Media Connect

It’s taken ten years, but I think with today’s release of the new user interface for our flagship MediaConnect platform, we’ve finally nailed it.

Now, of course I’m horribly biased, but having tested the platform for a good couple of months now, I truly do think its a joy to use. And that’s because with this iteration we had one simple design goal in mind – usability.

Usability has always been an issue for us. Like most applications that focus on managing relationships, we’ve previously modelled ourselves on CRM tools. CRM tools almost always require training, they’re not particularly intuitive and over the years we’ve struggled with how to deliver this. We’ve looked at group training, webinars, videos, in-depth documentation. And then finally it struck us that we had been looking at the problem the wrong way.

Instead of trying to work out how best to provide training, we decided we would be much better served working out how not to provide training. And by that, I don’t mean abandoning our users and shutting down support. Rather, we adopted the attitude that if a feature required training, then it needed re-designing until that wasn’t the case.

If we’ve learned anything from the success of Twitter and Apple it’s that simplicity wins the day. I think that remains true across all technology offerings, but as a company that sells our solution to the PR industry, it’s even more so the case. The reality is that PR companies generally experience relatively high turnover which limit the effectiveness of training and it’s not an industry that has invested a lot in technology in the past.

So, if something isn’t incredibly simple and intuitive, PR teams just won’t adopt it. It’s why Excel spreadsheets are still the most widely used tool amongst PR professionals. They suck, but they’re simple.

That’s why we went back to the drawing board and we’ve re-built, or will soon re-build, ever part of our application. With today’s release, we think we’ve got the basics right. Now, we’re going to re-vist every module and every feature and apply that same simplicity test and re-build appropriately. And we’re going to complement this by building in more intelligence and automation into the platform.

After all, our mantra is to reduce admin and save our client’s time and money so they can be more successful. Simplicity is key to achieving that.

So we hope our clients enjoy the new release. As mentioned, it’s really just the beginning, though and with an ongoing series of mini-releases scheduled over the coming months, I promise you, you’re going to see something quite beautiful come together.

Click here to read out news announcement on our PRWire media distribution service.

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Over time, most businesses will see their core value proposition chipped away at. Competitors will seek to under-cut you. Technological advances will shift the landscape. Your offering will invariably be commoditised.

The media business and probably to a lesser extent, the PR industry are in that position now.

The media’s core Unique Selling Proposition (USP) was that they could help marketers reach larger, targeted audiences more cost-effectively than anyone else. The Internet has undermined that position on two fronts. Firstly, it’s ability to provide reach has been commoditised – there is a near endless quantity of inventory that has brought online advertising rates tumbling down and applied pressure to offline rates. And secondly, it has been out-targeted by search.

What media companies need to do, especially niche and specialist publishers, like most of the companies that keep our community employed is re-evaluate what is their core asset base in today’s environment. It’s not reach anymore. What is it then?

How do media companies achieve reach? They use their specialist knowledge of whatever subject or industry they are covering to tap into their audience’s psyche and draw them to their offering. What do marketers seek to do – they want to tap into their audience’s psyche and draw them to their product. Snap. It’s a match.

What media companies have as a truly unique selling proposition if they seek to exploit it, is an unrivalled understanding of the audience they serve. Compare a media company’s understanding of its readers with that of an advertising agency. Then think about the rates that advertising agency’s charge and tell me why media companies aren’t in a position to disintermediate or at least undercut Ad agencies. Hire a creative director from Adland and start seriously engaging with the client to either collaborate on campaigns – or for smaller clients – to design and run them.

Most media companies now have a suite of products they can use to reach the target audience – websites, events, mailing lists. Media companies should know how to get the most out of those various tools and can also take advantage of cost-efficiencies surrounding bundling of the various components of a campaign.

This model doesn’t scale as well as traditional media models. Adopting a more consultative relationship with the client, means taking on new customers isn’t as simple as adding a few extra pages to your magazine or loading up some new banner advertising onto your ad-serving platform. But then what media companies are struggling with how to scale right now?

Incidentally, in my view, PR agencies need to start thinking likewise. With wire services, online media databases and so forth, the tools of the trade for PR agencies are now easily accessed, cost-effectively by any business or organisation. Like the media, PR agencies generally have quite a deep understanding of their client’s businesses – more so than other marketing services.

Again, that knowledge needs to applied further up the value-chain. To some degree it is, as agencies move into social media and there is the odd agency who will also do advertising and media buying. However, most agencies aren’t geared to do this. How many agencies employ a creative director? None that I know of.

Indeed, if both the PR and media industries move in this direction together, it’s hard to see where the Ad agency can add any value. And that’s a massive swathe of any marketing budget to be divvied up between the two sectors.

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I find it tough to play strictly by the rule book at the best of times, but what do you do when the rule book is still being written?

Here at MediaConnect we’ve always played on the bleeding edge. Our original offering back in October of 2000 was in essence a social network before anyone knew what a social network was.  So we’ve never fit very well into any particular box. We’re a media company, but we’re also a software company. We provide our services to PR professionals but also to journalists. And while there are various  companies around the world who do some of what we do, but no-one quite does it the MediaConnect way.

However, even we have struggled in the past to explain what exactly that means.

MediaConnect is fast approaching its tenth anniversary later this year. It’s a wonderful milestone but it’s timing is more than symbolic. As I look at where MediaConnect is at and the plans and products we have in place as we move into our second decade of business, I feel confident we’ve now moved into that adult stage of our existence.  For us, the last ten years has been all about growth, innovation and, most importantly, learning. It’s fair to say that at times we’ve been a bit like an ungainly teenager still growing into their body and trying to figure out their place in the world. But as long as you keep moving forward, learning from your mistakes and building on your successes there is no shame in that.

Because the sum of our last 10 years experience is what has brought us to this point and will, hopefully, pave the way forward to future successes. We feel we know exactly what course it is that MediaConnect must chart and we’re very confident we have the best way of getting there.

This new company website is part of that.  It’s about us telling our story better than we have in the past. We want to better explain how we save both PR professionals and journalists time and hassle. And as we add content to the site, we’ll use our clients to show how being able to focus on outcomes, by eliminative time-consuming and value-less tasks, is a massive competitive advantage that will make you more effective and successful.

In many ways, we feel like we’re re-writing the rule book, or at least parts of the rulebook, that many PR agencies and corporate communications professionals will play by over this next decade. Through this website, and especially through his blog, we’ll aim to explore the way those rules are changing and hopefully provide you with ways to change up your games so as you can stay ahead of the game.

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