B2B Selling: The NCR-MSTR OEM Partnership ' Pt 3 Finding a Deal

The following is a true story. A few names have been changed to protect the identity of some of the people involved.

In the first episode of this story, Scorched Earth, I described the situation leading to my being hired at MicroStrategy into an OEM sales role and the problems in overcoming relationships that had been soured by my predecessor.

In the second episode, Defeat, Adam Zais and I explored the changing fortunes of B2B sales professionals and I describe the events leading up to my being given 30 days notice of termination. This article covers the 90 day lifecycle of the deal itself.

Finding a Champion

Much has been written in B2B sales literature around the need to find a champion for your cause inside the company you are trying to engage. A champion can literally take you to the top of the organization, influence strategy, engage decision makers, acquire funding and make things happen in weeks that could take years, or may never happen without their support.

You will recall it had taken more me than 2 years to overcome the scorched earth from my predecessor, execute the joint marketing agreement that led to the value-added reseller agreement, which led to a couple of 7 figure NCR-Teradata-MicroStrategy sales to major US retailers, that saved me at the 11^th hour from being fired.

Everything that went before the pivotal meeting with NCR-Teradata in Vienna, VA., in mid 1999 can be described as grunt-work, relationship building, building influence and gathering intelligence.

Selling into a major corporation in B2B, or partnering with a major technology company in an OEM role, is like orchestrating a chess game, ' lots of activity with pawns, but nothing of consequence happening without engaging the major pieces. When Rocky Blanton attended our mid-year NCR-Teradata briefing, I knew we had found our major piece, a 'Queen' to champion our cause.

Rocky Blanton was VP of sales and senior member of the NCR retail team, ' he was also on the NCR-Teradata strategy committee. At our meeting, we reviewed our initial joint success with major retailers and discussed the pipeline of opportunities and the future technology roadmap for MicroStrategy products. It was during the discussion on strategy that Rocky revealed an interest in moving our partnership to the next level, ' OEM.

I remember the excitement as we took a break in our meeting and I literally ran down the hall and burst into MicroStrategy COO, Sanju Bansal's office to tell him the news.

Finding a Deal

The OEM partnership potential between NCR Teradata and MicroStrategy was obvious, even for our customers. The combined toolset was ideal for customers wanting to get answers to SKU'level business questions from extremely large relational databases. With more than 40 customers in common, it was surprising to many that it took so long to reach a formal OEM agreement.

The initial suggestion for a deal came from Sanju and it was for a $5M pre-pay. This did not sit well with me and after 3 years, I knew where all the skeletons and opportunities lay at NCR and felt that there was far greater potential for an accretive deal.

With Sanju on vacation in India the following week, I used the opportunity to pull together an outstanding group of MicroStrategy sales VP's, Steve Foley, Ray Tacoma and Dan Shoemaker, with MicroStrategy CEO Mike Saylor for a big-deal brainstorming session. I briefed the group on the potential pieces to a deal and the objective was to build a deal-engine with a bunch of levers that we could both manipulate in order to find a best-fit deal.

It was July 1999, the Dot.com boom was accelerating toward its zenith and the landscape for an OEM partnership deal was as follows: -

• NCR Teradata owned the lion's share of the high-end retail data warehouse market and still do today. Teradata was omnipresent in the World's largest data warehouses in the retail, telco, airline reservations and financial services markets.
• NCR believed they needed dot.com references for their Teradata data warehouses.
• MicroStrategy had just released MSTR7 and for the first time, had a strong product suited for VAR's and OEM's.
• The 3-year NCR Teracube development effort was proving technically challenging and was still not reference-able.
• MicroStrategy had IPO'ed a year earlier at an offer price of $12 and a year later the stock had doubled. In the heady days of the bubble, a joint marketing agreement or press release for a new customer announcement would cause the stock to move up a dollar. We knew we were in a bubble' this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
• Every full-time MicroStrategy employee was an MSTR stockholder and there was a tremendous sense of destiny in the future greatness of the company. CEO Mike Saylor's vision was well understood and we drank the cool-aid ' as well as a lot of alcohol on the MicroStrategy cruise every year.
• Mark Hurd, was NCR's dealmaker and SVP of the national solutions group. Mark Hurd is a great salesman and he loves doing deals'. (I bet HP wishes they had him back).

