Presentation on branded content at The Leaders in Ramllah, Palestine

1. ABOVE THE CODE
Story Telling / Branded Content
Ramallah, Palestine - 10 February, 2013

2. TODAY...
• Presentation online @ www.alanweinkrantz.com
• Sharing principles, methods, approaches... each company is different
• Practical tips, hints and actionable steps you can take

3. You have a strategic advantage...

4. A land of story tellers...

5. INTRO...
• Who’s in the room? Family.... legacies...
• Startups: Status / Funding / Distribution / Partnerships
• Companies: Technology / Product / Markets
• Media coverage? Impact?

6. I’M HERE....
• To help you....
• think about the importance and role of branded content and story
telling...
• share your startup or company’s story
• connect in a whole new way that a few years ago was left to the
marketing department or an external ad agency or PR firm

7. ABOUT
• 30
years - yup, I am an old school PR guy.... and believe in the real
power of PR
• Based in San Antonio, Texas
• Advisor to PITA - in recent branding initiative

8. LAST TWO YEARS
• Speaking
/ Writing /
Observing / Watching
• Geekdom
• TechStars Cloud
• MexicanVC (500 Startups)
• Microsoft Azure
• Dreamit Ventures

9. GOOD NEWS :)
• Verylow cost / no cost to
create a start-up
• Big Idea
• Core team
• Strong will
• Servers / hosting

10. BAD NEWS :(
• Someone in New York, Madrid, San Francisco, Singapore, Mumbai is
thinking the same thing as you are :(
• Hard to have a defensible position
• Hard to protect your IP
• Getting traction is tough

11. QUALITIES THEN...
• Strong Intellectual Property
• Defensible technology
• Strategic investors like Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Motorola
• Traditionally, VC funded

12. QUALITIES NOW
• No Intellectual property
• Nothing really defensible
• Strategic
investors & partners - Friends, Family, Angels, Google,
Microsoft, etc.
• Up until recently....No funding, or angel, micro, friends & family funding
• Easy
to run a virtual company... no real address, presence from a co-
working space and an IP phone number

13. THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT
• Hardware
• Software
Go to School
• Telecom
Go to College / University
• Security Summer Job
Go to Work
• Bio Sciences
• Medical Devices

14. THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
High School
• Consumer Web Start-Up
Gap Year
• Mobile Start-Up
College / University
• SaaS
Start-Up
Work
• Subscription
Startup
• eCommerce
Quit Day Job
Startup
• Marketplace

15. THE MIND OF A CODER...
• Focus on...
• functionality
• application
• utilitarian value

16. 50 years

17. Every startup is a
rock and roll band

18. The Four Coders

19. Coders & Story Tellers

23. Music is the original code

24. Great songs have....

25. Great
narratives

26. Great voice

27. Great stories

28. Great tone

29. Music is in all of us

30. Everything is getting coded

31. “The Internet of things...”
needs stories...

32. We learn to “write”

33. WE WRITE FOR...
• Marketing
• Business
• Technical
• Legal
• Medical
• Social

34. ... but we never learn the art of
story telling, or how to write in
simple language to explain what
we are doing and what we feel

35. What you say, how you speak
and what you communicate are
the new lyrics of the
online world

36. The experience your deliver on
the platforms we now interface
and engage with, are enabling
billions of people on the planet
to create the new melodies of a
socially connected world

37. WRITE FOR STORY TELLING
• Why is what you are working on important?
• How are you improving lives?
• How are you helping people hack their own lives?
• What are you seeing in the way people are taking responsibility for
their own health

38. LOOK WHAT YOU DID!
• Solved a problem
• Figuredout a way to connect two or more things and do something
special with it
• Codified a process, expertise, method or a discovery
• Deliveringof new type of experience on the devices & platforms we
are using today - and in the future

39. GUIDES TO WRITING
• Write like you speak...record yourself and transcribe what you say
• Pretend you are speaking to an audience.... write in front of a mirror
(seriously...)
• Think of how you felt when you were read stories as a child

40. WHY THIS MATTERS TODAY...
• Story telling, having a voice, and the on-going narrative is a reflection
of your startup / company’s heart and soul
• Itbecomes the body of work that helps you recruit talent, attract
investors, customers, build partnerships, and be discovered by the
media

41. THE MEDIA IS
YOUR FIRST
MARKET
to share and tell your story

42. The Media is Your Customer....
bloggers
you analysts enterprise... & the
institutions.. consumer
media

43. WHAT I BELIEVE
• Branded content & story telling is what’s next
• It’s harder and harder to “get coverage” because of the volume of
noise
• Every company is a media company
• Your startup is a rock band... you’re in the studio figuring out
something new

44. WHAT I BELIEVE
• Story is a defensible business strategy
• Narrative is the supporting infrastructure for your brand
• Tone is the voice of your brand

45. WHAT I BELIEVE
• 12 Fundamental Belief Sets
• Not everything I do always works
•I do this for me... I do this for clients.
• There’s always exceptions to the rules
• Discussion is based on a combination of experience and principles

