Let’s face it, sometimes as marketers we need to “hold the hand” of our audience. Otherwise our message gets lost or is even misinterpreted.

I’ve been chewing on this for a while.  For as long as I can remember people have been using social media logos in attempt to increase users to sites like Facebook and Twitter. The concept behind this is that if the consumer sees the social media icons, they will remember to go home and like them on Facebook and start following them on Twitter. If only it were simple. I’m sure Big Tom Callahan could come up with some great lines on how this is a waste of visual property.

Have you every done this?  Have you? Raise your hand right now if you have?

GUILTY!

Have you told your marketing department or designer “slap a Facebook and Twitter icon on our ad” like it gives your company some Klout or will magically increase your social media numbers?  I’ve done this for clients, only because they insisted on using this method.  Like telling your children to clean their room while they are watching a movie, the message doesn’t fit the response you are looking for.

If you have and still use the logo icons on your marketing materials I want to ask you some questions.

1. Have you been able to measure how many new followers you have based upon these methods?  It’s already very difficult to gauge ROI (Return On Investment) on social media, especially in traditional media.
2. If you are comfortable using the Facebook and Twitter icon on your marketing materials, would you useto signify you have a website instead of giving your domain name?  I mean why  not, a globe is the symbol for the internet.  Easy pickens, eh?
3. Would you use instead of giving your phone number to people?  Do you trust your clientele to go to their phone book or the internet to find your phone number?
4. Would you use  instead of your address on your marketing materials?  Google maps is pretty accurate you know so why not trust them to find where you are.

Proof flavored pudding.

Hold the hand of your audience

Jay

Sweat, sun and smiles are all ingredients for a successful family outing

Today is one of those days.

Emily, Joel and I took our love for roller coasters to Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio.  This was Joel’s first trip to CP and by the end of the day he didn’t want to leave.  As a teenager you grow up riding all the big coasters at Cedar Point and knocking all the small coasters as being obstacles along the park route.  Let me tell you, Cedar Point offers an excellent selection of rides for families.  We had a blast today riding the tilt-a-whirl, Caddilac cars and other classic amusement park rides.  Granted, we walked about 5 miles and sweated about 5 lbs but at the end of the day, we smiled at each other with our sunburnt faces and enjoyed our quiet ride in an icy car.

On our drive home Emily and I got to talking about our dreams for the next 60 days.  It’s been a great chance for Em and I to reconnect on what our goals are as parents and what lasting memories do we want to instill in our children.  One of our days will consist of taking cookies to neighbors.  If you live around me, keep you cookie jars clean.

This brings me to a topic I feel we all need to hear, address, re-address and repeat almost monthly.

Community.

We all live in one (community) but how many of us take part in one?   When we first got a house I remember feeling strange that none of our neighbors came to introduce themselves to us or went out of their way to be sociable.  It was difficult and led to those akward small talks, head nods and noise-free waves. (We’ve all had those)  When we moved into our new home in February, we could tell we were right where we wanted to be. In the first couple of months we had people bringing us meals and treats which made us feel welcome and allowed for a much better dialogue with everyone.  I hope that if you live in an area where you get new neighbors you’ll reach out to them and give a random act of kindness, not for money or for thank yous, but out of the kindess of your heart.

We all love family.

Let’s move beyond the dollar, beyond the schedule and beyond the TV guide.  Let’s get back to the old saying of

“God, others, then yourself”

My challenge for you this week is to go out of your way to do something for a neighbor.  And please, don’t do it for money, or a sales lead or anything other than a smile.  Bake cookies, sweep their curb or take them some Dietschs pretzels.  Practice giving from your heart to others and you’ll find you have started planting seeds of kindness in your children and in your community.  Who knows, maybe somebody will return the favor one day when you least expect it.  So this week, give of yourself. Be selfless. Be a leader.

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it. ” ~ Marianne Williamson

Stay Nerdy My Friends

Jay

My mouth dropped

I was totally blindsided how far my son has come in his life to the point where he is going to experience school for the first time.  I could give you all the sappy memories, moments and stories all day but instead I want to present to you an idea we came up with.  We are going to take these last 60 days of freedom, no homework, no schedule and take full advantage of them.  Not only are we going to take advantage of them, but we are going to create a yearly “wake up call” time in our lives where we re-center ourselves to what is important in life.

