building a business information brand in 2013, the skift story
DESCRIPTION
Skift is exactly nine months old today. Since we started the company last year, we have believed we are building a new kind of business information brand — a travel information brand in the largest sense of that phrase — a startup built to scale out of the vertical ghettos. What are the lessons we have learned from the last nine months? How do you build a brand that will transcend industry-defined historical boundaries? What are the lessons of being a thin/lean/insert-your-buzzy-phrase media+data startup and how do you break through in a seemingly mature and crowded space? Can it be replicated in other sectors, by other startups? Skift's founder and CEO Rafat Ali gave a presentation earlier this week at the ABM annual conference, on “Building a Business Information Brand in 2013” which attempted to answer some of those questions.TRANSCRIPT
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Building a business information brand in 2013
travel intelligence. global smartness.
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
With a $6.5 trillion contribution to GDP & 260 million jobs, travel -- made up of tourism, hospitality, transport & leisure --
is the world's largest industry.
While digital has disrupted distribution & information systems, no information and intelligence brand has emerged that
matches the industry's size with its digital potential.
Skift is that brand.
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Skift is now among the largest travel news and
information sites in the travel industry, 9
months after launch.
The brand is well on its way to becoming the
lingo in the travel industry.
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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On the way to becoming the most pervasive travel information brand
We're creating a next-generation data & info-heavy
crossover media company that's built to break out of the
vertical media ghetto and scale to its true potential.
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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This is our story so far, of scaling so quickly
with a very small team of 5 people.
And our vision for growing up.
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Business media and information: least sexy
sectors in the larger tech economy, and among
the least innovative in digital.
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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But in the era where business media & enterprise
software have merged, where Salesforce & LinkedIn are
becoming gold standards in business information:
B2B media & information sector needs wholesale
redefining.
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
Source: CEO.com & Domo Survey 2013, Decade of media consumption pattern changes among CEOs.
What a difference a decade makes
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paidContent.org, exactly a decade ago.
April 25, 2003.
›› The template for all blog media companies to come after.
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Skift, today.
April 25, 2013
›› Visual›› Social›› Brand-led
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What a difference a decade makes: paidContent vs Skift
›› blogs vs platform agnostic›› content-centric vs data-led
›› post-thinking vs product thinking›› freshness vs immediacy
›› linking vs sharing›› using content vs using design to punch above your
weight
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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What hasn't changed
›› B2B doesn't have to be boring›› The nativeness
›› Connecting the dots across silos collapsing›› Being smart, sharp, surgical & strategic with all
content, the 4S's of content
›› User centric: Vendor vs the User
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Your expansive worldview defines how big your vision is.
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Size matters›› Travel, world's largest industry
Definition matters›› Travel begins when you leave home
Ambition matters›› We're defining the future of travel
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Hybrid business-consumer, crossover
information and data brand is the way to:
›› scale on users+revenues
›› break out of vertical ghettos
›› scale to the full potential of the brand
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Are you aware of macro-trends you're riding?
›› travel silos collapsing, like other industries›› blurring of business & leisure travel›› locus of travel is moving eastward
›› tech & design is eating the world
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Figure out the whitespace, or create it
B2B: Backwards. Boxed-In. Boring.
Consumer: Cluttered. Confusing. Casual.
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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You don't need to own the content, you need to own the voice
›› three legged stool of content: curation + licensed+original›› expertise, not just exclusivity
›› licensed content from lot of sources globally that don't typically slot them in travel, but under our filter they are; helps build the brand›› Skift Take: Our tweet-length take on every story has become our
signature voice & brand
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Role of original content: Build franchises that can be productized down the line
›› SkiftSeedlings›› SkiftAds
›› SkiftDesign›› SkiftStats
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Don't underestimate building the consumer hooks
›› accessible writing›› attractive design›› wide syndication
›› ubiquity matters
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Building users in concentric circles
›› Lowest hanging fruit you'll quickly get›› Early adopters in tech and enthusiast community
›› Be cognizant of which user-pockets will spend money
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
Think prosumer, not consumer
›› One concentric circle outside the business users›› From professionals in travel to professional travelers
›› From news to news-you-can-use›› Curating and integrating best-of- breed tools & services for
business travelers.
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skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
Think pervasive, not exclusive
›› Syndicate as widely as you can, be wherever your users could be, even outside of business environments.
›› Example: Our deals with CNN, NBC News, Flipboard, Quartz, AdAge, BusinessInsider and others to come
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Creating a social business brand
›› B2B doesn't have to be boring›› The daily blocking and tackling happens here
›› Worry about your Klout score›› Analytics-driven social
›› Twitter vs Facebook vs LinkedIn›› Become a media influencer through social
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Mobile means ubiquity
›› Are you near industry-norms in userbase?›› Ubiquitous sharing in mobile
›› Mobile web vs apps and why focus
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Data-based, data-led, data-focused
›› Focus on competitive intelligence›› Build and manage a suite of meta-services
›› Layers on top of existing publicly-available and open-web data
›› Delivered any way the users want it: online, apps, alerts
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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SkiftSocial dashboard: to discover the latest patterns
and trends, and gain insight into how
companies work and compete in the new social-
driven world.
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Building data tools
If you had
Visualization of Google Analytics + Real Time charting of Chartbeat + Activity feed addictiveness of Facebook
What would you build?
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Can media and data coexist?
›› Data informs media strategy; Media is an insight layer on top of data.
›› Competitive intelligence as streams›› News & media is just another stream
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews
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Thanks, keep on Skifting.
Rafat Ali@rafat
skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews