Jon Samsel

I’ve been working in online marketing or e-commerce since the late-1990’s. Heck, I still own my first Mac PowerBook 5300 (and it works!). Technology, software, Internet connectivity–everything has pretty much changed over the years. But one thing I can tell you that has not changed much is the relationship between online marketers and web developers.

Like two star-crossed lovers meeting in the night, these two disparate groups are intricately intertwined and dependent on each other. But like oil and water, togetherness is sometimes a four letter word. The result: Bruised egos, project delays, blown budgets, finger-pointing, and soured relationships. Worst of all, it’s bad business to let interdepartmental issues impact a company’s bottom line. Frankly, it’s unacceptable.

In looking back on my dealings with IT development managers over the years, I am struck by the fact that nearly all of my interactions have common threads that include ALIGNMENT, QUALITY, and COMMUNICATION issues. I’ve identified nine specific pains points common to marketer/developer relations that, if improved early on, can really boost a company’s web productivity. An added benefit is improving interdepartmental relationships BEFORE they spiral out of control.

Mutual SLA(s)

1. Deadlines: Are deadlines being met? Are key milestones being hit?
2. Quality: What is the caliber of the deliverables? Are they meeting or exceeding expectations?
3. Value Add: Assess the subject matter expertise of the people we’re interacting with. Are people thinking outside the box? Are we getting any value add?
4. Trust: Do we respect our partners? Do they have our back? Can we take them at their word or do we need to document everything up front to cover ourselves later?
5. Teamwork: Does the other party have a shared desire to help us achieve our goals? Is it easy or difficult to resolve unexpected challenges?Are people listening?
6. Flexibility: Can our partners adapt to changing market conditions? Will they put in the extra effort needed to be successful? Are they working at web speed or legacy software development speed?
7. Surprises: Do we encounter frequent surprises or changes in direction? Are delays common?
8. People: Are we dealing with like peers or is their disparity in skill sets and maturity levels? Do we have weak links that are dragging us all down?
9. Support: How effective is the quality & style of communication? Is the other party easy to work with? How accessible are they in times of urgency?

Monthly Relationship Scorecard Review

One technique I have used over the years in a monthly relationship scorecard, or mutual SLA review session.  SLA stands for Service Level Agreement and serves as a contract between a service provider and a customer that specifies what services the service provider will furnish, and how those services should be measured. A mutual SLA simply applies the terms of agreement to both the provider (web developers) and customer (marketer).

The way a mutual SLA review session works is for both sides to rate each other (monthly) based on the nine variables mentioned above. Typically a marketing manager and web development manager sit down face to face to compare scores and review feedback. As uncomfortable and contentious as the first few review sessions usually go, the ensuing sessions using turn into effective get-togethers that resolve problems before they get too large to solve.

The goal of these sessions is to close the gap between self ratings (perceptions of our own performance) against partner ratings (how are peers actually rate us).

Challenge Resolution Sessions

A more professional and systematic approach to problem resolution can be attained via regularly scheduled Challenge Resolution Sessions. Rather than resorting to emotionally-charged finger pointing exercises (as if often the case after unresolved issues boil over), a challenge resolution session can be a healthy and effective way to air dirty laundry while solving critical impasses.

Sessions topics to consider include:

• What went wrong
• Impact the “challenge” is having on the business
• Why this issue is important to us
• How this “challenge” is making us “feel” (feelings, if left to fester, are like a cancer within)
• Root cause of the problem
• Recommended solutions
• What we’ve learned
• How we can prevent this type of situation from happening in the future

Conclusion

There are several ways that marketing professionals and their web development partners can have a more effective and productive working relationship that can help a company attain its online goals less arduously.  Mutual SLA(s), monthly relationship scorecard reviews, and challenge resolutions sessions are three ways I have personally actualized better relationships between marketers and web developers.

Communication is never easy. Neither is love; Ask any married couple. Perhaps my suggestions for documenting, discussing, and resolving online development and communication issues will prove helpful to both marketing professional and e-commerce/web development teams as they work together to improve their mutually-dependent relationships.