A good friend of mine reminded me this past week to “slow down and enjoy life” which was the kick in the pants I needed.  We’ve all been in this situation before, so maybe together we can transform ourselves from the rut or routine we are in.

The next 60 days will be an adventure.

The next 60 days will be fun.

The next 60 days will be life changing.

The next 60 days will be a perfect 60 days.

We’ve all had those thoughts in our mind that “eventually” or “someday” we will do this or that.  Whether it is a trip, a book or something simple like trying a unique restaurant.  I’ll admit, I’m a busy person.  Emily calls me a work-a-holic but I argue that 24 hours a day just doesn’t seem to make sense to me.  I’ve been putting so much off in my life for the “somedays” and “eventually” moments.  For the next 60 days, this day….is someday. Carpe Diem, Sieze the Carp! (Outcold)

I want to invite you to join me on this journey, blog about it, tweet about it #60daymakeover, share your photos.  Lets spend the next 60 days doing whatever it is we have been wanting focus on.

Here is my list

1. A new unique adventure every night with Joel and/or Caroline.
2. Daily bible devotions with Emily as well as deep discussion about our faith and our DREAMS.  We encourage our kids to dream but as adults, we are “wasting our time” when we dream.  DREAM A LITTLE PEOPLE!
3. Blogging daily about tech, social media, marketing and family.  I love writing, it helps my mind relax and creativity to spike.
4. I will not bring work home with me (somewhere Emily is saying AMEN!).  It’s a problem, I have a problem, their, I said it.
5. Running and Biking four 3 day s a week.  Another time I love to rest my mind and think about things.  I put it off for tomorrow, daily.
6. Finishing all my projects around the house.  We love our home, but we’d love it a little more once that one outlet was fixed.
7. Build a new healthy personal, spiritual and mental lifestyle for myself and family.  This is the goal, a makeover.

These are silly things.  These are simple things.  These are IMPORTANT things.

Family has always come first for me, as it does for many of you.  But has your family time become routine?  Do you find yourself doing the same things every night after the kids go to bed, watching the same shows or handling the same chores.  Let’s make things better for ourselves, our spouses, our family and our community.  Trying something new for a week and giving up is a horrible mindset.  So let this be our first summer that we cut the crap and take a good hard look at what our goals and dreams really are in life.

Join me.

Join the Sixty Day Makeover.

Stay Nerdy My Friends. +1

Jay

I imagine a lot of you can say that social media has improved your relationships among your friends, family and colleagues. Who knew 5 years ago that it was a viable threat to people to say “I’ll unfriend you” or that it would be ethical to “poke” co-workers after hours. Social media is overhauling how we communicate with one another. I know many people stay away from it for fears of identity issues, but these fears also existed when people began getting on the internet and when society started shopping online. “giving my credit card over the internet is dangerous.”

Where will we be in the next 5 years

Let’s start with the hot topic in technology right now

The Cloud

Cloud computing will be one of the most significant changes in our society. Cloud computing is when applications are provided and managed by the cloud server and data is also stored remotely in the cloud configuration. An easy example of this is Facebook. Your “profile”, your pictures, your information, your videos are all stored remotely on a server somewhere and you can access it whether you are on your laptop, your ipad or your mobile phone. Another example that I can personally relate to is putting your family photos in the cloud. I did this because I was concerned of what I would do if my hard drive crashed. Lets face it, we don’t have negatives any more to fall back on. So I backed up all our photos on an external HD to put in a firesafe but also put all our images on Flickr.com and made them only accessible to me. 60gb of family photos, backed up in the cloud and accessible from any computer, and tablet and any phone. Pretty cool huh? Now, a month ago Apple announced iCloud. This is helping people image what the cloud is. With iCloud you can have all of your documents, images and music all in the cloud and accessible from any Apple device. Sick days aren’t sick days anymore!

How will the Cloud impact your business?

