enough, each day thereafter, he worked less and less on his plan. After just one week, he had lost his rhythm and motivation for his marketing campaign. • A new habit has to be consistently reinforced with positive behavior. Eliminate the phrase, “Just this once won’t matter” from your vocabulary. It will matter. When you’re trying to establish a new habit, don’t let take the pressure off or you’ll explode back onto your old habits worse than ever.

5. GET HELP Ask other people to help you change. Find someone to hold you accountable. Rarely do we make significant changes in our behavior without the support of others. Family, friends and co-workers are usually great sources of support because they typically have a vested interest in your welfare. • Think carefully about who might be able to help you. Ask yourself who has supported you in the past and who truly believes in you. Go to the person (or people) who always think you can do it. • Seek out those in whom you have trust and in whose advice you place value. • Choose members of your support team wisely. How could they help

you best? What responsibilities will you put on them to help you out? If you build a strong support team around you, new habits are much easier to master.

6. REAP THE REWARDS Reward yourself for attaining your goal of adopting a new habit. Don’t think of it as self-indulgence. It’s an important part of change. What gets rewarded gets done. It’s that simple. • Find some luxury or special treat that you value highly to reward yourself when you know you have completed your change of habit. It might be a meal out at your favorite restaurant, a movie you treat yourself to, or a trip to a place that is enticing enough to help you stay with your plan to change that old habit. Make a reservation in advance, if that helps you stay focused, but don’t treat yourself until you have truly made the new behavior a habit. • Then go all out and celebrate with your support team. Bring those along who helped you get there. It will make the party that much richer and more memorable for you. As rewarding as it can be to eliminate bad habits and change up to new ones for yourself, the best part is what comes next: Helping others. Once you’ve learned how to do it, you can encourage others (just as others helped you) to change up. Take what they did for you and pass it forward. After three weeks of helping others change up, it’ll become a habit – one you’ll never want to break. W Jim Mathis, a leading executive coach, is the author of Reaching Beyond Excellence: Proven Strategies for Skyrocketing Productivity and Enhancing Everyday Life. Visit jimmathis.com for more information.

Making the world better... ...one good deal at a time MYDAILYTHREAD — it’s

a website, not a prayer (although it may be the answer to one). Here’s the file: 1. WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

Well, to understand the ‘Big Idea’ it is important to understand the brand. MyDailyThread is a creative lifestyle blog, web-magazine and photo showcase providing dynamic content about fashion, music, art, nightlife, and cuisine. Under the MyDailyThread brand is DailyTracks, featuring daily music reviews and interviews; an art and photography focused platform,

Contender File TH E N E X T W I N N I N G I D E A’S O N TH E R A D A R

50 to 85 percent off, which are delivered direct to our subscriber’s inbox. These handpicked promotions feature the best boutiques, restaurants, bars, events, spas and venues in the market. With the DailyDeal we set out to improve upon existing platforms, which require a set amount of subscribers to buy in for a particular deal to become valid. Instead MyDailyThread’s DailyDeal goes into effect from the first purchaser. As additional subscribers buy into the deal, bonuses are achieved beyond the advertised DailyDeal. 2. WHEN WERE YOU FOUNDED AND WHERE ARE YOU BASED?

The lifestyle blog was founded in 2008 and we launched DailyDeal in late 2009. We are based in the Big Apple and Atlanta.

4. WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?

Dan Caplin, who acts as the company President and Jeremy Berman, the Chief Creative Officer. With all our exposure and experience over the past 15 years – with the Trafik Tradeshow, advertising, promotions, and other work we’d done – we had developed a dialogue with a lot of brands. What works? What doesn’t? How do you identify the market? What were their brand’s identities? We took this information and we set out to help support their efforts and get people through the door. Pretty simple concept, although it took a while to make sure the formula was right. 5. WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND OUT SINCE LAUNCHING THAT SURPRISED YOU?

How quickly a great idea can spread and flourish. We anticipated great results, but they have exceeded our expectations. We already have a high volume of repeat customers and the feedback has been tremendous across the board. 6. WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE, PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE?

