ShipCrunch

Define your business world: Wikipedia & shipping

Public access to information about your marine technology goes via Wikipedia; don't neglect it

By Ryan Skinner (email)

I defy you to find a word that - if Googled - does not return a Wikipedia page as a top-five result. Try "boiler", or "ECDIS", or "ballast", or "bunker oil". Heck, try "shoelaces", "John Fredriksen", "pussy cats" or "raspberry jam". They all take you right into the Wiki-empire.

"What does that mean to me?" You ask. It may mean a lot. If I'm a buyer looking for a VDR, I put "VDR" in my browser's address line and get this:

The first three links have nothing to do with what I'm after. The first interesting link goes to Wikipedia, where I quickly find an article titled "Voyage Data Recorder". Here I can find a fair amount of interesting information about VDRs in general, and - oh, yes - at the bottom of the page (under external links) are direct links to three VDR suppliers: Rutter, Netwave and Selma.

If I'm with Rutter, Netwave or Selma, I shout "sweet!" If I'm not, I furrow my brow "hmmm....this is the quickest route taken by VDR buyers or researchers online and they come to my competitors - not me. Ouch."

Wikipedia has basically come to define every general or proper concept in the world. It's the crowdsourced consensus for "what things are". This applies fully to the commercial arena too. It behoves every company to review how it, its products, its technology and its competitors come across in Wikipedia, and potentially take steps to improve it.

Wikipedia's value is based on its impartiality, and its guard dogs are not to be trifled with. Blatant sales efforts on Wikipedia will get deleted. But not all commercially advantageous information or articles need be blatant sales efforts. I wrote a short Wikipedia article based on a new shipping concept invented together with engineers from ABB. This is informative, but it does no harm to ABB's reputation for innovation either. In the meantime, I'll see if Wikipedia's guardians feel like it fits their guidelines, or suppress it.

I spoke with an engineer from ABB about their relationship to Wikipedia. He confirmed that the engineers actively edited articles that relate to one of their core technologies ("Azipod"). "This is not a structured activity, but based on individuals' efforts. No one person has responsibility for this."

Like it or not, Wikipedia defines our world. And you leave your company out of the world at your peril.

Petromedia: Evolution of a digital media publisher

Petromedia's Matt Cape describes the business development of a purely online marine news channel

By Ryan Skinner (email)  

A couple months back, I read an angry tweet from someone who was following Petromedia's tankerworld twitter account. He had clicked on a tankerworld twitter-link and slammed into Petromedia's pay-wall. He felt frustrated that he'd been lured by a headline into a dead-end, or at least an abrupt sell.

Petromedia's challenge is practically unique in this business. It is home to a number of purely online news titles. Bunkerworld is by far the most successful, but Sustainable Shipping is a popular, if distant, second. The only print product is a paper version of its bunkerworld news, which Petromedia CEO Matt Cape says is primarily "a marketing tool for the online content".

 It's worked. Today Bunkerworld has 870 companies and 2,500 individuals signed up to subscriptions that go up to as much as USD 10,000 per year. The path here wasn't straight, though.

"At the start, we were totally ad-driven, with advertisements on our high-volume pages. Once we'd established the quality of the content with a core readership, we were comfortable charging for access to the content," said Cape. In that respect, Cape and Petromedia resemble Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal (who fight to keep the US media stalwart behind a paywall) to the punch.

"Part of what we've done is to change people's perception of what's valuable. It's not the physical product anymore, so much as the information," said Cape. Bunkerworld's revenue is roughly 55 per cent subscription today, and 45 per cent online advertisements.

Bunkerworld still sells ads for its promotional print issue, but Cape says that the value of online versus that of print ads have developed counter-intuitively: "We started by selling digital ads at a discount to the print ads. Now advertisers start with us by buying discounted print ads, and working up to more premium placement online."

He notes that the relative good fortune of the bunker industry in the global recession has resulted in a rapid maturation of bunker companies, and increasing ad sophistication. "Our counterparts in PR companies and with advertisers are more professional, and the value per advertisement has grown. But the competition is stiffer."

Cape's team includes his wife, who has extensively studied how visitors move within a web-site, and Bunkerworld is undergoing probably its fifth or sixth overhaul since it started up in 2001. For an ad-driven revenue model, getting visitors to dive deeply into the site increases the value of advertising space beyond the coveted front-page real estate.

I asked Cape for comment about the angry twitterer who smacked into Petromedia's pay-wall. "We try to offer some content free online to win new subscribers. In general, though, twitter works better for free news than a premium subscription news services like ours."  

