Artist: ワカニタ
Artist’s Site: http://wakakoubou.sakura.ne.jp/
Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=641524

—–
‘Cause Mai is there…. I really don’t think I should even have to give a reason for posting any image so long as it had Mai.

Nosebleed after I saw this image… and I’m still sick. Hopefully it’ll pass by New Year’s Eve so that I can get sick again while trying to get the perfect shot of the Blue Moon with this crappy camera of mine….

It was great meeting at Jackie Huba from the Church of the Customer blog at the 2009 MIMA Summit.

She made a great impression on our 1,000 attendees, even for a Steelers fan.

And judging her 2010 Social Media Hot/Not List, it seems we made an impression on her…

See the whole list here.

Missed the Summit? Here’s the 2009 highlight video.

Pencil out time in your calendar for every single day next October (actual date to be announced soon!)…

The presenters (John Barton and Tom Masterman) skillfully shared the stage and the presentation to highlight main marketing challenges: drive traffic incorrectly and measure success incorrectly.  They went to the basics of the conversion funnel (awareness, interest, and preference) and applied both objectives and measurement to each stage of the funnel.

Hopefully the presentation will be available in the event page – it would be useful to review.

Research and measurement are important at each stage of the conversion process.  All marketing funnels include:

1. Targeting: what we know about the people
2. Brand: what they know about us

Awareness

Objective: knowledge about the company, product, or service

Measurement: page views… brand recall (if budget allows), fans, followers, number of video  comments

Interesting point: at this stage of the buying process companies might create content sections on their sites with information and resources attractive for certain segment of customers.

SEO as awareness…

Do not accept unfocussed targets or immeasurable social media

Interest

Objective: increase involvement

Research: learn more about your customers

Measurement: click through, submitted information

Interesting note: “response tail” for marketing to physicians is long (physicians could respond to the offer months after receiving the original communication – the offer page should still be available after a few months and relevant, if possible).

CRM dream: marketing should have not only prospect/customer information, but also to which messages the prospect/customer responded. Plan for data-driven relationship.

Preference

Objective: form relationship

Research: in-death knowledge about individuals

Measurement: intent to buy, purchases, repeat purchases

Other actionable ideas for marketers:

1. Take customer service manager for lunch – learn about customers
2. Take sales manager for drinks – learn about customers

(I must admit that accompanying sales rep on sales calls was one of most eye-opening experiences for me and helped understanding customers better)

One of the answers to the question from the audience recommended to spend time helping clients to understand what their goals are.. . oh that everlasting goal question ;- )

17/10/2009

To Balloon Boy’s Father
Really? You couldn’t get a reality show without involving your six year old son in a felony? Honestly? Come on! Even Scott Baio who is a total Chachbag got a reality show. Perhaps, you should get a Twitter account and start being a total asshole. At least then you’re just affecting yourself and not a six year old little boy.
Just Sayin’
To my blog readers
I know I haven’t been as prolific. It’s mainly because, though I’ve found acceptance of who I am and what I write, this job of being an author ain’t an easy row to hoe. The Redneck made a profound statement. He said “There’s two kinds of authors, honey. The Nora Roberts and the authors who struggle.” Bear with me. I was trying to spare you the whiny angst. I’m sure I’ll share some of it this week.
Just Sayin’
To ABC
I actually have TWO bones to pick with you.
1. Defying Gravity. Awesome show and you cancelled it….in the MIDDLE OF THE SERIES. Some of us were watching it. Some of us want to see some resolution. Couldn’t you just cancel it for next season? Do you have to stop it in the MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING SERIES!!!???? I’m not watching anymore shows on your channel. Even if people say they’re awesome, because I think you’ll cancel them in the MIDDLE OF THE SERIES.
2. Your NASCAR coverage sucks. Your camera angles? Meh. Your announcers? Meh. Your sound? SUCKS BIG DONKEY ASS. For two weeks, at Fontana and at Charlotte, you had sound issues and didn’t seem to know it. Doesn’t ANYONE at your station listen to your own broadcast? *shakes head* You suck. Just so you know, you’re now beating NBC in the suckage category.
Just Sayin’
To You Know Who aka Peter Pan
You’re really going to call the Redneck and whine about his crane? You’re really going to call the Redneck and say how awful this job is? Really? Oh my God. I SO want you to get kicked to the curb.
Just Sayin’
To The Cub Scout Bitch
Don’t hard ass me ever again to get you some damn piece of paper when you disappear for days and don’t answer your phone. When you rag on me for not getting something done, I assume you want to me get it done and get the fucking thing to you. Never again. I’m not jumping through anymore hoops. And one more crack from you tonight? I might give the kids a lesson in verbal fencing. “Here kids. This is what you do when someone bullies you and you’ve tried reason.” (Don’t worry, readers. I probably won’t say anything. *sigh*)
Just Sayin’
To Mima
Thank you so much. For all the critiquing and the time you spent trying to make my book better. You ROCK!!!!
Just Sayin’

crossing the cat

sunset

violet

sunset

crossing the cat

studio portrait

studio portrait

So my friend has ask me how to fake cross processing in lightroom….given I had to google cross processing, so I think it was pretty safe to say that I am not a master in the matter. Perhaps something is better when you actually look at the develop panel…

Download all 4 cross processing preset here

Oh, and for those who have an issue with me using FREE file sharing site to let you download these FREE presets just because you have to wait 10 seconds…you know where to stick it…and please visit SOME OTHER site that ask for your money….I am not doing this for the money..fame may be, but definitely not wishing to gain money…so please FORGIVE me for not PAYING for file sharing just so you don’t have to wait….sorry I wasted your 10seconds, but in retrospect, understand that I had to spend a lot more than that of my time to adjust, export and post these for others to download….move along now.

I had a great time presenting at the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Summit Conference last week.

Nathan Wright and I copresented “Social Marketing 101: Everything you think you should already know…”

Get the handout here (pdf)

The Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) ( #MIMASUMMIT ) met Monday, October 5 at The Hilton Minneapolis and Shareology was there!   Jackie Huba:   “…We are the 1%!!…”

Pictures below:

Jackie Huba, Morning Keynote "...google doesn't forget...."

Sharla Wagy, ShopNBC, and Peter Goldreich, CotterWeb

Robert Koski, Stone Arch Creative, and Kara Murphy, Popular Front

@RKoski turning the lens on @KayLoire

Sini Ross of Sexton Strategic

Mykl Roventine in mid-tweet

Standing and Sitting on the Floor Room Only

Shareology was holding up the left wall.....

Seth Godin, afternoon keynote

@andysantamaria

After MIMA or...... Before Vikings?

MIMA and Vikings and Twins, Oh My!!!   Thanks to all the great people who organized and hosted a superb event!

For more information, go to http://www.mima.org/ or follow:  @MIMASummit

See you at the UnSummit (@UNSUMMIT) !!

(Anybody miss the ginormous photos I usually publish?  Send me a comment if you do…..)

Kay Roseland    @KayLoire

The MIMA Summit: The 8th Annual Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association Summit will be held in the Twin Cities, aka “Hub of Digital Marketers.”

On Monday, October 5, 2009 attendees of The MIMA Summit will hear from companies such as Ford Motor Co., Ciceron, ExactTarget, Fallon, MarketLive and MediaPost Publications about their interactive initiatives and also network with fellow interactive colleagues and MIMA members from the creative worlds of design, media, promotions, content development, product development, publishing, marketing, usability and experience design.

The full day of presentations from top interactive marketers locally and nationwide include keynotes: Jackie Huba and Seth Godin, known for their innovative thinking on the new relationship between consumers and marketers in the digital universe.

Huba is the author (with Ben McConnell) of “Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message.” She is also the author of “Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force,” which the New York Times called “the new mantra for entrepreneurial success,” and is the co-author of the award winning Church of the Customer blog, currently counting over 245,000 subscribers. (http://www.churchofthecustomer.com)

Godin holds an MBA and is the author of ten bestselling books that have changed the way people think about marketing and work. Seth’s newest book, “Tribes,” is a nationwide bestseller, listed on the Amazon, New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Seth was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, the leading interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo acquired in late 1998. He worked as VP Direct Marketing at Yahoo before leaving to become a full time speaker, writer, and blogger. (http://sethgodin.com)

So, why should you care about the MIMA Summit? Because times, they are a changing. Particularly of note is the new relationship developing between marketers and consumers in the digital world including numerous social media channels. Over 20 local experts will also present on topics relating to how to reach consumers now that print is dying and email is tired and so many people are using their mobile phones apps for information.

For those of you who will miss The MIMA Summit, you can follow the conversation on Twitter at: #mimasummit. Or for the more unconventional version, there is the UnSummit on Saturday, October 10 (sold out) #unsummit. Special thanks to MIMA.org for some of the above content.

MIMA (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association) gathered for one of those amazing September evenings at Calhoun Beach Club, overlooking Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis.

Nothing like the 2nd floor terrace of Calhoun Beach Club....

Much glorious networking in warm air … learn more  at  http://www.mima.org/    

Kay Roseland   @KayLoire

The Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) has recently posted a comparative avalanche of new job openings on their web site. They range from strategists and developers to user experience pros and designers. The hiring organizations are equally all over the board: Target, University of Minnesota Carlson School, Ameriprise, Minnesota Wild and others. Even agencies — yes, real live agencies — are hiring. Brain Trust, Preston Kelly, Atomic Playpen and Lacek are among them. A few of the postings are long in the tooth, but many are fresh-faced.

Some of the Target hires might reflect an Advertising Age report that the chic-ly battered discount retailer plans to pour it on in marketing for the second half of 2009.

AB is thrilled to spread the word about these openings. Yet there is an equal amount of curiosity as to whether this is a one-time spike or the beginning of a jobs recovery in the Twin Cities market. Insights, speculation and conspiracy theories are welcome.

