Go ahead.  Look it up.  I’ll wait.

Yup – little miss Phi Beta Kappa – the woman who corrects the grammar of others in her head ALL THE TIME (I’ve stopped doing it aloud – it apparently annoys people!) - now finds herself accidentally using words that only sound like the word she wants…instead of the correct word.

For years I’ve been combining words and making my own – a la “sniglets” – and am quite proud of a few of them:  “strategery” and “blirk” to name a few.  But now I’m just substituting like-sounding words – and most of the time I don’t realize I’ve done it until someone (yes – usually Peyton) starts smirking at me (not to be confused with the aforementioned “blirking,” which is when some both blushes and smirks simultaneously).

It started simply enough, the odd “incinerating” instead of “insinuating” (big, firey difference!) or the time I referred to electoral college as the electrical college (me and Yogi Berra!)

But now I seem to be confusing my cultural references.

Case in point.

Today is Peyton’s wife’s birthday. Knowing that she is a big fan of “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,” I found her a terrific birthday gift featuring one of the illustrations from the first edition of the book – a picture of young Lucy and Mr. Tumnus (you remember, the faun Lucy meets when she first enters Narnia?).

But what I actually said to Peyton was “Lucy and Mr. Toonces.”

Yup –“Toonces the Cat Who Could Drive a Car” – the silly sketch from Saturday Night Live.

Who, of course, has nothing to do with C.S. Lewis.  Or children’s literature.  Or Lady E’s birthday present.

Peyton laughed so hard he almost blew Diet Coke out of his nose.

Ah well, hopefully she’ll lick it.  I mean look it.  I mean LIKE it.

Chad joins us days after graduating from Liberty University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in graphic design.

His role on the graphics team guarantees  that his work will encompass a variety of projects for a wide cross section of clients. Yes, that’s our way of tossing the new kid into the deep end of the proverbial pool. But it’s also our way of ensuring that every client gets the very best Tin Cans has to offer.

And we’re expecting some big things from this talented young man.

So join me in welcoming Chad Adams to the Tin Cans team. You can email him at Chad@tincansunlimited.com.

For those who don’t know, Martin is CEO of Mobile Future Institute and Director of the Center for Media Research at MediaPost Communications. He is also author of The Third Screen; Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile, and a featured speaker at the upcoming Blog World and New Media Expo in New York.

Tin Cans is attending Blog World (as well as the concurrent Book Expo) in part because of these statistics that Martin cites on the current state of mobile marketing, and what they suggest about the future:

• $1 billion in mobile app advertising. With worldwide mobile app downloads soaring (App Store revenue last year was almost $2 billion), in-app advertising revenue will reach $1billion, says Berg Insight.
• $1.9 billion in iOS and Android game revenue. Gaming activity has been moving from dedicated game consoles to iPhone and Android devices and the app analytics firm Flurry sees the revenue following.
• $2.5 billion in mobile revenue to Google. The mobile run rate at Google has gone from $1 billion last year to $2.5 billion this year, according to Google CEO Larry Page. It may help that Android Market jumped to more than 500,000 apps, according to the research firm Research2Guidance.
• $3.7 billion revenue from premium mobile app downloads. With more than 18 billion apps being downloaded this year they can’t all be free and analyst firm Ovum pegs the paid-for apps market at almost $4 billion, double last year.
• $5.4 billion in mobile coupons. That’s the value of the mobile coupons redeemed by customers globally, according to Juniper Research. Future coupon projections are stratospheric.
• $6 billion in mobile commerce. While still a small base of overall transaction volume and a small percent of all sales, it continues to grow, says Forrester Research.
• $10 billion on mobile retail campaigns. There’s some overlap in the Juniper Research numbers here because the overall mobile spend by marketers also includes mobile coupons, but still not an insignificant number.

Add to these numbers that Martin provides the fact that more people use mobile apps than they use the Internet. (This is key: the folks at Flurry Analytics are not comparing mobile app use to mobile web browsing – they are comparing mobile app use to ALL web browsing!)

This alone was reason for Tin Cans to add mobi development capacity to the team (Spoiler alert – more on that later!).

There is no question that mobi use will continue to outpace old-fashioned (really? that’s the term for it?) web surfing.

The question is how marketers will react.

