Digital Skills Needed to Work in the Media Industry

As the traditional media industry begins to espouse the digital movement, your digital skills and knowledge of the digital world will ensure that you continue to be among the most employable of sales staff. Honing your digital skills will make you a preferred candidate, considered more qualified than those individuals who limit themselves to only traditional media transmission or printing techniques.

Digital media sales positions are becoming more and more prevalent in the media industry. Even those working for traditional media sources find themselves selling a mixture of products that include both print and online advertising, standard radio ads and satellite radio spots, or video for television and for internet distribution. By educating yourself about the methods used in digital media you become a more effective sales executive, able to speak knowledgably to clients about the services and products offered by your company.

If you work directly for a media provider then you will certainly need to have a range of digital skills. Some digital media sales jobs require incumbents to perform sales activities as well as basic design or coding activities. For example, a sales position with a web design company may sell products as well as complete design projects.

Some digital media companies have less broad job descriptions, with digital media sales staff selling products but then handing off design or distribution duties to other individuals within the company. Even within these positions you will need to have at least a working understanding of the digital techniques and tools employed in the creation of client media projects. This allows you to speak to clients in a convincing and informative manner, making a strong argument for the reason they should purchase products or services from your company.

If you are a digital media sales technician then you will need to not only sell products or services but complete project work as well. These kinds of digital sales jobs are very common in the media industry today, with many small and medium sized media companies merging customer service, sales and design job duties under a single position.

Larger companies often require those working in digital media sales jobs to go through a training program during which they will learn about the kinds of products offered and the technical skills required to complete customer projects. Such a training program can make you a more authoritative voice for the company and will make you more impressive to clients, ultimately improving your performance as a sales representative.

If you run your own digital media company then the odds are that you will need to wear a number of hats. This means you'll be selling as well as creating client media projects. Self-employment or consulting work is rewarding but will require a strong understanding of digital media in order to ensure success.

If you want to find the latest media jobs then try searching for specific things online such as Digital Media Sales or Editorial Jobs.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Using Customer Engagement & Participation to Enhance Loyalty in the Media Industry

INTRODUCTION:

There seems to be rapid afforestation as far as the media industry is concerned. Many players battle for the eye-balls of the viewers and readers. In this jungle only those media and entertainment companies will survive that are able to effectively engage with their consumers to rapidly identify and react to the evolving demands and consumption patterns of end users.

To say that the media and entertainment (M&E) consumption in the last decade has undergone a paradigm shift would not be an exaggeration. The time when entertainment as represented by the media typically meant a few grainy channels on the television or tuning into limited stations on the radio or else gorging on news (that would typically be considered stale) from the newspaper or reading a book (hardcopy, mind you) seems like the choices of a bygone era. Those were days when outdoors were more welcoming. Today one is connected to the world through various hi-tech networked means. As the media has changed, so have its consumers.

The renaissance seems to have been driven by one single factor- advancing technology. The same technology that has ushered-in abundance has not brought the change in isolation, it also created cultural shifts. Consumers have realised their power and have become more demanding. Earlier they would adjust their lives according availability of content today the providers have to wrap around their broadcast and publishing according to the consumer convenience. Today, media has become location agnostic with the emerging popularity of tools like mobile phones that enable pulling of "media software". The percolation of social sites has to be seen as a game changer. At any given moment people are exchanging notes with each other about media content and the death or survival of published or broadcast content are decided in an instant.

Consumers are finally unshackled themselves from limitations and are enjoying wider choices and expanded personal freedoms as far and media and entertainment are concerned. Along with freedom consumption has also significantly gone up. This has thrown-up a double edged challenge for the providers-great opportunity and significant challenges. In the era of power-shifts it is apparent that only those media and entertainment companies who enable themselves to rapidly identify and react to the evolving demands and consumption patterns of end users will thrive.

