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May 29, 2009

New Product Day

One of the challenges of leading a business in 2009 is how to juggle two very important but sometimes contradictory balls in the air at once. On the one hand, the economic environment continues to be perilous and we need to remain focused on our day-to-day business. That means looking for revenue opportunities where we can find them while relentlessly exploring ways to reduce our costs. Our representatives in DC may talk about "green shoots" and signs of recovery, but we're not seeing them in our business yet. And until we do, we'll continue on the path we have been on since we first saw signs of the economic downturn last year, with tightened belts and cautious investments. On the...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 8:52 AM | | Comments (0)

May 27, 2009

"Scouting for Talent in Baseball and Business"

This posting is for those in our organization who find themselves involved with recruiting and hiring new talent, particularly entry-level reporters, sales people, marketers, etc. It can be difficult to assess entry-level talent, and to know how someone will grow in our organization. Sure, they may be qualified for the job you are filling right now--but will they be able to step up to work on higher level projects or to take on a leading role for something we may do in the future? For those who like sports metaphors, here's a blog post by a fellow named Brian Grey comparing the challenges of recruiting in business to those faced by talent scouts in Major League Baseball. It turns out...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 12:58 PM | | Comments (0)

Video News

Most of the time around here our news coverage takes the form of the written word--whether in print or online. Yesterday, with the historic nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, our colleagues at the National Law Journal's Blog of Legal Times supplemented their written coverage with video. Supreme Court Correspondent Tony Mauro shared his thoughts on Judge Sotomayor's nomination in a simple but well-produced interview. Check it out here: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/05/web-video-tony-mauro-discusses-sotomayor.html Video cameras are now relatively inexpensive, and the editing software no longer requires a degree in rocket science or special equipment to use. When we initially started to talk about making greater use of video on our news websites, I thought we would need specially designated cameramen...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 8:17 AM | | Comments (3)

May 21, 2009

Launching New Directories

We have long known that one of our best potential business opportunities lay in transferring our print directories, bench books and other database-oriented products from print to online. Let's face it, in a world of the always on and always available internet, and with the development of Google and other search engines, an online directory just makes more sense than print. With online listings, we can provide more value to our users and create more upsell opportunities for our advertisers. So it has been a source of some frustration around here that our previous relationships with directory software vendors have been difficult, to put it mildly. We have not been able to convert many of our existing print directories to...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 1:52 PM | | Comments (1)

May 18, 2009

Social Media Resources

For those interested in learning more about how journalists and business folks are using social media, here are some links to articles which you may find of use (courtesy of Lee Feldman, our PR consultant, who regularly posts links to our stories on Twitter). I particularly recommend the first link to our journalists. The Journalist’s Guide to Twitter - http://mashable.com/2009/05/14/twitter-journalism/ A Twitter Code of Conduct - http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2009/ca2009058_089205.htm?link_position=link13 An Executive Guide to Social Media - http://www.businessweek.com/managing/special_reports/20090508social_media.htm ******* After I posted the above, Matt McGowan from our Interactive Marketing Group sent me some additional links to ClickZ and Search Engine Watch articles that would also be useful to those trying to improve their Social Media skills. Here they are: http://www.clickz.com/3633745 - Five...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 12:36 PM | | Comments (2)

May 13, 2009

Twitter Scorecard--May Results

Here are the latest stats for those at Incisive North America on Twitter, ranked by the number of followers. Since my last report, a number of people who were already registered users let us know so we could keep track of their activity. Plus it looks like there are some newcomers. And in several cases, there have been big increases in the number of followers over just the past month. Here's the list of individual users: Matt McGowan (@Matt_McGowan) 2631 Tino Chiavello (@mchiaviello) 1608 Kevin Newcomb (@kevinnewcomb) 1538 Marc Scibelli (@marc421) 1021 Bill Pollak (@wpollak) 908 Monica Bay (@Commonscold) 840 Anna Maria Virzi (@annamariavirzi) 836 Theodora Blanchfield (@tblanchfield) 824 Lee Feldman (@leecomms) 491 Tim smith (@TR_Smith) 372 Aric Press (@aricpress)...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 1:24 PM | | Comments (3)

Are You Up to the Challenge?

This is a tough time to be in the business of selling brand-building advertising. Companies large and small are tightening their belts and cutting their budgets, and the marketing budget is often the first on the chopping block. Our clients--law firms, real estate brokers/developers, interactive marketing firms and the vendors who serve those fields--are struggling to survive in this recession, and we have certainly felt their pain. And yet... At a time when business models are changing and the world is awash in stories about "structural change", you would think that firms would want to get their message out--to clients, to prospective clients, to future recruits and potential business partners. It would seem the perfect opportunity for professional service firms...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 7:54 AM | | Comments (1)

May 8, 2009

Answering Your Questions

As part of my commitment to improve transparency and ensure that everyone in the company knows what and how we are doing, I have been encouraging Incisive staff members to send me comments and questions, whether through this blog or privately. And I'm pleased that some of you have taken me up on the offer. One strain of questioning has concerned the way in which we are reducing our costs and, particularly whether senior management in the company are sharing in those sacrifices. We are. To be specific: 1. Every member of the senior management team is taking a week of furlough, just like everyone else at Incisive North America. That includes me. 2. Every member of the senior management...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 10:53 AM | | Comments (5)

May 7, 2009

10 Fundamental Priorities

Phil Stokes, Head of Entertainment and Media for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the UK, gave a presentation at this week's consumer magazine conference in London called "10 Fundamental Priorities". While I did not attend the conference nor hear the presentation, Incisive was well-represented by our Group CEO, Tim Weller. Tim was impressed by the talk and provided me with a summary of Stokes' remarks, and I think they are valuable enough to pass along. The main point of Stokes' presentation was to provide a guide to managing B2B Media Companies during a downturn. His ten "fundamental priorities" were as follows: 1. Take a Closer Look -- The goal posts are moving; understand the true picture not what you'd like to believe. Get...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 11:44 AM | | Comments (0)

May 4, 2009

Notes from the ABM Annual Meeting

I'm attending American Business Media's Annual Meeting today. Thought I would share some of the discussions that I've been hearing over the past 24 hours. 1. There has been a shift in the required qualifications for newly hired top editors. In the past, the assumption was that B2B media companies like ours would recruit top print editors to fill their senior editorial positions. Increasingly, media companies are requiring new recruits to show experience not just in print but also online, and to demonstrate a real understanding about what it means to be a "brand content leader" rather than strictly a print editor. Recruiters say this has eliminated people from consideration who in the past would have been desireable new hires,...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 11:24 AM | | Comments (2)

May 3, 2009

The New National Law Journal

This week's launch of the merged National Law Journal/Legal Times is an important development for the Company. It comes after several months of planning, and many years of discussion. Under the helm of publisher Steve Lincoln and editor-in-chief David Brown, and with lots of involvement by George Dillehay, Jack Berkowitz and Aric Press, the newly redesigned NLJ represents a big step for us in national legal news coverage. The new National Law Journal has our largest news staff, with reporters based not just in NY and Washington, but in major cities around the country. Of course, with the integration of the Legal Times team, we expect the NLJ to have unparalleled coverage of legal news emanating from Washington, which has...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 4:49 PM | | Comments (0)

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