Ain’t love grand?

Each morning I start my day reviewing the brands I monitor on a regular basis. I won’t tell you which brands I monitor but I will tell you that I use five tools to monitor them so that I can make the most of my day as a busy online marketer:

1. Google Reader
2. Social Mention Alerts / Google Alerts
3. Google News
4. Twitter
5. Heardable

Were you surprised that my list didn’t contain any of the popular social media monitoring tools such as Radian6, eCairn, Sysomos or Techrigy SM2? There is nothing wrong with utilizing any of these tools as long as you are willing to put the time and effort into learning how to use them. By doing so, you can probably automate 80% of your online brand research effort that is required when trying to monitor a brand.

Frankly, that’s what we have staff for — to be experts at utilizing these types of robust tools. But as a busy executive, I often don’t have the time not patience to learn yet another cool tool to help me do my job. Call me old school, by I am perfectly happy using a handful of simple, smart, user-friendly tools that give me the information that I need, when I need it (without much hassle). My five tools fit the bill quite nicely — and I marry my findings with those on my expert teams to compile a holistic view on brand performance.

Why do I monitor certain brands? It’s my job to measure, monitor and improve brand effectiveness because in the business world I live and breath in– winning is everything. Big companies don’t pay the money they do to come in second place. Management wants to achieve all of its goals. Employees want to advance their careers. Shareholders want to see a fair return on their investment.

Business is a full-contact sport. It’s about beating your competitors before they beat you.

When I am knee-deep in the data, what am I looking for? What jewels am I unearthing? What actionable takeaways to I gain from the work that I do? Glad you asked!

My Tools Help Me

• Understand what communities are buzzing about
• Identify key trends
• Perform competitive analysis
• Optimize brand performance
• Improve the customer experience
• Grow market share / Boost sales

Using The Tools In My E-Toolbox

Let me explain how I utilize each to start by day as a busy online marketer.

Google Reader:  This is what I use to aggregate all my RSS feeds into one comprehensive list that I can scan in less than a minute to see if there are any articles or blog posts from those I trust that I should be aware of. When I find something I want to read, I mark it so I can read the post later in the day over lunch.

By scanning the headlines I collect in Google Reader, I get a feel for what’s being discussed on a deeper level in the blogosphere, and provides the ‘expert’ POV on what communities are buzzing about.

Social Mention Alerts / Google Alerts:  I lump these two together because they essentially do the same thing, but I find neither one is strong enough on it’s own for me to forgo using the other. Basically, I use these tools to seek out and flag certain keywords on a daily basis and serve them up to me in a consolidated list I can quickly scan. Google is fairly comprehensive on its own, but I distrust using a single keyword monitoring service to sift through the entire deep web of data on a daily basis. I like SocialMention.com’s alerts because they tend to provide me with a wider variety of results.

To be honest, there is a lot of dreg one has to comb through to find the gold, but you would be surprised to learn that I find all kinds of quirky, useful and unexpected nuggets of data in these simple, automated data feeds. Set up your keywords one time, then check you email for daily results. Easy as pie.

Google News:  To me, Google News is the one and only daily news aggregator I need to tap into. Sure, I occasionally monitor PRWeb and BusinessWire, or go to Alltop or TMZ (for entertainment), but for news (eg: press releases and breaking stories) Google News has replaced my daily newspaper and my online portals.

I search for certain brand keywords and can sort through countless stories that inform me about strategy, website redesigns, staff changes, and the like.

Twitter:  For real-time breaking information, nothing beats Twitter. It really has become my social search engine of choice. Not because it functions so much as a search engine but as a pulse of what’s happening. I can easily see what’s trending hot right now and I can perform a little bit of competitive analysis by studying how savvy certain brands are by looking to see if they are on Twitter (many still are not, and when they are, you cannot find them because often times their brand name has been hyjacked by someone else). You can also watch how certain brands are participating on Twitter (so many pilot tests, so little authenticity — such as having one’s CEO actively tweeting).

Heardable:  I’ve been a fan of Heardable.com since I was first invited to test their beta site in late 2009. It is quite simply one of the most underrated digital marketing gems out there (although this will be changing fast as their first press release came out today).