There is only one factor that can enable these organisations decipher complex customer requirements-information. The challenge is to sift through this information using analytical tools and gather intelligence that can be effectively deployed. Bottom line, ability to deploy intelligence and creation & sustenance of loyalty among its consumer will be the key differentiating factor that will enable media companies to achieve success in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

There seems to be a thousand ways in which the consumer can access and enjoy diverse media and entertainment content due to its mass availability. The switching-cost is also low for consumers who want to switch to new content providers or media and entertainment companies. The biggest challenge in the media industry seems to be the fickle loyalties of consumers forcing them to identify ways of customizing content in compelling, highly targeted ways.

FACTORS SHAPING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR:

CONTENT: Today's consumers expect a spectrum of content granularities. Their expectations may change depending on the time, their device/network characteristics, and even their moods. This compels the providers to customise content so that fits within the media consumption patterns of the consumer.

TARIFF MODEL: Though certain content will always be paid for, tariff remains a contentious issue. The consumer want low fee for themselves and expects the companies to generate most of the content through advertisements. In reality lot of content especially on the online media are co-created between the company and the consumer. This challenges the companies to create higher quality, customised content and charge the consumer less for the same.

ECONOMICS OF ATTENTION: Today's media market faces an irony. Despite abundant new digital content that has replaced earlier scarcities along with easy access the only scarcity that has emerged seems to have been that of user attention. For the content providers, getting user attention has been nothing short of a battle.

TARGETED EXPERIENCES: The evolution of real-time business intelligence is enabling mass-customisation of content and entertainment that delivers highly personalized and engaging experiences, consumers are demanding more.

COMPETITION: Media and entertainment companies have been forced into transitioning into non-traditional roles. Networks are delivering content online to consumers, bypassing traditional cable or satellite distribution; telcos are competing with cable via Internet Protocol television (IPTV) platforms; and cable companies are competing with telcos with voice over IP (VoIP). As Competition and churn increases, customer data analysis can provide competitive advantage for customer retention.

KEY IMPERATIVES FOR THE MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY:

ACCELERATED CONTENT DIGITIZATION: Analog is out and Digital is in. All content has to be in digital format so that it can be quickly edited, stored, combined with other digitized content and rapidly repurposed as needed.

IMPLEMENT END-TO-END WORKFLOWS: In today's environment it is critical to have seamless collaboration from pre-production through post-production all along the value chain.

USING METADATA FRAMEWORK: Content needs to be tagged through a metadata framework which enables its easy location, identification & helps in determining digital rights permissions.

FLEXIBLE & EVOLVING BUSINESS MODELS: With media and entertainment consumption pattern undergoing rapid shifts, traditional business models are becoming obsolete and thus unable to fully capitalize on the available opportunities or counter threats in contemporary market.

TARGETED REVENUE MODELS: Revenue, predominantly through advertising can be maximized if consumption patterns could be effectively analyzed and identified. The organisation would be able to break down larger segments into interest-specific fragments and deliver truly targeted and less intrusive advertising.

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT THROUGH USER-GENERATED CONTENT: The ability to actively engage its consumers and create a "connect" would give any media organisation the ultimate competitive advantage. It has also been identified that engaged customers have the propensity to be loyal. They consume more content, evangelize for content and services they like, and can act as a barometer for cultural and technological change.

DEPLOY ROBUST CONTENT PROTECTION: To maximise profit from content, piracy and unauthorized copying must be carefully controlled and digital rights must be enforced.

GUARANTEEING CONSUMER PRIVACY: In order to actively engage customers and to encourage incoming content in various forms (including comments, rating etc), it is important to assure that unauthorized dissemination of information or access to such information will be limited only to authorized audience. Thus implementing privacy controls have become very important-Sanjai Velayudhan.

© Sanjai Velayudhan.

Endnote: The author would like your feedback-both bouquets & brickbats. Write to me- sanjai.velayudhan@itcinfotech.com.

