Do You Text and Drive?

Our non-stop 24/7 world is great when we want to connect along platforms and interfaces, channels and media. But there is a downside. Think back to the last time you sent an email on your mobile device while you were driving. If you haven’t done it, good for you. If you have, you are lucky.

This video is worth 11 minutes of your time. 
It could save your life.


knealemann

visual credit: AT&T

17 Ideas That Might Just Work

It's All Up To Us

Share more than take.

Stay positive.

Move your comfort zone.

Be curious.

Ask for an opinion and listen.

No cell or text in the car.

Take a day off.

Have more face-to-face conversations.

Don’t make it about you.

Take the victory.

Do nothing else when you eat.

Accept that you created this.

Turn off your cell phone.

Ask for help and accept it.

Stay off-line for 24 hours.

Don’t be so hard on yourself.

What’s on your list?

@knealemann
strategy. marketing. social media.

photo credits: filter

Your Message | Your Medium

Send Me A Voice Mail.

Think about how you exchange ideas and connect with colleagues, clients, friends and family on a regular basis.

There may be days when you call someone’s land line, cell phone, send them an email, text them and meet them in person.


If the medium is the message according to Marshall McLuhan that would five messages. But it could be five parts of the same message and the medium is less important.

Content Is Data.

It is the raw ingredients to the meal and alone isn't enough. It's the reason restaurants can't charge us $300 for a bunch of unprepared ingredients on a bare table in an empty room.

Imagine if someone wrote a book but put all the words in the wrong order. Without sentences, structure, story arcs, characters and development, the content is useless if not confusing.

The pillars I use are: content, context and community.

You need data that connects to people.

Sell It Before You Build It?

We all sell a product or service that brings benefit to clients. But if we treat them like a commodity, we shouldn’t be surprised if they treat us like a vendor.

If you are in retail and you look at each person coming through your front door as someone who may get rid of that extra inventory, you may be up for disappointment.

You don't want them to do business with you. You want them to tell their friends and visit again.

How is your message and your medium working to build your reputation?

@knealemann
strategy. marketing. social media.

photo credit: sto resonlin epro

Integration Happens Every Day

The Power of Horses

Today’s automobile stems from a steam powered vehicle introduced by Ferdinand Verbiest who was member of a Jesuit mission in China in 1672.

There is currently a car for every eleven people on the planet, We burn 600 million gallons of fuel each year.

Print and Save

Johannes Gutenberg is credited with introducing the printing press in 1439.

Despite the rabid move to online and mobile, we have somehow quintupled our paper consumption since attempting to create a paperless society.

Play The Hits

Despite numerous disputes over many decades, Guglielmo Marconi was credited with introducing a radio telegraph system in 1896. Thomas Edison, David E. Hughes and Nikola Tesla were influential as well.

There are now more than 45,000 commercial radio stations in the world covering ever format imaginable. Satellite radio has opened the floodgates wide enough to feature such niche programming choices as uncensored comedy, extreme sports and polka.

Laptops and Memory Sticks

In 1968, Douglas Englebart hosted what was later called The Mother of All Demos as he outlined how individuals were going to be able to create and transmit content through word processing, hypertext and video conferencing technologies.

Since it was introduced last weekend, Apple sold close to a million units of their latest portable device. News stories on the iPad flooded both the blogosphere and traditional news agencies as if they had just invented the wheel.

A Series of Tubes

In 1958, the United States government developed the Advanced Research Projects Agency in response to their then Cold War adversary the Soviet Union’s space program. The ARPAnet gave the U.S. a technological edge in electronic intelligence.

Now more than 1.7 Billion people in the world have Internet access and over 76% of North Americans are online.

All That You Do

Forty years ago, a word was created to describe the creative way in which companies and individuals promote, sell and communicate their products and services while understanding the needs and desires of a target audience.

The word Marketing was an American invention and is the same translated in to any other language. Today it represents every aspect of business and culture and is no longer limited to advertising or promotion.

Did You Get My Voicemail?

Originated from the Greek term “far voice”, the telephone was another controversial invention because many had their hand in its early progress. Canadian Alexander Graham Bell, American Thomas Edison and various other inventors around world had their part in developing this historic gadget.

And just this week, more text messages were sent via cellar telephone than there are people walking the earth.

Watch Your Thumbs!

Dating back as far as 1973, messages were transmitted electronically through an intricate encoded system wired through a series of computer servers all over the United States.

And if you are running a company, email is just a part of everyday life today.

Human Networking

Thirty years ago, there was no Facebook or LinkedIn, no one was tweeting or friending and the idea that you would actually meet a complete stranger you had only previously met online was laughable.

