Happy iPhone Day

Today is iPhone Day and the world is all a twitter over it. People are camping out, standing in line, waiting to get their paws on the newest innovation in cell phone technology since, well, the cell phone. We’re mostly a Mac shop here at Kinesis and we love all the Apple products. And yes, a few of us will in fact be getting the device as soon as possible. We’ll be sure to post our thoughts on it once we get our greasy fingerprints on that beautiful scratch resistant glass screen. For now, here’s an article that features Kinesis partners Jo Stapleton and Gordon Miller waxing philosophical on the iPhone hype. Hey, they called us.

Kinetic of the Week – Amanda Thiem

Hello. My name is Amanda “Shenanigans” Thiem (my father’s side is German). I have been a designer at this extraordinary company for only three months now, but I feel so at home here its like I have been here for years. I have even brought my anchor ( a monster Dell) to ensure they will never get rid of me. But my unofficial position at Kinesis is being a facial expression indicator for Gordon Miller, partner, creative. I’m a “mandameter” if you will.

“There is no filter between her honest feelings and what is shown on her face.” -GM

When I am not plugged into the digital world of design, or helping put the Soupman’s kids though college, I love nothing more than to go exploring in the enormous, multi-cultured, environment of the big apple. I especially enjoy the art galleries; black and white photography is my favorite. And with all the hidden shops that are scattered thorough out the city, you can get lost for days.

If we are going by what I wanted to be when I was a young girl, then Joey McEntire and me should be living in our big mansion in sunny California. But as of right now, I think I am exactly what I wanted to be when I got to this point in my life… sorry Joey!

The best thing about Kinesis is by far the people. There is always someone there to help you shake off the “fog” and spark some new creativity. And there is never a dull moment here. Everyone has their own unique personality that makes it a marvelous place to work.

As for something that no one could tell about me just by working with me — I own every Far Side comic book. (yikes!.. dork!).

(Editor’s Note: We were unable to reach Amanda’s Mom to verify her middle name and nor could we reach Joey McEntire to see where he went wrong.)

The Future of Media?

We came across this interesting video demonstrating the how the future of media could play out. What’s most interesting is how scarily plausible it seems. Google buying Microsoft? Virtual Reality becoming real reality? Lawrence Lessig as Secretary of Justice? Hmmmm…..Could be…..

Widgets are Predicting the Digital Future

We spend a lot of time thinking about where this is all heading around here. By “this” we mean the web, interactive marketing, and the like. One of the things that we’ve been thinking about lately is those nifty little items you can download to your desktop to keep up on sports scores or the weather or the top ten

iTunes singles or just about any other piece of information that you deem important enough to want to reach to in an instant. We’re speaking of course about Widgets (or Gadgets for those of you brave enough to be using the first release of Windows Vista). And we’re not the only ones. Widgets are fast becoming the most recent belle of the interactive marketing ball (see this ClickZ article for instance.)

And for good reason. Widgets are beautiful little applications that are more than a novelty from our perspective. They truly are the future of the digital landscape. Today, you can visit Yahoo Widgets or Apple Dashboard and download thousands of different mini desktop applications that will help you reach the information you want even faster than going out to the web. Download them to your desktop and bang! Instant access to Martha Stewart Recipes.

But this is just the beginning. We’ve just launched two such widgets: one for our client Coldwell Banker and one for SIEMENS. Both these widgets stream data to the desktop so that users can instantly and constantly be updated on either new listings on coldwellbanker.com or, in the case of SIEMENS, on the latest NCAA Tournament scores (Also look for the new SIEMENS Sports Gadget coming soon). But what makes these widgets so interesting is not just the info they provide or the way they brand the users desktop. It’s because folks, this is where the entire digital space is heading in total. Imagine having widgets not only your desktop, but on your cell phone, pda, ipod, or any other portable digital device. In fact most major e-commerce sites are already getting “widgetized.” In other words, you as a user will be able to visit a site and pick the section, function, or data points that you want instant access to and drop it from the site right to your desktop in one fell swoop. (HINT: Kinesis is working on a site for a major client now that will allow this very thing. Stay tuned to this blog for more.)

The benefit for users is obvious – instant access to information they want when and where they want it. The benefit to marketers is that when you package relevant information and make it easily accessible to your users, you make your customers and prospects happy, strengthen your brand, drive more traffic and increase sales. Pretty obvious, right?

So think about widgets and gadgets. Start testing the waters. The technology is here and now. What can you do with it?

Taste the Paint! Kinesis’ 3rd Annual Paintball Outing

The odd thing about paintball is how it reveals the participants’ true nature. There are the strategists, the sore losers, the competitors and the wallflowers. It’s just that after paintball you’re not longer sure who’s who anymore. Thanks to all our partners and friends who joined us to roll on the ground, waste some paint and share in all the welt-getting, muscle aching, heat-stroke inducing paintball fun. You can find some more pictures here, thanks to Kinetic Pam Holland. And special thanks to Bob and Rich at NJ Paintball Club for making it another great time.

