Bad Partnership & Scary Tech Decisions
The Ramble
Check out today’s ramble, and then some notes below.
Bad Partnership
We at DataJoe made the decision to license an expensive (for us) tech/data product. We had to sign an annual contract, but we discovered early on that this product was NOT what we needed. We reached out to the vendor, stated our case and asked if they could work with us, and here’s the answer we received:
Sorry. You signed the contract.
It makes my stomach hurt every time I see the notification that their quarterly payment has hit the bank account. It’s the quiet outrage that gets me. This vendor is more concerned with getting their money than they are with me getting value out of my investment. I hate doing business with companies like that. I consider this to be the definition of Bad Partnership.
Tech Decisions are Scary
Tech decisions are scary!
Technophobia is the fear you feel in your guts when you know you have to trust a technology provider because of an urgent need, but you know in your gut that you don’t understand enough to know if you are making the right decision.
The Leap of Faith
You are often taking a leap of faith into “eel” invested waters. In an increasingly digital world, we are all, including publishers, forced to make decisions based on intimate knowledge of complex technology structures. And these decisions often carry significant implications. And it’s just plain freakin scary.
We’ve all been burned. We learn to be cautious. But this caution often leads to paralysis. We know we have to be careful, but we also don’t have the time and bandwidth to become experts on SEO, email delivery, programmatic, and the dozens of other categories. We end up stalling and only making the urgent decisions when the necessity comes crashing down.
Good Partnership
We’ve always said that “Partnership is our product” at DataJoe. This informs all of our decisions. Good partnership is our true north. We want to be the exact opposite of the “Sorry. You signed the contract” people.
This is how we conduct business.
This is why we create resources like this newsletter, identifying others (vendors and publishers alike) who share our values of partnership.
Like Attracts Like
We at DataJoe often get an undercover view of providers from three perspectives:
What our clients say about other providers behind the scenes. Our clients trust us and feel comfortable telling us about their experiences.
What we experience in our close relationships with other providers. For example, I trust Kenny Katzgrau, Jacob Fogg, and many others IMPLICITLY because I deeply know their character.
What we observe when we interact with the technology of other providers. We are often needing to integrate and interact with other technologies on behalf of our clients. As a tech company, we have enough understanding of how it works to be able to identify if people know what they are doing by our very interactions with their technology.
Two of these views are views that other publishers generally can’t have.
Weaponized Recommendation
If you read about someone here, it’s someone we trust enough to present them to you. We are constantly recommending vendors to clients who trust us. And then we follow up to make sure they got the level of Partnership that we expect. If we see issues from a particular recommendee, we stop recommending that company.
I spend ridiculous amounts of intentional face time with other media-facing vendors, because DataJoe has allowed me to make vendor collaboration a priority for the benefit of our clients.
The Fabulous Five (+1)
There are MANY people I trust in this industry, both providers and publishers. Here five Partnership recommendations. Some are providers and some are publishers, but all of them provide the true Partnership Experience.
Fractional CTO: Copperpress, Jacob Fogg. This is your guy for full stack technology guidance, Wordpress strategy and develpment, SEO trouble-shooting. In the high school of technology, he’s the senior putting his arm around the freshman and saying, “Don’t worry, I got your back.”
Jake’s People of Media interview
Ad Server: Broadstreet, Kenny Katzgrau. If you know Kenny, you know he is earnest, blunt, open-hearted, generous, and insanely smart when it comes to problem solving. Sign up for Broadstreet. But even if you don’t sign up, get him in your life somehow. He’s an advocate like no other.
Kenny’s People of Media Interview
Media Events Consulting: Kristi Dougherty. Kristi is the “Media Events Unicorn.” She’s had extensive experience coming into organizations, both on a fractional, or project-by-project basis, and helping bring fledgling or struggling events to profitable success.
Kristi’s People of Media profile
Media Sales Consulting: Ryan Dohrn and Ammie Scott (417 magazine). I’m not surprising anyone here. Ryan Dohrn is an amazing advocate and mentor — I have, myself, paid for coaching time with Ryan, and received valuable insights for my own sales journey. Ammie Scott is a true mentor-executor. She’s the VP of Sales at 417 Magazine; a brand that exemplifies the highest standard of excellence when it comes to being a trusted community brand. She holds the secret of practical sales success with a track record of achievement to back it up.
Advice for Creating a Profitable Agency Within Your Media Brand: Will Hill is an amazingly gracious, innovative, generous individual. His insatiable curiosity and innovation had me hooked from day one.