A Geek On Steve Stoute's Online Self-Marketing

There's an odd gap I'm encountering between many successful folks in hip hop and their online marketing strategies.  Actually, I've encountered the gap in other fields as well, so I don't think it's unique to hip hop.  But discovering how difficult it is to find a website for Steve Stoute's company Translation Consultation & Brand Imaging seemed especially strange to me.

Of course, I regular encounter comments from Mr. Stoute about his activities in media outlets like The New York Times and other major sources.  Yet, I'd never been able to find a website or any information from the company itself online.  But I did not have a strong need for the information and never pursued it.

Recently a representative of American Apparel wrote me hoping to get contact information for Stoute's company.  Although I couldn't help him, he made some guesses at a possible domain and came up with translationmarketing.com.  Later, a management representative for country musician Tim McGraw also contacted me seeking this information and so I passed on the website.

In the last couple of days I've contacted a couple of folks with Translation Consultation & Brand Imaging and eventually got the response from Hannah, apparently Stoute's assistant who would not give her last name, that the site was under construction and would launch fully at the end of September and that their business was mostly word of mouth.

I suppose I could have pushed to talk to the big guy but I guess I was just thrown off by the fact that I was corresponding with and talking to marketing people who didn't seem to understand what I was asking them when bringing up the issue of not being able to find their company's website or any contact information online.

Peep the site, there's nothing that would allow you to find the company via a websearch.  Actually, part of the problem may be that the company may have had a different name in the past that's still used on the site.  The site itself is headed "TRANSLATION MARKETING" and the relevant metatags follow:
meta name="description" content="Translation is a marketing and brand imaging firm that ignites contagious behavior for Client brands."
meta name="keywords" content="Translation Marketing, Steve Stoute, Entertainment Marketing, Branded Entertainment, Consulting, Advertising, Marketing, S. Carter, Harajuku Lovers, Translation, RBK"

But the current name of the company, as I understand it from press accounts, is Translation Consultation & Brand Imaging which is only revealed in a graphic image, i.e. search engines won't pick it up, especially with the absence of an alt tag.  And, since there clearly is no linking strategy for the site, the use of metatags is pretty useless because one gets other sites, including mine, when searching for terms directly related to the company.

Prior to being contacted by folks representing American Apparel and Tim McGraw, I would have assumed that such people had ways of finding somebody like Steve Stoute.  But I guess that's not the case.  You know, it really is strange to see such a well known marketer without an Internet self-marketing strategy.  As one person wrote me, "who's ever heard of a marketing firm you can't find?"

Comments

[Hashim]

I'm told by my bosses at SOHH that many of these companies fall into the trap of thinking they need a website that will cost $100,000. So, they hold offuntil they raise the money, then create a site that's overly flashy and not very useful.

Companies need to learn how to put up single page, text based site, with a short mission statement, and contact info.

[Richard Liriano]

I totally agree. I had a hard time finding Mr Stoute's company online myself.

I recommend anyone who wishes to speak with someone at Translation to speak with:

Courtney Stovall
Tanslation Consulting and Brand Imaging Marketing
145 West 45th Street 12th Floor
NY, NY, 10036
(212) 299-5307
courtney.stovall@translationmarketing.com

If anyone wishes to establish any type of business regarding marketing with Latin artists feel free to contact me.

[Alissa]

I think everyone in the industry is plugged into to each other...at least all of the money makers and big wigs in the industry. And they just figure that someone knows how to contact the other I guess. I have personally tried to look at his website constantly. Thank you for posting this article.

[Pete Oakley]

It is a very small worls, especially as you climb higher up the "social ladder". i have followed Stoute throughout his career and realized getting information about his site was like locating the holy Grail. I this "lack of a website" scenario is similar to the advertising industry, in that thay are proponents of advertsing but do not advertise themselves. Thasnk for the article

[Kandyd]

Could be because Steve Stoute is shady? I keep thinkin' bacc to what Nas was sayin about dude on "God's Son." O.