Second Life Success – A Case Study

Many companies are exploring the 3-Dimensional world of Second Life as a new way to market their brands to new audiences, but the most successful ones will actually have a strategy and a purpose that seamlessly integrates and supports the environment. If you force yourself in without adapting to the virtual world, you will fail. Companies just can’t assume that they can simply duplicate real-world marketing tactics; they have to create experiences unique to the virtual world that meets the needs and expectations of Second Lifers.

For Coldwell Banker, tracking, measuring and learning was the critical part of the strategy for success. We wanted to generate valuable insights while anticipating and responding to the needs of Second Lifers, so it was important that we created the proper infrastructure to support that. We worked closely with Code4Software, who had created a new tracking technology which monitors and records who visits the Coldwell Banker metaverse, where they go, what they do, how long they stay and more – a first for Second Life.

Some More Firsts for Second Life

• Together with Code4 we created the first V-Commerce function in Second Life for Coldwell Banker. When an avatar, or virtual alter ego, purchases a virtual house, it can touch a virtual palm-scanner that will automatically provide the buyer’s qualifications and simplify the purchasing process. Streamlining online transactions is critical for Second Life success.

• Coldwell Banker is the first national real estate company to sell homes within the Second Life community. Coldwell Banker’s Second Life main offices – staffed with sales associates and an office manager – are located on the mainland with a purpose, to stabilize the virtual real estate market and educate consumers on how to purchase property. When Echo Boomers have a positive experience with Coldwell Banker in Second Life, they will trust the company for real world transactions.

• Coldwell Banker’s presence in Second Life includes the largest and most organized home developments in the 3-D metaverse, with an inventory of more than 500 specially designed homes on 550,000 square meters in the Ranchero section of the Second Life mainland.

NOTE: Hats off to Kinetic Frank Puma for spearheading this innovation. And thanks to Charlie Young and David Marine at Coldwell Banker for taking the chance and making this great.

What Not To Do! Our 9 Search Engine Marketing Don’ts

Every Web site wants to attract visitors and most sites generate a substantial amount of traffic through search engines such as Yahoo and Google. However, listing your site with a search engine isn’t as straightforward as you might think. In order to remain credible and ensure that their users are satisfied with the quality of the search results provided, search engines place a very strong emphasis on the quality and relevancy of their search results. Unfortunately, many webmasters and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts employ questionable and deceptive techniques to artificially inflate a site’s relevancy and bolster its chances of returning high on a search query. These techniques can and will get a site banned from search engines.

Kinesis Marketing has developed 9 Search Engine Marketing Don’ts to help you avoid these techniques that can be detrimental to your site’s success.

1. DON’T submit multiple URL’s for the same site. An example of this would be submitting mysite.com and mysite.com/index.html to a search engine database.
2. DON’T use cloaking or doorway pages. Cloaking is having two separate pages, one optimized for the search engines and a different one optimized for the viewer. In other words, the search engine sees one page but the users is redirected to a different page when the link is clicked.
3. DON’T use hidden text. Quite simply, this is placing hidden keywords on a page by making the font color the same as the background color (ie, white text on a white background). This renders the text invisible to the human eye but the search engine spiders can still see it. This results in a higher page rank and search engine listing for those keywords.
4. DON’T use link farms. A link farm is loosely defined as a page that lists links solely or mainly for the purpose of achieving a high page ranking. Remember, you can have as many links to you as possible, but don’t be willy-nilly about letting others link to you. Always make sure that any site linking to yours is a relevant and topical partner.
5. DON’T spam. Don’t send unsolicited commercial emails.
6. DON’T sell page ranking. You cannot blatantly advertise the fact that your high page ranking site will sell a link to another site in order to boost that site’s page ranking. However, selling advertising in the form of a link on your site is perfectly acceptable.
7. DON’T post identical sites. Creating and interlinking multiple pages all with identical or very similar content to increase page ranking is not allowed.
8. DON’T’ create multiple domains. Creating multiple domains that redirect to one page and creating multiple domains with the same or nearly the same content and then interlinking them is not allowed. Always place unique content on each site, doing otherwise will result in a ban or penalty.
9. DON’T have excessive links. Keep the number of links to under 100 on any given page. Having more than 100 links may result in a lower page ranking.

Conversation Mining: Are you listening?

With the proliferation of Internet discussion boards, forums, newsgroups, websites, podcasts, and blogs; can you be sure that your company is getting the right message out there?

To ensure your message gets to the widest possible audience you should be looking at an integrated marketing strategy that examines the range of digital channels available to you. Your website may not be enough to cover all bases. You may need to consider a blog, a newsgroup, or even a podcast.

Something else to consider; did you know that a couple of disgruntled references posted on online community sites can show up prominently on search engine results and discredit your company’s reputation? Word of Mouth has always been considered the best form of advertising. A restaurant that garners a lousy reputation for the quality of their service or food is dead in the water. The same is true, and is becoming truer, in the internet age with large companies. And it’s not just the negative stuff that hurts, but also the opportunity that exists to create positive sentiment that we’re talking about here. Consumers talk. And on the internet that chit chat is not idle, in fact it’s pervasive thanks to blogs, podcasts, and the like.

You can not can not only help diminish the impact of negative buzz but also increase the positive postings by promoting these positive references within the search engines, blogs and discussion boards that are relevant to your business and, concurrently, “pushing down” any references that would negatively impact prospects’ perception of your business. The solution often involves revisions of site copy and development of positive case studie, and even networking with vocal customers.

“Conversation mining” strategies are designed to help companies manage their online image and maximize business potential, not just on websites, but over the full range of communications channels available in today’s digital marketplace. But these strategies must be long-term commitments not just one-offs to be effective.

Search Engine Marketing – Counting Dollars and Clicks

Search engine marketing is a highly concentrated industry. Over 90% of US paid search ad spending will go to Google and Yahoo! in 2007. One result of this concentration is that it often makes advertising on second-tier search engines a better value—less competition for keywords means a broader reach for fewer ad dollars.

The 7 Pillars of Program Management Success

Kinesis, like any marketing organization is a service business. We have clients who pay us (sometimes handsomely) to perform specific marketing duties and, more importantly to get results. Their expectations are high, as are our own. And while every day all over the world teams of people sit down to start marketing initiatives, few of them will be as successful as anticipated at the outset.

Why?

Simply because they did not take seven critical fundamentals into account.

1. Program Identification. Seems overly simple, but this first program element is critical as it establishes the foundation for a successful project. It includes activities such as clearly defining the scope of work and identifying the proper resources. It also may involve strategy development and research elements that help define specific and measurable goals and objectives.
2. Program Kick-Off. Bring the team together in one place and get everyone on the same page. This single element is most commonly overlooked and doing so can have serious consequences. A kick-off meeting involving the entire team helps set expectations for the program and provides an opportunity to communicate project goals and objectives, identify anticipated challenges, set timeframes and agree upon project plans. Most importantly, it is the only opportunity to define team members individual roles and responsibilities, often an area that will come into contention when a project goes south.
3. Program Documentation. Every Kinesis project, regardless of scope and size, adheres to a strict document code ensuring that critical data is kept up-to-date and easily accessible to all team members. Documentation is the vehicle for the majority of communication during a program. And it is essential that all communication (or at least as much as possible) be written. Scope of Work, strategy, goals and objectives, creative briefs, timelines and status reports all document the project to keep everyone on the same page, and also make a record of it for posterity. Of course, keeping this documentation in a single repository accessible by all team members is essential. If you can’t see it, it may as well not even exist.
4. Program Communication. 99% of projects that fail do so due to a lack of communication. Communication between team members, with vendors, and with clients is key to making an engagement successful and on target with expectations. Problems and issues are especially important to communicate early, openly and honestly, which is why each Kinesis engagement includes regular account and status updates through meetings, written status reports, email alerts and other project documentation as necessary.
5. Program QA. Ultimately, any project will be judged by the quality and accuracy of final deliverables. One way to derail even the best project is by failing to check the work before it is released. Kinesis ensures success by checking and re-checking work to ensure that a deliverable is not only free from errors but strategically accurate after what is often months of work.
6. Program Metrics. If you are successful, how will you know? Because you would have decided back at pillar #1 what would constitute success. Every Kinesis engagement, both large and small, has a measurable objective by which the relative success or failure of a program can be judged. Then that learning is reinvested into the next program or phase to ensure that success has a steady upward trend over time.

There is a 7th pillar that is just as critical but harder to teach. Kinesis calls them the “intangibles”, those elements that are brought by the individual team members. These intangibles include the real core of Kinesis, and really, of any team. They are accountability, responsibility, ownership and creative thinking. These four elements are a part of human nature, and it’s essential that your team has them. Greatness requires them and certainly will elude you if you don’t bring them to bear on every project.

Kinesis has built its culture on and around these seven “pillars” of successful programs. And while every program is unique, every client organization different, each of these pillars remain true on any engagement, no matter the size. And while we use them to support our delivery of marketing service, they are not marketing specific. They are useful to any organization that needs to get something done and ensure that results meet expectations. Try them yourself and reap the rewards of success.