Big Deals Have their Own Momentum

It was almost 90 days exactly from the Rocky Blanton meeting, until the MSTR-NCR OEM agreement was signed. If you have ever been surfing you will know that you have to put yourself in the right position in the swell to catch the break and then paddle like hell to get up on the wave. Once you are on it, it's a fast ride with tremendous momentum, it's exhilarating, exhausting and requires total focus.

The first change in the relationship as we started to work on a deal was the appointment of an experienced hand in Tom Crooke to run the NCR side of the deal. Our deal team consisted of myself, Sanju, Mike Saylor, CFO Mark Lynch and our legal counsel, Adam Ruttenberg, with Dan Shoemaker running the scenarios.

Once we had identified all of the deal elements in our deal engine, the roles changed and I became a supporting player as the executive teams on both sides took over structuring and negotiating the deal through a series of increasingly significant meetings in Dayton OH., and over the phone, culminating in the NCR-Teradata ' MicroStrategy OEM partnership.

Success has a Thousand Fathers, Failure is an Orphan

Just over 3 months earlier, I was an orphan, a failure and a waste of 3-years investment and had been given my marching orders with 30 days notice. How sweet the savor of success, after having tasted defeat.

The NCR-Teradata ' MicroStrategy partnership was structured as follows;

• NCR signed a $27.5 million, 3 year OEM agreement for MicroStrategy's entire suite of Intelligent E-Business' products and services,
• MicroStrategy purchased an NCR Teradata Warehouse worth $11 million to power the Strategy.com' network
• NCR became a master affiliate of Strategy.com
• MicroStrategy agreed to purchase NCR's TeraCube' business and all related intellectual property in exchange for $14 million in MicroStrategy stock

The partnership with NCR Teradata was the most successful of all of MicroStrategy's reseller partnerships and they sold through their entire $27.5M commitment.

There were many people who contributed to the success of the OEM partnership and ongoing business relationship. As I mentioned in the first part of this story, in OEM sales, it's best to park your ego at the door. It's a long haul, and when success comes, you will be one of many who contributed.

To be continued in Part 4. Aftermath

Account Management IS the Radar

A colleague lamented how things on a project were 'happening under the radar'.  Another colleague, typically blunt, pointed out, 'You are the radar.'

That's always true for account people.  On every piece of business, account management is the radar.  We function like radar in at least three ways.

Fourth of a series

Expect the Expected

Account management is much more than project management, yet project management is a big part of what account people do.  Agencies are a service business and clients expect us to run the trains on time (and on budget, of course).  Once you get the hang of it, project management is predictable.

The first type of radar, then, is to expect the expected.  Think ahead.  If the creative idea will drive up the cost of talent, help the team figure out a plan rather than letting it go and surprising the client later.  As one of my first bosses said, 'I always look for an A.E. who can anticipate.'

Expect the Unexpected

The second kind of radar is when something unexpected or unforeseen pops up.  This isn't just watching out for the agency's work, but the client's business.  The highest tribute ever paid to an account person was MillerCoors CMO Andy England saying of Marty Stock:  He 'often knows I have a problem before I do.'  It's important to get the context here:  England was referring to Stock's foreknowledge of a businessproblem, as in declining market share, disastrous trial for a new product, or a new competitive threat.

These kinds of things aren't so predictable.  Then again, most of the advertising industry isn't so predictable these days, so get used to it.  Expecting the unexpected also includes staying on top of new media, new products and new ways of doing business.  If you're on top of the changes, you'll be much more useful to your client.

Radar Navigates

An account person isn't simply a radar operator.  It's your job to lead the team in setting a course.  Where does the business need to go?  Maybe an iconic, long-running ad campaign needs to be updated ' or replaced.  Perhaps you've identified a market opportunity where the client should line-extend or develop a new product.  Or you noticed a competitor's blind spot your client can exploit.  It's possible that the consumer is changing and it's not good news for your brand.  Working with your team, you can choose the right priorities ' not just doing things right, but doing the right things.

We think of radar as something that detects unplanned things or events, like bad copy test scores or alien invasions.  But radar is also a navigational tool, helping you stay on course even ' or especially ' when the voyage is smooth.

Your Radar for 2013

This is a great time of year to think about setting the agenda for your work in 2013.  The last weeks of the year are a reflective time, given naturally to assessing what we've done and what we want to do.  If you're experiencing a huge end-of-year rush, it's still a good time to think about next year.  Nothing clarifies your thinking like a busy season.