Zaarly

How many of you have ever thought or said “I’d pay $50 for somebody to come mulch my house today”. Zaarly makes that happen. Zaarly allows you to request a service or some offer to anyone in your area. While being less than a month old and being founded overnight during a 54 hour cram session at LA Startup weekend, Zaarly is making fast tracks in our digital world. Here is some background on it.

• Post what you’re looking for, how much you’re willing to pay for it and how soon you need it on Zaarly. Zaarly immediately shares your request in the local community through the Zaarly platform, and also allows you to get help from your friends and contacts to find what you’re looking for via social channels like Facebook and Twitter
• People or businesses nearby see what you want and connect to fulfill your request
• Zaarly allows buyers and sellers to anonymously message and talk on the phone to facilitate the logistics of a
• transaction, enabling an in-person or virtual meeting to complete the transaction
• You can use cash or Zaarly’s integrated credit card payment system to pay for the transaction, all within a
• safe and secure platform
• Zaarly is available on the iPhone, Android, and all Web-enabled mobile phones via your mobile Web browser, as well as through the Web and Facebook on your desktop computer. The integrated Zaarly platform allows buyers and sellers to connect while they are on-the-go or from the convenience of home or office

Square

Ultra High Speed Internet

Earlier this year Verizon announced the launch of its 4G LTE Wireless Data system. This amazing communications vessel boasts download speeds of 28 mbps and uploads speeds of 10 mbps. You say big deal, and I say it is. This is much faster than the average home cable internet speeds, even at work where we have TWC Business Class I only get download speeds of 7mbps and uploads of 1.5 mbps. Why does this matter? Imagine a workforce that has no centralized location. Imagine a workforce where people can work wherever, whenever as or even more efficient that they would in the office. As a graphic and web designer, I can design a lot better with headphones on a coffee shop than I can behind a desk being interuptted by phone calls, email and people stopping in for autographs. How this effects us in the next 5 years is mobile devices are now the primary information source for consumers. People have begun to stream video live from wherever they are to the masses. The website ustream.tv has excisted for a while as an internet streaming source, but did you know that you can stream from your phone? Imagine video from a presidential inauguration being crowdsourced from everyones cell phone.

Imagine getting to witness your child’s sporting events while you are stuck in a lecture or my favorite, imagine getting to talk to other people, face to face while you are not in the same room. No longer will you have to talk to your 4 year old on the phone and say “Stop picking on your sister” instead you can easily video chat with him and tell him “stop picking on your sister” while giving him the evil eye.

Video conferencing has a new meaning, so does the importance of looking your best EVERY morning. High speed internet will change the way all of us do business in one way or another. In 2016 the number one source for music, books, tv, movies, live events and business, will be the Internet. Get excited about this, if your going to go out and buy a smart phone, be sure its 4G or it will be very old and slow within the year. I’ve been holding out for the iPhone 5, if it doesn’t have 4G in it, I’m sticking with Android.

Digital Banking

Earlier I talked about the Square card reader and what we can consumers can use it for. Square is only the tip of the iceberg. Since 2010 we have slowly seen the emergency of e-banking through your mobile phone. With certain banks right now you can pay all your bills from your mobile device and even deposit checks. Last Saturday I had my first experience in depositing a check from my phone. I used the Paypal app and snapped a photo of both the front and the back as instructed and it imported into their system. Right now the deposit turn around is 6 days but many banks are doing it much better, Chase and PNC Bank for example. Another way banking is changing is with the embedding of NFC technology in devices. Now, when I say NFC what do you think of? Thats right, the football conference that always seems to cheat the Detroit Lions. Trust me, in 2016 the Lions still stink.

In the fall of 2011, Google is releasing some smartphones with NFC chips in them, Apple will get on board later after this comes out, as usual. This allows the users to wave their phone over a specific area and have their phone react accordingly. So for example you can wave phone on a poster at a trade convention and instantly get the company’s contact information or coupon savings. Now, lets take this another step further. NFC also allows for you to use your phone as a wallet. A couple months ago Google announced “Google Wallet” which is a venture between them, Citi, Mastercard and some other partners. This allows users to have their credit card information stored in their mobile phone and they can pay for items wherever they say a paypass or NFC terminal. Mastercard already has these in many stores, you may have seen them. This allows users to take their credit card on the machine to process their transaction. Now everyone fears the “what if my phone is lost or stolen”. I understand that, but I ask you this, would you rather lose your wallet or your cell phone? Your cell phone you can have a password to access, your cell phone can be deactivated remotely and with a cell phone you can call it so it rings in order to locate it. Wallets don’t do that, even in 2016. Another quick little example, Coke is going to start distrubuting coke machines that you text to pay. So you text a specific code and the coke machine spits out a Coca Cola and your Verizon account is docked $1.00 for your soda. Crazy huh.