46. WHAT I SEE...
• Great ideas
• Cool technology
• Understanding the role of UI / UX
• Little, orno thinking through the role of the written word, language,
tone, voice and “speaking through” the devices we are using in our
daily lives

47. From >
Code

48. To > Above
The
Code

49. Alan’s
12 Fundamental Belief Sets

50. #1 - STOP PITCHING
• Start story telling
• Yourpitch helps clarify / define
what you do, but really sucks as
a way to get coverage

51. #2 - YOU’RE REALLY A MEDIA
COMPANY THAT....
•Creates and makes media • Pinterest
so you’ll be discovered, • Instagram
found and shared
• SoundCloud
• YouTube
• Google Plus
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• UStream
• Blog

52. #3 UNDERSTAND THE
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEING...
• Discovered - random being discovered and being
found increases your chances
• Found - search of sharing

53. #4 IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU
• How do you help others do
something in a compelling way
you could not do before

54. #5 BE HUMAN
• Get off your perch and write
like you would speak
• Conversewith your potential
market wherever they are

55. #6 LIKE MINDED PEOPLE TEND
TO FIND EACH OTHER
• Givethem a place to connect
and share their story
• Consider aligning with other
startups like yours to create a
multinational startup

56. #7 HAVE A MISSION
• We’re out to make __________ better
• We want to help _____ do _______
• We want to help others the opportunity to ________
• We’re connecting _______ with ______ so they can ________
• We make it easier to ____________
• Have your voice be heard about _________

57. #8 THINK LIKE A SOCIAL
DEMOGRAPHER
• The potential to collect “Big Data” means you have something of
incredible value to a potential partner, investor, or brand
• Gives you a better chance of a lift when an exit may present itself
• Bigdata lends itself to infographics, which contributes to your thought
leadership and a great way to get media coverage

58. spark -
what if?
“some
funding.”..
technology platform
story... narrative to
real value
engagement
BIG DATA
Lift towards an exit... (c) Alan Weinkrantz

59. #9 PUT IT OUT THERE
• You never know who is going to find your content and engage
• You don’t have to have high quality production values to do this
• Hardware is cheap. Tools are free. Tons of creatives to help you.
• Put your brand in play

60. #10 DRAW, PAINT,
PHOTOGRAPH, ROCK OUT
• Do something or learn to do
something creative other than
working on your startup
• Itwill re-wire your brain in an
unexpected way
my drums circa 1968

61. #11 IT’S NOT ALWAYS
REPLICABLE
• Justbecause one strategy or
tactic worked for one company
does not mean it will work for
another

62. #12 GET LUCKY
• Go wide
• Get lucky
• Runwith it when you strike a
chord

63. HACK YOUR OWN
COMMUNICATIONS
• Thinkof yourself as a reporter &
story teller
• Much of this you can do yourself
• “Paper trails” on the Internet
exist if you search correctly

64. PLAN....
• Postand write relevant content • Read and comment on relevant
so you can be a source to media articles without being self
on your field of expertise promotional.
• Develop & publish infographics • Askend user / beta customers if
you can share you can refer to them to media
• Follow a wish list of 20 • Follow editorial calendars
journalists you think should
cover you • Createyour own editorial
calender

65. Role. Tone. Voice.
F1 CEO: Serious. Thought Leader.
F2 CTO: Technical. Knowledge. What’s Next.
F3 Biz Dev: Forward. Opportunity. Open.
F4 Lead Dev: Innovator. Code. Team.
“F” = founder

66. March April May
F1
F2
F3
F4
90 Day Editorial Calendar Planner
2x topics per month from each - 24 posts per quarter

67. NOW....
• Makea wish list of where you • track
competitors or
belong companies in your periphery
on news.google.com to see
• business / tech / bloggers who covers and writes about
them
• media appropriate to your
space • track competitors on Angel.co
• analysts
/ influencers
appropriate to your space

68. www.angel.co

69. PLAN FOR PR
• Ifyou follow some of these basic • Get everyone on your team to
principles, you’ll be further make this part of their regimen
ahead. as it will make them aware of
the opportunities that await you
• This process takes at least six when you are ready.
months to one year to really get
on a journalist’s radar and be • Bring
up PR in your team
sticky - sometimes you can get meetings in a “what if...” scenario.
lucky
Be Ready For PR So You Can Succeed

70. RECOMMENDED READING
• Why Branded Content is Beating Editorial
http://www.digiday.com/brands/why-branded-content-is-beating-editorial/
• The Pressures of Content Creation
http://www.scottmonty.com/2012/11/the-pressures-of-content-creation.html
• Brands Will Become Media
http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2012/11/brand_media.html
• The Internet of Things
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_Internet_of_Things_2538

71. Rise...

72. ABOVE THE CODE™
please share:)

73. alan@weinkrantz.com
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all photos (except slides 16 & 17) by me
© Alan Weinkrantz And Company 2012 Above The Code ™