You might be a junior account executive and think it's not your job to set the agenda.  No, but you can contribute to setting the agenda.  Advertising is a team sport.  Bring your ideas forward and be ready to learn.

Why Your Content Strategy Should Include Prezi

Content marketing and technology have become inseparable. To reach your customers effectively and to outsmart your competitors, you need to constantly hunt for innovative tools. One such tool that's making everyone sit up and take notice is Prezi.

Prezi is an almost futuristic tool that wouldn't look out of place if it was being used by Tom Cruise in the movie 'Minority Report.' Developed by Adam Somlai-Fischer ' an architect known for his innovative experiments that blend technology, spaces, and human interaction ' it helps people present and share ideas in an organized, storytelling format. It is a SaaS (software as a service) based presentation interface, and many businesses and individuals are already using it to share and explore ideas on the cloud.

Prezi uses a unique zooming user interface (ZUI) to interact with users. The 2.5-dimension navigability (up-down, sideways, and depth) that Prezi offers is extremely powerful. Although most people know Prezi for its online version, the company also offers a desktop variant, which lets you create offline presentations and later view them on Windows, Linux, and Mac platforms.

Prezi is not PowerPoint' no, it's not SlideShare either

Prezi eliminates the need for multiple slides in a presentation. On a Prezi ' which is what each Prezi presentation is called ' you zoom-in/zoom-out or pan-in/pan-out to move through the presentation, instead of jumping from one slide to the next. In other words, Prezi is a 'non-linear' form of presentation, while PowerPoint and SlideShare are linear forms. Prezi uses a map to navigate through the presentation, instead of a slide stack that you encounter in traditional presentation tools.

SlideShare, the social platform that takes the linear presentation format of PowerPoint online, allows users to upload and share presentations on the web. But even SlideShare doesn't give you the extra dimension of depth offered by Prezi. However, SlideShare has one big advantage over Prezi. Any content inside a SlideShare presentation is searchable and can be indexed by search engines ' Prezi does not give you this benefit.

One tool, many applications

Prezi was initially created to present architectural drawings in an interactive manner. Since then, it has developed into a full-fledged presentation tool with multiple applications, such as:

• Presenting complex network and process diagrams
• Mind mapping
• Visualizing data
• Content marketing
• Resumes (nicknamed 'Prezumes')
• Expressing creative ideas

What's in it for content marketers?

If you are a content marketing strategist, the amazing zooming user interface of Prezi will bring a smile to your face. Sure, it is unfamiliar territory, and most people have yet to experience the power that Prezi can lend to content marketing campaigns. But what makes Prezi perfect for your content strategy is that it is a great storytelling tool. It allows you to guide the attention of users and lead them through your message, keeping their eyes locked on the screen.

Prezi is a rich medium, and you can use videos and images within your presentation, as well as include one in your blog, share it on your social networks, or embed it on your web pages. You can even use Prezi offline in a digital out-of-home (DOOH) campaign. The best part about using Prezi for content marketing is that not many are using it yet, and the novelty itself will make your customers take notice.

Corporate heavyweights on Prezi early-adopters list

Several leading companies have jumped on the Prezi bandwagon, though for varied applications. Some use it in business meetings and presentations; others use it during trade shows and marketing events to engage with customers. Companies like Coca-Cola, Lenovo, and CBS are already experimenting with Prezi for their content strategy.

For example:

• CBS Outdoor used a Prezi on the theme 'media on the move,' which was later featured on billboards across the Netherlands.

• Subbseven, an online lifestyle platform, created a Prezi that demonstrates its designs in a beautiful way.

• Ogilvy has used Prezis to promote many of its clients in collaboration with Mr. Prezident, a company that helps create Prezis.

• TomTom, the world's leading brand for navigational devices used a Prezi for its annual global marketing conference in Dublin.

• Coca-Cola has made a unique Prezi that explains its strategy for 2020.

• TMP&Co, the Dutch unit of TMP Worldwide, featured a looping Prezi during the Amsterdam International Motor Show.

• Lenovo has gone one step further to create its own unique Prezi template for its employees.

• Rijksoverheid, the Civil Service Agency for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has found a creative way of educating its officials on iPads with an interactive Prezi.

• Ubuntu Street Kids Foundation also used a loop that was featured in its annual 'Geod Bedoeld Festival'. This loop is present online and has been shared and embedded by many people on the internet.

• CBRE, a commercial estate services firm, made a Prezi to attract prospective interns.