Alright, lets wrap this up. We have come a long way in the last 5 years and in the next 5 years, things will grow even faster. Technology, Media and Communications will be the three headed monster will solve a lot of problems and bring a lot of our fantasies to real life. I ask though that you have an open mind to new technologies and do not fear change. 2016 is a great year and I can’t wait for you to see it, Columbus is crazy since Ohio State won back to back national titles.

Stay Nerdy My Friends

Jay

So many times I find myself explaining why I feel Twitter is a better social network than Facebook.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook and am able to connect with friends and family in ways I never would have dreamed.  Twitter just offers something different.  It offers the ability to learn from others, to experience events with strangers and most importantly, to influence strangers.  NBA big man Shaquille O’Neal used to use Twitter religiously when he played for the Phoenix Suns to the point where he would tweet his location and give 2 tickets to the first person to give him a high five.

Have you high fived Shaq on Facebook yet? Didn’t think so.

In explaining to people the benefits of joining Twitter, I often stumble over myself because it’s a odd notion to grasp.  ”You tweet a status update but you don’t really know who is reading it or seeing it”.  In other words, your going outside in the middle of the night and hitting golf balls on the high way.  You don’t know if anyone is seeing it, if your impacting anyone or not, but your doing it.  Now, Twitter isn’t dangerous or illegal, and will not kill anyone (I do not advise hitting golf balls onto the highway) but you get my point about an action happening without knowing the reaction.

I’ve collected a list of analogies that I thought might help some other people discuss Facebook and Twitter to explain it to those who are not socially savvy like us.

• I guess Facebook is like yelling it out to a crowd, and then Twitter is just like talking in a room.
• Twitter Is to Facebook as Google Was to Yahoo
• Twitter is a Party
• Twitter is an Appetizer
• Twitter is a Text Webcam
• Twitter is a Tavern
• Twitter is a Hammer
• Twitter is a Coral Reef
• Twitter is a Cocktail Party
• Twitter is like Post-it Notes
• Twitter is a Virtual Coffee Shop
• Twitter is Telegram 3.0
• Twitter is a Conference Reception
• Twitter is Email Marketing 2.0
• Twitter is like Fishing
• Twitter is like Holiday Cards
• Twitter is a Line-A-Day Diary
• On Twitter you should follow lots of people and brands that you care about, while on Facebook you should follow only people you REALLY care about.
• Facebook is a family reunion, Twitter is a world’s fair. (personal favorite)

If you haven’t already, dabble on Twitter.  The easiest way to get going is to create an account and follow 50+ people that might impact you.  Celebrities, politicians, role models, authors, athelets and of course, me! @jayyeater

Stay Nerdy My Friends

Facebook offers many features that allow people to incorporate the Facebook system into their website.  Here are some of my favorite suggestions I give clients in the Findlay, Ohio area on how to do this.

Facebook Commenting

If you have a website that runs on a system such as WordPress, you know you have full capabilties of allowing commenting on all your pages, news updates and media.  What you may not realize though is that their is a plugin for WordPress called Facebook Commenting for WordPress that allows you to replace the outdating WordPress default commenting field with a highly customizable Facebook commenting field that (1) allows users to comment using their Facebook profile, (2) post their comments directly to their Facebook wall and (3) like you or your business from the same area.

Facebook Like Box

You see this box on many websites as a one click way to gain Facebook likes and share a social stream from your Facebook page.  This has become so common though that I personally am straying away from it.  I find it too distracting (the profile pictures) as well as I am one to want to bend the rules and break away from the common trends in social media and marketing.  The like box though is a powerful way to show your social media strength.  Some company websites have pages devoted to showing 1,000s of Facebook like photos.  Below I discuss where to find this on Facebook.

