Building A Business Information Brand in 2013, the Skift story

Building a business information brand in 2013

travel intelligence. global smartness.

skift.com T: @skift F: /skiftnews


With a $6.5 trillion contribution to GDP & 260 million jobs, travel -- made up of tourism, hospitality, transport & leisure --

is the world's largest industry.

While digital has disrupted distribution & information systems, no information and intelligence brand has emerged that

matches the industry's size with its digital potential.

Skift is that brand.

Skift is now among the largest travel news and

information sites in the travel industry, 9

months after launch.

The brand is well on its way to becoming the

lingo in the travel industry.


On the way to becoming the most pervasive travel information brand

We're creating a next-generation data & info-heavy

crossover media company that's built to break out of the

vertical media ghetto and scale to its true potential.


This is our story so far, of scaling so quickly

with a very small team of 5 people.

And our vision for growing up.


Business media and information: least sexy

sectors in the larger tech economy, and among

the least innovative in digital.


But in the era where business media & enterprise

software have merged, where Salesforce & LinkedIn are

becoming gold standards in business information:

B2B media & information sector needs wholesale

redefining.



Source: CEO.com & Domo Survey 2013, Decade of media consumption pattern changes among CEOs.

What a difference a decade makes

paidContent.org, exactly a decade ago.

April 25, 2003.

›› The template for all blog media companies to come after.

Skift, today.

April 25, 2013

›› Visual›› Social›› Brand-led

What a difference a decade makes: paidContent vs Skift

›› blogs vs platform agnostic›› content-centric vs data-led

›› post-thinking vs product thinking›› freshness vs immediacy

›› linking vs sharing›› using content vs using design to punch above your

weight


What hasn't changed

›› B2B doesn't have to be boring›› The nativeness

›› Connecting the dots across silos collapsing›› Being smart, sharp, surgical & strategic with all

content, the 4S's of content

›› User centric: Vendor vs the User


Your expansive worldview defines how big your vision is.


Size matters›› Travel, world's largest industry

Definition matters›› Travel begins when you leave home

Ambition matters›› We're defining the future of travel


Hybrid business-consumer, crossover

information and data brand is the way to:

›› scale on users+revenues

›› break out of vertical ghettos

›› scale to the full potential of the brand


Are you aware of macro-trends you're riding?

›› travel silos collapsing, like other industries›› blurring of business & leisure travel›› locus of travel is moving eastward

›› tech & design is eating the world


Figure out the whitespace, or create it

B2B: Backwards. Boxed-In. Boring.

Consumer: Cluttered. Confusing. Casual.


You don't need to own the content, you need to own the voice

›› three legged stool of content: curation + licensed+original›› expertise, not just exclusivity

›› licensed content from lot of sources globally that don't typically slot them in travel, but under our filter they are; helps build the brand›› Skift Take: Our tweet-length take on every story has become our

signature voice & brand


Role of original content: Build franchises that can be productized down the line

›› SkiftSeedlings›› SkiftAds

›› SkiftDesign›› SkiftStats


Don't underestimate building the consumer hooks

›› accessible writing›› attractive design›› wide syndication

›› ubiquity matters


Building users in concentric circles

›› Lowest hanging fruit you'll quickly get›› Early adopters in tech and enthusiast community

›› Be cognizant of which user-pockets will spend money



Think prosumer, not consumer

›› One concentric circle outside the business users›› From professionals in travel to professional travelers

›› From news to news-you-can-use›› Curating and integrating best-of- breed tools & services for

business travelers.


Think pervasive, not exclusive

›› Syndicate as widely as you can, be wherever your users could be, even outside of business environments.

›› Example: Our deals with CNN, NBC News, Flipboard, Quartz, AdAge, BusinessInsider and others to come

Creating a social business brand

›› B2B doesn't have to be boring›› The daily blocking and tackling happens here

›› Worry about your Klout score›› Analytics-driven social

›› Twitter vs Facebook vs LinkedIn›› Become a media influencer through social


Mobile means ubiquity

›› Are you near industry-norms in userbase?›› Ubiquitous sharing in mobile

›› Mobile web vs apps and why focus


Data-based, data-led, data-focused

›› Focus on competitive intelligence›› Build and manage a suite of meta-services

›› Layers on top of existing publicly-available and open-web data

›› Delivered any way the users want it: online, apps, alerts


SkiftSocial dashboard: to discover the latest patterns

and trends, and gain insight into how

companies work and compete in the new social-

driven world.

Building data tools

If you had

Visualization of Google Analytics + Real Time charting of Chartbeat + Activity feed addictiveness of Facebook

What would you build?


Can media and data coexist?

›› Data informs media strategy; Media is an insight layer on top of data.

›› Competitive intelligence as streams›› News & media is just another stream


Thanks, keep on Skifting.

Rafat Ali@rafat


Building A Business Information Brand in 2013, the Skift story

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