So what is the Heardable platform and how do I use it?  Heardable allows anyone to type in a domain name and within seconds, get a comprehensive assessment of that brand’s online effectiveness in six critical areas. I have a free account with Heardable which allows me to scan multiple brands at the same time, store groups of scans that I may need to revisit daily, track how multiple brands perform against each other over time, and determine what specifically one brand is doing to score higher than another.

I love to ‘look under the hood’ at the top brands in the world that are profiled in The Heardable 100 list of companies. At a glance, you can see common threads of what leading brands are doing better than everyone else, such as:

• Who is optimizing their website for mobile browsers — and which browsers?
• What analytic tools are certain brands using?
• Which brands are excelling at SEO and which are not?
• Is brand x sociable and/or sharing data — living up to the spirit of the giving web, the foundation of which all of web 2.0 and now web 3.0 is based on?

Heardable is brilliant. And from what I hear from the company’s founders, their growth strategy is very exciting. Keep an eye on Heardable.

In summary, I perform my daily ritual not because I yearn to to better than I did the day before. It’s my job to help brands win by increasing sales and growing market share. This can only be done of you know what’s happening in your market, you’re being the best steward of your brand as possible, you’re learning though trial and error and testing, you’re listening to crowds and trying your best to please, and you are optimizing everything you do as often as possible — from landing pages to the language you use to talk about your brand to the way you engage your constituents.

Online brand optimization ain’t easy. But with the right (free) tools and a little hard work come great rewards.

Every article writer needs a helping hand, from time to time, coming up with idea for a new article. Some stimulus, connection or link in a writer’s mind often leads to a new article. For example, you may feel lonely one rainy afternoon and because of this feeling decide to create an article about depression, suicide, or the end of a water shortage crisis. Perhaps a phrase you see in a magazine suggests an article. Or a blog posting like this one jump starts your creative thinking.

Here are 40 suggestions to jump-start ideas for articles:

1. An interesting fact. Here is an example: Yale Daily News reported that 41 percent of Yale undergraduates were women. This interesting fact could lead to an article on the increased number of women at top Ivy League schools such as Yale and Harvard.
2. An Event. School, civic, musical or sports events may all suggest a possible article. Example: You hear about a class reunion held by your old high school or college. After attending the reunion, you could write an article like “The Joy and Heartache of Class Reunions.”
3. A season of the year. Have you ever considered the miracle of spring and how it returns each year from March 21 to June 21? Pondering this time of the year could easily stimulate an article titled, ‘‘The Return of Spring” or “21 Ways to Get Ready For Spring Cleaning.
4. An observation. One day a friend happened to remark that he “could count the number of his real friends on the fingers of one hand.” This led to an article idea, “The Miracle of Friendship.”
5. You might also consider writing an article about a remark or statement you hear. Here is an example: One day I was watching my new car go through a supposedly reliable car wash. Two workers jumped inside the car to vacuum. Suddenly, they started joking with one another and engaging in a slap fight. When my car was ready to go, it was discovered that inside mirror was in a new position, the radio was set to a new channel, and one of the floor mats was missing. Right on the spot I decided to blog about the service of this local car wash in a humorous article. Do you see how a feeling, emotion, or mood can trigger a new article? No doubt many articles have been given life because a writer was shocked, angry, disgusted, or irritated about something.
6. A warning of danger. To begin, make a list of dangerous things. Some examples are: “Investing Can Be Dangerous to Your Wealth,” “Beware of the Little Green Mold Monster,” or “Ride the New Mega-Scream Rollercoaster at Your Own Risk.
7. Visiting a place––even vicariously. “Syracuse: Home of the Orangemen,” “The Place Where McDonald’s Was Born,” and “Nashville: A City for All Seasons” are a few examples.
8. A holiday. One way is to consider how various holidays affect people. How do prisoners feel on major holidays? What about poor people, those in hospitals, or those who live alone? Example: “Holidays Can Be the Loneliest Time of the Year,” or “Kwanza Decorating Secrets.”
9. An intriguing question. Here is an example: “Ever Dream of Becoming a Spy?” Other possibilities with this method are “Will Time Travel Be Possible in Our Lifetime?” and “Should the Big Three Automakers Get a Bailout or Face Bankruptcy?”
10. Advice someone offered, including your own. Example: Perhaps you would like to create an article that would help troubled readers facing difficulties in life. Possible titles might be: “10 Tips for Discovering Your True Purpose in Life,” or “How to Land a New Job in Less Than 30 Days.”
11. A quotation. Quotes have triggered hundreds of new articles and probably thousands over the years. Example: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison made the following remark: “Microsoft’s future is based on the idea of Windows everywhere. We think that will never happen. We think it will be the Web everywhere.” This seems like a natural article for someone hoping to write about the impact the Internet has had on our lives, or an article about Microsoft losing its dominance in the computer marketplace. A writer reads an enormous number of quotations during a career. So be alert for those quotes that may have the seeds of one or more articles. They are out there. Look between the words. Examine the quotations you like from all angles. You’ll be glad you did.
12. An obituary. For example, “Adrian Kantrowitz, 90, a doctor who performed the first human heart transplant in the United States, died from congestive heart failure Nov. 14 at the University of Michigan Medical Center.” Or this news headline: “Paul Newman, actor and philanthropist, died on September 27th, aged 83.” The passing of a celebrity or interesting person can trigger an article idea because readers out there always like summary-type articles about an unexpected death; a kind of memorial or tribute type article. Don’t overlook reading obits, for there are definite articles waiting to be written about the famous or well-known.
13. Statistical information. Intriguing, alarming, or surprising numerical reports may well suggest an article. This is one reason for not overlooking reports on all subjects. Example: “The average American’s household credit card debt in 1990 was $2,966. In 2007 is was $9,840.” These stats could be the seed for a number of articles about staying out of debt, not using credit cards, or limiting the use to one or two.
14. A belief held by many people. Reincarnation is a belief held by millions of people all over the world. Some reports have stated half of all Americans believe in it. Two possible titles for an article on reincarnation might be “Do We Live Again?” or “If Reincarnation Is True, There’s No Escape.” Another belief held by most children is that Santa Clause is real. Imagine articles such as “The Origins of Kris Kringle.” Or, “Economic Meltdown: Why Santa Clause Won’t Be Coming to Town This Year.”
15. A need to influence a certain business segment or career group. First choose the career group or discipline you’d like to direct your article to––such as sales managers or online traffic buyers––then develop a premise around solving a problem of fulfilling a need. Some examples are: “How to Motive Your Sales Staff,” “15 Ways to Optimize Online Media Campaigns,” and “How to Develop an Integrated Media Plan to Increase Revenue.”
16. A particular type of problem: business, family, or personal. Example: “Stop Snoring Forever.” Another one is “How to Avoid Bankruptcy in Five Simple Steps.”
17. A declarative statement. Declarative statements are everywhere––from the marketing copy on your breakfast cereal box, to the subtitle on that cookbook on the kitchen table, to that sales flyer tucked under your windshield wiper. Some declarative statements that might be used for articles include: “Delicious, healthy meals in 10 minutes or less,” “Landscaping can increase the value of your home” and “Bran is an excellent source of fiber.”
18. An idea. Example: Consider the often expressed idea that there will be much greater use of robots in the years ahead. This could well lead to an article. Here is another possibility: The idea that it pays for writers to know the business side, as well as the creative side, of their line of work. Such an article would be right on target for trade publications for writers or a creative writing blog.
19. A trait or quality shared by most people. Example: Millions of people are fans of Marilyn Monroe. A touching tribute was once published about her that discussed her childlike quality, which comes across on the screen. Members of the human family share this trait of being childlike. An article written about this subject might be titled: “The Child in All of Us.” Lots of people throughout the world have freckles. Why not an article for a woman’s magazine titled: “Freckles Are Fabulous.”
20. A dramatic, unusual or surprising phrase. We urge you to keep a special notebook of shocking phrases you might come across in your everyday life; they can often lead to article ideas. Keep your ears tuned for anything unusual, fresh, or captivating. For example, a veteran insurance agent claimed he got results selling insurance by asking prospects the following question: “Will your widow dress as well as your wife does?” Imagine an article with a similar title! “Surviving the Ups and Downs of a Tumultuous Market” is a title culled from today’s troubling financial headlines. “Are You Afraid to Die?” is another phrase that might perk a few ears. Or how about: “Rinsing with Vinegar Can Cure an Itchy Scalp.”