We have a lot of demand to enter new cities and we are constantly challenging ourselves to not only meet those demands, but also exceed them. It’s not always an easy task 7. ANY NUMBERS THAT CAN TELL US WHERE YOU STARTED? WHERE YOU ARE NOW? WHERE YOU THINK YOU’LL BE IN A YEAR? FIVE?

3. HOW MANY PEOPLE WORK THERE?

Five full time people, but we maintain an expandable staff of “Threaders” on the streets that help with our content. We definitely have an eye towards expanding our day-to-day folks, but we pride ourselves in selecting the best and brightest. Whether it is an influencer or a musician, an artist, or a designer… you name it, we’ve got them. They help drive our content, which is key.

8. HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHEN YOU’RE REACHED YOUR GOAL?

When MyDailyThread and the DailyDeal are household words.

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DailyGalleries; and DailyDeals, a city specific daily email providing content-driven promotions and opportunities. We set out to create a content driven, interactive experience between our subscribers and the partners we feature. The DailyDeal is the next step in this interaction: Encouraging visitors to not only learn about new and exciting brands online, but also enabling them to experience them first hand through discounted offerings. MyDailyThread works with our partners to create DailyDeals that range from

WINNING THE WEB

MY D A I LY T H R E A D.C O M

Well, we just launched the DailyDeal in Atlanta a month ago, where we’ve had Deal sales ranging from 25 to over 250 per offering. We are looking to expand to 4 markets in the next 90 days, where we expect deals to exceed 300 per day in sales. As fast as the web evolves it is fairly tricky to try to predict beyond that. We feel our focus will be to stay ahead of the curve, while maintaining the high level of service we provide not only each of our markets, but also each customer within that market.

Dark-Horse T H E O N E T H AT C A M E O U T O F N O W H E R E

Spots — hot and true WIN: citysearch.com PLACE: menupages.com SHOW: frommers.com WHEN IT COMES TO EXPLORING A CITY – whether you’re visiting for the first time or you’ve already lived there for years – you want real opinions about real places from real people. That’s why we love citysearch.com, the essential local guide

for living bigger, better, and smarter in town – any town. Citysearch covers over 75,000 locations across the United States using professional editorialists as well as honest and true reviews from people like you and me.

Whatever the city has to offer, this site finds it for you, whether it’s the best sports bar in New York City or the most chic boutique in L.A. What makes it stand out above all other city-sites is their “Best of Citysearch” section for a list of recommended restaurants, nightlife, shopping, hotels, services and more – all voted on by their “gurus.” You’ll find ratings, reviews, pricing information, pros and cons, and even a map to show you exactly where to go. So whether you want to explore your own city, or the city you’re visiting for a weekend, Citysearch will take your average Saturday night and make it a memorable one. — C H E R I LY N E A R L

Online Metrics THE MONTH IN NUMBERS

+1.07%

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STATS: The Winning Index is a general guideline showing The Winning Index for January 2010: an average of major, overall August 09 Sept 09 +/trends happening on the InterTotal Unique Visitors (000) 197,311 198,378 +0.54% net from month to month. Our reporting data is Total Minutes (MM) 352,649 357,289 +1.32% from last summer. The index Total Pages Viewed (MM) 475,205 478,508 +0.70% is slightly down, a reflection of seasonal conditions and Total Visits (000) 12,149,568 12,358,678 +1.72% a general tendency in the The Winning Index is a general guideline showing an average of major, overall trends happening on the Internet from month to month. Fluctuations in the index can occur based on a variety of factors including but not limited to seasonality, advertising spending, and traffic and content changes. summer months to spend more time outside. Although our index lags because of reporting methods, look for similar trends for data covering July and August.