When Richard Branson fell in love with ships

Perhaps the biggest news coming from COP15 was Branson's interest in a unique ship

By Ryan Skinner (email)

Shipping has long had a chip on its shoulder, as the outcast older brother to the aviation and automotive industries. Perhaps that's why so many in shipping light up when the wider world shows positive interest in its doings. That's just what happened when a unique fuel-cell powered ship called Viking Lady made her way to Copenhagen for COP15. When the successor to Phileas Fogg, the original Virgin hypercelebrity Richard Branson himself put his loafers on the deck of Viking Lady, it was a coup for the entire industry.

I talked to Per Wiggo Richardsen, communications director at DNV Maritime, about this unique visit. Richardsen describes welcoming the world's biggest Virgin on Viking Lady:

For more details about Viking Lady's visit to Copenhagen and its impact at COP15, read on...!

Official media sponsor of shipping e-commerce summit!

100s of shipping's e-commerce-a-rati will gather in May; 59° 56' N will cover it

59° 56' N is proud and excited to announce that it is an official media sponsor of ShipServ's Connect10 conference in Copenhagen this May. This shipping e-commerce summit will bring together hundreds of buyers and sellers in the ShipServ trading space to explore how this platform can transform shipping business. 59° 56' N continues its support and coverage of shipping's move into the digital space, through innovative channels like ShipServ.

ShipServ's e-commerce portal is having a transformative effect on the nature of shipping business, with greater efficiency, transparency and speed as upshots; I've covered this at length here, here and here. This movement is only beginning, however, and I'm eager to explore the phenomenon further and see how both practitioners and experts on the topic see it developing.

ShipServ's John Watton comments on the media sponsorship: "We're delighted to have 5956 onboard as a media partner for Connect10.  There's a lot of synergies between ourselves and 5956. We're all about using the Internet to master the supply of and demand for ship supplies. 5956 was an obvious choice, given its focus on sales, PR, innovation and media in the Internet space."

59° 56' N will begin its coverage of shipping's e-commerce summit right away, starting with establishment of a daughter site exclusively covering Connect10: 5956n.typepad.com/connect10. Here you'll find short, exclusive Q&A's with Connect10 speakers, profiles of attending companies and a ten-day countdown to the event. During Connect10, this blog (and a parallel YouTube channel) shall feature exclusive video interviews of presenters and attendees. At 59° 56' N, meanwhile, a series of articles will delve deeper into the combination of shipping and e-commerce.

Follow this ongoing Connect10 coverage by subscribing to the daughter blog, or following the @Connect_10 twitter account.

Maritime trade press and web-sites interested in syndicating video content from Connect10 and re-publishing it on their own channels can contact me directly.

Connect10, shipping's e-commerce summit, promises to be a unique opportunity to see the direction of tomorrow's shipping business.

Shipping blog outreach: It happens. Really.

Some marketers go new ways to get good coverage and product mention. I talked to one.

By Ryan Skinner (email)

It felt like a minor event - the first press release from a company hoping for coverage in this blog ticked in about a month ago. I didn't write about his technology, but was intrigued by the man and the marketer. Here's someone who's thinking different, trying new things. So I asked him about it.

"Actually, I'm a firm believer in face-to-face meetings. Advertisements either in print or web just don't bring in sales. They may help a bit, but you need to visit, talk and discuss," says Daniel Kane, Co-founder and Vice-President at Propulsion Dynamics.  

"I told one guy selling me ads in a print magazine: 'I've experienced a poor return on investment from advertisements'. The seller answered: 'Ads aren't about return or sales. When you buy a half-page ad, you get credibility, not sales'. I don't see that logic."

Kane has bought ads, but he's spent more on travel. After a tough schedule visiting 30 shipowners all over the world, he won over two shipowners, who tried Propulsion Dynamics' unique product. Those early references led to a boom in interest.

"I've got a background in electronics, where buyers say only: 'Is this more efficient? Will I be able to beat the competition? Then let's do it.' In shipping, they're obsessed with references. But there are some innovators, even if it's tough going," said Kane.

If Kane's such a big believer in face-to-face hook-ups, though, why does he reach out to me for coverage? Why has he been active in LinkedIn and other discussion forums?

"I stumbled over this little 10-point guide to online marketing made by ShipServ. I'd completely ignored much of this. I started on LinkedIn, and took it from there. This doesn't cost me anything, and I gain," said Kane.

He has free listings of Propulsion Dynamics on web-sites here and there, including shipsuperintendent.com, best-maritime.info and marineenergymanagement.com. One of his best ideas, he says, was to link to related technology stories and white papers at Propulsion Dynamics' web-site. This has drawn in considerable traffic, on searches for some key phrases to his business.

