By Terry Jones, Founder of Travelocity and Kayak.com

The world’s future leaders overwhelmingly believe that today’s businesses cangrowonly if they can innovate – and that today’s business leaders aren’t demonstrating they’re up to the task.

While that’s the thinking of nearly 5,000millennials – the 20- to 33-year-old generation – at least one baby boomer, the innovator who transformed the U.S. travel industry with his creation of Travelocity and Kayak.com, agrees.

“The future for any business today depends entirely on its ability to innovate, and the youngest adults, ‘the idea generation,’ know that,” says Terry Jones, author of “On Innovation,” (www.tbjones.com/terrys-book), a light-hearted but practical guide for fostering and innovation.

“The millennials are the group known for pioneering new ideas, rethinking processes, end-running hierarchies and solving problems by doing what simply makes sense to them. We need to listen to them; they’re the innovators!”

But the worldwide survey of adults born after 1982 found that only 26 percent believe their bosses are doing enough to encourage innovation. The study by Deloitte ToucheTohmatsu Limited, publishedin January, reported 78 percent believe innovation is crucial for growing businesses.

Jones says there are some definite steps business leaders can and should take to ensure their company is hearing employees’ ideas, recognizingopportunities, and ensuring a clear path to execution.

1. Build a culture of experimentation. Not every project will succeed but you can’t learn from mistakes if you don’t allow them to happen. The corollary: Always analyze what went wrong. Why didn’t it work? To use a sports analogy, watch the “game films” to improve and learn as much from failure as you do from success. One fast and easy way to experiment is to test options out online. Whether it’s polling customers, measuring which approach gets the best response, or allowing a segment of your customer base to test drive a new tool, the results can be invaluable..

2. Kill projects not people. In many companies, people stop offering up ideas and volunteering for projects because the punishment for failure is greater than the reward for success. Lunch with the boss or a $100 bonus do not compensate for the risk of being demoted or fired, or suffering a tarnished reputation. When a project fails in a company with a culture of experimentation, the first thing you should do is say, “Bob, what would you like to work on now?!”

I recently talked with Jason DeLuca, Managing Director at Allscope Media, an independent mid-size ad agency that delivers fully integrated communication strategies, about the important relationship between creative and media buying. How do creative choices affect media buying decisions and conversely, how do media buying decision influence the creative process? We sat down for a quick Q&A.

From the big idea to campaign integration, to media  strategy, it’s all about developing the best creative concepts and making the best media choices to reach the right audiences with the right messages and calls to action. So, does amazing creative succeed without the right media strategy? Can great media save bad creative? Or working together, can they make any product or service successful?

David Murdico: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Jason DeLuca: I always thought that the chicken came first, but after much contemplation I came to the same conclusion as Aristotle once did, that both the chicken and the egg have always existed together at the same time in harmony; much like the relationship between creative and media.

DM: What’s your background and what brought you to Allscope Media?

JD: I’ve spent the last 15+ years working closely with some of the worlds most iconic brands, helping them manage every aspect of their online media research, strategy, planning, buying, content integration, targeting, tracking, reporting, analysis, optimization and reconciliation needs.

What brought me to Allscope was the opportunity to marry my digital media expertise with a successful group of traditional media professionals to create a truly integrated media services offering.  Since traditional media accounts for such a big majority of all marketing dollars spent, it’s critical that we, the digital media mavericks, find creative ways of integrating with traditional media touch points.

I work with lots of startups and brands in the areas of creative digital marketing, PR and social media, and the biggest challenge for any startup is rising above the noise and grabbing that initial customer attention. Whether you’ve recently launched, are about to launch…

How do you go from zero to sixty? 

How do you use digital marketing and PR to interact with your consumer base when you don’t have a consumer base yet? 

How do you compete with other startups and brands that already have the jump on you in your space? 

How do you explain a brand new product or service and make people not only notice, but care and get involved?

Unless you’ve created something so unique, so earth shatteringly original and so needed by everyone that word spreads like magic, or your investment partners are so famous that their story carries yours, you’ll have to fight it out with everyone else. Many startups turn to social media marketing because of the seemingly low barrier to entry and low cost. While launching headstrong into social media can indeed be cheap, doing it effectively and producing results isn’t always so.

BIG BRANDS VS YOUR STARTUP

The most apparent difference between brands and startups is that brands already have lots of customers, many of whom are also fans. You don’t… yet. Brands also have name recognition, which plays a big part in both social media and PR as they fight for attention. You don’t. Nobody knows who you are… yet.

