I am running for Vice Chair of the newly-formed Association for Downloadable Media and I’m asking for your vote for the following reasons:

1) I have heart for all of the companies and individuals in the industry who want to come together to establish standards for accelerating the monetization of downloadable content.

2) I have experience starting a viable industry association which is very important in understanding the ramifications of actions, the formation of bylaws, and the prioritization of deliverables. I was on the founding advisory board of the Internet Advertising Bureau and served 5 years, from 1996-2000. I know the power of an association and the trade offs for various decisions in managing an organization. I have also managed as many as 225 individuals and been responsible for more than $100 million in revenue in the online industry.

3) I publish 20 weekly audio (and soon video) shows and companion blogs and my livelihood depends on the ability to earn a living completely through selling advertising and sponsorships into my shows. I’m dedicated to the cause and oriented toward sharing my knowledge and learnings with the industry. Education is a core initative.

4) I’m specifically running for the position of Vice Chairman, and not Chairman, even though I was the progenitor of this association, initally bringing the first 14 companies to the table to agree on the formation of the ADM, because I don’t have the corporate resources to support the role of Chair. I DO have the vision, experience and strategic knowledge to be a solid second-in-command on a strong team who can provide leadership within and for the industry.

5) My vision for the early years of the ADM includes launching the following initiatives: (of course with the agreement and support of the membership):

• Creating key tools for sales support including templates of media kits, insertion orders and a knowledge base of data about the power and potential of portable media to use while selling.
• Revenue reporting confidential and aggregated sales data across the entire industry to quanitfy the quarter over quarter growth and importance of the downloadable media space. Today $5 million…tomorrow $5 billion!
• Conduct primary consumer usage research highlighting and quantifying the unparalleled engagement of the medium to give our industry a disproportionate share of potential revenue. Move over banners - here comes portable media!
• Ratification of standards in 3 key areas:
  • Audience measurement - defining downloads/listens et cetera
  • Ad standards - creating standardized ad units buyers run in an organized campaign across many networks and individual podcasts to scale their buys to bring in more ad dollars (you can always offer “out of the box” options too)
  • Media comparability and efficacy- to get at the aforementioned “disproportionate share” of media budgets, we must demonstrate how downloadable media ad units compare and support other media options - i.e. online ads, radio, print and TV as well as highlighting the cross media lift created when downloadable media is part of the mix

6) And finally, to provide a voice for the industry in the press - do not underestimate the impact on revenue created by “getting the call” from journalists and making it into the stories in the NY Times and trade publications. I will support the Chair in creating visibility for downloadable advertising in the media and at conferences to draw more awareness for the industry through my experience in communications and public relations.

This barely brushes the surface of my ideas, but will give you some insight into my approach and good intentions.

Thank you for reading this. I hope I have confirmed your vote.

Feel free to comment below with any specific questions that you may have. You may also email me at susan at personallifemedia dot com.