Keith Thorn

Digital Dining

2012-02-26T17:51:00.005-08:00

Hungry? Smart phones are changing the way we eat out.

Feeling peckish? Gone are the days where those rumbles in your tummy will be solved with a take-out menu or a magazine's restaurant review.

Smart phones and their capacity to quickly deliver location-based information have revolutionized the way we think about eating out, as well as the process of chowing down itself. The result is a highly personalized, socially networked, and joyfully adventurous approach to discovering locals eats in your neighborhood.

"Mobile search and the wealth of instant information based on user location has increased spontaneity," confirms Sage Radar, of Kismet Mobile. He goes on to explain that current technology eliminates the need to go online in advance, like we would have even two or three years ago. Location Based Services (LBS) have the ability to pinpoint food on offer in your local area (think Yelp), make a reservation (think OpenTable) then use your phone's GPS to be sitting in your brand new favorite place, eating in a matter of minutes. All hail the new fast food culture!

Okay, so you've found a great organic place right nearby, but you wouldn't mind checking out exactly what that veggie burger looks like before you commit to ordering it. Sites like Foodspotting and apps like Instagram deliver. These popular new apps allow you to upload photos of what's making your tastebuds happy, as well letting you be inspired by your fellow foodie's fave eats. "The Foodspotting trend has increased the digital 'social' nature of going to restaurants then sharing your experience there with a network of 'friends' and future diners who are part of the whole social game layer," Sage says. "I don't know how "social" snapping and uploading photos at the dinner table really is, but that's the latest trend!"

Other ways smart phones are changing the way we fill our bellies is the daily deal phenomenon. From Groupon to Living Social, the allure of a sizeable daily discount is enough to lure patrons away from their regular haunts for newer, and cheaper, hunting grounds. "Users are taking the Scoutmob incentive as a reason to be more adventurous with their dining decisions," explains Liza Dunning, founding editor for daily deal site Scoutmob, confirming their app is increasing spontaneity and diversifying individual's eating patterns. And with consumers and businesses both benefiting, that's nothing but good news. "It's as little as getting people to take a second look at a restaurant they might have passed by before, and it's as big as saving marriages," she says. "True story: we recently got an email from a woman thanking us for 'making her marriage fun again'!"

Alright then – who's hungry?

Keith Thorn, Managing Partner
KTLLC Communications

Your Local Paper Boy Has Been Replaced: Read all about it!

2012-02-26T17:50:00.002-08:00

One of my favorite movies is Newsies. A great coming of age movie about the ups and downs of young newspaper boys growing up in the heart of New York City. They woke up bright and early each morning, ready to arm the citizens of the city with crucial information. People would grab a copy as they went about their morning routine – coffee in one hand, a rolled up newspaper in the other. Today, technology has replaced the local paper delivery boy. Specifically - the smart phone has re-placed him.

According to the PEW Internet Research Center, “Nearly half of all American adults (47%) report that they get at least some local news and information on their cellphone or tablet computer.”

Compared to adults who get information the old fashioned way, consumers of local news on their mobile devices tend to be younger, live in higher income households, reside in urban areas, and tend to be parents of minor children. They are also more likely to be involved in the community, and are more avid users of social media than their counterparts.

If you want to reach this savvier and more active demographic with local news, events, and announcements, here are three things advertisers need to get now!

1) Make your information easily accessible. This audience has a relatively low level of patience. If your content doesn’t load easily or quickly, the chances are they will move on. Consider using an application to deliver your content. 11% of all Americans use mobile applications to get information.

2) Make it relevant and real-time. The same study cited earlier states “42% of mobile device owners report getting weather updates on their phones or tablets; 37% say they get material about restaurants or other local businesses.” This means that real time and relevant information trumps evergreen content. Have a useful article on the benefits of crisis management? Save it for the web.

3) Provide a call to action. Smart phone users are much more likely to take action based on what they read, than non-users. So, make sure you provide some type of call to action. If you layout the plan you wish for your readers to take, chances are that they will follow through. This trend of consuming information, especially news & events, on a mobile device will continue to grow. As for the age of the local newspaper boy, those days are best enjoyed on the silver screen.

Keith Thorn, Managing Partner

KTLLC Communications

Original article for Mobi Lifestyles by: Shama Kabani is the award winning CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, a full service digital marketing firm that serves clients around the world. She also hosts a popular web TV show on business & technology at http://Shama.TV, and the media regularly call on her to comment on business and technology trends. Her first book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing was released in April, 2010 and is the #1 seller in Web Marketing on Amazon.

Soon is Good, Now is Better!

2012-02-21T09:37:00.000-08:00

There's no doubt about it: we're officially the Now Generation. Current events break in seconds, as opposed to days or even hours, and we'll read about it instantly on our smart phones and tablets (the evening news seems like a positively quaint idea!) Now, mobile blogging - the ability to post or blog from a device like a smartphone - is the latest game changer putting a smile on bloggers' dials. "Mobile adoption is exploding at a faster rate than the internet grew," confirms Marc Lefton, partner in mobile business networking start-up Kizmet Mobile, "so it makes sense people blog remotely. Right now, the desktop computer is dying in favour of the laptop, and the laptop is being replaced by tablets and smartphones."

Marc explains that for your traditional blog, most people are using Wordpress as their backend, while more basic users are set up on Tumblr. Wordpress has an app for each of the leading smartphone platforms, while Tumblr has a number of third party apps such as TumbleIt or TumbleRoo for iPad. "Some of the microblogging apps which manage Twitter accounts, such as HootSuite or Seesmic, also work with major blogging platforms for quick updates," he says. "Apps like Instagram have created almost their own form of photoblogging."

This evolution in technology provides a range of benefits for both personal and professional bloggers. For Laura Lachman, it means she's able to update nycultureaddict.tumblr.com – a popular round-up of the most exciting film, art, music, food and wine happenings in New York – on-the-go while working her day job as an event planner. "I'm often on site doing events and need to make sure to do blog postings consistently," says the culture vulture multi-tasker. "My followers depend on me to do several postings each day."

For others, mobile blogging allows the crucial lightning fast right-of-reply. Co-founder and manager of Whitesmith Entertainment, Emily White blogs for Hypebot.com, a leading industry website for music and technology. Emily was working with a band of hers in London, when she was asked to instantly reply to a negative post on artist management. To stay in the game, Emily knew she had to respond straight away. Thanks to her iPhone, it happened in a matter of minutes. "I wrote a very passionate post from a backstage dressing room," she laughs. "I felt so strongly about it!"

For others, mobile blogging is less about work and more about lifestyle. Comedian Sean Hart runs his personal blog seanhart.tumblr.com via his phone simply because a lot of his life is spent on-the-go. "I'm going to an open mic, riding my bike, leaving my yoga class," Sean says. "Why wait to post my thoughts or photos when I can do it wherever and whenever? Computers are static compared to phones. You can be in an open field and stay connected," He pauses for a moment, wincing. "Gross. I sound like a commercial."

And that's pretty much the best press any mobile blogging app could ask for.

Keith Thorn, Managing Partner
KTLLC Communications and Mobi Lifestyles

Original article for Mobi Lifestyles by: Georgia Clark

Mobile Gaming: The Choice Between Smartphones and Portable Consoles

2012-02-14T06:21:00.000-08:00

Just today, it was announced you can even play 'Angry Birds' on Facebook.

“Gamer” used to be synonymous with a socially awkward adolescent boy who spent huge chunks of the day in front of the TV or computer screen.

Today, that definition has been blown right out of the water; games are now enjoyed by everyone, regardless of sex, age or background. How did that come about? It’s due in no small part to the unstoppable juggernaut that is the smartphone.

Smartphones have enjoyed a huge surge in popularity in the last two years, and are today’s must-have gadgets, offering a tantalizing wealth of features that help users stay connected to the rest of the world with the touch of a screen.

The ease and affordability at which smartphone games can be downloaded, as well as the casual nature of these games, make playing games on a smartphone a great entertainment option for those looking to enjoy a few minutes of light-hearted fun, whether they’re on the bus on the way home, or taking a break from the stress of a busy work day.

With smartphones being very much in the mainstream now, it’s no surprise that gaming has followed suit.

Some parties involved in the mobile gaming industry wonder whether the increased popularity of smartphone gaming is sounding the death knell for portable consoles. The top two portable consoles are the Nintendo DS and the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), and are, like their names suggest, handheld gaming consoles, designed and built for mobile gaming.

Statistics from Flurry, an analytics company that collects data from mobile devices, show that iOS and Android games (these being two of the most popular operating system for smartphones) have enjoyed a significant increase in sales from 2009 to 2010, going from a decent 19% to an amazing 34% of market share. This comes at the expense of the DS and the PSP – their sales dropped from 81% to 65% of market share in the same period.

At first glance, these figures seem to spell doom and destruction for portable consoles. However, any article that writes on the demise of the portable console being upon us should be treated as satire, because that is as far from the truth as it gets.

Different Functions

A comparison between smartphones and portable consoles would be like comparing apples and oranges: the two are designed with different purposes in mind.

The smartphone is a mobile device with multiple functions. You can make and receive calls, go online and surf, download and read an e-book, listen to your music collection, edit images or videos, and yes, it can also be used for gaming. It’s like a palm-sized, super-light computer with phone capabilities as well.

No one would buy a smartphone just for playing Angry Birds, but there are millions of people buying the DS and PSP just for playing games. Why? Because these machines were designed and built with the express purpose of offering the best in mobile gaming experience. One example of this would be the fact that the batteries of a portable console can last for at least a handful of hours when playing a very graphic-intensive game while the same cannot be said for smartphone batteries.

Different Sort of Games

Each platform offers different kinds of games.

Smartphone games are casual games; users learn how to play the game within minutes. The ease with which a person can pick up the game and their affordability (usually $1-$3 to download) are the main reasons for their popularity. With so many people playing them, the names of the most popular games, like Angry Birds and Doodle Jump, have even entered the cultural vernacular. One drawback of the current crop of smartphone games is that, while the Top 20 or so most popular games offer a lot of quality and replay value, a majority of the games available for download, especially those who have no or few reviews, are not of the same caliber.

Games for the portable console on the other hand, often feel more finished, and less prone to crashing. Because portable consoles are dedicated mobile gaming devices, games created for them often feature superb graphics and more immersive gameplay. Flagship games like Super Mario, Dragon Quest and Gods of War, while not necessarily any more difficult to pick up then smartphone games, take longer to complete and thus require more of a time investment. They are also more expensive, by several magnitudes, with the average price being around $20-$40.

Different Generation

It is a bit unfair to compare the current crop of sophisticated smartphones with the DS and PS, portable consoles that are already at the end of their life cycles. It would be far more accurate to compare today’s smartphones with the next generation of portable consoles – namely, the Nintendo 3DS and Sony’s NextGeneration Portable (NGP or PSP2). The decrease in market share for portable consoles in the last two years could possibly be due to gamers holding onto their cash, wondering what the next generation of portable consoles will bring to the table and how they fare against the latest smartphones. The 3DS has already been launched in March this year, offering a 3D gaming experience which has received positive feedback from users; Nintendo has also announced that they will be adding a browser, app store and Netflix streaming sometime later this year as part of a system update. Sony’s PSP2, on the other hand, will be released in the fourth quarter of 2011 – many games are already drooling over its technical specs, widely deemed to be even more powerful than that of the 3DS’.

Smartphone gaming may have made more of a cultural impact and racked up some serious market share in the previous year, but portable consoles aren’t going anywhere, not when many still see them as having the edge when it comes to an all-around gaming experience. Both platforms have their own good and bad points – only continued innovation and competition will determine their prominence and validity in the mobile gaming market during the second half of 2011. The smartphone crowd might just be surprised by what the next-generation portable consoles have to offer.

Then again…who says you can’t have both?

Keith Thorn
Managing Partner, KTLLC Communications
www.KTLLC.net

Original article for Mobi Lifestyles by: Timothy Nakayama

How to handle a social media devil

2011-08-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

One of the unfortunate side effects of social networking is dealing with Internet devils. These anonymous consumers seem to exist just to spite you. They love stirring up trouble, attacking your brand and lambasting your company on every forum, blog and social network they can find. Maybe they are a former customer with an axe to grind? Maybe they're just looking to pick a fight. Whatever the reason, almost every company is going to have to handle a devil at some point. Here are 5 ways to help you better manage the social networking devils:

Establish Ground Rules
You want to make sure that the devil doesn't make your company end up looking like the bad guy. Before devils become an issue, establish a set of ground rules for commenting on your social profiles. Let you audience know what kind of behavior will and will not be allowed. If a devil posts something offensive or abusive on your Facebook wall and you decide to delete it, let your network know that it's because you won't tolerate that kind of belligerent attitude, not because they don't like your company. Just make sure you play by your own rules!

Don't Try to "Disappear" Them
If someone leaves a comment on your Facebook wall that you don't like, you have the ability as the page owner to delete that comment. Seems like the best way of dealing with a devil, right? Not necessarily. Trying to just "delete" your devils and their comments might come across like you have something to hide or are trying to drown our dissenting opinions. It may cause your real social network to question your integrity. If things get really heated, find a way to take the conversation off of your social profile without just deleting it entirely.

Kill Them With Kindness
It almost never pays to get into a spitting match with a social devil. They don't have anything to risk by getting involved in an online feud; you do. Your brand and online reputation are up for grabs when you start fighting with a devil on a social networking site. You may not like what they have to say, but don't get angry and use social media to vent. The person who is handling your social media marketing cannot afford to take it personally! The devil isn't attacking one particular employee; they are going after your brand. As long as you stay polite and courteous, your company will come out on top.

Reach Out for Support
If you've taken the time to do your social media marketing right, you've probably built up a strong and solid network of brand loyalists. If one devil seems intent on picking a fight, have your social network come to your defense. Ask your Friends, Fans and Followers to post/Tweet/blog or share their opinions of your company. Chances are your social network is more than willing to police itself. Users are smart, and they can tell when someone is trying to cause trouble for no reason. Having that much support shows the devils that they are facing a much bigger fight then they thought.

Actually Listen
This might sound a little crazy, but you do have to pay attention to what the devils are saying. They might not be the only ones who feel so negatively about your brand, even if they are taking it to an extreme level. Let's say you have 1,000 Facebook fans, but only 200 have commented on your Facebook page. Those 200 comments may or may not represent majority opinion. Sure, you have to take the comments of a social devil with a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean you can't learn something about your audience at large if you dig deeper. Sometimes a devil is nothing more than a very upset customer. You want to make sure there aren't other customers this upset with your brand. Once you understand the problem, you can address and fix it.

Sooner or later, just about every company will have to deal with a social devil. It isn't worth the risk of damage to your brand to get involved in a public fight with one of them. Remember to take the high road and your online reputation won't suffer because of it.

We specialize in Engagement Value and the relationship between the above two.

Let us show you how we can help with unprecedented ways to create and understand customers. Call us today for a complete review of your opportunities.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KeithThorn@KTLLC.net

Mobi Lifestyles Magazine

2011-04-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

Sure, in St. Louis you can get numerous food, housing and other 'Free' magazines, yet we are launching one to the fastest-growing audience in the world - smartphone-lifestyle users!

Whether the readers are smartphone-users or not yet - 90% will be using smartphones in the next 18 months and all brands need (measurable) fresh ways to connect to these people with incredible purchasing power.

Articles in the July launch include: 'Mobile Blogging' by Georgia Clark, 'Airplay' by Ben Harvell, Amazon's number #1 book seller in SEO, Shama Kabani with 'News Boys', 'Digital Dining', 'Mobile Government', '3D', 'What Are QR Codes Anyway? by Keith Thorn, a special iOS apps page for best, and most useful apps - and much more.

Today, every major and brand wanting to be major either has a smartphone app or is making one that is not launched and needs a public vehicle to drive that opportunity. MLM also incorporates a new and unique advertising model; adds unlimited and exponential possibilities for both the reader and the advertiser.

Think of brands like the St. Louis Cardinals offering readers to vote on the spot for your their favorite MLB All-Star while a 7th inning stretch, buy tickets to next game (and pay for them), and get that favorite imprinted jersey sent strait to your home - without leaving your seat at the game!

Imagine Kaldi's Coffee outperforming all competition though this unique advertising niche and positioning themselves as the major player in St. Louis with options that even Starbucks has not considered!

Recently it was projected that 1 in 3 new car buyers in the next 12 months will use their smartphone to help with the purchase. What happens when the Lou Fusz, Auffenberg, and Bommarito dealers start using our ad models in ways that actually sells cars to 'unseen' customers? New sales.

You will have to get a copy in over 500 St. Louis outlets in June to even begin to understand the opportunities for both the smartphone users and the brand with solutions.

Mobi Lifestyles Magazine: A print and online publication for improving our daily lifestyles through mobile devices ~ 'The sky is the limit'.

Mobi Lifestyles Magazine showcases today's mobile opportunities and helps brands drive their message on mobile platforms strait to the smartphone user - allowing them to make the best purchasing decisions based on their lifestyle and needs.

Utilizing cutting edge digital media technology and editorial expertise, Mobi Lifestyles demystifies the rapidly expanding mobile device market and also highlights its potential to enhance the lives of everyday users. Through insightful yet jargon-free articles, guides and reviews, Mobi Lifestyles provides an essential resource to help users unlock the true power of their smartphone or tablet.

Let me know how you like the magazine!

Keith Thorn, Managing Partner/Publisher
mobilifestyles.com

5.5 Billion Reasons for Mobile Media in 2011

2011-01-25T07:58:00.000-08:00

I wrote in 2010 that the newest marketing opportunities were in the cellular phones (www.KTLLC.net/mobi.htm) ~ and now, everywhere I look I see articles, blogs and Tweets about the emerging mobile marketing opportunity.

Starting back in 2008 we began to first hear about the emerging 'mobi' possibilities, but things now are different. Why? It is largely based on the numbers and partly on my own personal experiences.

2010 still had a lack of technology. There simply weren’t enough smartphone’s in use and mobile phones were used primarily for voice and texting.

This is no longer the case. Today over 61 million American’s have smartphones, (25% of all mobile phones users), and that more than 50% of all mobile phones sold in the U.S. today are smartphones.

Even the majority of non-smart phones still offer text messaging and web surfing, which explains why web browsers are used by 36.2% of U.S. mobile subscribers.

I recently went to buy new mobile phones and virtually every phone being sold offered web access and required a data plan, even the non-smart phones.

While I was also one of those people that thought I would only use my mobile phone for calls, now that I have a phone with internet capabilities I am finding myself using it all the time to surf the web, check my Twitter and Facebook accounts, and to text.

The ease in which my new phone allows me to do these things has had a big impact on my mobile phone usage habits and helped me see first hand the way mobile devices are increasingly becoming an integral part of our lives.

We may leave our home without our wallet and our car keys, but the smartphone is the one device we never leave home without.

The Mobile Marketing Association reports mobile marketing budgets are set to rise 124% from 2010 to 2011, putting the total allocation to the mobile channel at roughly 4% of overall marketing budgets. Marketers surveyed represent more than $2.3 billion spent on mobile media in 2010, and they say they’re allocating $5.5 billion in 2011.

It is already anticipated that by the year 2014, smartphone web-browsing will be more used than all the computers in the world!

For your Success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC.mobi

Spokes

2011-01-02T07:26:00.001-08:00

A spoke is one of some number of rods radiating from the center of a wheel (the hub where the axle connects), connecting the hub with the round traction surface.

No matter if your marketing is like a Conestoga covered wagon or a meticulous Diamond Rim ~ integration and balance is the key to success; always has been. The trick today is what technology is worth the spending and what is supporting the balance of the marketing mission?

As per the 2010-ending pie chart from KTLLC Communications in St Louis; online marketing alone now has at least seven components that need to be measured individually for every company.

Seem like just a few years ago everyone needed a website (and some still do). And conversation today is about the social media and it's affect on 'Buzz'.

I would suggest to all my clients that marketing itself has changed in 2010 and there is a definite move away from the old 'push strategy', not even to a pull strategy, but a 'conversation' strategy. How do we get in the conversation, and then how do we steer it towards the company goals - while listening intently.

The pie chart illustrates spending for online dollars only and does not even account for the incredible reach and vastly untapped mobile media opportunities!

What are your thoughts now?

For your success,

Keith Thorn

SMM - It’s about experiences

2010-11-23T12:54:00.000-08:00

Social media campaigns today are about creating experiences - memorable and engaging experiences. It’s not that your brand is not incredibly important anymore or even that selling is somehow not an integral part; but we’ve evolved, we’ve learned from some mistakes, we’ve gotten clever and we’re no longer in the era of persuasive buying. We’ve moved on to a new era of experiences and relationships.

We buy what we like, not what we actually need. We share, because we enjoy, not because you were asked to.

This has moved the process up further more levels, and things could get complicated if you don’t understand or try and learn about the environment.