Click here to go to Part 2 of this article.

Recently, I had the good fortune of interviewing Chris Martin, managing director of the technology recruiting firm, BeAboveIt, LLC. He had some compelling insights and advice to share with prospective job candidates. Here is an excerpt from our conversation:

Q: How did you get started in recruiting and how long have you been doing this type of work?

A: I started in IT recruiting back in 2000, so this is my ninth year in the business.

Q: What type of work did you do before recruiting?

A: I played professional minor league baseball for 10 years with the Tampa Bay and Montreal Expos organizations. I played shortstop. The one thing I noticed as I transitioned from playing baseball to working in the ‘real world’ is how easy it was for me to handle the ups and downs of a normal work day. I remember noticing how upset people could get over the smallest things that happened to them on a daily basis. The one thing you have to do in professional sports is stay on an even keel; you can’t get too low and you can’t get too high.

Q: Can you describe what you do on a typical day?

A: Most of the day is on the phone, on the phone, on the phone! Calling clients (companies) and candidates and letting them know we are here to help them bridge the gap between the opportunities that are out there.

Q: I assume a recruiter needs to stay well connected. Any networking insights or best practices you can share that might help business professionals looking to improve in this area?

A: Recruiting is a relationship based business. Especially in tough times like today, it’s important to stay connected with people and let them know what you’re doing and how you can help. As a recruiter/staffing specialist, we can be the eyes and ears of the job market for you.

Job seekers can benefit from online social networking. I sometimes use LinkedIn.com to find candidates because I feel LinkedIn has a more professional approach than other social networking sites. There are a couple others out there though, such as Jigsaw, Plaxo, etc. Online social networking is important because it helps keep your contacts fresh and you tend to stay in touch with what’s really going on in the market.

Q: What are three traits that a successful recruiting company must have?

A: First thing that comes to mind when I hear that question is integrity. No matter how successful you become as an agency, you can’t let the dollar come before doing business the right way; which is a big reason why I started BeAboveIt Services.

Secondly, an agency needs to have experienced recruiters and account managers that have a good understanding of their client’s business units. I see and hear a lot of companies getting slammed with resumes from agencies and the candidate’s background & skills aren’t even close to what the company needs. As an agency, you really need to take the time to make sure the candidates can do the job AND do the job the way the company wants it done.

This leads to the third trait a recruiting firm must establish and that’s TRUST! If you do your job the right way, there’s nothing better than getting a call from hiring managers who have specific needs and they know you are going to find them the resources they need. Their job and reputation are on the line when they call you, thus delivering solid candidates is a must!

Q: What type of employment positions do you focus on—and why this niche?

A: BeAboveIt Services focuses on the IT industry (information technology) specifically. We handle positions from Helpdesk up to CTO level. Since the ‘dotcom’ era back in 2000, we have learned how to implement and use technology in better ways; technology will always be apart of successful business.

Q: What are some recent positions you have filled?

A: We find solutions for Fortune 1000 companies here in Southern California . We can handle contact/consulting positions, contract-to-hire, and direct hire placements. We recently placed a Systems Administrator (SharePoint Consultant) with a major international law firm; a Project Manager in a major entertainment studio, and QA/Business Analyst with a smaller media firm.

Q: How do recruiters make money?

A: This process varies from agency to agency. Some firms pay their recruiters a small salary with a commission structure. Some firms pay their recruiters on a draw vs. commission structure. More specifically, when direct hire placements (I use direct hire instead of permanent; no job is permanent, right?) are made, recruiters usually get a percentage of the fee paid to the agency. Likewise for consulting/contracting positions, recruiters get a set percentage of the gross margin made per hour.