Facebook Like Button

Now this feature, I really like.  I like it a lot!  Its minimal, effective and features the new Facebook “Send” button.  The Send button is Facebook’s replacement for the forward to a friend feature we used to always seen on a website.  Instead, they assume that you are friends on Facebook with everybody in your network and allow you to quickly type their name in, from anywhere, and drop them a link.   Lets face it, Facebook is trying to take over for your email system, their….I said it.  The Like button though is so small (90px wide depending on how “popular” you are) that it can be put anywhere on a website.  I prefer to put it in the call to action areas and up in the menu bar as I have with my site.  As with the Like Box, its a quick one click method for increasing your Facebook numbers but on a much smaller scale.

Make it happen’

To incorporate these into your website you need to

1. Navigate to the Facebook plugins section.
2. From there you will choose the plugin you wish to choose (Button, Box, Stream etc.).
3. Next you need to identify what link you paste in the window to the right.  This could be your application link, your Facebook page link (facebook.com/armarketing).
4. Adjust the sizes of your plugin (as needed), such as your width, height, what selections you want to choose or whether to allow profile pictures or not.
5. Specify any other settings before click Get Code
6. Once a window pops up with your code, choose either the iFrame or XFBML code and copy it to your clipboard.  I prefer the XFBML because it tends to have less issues across the multiple browsers that exist today, but iFrame is a very easy to use script.
7. Next, navigate to your website and paste the code in your header.php, sidebar.php, widgets section or other areas to paste your code.
8. As soon as you upload the file/refresh the page, you should see your plugin and it should function correctly.

For more help on this topic consider going through the Facebook tutorial on the plugin page.

I hope you found this post helpful.  I’d appreciate a comment below and a follow on twitter as well @jayyeater.  Thanks and as always, Stay Nerdy My Friends.

Once you burn a bridge you don’t get a second chance.

Careful not to burn bridges, you just might need to cross back.

Basically, treating others, even in business as you would like to be treated.  I really struggle with the mindset of “business is business” because at the end of the day, that contact or client may be someone you need to call on or fall on.

I have had numerous situations where I have had a random email or random phone call from an old colleague, friend or (at one time) potential client.  I’m a believer that their is a time and a place for everything, including working with someone in the business realm.  This post is by no means a blog post about me parting ways with my current career path with Anderson Robertson Marketing, but instead is just an insightful look in to how you can depart from your place of employment in the most gentle way possible.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do ~ every parent to their teenage son or daughter

In this life we all make and break decisions, but the commonality that we have between one another is the desire for a common good between our personal lives, our community and our dreams.  When we move beyond our stress of work and stress at home, we still find time to dream, (or at least should allow ourself to).  So if you are somebody who is considering leaving your current company to follow your dreams, here are some tips I found online that I think you should really consider before you break ties.

This is from a post by Holland Banks from www.succeedaftercollege.com

Always Leave With Two Weeks Notice

You can never go wrong with this. Two weeks is the standard acceptable window of time to alert your employer that he will need to fill your position.

Make Sure That All of Your Assignments Are Completed

There is nothing shadier than leaving your position when you are in the middle of several projects and assignments that no one else on the staff knows how to complete or without even letting them know where to step in. Not only does it make you look like you’re running out under pressure and reflect poorly on you, but it will create even more difficulty for your employers. You want to make the transition as easy as possible for them. And as much as you may be loved or hated at your job you don’t want to cause a huge disruption when you leave. The smoother the transition for the company, the more responsible you look as an employee. Also, leaving with the ability to tell current employers that all tasks and assignments have been completed gives you ability to leave on a positive and accomplished note.

Leave A Transitional Memo (If Necessary)

This is such a golden and easy trick to leave a legacy of your performance and responsibility behind! If there is absolutely anything that you really took charge of or were an expert go to person on in your office, leave some instructions and notations behind! If you were a whiz with specific computer software, leave step by step instructions for completing the most difficult tasks. If you made direct contacts that were helpful to your position leave their names, brief descriptions of them and their contact information for the person behind you to refer to. And if, by some chance there were projects that you were unfortunately unable to complete or that were ongoing leave thorough notations on your current status in those projects, a brief description for the next steps that the person behind you can take and the location of any materials that might help.  You’ll never hear it, but after you leave people will continue referring to you and your name will still be present in the office allowing you to keep that “ go to “ person reputation in your office even after you leave! It’s a great way to keep you from being forgotten as well.