• Orange Babies a foundation for pregnant women infected with AIDS has created a Prezi named What is Sweet Links? that aims at spreading AIDS awareness.

The list goes on and on.

Before using Prezi for content marketing'

How you use Prezi in your content strategy is entirely up to you, though try not to reinvent the wheel. Take inspiration from companies that have already used Prezi ' i.e., use their strategies as a template to get familiar with the tool, and then move to more innovative applications.

The content that you share through Prezi should be chosen carefully. It should be such that the extra dimension reveals insights that would be difficult to highlight otherwise. For example, you could use a Prezi to publish richer and more interactive infographics about your industry, zooming in on different data representations in a predetermined sequence.

Don't forget that Prezi does present a limitation of not being SEO friendly, as search engines will not be able to read its content (at least not yet). So when you create a Prezi, make sure that it is accompanied with textual content that allows search engines to better understand the content in your Prezi. This will make it easier for your target audience to discover your Prezi, and also connect the Prezi semantically with the rest of your content.

Looking for help choosing and implementing the right technologies for your content marketing plans? Read our Decision-Maker's Guide to Making Smart Content Marketing Technology Choices.

42 Content Marketing Ideas for 2013

Just about every marketer I've run into over the past month has been working on 2013 planning and budgeting. In many cases, they are searching for innovative content ideas. In that spirit, below is a pretty diverse list of content marketing ideas you may want to consider executing for next year.

1. Develop and refine your content marketing mission statement.
2. Find one or multiple partners and launch a content marketing project together (read Brandscaping for more insight).
3. Consider that maybe less content will mean more impact.
4. Find at least three thought leaders in your organization and build them into your content plan.
5. Send each of those thought leaders to Toastmasters to work on their public speaking skills.
6. Define your most valuable audience and consider a targeted print publication.
7. Assign one employee to SlideShare and figure out how to leverage this tool as part of your content marketing.
8. Develop a series of stories for your industry on an aspect that has never been covered before.
9. Make sure that every content landing page for 2013 has only one call to action.
10. Spend 30 minutes dissecting Coca-Cola Journey.
11. Stop one content initiative in 2013.
12. Write your book.
13. Update your social media influencer list before the end of the year.
14. Compile a substantial piece of influencer content (i.e., an eBook of influencer insights) in 2013.
15. Get at least five employees who are not in marketing involved in your weekly content plan.
16. Make it a priority to personalize your content by persona in 2013.
17. Start a podcast series for executives.
18. Sit down with every salesperson and ask them what their customers' biggest pain points are.
19. Develop a list of the top 100 questions coming from your customer base.
20. Commission a piece of art from a local artist to use in your next content piece.
21. Target one traditional marketing initiative that can be enhanced with content marketing.
22. Set a goal for 2013 to double the number of email subscribers to your content.
23. Attend Content Marketing World 2013 (sorry, blatant sales pitch).
24. Read one non-marketing book each month during the year (it will open up new content marketing ideas).
25. Develop a content marketing metrics plan for your CEO or supervisor that includes only those metrics that will make the case for company business objectives.
26. Stop doing the same old press releases and create them as engaging stories.
27. Find a way to work with the leading trade magazine in your niche on a joint content effort.
28. Commission a piece of research that is important to your customers.
29. Take research findings and use them to build a six-month campaign with at least 20 independent content pieces.
30. Commit to smarter usage of images in your content in 2013.
31. Do an audit of all your blog posts and determine which types of titles lead to the right reader behaviors.
32. If you have the budget, start identifying media companies in your industry that may be ripe for acquisition.
33. Make sure your content is easy to read on both smartphones and tablets.
34. Set up an editorial leader in each of your silos and plan to meet at least once per week.
35. Develop a customer event that doesn't talk about your projects, but rather educates them on where the industry is going.
36. Create a piece of content in 2013 that would be completely unexpected and see what happens.
37. For every story idea you have for next year, plan on developing 10 pieces of content from it.
38. Send a videographer and journalist to the next industry event and cover it.
39. Give out quarterly awards to all internal content creators based on number of content shares. Make it public.
40. Choose 10 of the top bloggers in your industry and sponsor a one-day brainstorming session on how you can all help each other.
41. Ask whoever is in charge of customer service what their top 10 complaints were in 2012. Build a content program to help with answers.
42. Whatever you do in 2013, make sure you are telling a different story than everyone else in your industry ' not just the same story told incrementally better.