What are the features of a successful social media campaign?

1. Simple execution – easy comprehension

For any campaign to make an impression in the most effortless way, in the shortest possible time, to the right audience, there is no other way than to get as simple as possible in concept. This might sound silly, but getting simple doesn’t mean that the campaign itself has to be simple. It means that the final product should “look simple”.

Any concept can be made either amazing or stupid based on how well it is being presented. Simple ideas can be made to appear complex and complex ideas can be made to appear simple. However, the idea is that the final product the audience sees should be simple to comprehend, even though it means a completely complex concept and execution. The audience doesn’t really bother about how difficult or easy it was for you to make the product, but they subconsciously are bothered about whether the campaign is easy to understand or not. If it doesn’t, then the whole exercise goes a waste.

2. Be unique, stand out or get buried

There is so much of noise out there that, audience these days has developed their own method of separating signal from the noise. If you think from a producer’s perspective, the only way to stand unique is to get familiar with all the noise out there. Listen to the demands, listen to the critics, study the trends, find out what people like ad dislike. Bottom line – be a good listener and a good consumer first. Then, you can at least, sense if you’re creating an average concept or not. It is easy to get carried away though. When you hear a lot of junk, you could get all excited and inspired by numerous trends out there. There is nothing in improvising on a trend, but again the successful idea would be to stand out and be the yellow shoe guy.

3. Be short and sweet - lean and mean

Let us just accept the fact that we don’t have much time with us these days. And with all the multi tasking and mayhem, we don’t really have an attention span of more than a minute maximum. A minute would be being too generous, some studies even suggest that attention span of the current generation is in seconds, which is not at all surprising.

So, with an attention span of a few seconds, we have to communicate a lot, and that is no easy task. The solution is to be short and sweet like a miniskirt. Make it to the point, with no distractions what so ever.

4. Cohesiveness to the brand

There are several cases of social media campaigns gone ineffective because of this point – non- cohesiveness to the brand. While all our efforts are towards a great interactive and engaging campaign, there is no use of being funny if people don’t remember you or your brand. So the idea is to be funny and entertaining as possible, but at the same time, cementing your brand at the back of their subconscious mind un-obtrusively. Now, this can be tricky.

For every campaign, there’s a thin line that divides between “promotional quotient” and “engaging quotient”. For every social media agency, the challenge will be to create a campaign, that doesn’t get too promotional or too entertaining. Successful are those who can find the right mix. However, there are no thumb rules here that might work for all campaigns alike. Based on the audience, the product and the medium, the equation changes accordingly.

5. Emotions speak volumes

Think to yourself for just a moment and list out three recent social media campaigns that you’ve come across recently. I bet that all the three were either entertaining, funny, surprising or just plain awesome. What does this teach us? We’re all emotional beings, and keeping all the numbers and talking aside, what registers most in our minds are emotions. We like to laugh, we like to cry and we like to get inspired. There are several of those emotions out there, and I strongly believe that unless a campaign, be a it a video or a picture or a series of events, capture any one or more of those emotions, there is no chance that it stays in people’s mind.

A very thorough study of your brand, its associated emotions and perceived values can easily give you clues about what might work best for it in a campaign. Do not ever miss to forget this factor or you’ll be creating products without souls.

6. Prompt for action

So, let us say that you have a campaign in place with all the necessary ingredients. And let’s assume that people like it. What’s next? If it’s a funny video or a viral message, people might share it, but is that all that you need? The answer depends on what your overall strategy is. Do you have a landing page in place to collect the entire buzz? Do you have a contact page where you need people to register? These are some of the questions to ask when you have a strategy in place. Every campaign should have a funnel mechanism attached to it and every even should trigger an action. It could be as simple as sharing a video or signing up for an early invite. You have to figure that out first, as to what the action item is and create a web around it so that everything falls in to the funnel, once the campaign is active.

7. Bring clarity in your message

Sometimes, there is no obvious message in campaigns. And I know many people shrug shoulders while I say this. A message? What’s the point? Well, the fact is that whether you deliberately put it in or not, every social media campaign carries a message with itself. Sometimes, these are cleverly fabricated ones, and all the other times, they come out naturally.

So, you can either leave it to the audience to make it out them selves; or you can always embed clues in the campaigns about the message that you want to share.

When I say message, it doesn’t mean a strong message - it could be a subconsciously shared one. But clarity is very important in your message. Often, when you leave it to the audience to guess it out, it might get misunderstood. So it is always safe to give clues of your own.

Here's my summary

Social Media Campaigns are all about finding the right medium - the rights mix of tools and the right story to tell. You can tell a story in different ways, but only a few stories remain in people’s mind. When we just have only a few seconds to impress the audience and trigger an emotional spark in them, you better create a short and sweet, to the point communication strategy without all the unnecessary fluff. Sometimes, it is important to know what goes out, than what goes in a campaign.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
@KeithThorn
KTLLC Communications

4 Things to know about your customer

2010-11-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

Moving forward with technology opportunities there are four basic things that you must know about your customers:

1. Their name - Nothing speaks to an individual faster than their first name. Use it to build your relationship with your customer. Email captures need a name – not just for emails, but also for other and better communication outlined below.

2. Their social marketing media preferences - If social media were a country it would be the 4th largest nation in the world! You need to know how and where people prefer their information because how they get it depends on you accessing their connection preference(s) whether it be Facebook or Twitter. (LinkedIn is for business to business connections)

3. Their cell phone number - SMS texting and mobile media advertising requires the cell phone number and there is nothing that gets the message direct and faster than a person’s cell phone. If these are existing customers, you certainly want to get this number. If they are not, run a contest and a give-a-way to acquire the. Be creative!

4. How they feel about your business - Feedback from your customers is the best way to improve your products/services, meet your customer’s needs, and attract more customers. People are talking, it’s just a matter of whether you are going to listen and join the conversation

Note: Remembering each of your customers and all of these details about them is clearly impossible, so be sure to keep an accurate and segmented database that can easily store and retrieve this information for you and make you look very intelligent!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Your reputation and career

2010-10-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

There have already been many stories of people getting reprimanded or even fired over an inappropriate tweet or facebook update. Anyone in the recruitment industry will know however that social media – particularly LinkedIn – is an essential tool for both researching candidates and finding new ones.

From a social marketing viewpoint also – it is essential that you begin using social media for what it does well – it networks information and allows communication to begin when people find who they want to dialog with. Take every business card you have had and will get - enter the people and throw that paper away. (Don't forget Facebook and Twitter!)

Plaxo is another great tool, yet I recommend that one for some different reasons. Number one is that it keeps an online log of your contacts and if anything ever happens to your computer – you can log in and Plaxo will download your most recent list. You can do this same process through G-mail and I suggest you set-up that account also.

Keeping your profile up-to-date on LinkedIn is becoming crucial to finding your next client and maybe job – particularly if you weren't looking for one. It is important to be pro-active in keeping your reputation intact. New sites such as Unvarnished (www.getunvarnished.com) enable people to leave anonymous comments about you. You may not learn who you friends really are, but you'll know what they really think of you.

There are so many ways to get involved in social marketing today – if it’s not working for you – it’s probably because you are not doing your part of getting involved with the right efforts.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Six lessons for your social media strategy

2010-10-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Six lessons the Kodak team learned about using social media to shift brand perceptions and increase online sales from Thomas Hoehn, Director, Interactive Marketing and Convergence Media, Kodak - We might want to consider them as we develop our own social media strategy:

Lesson #1. Listen before you speak Listening and researching your market are well-known prerequisites to entering social media. However, once you’ve entered the space, you should keep your ears open. Kodak recently hired a "Chief Listener" who monitors daily social media activity around Kodak and their industry. This person has a rare blend of marketing, business and social media expertise that was not easy to find, Hoehn says. The Chief Listener monitors the blogosphere, forums and other social outlets for opportunities to bring Kodak into conversations and to assist and enrich conversations already involving Kodak. - Study market sentiment Listening to social channels gives Kodak insight into the market’s reactions to their brand, products, competition and trends. It also can guide the team’s response to negative feedback. For example, the team saw that many consumers were raving online about their new ZiP Pocket Video Camcorder. However, they also found a review that liked the product but said it had a terrible name. They responded by launching an online contest to name their next pocket camera, the Playsport. - Use social monitoring tools Monitoring social networks and blogs manually is not practical. Many tools have sprung up in the last two years to help marketers keep track of online conversations related to their brand or industry keywords. Kodak’s team uses a paid tool for their efforts. If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to get started, Hoehn suggests trying free tools such as Google Alerts and Technorati.

Lesson #2 Add value when joining conversations The team looks for opportunities to add their input to relevant conversations. Here are examples of how and when Hoehn’s team reaches out to add value: - Discussing related topics Kodak’s brand is relevant to many related topics, including: Scrap booking and photo crafts, Digital printing, Digital camera history and Film. The team developed resources to help people interested in such topics. When the team finds a group of people online discussing a related topic, they often add Kodak’s point of view and share a link to their online resources. - Comparing products People often compare products in forums and blogs, or wonder aloud in social channels which product they should buy. In these cases, Hoehn’s team can respond with third-party reviews and sample photos or videos from their products. The key is to provide information to help the consumer decide – not to barge in and offer a discount. - Complaining The team often responds to social media complaints about a Kodak product with links to potential solutions. For example, the team will send a person complaining about a Kodak printer links to the printer’s manual and to customer service contact information. "Some of the most powerful words you can say in social media right now are ‘How can I help you?’" says Hoehn. Correcting misinformation The team also listens for misinformation surrounding its products and services. They are quick to dispel myths, such as a rumor that a product might be discontinued. When the team finds these cases, they respond as quickly as possible. Using tools that monitor real-time conversations is a must for quick response.

Lesson #3 Don’t be intrusive Knowing when to refrain from joining a conversation is just as important as knowing when to add input. Hoehn’s team avoids becoming "the Kodak stalker," he quips, by not reaching out in these situations: - One-to-one conversations A conversation between two people, such as on Facebook, is not a good place to add your company’s point of view. Doing so would be intrusive and could upset them. Places such as public forums and blog posts are much more appropriate places to add your commentary. - Simple mentions Comments such as "I bought a Kodak camera today" and "I’m loving my new Kodak printer" often do not require a response. At most, the team might write "That’s great. Thank you," in response, Hoehn says. - Offering promotions The team also avoids pitching promotions in social media, because "barging in with offers" does not fit with their strategy of listening and adding value, says Hoehn.

Lesson #4 Use real people behind the brand The team strikes a balance between having social media participants speak for the brand and having them show their personality. For example, their Chief Blogger’s Twitter profile features her picture above the Kodak logo. In the feed, she maintains a personal tone, but everything she says is with the knowledge that she is representing the company. Showing real people behind your brand is important, Hoehn says: - First, no one wants to talk to a logo. They want to speak with a person. - Second, if someone is angry, they’re more likely to tone down their language when dealing with a person.

Lesson #5 Treat consumer and business customers differently Although consumer purchases make up the majority of Kodak’s transactions, 60% of their revenue is attributable to businesses customers through Kodak’s commercial printing, high-speed inkjets, printing plates, and other products. The team interacts differently with business customers. They strive to raise awareness and establish thought leadership by: Creating relevant content, such as whitepapers or blog posts - Contributing to relevant conversations online - Referring commentators to their educational content "It’s deeper in the engagement in terms of the kind of information you share," Hoehn says. "It’s not about a Facebook wall post."

Lesson #6 Transparency is paramount - when engaging in social media, team members make it easy for consumers to identify who is speaking. This transparency engenders trust. The company created a formal social media policy for all employees. They have taken transparency a step further by publicly releasing a social media tips book, which contains this social media policy. Their guidelines include: Uphold Kodak’s values - Be transparent and be yourself - Protect confidential information - Avoid unsubstantiated product claims Be aware that linking to another site may imply endorsement of its content Publishing this information shows consumers that Kodak has nothing to hide in the social space, says Hoehn. The document also features social media tips and industry information, which helps establish the team’s thought leadership in the category.

For your success,

Keith Thorn

2010-10-25T09:54:00.001-07:00

Completely updated BLOG @ http://ping.fm/fCChF

Accidental branding

2010-10-25T09:47:00.001-07:00

Accidental branding is what happens when a nonprofit or business leaves its branding to chance. It results in confusion about what the organization is and does. St. Louis is certainly no exception to the rule when we speak of how to get organizations on track to successful business growth and where it all starts.

Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications, by Sarah Durham, is as fresh and clear blueprint as I have seen lately to rationally building your brand and implementing it. If you do one thing about your organization's brand this year, make it reviewing this book.

Many people equate branding with a logo, but it is so much more. Furthermore it starts at the beginning with your organization's vision, mission, and values. (See my previous article series 1-4 entitled: Don't try to invent the wheel).

Durham's plan for brandraising uses a pyramid to capture its steps. The top part is the organizational level and is where one starts. It includes the vision, mission, values, objectives, audiences, positioning, and personality of your organization.

Durham explains all of these and how to develop them or improve them. This stage can be lengthy and demands input from the top leadership levels of the organization, such as the board, the executives, and key volunteers.

The middle part of the pyramid is the identity level, which includes the visual identity of the organization and its messaging platform. It is only after doing the prior organizational work that these aspects can be tackled.

Last on the pyramid is the experiential level. These are the ways your organization interacts with the world and includes the print, online, on air, in person, and mobile vehicles that you will use to get your messages out.

The pyramid embodies the entire process of branding. That is what I really like about Durham's book. It takes the reader through a logical building process of what your organization is all about and then explains how to literally "broadcast" that identity to all of your audiences.

Along the way, Durham provides ample explanation for all the terms, and examples of them from real-world nonprofits. If you've been confused about the differences between vision, mission, values, and objectives, for instance, this book will set you straight and explain what each of these is all about. And the book is thorough. It starts at the pinnacle of the pyramid with "vision" and works its way to the right hand corner of "mobile."

How Durham managed to reduce all of this to a totally readable and not very long book is exceptional. She is able to do so because of the clarity of her vision when it comes to branding, not to mention her years of experience, most recently with Big Duck, a consulting firm that she founded in 1994 with a specifically nonprofit clientele.

Although I was familiar with most of the terms Durham uses, I hadn't thought about the role of organizational personality in branding. Durham reminds us of the way Apple Computer has defined itself through personality. Who can refrain from a chuckle when viewing the personality duel between the rumple-suited, blow-hard businessman that represents the PC and the more casual, cooler, and appealing man of few words that represents the MAC? There is no doubt about the personality of the Apple company in those ads.

Figuring out your nonprofit's personality sounds like a lot of fun too. Durham suggests getting together your staff and board and asking them to visualize the organization they'd like to see in the future. Then ask them these questions:

* If this future organization had a theme song or anthem, what would it be? Why?
* If this organization had a mascot or "power animal," what would it be? Why?
* If this organization were a car, what type and color would it be? Why?

By the end of this exercise you should have a list of adjectives and phrases that will begin to express the personality of your nonprofit. I would love to be a part of this exercise just to hear the answers. Is your org a penguin? or a lioness? a VW or a Jaguar? a Bach composition or an Elvis rock n roll tune? This should be fun and potentially powerful!

Clearly brand building needn't be a long, over-bearing process according to Durham. But going about it by building a strong organizational foundation will have some powerful results.

I believe you will end up with a consistency of message and clarity of mission that was lacking before this valuable reflection on your business.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi and www.KTLLC.net

Why master social media marketing

2010-10-25T09:44:00.001-07:00

Whether you are in St Louis or Russia, social media marketing is a process to master and promote your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.

There is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again. If you are selling products/services or just publishing content for ad revenue, social media marketing is a potent method that will make your site profitable over time.

Those who ignore the reality of social media generally fall into three categories:

1. People who don’t know much or anything about social media.

2. Individuals who are interested but don’t know how to use it and

3. Those who don’t understand the value that a social media strategy can bring to any site or business.

The value of marketing through social news websites. For those who don’t understand or see the value of social media websites, let’s take a look at the benefits of creating viral content and effectively promoting them through social media channels.

Developing link baits and successfully getting it popular on various social media websites like Digg and StumbleUpon will lead to multiple benefits for any website:

1. Primary and Secondary Traffic. Primary traffic is the large amount of visitors who come directly from social media websites. Secondary traffic is referral traffic from websites which link to and send you visitors, after they come across your content through the social sites.

2. High Quality Links. Becoming popular on social news websites like Digg or Reddit will get you a large number of links, some of which may be topically relevant, some not. A good story can realistically acquire a large number of high quality editorial links, most of which cannot be easily bought.

In tomorrows article we will translate this into tangible benefits for your website.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi

Six thinking hats

2010-10-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have experienced the pain of meetings that seem to be a waste of time and teams that are lead by A-type personalities that bring us efficiency, but leave ideas on the table that are never heard – because the ones with them choose not to battle.

In St Louis I regularly hand out a book to clients I consult when a project that I get involved with need cooperation on every level for the best solution. Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono is a book I recommend for every company (especially creative ones) that is working in ‘solutions management’. In this economy we need every comment, fact, and idea to be extracted and utilized in good timing and management for utmost efficiency and effectiveness.

In this short and concise book, you will find the basic idea behind the faults of thinking that is based on argument that goes all the way back to Socrates as developed the tought process that puts a high emphasis on dialect and argument.

In 80% of all his recorded writings (by Plato) there is no constructive outcome at all – sound familiar to some of your meetings?

Socrates saw his role as simply pointing out what was ‘wrong.’ He only wanted to clarify the ‘correct’ use of concepts like justice and love by pointing to the incorrect usage.

A thinking system based on argument is excellent just as the front left wheel of a car is excellent. There is nothing wrong with it at all. But it is not sufficient.

We need a 'constructive' thinking model – and that is what the Six Hats method of ‘parallel' thinking is all about.

When engaged correctly, the results of the Six Hats method is that the intelligence, experience, and knowledge of all the members are being fully used and working in the same direction. Get the book today from Amazon and get started to the power of potential.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Don’t hand out your business card

2010-10-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

No matter in St. Louis or San Diego, how many times have you been in a room of people and someone hands you their card as they introduce themselves? And how many business cards have you thrown away over the years? The answer for most is way too many!

For those people just collecting cards for their e-mail campaigns, you are missing the point in the difference between engagement marketing and interruptive advertising.

There is a very fine line also between casually meeting a few people in a social setting and turning every setting into a networking opportunity. And when someone calls us on the phone us and says lets get together for lunch and do some 'networking' - what they mean is: give me a couple of your contacts that I can use as leads for sales.

We all need to understand the difference between networking at a business event - a community luncheon or after hours mixer - and making connections at social events. The former is conducted in a business environment where you are expected to glad-hand; the latter calls for keeping your wits, showing interest in others and who they are, and developing deeper relationships based on the attitude of giving, not getting.

Yes, when it comes to making connections, you can’t be afraid to introduce yourself and make new relationships. In showing your interest in others - build something into that often short connection that leaves the other people asking you – ‘Do you have a business card I can have?’

For your success,

Keith Thorn

'Social or Not?'

2010-10-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

'Social or Not?'

Networking is a contact sport

2010-10-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

Joe Sweeney is the total team player and mentor. I heard of Joe from a recent KMOX radio interview through my wife Linda, who was captivated by his interview. Joe's energy is contagious as he shares his networking secrets from a long and successful career as a business owner, sports marketing agent and executive, investment banking consultant, and now an author.

His first secret: The very best networkers are focused on giving, not getting.

In this economy and uncertain workplace, networking has never been more important. Sweeney’s simple but effective 5/10/15 networking plan will give you a leg up in the current job market, help you stay employed, or, if you’ve been laid off, find your next job. The cliché that who you know is more important than what you know has never been truer. Sweeney illustrates his insights with dozens of helpful examples from his own life (along with a few fascinating insider sports stories).

With special sections on networking for women and minorities, insights into the usefulness (and handicaps) of social networking sites, how to get (and why you need) a wingman and profiles of other master networkers, Networking Is a Contact Sport is a practical and essential guide for anyone who wants to get ahead in today’s economy.

Another secret: Relationships always trump technology. Everyone seems to be trying to figure out how to get their information out to every potential prospect and suspect; yet a hanshake, listening ear, and look in the eyes is where Joe separates himself from the rest of the league - and so can you!

By the way, there are no secrets, there are just proven winning ways and Joe reminds us to be a part of that team.

Throughout the book I was inspired to try some new things. First, I bought 10 of his books through Amazon to give a few clients as something unique and helpful for their business and personal lives. I emailed Joe and asked if he would sign each of them - to which he answered my email that day and said that he would be delighted to! I re-thought who are my 'wingmen' and realized I needed a few to watch my back. I was energized with clarity to redesign my complete corporate branding identity, web, print, and integrated strategy. I found new appeal and energy in doing what I can for others... just to name a few off the top of my head.

Book Bio - *For 28 years, Joe has built a career by combining his love of business and his passion for sports. Joe brings an extensive background in hands-on business experience. Joe has owned and operated four manufacturing companies and has more than three decades experience in the business and sports worlds. Prior to acquiring an equity position in Corporate Financial Advisors, a middle-market investment banking firm, Joe founded and was president of SMG, a sports management firm that specializes in assisting and representing coaches and athletes including three-time MVP, Brett Favre. Joe was also president of the Wisconsin Sports Authority and serves or has served on 23 boards of directors. Joe received his BA from St. Mary’s College and his MBA from the University of Notre Dame. *Info courtesy of book website and Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘Networking is a Contact Sport’ online at Amazon or on his website, Networking is a Contact Sport.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

evite

2010-10-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

I am writing this review after thinking about a few friends right now who have tried to utilize technology for relationships
and think that this may be a helpful tool. So many times we forget that relationships always triumph over technology as we get caught into using what we know of to accomplish things that they were not designed for.

Facebook for example, as powerful of a tool as it is, was designed for ‘social memories’, not social planning or events planning.

The Internet provides us with so many opportunities for work and play, learning and even loving (yes, people meet online). There is something about the tried and true websites where you can't go wrong. evite.com is one of them.

The advantage of evite over say testing or email campaigns is that evite.com is an online 'social planning' hosting package providing you with online invitations, a party blog, recipes, gift ideas and more. You can provide directions to your location, allow guests to make their own comments about attending and RSVP saving you from missing those important phone calls or getting the count for your party or get together ALL wrong. It also gives guests a chance to "get to know each other" before the party. Attendees can also indicate if they are bringing something (such as a carry in dinner) or you can provide special instructions to guest before the party.

What can't you use evite for? Nothing, you can use it for everything. You can print out your invitation and mail them too.

Evite makes hosting your party for whatever reason fun and easily. Keep track of your party planning and know exactly what is going on. You can even order supplies and gifts. Talk about one stop party planning! This website is easy to use and makes your electronic party planning easy and fun.

So, go save money and plan any kind of 'get-together' on evite.com. Don't have a reason to plan a party? You don't need one after all this on-line party planning website is free.

Evite has more than 22 million registered users and over 25,000 invitations sent each hour, Evite is the top online invitation and social planning website.

Free
evite invitations are free to send and receive. So you save on stamps — and trees — while freeing yourself (and or your asisstants) up from keeping lists and making phone calls to organize your events.

Easy
Select your invitation design, add your guests’ email addresses, and send via email or text message. Done.

You choose the invitation features you want, and your guest replies are tracked automatically so you always have an accurate headcount.

Optional invitation features include:

Adding polls for your guests to answer – find out what movie, food or music everybody prefers
Letting guests select items to bring – if needed
Allowing guests to invite more people to the event
Sending your invitation to your friends’ phones and Facebook inboxes

Fun
Choose from over 800 exclusive designs to find the one that best expresses you and the type of event you’re throwing.
Unlike a printed invitation, you and your guests get the party started right on your online invitation: You pick the design, give the party a title and write a personal message to guests, and guests add comments with their replies.

It's hard to believe I missed this for so many years as evite was Launched in 1998, Evite is headquartered in Los Angeles and is a wholly-owned, operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), which also operates Ask.com, Citysearch, Pronto, Match.com, Bloglines, Zwinky, Excite and more.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications in St Louis

Getting more ’likes’

2010-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Search marketing implications are huge and I continue to talk with existing and potential clients in St Louis about what is on the horizon and what that means now.

One thing important thing to keep in mind is something that has always been true about doing well in search: create good content. If you create compelling content, people will like it and if they use Facebook, they will "like" it. Considering Facebook has over half a billion users, that has pretty big implications.

Facebook has one major thing going for it that search engines don't - the ability to make content go viral. The more people "like" a piece of content, the more people will share it with others, and the more potential "likes" it can get. The more "likes" it gets, the more it will be exposed through Facebook search.

I can tell you that 'likes' are a lot easier to get than links. If for no other reason, it is just much easier to hit a button to "like" a piece of content than it is to reference it in a blog post - and the majority of people probably aren't bloggers. This has huge potential as long as people continue to use Facebook, and those people actually use the Facebook search box.

The biggest obstacle here as far as Facebook-based search marketing, is that people generally don't think of Facebook as a place to search for content. However, the more relevant content they see in those times they do use the search box, the more likely they are to use that search box more in the future. Facebook has already been growing in terms of search market share. This is going to be a very important thing to keep an eye on.

I continue to say it to everyone - if you haven't spent much time on a Facebook strategy, now's probably a good time to start thinking a little harder about it. Don't have a blog? You may want to reconsider.

Things get even more interesting when you consider Facebook Places as part of the equation, as well as examples of "liking" physical objects (products). Facebook has big plans for Facebook Credits, which could conceivably become a PayPal-like option used for online purchases all over the web. How attractive do you think it will be for consumers to simply have to log-in via Facebook to make a purchase rather than complete some long form with their credit card info every time they want to make a purchase? How critical will a Facebook strategy be at that point?

Open Graph Protocal and FB widgets are here and your web master should be using it now! Just email and ask me about it.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Joopz

2010-09-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

Reactive customer care and problem-solving abilities are great and have their place in the scheme of customer satisfaction; however, a business stands to derive greater benefits if it has a proactive approach when dealing with customers. For my St Louis clients who have been hearing about the possibilities that mobi (Smart phones) offers proactive customer care and allows a huge difference to a customer’s perception of your business - here is a smart solution from Joopz.

As I have mentioned numerous times in my St. Louis- based articles, that marketing is changing dramatically. Emails are not what you should be so concerned about as a business leader, because emails are susceptible to change and the cell phone number is not.

One of the online software's that has tremendous upside is 'Joopz', a new web SMS text messaging service offered by the Boston- based wireless communication company MobileSphere. Along with all the features offered by traditional web-texting services provided by messengers like MSN and AIM, Joopz also boast a variety of more complex options including group messaging and their trademark “two-way” texting service (allows the message recipient to send a text back directly to the PC from which the text was sent, instead of only to the recipient’s mobile device).

For the absent-minded user, Joopz also has“Reminders” options which let you keep track of your schedule and commitments by sending you a “reminder” text. Currently, Joopz messages can be sent from any web-enabled device worldwide to US or Canadian cellular phones.

Their basic service is free of charge and allows users to send ten texts per month and have access to most of the advanced features. The premium service starts at US $2.95 per month and unlocks every advanced feature (including contact management and messaging history) and lets you send and receive unlimited text messages.

Two-Way “Web Texting
Joopz lets you send and receive text messages (SMS) from the Web to any mobile phone for free. A real-time history of all your conversations is included.

Group Messaging
With the Joopz Group Messaging feature, you can have conversations via text with all your friends at once.

Text Reminders
Don't forget the party! Joopz helps you manage your life by tracking what you need to do and when, and then sending a text reminder.

Scheduled Messages
A birthday, an anniversary, a graduation – send delayed text messages for the recipient to receive at a specific time – a day from now, a week from now, a year from now.

Customer care and new sales opportunities require processes and enabling technology required. Joopz does a good job of allowing imediate communication to individuals and groups that need your ongoing communication.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Converging Media

2010-09-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

St Louis clients look at me with amazement when I begin to talk about the potential of converging media such as mobi and many find it odd that social media has gone mainstream.

Online networks, including social ones, evolve and take on a life of their own. In the real world, for multi-celled organisms to exist a number of cells must work together to make something bigger. When individual cellular components work together multi-celled organisms evolve and these can evolve into complex life forms over time. A branch of these complex life-forms evolved and eventually became humans. Human civilization has in turn evolved to where we are now because we have mastered the art of continually grouping together into teams, tribes, cities, and nation states to create something that is bigger than the sum of its parts.

Networking and collaboration is fundamental to what it means to be human. In our bodies are atoms working together to create cells and cells working together to create our organs. In our brains neurons work together to create our thoughts, feelings and language. In your company people are working together - to create something bigger and more exciting than the sum of its parts. We can take this thinking and look at the development of the personal computer and see a very similar pattern emerging. Before anyone had a computer or a smart phone, everything was a social event.

Meetings were face-to-face, or over the phone at least, and communication in general was human to human based. In the last 30 years things have changed. Initially, the personal computer made everything a private and secluded affair. Games, for example, could be played without the help of another human and work could happen sitting in front of a screen. The advent of the early Internet showed how powerful many computers networked together could be, but from a personal perspective 'computing' was an insular activity.

The first social networks, forums and blogs worked with a huge number of anonymous users. While this was a step forward in person-to-person networking, the anonymity allowed people to behave in ways that they wouldn't ever dream of in real life. This left many of these networks to be the domain of the very early adopters and special interest groups. The 'rules' that govern effective social networks were yet to be developed.

Recently, particularly with Facebook, it has become far easier to transport your real identity around the web. This means that increasingly people are joining new social networks with their 'real identity': their real name; their place of work; and other details that define them as a person in a movement - sometimes referred to as the 'Open Web.' Naturally this makes people think more carefully about what they say and how they behave on social networks - because they 'own' their comments the common rules of society come into play. When a person's reputation is attached to what they say it makes them think carefully about what that comment might mean to others.

Of course people can still misbehave in social networks, like they can in real world networks, but the networks are now being governed by majority rule so this behavior is quickly dealt with. This makes cooperation and collaboration much easier and because of this the barriers to entry are dropping at an astronomical rate. Companies can now start to feel more secure in setting up their own networks knowing that majority of users will join to get value out of the information that is provided and quickly deal with other users who lessen the overall value of that network.

So when thinking about why social media has become so widely adopted and pondering about where it is going avoid getting distracted by the leaps in technology. These are important, of course, but it is the behavior of the network and the developments of new social norms that are really driving the progress. Every individual in this massive network is doing what he or she is pre-programmed to do - communicate, collaborate, and continue the march of our civilization's evolution.

The future of the Social Web will see more openness and ownership of communication adopted on a much greater scale as the tools to do so become more wide spread and easier to adopt. The potential economic benefits of social media will force this to happen. Companies can and will want access to increasingly granular data about their 'stakeholders' - employees, supporters, and consumers. Knowing what individuals are saying, how they are behaving and who is influencing them is critical and valuable information.

With Facebook's release of its new developer tools this year, there has been an even bigger push towards the Open Web - something that many market analysts are predicting will make the eventual float of Facebook bigger than that of Google's IPO. The rules governing online social networks are beginning to mature. Unsurprisingly, they closely reflect those that exist in offline world.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Yousendit

2010-09-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

Another favorite free online software usable through the browser is www.yousendit.com. Like many companies across St Louis (and the whole world!), we have files that will not fit inside our email account restrictions (usually limited to around 10 megs or less per email.

How this works is the files you send actually are sent through the 'internet' - which has no restrictions except what the 'sender software' will allow, and in this case the free software version allows you to send single files at a time up to 100 megs in a single delivery! That is huge...

You will set-up a free 'account' with your email and password. As the sender you only put in the email address to deliver to and Yousendit delivers an email to the person to receive the files and when they click on that - it downloads the file to their desktop. The person receiving the files has several days to download the file before it is deleted from yousendit.

Yes, you can spend money for higher versions of the software - but for the average to medium user, this is a great tool for business communications and transfers of documents and files.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.net or www.KTLLC.mobi

What's all the buzz about

2010-09-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

What's all the buzz about

All low price buys is change orders

2010-09-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Business owners may have fooled themselves into thinking that low-price bidding equals low cost solutions, and I contend that in many cases - all the low price buys you is 'change orders'.

Price Tag

The definition of the low bidder is 'whoever made the biggest mistake'. I think most 'mistakes' are deliberate and people make them because they have a handful of change orders in their back pocket that they know from experience they will get.

In essence, there are two kinds of solution providers in the market, 'relationship based' and 'change order based' - and as an owner you have to decide which you want.

It is not about eliminating competition, but about intelligent bid selection based on more than just low price. When customers select teams based on knowledge and ability, they end up with better designs and measurable results without spending more money.

In St Louis and abroad, we try to identity customers who are fed up with the usual way of doing business and offer them a workable alternative. 'They are the real opportunities - but if no one brings them a different menu they will continue to make those previous 'unhealthy' choices.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi

DropBox

2010-09-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

Imagine the possibilities of of being able to access your files from any computer in the office, while traveling, or being anywhere in the world - without having a large internal server-side system!

The new back-up and file transfer solution from Dropbox can save anyone hours of frustration and make moving from one computer to another seamless when it comes to opening files needed - yet away from the first computer and allowing you to 'sync' all of your computers no matter what platform.

Dropbox is a free online software that works through your browser and initially one can 'dropbox' over 2 gigs of documents, pictures, videos, and more. Each time you refer a new user to dropbox, they give your account an additional 250 megs on top of the 2 gigs.

Let me give you my situation and see if you can relate. I have a Mac tower, laptop and a PC laptop in the office. Because I have a DynDNS on the PC laptop, I cannot 'connect to my macs via 'wireless' and to transfer files have to be done with a 'memory stick' that I constantly jam in and out of these computers to 'transfer documents and images for web applications and more.

I now have downloaded the free online software from www.dropbox.com (right in the web browser) on both my Macs and my PC. When I open Dropbox from the dropdown menu and then drag my files into it - they automatically show up in any number of computers that have the same dropbox (free) account.

This by the way is a beautiful solution to having many files to transfer between my computers at home, the office, and on the road with laptops or even using someone else's computer.

There's more - I can even share 'folders' with other people I know. Imagine the ease of moving photos, videos, and documents when the email account will only allow you 10 megs at a time - this allows you any size files!

Here's some of the highlights:

1. Files placed in your Dropbox folder are automatically backed up online and synced to your computers.

2. The Dropbox desktop application is a convenient alternative to the website that lets you use Dropbox directly from your desktop.

3. Files in your Dropbox will sync across all of your computers. Your files are always right where you need them.

4. Dropbox shared folders allow you to share lots of stuff in one go, or collaborate with people on a shared set of files.

5. For every friend who joins Dropbox, they'll give you both 250 MB of bonus space (up to a limit of 8 GB)!

I love when technology works. If you ever come across great technology (especially freeware) to share - please email me directly. There's another one to write about next - called yousendit.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.net or www.KTLLC.mobi

Is good design subjective, like your favorite flavor of ice cream

2010-09-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

A lot of people can recognize good design when they see it on the web. But most people don't really know what makes that design good. How do you define "good design?"

Is it subjective, like your favorite flavor of ice cream?

At KTLLC Communications, I am re-interating this concept over and over to clients daily and although there is some subjectivity within a good design, there are artistic principles that all good design (print and or web) is built from and all design comes from control of very few elements - such as line, weight, shape, and color. Here are a few concepts that form the foundation of all good design.

1. Proximity

Because items that are in close proximity to one another become one visual unit, items that are related to one another should be grouped together. Laying out related items on a website page this way helps the eye associate the information and enables the viewer to mentally categorize the information easily. The flip side of this principle is that items that are not related should not be placed in close proximity to one another.

The purpose of the principle of proximity is to organize information in a way that enables viewers to quickly and easily comprehend. When information is organized, people are more likely to read it and respond. People are also more likely to remember information that is organized.

How can you determine if items form a visual unit? Squint your eyes and look at the page on a website. Now count the number of times your eye stops as it views the page. On a page that is using the principle of proximity well, your eye will stop three to five times. In other words, there will be three to five groups of information for the eye to comprehend separately.

2. Alignment

You've seen website page layouts where the text and graphics are placed wherever there happens to be space. The effect is messy, with no impact. Nothing should be placed on a page arbitrarily. There should be a visual connection between each item on the page. When items are aligned, it creates a cohesiveness that the eye appreciates.

The purpose of alignment is to unify the website page. Imagine a well-organized kitchen. All the pots and pans are stored in the organizer, the fruit is nicely displayed in a basket on the counter, the spices are all on the rack - everything is in its place. A page layout needs the same thing.

Look at a website page that you feel is good design. Now focus on the main visual element. Where does your eye go from there? Do you see how other elements are aligned with that one main element both vertically and horizontally?

3. Repetition

Good design repeats some aspect of the website design throughout the site. It's this repetition that makes all the pages in a site look like they belong together. Color scheme, graphic elements, typefaces - all of these elements should be repeated - used consistently - throughout.

The purpose of repetition is to create consistency and to add visual interest. Repetition creates a professional, polished look that the eye is drawn to. When a website design uses repetition and is consistent, it is more likely to be viewed and read.

Here are some ways you can create repetition beyond simple consistency in typefaces and colors: Use some element in your logo as a major graphic element in the design. If you are using a ruled line, make the line more interesting visually by perhaps making it with tiny dots or dashes, then repeating the line element throughout the design. Create patterns that are repeated throughout the design. Take a small element and place it somewhere on each page for a whimsical look. Just be careful not to overdo the repetition, or viewers will be annoyed rather than pleased.

4. Contrast

The principle of contrast states that if two items are not the same, then they should be different - very different. Contrast creates an organizational hierarchy of the information and graphics on a webpage. When using contrast, you can't be a wimp! The contrast must be strong to be effective.

The purpose of contrast is two-fold: to create interest on the page, and to organize information. A page that is interesting to look at is more likely to be read. And contrasting elements will help a reader understand the way the information is organized.

Contrast can be created in many ways. You can contrast large type with small type, a serif font with a sans-serif font, bold with light, smooth texture with rough texture, a small graphic with a large one, a dark color with a light one.

A design that integrates these principles will automatically gain a professionalism and polish that it would otherwise lack. Next time you stumble across a website design that makes you say "wow", check for these principles - you'll find them quietly working to make that design a successful one!

For Your Success!

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

No Credit Is Good Credit

2010-09-09T10:51:00.001-07:00

I visited with my good friend Steve Brockman several times at a ballroom dance studio that he owns in St. Louis called, "Just Dancing." While waiting for him to finish his lessons, I noticed different experience levels of partners around the room. Some partners were quite advanced, almost expert looking. Some were "dance challenged" and some seemed "rhythm less." As I watched these couples, I observed that the best dancers were the ones where I could not tell who was leading... beautiful expressions of direction, cohesiveness and synergy in joyful motion.

As a creative and business consultant to profit and not-for-profit businesses dating back to 1994 - I've come to the conclusion that the best board, executive and key leadership relationships are those where you cannot tell who is leading.

From one perspective it appears the Executive Director is leading the Board and from another perspective it appears as if the Board is leading. Yet, from another perspective, it would seem like the organization's key leaders (managers) are the ones taking the leadership roles, especially in small organizations.

It's obvious to me when I observe dysfunctional or troubled organizations - just who takes the lead. There is little doubt about who is in charge. Due to its clarity, the authoritarian style is easier to operate under - but the style limits ideas and opportunities. This style does not allow for the proper feeding and nurturing of key people. The CEO becomes over-burdened, unfulfilled, and certainly alienated.

It should be hard to tell who's leading - the Board, the Executive Director, or key leaders. In this shared responsibility atmosphere there is open conversation and discussion about issues such as what direction the organization is moving, who is responsible for what, and what exactly are the boundaries. With responsibility comes authority and responsibilities are assigned by role with gifts and talents taken into consideration in the decision making process. Team ownership is promoted as the only synergetic way to succeed and accomplish the organizational mission.

Organizational transparency happens. A different style of clarity arises for open dialog. From this style of leadership an Executive can lead and follow with confidence that it is not all up to him or her, nor that they are powerless.

Shared leadership is harder and slower, taking much more courage and faith to "give and it shall be given unto you." It takes time to build trust. Conflicts arise and are sometimes not easy to resolve. Sometimes a consensus can take long conversations, but the feeding and nurturing is well worth the work.

Often the health of an organization can be judged by the nature of the relationship between the Board and Executive Director. As that relationship goes, so goes the organization.

President Reagan had a sign on his desk that simply said, "It's amazing what can be accomplished when you don't worry who gets the credit." That credo embodies the the right management mindset.

For Your Success,

Keith Thorn

You Can Be a Philanthropist

2010-09-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

What makes Ebenezer Scrooge such a compelling character in A Christmas Carol is that his stinginess is uncharacteristic of most people. Most people genuinely enjoy sharing what they can with their favorite charity. The problem is most of us believe we can't afford to give nearly as much as we'd like.

I may be wrong. Here's a story that makes the point.

Perpetual support. In reviewing a client's coverage, an agent looked over several years of tax records. He noticed that his client consistently gave a generous annual gift to a small church. The client explained that the church had been part of his family for generations. The agent asked, "Why should your lifetime support end with your death?"

Visibly startled, the man said what most of us probably would say. He knew how important his contributions had been to his church. Sure, he'd love to support it after death. But he didn't have that kind of money. The agent explained how he could, indeed, continue to support his boyhood church - even after death.

Here's what the agent suggested to his client.