THE BIG SECRET

Social media is like a stream that leads to a river that leads to an ocean. Your startup, products and services, are still at the top of the stream. Some of your potential customers are in the river, and most of them are in the ocean. You need to get from the stream to the river as fast as you can before one of three things happens:

1. Your money dries up
2. Your competition passes you by
3. Your product or service becomes dated or irrelevant
4. You burn out and quit

The big secret is that you’re going to have to: 

Lots of people try to convince me that social media marketing isn’t about sales. It’s about building a community, interacting with people, showing the fun side of the brand, you know… being social and stuff. I really want to slap them in the forehead and ask why they’re even doing it then. Pull the plug. Stop wasting your resources on it.

Marketing is supposed to influence consumer behavior, but what happens when marketing becomes a two way conversation and the people who are in direct contact with consumers are not thinking like salespeople? The conversation keeps going and nobody buys anything. That’s really fun, but it won’t keep the business in business, which is an important part of business.

There are a million things we do every day that make us feel like we’ve worked hard and accomplished something. Social media is one of them. Today your social media team connected with lots of people, and you drove conversation and awareness. People commented and you commented back and all this activity can be measured, even.

What about those sales? Did anything get sold? That’s when the excuses start to fly.

1. BUT… SOCIAL MEDIA IS ONLY ABOUT RAISING AWARENESS, YOU KNOW… LIKE BILLBOARDS

The difference between a billboard and social media marketing is that if you talk to a billboard it can’t talk back. Billboards can’t have conversations, answer questions or talk you into doing stuff. They can make you aware of something, but then you have to go somewhere else to learn more… like a website, call a number, or Google it if its one of those movie billboards that’s supposed to make you make you curious about what it is when all you see is a date.

2. BUT… THE PRODUCT IS CRAP

So what? Lots are. Even turds get swarmed by flies. Your job is to sexy up that turd and gather up some flies. If it’s really that bad you shouldn’t have taken the job. Find the right audience and connect with them. Do your job

Online video is undoubtedly one of the most effective forms of digital marketing. 89 million people in the United States are going to watch 1.2 billion online videos today (ComScore), and 52 percent of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions (Invodo). The numbers are clearly there, but here are 10 reasons you should be incorporating online video into your digital marketing strategy.

1. Video is memorable
Images and text can be captivating, but videos, complete with intriguing visuals, music, and, most importantly, narratives, will stick with viewers far longer than most media. Moreover, studies show that online videos are 38% more memorable than TV ads.

2. People love sharing videos
People enjoy posting links to entertaining videos on their social media accounts or sharing their favorite videos when gathered around a computer with friends. This is particularly true when the video represents their personality, world-view, or sense of humor. People want to be a bearer of quality content and be acknowledged for the entertainment they share. Users sharing video on retail and brand sites chose Facebook 46 percent of the time, with email accounting for 40 percent and Twitter capturing 14 percent of shares (Invodo).

One of our Supercool Blog readers left the following comment on a recent post.

“I have been contacted by or contacted social media companies for 3 years. I have been a customer of 5 or 6 companies to help me with social media. I have yet to work with a social media marketing company who provides me with the results I am seeking. What questions should I ask of a social media company? The barriers to entry are easy to say, I am a social media company. How is a person to know the skill, knowledge, and competency of a social media company?”

So instead of a quick reply, here’s a full article to address his  comments and questions. You’re welcome.

Yes, there are a lot of flakes and posers out there but at the same time, social media encompasses a million different things. Not every social media company is good at, or has experience in, everything.

• Most social media companies, and really most marketing companies in general, will tell you they can do anything, regardless of whether or not they have experience doing the specific things you need. The simple reason for this is that just like you, they’re in business to make money and it kills them to turn you away. To your comment…

“I have yet to work with a social media marketing company who provides me with the results I am seeking”

First, are you being super clear about the results you’re seeking? The best way to do this is to start with your goals. What are you trying to achieve with social media? Don’t say “more likes and followers” or I will slap you right through the internet. I mean, how will social media contribute to your overall marketing and sales?

Next, specifically what do you need a social media company to do to help you reach reach those goals? What are the tactics and measurable actions that will help you get there?

