Joining the

ConversationDeane Barker

Blend Interactive

Blend Interactive

Full-service Web strategy, design, and

development firm

Based in Sioux Falls

13 employees

blendinteractive.com

Part 1: The New Rules

Part 2: One Way to Play

The New Rules

The Two Big Questions

Media has changed

The direction of flow has

changed.

Blogosphere?

Social Media

Consumers have

become publishers,

either explicitly or ad hoc

Less monologue, more

dialogue

Conversation

“Markets are

conversations.”

Marketing didn’t change.

It changed back.

How do you get inside

the conversation?

Problem #1

Advertising has

traditionally been

stratified.

Stratification makes it

easier to tune

advertising out.

You have to find a value-

add.

You have to find a way

to engage the consumer.

You have to give them a

reason to care about

your message.

Engagement is the new

media buy

How do you engage

deep enough to avoid

stratification?

Problem #2

One Way to Play

Join the Conversation

How do you get people

talking about your

product?

YOU have to start

talking about your

product.

Content is King

Content is Currency

Attention Economics

“In this age we are surrounded by stimuli,

messages in our environment clamoring

for a little piece of our awareness. [...] In

our new digital world we’ve finally started

to run out of one of our most precious

resources: Our own attention.”

— New Liberal Arts

Start a Blog

Pick a Topic

Have a Voice

Not Too Formal

Not Too Promotional

Be Human

A failed blog is worse

than no blog.

Find related blogs and

comment on them.

Practical Matters

Brand your blog differently than your

“main” Web presence

Promote an actual human

Practical Matters

Provide clear, simple URLs for people to

link to.

Can you yell your way

into the conversation?

ROI?