For decades, shows like ACS were where business happened. Economic issues forced businesses to rethink how they find, engage and retain customers, and the pendulum swung away from trade shows in general. We think it swung too far.

Our clients at this show and others (we were out in full force in multiple cities this week) understand that. Trade shows continue to be a valuable part of the sales funnel for them, particularly when seen as an integral part of the process – along with social media, blogging and traditional marketing.

I apologized immediately, personally, and privately, to each unfortunate witness to my uncalled for tirade. Each of them was most gracious with his or her acceptance of my apology. Some were surprised that the boss would even bother.

But I had to. I had to try and undo the damage, even though I know that it’s done.

Some things you can’t take back.

Now, I “lose my temper” on occasion for effect. I show “appropriate emotion” to rally the troops, correct a course, discipline an intern, etc. A leadership function, I learned once upon a time.

But actually losing control… bad juju. Some things you can’t take back.

Someday, many, many moons from now, I’d like to be remembered by colleagues with phrases like “always so kind” or “never had a cross word.”

But that’s not going to happen.

Now the best I can hope for is “remember that time…”

I remember when the marketing/advertising world jittered, briefly, because everyone, it seems, had a neighbor whose kid got a Mac for Christmas.

And I remember when the marketing/advertising world figured out that handing off your branding to the kid with the new iMac was like trusting the kid who wins playing “Operation” to remove your appendix.

Today, we come full circle.

Only instead of a shiny new Mac, the neighbor’s kid has discovered WordPress.

I have absolutely nothing against WordPress. The WordPress content management system is a popular development platform. Highly customizable, easy to maintain. We have deployed a number of client websites using the WordPress CMS.

Our developers debate amongst themselves the virtues of WordPress vs. Drupal vs. Symphony, Joomla, etc., and – depending on the specific needs of the client – WordPress more than holds its own in those debates. (With .php developers, I really believe it comes down to where you started. Like with designers back when you had a choice between Illustrator and Freehand. Just don’t tell them I said that!)

In the world of WordPress, there are thousands of prebuilt “themes” floating out there, because open-source programmers love showing – and sharing – their work. Then there are countless “plug-ins” – think of these as applets for your website offering added functionality, such as a basic “contact” form. And it’s all free. Plus, an entire cottage industry has evolved, where “premium themes” can be had – for a reasonable price.

This is where the neighbor’s kid comes in.

Thanks to WordPress, the neighbor’s kid can build you a website, and he can do it on the cheap! All you need to do is give him your business card so he can scan your logo, and presto! you’re online.

I have borne witness to this scenario countless times in recent days, and it bothers me on several levels. I’ll discuss two.

Level 1.

I don’t have a problem with the neighbor’s kid trying to make a buck, but the kid should do so honestly. I cringe when I see an “agency” deploy the same WordPress theme for five different clients, and the only visible change is the logo. Worse, even though it’s a standard pre-installed theme, each installation’s footer states proudly “designed by Neighbor’s Kid Agency.”

I realize plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery, but Neighbor’s Kid Agency take note: it’s also a really crappy way to start your business. Taking credit for work you didn’t do isn’t just wrong, it’s specifically disallowed in the license you accept when you work with WordPress.

Level 2.

WordPress, like many other popular content management systems, is an open-source platform. Senior minion Cameron “Jimmy Neutron” Fackler and I have had many conversations on the nature and value of Open Source, and I’ll concede here (if not to him) to the value of Open Source development.

But I believe that Open Source systems such as WordPress, when combined with the neighbor’s kid, lead directly to an unfortunate commoditization of Internet development.

I’m all in favor of lowering costs (in that doing so leads to greater profitability). But on a larger scale, commoditization means developers don’t get compensated for their creative efforts, and that my friends leads directly to fewer and fewer creative efforts.

Tin Cans developers use Open Source platforms when they’re best-suited for our clients. Current projects include Drupal and WordPress applications.

In cases where we develop with a WordPress theme, two things happen.

First, we purchase the rights to whatever custom themes we use, thus compensating the original developer for his or her efforts AND ensuring those efforts will continue. Second, we further customize the custom theme, making it unique to our client’s specific requirements, branding and functionality.