Busy Busy day today.
1. Buy Willow Creek Peaches at the Farmer’s Market
2. Buy a birthday present for Boy Party on Saturday
3. Grocery Store
4. Can Rasberries in jam
5. Laundry
6. Take the Dirt Faced Okie Boys to lunch
7. Laundry
8. Write more on “LOSING COMMAND”
Which is finally going well!!! YAY!
9. Check email obsessively
Since I have a Christmas Novella with Samhain and eight queries out to agents.
10. Make Dinner
11. Laundry
Did I mention I had laundry to do?
12. Get the Dirt Faced Okie boys to bed early
since we stayed up too late last night.
13. Reduce my TBR pile
I have three Kate Pearce books, two Mima books (I just finished “Wild Within”. AWESOME book), and “The Crack in the Lens” by Steve Hockensmith. *happy sigh*. It’s nice to be book rich. Just sayin’.

It seems like only weeks ago that Agency Babylon was reporting layoff after layoff at Minneapolis-St. Paul area agencies. Well, that’s because it was only weeks ago.

Now, there seems to be something in the air and it might be the aroma of new job openings. The MIMA job board is encouraging, and so too are the recurring tweets from @jaredroy on Twitter. (That would be Jared Roy, president of the Risdall Integration Group, whose 1,300+ followers on Twitter have to be due in part to his prolific job alerts, both for positions here and around the country. How does he do it, I wonder.)

But before you tuck your napkin under your chin and get ready to gorge on the possibilities, keep in mind that while there are indeed more openings than we’ve seen for a while the hiring organizations still have their pick of the talent. And they are likely to be picky in the picking–because they can.

Here are a few more places to forage in the search for job openings:

• Twitter: In additional Jared Roy’s output, AB has seen numerous job alerts on Twitter. Ryan May, who is @MNPR also has a blog with news about the region’s PR agency doings, and that includes jobs. So overcome your Twitter aversion and get signed up and at least lurk and stalk people there. You’ll find that among Twitter-ati there is a genuine camaraderie and spirit of sharing. As much as you’ll find a blowhard or two in the lot, people have been extremely courteous, social and kind to those who make the effort.
• Minnesota marketing professional organizations: MIMA’s not the only game in town, although they are more red hot these days than ever. But just about every association has a job board. Go to PRSA, IABC, AMA, AdFed and others.
• TalentZoo.com: If your job search isn’t confined to Minnesota, Talent Zoo is a great resource. They divide their job listings in convenient buckets, including advertising, marketing, media and digital. As of this post, there were 139 job postings for Minnesota across their categories. Find them on Twitter @TalentZooJobs.
• Recruiters/headhunters: Look to your right. Yes, right here on this page. To the right of this post. Now, scroll down (or up if you’re reading this late) to see links to a handful of the best talent reps for advertising-marketing in the Twin Cities. These people have connections and know about jobs way ahead of the curve much of the time. But remember that you are not their client, no matter how kind they are to you. So use their time and attention wisely and sparingly.

So many AB readers have been on the job hunt and have their own favorite haunts for job leads. If you’re secure where you are (mazel tov to you who are) and want to share your sources, please do so in the comments section to this post.

Joe Kutchera  gave a very insightful presentation  about developments and challenges of Spanish-language markets.

Ideas from the presentation:

Term “g-commerce” – global e-commerce

Touch of globalization: HomeDepot created a web site in Spanish and took it down after several months. Most of the visitors were coming from the outside of the US and could not purchase anything. Best Buy also has a Spanish language site, where it sees visitors from Latin America who do not necessarily buy; however, some show up in the stores with printouts from the site. Many Spanish language US sites receive significant portion of traffic from abroad.

Where Hispanics live in the US? An interesting advertising campaign – In an Absolute World

The obstacle: Spanish speaking people throughout the world find attractive goods on American web sites (and the goods are cheaper than in their countries); however their credit cards can not be used for purchases and shipping is very expensive if possible at all. But people abroad also want to shop!  Some do purchase and ship the goods to their American relatives addresses (to pick up when they travel to the US).

Global trends

Current map of internet penetration of the world  does not represent population numbers and most common spoken languages.

However, the price of computers is trending down and soon the current “map” will change. At that point different cultures and languages will become more important.

Practical advice: for some businesses specifically targeting people who live in Mexico and coming to the US to shop might be very beneficial.

Joe Kutchera’s company site dotGlobal  is an excellent resource for anybody interested in international e-commerce.

Another resource: Portada – Latin advertising, marketing, and media magazine.   The magazine was available at the event.

I had no idea this photo would follow me around

What are people saying about you? What kinds of pictures will your boss, employees or (gasp!) kids discover with a few short clicks? What does any of this mean to your personal brand?

This Thursday I’m co-presenting “The Brand of You in the Digital Age” with Tim Brunelle at an event hosted by the Minnesota Chapter of the American Marketing Association and Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA).

We’re going to talk about the changing face of personal brand, why your online identify matters and tips for monitoring, positioning and saving your digital reputation.

Event details:
The Brand of You in a Digital Age
July 9, 2009 | 5:00 p.m.
Grumpy’s Bar – Roseville, MN | REGISTER HERE

Be sure to check out Tim’s preview post at the MNAMA blog.