Purchase a $250,000 life insurance policy. At death, death benefit proceeds from the policy will replace the annual contribution. Here's how to make this happen. The church would own the policy. The man would make tax-deductible donations to the church. The church would then pay the premium. Depending on the premium amount, the policy could be fully paid in ten to twelve years, although there is no guarantee. In many cases, it's possible that the tax-deduction might offset all or part of the cost of the premium, thus making the arrangement very affordable.

The client was pleased and surprised to see how his lifelong habit of supporting his family's church could continue in perpetuity.

Tax advantages. Consider this case. An elderly couple was concerned about their investments. In a way it was a nice problem, because the couple's stock market investments over the years had appreciated to about one million dollars. The problem was that the couple didn't want their money tied up in low-yielding, higher-risk common stocks. They wanted conservative investments that would provide more interest income.

Why didn't they just sell their portfolio of stocks and buy less risky, higher yielding investments? Because they'd have to pay an enormous capital gains tax.

Here is one possible way to deal with this situation.

* Create a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT)

* Gift the stock portfolio to the CRT

Gifting the stock to a nonprofit CRT will trigger a tax deduction. In this example, the deduction was more than a third of the $1,000,000. (The amount of a CRT deduction and the ability to take it are variable factors dependent on a taxpayer's financial position, life expectancy, and other factors. Check with your professional tax advisor for the details.)

What happens next? The CRT sells the couple's stock and buys conservative investments with the potential for higher yields. Because the nonprofit CRT executed the sale, no capital gains tax is due. Moreover, the couple may receive income from the CRT for as long as either of them lives (subject to the risk of the investment). Upon the death of the surviving spouse, any remaining CRT assets would be given to a charity or charities chosen by the couple.

Remembering heirs. What about the couple's children and their inheritance?

There's another financial strategy that can be employed to ensure that the kids are not disinherited. It involves the purchase of a joint survivorship life insurance policy large enough to replace the assets that went into the charitable trust. The cash to pay for the premiums could come from the couple's tax deductions and potential increased yields from investments in the trust.

Personal gifts to favorite institutions.

Here's another example of how financial strategies can be applied for charitable giving. A wealthy woman had completed her estate planning carefully. Her family was provided for. Everything seemed to be in order. Except this lady had a passion for her university and a local museum. She already had left money for each, but wanted to do more.

The solution was to have each institution purchase a one million dollar insurance policy and name the respective institution as the owner of its policy. In this way, premiums paid by the donor would be tax deductible, and thereby more affordable.

A problem was solved and, in the process, funding was provided for a private institution. The woman felt gratified to be able to express her personal generosity in a very real way.

Sonja Hayes, J.D., L.L.M., advanced marketing attorney for GenAmerica Financial Corporation in St. Louis, notes, "There are many insurance-based philanthropic options for charity-minded people to explore. A person does not necessarily have to be wealthy to take advantage of such opportunities for giving, although discretionary income is required. The process works well even for people with modest levels of income.

"The elite wealthy used gifting strategies like these for years," Hayes continues. "Now, these options are available to many more of us. And, if we are charitably inclined, we should at least look into the possibilities."

For Your Success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Yellow Pages advertising - it's all about dollars, not space

2010-09-09T10:50:00.001-07:00

Do you ever wonder why each year the price of your Yellow Page advertising costs keep going up, sometimes at very random and different rates (percentages) than previous years?

Understanding the internal Structure of a company like ATT and the division called "Yellow Pages" is the beginning of making this print investment work for your company. I spent 15 years in the marketing department creating for the St. Louis known yellow pages company.

The first thing to understand is that this unique “cash cow” advertising medium is all about dollars, not space. For those of you who did not take Marketing 101, a cash cow is the part of the business that brings in the most profit, in this case, Yellow pages division is the cash cow to the parent company, ATT.

By dollars - I mean that the corporate CEO comes up with a number every year to take back to the parent company Board of Directors and show his handiwork in bringing new revenues to their coffers – and those numbers keep investors coming in for more stock purchases.

The CEO of Yellow Pages Division in turn goes back to all the regional directors across the United States for all the books printed and tells each of them what percentage of the dollars that they need to come up with. The regional directors in turn raise the rates of the various books and headings accordingly in a projection to exceed the dollars required.

That brings me to the second point; the dollar cost of this media to advertisers is solely based on anticipated results that any given region can be "stretched" to, making it all about point one - it's not about space, it's about dollars.

The salesperson has a 'quota" of dollars to reach, not space - and the yellow pages has never had a 'limited' amount of pages or paper to print on.

Before you are renewing your Yellow Pages advertising, remember that the Yellow Pages will not lower the rates, but they will negotiate your space (they will give you more space for the same dollar). Why? Because space has nothing to do with dollars committed.

For Your Success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

How to leave the value for your heirs

2010-09-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

As someone who has been in leadership at a large St. Louis non-profit and responsible for that organizations' top 100 donors (many who have assets beyond their needs and want to make a significant bequest to a charitable organization), I would often get into conversations with these donors as they contemplated and even began planning for the distribution of their estate.

Usually these people are torn between the needs of charities and the potential future needs of their heirs. To further complicate matters, taxes can greatly reduce the value of these assets. Perhaps you are one of these people with an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) that you don’t need for retirement income.

If you name an heir as the beneficiary of your IRA, the IRA would ordinarily be included in your estate at death and subject to estate tax. In addition, the heir would have to pay income taxes at his/her marginal rate (adjusted for the estate taxes due on the remaining amount of the IRA) on that portion of the IRA ultimately distributed.

One great way to avoid the tax problem is to donate the IRA to a favorite charity – but then your heirs would receive no direct benefit from the IRA’s value.

A better approach is to name this 501(c)3 charity as the beneficiary of the IRA, but also establish an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) that owns life insurance on you and your spouse. You then make annual distributions from the IRA into to ILIT to help pay for the life insurance premiums. After you and your spouse have died, the remaining value in the IRA goes to your favorite charity, and the ILIT receives the insurance death benefit, with your heirs as the beneficiaries.

I still consult non-profit organizations, but have moved on full-time into marketing and media solutions. In St Louis, I have a good friend named Tom Yeaton of Yeaton and Associates who is really helpful in these areas of gaining wealth and the transferring of that wealth and can answer any of your questions.

This is a good year to begin a strategy for giving ...

For Your Success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Perception is reality

2010-09-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

The inside cover of the CNR magazine, the St. Louis area's industry publication for commercial construction. got an infusion of a high-quality "player" in the January edition from Hanneke Hardware and Industrial Supplies. (note the co-op)

In August of last year, a "discovery" meeting was initiated by Tony Miller, President of the Hanneke Hardware Stores. Tony has been on a mission to increase both sales and profit in retail and grow the corporate business exponentially. Hanneke Hardware and Industrial has been in business since 1927 with three locations in the St. Louis area, yet corporate accounts were not growing as needed. The problems were traced to company perception.

A goal of being seen as a "competitor" in the market by the larger commercial contracting companies has been achieved. Making the decision to change, to grow, and to do some things differently (especially since they were not working to achieve the goals) was the starting point.

Beginning with understanding the company and the measurable goals; the initial launch was to create a branding that positioned Hanneke as a major player in both retail and commercial. The branding had not been updated in over 40 years and the client base needed to be expanded.

The new branding was launched with a total integrated solution approach to all the marketing, advertising, and promotional spending projected for the year. That included looking at how direct mail, email initiatives, catalogs, business cards and brochures worked together to produce the desired affect of "perception"

Retail customer traffic was up over 17% and the commercial giants are noticing the "new" player in the market.

Take a quick glance at www.hanneke.com to see if there is a Hanneke solution for your company's power tools, ladders, gloves and rainwear, extension cords, caulks and sealants, paints, safety products, security locks, maintenance products, lumber and building materials - all delivered to your job site!

Hanneke Hardware offers three locations to serve the retail customers and a convenient 'drop in point' for your workers as they are moving around the city and county to jobs where they need fast solutions.

Successful creative solutions are much closer than you might think. Email us today!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Seeing the horizon

2010-09-09T10:48:00.002-07:00

From the Japanese perspective, the horizon is in a very different place than the American perspective.

This is true not only in their financial world, but more so in their view of the universe. KTLLC Communications partnered with the St Louis Ki Society to arrive at a branding that would be strong enough to be noticed in the world headquarters in Japan, and in America to have a strong distinction.

Working from the traditional red and black colors, combining the strength and world-wide awareness of the St. Louis arch, and utilizing the Japanese view of space and the horizon were all combined to build the foundation of a solid brand for St. Louis Ki-Aikido training center.

About this St. Louis Aikido training center:

Saint Louis Ki Society is a nonprofit educational organization seeking to improve the ability of individuals to respond to stress and conflict positively and creatively, with calmness and relaxation. STLKI brings people together to study Mind/Body Oneness through training in Ki-Aikido and Dynamic Meditation (Ki Development). STLKI provides a structured curriculum, qualified instructors, tools for measuring individual progress, a principal facility for training, and outreach programs in the community.

Practicing Mind/Body Oneness enables persons of all abilities and ages to live healthier, more integrated lives. When we remain relaxed we can respond with inner calm, reducing fear and violence in our personal relationships, communities, and the world.

Also, see the Penny Bernath, (6th degree black belt) article in CNN called 'Kicking butt for inner peace'

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Bottom line results look you square in the eyes

2010-09-09T10:48:00.001-07:00

My approach to marketing and media is simple... do the homework.

I believe in basing the creative on solid information gathered from the client, from market research, from our creative talent and from our years of marketing experience. The bottom line is "measurable results".

Not spending more than your business is currently promoting, yet look at all spending to find the best was to achieve your stated goals is my mission. People are amazed at our motto of, 'not spending any more, including for our creative services, but the same or less spending with a greater return on that investment'.

With a continuous service of over 25 years, Keith Thorn and KTLLC Communications enjoy an established base of local and regional business. Over the years, we've developed powerful marketing knowledge in the fields of automotive, consumer goods, financial, higher education, manufacturing, medical, property management, retail, recreation and health care, construction, and at home - the non-profit organizations.

What do you think of the current advertising and marketing group you work with?

We think of our clients as partners. We understand that in working together, we can all be successful by utilizing hard-hitting, research-based communications. And our system is working -- we can introduce you to long term clients who continue to experience measurable results from our business relationships.

Check out these St. Louis, regional, and national organizations that we are members of: Association of Fund Raising Professionals, St. Louis Community Service Public Relations Council, Kiwanis International, Marketing Association of America, and BNI

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Don't try to invent the wheel - part 1

2010-09-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of four articles - outlining step-by-step, sequential and successful approaches to measurable results for your brand, it's market reach, and your company profits...

In most every case, with every client I reach a point early in the exploratory conversations where I need to explain the differences in goals and roles between advertising, marketing, and sales before I can move on to the 'why' answers.

Marketing is knowing what the market desires, advertising tells them what they want to hear and is the 'bait' that is used for getting the awareness and calls for sales (whom has the sole job of 'getting the signature or closing the sale').

Most people confuse the goals and roles and that leads to even more confusion when we try to create a 'total integrated success plan'.

Terminology is important before conversations are to be had, so now that is out of the way - let's talk.

The biggest, brightest, an most expensive companies in the world have proven track records and proven results based on years of strong research into marketing motivation and results.

For Over 100 years these people have done the hard work - McCann Erickson is a global advertising agency network, with offices in more than 130 countries. McCann is a subsidiary of the Interpublic Group of Companies, one of the four large holding companies in the advertising industry.

In my Masters in Media Communications (Webster University, St. Louis) along with my 25 years of working relationships with clients in creative, I have developed the 'succinct-success' model I use at KTLLC Communications.

It is the same one for every client from a new start-up to a $20m dollar client follows this pattern in the exact same sequence. You see, we are looking for measurable results and it has be proven that the order follows the same in every case.

Below are a series of seven questions - always answer these questions before the last step, which is begin to create a tone to the advertising. When the answer is not clearly successful to get you the measurable results you want, go back and begin again until this is completed correctly.

Don't move on or skip any question in the sequence - or the results will be minimized somewhere along the results and measurement process.

1. Who is the target audience?
2. Where are we now in their mind?
3. Where is our competition in their mind?
4. Where would we like to be in their mind?
5. What is the promise, “the big idea?”
6. What is the supporting evidence?
7. What is the tone or voice of for advertising?

In the next article I will talk about next steps how 'Foote, Cone and Belding' created a model that we will build our next steps upon towards design. As always, please feel free to email directly with questions or comments.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Don't try to invent the wheel - part 2

2010-09-09T10:47:00.001-07:00

In part two of this four part article we are creating a process for measurable and successful results and secondly, we have talked about succinctly and successfully reaching growth goals, not trying to invent the wheel. (See beginning article, part 1).

Now that we have answered the first six questions, the seventh is about setting the tone or voice as it is termed in the media world. Part of the process of answering number seven is to look at something that Foote, Cone, and Belding (FCB) have created and modeled successfully for many years.

A long time ago they came up the linking strategy model based on two basic facts: (1) Some purchasing decisions are based on logic, while others are based more on emotions; and (2) while some purchasing decisions may involve extensive deliberation, others are made with little or no thought.

The theory says there are two sets of four boxes and all markets fall into these four 'quadrants'. The easiest way to draw this is to make a very large '+' on a blank piece of paper creating four quadrants. The top two are high importance and the bottom two are low importance. The left half (two) is thinking and the right (two) is feeling.

All products and services fall into one of these quadrants and the goal is to understand and place where your market, product, and services fit to begin to accurately and measurably begin the process of concepts that speak to those people.

To give you and idea of how the correct placement might work. Top left is high importance and high thinking, Product might be a Lexus automobile. Visably strong, yet lots of details.

The top right is high importance and feeling. This would be a product like Debeers diamonds. All strong emotional visual and very little comments to think about.

The bottom left would be low importance and low thinking. These products tend to be like coupons. strait forward. The bottom right quadrant is low importance and low thinking. These tend to be impulse items like alcohol and cigarettes very little thinking, yet emotional.

To be correct in targeting our markets, we need to understand where they are and how they feel about the products and services we offer - after all, setting up for measurable results is a great strategy!

Watch for part three, we will cover the the next step - the VIP approach.

For Your Success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Don’t try to invent the wheel - part 3

2010-09-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Getting the right approach and solutions to your market growth is a measurable process that has taken us from understanding our market through the McCann-Erickson model to beginning the strategic placement of this market approach and tone-setting in the Foot, Cone, and Belding Model.

Now we are at part 3: the VIPS model. David Bernstein, British advertising executive, noted that effective advertising can all be summed up in four words: visibility, identity, promise, and simplicity.

It's an acronym that reminds us as creatives, we need to stay focused strategically and creatively with the end in mind. These words seem too simple, yet in every process of creation, the driving concept is that 'less is more'.

Visibility. A good ad must stop the casual viewer who might be a target for the message. What make your message stand out from the media and marketing clutter?

Identity. In addition to getting noticed, we want our message to register the brand name. Feature the name, position it, and support it with headlines and supporting information copy as needed.

Promise. Inherent to any ad is a promise to the consumer. Look at every major player in the business world and they utilize this. Example: Bell Helmets protect your head better, so you have less to worry about.

Important here to note that these are not tag lines, they are promises or as the big idea (McCann-Erickson).

Simplicity. Make the point clearly - a good story with a beginning, middle, and end; the advertisement must stay on target, progressing logically from start to finish.

Keep an ongoing check list for the outlined strategy and this process has a good opportunity to measurably help you reach your sales goals. In our next segment, part 4, we will add a huge twist to the traditional 4 'P's' of marketing and advertising - product, price, place, and promotion.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Don't try to invent the wheel - part 4

2010-09-09T10:46:00.002-07:00

Part 4: No root, no fruit.

Without a good root system, the fruit you are looking for just won't happen. Whether you are growing tomatoes or a client relationship(s), there is a measurable process that we are continuing to outline that has detailed why steps are taken and in what order taken.

Sure, there are things that happen beyond anyone's control like a lack of rain for crops, but that is why we plan and have systems that provide what is needed at the right times.

This series started with market awareness and branding for maximum target audience reach and moved through a process of creatively producing success trough proven results models. In this segment we will see why the need to change the next steps is all about being 'relevant' in your markets.

We are looking at replacing the traditional 4 P’s: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion with 4 C’s:

Customer Can you imagine why we focus on products and services when they don't buy themselves? People buy and what we need to focus on is the target markets and satisfying their know and perceived needs, wants, fears, desires.

Convenience This is a 24/7 project and not just a place that is open 9am to 5pm, 5 days per week. Social media has made companies and organizations realize that people are always talking - good or bad and they need to listen.

Cost to Provide This is the cost to satisfy the above needs, wants, fears, and desires – or the 'perceived value'. In the model prior to now, price was about cost of goods sold (cogs, which is very short-sighted and misses the bigger picture.

Communication Talking with and not at people with value-added messages. In short it's is just understanding customer beliefs and taking the painful time and energy that takes - when we would rather devote that same energy to another project (that will not reap near the harvest).

This four part series has outlined 'not inventing the wheel' - because the biggest names in the creative world as we know it have already been there and done that. Save yourself the time and resources to set your company roots to grow relationships through effective and efficient creative processes that will produce excellent fruit!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Don't wait till Christmas

2010-09-09T10:46:00.001-07:00

Year around, hands down, the best gift of all is the timeless gift of the business referral.

Don't wait for the special holidays or the 'season of giving'. As business owners and managers, we all spend time thinking about how to make the clients in our lives feel appreciated and spend extra dollars trying to make the gift not feel like it was bought in bulk and given to numerous clients.

The question comes up, usually late in the year towards Thanksgiving and Christmas - 'what's the perfect gift' to give that special client?

I have a suggestion: don't wait till Christmas to give or wrestle with what and how much to dedicate towards your clients for the latest electronic gadget or some kind of special new year calendar purchase. Even if these were not tough times, none of that stuff is going to help you achieve what creates extraordinary relationships.

So begin now, give yourself, your clients or someone you love the gift of a change in perspective. A change in habits. A change in how you grow relationships. A change in strategy. A change in results. A change in how fulfilled you feel and how you help those you choose to do business with - your partners. A change in what you give and what you contribute.

That's what you receive from the change in perspective - you see a relationship or challenge, and opportunities in a completely different light - you begin to want to give creatively.

From today forward, begin to look for the opportunities daily to pass a business referral and don't forget to make a special call if needed to thank those who gave you the invaluable gift of referrals, and did not wait till the year end season to give something to you that you didn't need.

For Your Success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Who is your business evangelist

2010-09-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Who Are Your "Business Evangelists"? You simply cannot get into the mind of your core customer without spending time with them. Data is great, but it doesn't address the motivation factor.

I listen to my vision and always trust my own instincts above conventional wisdom, and put my own spin on universally accepted ways of doing things... and I get paid to do what I love. My passion for excellence is fueled by people's desires to grow their brand and build lasting relationships. I am not just selling advertising, creative, and marketing solutions - I am selling livelihoods of companies, their families, and employees!

My "Business Evangelists" are the people that I have taken the time to understand; to listen to. I have identified the core "user" of their products and services and tailored the marketing message, product (presentation), and delivery to reach that audience.

The tighter and more narrowly focused I have partnered with every client in their business strategy, the more likely we are to connect in perfect precision.

Every company absolutely needs "Business Evangelists". This is true not only in St. Louis, it's true everywhere and social media has exploded this potential!

Most every client that KTLLC Communications has, is through a referral of an existing client, a friend or business acquaintance (including vendors) of those clients... all, even though we creatively break through the clutter and market on the web, through email campaigns, and print collateral!

What processes do you have in place to listen, understand, and connect (even reward) your potential "Business Evangelists"? These individuals and relationships are the very best opportunity to efficiently and effectively grow your company's business! They speak highly and recommend you. They value the way you take care of them personally...

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Encourage repeat business

2010-09-09T10:45:00.001-07:00

When I consult with clients we often start with need to address the lack of repeat business. There are 3 main reasons a customer never returns to give you repeat business:

1) They have a bad experience
2) They don't feel special
3) They are not encouraged to return

I want to expand and add to the above reasons with something I've encountered and try to make sure my clients do not fall into the trap of: business owners pay their customers lip service. In follow-up sequences, these customers are "told" they're appreciated. However, few people actually do anything progressive or take the time to "show" their appreciation.

For example, my wife and I go to a national chain restaurant about once a week for a date night when we have a coupon. Since about all our friends and family know this, they give us their advertised coupons and we seem to have one to use with a special like 'buy 1, get 1 free' several times a month.

Considering the amount of money we spend there, it seems valuable for the coupons. However, the issue I have is that the company has done very little to know why we come there, what we are doing, or have (track) any record of our spending habits - and encourage us for more spending.

As a regular customer, I feel like I get a good deal with all the donated coupons, but the company is missing the boat entirely on getting us there at least twice a month more because they give lip service at the door when we come and go. Sure, they welcome us and say thanks for coming when we leave, but we rarely see the same hostesses and no one really 'remembers' us.

