Inside PR 3.40: South by Southwest V2V – a new event for startups and entrepreneurs

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This week, I’m solo and we feature an interview with Christine Auten, interactive producer of South by Southwest.

Christine has been working with SXSWi since 2008 and is currently focused on a new project: launching SXSW V2V in Las Vegas, August 11 to 14, 2013.

SXSW V2V is a re-imagining of the legendary SXSW experience with an emphasis on the creative spark that drives entrepreneurial innovation. It grew out of the success of the main Festival and focuses on two of its strongest sectors – startups and entrepreneurs. SXSW wanted to expand beyond Austin and Las Vegas seemed a natural choice given its easy access and abundance of hotel rooms and conference space.

Then there’s Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos, longtime SXSW supporter and the man behind the Las Vegas Downtown Project, an ambitious multi-year plan to bring back the city’s urban core.

Hsieh, one of the three keynotes, will talk about the Las Vegas revitalization project in The City as Startup.  Other keynotes include Steve Case, CEO of Revolution on The Rise of the (Entrepreneurial) Rest and what it takes for his company to invest in a startup; and Lauren Bush Lauren, CEO, FEED Projects in conversation with Inc. contributing editor Donna Fenn on doing well by doing good.

SXSW V2V is SXSW on a micro scale. Programming is structured in a similar way with traditional panels, a daily keynote, solo room, a pitch event called V2Venture and mentor sessions. But with fewer tracks, it will be a more intimate event.

After hours, you can expect to experience SXSW’s lively networking and parties and a closing night mixer in downtown Las Vegas.

Christine is most excited about the mentor sessions, an opportunity for startups to connect and gain insights from 90 experienced professionals. Note: I’m happy to be included as one of the mentors. My focus will be on how to develop a strategic approach to PR, content and news. If you’re attending the event, I hope you’ll drop by.

Like SXSW, creative takes centre stage at V2V, a place for designers, developers, thinkers, investors and tinkerers from around the world to come together, learn and exchange ideas. And as a first-time event, it’s bound to have its share of start-up energy.

“We plan and set the stage and then the community comes and does what it does and that’s exciting to see,” says Christine.

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Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter. Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine Simpson and Ashlea LeCompte.

Inside PR 3.27: The story on content

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This week we feature video interviews we did at meshmarketing conference in Toronto. Our guests are three content marketing strategists – well, two strategists and one creative artist: Kristina Halvorson, Lee Odden and David Usher.

Here are some highlights:

Kristina Halvorson – Brands need to care about content more than ever because that’s what drives their relationships with customers online… Brands should ensure they look at content not at a commodity but as a business asset.

Lee Odden – Content is the perfect medium for storytelling, it’s what helps brands stand out beyond the noise… Think about online marketing as a peanut and jelly sandwich, search is the PB, jelly’s the social media and content is the bread that holds it all together.

David Usher – Content is very important to brands these days because it defines the brand. If you take the word brand and replace it with personality, it’s really the same thing… You need authenticity and originality and those are the two things that make content engaging.

Gini, Joe and Martin talk about the interviews and how each of us thinks about content. We agree you don’t need to have a big budget to create meaningful and sharable social objects. You need a great story to tell to people who are genuinely interested. And that’s where relationships and creativity come in.

What are some of your content marketing ideas secrets? We’d love to hear from you.

And if you liked these interviews, you may want to check out the great lineup of speakers at Mesh 2013 in Toronto in May. And yes, that’s another Inside PR video on the homepage :).

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Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter. Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine Simpson.

Gini recommends a content audit and talks about things that can be repurposed and optimize it so it reaches. You don’t always have to create something new, you need to use what you already have in other collateral.

Takes pieces of a PDF white paper that isn’t searchable and creates nuggets that are searchable from existing content.

Content as a business asset and spoke that it’s meaningful and engaging and the issue of high quality is interesting with social objects.

What are some of your content secrets? We’d love to hear from you.

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Inside PR 3.17: On content marketing and extreme reuse

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This week, our episode is short, but sweet (well, we can at least guarantee the first part). We recorded this show before US Thanksgiving and Gini’s trip to Amsterdam to give a talk to the PR community there.  We’ll hear about her adventures next show.

We continue our discussion on producing and sharing remarkable content and Joe mentions an article Aaron Dun wrote for Marketing Profs on why creating a single blog post on a particular subject is no longer good enough. You need to learn how to re-purpose your content – in a major way.

Dun recommends an approach he calls ‘extreme reuse’, that is building out and spreading one idea across multiple platforms. He suggests you start by considering everything you do as fodder for content, whether it’s a call with clients, a brainstorm, an article you read, a conversation, trends…  Then figure out how you can take your concept and adapt it to other channels including blog posts, slides, webinars, Google hangouts, infographics, video, email marketing, etc.

Gini talks about all the content she creates – and how she doesn’t know where she’ll find the time to do any more…

That’s where having a talented and diverse team comes in. In order for extreme reuse to be effective, organizations need people with different areas of expertise to add their perspective to a story and bring it to life in various media.

Martin suggests we should also look at things strategically and realize not every idea is a big enough to merit that much reuse. So be selective.

Is content marketing something you can do on your own or do you need partners who are good at other things and who can create a series of social objects around a subject or a theme?

We’d love to hear what you think.

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Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter. Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Kristine Simpson.