When something as big as content marketing comes along and transforms an entire discipline, it creates a lot of anxiety. Change is scary and it can sometimes feel like you’re hopelessly behind everyone else.

At The B2B Huddle on May 2, 2013, held at Oracle’s UK headquarters, keynote speaker Doug Kessler shone a powerful spotlight on the future of B2B content marketing, offering compelling ideas and suggestions on what the future will look like – for content, and for content marketers.

With references to his frank messaging in Crap: Why the Biggest Single Threat to Content Marketing is Content Marketing – a viral sensation across the social web with nearly 230,000 views on Slideshare – Doug offered Huddlers credible calls to action on the practical issues that concern B2B marketers, and discussed in the questions-and-answers session that followed his keynote.

Listen Now:

You can listen while following along with Doug’s PowerPoint deck below (updated since the B2B Huddle with some additional content):

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About the Speaker

Doug Kessler is co-founder and creative director of Velocity Partners, the London-based B2B content marketing agency.

Doug’s own content includes The B2B Marketing Manifesto (a rant), The Big Fat Content Marketing Strategy Checklist (a workbook), and Crap: Why the Biggest Threat to Content Marketing is Content Marketing.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

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This FIR Speakers and Speeches podcast is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

Attenzi – A Social Business Story

With Attenzi, author Philip Sheldrake presents a sympathetic hero in the story-teller Eli Appel, newly-installed CEO of Attenzi, a fictional international company that makes and sells top-range kitchen equipment and services.

The book tells a compelling and credible story of one man’s journey that, unbeknownst to him at the start, would help him and his leadership team “redefine the way we all think about our business and its place in the market and its place in the world.”

FIR co-host Neville Hobson reviews the Kindle edition of Attenzi and considers the power a work of fiction – a novel – can have in empowering the Eli Appels of our world with the clarity of vision and perspective to explore the evolution of the customer-centric mindset that has dominated management thinking for the past two decades.

As Eli says, “I hope it helps you develop your organization’s relevance, competitiveness and profitability. I hope it helps you forge your career and helps you bring your colleagues with you.”

Listen Now:

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Attenzi – A Social Business Story by Philip Sheldrake.

Publisher: Philip Sheldrake
Digital formats (content equivalent to about 100 print pages)
Published: May 15, 2013
Price: Free under Creative Commons license.

Attenzi is available in HTML, PDF, ePub, Kindle, and iBooks formats at www.attenzi.com.

About the Author

Philip Sheldrake is managing partner at Euler Partners, a London-based consulting firm.

He is a widely regarded consultant, author and speaker. He is a Chartered Engineer, a main board director of Intellect, the UK trade association for the technology industry, a board director of 6UK, a government backed non-profit promoting adoption of the new Internet protocol, and a founding partner of Meanwhile. He built and sold an award-winning public relations consultancy.

Philip wrote The Business of Influence in 2011 and was interviewed on FIR at the book’s launch.

Connect with Philip on Twitter: @sheldrake.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future reviews, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the weekly Hobson and Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Book Review podcast is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

With social media so prolific, are B2B companies taking advantage of all that exists? That question formed a foundation for the keynote presentation by Allan Schoenberg, Executive Director of Corporate Communications for CME Group, at The B2B Huddle on May 2, 2013, held at Oracle’s UK headquarters in Reading.

During a break at the event after the presentation, FIR co-host Neville Hobson spoke with Allan to capture his thoughts on topics from his keynote including what makes CME employees feel comfortable and confident with social media, and further insights into CME’s employee use of social media.

Listen Now:

Get this podcast:

• Download the MP3 file (4.1Mb, 9:02)
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The presentation deck Allan used in his keynote presentation:

• See also: FIR Interview with Allan Schoenberg on February 13, 2013.

About our Conversation Partner

Allan Schoenberg is Executive Director of Corporate Communications for CME Group (@CMEGroup), the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace.

Based in London, he manages international corporate communications for the company, which includes media relations, social media, reputation management and exchange partner relationships.

Prior to working at CME Group, Allan was with Accenture, Edelman and Fleishman Hillard. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University in Economics and his master’s degree in Communications Management from Syracuse University.