* Source: http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/pr-112409?o12499=

What You Need to Know D E TA I L S T H AT M AT T E R

...about Online Affiliate Marketing. Often successful, and no longer overlooked by marketers WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING? Affiliate marketing, also referred to by some as “performance marketing,” is a form of online marketing in which an advertiser pays commissions to one or more affiliates for each visitor, customer, or sale delivered by the affiliate’s own independent marketing efforts. WE LIKE IT BECAUSE: Affiliate marketing is platform “agnostic” and has proven to be a successful marketing practice using search-engine optimization, paid-search marketing, display advertising, email marketing and more. Most often, this practice is associated with a “pay for performance” economic model, which benefits an advertiser, since there is no expense or cash outlay unless specific results are attained. WHY IS THIS AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC CHANNEL FOR MARKETERS? Affiliate marketing has been a highly effective model for advertisers, brands and merchants. The best example, perhaps, is Amazon.com, which was not the first merchant to offer an affiliate program, but is the most widely known. However, there are countless other online merchants who have used affiliate marketing to grow their business. In recent years, affiliate marketing has become more important in developing marketing budgets than in the early part of the decade. The reason is simple: There are so many success stories.

You are here Sometimes, just knowing how to start is better than reading the whole map.

BACKGROUND: A recent study showed that 80 percent of affiliate programs today use a revenue sharing or cost-per-sale (CPS) compensation method. Only 19 percent use cost-per-action (CPA). This is the fundamental appeal of affiliate marketing for most advertisers and merchants: That they only spend money from their budget if a sale or action is delivered is a positive, especially during recessionary times when budgets are typically tightened. For these reasons, affiliate marketing has grown quickly since its inception. The e-commerce website has become an integrated part of the overall business plan, hand-in-hand with affiliate marketing. In some cases, affiliate marketing has spurred entire stand-alone, successful, businesses. Nowadays, the affiliate marketing industry thrives in virtually every sector or advertising vertical including education, entertainment, finance, travel and of course, retail. The number of affiliates worldwide has also grown tremendously in the past several years, affording independent marketers the opportunity to practice their trade and run entrepreneurial businesses with the aid of reputable performance-based affiliate networks.

Thanks for reaching out, Allen. This industry is all about change and evolution, so keeping on top of current news, blogs and recent discussions strengthens your development. Other than WINNING THE WEB, the New York Times and the occasional New York Post “Page 6” item – ha, ha – I typically stick to online forums for my daily dose of industry information. Some of my bookmarks:  Online Branding News: www.brandweek. com & www.imediaconnection.com  Online Performance Marketing/Ad Networks: www.adotas.com & www. mediapost.com  NY Business Updates: www. crainsnewyork.com  Technology: www.businessweek.com/ technology  Venture Capital Updates: http://www.fis. dowjones.com/

Brett Lofgren is Epic’s senior vice president of global sales Got a problem? Send a note to Brett at wtw@epicadvertising.com

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 Digital Policies/Procedures: www.iab.net

In addition to online research, I attend one or two conferences per quarter. Walking the floor, attending break-out sessions, panel presentations and talking with vendors, clients and competitors keeps me informed. Whether you are an industry newbie or a 15-year veteran, that’s a critical part of the education process. Lastly, sign up for various digital organizations in your area. Almost every major US city has a growing community of online marketers looking to network. One more thing: You can also set up Google Alerts for every company, product and emerging technology you work closely with. I am not suggesting you assume stalker mode, but this industry is continuously transforming and acquiring accurate knowledge about competitors or clients is key. —Brett

WINNING THE WEB

Dear Brett, I’m relatively new to the online marketing industry and would like to know what industry resources you suggest for news, discussions, and good analysis of the space – websites, columns, periodicals (other than WINNING THE WEB, of course)? Any tried-and-true subscriptions you think would be beneficial to me? It’s such a dynamic industry that I’m having a hard time pinpointing where to start. Thanks! —Allen I.

Amazon was not the first merchant to offer an affiliate program but it is the most widely known.

What It Takes... . . .TO W I N T H E W E B

Apple

FOR A CHANGE, NOBODY RAGES AGAINST A BEAUTIFUL MACHINE.