Don't take risks like that in your business. Repeat business is based on loyalty, trust, and a true demonstration of your appreciation. There are processes you can set-up, track, and truly reward and encourage people with - just email me and check more into the possibilities and results.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Why no hits to your websitemarketing

2010-09-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

Competing in the traditional marketplace is no longer an option for companies who want to maintain top performance for their products or services and business with opportunities for growth are simply developing value and innovation for your customers.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is how your web page gets 'hits' even when people do not know anything about your company - not even the name of your company. This is the key to growth in the digital stream of reality.

So many organizations I work with let someone build their web site that have no marketing experience - they are technically savvy and can do anything you specifically ask them to do in the code. The problem is that most business owners and managers don't know what to ask for and often request things that actually minimize the value of the site in the search engine rankings.

Everyone who builds for the web, even 'techies' and web designers need to understand the that the 'spidering' of the web information is done by 'bots' (short for technology robots) and they have specific algorithms (mathematical, sequential and limited rules) they operate on. They are not humans, but rather finite and specific technology.

Here's a brief and succinct top 12 outline of just some key issues to keep in mind.

1. Determine main theme of page. Each page should have a single message or purpose.

2. For each page (or page theme) brainstorm keywords or phrases that you would like to lead searchers to your site. Two to three word phrases work better than a single word. Come up with 3+ key phases per page and rank the key phases in order of importance (this is called keyword density and value).

3. Optimize page content with phrases starting with your top key phrase. Incorporate your top key phrase into your content 5 or 6 times, use them towards the top of the page, and at the beginning of paragraphs or sentences. Also use the key phrase in the page title Meta tag and in page headings or bullet points.

4. Use your other key phases through out the text 2 to 4 times. Your secondary phrases should be related to your top key phrase, you do not want to "confuse" the search engine about your page theme.

5. Page Meta Tags - humans do not see these, except title and are needed. Keywords - just list the 3 to 4 key phrases you have already come up with, also any variations of those phases. Only provide keywords that appear in your page content. Additional words not in the page content will hurt, not help. (1024 max length) Description - write a short description of your page theme; use at least your top key phase in the description. (200 character max length) Title - your top key phase.

6. Have a linking strategy, including Internal linking. External Linking (Links from other sites to yours).

7. Within page content refer to other important pages in your site. Use the keywords of the landing page (page to which you are linking) for your hyperlink text.

8. Navigation, use keywords in your navigation structure and keep core navigation to seven or less.

9. Have content that people find useful, and they will link to you. But you need to ask them to do it! Ask organizations, associations you belong to put a link on their site to you.

10. Be in relevant directories like dmoz.org (free), Yahoo.com directory, specialty or vertical directories and industry specific directories.

11. Always minimize image use when text can be used and always use 'alt tags'.

12. Always use a robots.txt and a sitemap.xml file for best SEO results.

On a last note - all this is not measurable without some kind of statcounter behind the scenes.

There's much more - as this outline is just a part of the strategy for success we use every day.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Developing new perceptions

2010-09-09T10:44:00.001-07:00

Since 1927 Hanneke Hardware had flourished as a local neighborhood hardware store that prided itself with dependable and experienced staff.

The large corporations have been saturating the St. Louis market with mega-stores for the past 10 years and the leadership of Hanneke knew that they needed to play to their strengths, be perceived as a player in the commercial business, and grow new markets to maintain and even grow market share. The same branding had been in place since the early 70's and was in dire need of updating for future marketing opportunities.

In the initial discovery meeting initial discovery meeting we focused on the history of the organization, the business (commercial division and 3 stores), the past history, current financial goals, the real and desired perceptions, and the hard questions that needed some serious pondering to arrive at.

The follow-up meetings were processes of information gathering, strategy, goal setting, and creative execution. The final branding product was a solid basis to maintain the historical value, yet update and maximize the potential for the new markets of commercial construction.

Successful creative solutions are much closer than you might think.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Is good writing bad SEO

2010-09-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

Every time a traditionally good writer opens a thesaurus - they are losing the very results of search engine optimization (new people finding you who don't know you) that they are hoping for.

The reality is that average writers (like me) that follow the new trend in media can be much more successful because they spend less energy trying to write perfect English form with the best synonyms and more time setting up and using measurable results.

Search engines look for repeat instances of the same word, phrases, or variation on a word. The problem comes in when writers try to use the 'formula' (I recently outlined) to optimize by repeating the key phrases several times over again and their writing will sound really bad to them as 'good writers',

Here are a my 'Top 10' tips that will to optimize your writing efficiently without compromising its quality.

1. Yahoo Buzz Index. The Yahoo Buzz Index reports what people are searching about. It shows trends in searches. It can give you an idea of what's hot, and what's not. After you check the Yahoo Buzz Index, you can also check Google to see which keywords get very few results. This would be a good topic to write about, since there's a dearth of information online about that specific topic, yet there are a lot of people searching for it. You can optimize for the specific terms people are searching for.

2. Latent Semantic Indexing. Many search engines now use latent semantic indexing, which searches on different variations of a term. For example, if you're looking up "optimize search engine" on Google, the search engine will also turn up "search engine optimization."

Since engines like Google use latent semantic indexing, my article is more likely to come up high on a list of results in which "SEO" was a keyword.

3. Omniture's Keyword Selector Tool. Omniture's Keyword Selector Tool is an invaluable tool for optimizing your keywords. If you don't know which terms are really being searched, you may optimize for keywords that nobody's searching on. But you don't want to optimize for keywords which too many people are searching on. You'll never have a chance.

You can look to see which keywords and keyword combinations are really being searched. Also, try to optimize for terms which are getting fewer searches. Those keywords offer less competition, and will get you more page views than the top ranked searches.

Continue to narrow down your keywords, focusing on things that people generally have trouble finding online. Switch keywords to get better results. Choose more specific keywords, and avoid generalities. For example, phrases such as "low fat cookie recipe" are far more targeted than "healthy baking," and will get you more traffic.

4. Textalyser Tool. The Textalyser Tool will tell you which keywords you've used most often, and how they rank. This will show as a percentage of your total article. Use the Omniture Keyword selector tool to determine which keywords are being searched, then use the Textalyser tool to determine how high they rank in your article. Optimizing over 5% could be considered as spam by the search engines. However, anything below 1% probably won't be noticed. So try and keep your desired keywords between 1 and 5%. You can also examine your first page, as opposed to your whole article. If you find that any keyword on your first page is creeping over 5%, replace it with a synonym in a couple of places.

5. TagCrowd Tool. The TagCrowd Tool is somewhat better than the Textalyser tool in some ways. It creates a visual tag cloud of your article. It groups similar words the way most search engines do. So it will treat paint, painter and painting as the same keyword group, whereas the Textalyser tool will treat each of these words as separate. The TagCrowd Tool gives you a graphic representation of which keywords in your article are most prominent. If one keyword is dominating the article, you may want to reduce it within the article. If a keyword you need to get traffic ranks too low, you should try to find another opportunity to use that keyword in the article.

6. Optimize Your Title. The title of your article is actually more important than the main text. Make sure that the important keywords are not only in your title, but are also at the beginning of your article. This is because search engines rank earlier words in your title higher. Also, if you write for a site which converts your article title to a URL, this will also affect your overall traffic.

7. Optimize Keywords at the Beginning of the Text. You need to make sure the beginning of your article contains a few instances of your keywords. If the keywords don't appear until further down the page, you won't rank as high on search engines. This is more important than filling your article with incredible numbers of a keyword or keyword phrases.

8. Scan Your Article for Keyword Optimization Opportunities. Never write for search engines. Instead, write your article the way you feel it should be written. Then, after you finish, scan the text to see which important keywords seem to feature prominently in your writing.

If you look at every one of your articles in this manner prior to upload, you will notice a lot of these missed opportunities. Try to group keywords together in patterns you know are searched. Be careful to optimize only the right words. If you find that a certain keyword or keyword combination won't get you traffic, don't bother with it. Switch it to a different keyword combination.

9. Trim it! After you've finished writing, trim the deadwood from your article. You may want to get in the habit of letting your articles sit on the computer for a couple of days before you submit them.

10. Don't Over-Optimize. The most important factor in the the 'value' of your writing is not to overdo the optimization. In most cases, search engine optimization won't do any good. In other cases, despite minimal search engine optimization, an article will take off with thousands of page views. Try to write on a variety of different subjects, and promote your writing on other sites.

For all this to truly be successful, the site you are writing for has to generate some serious hits to work from.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Only 30 day

2010-09-09T10:43:00.002-07:00

If you had only 30 days to save your company or business --- what would you do differently? What would you put into place now?

Question: Who is the the easiest person in the world to sell to (not just in St. Louis)?

That's an easy question to answer, yet one most business owners, unfortunately never ask themselves.

You see... the easiest person to sell to is one you've sold to before. It's someone who you already have a relationship with and who already trusts you; someone who's already had a "Wow" experience with your company. And, usually it's someone who is willing to give you a testimonial... if you ask for it. But, you have to ask for it!

Here's more of the path to powerful testimonials:

* Use industry endorsements and/or respected experts

* Put together user groups

* Create a feedback form on your website

* Ask directly, and then help your clients write the testimonial. Lead them down a path. Take what they say and par it down to the strongest seven words or less that maximizes what is being said.

One of my favorite ways to get testimonials is an approach I learned from a good friend. When a customer tells you something great about your product or service, right then be ready and ask this golden question, "Can I quote you on that?" Then write up their quote, email it to them for their approval, and voila! You've got a great testimonial! This takes some personal listening skills and focus on being ready to 'ask'.

Why are testimonials so powerful? Because, what someone else says about you - is so much more believable than what you say about yourself.

If you're talking about your own business, you're bound to say how good it is. Everyone expects it, and no one really believes it. But if someone else raves about your business...then it's a whole different ball game.

So, if you don't have testimonials... you need them fast!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

The *exponential equation

2010-09-09T10:43:00.001-07:00

For so long, businesses and businesspeople were faulted for showing emotion. Doing so was considered unprofessional and inappropriate. I tell you plainly that it's essential - to feel a connection to what you are doing and to get your customers to feel that connection.

Today, connecting with your customers - hitting that emotional "buy-me" button-is considered such a huge idea, there is actually a book written with the algebraic equation.

In researching this latest book, "Shops That Pop!": Preparing for the Future of Shopping, nationally recognized consumer insights expert Pam Danziger discovered that "Tangible factors play a role in the shopping decision, but they rarely dominate." Danziger, who is president of Unity Marketing, found that such tangibles as "need", "features", and "affordability" are merely additive: 1+1+1=3

In contrast, "emotion" works exponentially: (see the article image that shows exponential growth of something is a very rapid growth and is mostly used to describe the financial growth of a company).

Need often drives consumers to the stores to shop, sets them on a mission, and moves them to action but there really isn't a thing that marketers or retailers can do about building need.

However, desire is something they can build and is an emotional response, which is significant, because emotion is the dominant factor. What a difference - when you can connect with your customers in an emotional way and ignite their passion, you will be on their way to building a successful company - one passionate, emotionally attached person at a time!

Successful creative solutions are much closer than you might think.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Price is not a benefit

2010-09-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest concerns of business owners is how to price their products or services. Often, our customers say, "Well I would buy it if it were in my price range." And, that idea tempts many business owners to lower their prices -- just to sell more products. This issue is not just local to St. Louis or St. Louis County, but is across the globe.

However, as you already know, price reductions sometimes create more problems than they solve.

For example, price reductions:

Decrease net profits
Lead to the purchase of lower quality products
Increase customer demands to drop the price even lower!
Require even more sales to make up the difference in revenue
Need a larger quantity of products

And, in the end, as John Jantsch (author of Duct Tape Marketing) says, "There will always be someone willing to go out of business faster than you."

Remember this: price is not a benefit. Selling is not determined on the cost of your product. If you truly "sell" your customers and prospects, they will purchase your products/services no matter what price you determine.

If a customer or prospect doesn't buy...and they claim the cost had something to do with it...you can guess they probably wouldn't have purchased anyway.

Remember our job is to sell your products and services. The actual art of selling has nothing to do with the price of the product. By the time your contacts find out about the price, they should be determined to purchase no matter what the cost.

So, find "real" benefits (value) to sell to your customers and prospects. Help them to see how great their life is with your product, and you've got a customer. Point out their current pain, and your contact will do anything to get rid of it (and get the good testimonials)!

Set your prices and hold fast. If you've set the correct perception and marketing tone, you will still have customers anxious to do profitable business with you!

For Your Success,

Keith Thorn

What's in the tank this year

2010-09-09T10:42:00.002-07:00

Are you using old tanks with old marketing gas - and expecting new results?

Does your marketing and advertising have the octane to drive the sales vehicle to your goals this year? How do people find your company, and what is their first (and lasting) impression? Are your business relationships growing through your marketing, advertising, and media opportunities?

Here's what I think has completely lost octane in:

Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages continue to lose effectiveness when it comes to reaching customers. We no longer reach for the Yellow Pages when we are looking for a product or service. Instead, we grab our keyboards and do a search. We are information seekers and the Yellow Pages fail to give us all the information that we desire. An address and telephone number coupled with a graphical ad are no longer enough, and therefore, we go online.

Catalog Marketing
When was the last time you thumbed through a catalog before tossing it into the trash can? I remember my mother would keep catalogs and put them into the cabinet for us to peruse when we were bored. That's no longer the case. When we are ready to buy we go online to find information about the product and to read reviews from other consumers. Catalogs do not provide us with the in-depth information we, as consumers, seek. This reason doesn't even take into account that we are becoming an environmentally conscious society that no longer wants the waste when we can use other means to find the information we need immediately.

Direct-Mail Pieces
It's true many companies still swear by direct-mail pieces, but if you are sending out a solo direct-mail piece and you are not integrating it with an online or drip campaign – it spells failure. We've been bombarded with direct-mail advertisements and marketing pieces, and truth be told, we, as consumers, are sick of them. You fill up our mailbox and we continually have to sort through our mail to find what we deem important. This just makes more work for us and frustrates us. We are over it and will only toss those direct-mail pieces into the trash unless you do something extraordinary that gets our attention. However, when companies do that the campaign is often no longer cost-effective.

Telemarketing
When was the last time you heard of a telemarketing campaign actually working? We don't want you to call us unless we've given you permission. You are interrupting our family time and you even sometimes interrupt our dinner. You start off with scripts that make you sound like a robot, and it really ticks us off that we got up to answer the phone only to be greeted by another telemarketer. We hate these calls so much that there are tools to block you or at least screen you from getting to us. The majority of consumers don't even answer numbers that they don't know – see what you've done? Telemarketing is no longer effective.

Print/Television
I don't think print and television will ever completely go away – that's not why I am listing them. I'm listing them because I think the money that companies spend on these marketing methods will decrease and be redirected to marketing activities that provide real-time statistics and real-time results. I believe that in the next decade you will begin to see print and television integrated more with online marketing campaigns and they will work to drive the consumers online to purchase, request information or contact the company. We've already begun to see this with major brands today.

The basics that I have posted on my website are this: 'Competing in the traditional marketplace is no longer an option for companies who want to maintain top performance for their products or services. KTLLC Communications will provide your business with opportunities for growth simply by developing value and innovation for your customers'.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Where's it all going

2010-09-09T10:42:00.001-07:00

I wrote my thesis in 2000 that GPS and advertising are going to come together in a revolutionary way that will change the direction of marketing and advertising in the way the Guttenberg press changed book writing.

Call this 'Location-Based Marketing'

It is no longer about where you are going geographically, but where you are at what time I want to advertise my product and or services. Our hand held devices are with us all the time and they not only help us find where we are going - advertisers know exactly where we are and when - all because of GPS and nuclear time working together.

For example - the technology exists already in apps for people to send you ads for today's lunch in the Central West End - at Cicero's Restaurant when you are within 5 miles of that immediate area between the hours of say 11am and 1pm - with a lunch special - 'for today only'!

What's has the high octane of the future?:
How will marketing change in the upcoming decade? We will see marketing continue to move from one-way marketing methods to two-way communication with consumers. Businesses will begin to see that the only marketing that truly works with consumers is relationship marketing and really taking the time to listen to what they want and what they desire.

For businesses in the next decade, it will become increasingly important to monitor their brands and reputations online and to be aware of what's being said as well as do any damage control and address any issues that arise in a timely if not immediate fashion. Businesses can no longer hide behind the four walls; it's not enough to broadcast anymore. In order to succeed with your marketing it will be necessary to interact, engage and create relationships to grow your business and create an effective marketing strategy in the next decade.

Marketing methods that are talking hold and will increase over the next decade include:

Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube)
We have seen millions gravitate to social media at warp speed. People are interacting and engaging daily with other individuals as well as with businesses. This will not slow down. Change? Perhaps. I do believe over the next decade you will see change in the social media marketing platforms as well as the social media networking sites that are used. It's important to realize that when using social media in your marketing strategy you remember it's about interaction, not just about broadcasting. You need to create a social media marketing strategy that engages and cultivates relationships as well as solves any problems or issues that come up.

Mobile Marketing
We hear a lot about mobile marketing, but the truth is we are just starting. Mobile marketing will become a great marketing vehicle for many businesses. Businesses will begin to use mobile marketing to serve up advertisements, appointment reminders and invitations, as well as to create applications that not only entertain but also build brand awareness. Don't underestimate this vehicle; it's one you want to keep your eye on and to ask yourself whether there are ways that you can get involved. I will tell you that mobile marketing, in order for it to be effective, will need to be permission based. Don't start spamming cell phone numbers; this will only get you in trouble and create a bad taste in the mouths of consumers.

Opt-In Marketing
This has been around awhile now, yet I am suggesting to my St. Louis and other clients that they don't just get a valid email, but rather the cell phone number as there are ways to text 'advertising messages'. People change emails every so often, but there is no longer any reason not to keep your cell phone number, even when you change cell phone companies.

Real-Time Search Marketing
We've recently seen the effects of real-time search with the integration of Twitter feeds into Google search engine results. This is just the beginning. There will come a time when search engine results will harvest all social networking site feeds, and when that happens you better hope that consumers only have good things to say about you and your brand. Don't overlook search engine marketing in the next decade because real-time search has just put your brand into the hands of consumers and it's better to be aware of what's being said rather than to claim ignorance.

Loyalty Marketing
We've heard of loyalty marketing before, but in the next decade I believe you will begin to see an increase in this type of marketing. Businesses are looking to create loyalty from their consumers. This not only rewards the consumers, but it also keeps them dedicated to your business and the services or products that you offer. A loyalty program can show consumers how important they are to your business. It can also show them how appreciative you are of them; this can help you to create a customer for life. Customers want to know they matter to you and your staff, and a loyalty program reinforces that fact.

Do you notice a commonality in the marketing methods that will be increasing? They are marketing methods that allow two-way communication from business to consumer and from consumer to business. They are about creating and cultivating relationships.

It's no longer enough to broadcast your marketing message. Consumers are over-stimulated with marketing messages, so much so that they often don't even see your message. You are not only going to have to work harder, but work smarter to get the attention of consumers in the next decade. More important, once you have their attention you need to work on creating a relationship with them. Relationships will be key when it comes to marketing in the next decade, and this eventually leads to succeeding in business.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

It's not just a Facebook page, it's a community

2010-09-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

We have seen millions gravitate to social media at warp speed. People are interacting and engaging daily with other individuals as well as with businesses. This will not slow down. Change? Perhaps. Over the next decade you will see change in the social media marketing platforms as well as the social media networking sites that are used.

It's important to realize that when using social media in your marketing strategy you remember it's about interaction, not just about broadcasting. You need to create a social media marketing strategy that engages and cultivates relationships as well as solves any problems or issues that come up.

At this point, Facebook is the total community. Not just the St. Louis community, but worldwide potential. I have a client in the St. Louis metro area area named 'Grandmas Cookies' - and their site is visited daily by every continent in the world!

People like you are hanging out and discussing the latest in the relationship media, marketing, and the creative business world and having a voice. Create a platform and listen. It's becoming a growing and important community!

Click here to go to our Facebook page. While you're at it, check out the information, updates, pictures, and projects. Then make sure your Facebook is up to date with all your company offerings and opportunities - but don't forget about all the others out there like Utube, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter and more.

Send me an email and I will help your company harness the power of social media.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Avoid analysis paralysis

2010-09-09T10:41:00.001-07:00

How many times have you been in a planning meeting that seemed to be going very well...but in the end, never amounted to anything? You might be surprised at the number of clients in the St. Louis metro area who fall into this group for a number of reasons - but non the less, still in this group.

Chances are we've all been caught up in analysis paralysis at one time or another. In other words, good ideas have been presented, but by the time enough people consider and reconsider the situation, it seems more complex, or not as great an idea as you originally thought. Or, in most cases, a conclusion about how to act is never reached.