Distribute Materials

This goes along with leaving a transitional memo. Make sure that anything you’ve borrowed from others is returned. If you’ve bought or collected materials that have helped you in with the company and that you no longer need, go through the office and offer them to the people that you think they might help. Remember that you are a part of the team until the minute that you walk out of the door. Other members will appreciate this and will remember you for it. And it is just another way to solidify that positive relationship between you and a member of your network.

Offer to Train Your Replacement

If your employer can find a replacement within the two week period that you will still be with them offer to train that employee. Or if your new employer doesn’t need you for another 3 weeks or so offer to stay or come back to train your replacement. This will further establish your presence as an authority within your position and will smooth out the transition of you leaving. Any good employer would be grateful for you extending such an offer and if they don’t take you up on it they will remember you for it. This is you trying to help them even when you don’t have to, so you’ll never have to hesitate to ask them for help when you need it.

Be Polite and Make Sure Your Immediate Supervisor Knows First

There is nothing that will offend your immediate supervisor’s ego more than allowing them to find out that you are leaving from absolutely ANYONE else. This means neither the manager above them nor the employee three levels below them should know that you’re leaving before they do. Now, obviously this is not a rule that is set in stone or a requirement. This is more of an etiquette strategy that caters to the ego of the person that knows about your work performance the most. I’m sure you’re wondering why you can’t tell the top manager before you tell the immediate supervisor who you may not respect or even like as much. But the person that deals with you on a daily basis, who is constantly judging and managing your day to day tasks, is going to be the person most likely to receive a phone call as a reference because they have the most experience with you. So making sure that you cater to their egotistical needs, though annoying, is a necessity.  Sitting down and giving your decision to your immediate supervisor is respectful to him or her. After that you can either let them relay that to the head manager or you can do it yourself. Either way, you don’t want to get ruffle the feathers of your employer by making them look stupid when they’re getting coffee and get pulled into conversation about one of their employees leaving without them knowing. Or worse, if the head manager calls them in and asks them what they’re doing in preparation for your departure and they have no clue. Making your supervisor look bad is the best way to get a bad reference. You should always be working to make your supervisor look good in order to make sure you continue to shine as well, even when leaving.

Have A Good Reason for Leaving

The last and most difficult part is telling your employer why you’ve chosen to leave. You want to have a good reason for leaving to give to both your current employer and your new employer, if there is one. I guarantee you that if you implement these two main qualities you’ll never go wrong:

1.       The focus is always on you- When giving your reason for leaving your company you never want to point fingers or blame. Always stick to using “I” statements and avoid using the word “you” or the company name. This is often advised to help people when solving conflicts and trying to come to resolutions with others. The use of “I” statements will remove any desire to point blame or make negative remarks and will help you avoid any last minute conflicts with your company. Also, if you find yourself in an interview or speaking you do not want to bring any negativity into your initial meetings and encounters. You want their first impression of you to be the absolute most positive one that you can bring. Also, you want your new company to know that they can trust you not to bad talk them to other companies and people in the community. If they see that you are bad talking your own company you may come off as more of a viral marketing liability than a super loyal employee.

2.       Always incorporate the need for growth- It is hard to come up with a good reason to leave a job, especially if the real reason is unpleasant. But if you’re taking a job which offers either similar or better opportunities than your current one, you should never have a problem using the desire for professional growth or bigger opportunities in your reasoning. Besides the fact that you want to keep things positive, you always want employers to know that you are looking for growth, challenges and opportunities to better yourself as a professional. And by acting on that desire and taking a job elsewhere you are letting your employer know that moving up is important to you as well. Though your employers want you to be loyal to them, you want to let them know that you ultimately dedicate yourself to opportunities, and not to individual employees and companies, and they will see that a requirement to having and keeping you is offering a challenge and hard work, a deal that most employers will jump for. This will play out in your favor when talking to new or potential employers because they know they are receiving someone looking for responsibility and a challenge. So hopefully you’ll walk into an environment already set to keep you busy. But who knows, it could also change things for the employer that you are planning to leave. If you’re leaving because the position is not what you want though you still like the company, the employer may realize that he overlooked your capabilities and give you an offer so you’ll reconsider.

