Marketing: Please come forward two steps and one step back

I'm walking around the Austin Convention Center at SxSW. It's been a few days now. Actually, I've been every year except the first year. Each year it gets more digital. You can plan your panels, party schedule and whatever else I don't know. I don't have an iPhone, I have an Android. Point being, the event is highly digital. "We have an app for that." Although after listening to some of my friends talk about the apps, none of them are integrated with the other so it can be a bit frustrating.

So, I made a simple observation one day on Twitter:
So much marketing happening @sxsw still in paper form: flyers, guide book, stickers, posters, cards #housxsw

In which two people responded:
@raypage: i totally agree. #sxswi should move towards a more eco-friendly mindset.
@blatze: Seemed dated

Both observations are right on. If we nixed print it would totally be more earth friendly since there is so much printed. Yes it seems dated since we're at a technology conference and just about everyone has an iPhone or Android or whatever smart phone and laptops. Although, I'm thinking even more into this situation and this observation. Even with all this technology, people are still dependent on print.

SxSW guide book:
The guide includes the daily schedule of panels, parties and map in a printed booklet. It tells you which panels are basic, intermediate and advanced levels. You could access the schedule online or through the iPhone app. The app will tell you more such as a description or details about the panel. The app does not show the level of each panel. It does show approximately how many people will be attending or at least the website does. I'm not even sure if the app gives you a map of SxSW. I mainly used it to see where I was heading next and marked the panels of interest to me the night before. If not for the guidebook, I wouldn't have access to the iPhone app and my phone is too slow to access the web on my phone quick enough to satisfy me. But if I decided to skip the panel, I'd have to ask someone about other panels or wait til the web loaded on my G1.

Flyers and posters:
They are everywhere: in the swag bag, on tables, up on walls, getting passed out, on street corners, etc. It's where you look sometimes when something catches your eye. You can easily pass it around to people. (That last comment sounds like a disease.) This is the way to get new eyes to notice you if they aren't already following you on Twitter, your fan on Facebook, your friend, your lover, your affair. I'm just kidding about the last part. Seriously though, whether or not people already know about it, flyers and posters remind people about who you are, your party, your film, your panel, whatever it is. It's your chance for new eyes especially if you're not already listed in the guide book or in the swag bag or whatever else is sanctioned by SxSW. Not an official SxSW party, sponsor, etc.? Flyers, posters and street team is your compass (guide to new faces).

Business cards:
I am so over business cards but I have to admit they have a purpose. I personally would rather follow you on Twitter once I meet you than take your business card. I think I handed out 10 business cards and followed at least 20 more people. I have a stack of business cards from 2009 and I never looked at it after SxSW. I do remember some of the people I followed during 2009's SxSW.

So the pros of business cards? You can write notes on them, where you met someone, what you talked about, where they work and whatever else... "hot" or not. Whatever works for you, I'm not judging. Also some business cards I remember because it's cool and others I remember because it's a big company like Twitter or Google or who ever you consider a celebrity. Lesson from the "How not to be a douchebag" core conversation: don't print an all black business card because no one will be able to write notes on it and then it becomes almost useless.

SxSW had QR codes available on everyone's badge and listed the apps that would work best for each phone. I think I had mine scanned twice by two iPhones. I also Bumped someone once which was kind of fun. The only issue people have with these routes is that no one I knew could remember who was who from SxSW. At least with Twitter I could go back and see the last few people I started following and recall they were from SxSW. With QR codes or even Bump, contacts go straight into your contacts and how are you supposed to tell which contacts were from SxSW if they weren't already labeled as such? There's no way I could remember people's names if it was thrown into a bowl of all my contacts.

Twitter and Facebook plays:
If you're on Twitter I'm sure you had a lot of information flowing through the streams about SxSW. If you're on Facebook that's probably where you were invited to SxSW parties. I watched the Facebook stream more regarding parties and which parties my friends were attending. From past experience some parties made you RSVP which is kind of lame considering half the RSVP list doesn't end up showing anyways. Good thing a lot of the parties this year was first come first serve or if anything even if you weren't on the list they let you in the party. As I watched my friends mark "attending" to parties, I would go to the event details and do the same making it a point to remember the ones I really wanted to attend and making sure my group knew I was going with or without them.

From then, it was all about Twitter updates: which parties were flops and which panels were full. Word of mouth is digital and it's immediate. You quickly find out if you made a good decision to skip the keynote with Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, to have lunch with random SxSW goers over lunch. (Yes it was a great idea. Too bad I didn't leave the keynote sooner).

So even if it's not as green and it seems outdated, humans still don't change as quickly as technology as far as what I've discussed. If you're not in my "social bubble" I won't know what's going on unless one of you takes the plunge to drop by an unknown party and convinces me to go. And by that, what are the chances you find one of my friends through digital and convince them to go? And if you're a somewhat new organization or a "nobody" today, how will you get the word out? As much as I would love for SxSW to be green it's difficult for me to see them go 100% green soon. And even though it seems dated, it's effective to a certain extent but with everything I believe there's a combination of digital and print. I mean eventually will "juicing" my phone become anti-green? Maybe if phones became solar powered? I'll just add one more fact that remembering anything not written down is difficult for me. So having something physical to look at later helps me recall whatever memory I had of it earlier but also having the constant ability to access information is a plus too. Print vs. Digital... do I have to choose?



Other marketing articles on SxSW 2010:
SxSW: Can neuroscience trump creative in marketing?
- Recap from panel: Big Brother in Your Brain: Neuroscience & Marketing

SxSW: Social media marketing for business

SxSW Interactive 2010: Clay Shirky keynote debrief
- “Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data.”

Related mobile issues at SxSW:
Mobile #succeed or #fail at SxSW?

Smells like Dog

You know when someone has a pet. Once that door opens to their home, you smell it. I ain't gonna lie. I have two smelly dogs, one that marks her territory and one that can't hold his bladder. They've gotten a lot better as far as keeping their "accidents" to specific areas but even still its frequency is quite frustrating.

Toefuh & Suga

Edwin and I continue to make small adjustments but nothing has really worked long term. With Toefuh peeing in his cage everyday, it makes for some pretty wretched laundry times. At this point it seems as if our last resort is to try to train them to go in the kitty litter. I'm not sure logistically how to make it work but Toefuh has successfully used it twice before. I guess time will tell and maybe treats will help. Since I've been slowly decluttering, cleaning and improving our home, I'd love my guests to enjoy their time here without thinking it smells or wondering, "What is that stain?" I'm itching for a game night.

NERTZ!