The chance to connect with people from every possible crevice of the world who share similar ideas and work remotely on projects and build businesses through the social web was an old idea that has become a new buzz.

Acceptance and Belief

All too often our lens is pointed at the advancements in our own personal lives. Those which were invented before we were born seem to be accepted without question.

None of these and thousands of other inventions matter without two important elements – our ability to create and share.

Perhaps before discarding something new, we should give it a little time to see if it’s worth keeping?

@knealemann
strategy. marketing. social media.

photo credits: apple

We Can't Convince You

Protocol and guidelines, policies and business strategy, tweet this and blog etiquette that can be exhausting. And like this space, it's all just opinion.

If you don’t know why you should have a LinkedIn group or how the content delivered to cell phones is going to help you, don't do it.

If you think Flickr is spelled wrong and Blip just sounds silly, no worries. Or if you don't understand why people are talking about four square when you know you will never lose weight if you eat that much, that's okay.



What Do You Have To Lose?

If you don't understand it, others can't convince you. What we can do is show you options and you can pick the ones that make the most sense to you and your situation.

As part of my job as a strategist, I help clients with business, marketing and social media plans. There are two questions you need to ask through the process - how and why.

Pick A Card. Any Card.

But with digital channels there is no one answer, site, background theme, writing style, logo color or font choice. Pick one, experiment, pick another one, experiment, throw stuff against the wall, collaborate your brains out and have some fun.

The best social media policy I've heard of yet: Don't be stupid. Keep your company or personal brand's best interest in mind, then experiment.

Remembering

One of the most gifted music minds in history was killed twenty-nine years ago today and his music still lives on. He didn't follow the rules, he didn't ask for permission. John Lennon | Oct 9, 1940 - Dec 8, 1980

And it is with that in mind...

Just ask yourself two simple questions: How? Why?

Then one more: Why Not?

@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy

Eyes On The Road

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
Henry Ford

While discussing competitive situations, a mentor once said, “When you're driving in a snowstorm, stay in your lane!” His point was that just because a competitor takes a run at you, that is not enough of a reason to flinch. That is safe advice.

But is 'safe' the new 'risk'?

Yesterday I received direct mail pieces from my internet/cable provider and from my land line phone provider. My phone company is now offering satellite cable packages, wireless devices and deals on mini laptops with sign-up. My cable company is now offering wireless devices and home phone line services.

Competition brings out the best in products
and the worst in people. David Sarnoff

So the cable people are now in the phone business and the phone people are now selling computers. And both are trying to sell me the ultimate all-in-one-bundle.

What Do You Do?

This is a story of two companies driving in a snowstorm. The cable company is taking shots at said phone company and chipping away at their land land business as well as going toe-to-toe with them on wireless and internet. This is a war with brightly produced four-color shiny pamphets and dangling carrots.

Who is the winner?

On the surface, it would appear to be the customer. As one who has dealings with both companies, the honeymoon is brief and the next victim is always the target.

You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right
and the budget is big enough. Joseph E. Levine

Visibility in this snowstorm is not the issue because everyone seems to want to be in every lane. The question remains whether they can still see customer service in the rear view mirror.

It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality. Harold Geneen

Special offers, one-time deals, gifts with purchase all pale in comparison to giving cutomers stuff that actually works.

Is it good to stay in your lane?
When is it time overtake someone in theirs?

Those You Know. Those You Knew.

I made a decision a couple of weeks ago that I would spend more time on the phone. My partners are laughing somewhere because I’m on it enough, but I meant for actual meaningful conversations. These chats were also meant to reconnect with so many people I had said “call you sometime”, “let’s catch up soon”, or “we gotta get together”.

Is any of this sounding familiar?

A few months ago, I found a number of a guy I knew in my radio days when he worked at a music label. He left the music industry years ago and is now a bigwig cell company exec dude. So I called the number, got his voice mail and left a message. Two days later, he left me a voice mail and was completely surprised and happy to hear from me. We don’t have business together anymore, we aren’t looking for something from each other, it was just a reconnection.

Has this happened to you?

Yesterday, both portable phones ran out of juice and my cell was buzzing all day. This was all because I was just reaching out to people to say hello and check on how they are doing.

When did you last do that?

I don’t suggest anyone should sit on the phone yackin' with their buddies all day - I am making business and industry connections - but it’s amazing what happens when you just pick up the phone and call someone you haven’t spoken with in a while.

And the moral of the story?

Let your mind wonder and think of someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time. Think of someone you keep 'meaning to call' - and call them. Today. That's social networking.

Which reminds me, there's a lot of lunch and coffee in my future...

Are you getting the urge to give it a try?

km