A behavioural trainer by education and a loyalty specialist by profession, Sanjai has PG qualifications in Training and Performance management from CLMS, University of Leicester. Sanjai works with ITC Infotech India Limited as the senior manager-loyalty program. he consults on loyalty matters and is also a compulsive writer. He looks after loyalty solutions and develops content. he believes that Knowledge is the spearhead that leads organisations forward.He has published few papers on loyalty programmes and the psychology behind it. To read some his papers, please visit: http://www.itcinfotech.com/Loyalty-Solutions/Home.html. You can see his talk on loyalty- http://www.24framesdigital.com/winningedge/260608. Feel free to write to him on sanjai.velayudhan@itcinfotech.com.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Media Training - Why the Oil Industry is Going to Need More Media Training

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has done more than damage just the reputation and market capitalisation of BP. It's put the entire oil industry on notice that cutting costs to improve shareholder value ahead of safety is just not acceptable. And the news media have highlighted this problem, adding to BP's woes, by talking about how an acoustic switch is not mandatory in the US (but is everywhere else) and that would have prevented the rig explosion. All oil companies are now going to come under severe media scrutiny. That's why proper, professional media training is going to be absolutely vital for these companies.

I know BP executives would have had media training courses both before and after the Deepwater Horizon disaster began but there were still flaws in their performances. CEO Tony Hayward told the media he would "like his life back" after weeks and weeks of dealing with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The comment was seen as tactless given that 11 workers had died when the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up in April.

The media - and therefore the public - absolutely frown on anyone ignoring sensitivities like that. So, how do you avoid such mistakes? Simple really - be aware of any sensitivities surrounding the incident and make sure you don't overstep any boundaries. In media relations training for the incident, draw up a list of the "no-go" areas and firmly cement that in your brain. This is particularly important for television media training as those clips often end up on YouTube and can go viral.

The best tip of all - have some compassion inherent within you. Don't let corporate or political life rob of you of that virtue and then you naturally won't fall into holes like that! (Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown forgot that tip when he was campaigning for the election and called an elderly female voter a bigot, forgetting his radio microphone was still on when he clambered into his car and made the remark to aides.)

But back to BP, and the CEO also bought out the tried and true media skills training method of putting the spill into context by telling the Guardian newspaper that "the Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume." That's normally a very good media training ploy but when you have a spill the size of the Deepwater Horizon one, you can't get into spin like that. This spill is too big a negative to ignore or gloss over with positive spin.

It's best to just fess up, say you're sorry and get on with cleaning up the mess, making sure the media know that all other rigs under your name have been checked and cleared - I havent seen any news media coverage on that last point yet and it's now two months after the spill began. It would indeed be much better if BP ignored the lawyers, who are always bad for public relations.

Meanwhile the investigative journalism site, ProPublica has published a damning story that calls into question BP's safety and environmental practices this century. The story goes much deeper than any daily news report can go and paints a very unsettling picture of BP operations and culture.

That, of course, is to be expected as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues. The media will dig deeper and look at other company operations. The industry generally must be quaking because the media spotlight is sure to broaden its reach to include other oil companies and their safety and environmental records. And that's why more media training is going to be needed in the oil industry worldwide.

Here's what the The Independent had to say about BP's Tony Hayward:

"...it is also important that BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, puts a cap on his own stream of self-pitying and self-regarding remarks, which have only inflamed US hostility towards the company and indeed towards Britain.

From the now infamous complaint that he wanted "his life back" to yesterday's smug-sounding assertion in a television interview that BP would remain in the Gulf "long after the media have gone", the public face of BP has continued to display a tin ear for public opinion, turning himself into an almost pantomime figure, the proverbial smooth-talking, ill-intentioned Brit of so many Americans' darkest imaginations."

From a media training perspective - OUCH!

And the result of all this on BP? As I write this today, June 17, 2010, the company's share price has plummeted 50% since the rig explosion, it's been forced to cut dividends by 75%, significantly reduce its investment program and sell US$10 billion of assets to fund a planned US$20 billion fund to pay for the oil spill.

Graham Kelly runs specialist media training services out of Melbourne, Australia and has trained thousands of executives in 10 different countries. His website is http://www.kelly.com.au/media-training/

If you like some of his media training ideas in this article, you'll love his 100 media training tips which also comes with five media training articles - available free from http://www.kelly.com.au/media-training/media-training-tips/

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.