HOW DOES ONE GET NAMED “the most admired company” in the United States in 2008 – and in the world in 2009 by Fortune? Perhaps an even better question might be how a company can build such a rabid fan base made up of millions of paying customers devoted to its brand. Apple’s expansion beyond computers and into consumer electronics and the Web has been a case study in innovation and a consumercentric approach. Here’s just a few ways we believe Apple has won: Marketing innovation: Most people don’t know that Apple’s watershed moment came in the form of a $1.5 million television commercial in 1984 for the company’s first major product success, the Macintosh. Today, this marketing innovation continues with its justifiably wellhyped commercials for the Mac. This marketing innovation both on TV and the web is a major reason why Apple has maintained so much customer loyalty over decades.

Customer loyalty is contagious to other products: Most would agree that Apple is most often at the forefront of innovation, given that they didn’t stop at the Mac. A “first mover” status can be good or bad – bad if the product isn’t up to consumers’ expectations, good if it is. Through the years, Apple can chalk up successes with the Powerbook, iMac, iPod, iPhone and a notable partnership with Intel. On the web, iTunes is so ubiquitous now that to think of life without it is practically unfathomable for most.

EARLY MACINTOSH

WINNING THE WEB

J A N UA RY 2010

Don’t be afraid of your own success: Many companies create something people like, then become paralyzed – afraid to touch it, let alone improve it. Apple makes something people like – then makes it better. Case in point: The iPhone. In three short years since its January 2007 initial release, the iPhone has gone through significant iterations and improvements. Web surfing, software, memory, web surfing capabilities, applications were all enhanced and improved in three years. The company saw the amazing customer interest initially but didn’t become complacent.

Listen to your customers: Apple is famous for listening to their customers. In fact, no other company in recent memory is as good at listening to their users and taking constructive criticism (or even complaints) into account whether it is device design or a functionality issue. Mac users get together at trade shows, and Apple stores all help aid the company’s customer-centric approach and fuel its fan base. Apple evangelists are everywhere.

Like most major corporations, Apple has gone through its share of ups and downs. However, since their founding in the ‘70s and their IPO in 1980, they have been widely known for their innovation in products and marketing, their fearlessness to change, and their amazingly devoted fans and users. They have successfully won not only the web, but a whole lot more.

Don’t try to be something you’re not: Apple was a computer company; then they were a consumer electronics company that certainly had the Web as a major part of their strategy. This jump from computers to consumer electronics as a whole was not a major shift. After all, a computer is a piece of consumer electronics. It’s not as if the company is trying to sell lawn mowers; this speaks volumes about their commitment to doing a few things well rather than dozens of things not so well.

PAT WILLIAMS

Co-Founder of the NBA’s Orlando Magic • Author of over 50 books • Speaking clients include Coca-Cola, Disney, American Express, Nike

epic events W I N N I N G T H E W E B O N E E V E N T AT A T I M E

STEVE GILLILAND

An Evening with FOCi Group & Epic Advertising FOCi Group & Epic Advertising brought together big brands at STK, Tempest Room, for an evening of drinks and fine dining.

Executives from Epic Advertising

Guests mingle and enjoy the STK atmosphere

MARK RICHARDSON

ADVANTAGE SPEAKERS BUREAU™ A CUSTOM SERVICE OF ADVANTAGE MEDIA GROUP

ANDREW SHERMAN

The FOCi Group team

A F F I L I AT E S U M M I T W E S T | L A S V E G A S J A N U A R Y 1 7 - 1 9

Winning the Web

S:7 in

JAN 2010

THE DIGITAL

BUSINESS MONTHLY

Conversion Play HOW THE 49ERS SCORE ON THE WEB Habit Reforming DON’T GIVE THEM UP JUST MAKE THEM BETTER! S:10 in

Fear Factor EVEN BABIES LOVE A CHANGE!

Evolutionary Wars LEADING YOUR COMPANY OUT OF THE SWAMP

WE LIVE IN THE

HOUSE WE ALL

BUILD.

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WINNINGTHEWEBMAG.COM A publication of

COVER STORY:

ANDY DOLICH

SF 49ERS’ COO THE ONLINE MARKETING PLAYBOOK