But, guess what? There is such as thing as 'over-thinking'.

In sports, analysis paralysis might keep an athlete from reacting quickly enough. In politics, analysis paralysis might cause a simple issue to be debated for years. And, in business, analysis paralysis can keep business owners from moving forward in some pretty amazing opportunities! To avoid analysis paralysis:

* Quickly jot down the pros and cons of an idea.
* Make a decision (If an entire group is deciding-take a vote.)
* Write out the steps required to follow through.
* Assign the steps.
* Follow through.

You didn't become an entrepreneur to become a hesitant decision maker. By following these steps, you will make good, well informed decisions. Some will work out and some won't. But, at least you won't miss out on BIG opportunities!

If you find it difficult to be a decisive person, remember this, "The success is not in the decision you make; the success is in HOW you deal with the decision you make." Make your decision and then go to work to make it the right decision.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

How do you use the magic word

2010-09-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

When it comes to marketing, "free" is one of the most powerful, most overused, and most wrongly used words in the English language. You see, when most people want to use this word in their marketing, they'll write it in big, bold letters, slap it in the headline, and wait for it to work its magic.

Make no mistake... "free" is an extremely powerful word, but if you don't know how to wield it with precision and skill, you're in for a nasty surprise! It's a little bit like the difference between a scalpel and a machete. Both are extremely sharp and powerful tools... but you must have the right skills to use them safely and effectively.

One of the best places to use the word "free' in your marketing... is when you use it to offer your customers and prospects a free report.

So, what is a free report? A free report is exactly what it says: a free source of useful information you give your prospects. You see, you are an expert in your industry, and there are things you know that your contacts can certainly benefit from. Offering a free report like St Louis-based NIE Insurance company gives online (designed by KTLLC Communications) is an excellent way to:

* Build your relationship with your customers and prospects

* Give your customers and prospects value

* Bring in leads (when you offer your free report as a download)

* Keep your name in front of your prospects

* Educate your prospects about your services

There is NO doubt about it: the value you get from giving a paper-and-ink report returns a value far out of proportion to its cost!

The advantage of giving away information is this: because you are the expert and because you've done your contacts a favor (by giving them something of value), they are going to feel comfortable with you and indebted to you. And, that will drive more sales!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

New caffeine for your web site

2010-09-09T10:40:00.002-07:00

Traffic to your website from a social media platform is, by its very nature, more valuable than traffic from other sources.

St. Louis people and others around the world spend time on social networks for the purpose of sharing information with people they deem important. Trust is high among peers; recommendations and messages exchanged among friends are more likely to resonate than those directly from a company.

Relationships in business is a topmost priority in many ways that is finding it's way into the 'bots' of the web SEO algorithms (that's webenese talk for how SEO is automated to work).

A goal for any site is to have a visitor login or register, becoming an engaged user and interacting more - making a purchase, posting content, etc. Once a user is engaged, make it easy for them to communicate back to the social networks of their choice without leaving your site.

Activity-based social publishing tools enable the user to perform this action from within the flow of your website experience. A user finds something of interest on your website and then calls it out to their community - exponentially maximizing your reach!

For your success,

Keith Thorn,
KTLLC Communications

The perfect star - St. Louis marketing | Examiner.com

2010-09-09T10:40:00.001-07:00

The perfect star - St. Louis marketing | Examiner.com

Awards don't achieve results\

2010-09-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

I remember the classic case of the big dollar award-winning advertising agency gone nightmare - In 1989, Infiniti's 'Rocks and Trees' TV commercials.

We started seeing really cool ads with geese flying in a unique formations. Do you remember wondering about these ads? They were really 'artistic and dramatic' cinematography, showed no cars and lasted for only five weeks before being pulled.

Sales for the car were not good and the public response was not even about the car as viewers did not even know what the commercial was about. They showed no cars and ran for only five weeks.Today, the campaign is an icon of the wrong way to launch a brand!

It was also the bench mark in the advertising arena where people began to demand results from these huge advertising agencies.

I believe awards are for personal acclamations and never participate in the ceremony. They are for showing off pretty pictures and creative flair ... they generally do not have the right combination needed for your bottom-line - measurable results on growing your business to your markets.

Is your companys relationship building process in place and 'measurable'.

In St. Louis and regionally, KTLLC Communications has professional relationships with numerous members of the media and developed a reputation based on responsiveness and credibility. Our strong relationships have helped launch products and put unknown organizations in the forefront of the media and their markets. A key phrase that is used often at KTLLC Communications is to "marry effectiveness with efficiency."

From start-ups to established organizations, public or privately held, for profit and 501(c)3's; KTLLC Communications is committed to developing and executing results oriented campaigns that enhance our partners’ image and their bottom line.

The best award is a successful creative solution that grows your business - and they are much closer than you might think.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Three keywords

2010-09-09T10:39:00.001-07:00

On Father's Day 2010 the new branding was launched on a new site for the St. Louis based Guys for Life International. Three goals were set-up in the initial stages to strive for as 'measurable' results. One was perception, two was motivation, and three was funding.

To arrive at success on the web, focus was given to how the web works and how people find sites.

The easy part is always the design - what looks good really comes down to how we use line, weight, shape, color, texture, contrast and color in a cohesive and compelling fashion.

The next part is how the web works and specifically - how people find you, and lastly - what they do.

Three words are defined in this article as 'keywords'. How these are understood and utilized makes all the difference in the success of any site - as the goal should always be to be found by people who do not know you - especially when they have use for what you organization offers in goods, services, and or education.

1. Keyword
Also known as search terms or query terms, keywords are the word(s) or phrase(s) a user enters into a search engine’s Query box. A Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranks indexed sites according to how relevant the Search Engine deems them to the searched keywords. One of the most important SEO Strategies companies can employ is to optimize their site pages with content that contains targeted keywords relevant to their products or industry.

2. Keyword Marketing
Keyword marketing is the use of keyword-optimized content and keyword-specific Link Text to emphasize a site’s relevancy to those terms and thereby increase Rank for related web queries. Keyword marketing can also be done through keyword-based ad programs such as Google AdSense. Keyword marketing is an essential component of Search Engine Optimization.

3. Keyword Submission
Keyword submission is an all-inclusive term for the keyword research/selection, bid cost assessment and budgeting that companies undertake to begin Pay-Per-Click keyword campaigns with advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Sponsored Search and Microsoft AdCenter.

Learn these terms and their potential - and you will find success on the web!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Is your company like BP

2010-09-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

British Petroleum (BP) made serious and tragic 'mess-ups' this year - is your company like BP?

Most companies are in the same boat as BP - in that they are people-run organizations that are in incorporated into a business entity to generate of profit on goods and or services that the markets purchase.

Where we should be different is when we 'mess-up, fess-up'. This is not just for the global travesties, but also for everyday issues. People lose respect for, quit doing business with, and or quit being motivated workers for company's (bosses) who cannot seem to do the right thing no matter your effort.

The traditional definition(s) of Public Relations (or PR) is a field concerned with maintaining public image for high-profile people, commercial businesses and organizations, non-profit associations or programs. Public relations (PR) concerns professions working in public message shaping for the functions of communication, community relations, crisis management, customer relations, employee relations, government affairs, industry relations, investor relations, media relations, mediation, publicity, speech-writing, and visitor relations.

The first World Assembly of Public Relations Associations, held in Mexico City in August 1978, defined the practice of public relations as "the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest." [1] Others define it as the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics. [2] Public relations provides an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that provide a third-party endorsement [3] and do not direct payment. [4] Common activities include speaking at conferences, working with the media, crisis communications, social media engagement[5], and employee communication. It is something that is not tangible; this is what sets it apart from advertising.

All that business-school talk comes down to this: PR starts in-house with the day to day work ethics, activities and decisions that affects every employees moral. Do you know anyone who works for BP? I am willing to bet they don't wear their BP branded work shirts in public today.

I personally find it hard to believe that there were no BP employees who knew the potential problems in the gulf - but suspect apathy was the business culture of this corporate structure that did not reward people for doing the right thing - to which they are now advertising.

I encourage my clients that all activities, inside and outside the company are PR opportunities and that they should look for activities that good public relations can build employee and client relationships with.

Ford recently came under negative backlash when they gave away a new car to a pitcher who missed a perfect game because of the umpire's mistake. Does that qualify as a public relations opportunity for your company?

Remember that people (consumers) all deal with four emotions - wants, needs, fears, and desires - so which one of those did Ford do well to address? Which one did BP address well?

Look everywhere for opportunities to build relationships - which in my mind is more like 'everyone look everywhere to do be proud of your work and do well for others'.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Don't gamble with your domain name

2010-09-09T10:38:00.002-07:00

Choosing a domain name for your website is not as simple as your company name add the extension .com.

If you are ready or have been ready to establish a new web presence - it need not be a gamble to get the right domain name(s) and you know the first step - is to find a domain name.

You want more than just a domain name you can live with – you want a domain name that will be the basis of establishing your brand, and a digital platform to build that brand on.

This domain name should mean something to your customers and be about your business. You want a domain name that is distinct from your competitors, and begin to the process of becoming easy to find!

Although it may seem that all the good names are gone, you can still get a great name for your website by using a little creativity and by gaining a bit more knowledge. Here are some tips to help you find your way to a better – available – domain name for your website.

Make it memorable

What is a unique domain name that is memorable and easy to spell? It's a good idea to find a name that uses descriptive words that are meaningful to your customers and relate to the content of your website (see my articles on SEO). Brainstorm for a website name using both the names of your business and the names you use to advertise your products.

There is a rule of thumb in marketing that says if you ask 6 people the exact same question, you will get 80% of your answer. It will take another 94 people being asked the same question to get 100%! Don't hesitate to pull the trigger with the high percentage answer.

More is better (sometimes). There is a company based out of Metro St. Louis called Allsup, Inc., who have at least 25 domain names that point to their website. The reason is because early on, they understood (or at least the web marketeer understood) the power of SEO and the fact that people don't always look for a product, or service, or even company, but they begin looking for information that is ranked on the first page of the web browser - and that leads them to companies who supply that information.

In the case I am noting, Allsup, Inc is a provider of services for the disabled. Why have more than www.allsupinc.com? Because people first look at the information sources and research about their 'disease' or 'disability' first to understand more about it and after they more fully understand the battle they are in with that disability - they look for people to solve their problems. It's also critical to have the right information sources linked back to your site

If you operate in a local business consider adding your city or state locality to your domain name. For example, "Bagels.com" maybe taken, but "stlouisbagels.com" or "westcountybagels.com" may be available. Adding your locality to your domain name not only helps you get the name you want, but may also lead customers to your local business.

Pick the right extensions

Your domain name is made up of two parts: your "uniquename" followed by a "dot extension" or TLD (top level domain). Adding different TLD extensions to your name makes it an entirely new domain name registered to a different Web address.

Most business owners will register their domain name with one, two, or all four of the most popular extensions: .com, .net, .org, and .biz - but because these are the most commonly used extensions, they also have the most registrations – meaning it can be difficult to get the "uniquename" you want using just .com, .net, and .org. Be careful if you don't get them all - as you leave the door open to someone wanting to do damage to your reputation.

However, there are many other domain name extensions that will be in the play soon as technology is leaping forward and could be appropriate to your web site content including .info, .mobi, .tv, etc. There are also regional extensions, such as .us (USA), .ca (Canada), .co.uk (United Kingdom), .cn (China), etc., that may be appropriate for you depending on the location of your business.

Additionally, the combined ".us.com" extension can be a great way to get the domain name you truly want that is no longer available as a ".com" extension. The .us.com extension also tells your customers that your business resides in, or is focused within the United States.

Always check your spelling

The characters that are available for use in your unique domain name are: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz-0123456789. Try to avoid confusion when choosing your domain name and resist the temptation for deliberate misspellings: '2' for 'to' and '4' for 'for', etc. You want your customers to easily remember and type in your name exactly as you've registered it.

Some companies even buy the common 'typos' of their domain names just to be safe and not risk loosing one customer experieince.

A warning about hyphens - although the use of hyphens can be tempting to get the name you want, it is very easy for people to forget to type the hyphens and thereby end up at an entirely different Web site.

Research

Always do the research and take the crucial time to search the Internet for websites with the same domain name you want to register, but with a different extension. For example, if you register a .net extension and the .com version of that name belongs to an embarrassing website or a competitor, how will you feel when your customers find the .com site by accident?

Act Now

Register your domain name ASAP. Once you find the domain name you want – register it now! With hundreds of thousands of domain names registered daily, the name you find today may not be available tomorrow. With the Internet business growing at such a rapid speed there is plenty of competition left for the remaining great names. It's worth registering all your top choices immediately.

Your domain name will establish how the world will think of you. It has to mean something to your customers and resonate with them so they'll return to your website again and again. You need a domain name you can display on your existing business materials, in your email, and through online marketing. The more exposure you give your website name the more easily it will be found and remembered.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Why know your history

2010-09-09T10:38:00.001-07:00

I tell clients in St. Louis and in my travels that 'understanding history always helps us understand the future'.

For today's search engines, if you know a little of the history behind them, you can begin to make sense of where things really are and where they are going - maybe even why. Of course, there's not much history to cover, since the Internet is relatively young.

The first common misunderstanding - is there a difference is between the Internet and the World Wide Web? Many people believe that the two terms can be used interchangeably. In actuality, nothing could be further from the truth.

The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks. It was dreamed up in 1969 by a U.S. government agency called ARPA, or the Advanced Research Projects Agency. (In fact, the Internets original name was ARPANET.) Nowadays, you can access the Internet via telephone lines, cable, fiber optics, and other communication mediums.

The Internet: A worldwide network of computer networks. The World Wide Web is younger still. It came into being around 1990, when researchers realized that they could use the Internet to connect a web of stored hypertext pages and make them accessible to people around the world. That web of pages grew from a handful at the outset to billions today.

The World Wide Web is, by far, the most commonly used application on the Internet. (E-mail is another application of the Internet that you're familiar with.)

All users of the Web utilize HTTP, or the hypertext transfer protocol, in order to navigate from one Web site to another. Look at the address bar near the top of your Web browser. You'll find that the www is preceded by http://. This tells the Web site that you're on the World Wide Web and that you're using the hypertext transfer protocol.

It's important to understand the difference between the Internet and the Web so you can fully grasp how search engines work. While search engines use the Internet, they don't search the entire Internet. Typically, search engines only search for Web sites on the World Wide Web.

The Search Engine Power Players, Yesterday and Today
For a young industry, the search engine field already has an extensive past! Here's a quick summary of important points on the search engine timeline.

1993: The first widely acclaimed search engine, the World Wide Web Wanderer, appears. Created to measure the growth of the Web, it performs its job through 1997. The statistics compiled by this search engine are still available on the Web today.

1994: WebCrawler comes on the scene. The original WebCrawler database contains just 6,000 Web sites. (I think I have more Web sites than that listed in my favorites!) AOL-now there's a name you probably recognize-purchases WebCrawler in 1995, but sells it just two years later to Excite. Infospace, its current owner, buys WebCrawler when Excite declares bankruptcy.

1994: Another powerhouse, the Lycos search engine, launches with 54,000 indexed documents. The Lycos search engine is still a player today, but it's changed hands several times. Currently, it's a subsidiary of the Korean-based Daum Communications Corporation.

1995: AltaVista explodes onto the scene. AltaVista (or AV) is the first search engine to include multilingual search capabilities. After changing hands several times, AltaVista becomes the property of Overture Services. (Overture is owned by Yahoo!, which we'll discuss a bit later.) AltaVista maintains its status as the search king until the launch of Google.

1998: Larry Page and Sergey Brin introduce the world to Google, which quickly shoots to the top of the search engine rankings. (The name comes from the word googol, which is the name for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.) Google's database now includes trillions of Web pages, and most experts agree that Google enjoys greater than 50% of total search engine traffic. This means that a top Google ranking will yield more traffic to your site than a top ranking with any other search engine...period.

That's where things stand now, with Google by far the most used search engine on the Web.
However, things change rapidly, with companies constantly buying, selling, and creating search engines. As a result, you'll want to keep tabs on which search engines are gaining or losing popularity.

Search Engines versus Directories
Are you wondering why we didn't talk about Yahoo! in the last section? That's because Yahoo! began as a directory, not a search engine. While search engines' indexes are compiled by computers, directories are categorical lists of Web sites compiled by humans. Before it's accepted, each Web site listed in a directory is carefully scrutinized and deemed acceptable for placement in one specific category.

Some people argue that because directories are compiled by humans, they're limited because they don't offer as many search results as search engines. However, I think you'll find that the search results displayed by directories can often be much more useful than the search results displayed by search engines.

The most popular directory on the Web is Yahoo!, founded in 1994 by David Filo and Jerry Yang. They started Yahoo! on a couple of computers in a campus trailer at Stanford, initially using it to track their own interests. It surprised them by taking off quickly, and they incorporated it in 1995 with an initial investment of almost $2 million. By the way, Yahoo! Is an acronym for - Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle!

In an effort to diversify, Yahoo decided to use Google's engine to supply users with primary search results. However, in 2004, Yahoo! unveiled its own brand-new search engine. You can still tap into Yahoo!'s directory, and I think you'll find it extremely useful at times. If you perform a search at http://www.yahoo.com, the results you'll get are derived from the Yahoo Search Engine. However, you can obtain Yahoo Directory search results by initiating a search at http://dir.yahoo.com.

The Open Directory Project is perhaps the second most popular directory on the Web. It's compiled by more than 50,000 volunteers who've indexed nearly 4 million Web sites. The directory contains just under 500,000 categories, all of which can be searched by keyword or category.

Due to the limited resources of the Open Directory, searching for results through their Web site can be time-consuming and cumbersome. However, some search engines include Open Directory listings within their secondary search results.

The question on the table right now in 2010 is - 'will social media replace email' ... what do you think now?

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Is email going away

2010-09-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

Social media is such a growing at such an alarming rate that Facebook now thinks that email is dying. Classic. How many times have we heard this now? Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gave a recent speech at the Nielsen Consumer 360 conference recently, essentially claiming that 'truth'.

In consumer technology, if you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today, and the latest figures say that only 11% of teenagers email daily. So email,as much as we like or dislike it, is probably going away. So what do teenagers do? They SMS and increasingly they use social networking. check out WebGuild.org.

I believe that Facebook couldn't exist without email - as you need an email address to sign up and to log-in. Many of us rely on email for notifications from Facebook to know when someone has sent us a message, commented on our posts, invited us to an event, tagged us in a photo, etc. In fact, I wonder how frequently the average Facebook user would come back to Facebook daily without email notifications.

But, cell phone numbers may be what everything eventually goes to, as I believe those are long-term 'accounts' for everyone today. Side advice for e-marketers - get the cell phone number along with the email address..

I think to be fair, Sandberg was looking to the future, and not the present when she made this claim. She even said that she couldn't imagine life without email. It's interesting, because Facebook is in some ways helping keep email relevant for the reasons mentioned above (though email certainly doesn't need Facebook's help to stay relevant).

Facebook does require you to use email to sign-up and log-in, but we are seeing more and more open protocols being used around the web for ID authentication. There are also not-so-open protocols in use, like Facebook Connect. We can log-in to a wide variety of sites/apps with our Facebook ID, but cannot log-in to Facebook with anything other than my email address. If Facebok thinks email is dying, does that mean it will adopt some other open authentication protocols?

What do you think - is email in any immediate or long-term danger of near extinction at the hands of social networks and/or SMS? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Facebook fatique

2010-09-09T10:37:00.001-07:00

St Louis teenagers already experience Facebook fatigue; so is Facebook on it's way out?

A study from Roiworld that surveyed 600 teenagers, and found that while 80% of them are spending two hours per day online (on average), they are also showing signs of Facebook fatigue. According to this survey, one in five who have a Facebook account are either using it less or no longer visit it at all.

Is Facebook fatigue a threat to the future of Facebook? You may recall that from my recent article that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gave a speech at the Nielsen Consumer 360 conference recently indicating that email is "probably going away". The reason for this that she gave is, "In consumer technology, if you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today, and the latest figures say that only 11% of teenagers email daily. So email is probably going away. So what do teenagers do? They SMS and increasingly they use social networking."

If the aforementioned survey is indicative of the bigger picture, than Facebook fatigue is what many of us will experience tomorrow.

Some other interesting stats from the survey:
- 16% are leaving because their parents are there
- 14% leaving because there are "too many adults/older people" there
- 13% concerned about privacy

Ok, let's get to reality now. Facebook is not in any immediate trouble. That may not last forever, but even if teenagers stop using it, it has become so ingrained in society at this point it may be around for quite some time anyway.