Allan is a regular contributor of content to the blog B2B Voices. You can follow Allan on Twitter: @allanschoenberg.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

Quick News: Calgary Zoo publishes annual report to Instagram, Salesforce acquires bookmarking startup Clipboard, Associated Press updates its social media guidelines, Facebook’s newsfeed will get even more annoying with video ads… or will it?; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: American Airlines’ influencer promotion with Klout (and is it misleading?); Dan York reports on GaggleAmp, SoundCloud, and more; McDonald’s tweets illustrate the risks of marketing in real time; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments and roundup from the FIR Community on Google+; addressing the dark side of reputation management; Michael Netzley reports from Singapore on suggestive marketing tactics in Japan and China from Fleishman Hillard’s Authenticity Gap study; the big picture in the Fleishman-Hillard data reveals the authenticity gap;

Music from Novi Novak; and more.

Listen Now:

Get FIR:

• Download the MP3 file (37.1Mb, 92:13)
• Subscribe to the RSS feed
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• Get the FIR app for your iPhone and for your Android device from the Amazon App Store

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report for May 13, 2013: A 92-minute podcast recorded live from Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and Concord, California, USA.

Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

• FIR #703 bookmarks on Delicious

Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+.

You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday May 20…

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

For social to become recognised by business as the next marketing powerhouse that it is, it needs to prove its return on investment every time, says Oracle’s Kimberley Brind.

In this podcast of her keynote speech at The B2B Huddle on May 2, 2013, held at Oracle’s UK headquarters, Kimberley explains the reach and power that social is giving her company, and joins a vibrant question-and-answer discussion with the audience that followed her presentation.

Listen Now:

Get this podcast:

• Download the MP3 file (15.3Mb, 33:30)
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About the Speaker

Kimberley Brind is Global Marketing Executive and Social Strategist, Oracle. She is an accomplished and pragmatic goal orientated Technology Marketer with an entrepreneurial approach and 20+ years international, strategic marketing, demand generation and marketing communications experience.

Kimberley is responsible for social media marketing strategy and operations, inside sales demand generation programs, midmarket awareness and demand generation as well as preferred vendor management across Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Connect with Kimberley on Twitter: @kimberleybrind.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the weekly Hobson and Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Speakers and Speeches podcast is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

Quick News: 300 social media policies, software engineer develops tool for retracting a tweet, thoughts after a week or two with Google Glass, Lowe’s cracks the code on using Vine for marketing; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: The future of PR agencies; Michael Netzley reports on companies in Singapore ranked by reputation; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments and Google+ FIR Community roundup; the change in how we learn with the rise of MOOCs; Dan York reports on the challenges using SoundCloud;

Music from Kim Jarrett; and more.

Listen Now:

Get FIR:

• Download the MP3 file (36.2Mb, 87:49)
• Subscribe to the RSS feed
• Get the show at iTunes
• Get the FIR app for your iPhone and for your Android device from the Amazon App Store

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report for May 6, 2013: An 88-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Wokingham, Berkshire, England.

Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

• FIR #702 bookmarks on Delicious

Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+.

You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday May 13…

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

Its Wikipedia entry describes SoundCloud as an online audio distribution platform that allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings by users. It was founded in 2008 and now has more than 20 million users worldwide, with membership growing by over 1.5 million every month.

In this FIR Interview, co-host Neville Hobson met with Eric Wahlforss during the FT Digital Media Conference 2013 in London on April 26, to talk about audio and business.

Their conversation ranged wide, covering topics such as the developing competitive marketplace today and where SoundCloud fits into the social web, introducing new products aimed at business users to run brand campaigns, podcasting and how SoundCloud can be a great platform for podcasters, the future for SoundCloud and audio’s role in a strategic approach to social media.

Listen Now:

Get this podcast:

• Download the MP3 file (8.3Mb, 18:04)
• Get the show on iTunes
• Subscribe to the FIR Interviews RSS feed
• Get the FIR app for your iPhone, and for your Android device from the Amazon App Store

About our Conversation Partner

Eric Wahlforss is founder and CTO of SoundCloud, a social sound platform that gives users unprecedented access to the world’s largest community of music and audio creators.

