The power to entertain and inform

NOTE: Chaim Yudkowsky, CPA, CITP, is an MACPA member and president of Byte of Success Inc., a technology consulting company specializing in helping small and mid-size business grow using technology.

By Chaim Yudkowsky, CPA, CITP

"As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information."

In this 24 / 7 world, deciding how to use new media to inform and persuade customers is overwhelming. What technologies will attract notice while avoiding the racket of 200-plus cable channels facing TV viewers, the din of many Internet options and short attention spans, or the aggressive intrusion of spam? How can we fulfill the quoted vision of English statesman Benjamín Disraeli in making all of our constituents "best informed?"

I recently saw a solution that goes a long way toward blending many visual and audio technologies, which are then presented on a CD that creates, enhances and fosters a personal relationship. Kol Rom Media (KolRom.com) has developed a technique that aggregates content using off-the-shelf content authoring tools to present a unique experience for the targeted user. Steve Levin, Kol Rom's senior vice president, spent some time discussing his customer and the context of the approach his firm uses to reduce the noise.

Goals

Today's consumers have sophisticated taste in media. They are experienced with many forms of media and, in leveraging the plethora of choice, have become demanding about the quality and value of any time invested in becoming informed. These choices are presented by many companies and organizations that are trying to tap into the consumers' thought cycles.

Consumers must be convinced to spend time with you (at least virtually), and this requires that your message and communication engage, entertain, inform, educate and call the user to action. These combined elements improve the assimilation rate of information conveyed.

Achieving the goal of using media to coax an action from the targeted market demands that we make the experience so unusual and pleasurable that the user will remain involved long enough to reach that call for action. Levin says this is accomplished by incorporating sensitivity to the following:

Pace. Conventional media like TV and radio are often too expensive to project information at an absorbable pace. The inconsistency of Internet speeds makes the comprehensive delivery of rich media solutions frustrating to many users, manifested in short stay times. In contrast, the popularity of TiVo and DVDs empowers users to be entertained at their own speed. The user-control factor over the pace of presentation is essential.
Personalization. By making content perceptively more interactive, the user becomes part of the experience. Various techniques can be used to further enhance or extend that personalization. For example, frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be now include multiple content formats with a variety of perspectives to answer a question, allay concerns or emphasize a point. The audio and video are directed to the user, creating a bond that begins with a click and continues with virtual eye contact.
Anonymity. Modern content (especially online) usually has a component that is focused on measuring the users' experience. As advertisers and educators, we need to know the message's efficacy. Users often realize this and become worried about the invasiveness of the experience. Some experiences are so robust that the user looks the other way. For poorer experiences, the presenter's curiosity is a deal-breaker. Allowing the media to work in a disconnected mode can be reassuring to some users and will encourage them to devote more time "playing with the toy." Remember that no one wants to look stupid by being unable figure out what it means and repeating iterations of a specific module.
Resource invasiveness. Nowadays, too many rich media-laden Web sites still require installation of software. Some of this software creates new risks to the user in the form of spybots, viruses and other hacker malfeasance. The alternative is an all-included CD / DVD from a trusted source that is all encompassing with the media, software and information. And everything runs right off the CD — so no installation of anything!
Affordable. A medium must be affordable for the message being conveyed. The cost must make sense in the context of the call for action. In addition, it must be resource affordable enough for us (the educators / advertisers) to be able to craft the message, identify the content best suited for that message, and work on the finished product of that concept in a reasonable amount of time.

Examples of use

To demonstrate the versatility of this solution, Levin presented powerful solutions for the following areas:

Not-for-profit fund-raising.
Training, like new employee orientation and periodic senior executive touch to all employees throughout an organization, as well as specific functional training.
Associations, both for recruiting new members and for educating members about benefits of membership to encourage renewals.
Catalog and marketing — traditional catalogs with media enhancements as well as reality marketing with a 3D experience. Applications include everything from the mundane to tourism offices and hotels eager to make a compelling argument.
Private school and university student recruiting. Levin says one private school customer increased the number of applications received by 100 percent as a result of including a CD in their packet.

Issues

There is no technological idea that does not present new ideological and acceptance challenges, and this is no exception. We discussed two, though there may be others specific to your situation as you evaluate this approach.

Insidiousness of tracking. While the anonymity is ideal to the user, once using this technology, how are we held accountable? How do we analyze success and failure granularly to adjust how we use this technology? This differentiator could be technologically eliminated using cookie technology, but Levin says he would not do that without disclosure and / or user choice. We would have to decide whether there are more traditional ways to identify success without more invasiveness.
Copyright ownership. As more content is compiled, we increase the likelihood of accidentally ignoring another's intellectual property. All of the content used by Levin and other vendors is royalty-free, but as is the case of all of our other efforts, we have the responsibility to oversee and make sure that our staffs are not infringing in what they add to the pot. As the breadth and sources of our content increases, this can become more challenging to certify.

Levin's finished products could be the beginning of the melding of computer-based edutainment in outreach, marketing and fund-raising. Check it out and let me know what you think.

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