Dick Brass gave a pretty grounded argument in the NY Times today that Microsoft no longer brings us the future.  His piece on “Microsoft’s Creative Destruction” made me cringe a lil.  Despite Microsoft’s continued success with their operating systems, they have not been able to bring new products to market.  He touches on a few other things but this was where I found myself in disagreement with Mr. Brass.  Now he did work at Microsoft for quite some time but as a member of the general population and a non-Microsoft employee, I have a confession.

I never saw Microsoft as the company that would make the iPod.  I never thought of Microsoft as the great innovator.  I am a huge fan of the company but not because I see it as trendy, cool, hip, new stuff, haha we put out a new thing and beat everybody to the punch kind of company.  That’s Apple.  I’m fine with that.

I don’t have an Apple computer.  I have a Gateway with large I’m a PC stickers on it.  I have a Zune music device that complements my $14.99/month membership to Zune Pass, a Microsoft service that let’s me download all the music I want.  I have a Blackberry that I adore and until the case is proven that my productivity will go through the roof, I’m not learning another phone interface.  I am a true Microsoft fan.

I see it differently.  I think that Microsoft has taken on a role that democratizes technology.  They build products and negotiate partnerships to create products that accommodate smaller budgets.

I think Microsoft could stand to bring new products to market faster but the iPad, Kindle, and iPhone don’t make me feel any differently about the Microsoft brand.  I watch fashion shows to see what’s in, but  I wear J.Crew.

Despite my better judgment, I’m doing a very introspective post.  It could be because I’m up late thinking about work.  It’s more likely that something is bugging me.  ‘This will surely be one of those posts I contemplate deleting after it’s published but you have to tell the truth to get the truth so here it goes.

I am a marketer, and a pretty serious one.  I am a writer.  I emphasize getting a point across – one on one or in a group.  I am a speaker.  Clearly I like to talk people and I’m pretty good at it.

I am a singer and a songwriter.  I’ve released two albums and am finally back in the studio working on the third.  My albums have digital distribution and can be found online at iTunes, Napster, Amazon, and other marketplaces.  Yeah Madia does music and Madia [a.k.a. logan] does marketing.

I always thought people should pick something, and get good at it.  It wasn’t because I didn’t think people could be good at multiple things.  I did and I do!  I think that when we summarize people in our head, we can only fit one thing.  As people we define other people in a very small box.  I think most mental summaries are a word or two.   Mother.  Musician.  Marketer.  Writer.

We define people by the role we know them to play or the role that is most prominent – and because of that, I conformed to the idea that I have to be one thing now that I’m a grown up and can no longer pass for a college student.  (maybe a grad student…)  People told me I had to pick something.

So I’m coming out to multiple groups that I have worked very hard to keep separate.  Why?

• It’s bound to happen.
• I might as well control the message. (inner marketer)
• If we’re friends you’ll hopefully make my box a lil bigger.
• If we’re not friends, maybe you’ll resist putting others in a box.

If you’re a person of multiple talents, I think letting the walls down is good.  It shows you have multiple strengths and sometimes unique insights as a result of your multiple perspectives.  They told me to pick something… but I’m ignoring that advice.

Remember Michael Porter?  He wrote a couple winners for the Harvard Business Review. Don’t be too hard on the image.  He’s a strategy guy to the core and from the look of it a passionate speaker.

I picked up an old copy of an article he did called Strategy and the Internet.  Some things are dated.  The article was published in March 2001.  It’s astounding that so many things he talked about in the article are still relevant.

“We need to move away from the rhetoric… and see the Internet for what it is: an enabling technology – a powerful set of tools that can be used wisely or unwisely, in almost any industry and as part of any strategy.”

Yes I am the same blogger that talked about being free to experiment yesterday – but the point here is that even if you are testing approaches, you are paying attention to and quantifying the value you hope to gain from your digital marketing.

Porter, also known for developing the 5 forces analysis hits on some other key points that I needed to hear:

• “The most successful dot-coms will focus on creating benefits that customers will pay for, rather than pursuing advertising and click-through revenues from third parties.”  Right on Porter.  We’re all distracted by advertising but for most sites shall not live on ads alone.
• “By creating separate internet strategies instead of integrating the internet into an overall strategy, companies failed to capitalize on their traditional assets…”
• “Virtual activities do not eliminate the need for physical activities, but often amplify their importance.”

Ah sound strategy.  It’s like hearing your parents tell you to do your homework.  You know you should.  You know it’s best and somehow you drag your feet anyway.

I will throw in a plug for Harvard Business Review because… well I like it.  I get it at my f/t for free in the library and I read it all the time.  When I was in business school I signed up for the free online version and still get it so that works too.  They have some new blogs that one could get some value from.  http://hbr.org

I still don’t think business gets it.  Let me be more specific.  I’m not sure that some businesses get the implementation of digital media.  They don’t understand the commitment.  Today I thought of an analogy that made so much sense I had to break my rule of not getting carried away with multiple blog posts in a day.  Since I’ve just enabled comments – this is a big move for me.  To the point.

The wedding and the marriage.

The way a lot of businesses are still interacting with digital media reminds me of the couple all excited about the wedding.  They plan.  They budget the resources to pay vendors, florists, caterers, venues, etc… and after all that, they have their day. After the day – things tend to get a little tough.  Hence the divorce rate.  I always think to myself, maybe instead of the fancy centerpieces they should have sprung for marital counseling or preparation for the journey.

In the same ways people tend to focus on the wedding and not sustaining the marriage, businesses overemphasize their foray into digital media.  Look at us we’re blogging, podcasting and tweeting.  What businesses lack is the core strategy and expectation that they will have to experiment and customize these tools to accomplish the goals they’ve set.  The idea that you’d be able to start a blog and instantly build a following, master the feedback process, and strike chords with every post is not naivete, but a bad expectation to have in the first place.  It is very much like having a marriage and believing that every day is going to be filled with rainbows and sunshine.

I’m sure you could have a big wedding that kicks off a 60 year marriage but if I had to choose I’d pick a smaller wedding and a huge 50 year anniversary party.

Businesses should celebrate their successes in digital media, not their decision to participate.  Manage leadership expectations appropriately and continue to test and perfect your approach to accomplish the goals you created.  In this case – it takes commitment to celebrate.

The Society of Digital Agencies released a well done report on what we can expect in 2010.  The report is clean and well structured.  Up front you get a lot of statistics from companies about how they’re using DM.  The ones I thought were particularly interesting gave insights about digital budgets and technology/platform priorities.  (Yes, Flash is still king.)  For right now we can chalk up the talks about the iPad killing Flash to… well just talk.  The report also goes into how digital strategy is changing.  I love strategy so this was a great read.  The report also gives some good tips on how organizations should be using social media and this could be very useful to you if you’re starting or already own a business and want to get into or improve your interaction with social media.

If you work in DM you should already know about it.  If you don’t but it seems like something you could stand to learn about, then I say go for it.    At least download the report and save it to your useful articles file.  You’re going to want to reference this one plenty.

http://sodaspeaks.ning.com/page/digital-marketing-outlook