Frustrated by not being able to share sound files easily over the Internet, Eric along with CEO and co-founder Alexander Ljung, decided to build a truly open platform for audio creators. In his role as CTO, Eric leads the technical development and vision of SoundCloud, including driving usage of its open API by third-party developers. Creators on SoundCloud now post over 10 hours of music and audio every minute; the platform reaches over 180 million people, equating to 8% of the entire internet population, every month.

Eric’s main area of interest is in emerging web technologies and their applications. Prior to starting SoundCloud he co-founded web consultancy network Strategy & Interaction and co-authored a book on trust in online social spaces. His experience also includes work as an interaction designer for location-based services company, gate5.

Eric is based in Berlin and is also known as electronic music artist Forss.

Connect with Eric on Twitter: @ericw. And, of course, on SoundCloud.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music – On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

Overflow from FIR #701 on April 29, 2013.

Discussion references:

• NevilleHobson.com: What do Barcelona, Melbourne and Stockholm mean to PRs?
• Global Alliance: The World Public Relations Forum: Melbourne’s Mandate for PR
• Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles
• The Melbourne Mandate
• Stockholm Accords

Listen Now:

• Download this podcast (5.39Mb, 11:16)

If you want to automatically receive FIR Cuts as they’re published, subscribe to the RSS feed.

(What are FIR Cuts?)

Quick News: Can communicators convey company messages via fiction?, fake Twitter followers and a dirty marketing secret, new examples of smart use of QR codes; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: Concise report on the Socialbakers Engage 2013 conference and FT Digital Media Conference 2013, both in London; Dan York’s report includes a reply to Norbert Mayer-Whittmann re domain names, changing categories in Google+ Communities, Google+ mobile app usage, FCC request for comments about changing US phone numbers to no longer be connected to geographies; Neville with Stephen Waddington on the Associated Press’ Twitter account hack and the implications for trust and security, should British politicians take notes from Barack Obama’s campaign team?, and Stephen’s perspectives on the international challenges for the PR profession; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; Michael Netzley reports from Singapore on Gengo’s crowd-sourced translation services in Japan and a new McKinsey report on Indonesia’s consumers; listener comments and FIR Google+ Community round-up;

Music from Mother Redcap; and more.

Listen Now:

Get FIR:

• Download the MP3 file (41.5Mb, 90:15)
• Subscribe to the RSS feed
• Get the show at iTunes
• Get the FIR app for your iPhone and for your Android device from the Amazon App Store

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report for April 29, 2013: A 90-minute podcast recorded live from Wokingham, Berkshire, England.

Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

• FIR #701 bookmarks on Delicious

Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+.

You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday May 6…

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

The free service was based on sharing and collaboration, principles Shankman brings to the fore in his new book, Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management is Over – and Collaboration is In.

What does a “nice” company do?

In a Forbes interview, Shankman recounted this experience:

I was in a hotel and came back after a long day of meetings. I saw a note on my bathroom counter: Mr. Shankman, we noticed you left your toothpaste out. It’s running very low. We took the liberty of buying you a new tube. We know how busy you are.

I was shocked. I took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook. I found out two days later from the PR person that they could trace back at least two reservations that came from that story. The toothpaste probably cost 39 cents or less, because they buy it in bulk.

In this FIR podcast episode, Book Review Editor Bob LeDrew reviews Nice Companies Finish First.

Get this podcast:

• Download the MP3 file (6.69Mb, 16:38)
• Get the show on iTunes
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• Get the FIR app for your iPhone and for your Android device (visit the Android Market from your device)

Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management is Over – and Collaboration is In by Peter Shankman with Karen Kelly.

Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Ebook and paperback (256 pages) editions
Published in the US: April 2013
ISBN10: 0230341896
ISBN-13: 978-0230341890

Purchase the book online at:

Amazon US: Kindle | Print
Amazon UK: Kindle | Print
Amazon Canada: Kindle | Print
Google Play (US, UK, Canada, Australia)
Nook
iBook

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future shows, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)