[Clyde Smith]

I can't speak to the "shadyness issue" but I certainly don't think that necessarily follows.

However, increasingly I find that I tend to mistrust any business or business person who doesn't have a straightforward web presence, whether or not I know anything else about them. Which is indicative of how the web has changed the game in a relatively short span of time.

[Kandyd]

I looked at Stoute's site. Looks like a Web business card. I retract about dude being shady. That's Eminem ... according to Benzino, anyway. The ironies of the game are stupendous.

[Paul A.]

Hi Guys,

Was also trying to find out about Steve Stoute and his marketing company, needless to say i could not get a link. I know he was behind the Jay-Z HP commercial so he definately has connects. Any advice for a newcomer like myself who is just getting in the game. I welcome any advice from networking to how to build my clientele and business. I am based in DC by the way.

[Rob]

He just signed a new deal with General Motors Corp, and he still does not have a web site!

[jun]

Well Stoute is an 'uberexecutive' in the industry this man has been behind the most lucrative corporate/hiphop branding in the last 7 years, to be honest a man who flies in those circles doesnt need a 'dominant web presence' because he's not catering to someone who needs to check him out on the web to see if he checks out. He operates on a celebrity/ corporate company referral basis. The 'REAL' people will find him when they need him..

[Clyde Smith]

That's a good point and one I realized a while back Jun. Of course, given that most companies at his level do have nice websites now and his site does have Version 2.0 coming soon, maybe he has some other reason to upgrade his online presence:
http://www.translationmarketing.com/

[Clyde Smith]

Jun, the problem is, it's very difficult to verify such a claim about the so-called real folks finding him.

I do know that after this post got highly ranked on Google, I had multiple members of the press contact me for information on how to contact Stoute's company. Since part of one's reputation is media made, that's not a good sign.

I have very few high level corporate connects but I'm trying to get some feedback at that level as well.

On a related note, I think Stoute himself has said that many of his deals are one's where neither thought to think of such a deal. He's thinking out of the box in ways that corporate types tend not to appreciate until convinced so they're not necessarily looking for him, he's having to reach out and get the whole thing going.

Since we are talking about mostly white people here, that's a factor as well, though one that I can't assess directly.

[Clyde Smith]

So I checked in with an executive contact with a major corporate media background who's now involved with projects some of which are in the hip hop space.

He knew all about who Steve Stoute was.

But he also said that Stoute is very difficult to get ahold of and, because he thought I was trying to get in touch with Stoute, suggested that I should check for his website.

Though that's just one experience, it certainly suggests that my critique is on the right path. In any case, I think everybody on here is speculating and I doubt anybody on here has actually worked across industries in the way Stoute is attempting. If I'm wrong, let me know.

[Theda]

its a year later and the site still says under construction.

[Michael]

I know many of the comments on here are speculation. However, Steve not having a website is just unacceptable for someone on his level. He should have one for the simple fact to self promote the work that he does for these brands, exploit his media coverage, and to recruit the talents others (viral marketing). I suppose I should learn from him not a school or a book. That man is paid!

[Marketing]

Once your in' your in'. I'm sure if someone has a real business request that the information on the website would suffice. No need to advertise yourself to the masses, the masses don't buy what you sell, therefore you go after corporations (a website would be helpful) but not necessary, an informitive deck on your companies capabilities and company overview/case-studies would suffice. The website offers numbers and emails that allow you to satisfy your request, if you don't have a real business request I could see why you would be disappointed with the lack of information presented. If you wanted to know more about the man/deals, the series of interviews or write-ups should be helpful.

[Malik Soliman]

This is my view/opinion of why he doesnt have a conventional site and about why hiphop has to resort to another way of doing business.