 Kane's buzzed into discussion groups at LinkedIn and Sustainable Shipping with his technology and story. Now he fields requests from unknown companies eager to invest in his technology. "It's a constant balance - how you use your time," said Kane. "I don't have any particular strategy, but when I see people talking about my business I feel I should be there and get involved."

[Note: Propulsion Dynamics' news didn't get covered here, but it did get picked up by many outlets in the trade press, including the front page of The Digital Ship. You can see that story, here.]

5 steps to empower your marine sales force via social media

Face-to-face sales are crucial to maritime business; use new tools and media to boost your sales!

By Ryan Skinner (email)  

Maritime business, particularly big-ticket items, is often driven by the hard-working, and hard-pressed, salesmen and women who globe-trot, deliver pitches and press flesh. Why not give those people wings? Here are a few ways to extend the reach of your sales force dramatically through new social media platforms and web technology.

1) Get on LinkedIn. Now.

Some will say "duh", but many professionals aren't in this valuable space. Those who are never look back. One marine entrepreneur told me: "I joined LinkedIn and found a dozen contacts immediately. Then I connected it to my contacts in Outlook and I was in touch with hundreds. Now we know when we'll be nearby, and can meet up." Once on LinkedIn, join some groups, such as Maritime Executive's group, the Maritime Group, Maritime Network or the Maritime Industry Network. Monitor discussion of your product areas, and comments from key customer targets.

2) Get on Twitter. Yes, twitter.

No, you don't need to tell people what you ate for breakfast. Today, you can be totally passive on twitter and gain tremendous intelligence on what's going on in shipping. Sign up, for example, to James Tweed's excellent twitter list of 40 shipping twitterers, including major shipping media like TradeWinds, Lloyd's List and Fairplay. Then get Tweetdeck running on your laptop and you'll have a constant stream of news that can boost your knowledge of business opportunities. Often, running oversight of headlines is all you need.

3) Use Google Alerts.

It's free and easy. You just enter keywords that you'd like to follow - your specific industry area, product names, your company name, competitors - and you'll see day-by-day everything that lands on the web that affects you. Review this intelligence for five minutes every morning. This mini-briefing can be invaluable.

4) Share content.

Email is more than a project management or blind sales (spam) tool. It is a great way to build up key relationships by sharing knock-out stories. If you see an article or web-page that would interest a client or contact, drop him or her a line with the link. Develop your own content - a case study with a big shipowner or a technical challenge you solved with a shipyard - and share this with a personal email. "I thought you might find this interesting... Maybe we can sit down and talk about doing the same for your company... "

5) Turn sales presentations into automated online shows you can share.

Use a program like SlideShare to turn your sales presentation into an automated presentation that can be viewed independently by contacts online. This has the advantage that you can adjust, adjust and adjust to optimize your pitch. Put it on your LinkedIn profile. Attach a link to your email signature.

5 1/2) Create iPhone- & Blackberry-friendly presentations.

2010 is the year mobile and video hit big-time. This is no longer something for high street consumer brands. If you have elegant and concise presentations of your maritime technology for contacts to see on their iPhone, you're increasing the reach and impact of your elevator pitch exponentially.

Watching a shipwreck: What really went down at COP15

Craig Eason was Lloyd's List's guy at COP15; he tells how shipping's defenders fared in Babel

By Ryan Skinner (email)  

"The initial mood was 'oh sh*t, isn't this big.' I spent four hours getting in the place the first day; some people spent upwards of six. And then you had to spend hours orienting yourself. Where do I go? What is what exactly? You had so many delegations, so many people. You had demonstrators outside. You had demonstrators inside. Kids holding up banners shouting 'save the planet'. Well, what do you think everyone's here to do?"

Craig Eason led coverage of COP15 in Lloyd's List, and the Lloyd's List climate blog. He was there for the first three days and the final week of the conference, and - surprisingly - he was nearly alone among shipping media in attendance. He told me how the IMO and other shipping-related interests fared at and around the negotiating table.

"OK. There was no real gathering place for shipping at COP15. I just wandered around and called and texted people I knew. There was so much going on that many nations didn't have enough delegates to cover necessary events," he said. He tells of a meeting to discuss bunker fuels that ran on into the early morning, but lacked participation from many key nations.

"The IMO and Mitropoulos got their time in front of the big assembly, per se. I saw that he had a little clock - one minute to speak," said Eason. "But, I have to say, I think the IMO had prepared themselves well. During a joint conference with the aviation industry, the IMO looked very good. They stood their own."

Eason described two weeks in Copenhagen with a profusion of events large and small. A shipping gathering hosted by Andreas Chrysostomou (Cyprus representative to the IMO and MEPC chairman) drew a crowd, with many non-maritime dignitaries in attendance.