Other noteworthy stats from the survey:
- Facebook still the most popular social network among teens
- 78% have created a profile
- 69% still use it

Even with all of the recent privacy uproar, Facebook managed to keep growing. Then there's the fact that all surveys should be taken with ample grains of salt, and are almost never truly indicative of the entire picture. That's not to say that there is nothing to the survey, because frankly, I think many of us have felt some amount of Facebook fatigue, and it's up to Facebook to keep itself interesting and relevant. However, that is exactly what the company has been trying to do, as it has expanded across the web via the open graph, and places more emphasis on Facebook credits (very related to gaming, not to mention huge e-commerce implications).

Yet more noteworthy stats from the survey:
- A third of the teens who play games on Facebook spend at least 50% of their time on Facebook playing them
- 75% claim to play games on the web

Like email, Facebook isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Email is doing just fine and so is Facebook for the foreseeable future. Though email has proven a lot more than Facebook has so far.

On a related note, Gartner is saying that wireless email users will reach a billion by the end of 2014. "People increasingly want to use mobile devices for collaboration to share content, information, and experiences with their communities," sayd Monica Basso, research vice president at Gartner. "Social paradigms are converging with e-mail, instant messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and presence, creating new collaboration styles"

Do you experience Facebook fatigue? Please leave your comment.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Good content works

2010-09-09T10:37:00.000-07:00

Gather.com is a site that started as a social networking site, but is now a demand-driven media company, attracting 7 million unique visitors per month (and growing), according to the company. Demand-driven media is certainly a competitive industry these days with companies like Demand Media, AOL, Yahoo and others all playing their roles.

St. Louis businesses know content has always been "where it's at", and that holds true as much as ever these days. Gather CEO Tom Gerace, who is also founder of the Social Media Advertising Consortium (SMAC), a non-profit organization working on the creation of standards for social media engagement campaigns, offered some tips on marketing through content to share. These tips are:

1. Start with Search. There are 15.9 billion searches run every month and a small percentage are customers looking for you and your competitors. Figure out your market opportunity by understanding how many searches, keywords and keyword phrases are related to what you do.

2. Think holistically about your budget. What do you spend today per customer? What is your average SEM spend? Content-based programs can help lower cost/customer acquisition because fewer people are doing it and competition, so far, is less intense. Plan to shift some budget dollars from SEM and other acquisition marketing efforts to content marketing - it delivers results with an improved cost structure.

3. Target your content creation. Content needs to be targeted to areas that align directly with your brand; where sufficient demand for your content will make content marketing worthwhile.

4. Make lots and lots and lots of content at a low cost. Search engines weigh recency heavily when organizing content. There is always fresh content at the top of search results pages, so 1,000 posts on a topic will capture more customers than a competitor with 5 – 10 posts.

5. Don't go at it alone. Managing writers, achieving top search engine placement, and establishing content creation costs to make content marketing make sense requires specialized knowledge and training. Find a partner and make them put their money where their mouth is on the numbers they promise.

Those are Gerace's tips, but I'd like to add that quality also makes the difference. Not only does Google continually try to put more emphasis on quality with algorithm updates, but it also goes a long way when you're talking about reputation, and obviously you don't want to do something that will hurt your brand.

As far as search, Google's Matt Cutts has said of the recent Mayday update, for example, that content farms are among the kinds of sites that are hit the hardest by the alrogithm change. That's another reason why churning out sub-par content is not going to be in your best interest. If you can walk the line of delivering content that people are searching for, and giving them content that stands out, there are lots of benefits to be had.

What do you think - we appreciate your comments!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

The dating game

2010-09-09T10:36:00.002-07:00

It's not just about leads as St Louis businesses are certainly looking to sell more, but how? One very basic way I suggest we start by looking to sell more - is by speaking your customer’s language.

The Problem. A common lament we hear from business leaders surrounds their struggle to grow faster. It often sounds something like this:

Why can’t we grow faster? We have a great business, happy customers, and demonstrable results. What are we doing wrong?

Why is it so hard to get folks to sit down and talk to us? Can’t they see how much we could help them? We’re in a competitive market, and it seems like everything comes down to price wars. How do we stand out in the crowd so people come find us? Anything sound familiar?

Why Does This Work? Remember ‘The Dating Game?’ Remember this television show? A female contestant would sit with the host behind a partition. On the other side of the partition were 3 bachelors – Bachelor #1, Bachelor #2 and Bachelor #3. She would ask them all a series of questions, and decide who she wanted to go out with. We could see the whole thing transpire, and while we in the audience knew how the guys looked, our contestant ultimately chose a bachelor based on what he said. While we all laughed, there was a lot of truth there.

Remember your own dating stories when you sat down to dinner with someone who seemed very attractive and then they opened their mouth, only to cause you to RUN out the door at your earliest opportunity?

Now remember another time when you sat down with someone who may or may not have been as attractive, but at the end of the night you said ‘I want to get to know this person?’ What was the difference? He said ‘The Magic Words.’ Exactly.

I'd like to hear your thoughts and comments!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Mobi What

2010-09-09T10:36:00.001-07:00

Mobi is the world's newest and most versatile media opportunity - that stays with people 24 hours per day! Mobi technology is not a single technology but a complete, end-to-end, broadband, wireless IP solution.

Lets first talk numbers in the big picture. Print is 500 years old and still going quite strong. Recordings, cinema and radio are all over 100 years of age as a mass media, give or take ten years for each. Also, TV is over 50 years old as a mass market medium. The internet is just over 17 years old.

The internet is already an adolescent "rebellious" teenager. Mobile is just maturing from a child to a young teenager.

There are 1.5 billion TV sets in the world. 900 million personal computers, desktops and laptops. The internet had 1.3 billion users at the end of 2007 but the mobile subscriber count had reached 3.3 billion (source ITU, 2008). Obviously not all mobile phone users consume media content today - but a massive 798 million of them were users of the "mobile internet" which includes WAP users. In 2008 was the cross-over point more users accessed internet content (including WAP) via a mobile phone, than via any kind of PC/laptop. Why know your history - KTLLC Communications

In the St. Louis metropolitan area, KTLLC Communications can effectively convert your current website to .mobi, or optimize existing website for mobile devices. The future is now - to be creating compelling reasons for people to engage with your brand and to aggregate audiences over time, when they can come to you when they are ready.Let's get ahead of the curve - today!

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Unique capabilities of mobi - number 1

2010-09-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

In the 7th Mass Media channel - mobile is to the internet, what TV is to radio. This discussion will be a seven part series outlining one unique benefit at a time from the top seven list of unique capabilities of mobile as a media for our St Louis, and extended audiences.

1 - The mobile phone is the first personal mass media. How personal? Wired reported in 2006 that 63% of the population will not share the phone even with their spouse. It is that personal. Never before was any mass media assumed to be private. Books and magazines are shared. Movies watched together. Radio we can have the whole family in the car listening at the same time. Records are played to a room full of wedding guests by the DJ. TV is watched together by the family. The internet is semi-personal, but often the PC is shared by the family or business employees.

Our secretary or IT tech support (or Human Resources staff) may read through our emails. At home our parents often "snoop" what the kids do on the family PC etc. The internet is not a personal media, even if it often seems like it. But mobile. That is mine, and only mine.

Nobody reads my messages or looks through my pictures. Not unless I expressly permit that. Want to start a fight in a romantic relationship? Ask suddenly to read the stored messages of your partners' phone. Storm clouds rapidly arising...

look for the next article; there will be a continued discussion of the 2nd of 7 unique capabilities of mobile as a media - 'The mobile is permanently carried media'.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications

Mobile is permanently carried media - reason number 2

2010-09-09T10:35:00.002-07:00

In the 7th Mass Media channel - our discussion is the second in a seven part series outlining unique benefits one at a time from the top seven list of unique capabilities of mobile as a media for our St Louis, and extended audiences.

Unique benefit number 2 - The mobile is permanently carried media. This is the second of the series of '7 unique capabilities of mobile as a media'.

This is so powerful and only on mobile - Morgan Stanley reported in 2007 that 91% of mobile phone owners worldwide keep the phone within one meter (3 feet) day and night, 24 hours per day, including when we sleep at night. Yes. nine out of ten people will take the phone to the bathroom with them, sleep with the phone. It is our alarm clock. It is quite literally the last thing we look at before we go to sleep and the first thing we look at in the morning. If we leave home without our wallet, most will not go back for it. But if we leave without our phone, most will go back to retrieve the phone. Its that necessary to carry all the time.

What can we do with this, on a media dimension? Otetsudai networks in Japan tells us how to capitalize on it. They are the very short term temporary work online network, connecting people who would like to earn a bit extra through temporary work, and prospective employers who want to get very short term assistance. So a restaurant has a cook with a family crisis at home, has to leave. The restaurant's assistant cook handles the cooking, but now they need someone to assist with doing dishes. Three hours, right now. How to fix that? A newspaper ad? Way too slow. An internet ad? Probably too slow. But mobile? Otetsudai networks offers location-based info, you see immediately where the job is, and where the employee candidates are. The service offers price negotiation like eBay. Two hours to wash some windows because there was a fire in the building next door? Four hours of warehouse work because of a water leak, etc etc etc. Short term work - only because the phone is carried 24 hours a day, this kind of "less than one day" kind of short term temp work, can be efficiently connected - via the phone. Otetsudai networks? Has over 100,000 workers signed up in its first year in Tokyo and thousands of employers.

Look for the next article; there will be a continued discussion of the 3rd of 7 unique capabilities of mobile as a media - 'The mobile is the only always-on mass media'.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC Communications
www.ktllc.mobi

The mobile is the only always-on mass media - reason 3

2010-09-09T10:35:00.001-07:00

In the 7th Mass Media channel - our discussion is the third in a seven part series outlining unique benefits one at a time from the top seven list of unique capabilities of mobile as a media for our St Louis, and extended audiences. Unique benefit number 3 - The mobile is the only always-on mass media.

Yes, we can of course leave CNN on at night if we fall asleep, but 24 hour cable TV news was not intended to be consumed 24 hours in a row. Same for radio, yes it is theoretically an always-on service, but it was not assumed anyone tunes in 24 hours a day. But remember the above, we sleep with the phone. And we do not turn the phone off even when we sleep (we may turn the ringing sound off if we don't want to be interrupted at night).

The Belgian study by Catholic University of Leuwen revealed that half of Belgian youth wake up at night to incoming SMS text messages, and 20% regularly do so. The only media that can reach us in our sleep, because the phone is always on. Even the very last sanctuary, the airplane cabin, is no longer safe, as dozens of airlines are now adding equipment to allow phones to connect while in flight.

Where is the media business in this? Lots of it, lots. Anywhere where you might find value in breaking news. Finance, sports, gossip, etc. A great example is NTT DoCoMo's iChannel in Japan, which uses the idle screen of the phone. In effect, this is the intelligent next generation variant of the CNN News Ticker (scrolling news headlines on the bottom of the 24 hour cable TV news on screen).

But iChannel is far superior to CNN's news ticker, because we can personalize it. I am intersted in sports, yes, but not tennis, not golf, not football, not basketball. I come from Finland, so our national passions are ice hockey and Formula One car racing. That is the sports news I want. And yes, international news, finance news, technology and telecoms news.

I don't want to hear about celebrity gossip about Brittney Spears or about the currency exchange rates or how the stock markets did, etc. So my service is as fast as the fastest 24 hour news service, but tailored so well, that it suits my exact tastes. And where are the TV sets when we need them? But that mobile phone is always in our pocket or on the desk in front of us, or next to us on the sofa when we are watching the game on TV.

Only on mobile can we provide a far superior news ticker service than is the best possible one on 24 hour TV news. Is there money in this? You bet.. In just 18 months from launch, NTT DoCoMo had 16% of its subscribers signed up to the paid service, that is 8 million people paying 2 dollars per month to get personalized breaking news on their phones, 24 hours a day.

When you do the math, that is nearly 200 million dollars of annual revenues. Just from the idle screen of the mobile phone. (Isn't this industry like a license to print money? This is too easy, once you start to use the true benefits of the 7th Mass Media...)

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi

Mobile is the only mass media with a built-in payment mechanism

2010-09-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

In the 7th Mass Media channel - this discussion is the fourth in a seven part series outlining unique benefits one at a time from the top seven list of unique capabilities of mobile as a media for our St Louis, and extended audiences. Unique benefit number 4 - Mobile is the only mass media with a built-in payment mechanism.

This is perhaps the biggest key why mobile content is already far greater in value than fixed internet content, and why content owners fall in love with mobile. The money. For the first time ever, we can enable a "click-to-buy" button on a mass media, and get payments. Not just advertise to the customer but direct call to action. Actual purchase enablement.

This is a power that is barely grasped outside of mobile telecoms today. And before you say "but Paypal" - yes, Paypal. On the internet there is NO inherent ability to collect payment. NONE. Only by registering to Paypal, or providing a credit card, can you make purchases. That is lame. Only 10% of all internet users have a Paypal account.

This is a cumbersome work-around. Its as far, as any magazine ad which asks you to call a number with your credit card to buy whatever they are selling. But on mobile, it literally is click-to-buy. In fact, mobile is so powerful with this, that mobile payments are regularly used to collect money for other media. American Idol, Big Brother and other reality TV shows earn already billions per year from premium SMS votes.

Habbo Hotel collects most of its money - the teenager users do not have credit cards - from premium SMS. Radio stations, even print media collect revenues using mobile. For a credit card you need to be of age in most markets, but any age customer can get a mobile account - remember Habbo Hotel. Even pre-paid (top-up) accounts can be used for mobile payments, no problem. But that really is only the beginning. What if you had custom content for the 7th Mass Media. Let me tell you about Flirtomatic.

UK based converged online-mobile dating/flirting service, Flirtomatic, has innovated by which they make most of their money from the mobile users. Flirtomatic will for example let you send a virtual red rose - costing 23 UK pence per rose (32 Euro cents, 45 US cents) - to your flirting target.

How big is it? Out of their approx 100,000 registered users last year, Flirtomatic sold 3.5 million virtual red roses in 2007 and made 1.6 million dollars just with this digital innovation. In the process Flirtomatic became one of Britain's biggest florists as well.. Oh, its not the only thing they sell, Flirtomatic has dozens of cool dating/flirting related virtual objects and gifts and personalization.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi

Mobi - Unique benefit number 5

2010-09-09T10:34:00.002-07:00

St. Louis, did you know that mobile is only media available at the point of creative inspiration?

This observation of the fifth benefit comes courtesy of Tony Fish, the famed author of Mobile Web 2.0 etc. The point here is this - that when we have a moment of creative inspiration, our laptop is safely tucked inside our briefcase and the digital camera is back in our home. But the cameraphone is always with us, ready to go. This is the fundamental key to citizen journalism. Once a good mobile blogging solution is offered, most bloggers prefer to do updates and read comments by readers immediately when they happen, via mobile, rather than waiting to connect to their blogsites when they are back at their laptops and connected.

And of the money in this? Take YouTube on the internet. They would love to be able to monetize user-generated video. But SeeMeTV the more advanced mobile video service on the Three/Hutchison networks across the globe has this solution figured out. They pay one penny of royalty to the original creator of the video whenever it is viewed by someone on a 3G phone on their network.

There is so much money in this, that in the UK for example, on SeeMeTV the average video creator gets paid 13 UK pounds (20 Euros, 27 US dollars) for others viewing that video. This is not a hit video. Any average user-generated video earns this much. The most popular videos earn thousands of pounds. SeeMeTV and its close clone on the O2 network, LookAtMe, have had over 32 million downloads of user-generated mobile phone videos - and have paid the original creators a total of 800,000 pounds (1.6 million dollars). If you think user-generated content and citizen journalism is the hot trend in media, then this is truly the future of mass media. Only on mobile.

For your success.
Keith Thorn - www.KTLLC.mobi

Unique benefit number six

2010-09-09T10:34:00.001-07:00

Is St. Louis ready for Mobi unique benefit number six? Mobile is only media with accurate audience measurement.

The internet gave us a false impression or 'promise', that it would deliver a "segment of one" perfect audience measurements. But we have multiple accounts, corporate firewalls, shared computers, internet cafes, deliberatey falsified identities, anonymous servers, and yes, those nasty cookies, many users block them or erase them. The promise of perfect audience data on the internet turned out to be a mirage. Not so on mobile. On mobile we know every individual mobile phone subscriber uniquely and perfectly (on digital networks, ie second generation networks or newer, which are over 98% of all mobile phone accounts today. On the old analogue networks it was possible to clone phones and thus fool the network).

Having a prepaid account is no way to hide. We may not know my actual name (which is pretty useless in marketing in any case) but we do know perfectly well my full digital footprint. So we know that this same phone number sent 140 SMS text messages during last Sunday's Formula One race when Kimi Raikkonen won in Barcelona; and that the same phone number has downloaded three F1 games, and uses Google and mobile blogs to an F1 blogsite, etc etc etc.

AMF Ventures measured the relative performance of three media for audience identity. On TV we can only catch 1% of audience data. On the internet we can capture far more, 10% of audience data. But on mobile, we can capture 90% of audience data. Not perfect, but as near perfect that it doesn't matter. A whole order of magnitude better than on the web and in a different galaxy than Nielsen ratings on TV. In fact many media now use mobile phone data to collect real time audience data, including TV and radio. Hello? TV and radio audience measurements are so lousy, that they use mobile to get more accurate measurements of their active audiences... Time to wake up and smell the cellphone?

A good service illustrating this - UK based free calls and free messages service provider Blyk, targeting 16-24 year old British youth, who agree to watch 6 ads per day to get their free calls and messages. They just reached their first year target of 100,000 users in only 7 months and have incredibly loyal and passionate and fanatical users. What is their grand idea? It is user-generated advertising.

What? What was that? User-generated... advertising? Yes, imagine if you can, for a moment, that the recepient of the ad, can be convinced to join and co-create the ad experience. Telling the advertiser which colour I like, which supermodel I like, which rock band I like, etc. They can then tailor my ads to be more unique, more personal, more beloved, than anything on any other media. Like Alan Moore says, "you embrace what you create."

If we get the advertising target audience to co-create the experience, they will fall in love with the outcome. Does it work? After six months of bombarding its user base with 6 mobile ads every day, the average RESPONSE rate (not opening rate, the response rate) is 29%. Wow. But get this - on Blyk the biggest complaint that their users have, is they want MORE of the ads. If we know exactly what you like, and we tailor our offering exactly to your tastes, you will never ever ever go back to mainstream old-fashioned media (or advertising) again. Blyk will not only change mobile advertising; they will change advertising.

For your success,

Keith Thorn, www.KTLLC.mobi

Last in this series, but certainly not the least

2010-09-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

I have been addressing businesses in St Louis (while vacationing in Florida!) and nationally about the new cutting edge trend of 'mobi' and here it is - the newest, the seventh benefit of the 7th mass media. Unique benefit number 7 - Mobile captures the social context of media consumption.

It hit me a couple of weeks ago only on mobile can we capture the social context of our consumption. Not what we consume (or when, or where) but with whom. Think of Amazon. That wonderfully powerful algorythm that gives the recommendations to us. But that is 1.0 thinking. What did individual users do. Try to find the patterns. What Amazon does not know is who we shared the book with, once we had it. Who did we call or message while we were reading the book. On mobile - and only on mobile - we can capture this social context.

Not what I consumed - if I played a Formula One video game or bought a Ferrari engine sounding ringing tone - but with whom. Did I share it with someone. Did I send messages to someone while I consumed it. Did I call someone. Did I forward a link or coupon to someone. Did I actually influence a friend of mine to also buy it... This is the 'Big Idea'. This will be huge, beyond huge, once the industry learns to capitalize on it. Only on mobile, can we accurately capture the social context.

For this I do not have a good case example yet, as this is the bleeding-edge kind of thinking. Companies such as our friends at Xtract are hard at work deploying the technology to capture the social context. Like Alan Moore says, "Social analytics is the new black gold for the 21st century."

But consider this - if my network provider bothered to track my phone behaviour, it would spot a peculiar spike in my messaging traffic. On a Sunday my traffic quadruppled. Then next Sunday nothing. But two Sundays later, same pattern. A tight, two-hour period or so, when I send regularly over 100 SMS, often 150 even 200 SMS. A little bit more of analysis, and you would find that its a tight group of numbers, and those people tend to send messages back to me at about the same volume. A few from Finland, a few from the UK, someone from Poland, from Spain, from Singapore, etc.

With just the slightest bit of detective work, it would be obvious, that these are clearly Formula One fans. They are watching the F1 race live on TV, and sending lots of SMS text messages about the race. Imagine the power of this insight. If you wanted to draw us into a racing car multiplayer game, or something relating to Ferrari or McLaren or Renault or Toyota, now we know not only who happened to download some F1 content (me), but my social context - most of whom have not bought a Ferrari ringing tone or an F1 racing mobile game.

