Rand Schulman SES Interview and Why Content Will Save America

I had the opportunity to sit down with Webmaster Radio last week at SES to discuss the rising importance of content marketing to SEO as well as how the role of “marketer” needs to change.  The shift in search and seo is indicative of the larger shift within the digital marketing community.  I also got a chance to discuss how our educational system is not designed to produce the type of marketers and engineers that are needed for the future and what can be done to change that.

It was really interesting to see how many content marketing companies are starting to pop up within the search community, specifically trying to put numbers to words.  After all, creativity without conversion = 0!  Listen to the interview over at webmaster world.

Drip Drip Drip, Can higher education change fast enough to keep up with Moore’s law? The Deans Think So.

It’s commencement time around the nation when newly minted alumni begin their quest for the golden fleece, the first job. Time to get real. But is education truly preparing students for this brave new world, one where measurement of productivity is polished to a high gloss and finds its way to the balance sheet?

Engineers produce things to be sold, salesmen sell things, and business students are taught to understand  and drive the metrics of business. But what happens to English majors? Where do they go with their diplomas in hand in this capitalist land of uber-productivity, which is after all, one of the things that separates the US from other countries.

Moore’s law describes a driving force of technological and social change, yet the university tends to move at glacial speed steeped in tradition as deep as Dante’s Inferno. And  the educational glaciers are melting with the modern heat of demand, yet supply is not there. Today, an imbalance exists between skills being taught and what business requires –  all driven ever more quickly by technological innovation, as Moore described.

Some universities see the handwriting on the wall (and the puddle of water at their feet)  and are looking for innovative ways to leverage their current curriculum in order to produce graduates with the skills needed for today’s competitive environment. Pelin and I spoke last week at the University of the Pacific, the oldest university in California, to a room filled with university deans, department chairs and professors and students interested to hear our views on what industry needs from these new workers. Since the earliest days of web analytics, we have understood that “creativity without conversion equals zero.” English majors need to be able to place a value on the words they create, in a business context. Their work needs to translate to the bottom line and it must be measureable. We presented our idea of an innovative Content Engineering curricula, a hybrid set of courses which span disciplines and schools, designed for the content creators in our online future. (Maybe explain what content engineer is?)

These Content Engineers understand the persuasive value of words; why people buy; the technology enablers, and will be able to establish and optimize objectives which are measured by business goals, and to effect that change with their new skill set learned in university. We are at the dawn of a “relevance revolution,” and instead of following, US education needs to lead the way to maintain international competiveness. Higher education can’t continue to teach the same way it has for the last millennia — not with technology and the speed of business continuing to increase. And as Americans, we are uniquely suited to undertake this challenge and to excel. The new English majors are not your grandmothers’ bard for sure!

We’re optimistic that leaders in higher education see what industry and students need in the future, but that only time will tell as the glaciers continue to drip, drip, drip. We thank our hosts at the University – Deans Dr. Tom Krise, College of the Pacific;  Dr. Lewis Gale, Eberhardt School of Business; and  Dr. Ravi Jain, School of Engineering and Computer Science, for allowing us to share our vision with their facility, staff and students.

The Death of Marketing and the Birth of the Content Engineer at the University of the Pacific

As the web becomes cluttered with more data and spam generated by black hat games and content farms, relevant Content becomes more critical. The key is findability. Can your content be found? There are many ways to insure good results but there’s a lack of formal education around the new media and just how to do that. Though Web Analytics has been around for a decade, few really use it to optimize their work and we know why and it needs to be addressed by higer education and creating relevant graduates. But things are changing so quickly, so how do you that in this environment and what is the role of higher education in setting the foundation, and giving tools to future content creators?

I’ve been talking about a new disciple that I’ve called Content Engineering for about five years, and now I’m happy to say that higher education is addressing the issue head-on. Pelin and I are speaking to the students and facility, hosted by the Deans of the Business, Engineering and Liberal Arts schools at the University of the Pacific to share our vision of how Social Media is changing marketing and those of us who create content. What’s key is that UOP recognizes that students and future Content Engineers will need critical skills across disciplines – English & Communications; Business and Engineering. We expect to see more schools and universities create programs that address these requirements in the near future.

This is a good start.

Bathwater, Cornell and the Adoption Myth…

It’s sure great to talk to real people for perspective. We don’t do it nearly enough. Those of us in Silicon Valley spend too much time talking to each other and obsess endlessly about the buzz du jour – Twitter’s analytics;  Facebook’s privacy; the newest browser; Google’s new search algorithm and the games SEOs play. We talk about Social CRM, Social Selling, Customer 2.0. viral, Freemium, brand  and conversions.  But it’s not the real world.

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Creativity Without Conversion = 0

The ZiegenBock beer is going down smooth. Austin airport is a great place to wait for a flight. And, Ray’s Chuck Wagon at Asleep at the Wheel surely serves the finest briquette of beef in any airport. Dry and spicy. Country rock, courtesy of a SXSW (the locals say “South – By”) band helps me collect my thoughts about the day here.

This is the first time for me attending the show. And it will no doubt be the first of many. Austin is Portland meets Texas – hip, clean, smart and technology enabled with a little barbeque sauce. SXSW takes over town attracting (perhaps) hundreds of thousands to the festival.

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A Transformative Culture of Measurement

I’m fascinated by change, as change is the only constant. And change is good for ADA (attention-deficit advantaged) people like me – which is probably the reason I’ve spent so my much time in the tech biz. However, it seems the rate of change is accelerating. Gordon Moore surely had it right.

Next week I’ll be in Austin at the huge international music, film and interactive confab, SXSW addressing the question, Has Math Killed Marketing Creativity? I’m debating the topic with classic ad guys who think it has (at least that’s the position they take for a good show). Guess what side I’ll take? Math is key to marketing in the future. Move over finance dept, as it’s now critical to build an entire “Culture of Measurement” because we now can. I list some lowest hanging fruit below.

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