Companies crowded around the event, as well. While Eason felt many of them were engaging in greenwashing, he had good things to say about FellowSHIP Viking Lady's visit to Copenhagen and the ECOSPEC team.

Eason watched in resignation as COP15 self-destructed. "The flow of the mood went from great expectation to bad management of the conference to resignation at the political stagnation to frustration to 'let's just be happy the IMO hasn't lost its role altogether'."

In the conference's final days, it was clear that the tragedy unfolding at the highest levels would sink shipping's agenda. "The world leaders flew in to win some PR, riding in on a chariot with their pens like some kind of swords of salvation. There was nothing for them to do, however. The game was already up."

Eason remains hopeful for shipping's mandate to regulate itself. "Nothing was conclusively resolved, and the UNFCCC has an enormous amount on its plate. They will surely give up on regulating shipping, particularly if the industry is able to demonstrate progress on its own. That leaves the door open for the IMO and MEPC to win some points."

Swords of salvation sheathed for the moment... (Scanpix/Henrik Montgomery) 

Online stories can make you (or break you): Deep Cygnus effect

A harmless article on a disputed ship almost a year ago still dominates searches for the ship

By Ryan Skinner (email)  

Marketers and PR managers take note: Good (or bad) stories in the mainstream or maritime trade press have a short shelf-life - at least, in print. Stories online stick around, with permanent references to your company or product. It's an idea that was hammered home in a recent chat with gCaptain's John Konrad, and I can attest to from my own experience.

I call it "the Deep Cygnus effect", after the name of the disputed ship that I described in an article in May 2009. This article wasn't linked to in any national papers or major web sites. It drew some readers immediately, and then a slow steady stream. Over time, some hundreds have stumbled across it.

Strikingly, anyone who now searches the term "Deep Cygnus" gets this article among the top five results. And so it's popularity with search engines grows. This leads to even better search results, and so on and so forth. This is part of the remarkable life of online content that needs to sink in with the average marketer.

A small article today may become a big story for your company in a matter of months. 

Get ready, shipping: Here comes everybody!

Humans are becoming a marine species; ships to dodge ranches at sea and oceanic space cannons?

By Ryan Skinner (email)  

My "Here comes everybody" title is stolen from a book by Clay Shirky in which he describes how new Internet tools let everyone be an expert, an entrepreneur and a publisher. Might new shipping outsourcing concepts allow everybody to become a shipowner? Maybe, but that's not what I'm after here.

The sea's getting more crowded, and it's only going to get worse. Yes, there's more and more ships and boats. There are huge offshore wind farms going up everywhere. Aquaculture's spreading. And some mad geoengineers are proposing cloud-spewing ships.

The final frontier of this whole move may be Seasteading. It's a concept I ran across in a Wired magazine article about the founder of The Seasteading Institute, Patri Friedman. He and his board generally have backgrounds as IT hot-shots (Google, PayPal and Nortel dot their resumes), and they envision spending their IT war chests' on mansion rigs at sea.

To them, seasteading seems an escape from the constraints of stifling governments. But this idea may have wider ramifications as seas rise, resource wars develop, aquaculture and marine engineering flourish and satellite telcoms saturate the seas with cheap access. We're not talking about everyman's houseboat; we're talking everyman's house a boat.

And, if that weren't scary enough, consider the ideas of one John Hunter and his concept for firing objects into space via a submerged gun one kilometer long. If the seas get busier, they will also get freakier. At least mariners won't suffer as much from loneliness... 

 

gCaptain & the power of community: a chat with Capt. John Konrad

The story of drillship chief mate and early Digg.com superuser who set up the mother of maritime forums

By Ryan Skinner (email)

gCaptain.com doesn't sell tiself as a new paradigm, but that's just what it is. The role newspapers once played - that of tying together a community and giving it voice and dialogue and debate and discussion - is being usurped. Online forums simply do the job better; and, for the community of mariners, gCaptain.com is a perfect example.

gCaptain did not stumble over this position. The guy behind gCaptain, Captain John Konrad, tasted the big-time of online web 2.0 over five years ago. Some friends were developing a little application that allowed people surfing the web to "like" an article. The more people who liked an article, the more attention it got and on and on.

"It was perfect for me. When you go out to sea, you get the news but you miss the conversation, the context. I felt disconnected. With this, you could see what people were talking about. I latched on to it, and became an early superuser," said Konrad.

The little application was digg.com. It was the first and most successful of a series of social bookmarking sites. Konrad chose not to invest early in digg.com, a regret, but he had learned a lesson from this experience: the power of groups.

When Konrad started on his own online projects, he wanted to tap into this power. gCaptain has been able to do just that for mariners in the states. The site's grown quickly and broadly. Today, as he puts it, they're killing the giants of the industry for online traffic.