Hiphop historically has always been considered a sub-culture that infatuates young people predominately, who are themselves the segment of the society that is the most exploited in economic terms (the group with the least political clout, hiphop speaks to these voices). How did hiphop with its overcharged bravado and super-hyped bling antics appeal to a corporate structured america?

Steve Stout's marketing strategies may not imploy the conventional business approach attributed to most marketing firms because Steve has had to deal with a corporate world that wasn't as open and as receptive to hiphop as it is beggining to be right now.

He has become one of the most successful people at helping to brand an industry that at one point wasnt considered transferable to the segment of the society that was older and more mature, hiphop hadnt learned how to marshall its economic power in an organizing way like it does now in recent times. So the conventional approach may not have proved as effective when one considers what Steve would have had to go up against in the beggining.

He is essentially taking it back to the Ol skool era of doing business (which still works) where one went to the front door and said "this is who I am...this is what Ive been able to do...and sir...can I have 5 minutes to show you how you can make 5 million".

Marketing is usually about how one corners a market and streamlines it to the direction intended. Steve wouldn't probably want an expensive website built...because number one, if he'd had an expensive website, people would study it, imploy its strengths and disregard its weaknesses...essentially study his blueprint for success and copy it, and nobody in his prime position of marketing would neccesarily want that. What for...he's strangle held the business of peddling successful urban blacks to successful corporate whites...so that they can equitably use each other for whatever aims each require.

A splash page with his contact info would be good enough for him I'd imagine. When the business of branding hiphop matures, the structure imployed to gear it to corporate america will define itself, but for now...its mainly up to the few who have the swagger to take it there to take it there by word of mouth...until the corporate elites of America are more and more convinced of the buying power of hiphop. When that day comes...Im sure you'd see Steve's website all ready to go...and by then steve would have positioned himself as the Don King of hip hop branding.

Peace yall.

[Clyde Smith]

Malik, I'm totally unconvinced by your argument but I greatly appreciate you dropping by. Don't be a stranger!

[TOMMY BUTLER]

After listening tonight to an NPR radio roundtable on marketing and branding African American celebrities I found your sight doing a google search for Translation. I enjoyed reading the comments. My field is the coordination of technology and technical personnel in producing special events for example speaking engagements; board meetings; press conferences; concerts; broadcast shows; VIP parties; and much more. My role is keeping the qaulity of my clients productions in focus with the quality of their brand. Originally from New York City (grew up in the Albany Projects in Brooklyn)today I am based in Atlanta , Georgia.

[amit]

marketing agency that you can't find online is edgy as heck. keeps every loser wannabe Jay-Z from emailing stupid fanboy cover letters.

[Clyde Smith]

Actually, they have a site with an email address.

And now it's a lot easier to find since folks find me and then find them.

[endarken]

stoute's current success is deserved and well earned. there should be little question to his credibility because he has endured extreme 'laughs and cries' as hip hop has blended into the mainstream and ultimately bolted to the forefront with a lucrative corporate synergy. jay-z and reebok?

so now we are questioning, doubting, wondering, having difficulty comprehending why he doesn't have a website. why is that? he has done it, continues to do it, and is doing it - the 'it' being bringing hip hop full circle in the pop culture and ultimately, if he continues to be successful, pioneers a new path, a new way to market that will someday be taught at harvard. isn't that what we want...to be like everybody else? or should we do it our own way?

the first post on this topic was august 2005, 17 months ago. if you saved $100 per month, from then until now, you could have a) secured airfare to laguardia, b) bought some phat farm gear for the trip, c) scheduled an in person interview with stoute, d) locked up two zino platinums for the meet, and e) ordered something from carol's daughter for the lady in your life.

stoute doesn't need a web presence for his business, he's proven that. some of you are reading marketing 101. put down that book and all those papers, and get out there with the trees.

a website??? hateration at its best.