Either way, flat out saying you were bored with the company , that you didn’t like your co workers  or admitting that it was your “just for now” job is the worst way to explain your leaving. Remember that in everything you do, you want to be creating the possibility for more opportunities your way.

Like I said before, I’ve had dozens of instances where someone I have networked with or worked for has come back to me for professional reasons, don’t burn bridges, you never know when you’ll need to cross again.

Jay – Stay Nerdy My Friends

AHA

No this post has nothing to do with the great 80′s band ‘A-Ha” but more about someone who was directed by some useful marketing without even realizing it.   One of the girls in my group, we’ll call her ‘Steinette’ is a terrific student and is very active in her church and her school.  Like every high school senior, your top priority is “What are you going to do after college”?  Some students might just pick a college so they have an answer for the question they always get, “Where ya goin?”.  Well ‘Steinette’ was very diligent about being patient and praying about her future school.  She wanted to know that the decision she made was the best for her future as a young woman and as a christian.  Well one of her top schools happend to be Indiana Wesleyan University, home of the Wildcats!

Well one night while doing homework, she found herself listening to Pandora radio and one of her favorite Christian songs came on.  So she went over to her laptop to give it the Pandora “Thumbs Up” when she saw it.  A full page ad for IWU on the background of her Pandora screen.  It was almost too perfect!  Imagine putting deep personal thought and prayer into Choice A and Choice B and while going about your business, Choice A is plastered all over your computer screen!  It’s a miracle! A christmas miracle! Ney, its a sign from God!

Well

Well not to be a party pooper but the higher power involved in this story is more the genious behind online adverising and Pandora than it was God.  I’m not doubting God’s powers at all, I just know how these things can work behind the scenes in the world of online advertising.

When organizations submits online advertisments they fill out a lot of critieria on who there target audience and what characteristics they have. In this particular situation, Indiana Wesleyan had their ad displayed because this individual listening to a lot of artists that fit their demographics, hence matching the target audience with the target message.  Whenever you have the option of directing your advertising based on demographics, I highly recommend it.  Why put your money spend in an area where your target audience doesn’t exist, its wasteful!  It’s like putting a space heater outside near your car so your door handle is warm.  Ok, bad analogy, but you get my drift.

Stay Nerdy My Friends!

Anywho

The Droid was my first high powered smartphone.  When I first got it I was extremely geeked with all the possibilities both personally and professionally.  Coming from a Blackberry Curve, I was exteremly impressed with the touch screen and functionality to boot.  After a while though I found myself hitting a wall.  It’s a wall that many Android users may feel “Lack of Relevant Apps”.  Outside of social media, news and email, their isn’t much that I used my Droid for.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, I have an iPod at home that I use quite often.  Right now I would much rather have an iPhone over an Android phone for that reason.  But, in looking towards the future, I see Android being the dominate platform.  Apple has the advantage of a large host of Apps but that took time and many versions of their operation system.  Android is still in its infancy and give it a couple years and I think it will be even more powerful than Apple.  Lets face it, with Google on their side, they can’t lose!

Looking for a Verizon Phone?

If you are looking at a Verizon phone right now I recommend one phone, the Samsung Fascinate.  It is very thin, stylish and extremely powerful.  I like the Droid X but still feel it is too large and I don’t care for the screen.  After seeing the Fascinate or even an iPod, I have learned to appreciate a nice rich screen.

Long Term

I think Verizon has placed themselves in a position to become the leading media provider along with Apple.  If/Once the iPhone comes to Verizon and uses their new 4G/LTE network, the possibilities are endless.  You will be able to do anything you want, from anywhere at an unbelievable speed.  Like Brad Paisley sang, the Future is here!

Hope you didn’t mind my first post.  Have a question, hit me up on Formspring!