Q: Can you give me an example of a job candidate you landing a job for that was especially meaningful to you?

A: I have been in this business for almost 10 years, that’s a lot of placements. But there was a recent placement that happened that was rewarding. The candidate interviewed with a company and the company really liked him and they wanted to move forward. The candidate was a Canadian citizen and was on a TN Visa. Just as they were finalizing the deal, the company put this position on hold as they were an international company and opening some offices in the Middle East. 5 months went by! The candidate would check in from time to time to see if there was any movement, the company wanted to still move forward but their hands were tied. The candidate called me and said if nothing happens in the next 4 to 6 weeks, I’m going to have to move back to Canada. I was really discouraged because I knew he really wanted to work there and the company did too. Finally, in the last hour, I got a call from the client asking if the candidate was still interested and available. Obviously he was and he started there 3 weeks ago and loves it! When things happen like that, it makes this job worth every penny.

Q: Do you have any recommendations for information technology job candidates looking to increase their chances of getting hired?

A: There are number of factors to increase your chances of employment. Composing a good resume, knowing what to say in an interview, etc. We help all our candidates throughout this process.

Contact Information

Chris Martin
Managing Director
BeAboveIt LLC
phone: 310-779-1417
fax: 310-284-8371
email: chris@beaboveit.com

Developing a bug list can be a great way to uncover unmet needs that you may want to solve in your organization. Not only does it help document known issues, but the process of creating a bug list can also serve as a release valve for frustrated employees. Think of a bug list as a modern day suggestion box that’s a bit more open and interactive than the time-honored approach.

Ready to give it a try?

Spend a few minutes jotting down “things that bug you” in your daily work life. What annoys you? What could be fixed if people only knew it were a problem? How might productivity be boosted if a particular issue were revolved?

Here are a few ideas to get you started. These are some thing bugging me right now:

• Our e-commerce department takes too long to update website content
• We have to follow a cumbersome legal process to get content approved
• Visit to lead ratios on landing pages need improvement
• There is too much chatter and lollygaging around the copy machine

Now that you have your short list of bugs, it’s time to do some solution sketching to come up with ways to eliminate the bugs from your life. This type of brainstorming session may not solve all of the bugs on your list, but they will most certainly stimulate healthy debate (and possibly identify a few good solutions) if your team is asked to participate in a debugging session.

So what are you waiting for?  Click the image below to see a larger solution sketch template I created for some things that are bugging me right now.

Strategic partnerships can create unique branding opportunities for your company, which may help open up new market opportunities for your products and services.

To strategically position your “brand” to a higher level of market recognition, use this worksheet to identify related companies, products or services that you you may be able to partner with. These are your core strategic partner prospects.

With the rapid emergence of Web 2.0 platforms and technologies, many Fortune 500 companies are now utilizing their websites and digital media assets to create mash-ups, crowdsource, microblog, and publish data in a way that promotes, engages and influences their key constituents. They are doing this by utilizing social media applications, word of mouth communication tactics, and consumer-centric interactive experiences to mesh business goals with constituent desires. The reward for successfully navigating this next media minefield is often a stronger brand, more loyal customers, and a new type of business mindset whereby markets are conversations.

Companies who have already embraced the type of conversations enabled by digital networks seem to have several things in common. Here are 10 of them:

1. An understanding that being responsive to customers with service level agreements that know no boundaries, channel barriers or time constraints.
2. Recognition that the online experience you provide is your brand. Great first experiences, like the theoretical ripple effect of a butterfly’s wings, are the catalyst for something larger, positive, profound, and influential, that associates a company with trust.
3. Admission that honesty and transparency trumps double-talk and corporate babble-speak. In fact, it’s this real discussion (warts and all) that constituents crave.
4. Have a network of smart marketers who prompt audiences to interact because they know that will increase the likelihood that their audiences will transact.
5. Have the foresight and knowledge that customer engagement means more than launching an online discussion board, it comes organically through enabling valuable and motivating experiences at every touch point.
6. Tend to have empathetic staff who question what they do for a living and then juxtapose this against what they know their consituencies actually need from them—implementing beneficial solutions as a result.
7. An appreciation that new web analytics and measurement tools need to speak to where the visitor is going, and not merely to ‘where the puck is’
8. Acknowledgement that although user-generated content diffuses corporate governance and editorial authority in some ways, it can be leveraged to boost site credibility and improve natural search results.
9. An innate ability to harness the talents of each individual employee to share their knowledge and leverage their personal connections.
10. Realizes that effective word of mouth campaigns cannot be manufactured. They tend to be spontaneous, honest and truly viral events centered around humor, oddities, insider news, the taboo or the just plain awe-inspiring.

Now that you have your new project idea–whether it’s a book, video game, or some other type of creative project, you will want to go out and sell it so you can get the money and support to bring your project to life. You’ve made your cold calls and leveraged your LinkedIn connections to set up your first pitch meeting. You have one objective: impress those in the room enough to warrant another meeting. Here’s how you do it.

First, size up the room. How many people are there? If there are only one or two individuals, your job will be much easier. Create an intimate space. Make eye contact. Remember, they need to feel your passion. What are people wearing? The gals in suits tend to like statistics, facts, and demographics. The guys dressed in blue jeans and T-shirts with want the creative stuff. Adjust your pitch accordingly.

Second, beware of small talk. Sure, you’ll need to be friendly so people in the room but watch out for conversation traps. Many of those who pitch projects have fallen into a seemingly innocent exchange of pleasantries, then, the trap.

Allow me to demonstrate:

SUIT BEHIND THE DESK: “What do you think of our multiplayer game, Rebel Conquest?”

Panic strikes. You’ve never even heard of the game, much less sampled it. You quickly improvise.

YOU: “It’s great. Very state-of-the-art. Kids seem to really like it.”

SUIT BEHIND THE DESK: “What I meant was, what’s the buzz? The product doesn’t roll out ’til March. Perhaps you’re confusing our game with some other product.”

OOOOPS! Somebody just put their foot in their mouth! Let’s try that scenario again.

SUIT BEHIND THE DESK: “What do you think of our multi-player game, Rebel Conquest?”

Panic strikes. You’ve never even heard of the game, much less sampled it. You answer truthfully.

YOU: “If it’s anything like your last online game, Crash Test Kids, I’m sure it’ll be a winner. But to be honest with you, Mr. So-and-So, I don’t know anything about Rebel Conquest.”

SUIT BEHIND THE DESK: “We have high-hopes for the game. Multiplayer experiences are the future of Super Duper Game Company. I’m anxious to see what you have to show us today.”

Two rules of small talk:

1. If you don’t know the answer, admit it. You won’t look stupid telling the truth. You will look stupid if you get caught in a lie
2. Keep pre-pitch conversation to a minimum. Restrain yourself from gabbing. Don’t loose sight of your objective!

Blow your audience away with a passionate , solid pitch. This takes lots of practice. I repeat, lots of practice. Keep your presentation brief and to the point. Be animated when necessary (flap your arms, grit your teeth, bark like a dog). Use visuals sparingly (your oral pitch should stand on its own).

How to Improve Your Pitch

• Start off with a teaser (hook the audience, then reel them in)
• Highlight unique elements that will compel audiences to ask for for more
• Pitch with conviction and passion (your idea must be infectious…the design team must share your enthusiasm throughout the development cycle)
• Humor helps (just use it sparingly)
• Pitch from a common frame of reference (use of terminology)Show your ability to create hybrid entertainment that can be franchised to other mediums such as television or books
• Sell the sizzle, not the steak
• Concentrate on the most exciting aspects of your project, rather than all the minor details (long-winded, unfocused presentations can kill a room)
• Never resort to reading notes (if you can’t eat, sleep and breath the pitch, you’re not ready to deliver it)
• Identify at least one emotional element that drives your idea forwar
• Take command of the room (always deliver a pitch standing up…unless it’s a small room, and don’t invade the personal space of others)