Good luck!

Customer Service Should be Your First Branding Exercise

Your Brand Matters

Any business needs to consider its branding regardless of its niche, offering or brand recognition (if you happen to enjoy a monopoly on supplying oxygen to the planet, you can skip this' otherwise, pay attention).

It doesn't matter if you're business is Don's Trading Post in tiny Buford, WY, or Google' if you expect to keep the customers you have or gain any new ones, you need to nurture your brand's reputation. Virtually every business has some brand identity ' even if it's only established in the mind of one customer. It's important to remember, though, that a brand identity can be either negative or positive.

Coca Cola probably enjoys a positive brand image with lovers of their iconic cola. But it's likely less positive with Pepsi lovers. That's no fault of the company, of course. Every consumer has his preferences, and as much as you try, you can never please everyone in all regards.

However, if you consider customer service to be a major portion of your branding effort, you can come mighty close.

Customer Service as Branding

We've all heard some of the horror stories of amazingly stupid decisions or actions that had seriously negative repercussions, such as United Airlines refusing to accept responsibility for negligently destroying a musician's guitar or Vitaly Borker's brainbusting idea of using threats of rape, murder, and dismemberment to boost his Google rankings.

On the flip side of that coin, there are instances of businesses going far beyond reasonable expectations to ensure their customers are aware of how important they are. Such stories can be inspiring to consumers and employees alike and just like with negative occurrences, one such incident can yield results that last years.

Setting the Company Culture

Whether a business is a one-man operation or has thousands of employees, an attitude of providing exemplary customer service starts at the top. The CEO and Board of Directors need to stress the importance of taking care of customers, and every level of management, supervision and production, right down to the night watchman (that poor lonely fellow that never gets to see anyone), needs to live by it.

Companies that go the extra mile to take care of their customers reap benefits, sometimes in big ways. Employees that display such willingness to go the extra mile should be rewarded, too. It doesn't have to be a huge cash award or a trip to the Bahamas. Sometimes recognition alone can be enough to make it clear to others that customer service isn't just a buzz-word to the company's management ' it's a mission.

Recognizing and rewarding the sort of behavior you want to see from your employees is just common sense. It encourages more of the same from others, and it definitely discourages less favorable attitudes from any that haven't 'seen the light'. Nobody wants to be the one seen as guilty of dropping the ball on an important company value.

Brand is EVERYTHING, especially when you don't have it yet ' and even more so when what you have is negative. The perception that consumers (and potential consumers) have of your company's brand is centered around your reputation. Whether it deals with quality, price, service or delivery, it all boils down to value. And of those four, service is the one that involves the least cost and is the most easily implemented and maintained.

It's also the one that can trump all the others. If you're not focusing on building your brand, you're missing the boat. And if you're trying it do it without focusing on service, you are missing a great business opportunity ' one you may not get another shot at.

YouTube vs. Vimeo: What's Best for Video Content Marketing?

If you've ever hung out with a few video gurus, you've probably encountered the intense arguments over YouTube and Vimeo'which is better? What looks nicer? What option requires the most buffering?

Listening to techy talk like this got me thinking'is there a marketing advantage to using one of the Internet's two main video hosting options? Loyalists to either will say yes, but let's evaluate the pros and cons.

From a content marketing standpoint, the variables to consider are pretty simple. More often than not, you want to optimize view count, simplify accessibility, retain strong aesthetics, and utilize a player that can handle videos of multiple types.

Taking a look at YouTube:

When it comes to online video, a good standard to examine first is YouTube because it has the most content and the most viewers of any video host on the Web. 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and over 4 billion hours of video are watched every month. Wow, right?!

However, as a tool, you have to ask: How does YouTube's functionality meet your needs? For instance, does YouTube's massive on-page community matter when you just want to have viewers watch the video while its embedded on your blog or website? Conversely, are you trying to attract a larger audience to a social YouTube account with specialized playlists and interactive content? Let's assume that the ultimate goal is to get people to your website.

With these considerations in mind, here are the Pros and Cons of using YouTube to host your videos.

#1: YouTube has an 800 million-person per month audience, which means that you might be able to draw a higher number of people to your videos. However, with more audience, there's also a huge pile of content (both good and bad) being uploaded to YouTube at a constant rate. One video can easily become a needle in a haystack. However, such a big audience is hard to ignore, and if you make a strong promotional attack, you can really take advantage. Overall, YouTube's audience is a definite Pro.