[endarken]

To support my point, please read this excerpt from "A McKinsey Of Pop Culture?" (source http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_13/b4027062.htm)

"Stoute is more closely aligned with a new guard of innovation consultants providing strategies that go beyond tricked-out sneakers and jeans. His message: Companies have not embraced the changes in the culture to be able to talk to a new generation of consumers. "So many executives," says Stoute, "are lost in the confines of their own building." Besides GM, Stoute has successfully taken his mantra to clients that include McDonald's (MCD ), Procter & Gamble (PG ), Hershey (HSY ), Microsoft (MSFT ), and Estée Lauder (EL ).

Now Stoute seems to be gaining respect on Madison Avenue. Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG ), the $6.2 billion-a-year global advertising conglomerate, is in talks with Stoute to buy a majority stake in Translation, say sources close to those talks. If the deal is closed, IPG would get schooled on Stoute's approach to brands and access to celebrities, while Translation would gain entrée to IPG's large client base and deeper pockets."

wow. everyday stoute must be saying to himself "look at what i've achieved without a website. once i get a real website, then T.W.I.S.M."

a website??? hateration at its worst.

[Clyde Smith]

You're absolutely right. Thank you for sharing your wisdom so freely.

[London123]

I think the fact that Steve Stout does not have a readily available website or necessarily feel the need to is reflective of Hip-Hop / Urban culture that Stout represents. It's the culture that is stuck in the 80's (Cash Money, Scarface Movie etc) that is not as progressive as it could otherwise be.

Why do I need Cash Money if I can get a Amex Black card? Why do I want to understand Tony Montana's biz operations for a couple of hundred millions when the Facebook kid turned down $1billion to purchase the company.

If you take a look at the Top Fortune 500 companies, they all have visible web presence together with the Management info and contact.

Any company that aspires to reach this level or feels the need to align itself with such company (Translation being a subject of a Merger or Take Over with a larger company) needs to understand the dynamics of doing business in the new- new economy and be abreast of socia-economic developments.

I'm black and do listen to Weezy, Jay-Z, Kanye by the way.

[Malik Soliman]

Quote

"I think the fact that Steve Stout does not have a readily available website or necessarily feel the need to is reflective of Hip-Hop / Urban culture that Stout represents."

That sounds like a diss...

That sounds like your basically saying, that this very successful person who has bank in the millions of dollars; doesn't have a website because he is either conciously or unconciously being "reflective" of the way Hip Hop does business?

How does Hip Hop do business Clyde?

I'd say that Hip Hop is a fastly growing phenomenon that is without a definate marketing template that can be put in a typical business bubble...it is as fluid as natural cause and effect...Hip Hop doesn't function under the same rules of engagement applied to corporate circles...it can often co-exist with big business and make deals as Stoute has managed to do with his contacts...but it doesnt act like a culture that expects to be around for another thousand years...Hip Hop isn't your fortune 500 machine...Hip Hop is and always was...ask just about every successful artist today where they came from...and they'l tell you I came from no hope land. Which means in hope land...we don't wait for a website to make us who we are...and we don't base our sucess on the success of Forbes...Hip Hop will always continue to have to do things the so called unconventional way.

Stoute doesn't probably want to have a website dude...because he knows that hip hop is studied like a text book...and text book people like you Clyde always want to see the text book analysis to things.

Stoute is no doubt...pionering the way marketing is going to be handled in hip hop for the next generation of youngsters coming up. It is not a 100% purely definable science yet, and he doesn't want his model to be copied...are you aware of something in business called "commercial espionage".

"Success has its enemies"

Nuff said...

[Clyde Smith]

Malik Soliman:
Your opening quote is from the commenter above you, not from me.

"Hip Hop isn't your fortune 500 machine"

His company just got acquired by a major corporation. He is so totally about the Fortune 500 it's not even funny.

"commercial espionage"

That's ongoing but in the case of public material on a website it's called competitive intelligence.

In general, why you think using a website to post good pr about yourself and help shape public opinion is some nerdy, textbook, geeky enterprise rather than fairly mundane common practice is beyond me.