The social context info is captured automatically to the network - and companies such as Xtract now are deploying solutions to map out these communities and their influencers (Alpha Users) etc. This is to data mining what blogs and YouTube and Facebook were to the internet. We go from data mining 1.0 to data mining 2.0 (like the internet went to web 2.0). Not what we do, but who we do it with. The new black gold. This will be big. And it can only be done through mobile.

So there we have it, seven unique beneifts. But this is not all. Lets look a bit at the limitations of the phone. Yes it is a powerful mass media, but it is not a mature media, it is the most complex business problem ever, and it has a vast range of its unique challenges.

For your success,

Keith Thorn - www. KTLLC.mobi

Limitations of the phone

2010-09-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

Back in St. Louis and continuing the 'Unique Series'. The obvious physical limitations of the 7th Mass Media channel are with the phone and its form factor. The phone needs to be 'pocketable'. So we have a tiny screen and tiny keypad, where we have to triple-tap our numeric keys to get alphabets. Only a few phones, some Blackberries, some Nokia E-Series etc, have full keyboards. The iPhone has a virtual keyboard on its touch screen. Well over 95% of all mobile phones in use have only a keypad.

Lets start with the screen. Part of the problem is that the screen is small. If we are accustomed to looking at the TV screen or a laptop or desktop PC screen, we are accustomed to a lot of "real estate" visually. Obviously a typical 2 inch to 2.5 inch modern mobile phone screen is very small compared with those. But, we have seen this before. The cinema screen was the first screen. The average movie screen is 12 meters wide (36 feet) and 6 meters tall (18 feet). That gives it a size of 72 square meters. Then came TV, the second screen. The typical 25 inch "old-fashioned" box color TV set (this calculation was prepared this calculation before plasma screen TVs were popular) is 38 cm tall and 50 cm wide, with a size of 0.19 square meters. The typical cinema screen is 379 times larger than the average TV set from a couple of years ago.

Now lets compare the laptop and the mobile phone. A 13 inch laptop screen is 20 cm tall and 27 cm wide, giving it a size of 540 square cm. A typical current color screen cameraphone has a 2.2 inch screen which is 3.6 cm tall and 4.2 cm wide with a size of 15 square cm. The laptop screen is only 36 times larger than the mobile phone screen.

Here is what I am thinking. If every movie ever made, was able to manage the transition from the giant cinema screen to the home TV set, which is 379 times smaller; then probably most internet content, that was originally designed for a laptop screen, will manage the transition to the current mobile phone screen that is only 36 times smaller.

Make sense? I am not arguing all internet content needs to manage this transition, but that most will be able to. Not that all of it will be as good - most movie buffs will agree that a movie is never as good on a basic TV as it is in the cinema (obviously not counting the elaborate home cinema set-ups with projection TVs and surround-sound systems etc. I'm talking basic home TV sets now). No, the mobile experience can be less pleasant, but still acceptable. And do remember, it is not for you and me, this media is for our kids, Generation C, those who don't mind squinting at their Playstation Portables, and watching videos on the even smaller video iPod screens and sending SMS text messages blind, into the night. For that generation, the screen size really does not matter that much.

As to the keypad. Again, Gen C will send out anywhere from 20 up to 100 text messages per day. If you send more than ten messages per day for one month, you are so familiar with your numeric keypad, that your thoughts are input almost subconsciously, by speed-of-thought. Gen C can send out messages with the phone behind their back, or hidden in the pocket, or slipped underneath their sleeve. And most can carry on two simultaneous SMS discussions with two friends on two phones in both hands. The keyboard, stylus and touch screen? Its a crutch only for us digital immigrants, the digital natives love the keypad (and don't use predictive text..)

But wait. Its not a small PC. Its not a pocket internet. It is the 7th Mass Media. It is better. We have the camera.. A picture can tell the story of a thousand words. We don't have to type. It has the microphone. We can record and store the sound. Better than typing. It can do video - a moving picture better than a thousand still images. Yes, on text entry - boring - the phone is a bit worse, but try taking a picture or video just using your laptop and some built-in camera? Or else its the record on one, move to the next device, then connect to the web, etc. No, the integrated camera, video, and microphone give a far richer data entry method than just the 101 key QWERTY keyboard of the classic PC.

And even better yet, for those long website addresses. Only on mobile, we can use 2D barcodes. We don't type anything at all. We just aim our cameraphone at the square "fingerprint" and in half a second, 20 characters appear on our screen, as if by magic. No typing needed. We can zoom off to our websites and blogsites, simply by pointing the cameraphone. Its like the phone was reading our mind. This is magic. This is the future. This is the power of the 7th Mass Media. In just three years from launch, Japanese mobile users are so in love with 2D barcodes, that 76% use them! Three in four Japanese mobile phone users active users of 2D Barcodes in only 3 years (Source Mobikyo 2007)

But there are plenty of problems indeed with mobile as a mass media. Perhaps the biggest are the mobile operators/carriers, who in many markets are still seen as greedy and un-cooperative and just difficult to get along with. There also are problems with the value chain - who gets how much - and then the immense proliferation of handsets. A typical modern market will have 500 models of phones to support at any given time, from more than a dozen major manufacturers.

Even all Nokias are not the same. The screen sizes are different, the screen resolutions are different, the colour definition abilities are different, etc etc etc. There are lots of issues still to resolve or make better. I don't want to hide from the fact that this is not all clear sailing - if it was, you would not have the opportunities to strike gold in it, would you? But opportunities are plentiful - 72 Billion dollars of mobile content reveneues were made by your rivals just last year. It will be over 100 Billion this year. Why are you waiting?

For your success,

Keith Thorn - www.KTLLC.mobi

No 'real' internet

2010-09-09T09:04:00.001-07:00

I have been asking St. Louis business owners and business managers that I meet 'So how does the power of mobi square with the real internet?'

They often respond that they hear, especially from experts - that we need to do the "real internet" on the phone. Like we need to put the real horse into our car? Like we need to enable the real symphony orchestra inside our radio?

This is a sad pursuit of a losing proposition. Yes, we may well find some usage of the classic, dumb, and poor internet on our phones. Yes, perhaps. But what's the point, if the service on the internet was a free service to begin with - what moron bothers to spend millions "mobilizing" a losing proposition?

Just look at the numbers. If the total content industry on the web is only worth around 45 billion dollars (mostly advertising, adult entertainent and gambling) and the mobile content is already worth well over 72 billion, growing faster and gaining new users faster - where do you want to be.

The mobile content users and mobile content revenues and mobile content profits are all growing much faster than those on the internet, why even bother? If someone wants the full internet, let them go buy a laptop and get a WiFi connection and do it. Nobody is stopping them. But remember in the previous articles of this mobi series - Flirtomatic, remember Habbo Hotel, remember Cyworld - the real money is on the mobile side. Why even bother to force the 'real internet' onto the phone.

Now I don't mean there isn't a market for the iPhone, with its nice large 3.5 inch screen. What it needs obviously is 3G (or 4G) to get real speed (and one-handed operation of SMS). But that is not the form factor or the utility of the mobile services business. That is using a mobile phone to access the 6th mass media.

Yes, that can be done. Many will do it. But that is not our good planning. Its like using your TV to listen to radio. Yes, it can be done, but its a bit cumbersome. Most people who own a TV, have bought radio sets after the TV, and tend to listen to radio on their radios, not on their TV sets.

This is quite a fundamental insight, again out of the 7th Mass Media concept. We can have the real internet on our phones (come on, even the very first Nokia Communicator model in the mid-nineties provided the full real internet - in a wide screen display 640 x 200 - wider than the iPhone - eleven years ago). But that is not the power of the 7th Mass Media. That is a patchwork solution to access a legacy media on a newer technology.

Stay with us, there is much more to come in this series.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi

Don't copy - invent

2010-09-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, St. Louis, we will continue this conversation in the 10th of a series on the 7th Mass Media addressing real customer needs.

When we use our mobile phone, we are in a hurry. When we use our phone, we are private. When we use our phone we are distracted trying to do several things at the same time, like being in a meeting or cooking dinner. When we use our phone, it is often not planned - someone else contacted us, called us, sent us an SMS, that forces us to react during our lunch, or in the taxi cab, or on the train, or yes, in our bathroom or bed. When we use our phone, very often we have something valuable or heavy in our other hand, such as the briefcase with our laptop, or the groceries we just bought, or the hand or our child as we cross the street from the kindergarden; or perhaps the steering wheel of our car.

What we need on mobile services, are very efficient, small solutions. Fast above anything else. Not email on a phone (the Blackberry model - what a typical waste of an idea, a total crutch for the digital immigrant if ever there was one) but SMS on the phone. Not selling CD's of music to the iPod user, but rather make much more money selling ringing tones and ringback tones to our phone. Not a massively multiplayer online game like World of Warcraft, but rather a sudoku puzzle. Our content needs to fit our media. The more we do that, the more we can capitalize on our media.

Don't try to force TV onto the phone (CNN headline video clips). Don't try to re-format XGA screen size internet pages to the tiny mobile screens. Rather, develop custom apps and solutions that address mobile needs. Search? Spend more of the brainpower on the algorythm giving me the a few real answers rather than 60,000 pages to scroll through. Any Question Answered (AQA) in Britain made 8 million pounds (16 million dollars) doing just that - an honest real answer to any question via SMS, from the utterly serious to the ludicrously silly. This is the 7th Mass Media. Don't copy. Invent.

We need to tailor our solutions to mobile. Again, lets learn from the true pioneers. MTV. When MTV shoots Jackass, they now do it with two separate camera crews. One is optimized for the TV show, the other is optimized for the mobile screen. Both will shoot the same action, but the specialists will know what works on which media. This is the level of thinking we need. Don't copy. Develop expressly for the 7th Mass Media.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi

Mobi advertising

2010-09-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

What are the possibilities of advertising and more - in the 7th Mass Media Channel?

Yes, advertising has appeared on all mass media in some way or another. The first mobile ads appeared in Finland in 2000 to support free daily news via SMS. The first modern mobile advertising company was formed in Japan in 2001 when the biggest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo and Japan's biggest ad agency Dentsu joined to launch D2. In 2007 mobile advertising was worth 2.2 B dollars (Informa, 2007) and is growing at dramatic rates.

The primarly advertising types making most money today are spam SMS text messages and banner ads on WAP pages. These are both copies of earlier media. Spam SMS is adapted from spam email, itself a digital copy of snailmail based junk mail or "personalized mail". Meanwhile banner ads are copies of web banner ads, which are digital adaptations of magazine and newspaper ads. This is not the way! We should not be satisfied only to copy the existing formats, we need to learn to use the full abilities of the 7th Mass Media.

What Google did with Adwords - they invented a new advertising format for the internet - search advertising. And in so doing, they revolutionized web advertising, and today search ads are the biggest part of online ads. We need to do the same for mobile ads. And I don't mean copying adwords.

Just like Google innovated creating a new advertising format for the internet, now we need to invent new advertising formats for mobile. Oh, and the adwords auctioned ad concept of Google? Flirtomatic has already adapted that for their "First Face" concept. If you want to be featured as the first face to welcome Flirtomatic members, the current auctioned price is about 8 UK pounds (16 dollars) for six hours. If you have a good smile, that should get you a couple of hundred new friends in a hurry...

But back to mobile ads (actually Flirtomatic First Face is of course mobile ads,) Another part is mobile coupons. We can do much more with digital coupons on mobile than with coupons on any other media, as we can embed info on who received the coupon and who forwarded it, and in which store it was redeemed etc. We can send barcode info on MMS picture messaging.

We can use the 2D Barcode readers to transmit info to the phone and owner. We can even credit direct cash or virtual money to the phone owners, as they already do in advanced markets such as Japan, with given campaigns. If done properly, the response rates can be astronomical - Aircross in South Korea had a campaign for Gillette razors, well targeted and with a great proposition, which produced a 98% response rate. Come on? We can do so much better than spam or banner ads.

Part of it is mobile marketing, defined more broadly than just advertising. We can include all kinds of customer relationship benefits including aftercare, such as alerts and information via SMS when your car is fixed and ready to be picked up at the garage, or the library informing you when your book has arrived, or your book needs to be returned - or can even be renewed via SMS without walking the book physically back to the library for renewal, etc.

There are thousands of solutions in this space, from the hairdressers who send reminders for booked appointments, to dentists who re-schedule cancelled appointments to those with urgent dental care needs. There are medical bottles with alerts which have in-built clocks that prevent overdose, but include a sensor to detect if the pill has not been taken - to send the alert to the nurse or loved one (grandfather forgot to take his 8 o'clock pill again). St Louis, think of the possibilities alone with an aging population and 'Independent Living'!

There is even an intelligent sunscreen bottle and service which tracks how long you've been in the sun - adjusting for cloud cover - and informs you when to get into the shade or apply a stronger sunblock. This is mobile marketing, not just mobile advertising.

Of course the ultimate is engagement marketing - whhich is a total change from 'interuptive advertising'. The core competence of Alan Moore's company SMLXL, so I won't spend much on this. But the best tool to engage with customers is mobile (you can do engagement on other media too) and the trailblazer for this area is obviously Blyk, with their user-generated ads and so forth. But if you are in advertising today, you need to understand mobile as the 7th Mass Media channel, not just as the dumb little brother of digital or interactive media.

We are going on for a few more related articles to fully capture the possibilities of mobi.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi

Social media benefits for your website

2010-09-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

In our continuation of tangible benefits of social media articles, I will get right to the top two points. 1. Links equals better search engine rankings. When a website receives a large number of natural, permanent links from trusted domains, it develops authority. Search engines trust it. If you optimize your linkbait and website structure properly, you can easily start ranking for competitive keywords, which will in turn bring in search engine visitors.

Do this often enough and your search traffic will undoubtedly increase. In a sense, you are obtaining these quality links through borrowed trust. Many bloggers and webmaster still think that if an article is on the Digg or del.icio.us homepage, then it’s probably worth checking out and referencing through a citation link.

A new website may find it difficult to gain links from a critical mass that is not familiar with it but a trusted social news resource makes it easier for links to come in, because the community and buzz has somewhat ‘certified‘ the value of the site. Note that the actual strength of the article is still of utmost importance for all.

2. Primary plus secondary traffic equals community and supporters.

Some people claim that social news websites only send useless traffic, visitors that will often just view a specific webpage and click away. Yes, that’s usually the case. Sites like Digg are notorious for their poor bounce rates: many visitors drop in for the article and then leave after reading it. StumbleUpon is much better in this aspect.

But don’t mistake this with a lack of interest. Your subscriber figures will often take big jump up and then stabilize after a few days. If your entire site is relevant to the general interests of the social media website, there will always be a handful of social users who will start to track your site in order to submit future content.

Detractors also ignore the power of ultra targeted secondary traffic. General sites or blogs in the same niche will link to a story that’s popular on social sites, because it adds value for their readers or users. This is done naturally on a daily basis for many.

While primary traffic usually comes in a larger volume, I would argue that secondary traffic is more valuable. Why? Because links from other websites bring visitors who are very likely to be interested in your content. These citation links demonstrate recognition of your site in the eyes of others. It builds your brand.

Think of the social news site as a platform or a soapbox. As something that gives you a chance to be heard or read, even for a brief moment of a few hours. The people who are drawn to your message will visit your site and recommend it to others. The next article to follow is '4 reasons to practice social media'.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi
www.KTLLC.net

4 reasons to practice social media marketing

2010-09-09T08:53:00.001-07:00

Here are my top 4 reasons why you should consider using social media:

1. It’s natural. Not only do you get natural links without any discernible pattern, your website is exposed to large groups of people in a spontaneous fashion. This differs from paid advertising which has overt commercial overtones.

2. It’s defensible. Once successfully mastered, social communities can be a great source of web traffic on top of any traffic you are already receiving from search engines. While you can’t easily increase your search engine traffic, social media traffic can be very easily controlled through strategic marketing.

3. It’s low-cost/high returns. If done by yourself, costs are limited to only time and perhaps the expenses involved in hiring a freelance programmer/designer. The benefits will often exceed the cost. It would take you thousands of dollars to buy many links; social media has the ability to give you that for free.

4. It complements other efforts. Social media optimization and marketing is usually community-specific. It doesn’t interfere with any other methods of getting traffic to your website. It can and will fit perfectly with an advertising campaign targeting other websites or search engines.

There are more articles to follow to finish up my points from the original article:
'Translating Tangible Benefits to Your Website'

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi and www.KTLLC.net

How does social media help me to make money

2010-09-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

It doesn’t. At least not directly. Every site or business that wants to expand and become profitable, needs a core group of supporters who will be willing to make purchases or recommend the site to others. Your site needs to perpetuate itself.

The more supporters you have, the faster word spreads about your site. Social media marketing is an excellent way to get people to come into your site to take a look at at what you have to offer. You will grow when there are a group of loyal visitors ready to always act upon what you have to offer.

This is not just for supporters in St. Louis and the surrounding areas, it's for anywhere and everywhere - remember the 7 degrees of separation idea - everyone knows someone who knows someone!

Because social media websites can be leveraged for links and better search rankings, they can greatly increase your site’s income potential. For example, you will be able to price ads higher or generate revenue from any paid business models.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
www.KTLLC.mobi and www.KTLLC.net

Influence social media

2010-09-09T08:52:00.001-07:00

If you know that you can get a listen from other bloggers or journalists for a link or mention - then you can most certainly make a pitch to social media users.

The aim of introducing yourself and your content to the social media user is simple: you want to leverage their brand or influence by getting him or her to promote your website or content within the St Louis, regional, and worldwide community.

This is rather similar to the process of getting links from popular blogs and it can most definitely be achieved with some initial effort of your own. I have done this several times and it is something anyone can do with some instruction - and expect good results!

I think there are three basic phases for this entire process:

1. Targeting. At this stage, you’ll have to pick several social media users you want to build a relationship with. Ideally, these selected individuals should have degree or clout while being possibly interested in your material. They should be reachable via various communication channels.

2. Networking. This is the point where you’ll make first contact with the social media user and start to develop some sort of friendly relationship with him or her. The goal is here is to ultimately convert the user into a supporter of your content. This is a crucial stage and tact or people skills are needed for success.

3. Pitching. This is the last stage and will begin when you start to pitch the social media user for the first time. You should be confident that the user will not reject your content because you’ve taken out most of the guesswork through the two earlier stages. This phase should be continued by the continual maintenance of the established relationship.

The three steps above are sequential are should be followed in the right order, unless you have a source that can introduce you directly to the perfect social media user for your site.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
KTLLC.mobi and KTLLC.net

St Louis web, IP, and print solutions - St. Louis marketing | Examiner.com

2010-09-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

KTLLC Communications is a fresh creative approach that moves above interruptive advertising - to engagement marketing - capitalizing on solutions for e-campaigns, mobi (mobile), print, SMS, social media, video, web and other digital media that grow your organization.

Competing in the traditional marketplace is no longer an option for companies who want to maintain top performance for their products or services. KTLLC Communications will provide your business with opportunities for growth simply by developing value and innovation for your customers.

I tell people in St Louis, regionally, and as I travel that - Its all about dealing with change. Most organizations should have processes and plans in place to prepare for changes, to capitalize on any opportunities and make precautions for threats.

We believe marketing will have to totally change. When we say companies must move from interruptive advertising to engagement marketing, we do not mean that it is one campaign. It is the complete creative business strategy and approach, a change to the very fundamental way a company's marketing is planned and executed.

Engagement marketing when fully embraced is a radical thought, and bringing about that kind of change will invoke resistance in all parts of the organization - from established marketing managers, advertising and product management personnel and branding executives - to the outside partners and suppliers.

At KTLLC Communications, we have achieved exceptional results and garnered praise from established industry leaders as well as numerous small businesses who desire the same quality of thinking and designing that the big corporations get.

There's nothing more rewarding than watching our work contribute to our clients' ongoing, strategic success. We've watched many of our clients add employees, buy competitors, build new facilities, and win mostly by growing their business opportunities and potential.

In order to create exceptional creative, it helps to love business as well as the business of designing. Our business is nothing without clients, so we give our all to each account. We love what we do and we appreciate our clients - and that's our secret formula.

For your success,

Keith Thorn
Creative Director and Managing Partner

"KTLLC Communications - Creative Solutions That Grow Your Business"

2010-09-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

"KTLLC Communications - Creative Solutions That Grow Your Business"

What's in the tank this year

2010-06-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

What's in the tank this year

Who Are Your Business Evangelists?

2009-06-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

You simply cannot get into the mind of your core customers without spending time with them. Data is great, but it does not address the motivation factor.

I listen to my vision and always trust my own instincts above conventional wisdom and put my own creative spin on corporately accepted ways of doing things ... and get paid for doing what I love. My passion for excellence is fueled by people's desire to grow their brand and build lasting relationships. I am not just selling total integrated creative solutions, I am selling livlihoods of companies, their families, and employees!

My "Business Evangelists" are people that I have taken the time to understand ...