• Do you have clearly defined goals and objectives and need a social media company to develop the strategy, plan, tactics, measurable actions and manage the execution?
• Do you need help defining your your goals and objectives and laying out what social media can do to get you there?
• If you already have a strategy, do you need the company to do specific tasks like set up and manage your social media channels, make videos, blog, share content, run contests, reach out to blogs, publications and influencers?

Once you’ve got that figured out, match up

No, not the dog… the kind that wears gloves and punches people in the face. My agency / production company Supercool Creative has cranked out comedy viral videos for some of the biggest brands and coolest startups around, and in the process I’ve observed the fickle relationship between videos and their fans.

I was trying to come up with what the ideal comedy video would be if it were a person, fighting its way up the YouTube charts, dodging fan comments, thumbs up, thumbs down and appropriately enough, it’s a boxer. Boxers aren’t typically associated with comedy, but what they do know is how to earn respect, keep moving, use the jab, play the rope a dope and deliver that unexpected, knockout punch.

1. COMEDY VIRAL VIDEOS HAVE TO EARN THE VIEWER’S RESPECT This all starts with the original concept, the script, the actors and finally the production. Above all, no matter how wacky , zany, over the top or understated the direction is, the brand has to own it. If the brand is insecure about what they’ve produced, the viewers will smell fear and as every boxing fan knows, fear leads to defeat.

Most viewers want to be entertained. They’d rather laugh than find fault. So give them something real, without a lot of marketing mixed in. Just make it really funny and then get behind it 100%.

2. COMEDY HAS TO KEEP MOVING Slow down and your viewers will click out. A couple of ways to do this is to keep the performance energy high and edit out anything that doesn’t either add information to the  story or make people laugh. Ideally, you’ll have taken this step during the writing process, but in post you’ll have another chance.

Entrepreneurs jumping into the startup world should seriously consideration of its potential pros and cons. Having a realistic understanding of how you will be able to cultivate success, build a strong team, and prevent unexpected failure are just a few things that should be addressed before making the big startup leap. One of the best ways to prepare for entrepreneurship and all of its surprises is to look to the advice of successful entrepreneurs. From Ford to FourSquare, we have a list of great founder quotes followed by straightforward advice to help you in starting your own business.

Social media marketing is one of the biggest buzzwords today as more and more brands, businesses and organizations are recognizing its importance. However, there are many who fail to understand what the best social media agencies do. They believe social media marketing is just about knowing your way around Facebook or occasionally sending out 140-character tweets. Why hire an experienced social media marketing agency or specialist when any Internet-savvy teenager can easily navigate social networks? Why invest in someone who’s just going to write up some quick statuses?

Effective social media marketing goes miles beyond that. That’s why.

True, quality digital marketing does involve Internet proficiency and familiarity with today’s most popular social networks, but it also requires specialized marketing knowledge and a deep understanding of audience behavior. Here are some of the tasks that only a truly skilled and experienced individual or agency can contribute to a campaign.

Setting Goals

An effective social media marketer must understand the company’s objectives and base campaign goals around them. These goals should be clear and specific and ambitious, yet they must also be realistic. Knowing how to reach these goals is essential, but setting the right goals for a brand or campaign is even more crucial.

Identifying and Understanding Audiences

The success of any marketing campaign relies heavily on targeting specific audiences and understanding what strategies work best with those demographics. Every update must be made with the target in mind. A good social media marketer should understand their demographics’ habits, desires and personalities and use that information to optimize content, wording and timing.

The perfect branded video series combines elements of entertainment and the same addictive qualities that keep people coming back to watch their favorite TV series. The trick is to plan out how you’ll build a fan base, appeal to your audience, get your message across without unleashing a series of ads, let people find and share, and be consistent. You want to get consumers hooked, telling their friends and coming back for more. That’s where you begin to tap into the key metrics of reach and frequency and where the brand message begins to emerge.

1. Plan a viral marketing strategy
Long gone are the days when simply posting a video to YouTube was enough. Your viral marketing strategy should include a combination of paid and earned views.

Paid views are derived from:
• banner ads
• YouTube promoted videos
• Facebook ads
• in-game views
• paid blog posts that appear as content rather than ads

Earned views come from:
• social media sharing across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn
• blog and publication outreach
• fans who voluntarily share the paid views

Each person that shares a paid view brings down the cost of that view by 50%. For example, if you pay for one million views and another million people share organically, you’ve cut your paid cost in half. So what are the things that will make them do that?