#2: Like most Google services, YouTube is 100% free to use, with unlimited uploads and full customization. There's plenty of options as far as organization goes; users can create channels and playlists while sharing videos effortlessly. However, YouTube does limit all videos at 15 minutes, and there is a tendency for YouTube to lose aesthetic appeal with a cluttered interface and high number of advertisements. These downsides are definite cons for YouTube.

#3: Of course, if you have the money, the advertising options on YouTube are endless. Rather than using YouTube as a content marketing option, you can easily make it into a tool for strong advertising if you want to pay to make it happen. Businesses, nonprofits, and public campaigns are using YouTube as a proxy for television advertising, so if that's what you're looking for, YouTube's huge audience, is yet again a big Pro.

#4: Since 2005, YouTube's videos have been embedded across the web. Now, the overall aesthetic of YouTube's player is familiar across the Web. Although the jury is out on whether the YouTube player affects view count, designers might have something to say about how the ever-present YouTube logo affects your branding. I don't think this is a pro or con'just something to consider.

Why Vimeo?

If you're looking for an up-and-coming service'and something that all the college students are using'check out Vimeo. As one blogger put it, as YouTube is to New York, Vimeo is to Portland'and Portland is a hipster's paradise. The point here is that Vimeo has a niche audience and by some, it's deemed as the counter-cultural option to YouTube.

#1: Vimeo is still up-and-coming, and although it's taken a bite out of YouTube's market dominance, Vimeo currently has only 60 million visitors per month. This makes the viral-potential of any video much lower. It's safe to say that this is a con for Vimeo.

#2: Vimeo has a much cleaner aesthetic appeal in almost every aspect of its interface. The user experience of Vimeo is at a complete different level from YouTube'everything is organized, easily searched, and it all feels like an artistic portfolio. In addition, the quality of video productions on Vimeo tends to be higher and there's absolutely no limit on the length of videos being uploaded. This is all part of Vimeo's appeal as an artistic community versus the anything-goes approach of YouTube. These qualitative points make Vimeo a pro on aesthetics.

#3: With all its artistic emphasis, Vimeo fits into a much more niche audience, centered on good film making and inspiring videos. Removed is all the commercial, gaming, and non-user-generated content. The community tends to be a more professional crowd, made up of filmmakers and film enthusiasts. Some compare YouTube to Facebook and Vimeo to LinkedIn, giving Vimeo a more refined vibe that gets filtered throughout its approach to video hosting. Again, this is a Pro for businesses focusing on B2B outreach.

#4: Vimeo's embedded player stands in stark contrast to YouTube. The argument for Vimeo is that they've designed their player to seem more like third party or native media players than an embedded player. The design is made to highlight content, rather than any sort of Vimeo branding, so you can expect to see it used more and more in the future. Although YouTube's isn't bad, I'd say that Vimeo has the advantage here.

Which is right for you?

It's clear that neither Vimeo or YouTube offer a huge differential in services to marketers. The choice between the two will likely not be detrimental to your content marketing strategy. However, as you look to make nuanced choices about drawing the right audience, you might find one that works better than the other. If you're using YouTube just as an embedded player, try using Vimeo for a change. Or if you're looking to create viral videos, maybe you should seek out help from a YouTube account.

The key with all video content is to make it popular by integrating in with a strong social media presence. Learn more about optimizing your social media with our Social Media Optimization Playbook.

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5 Media Relations Strategies that Help Get Your Brand Story Published

Remember the days when we read the newspaper over a cup of coffee every morning and watched the evening news on TV? We were quite happy to get our news just once a day. That's no longer the case. Now we expect to see eye-witness accounts of events as they are occurring. This appetite for instant visual news has changed the way news is gathered, reported and consumed.

While this is not good news for the media, it has opened many new opportunities for businesses and organizations: brands can become a content resource for the media (earned media), publish their own news, (owned media/brand journalism) and buy space for branded content on news and social sites (paid media).

1. Visual story telling ' studies show that adding visuals to news content increases views by as much as 9x
2. Become a resource for the media ' collaborate with reporters, offer experts, research and visual material to support a story
3. Brand journalism ' think like a publisher and write your own stories
4. Have an intelligent distribution plan ' build a network of influencers who can give your content legs
5. House our content in a social newsroom that has all the tools and features journalists and bloggers need.

Download the full report ' http://www.press-feed.com/whitepaper