Am I sour because Neighbor’s Kid Agency, Inc., is taking business away from us? Don’t be ridiculous. Any business that wants its marketing handled by the neighbor’s kid is a business that would not be a good fit for Tin Cans in any case.

The neighbor’s kid can, with some help from WordPress (or any drag-and drop template from Network Solutions or Go Daddy or what-have-you), build a halfway decent website for your company. But the onus will be on you to ensure that your brand-new website doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Marketing’s evolution certainly takes us beyond print and broadcast, beyond direct-response and, frankly, beyond the web. Even as various social platforms duke it out for the right to compete for a fraction of Facebook’s business, even as mobile (to include tablets) takes more and more share, one constant remains, well, constant:

The only really successful marketing effort is an INTEGRATED marketing effort.

But that’s another blog for another day.

Bugs runs into the tired old Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny’s feet are killing him, so Bugs volunteers to help out. His first stop has an ill-tempered toddler with a biting problem. Bugs says, “Here kid…have an egg!”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gFL7FBe_PA

The kid smashes the egg in Bugs’ face and starts shouting, with increasing intensity…

I wanna east yegg!

I wanna east yegg!!

I wanna east yegg!!!

I think of this cartoon every Easter. This year was no different, except that my sister complained that she didn’t hear me say it till later in the day.

It made me think of how we sometimes sabotage ourselves by resisting the very thing we’re trying to accomplish.

“I want more customers, but I can’t be disturbed by them!”

“I wish my website would generate more leads but, I just can’t seem to follow up with the ones I’ve got!”

Have you ever been rushed out of a store or dealership? You’re ready to buy, but the salesman seems put out by your presence in his store?

Doesn’t he want to make a sale? (Doesn’t he want to make money?)

I’m not putting down the sales guy. I understand him all too well. It’s just too easy to find an excuse for why I WON’T do what I DON’T want to do.

What I don’t understand is why we do it. Fear? Laziness? I don’t think so. At least I hope not.

I think the problem is simpler than that. I think the problem stems from taking our eyes off the goal. When you aren’t focused on the goal, you tend to focus on whatever is blocking you. Worse, you find yourself focusing on a different goal altogether.

Take that sales guy.

He’s focused on the clock, because closing up shop is more important than that unlikely customer who probably isn’t going to buy anyway. He’s focused on that last obstacle wasting his time, taking up space, keeping him from doing what he would rather be doing.

We KNOW he wants the sale. And it’s right there in front of him. But instead of focusing on the very person who can give him his easter egg now, he will complain tomorrow that he doesn’t have one.

Now, I don’t need glasses. I see fine. Well, not fine, but not blurry either. The fine print is sometimes a little fuzzy. And my biceps are really toning up thanks to this new “trombone” exercise I do when I check email on my iPhone. But I don’t need glasses.

I do almost all of my reading on some electronic device – either my iPad or MacBook Pro, or my wife’s Kindle. Each handles small print simply and effectively, by allowing me to reset the type size to 16-point. So I don’t need glasses.

I thought reading paper charts while flying might be an issue, but it turns out there’s an app for that. Navigation via Garmin GPS or Foreflight on the iPad… both zoom appropriately so no squinting – or glasses – required.

I have nothing against eyeglasses. Functional, stylish, excellent tools. They no doubt work wonders for those who need to use them. (Which I do not.)

A few days after I turned 45, a potential client called us asking if there was anything we could do to help him sell more products online. It’s been about six months since he launched a website, and he isn’t getting the leads he expected.

I asked him what his site’s analytics had to say about incoming traffic. He replied that his site is getting lots of hits.

“Are you looking at your Google Analytics?” I asked, though I already suspected the answer.

This guy’s website has more graphics than words, and the words he has are not exactly search-engine friendly. (But that’s a different topic for a different post.) To top it off, the company that built his website for him did, at least, set up a Google Analytics account – which he then never once looked at.

“That is an important tool,” I explained. “It will help you to see where your traffic is coming from, and where it isn’t. It will help you understand how to better optimize your site’s content for better, more relevant search results.

“But you won’t see a thing if you don’t use the tools available,” I concluded.

I’ll never understand why people insist on doing things the hard way, why they won’t just take advantage of the tools available.

Take me for example. Even as I type this blog, the words are getting a little fuzzy. But unlike our new client, I know that right next to my new glasses sits a button I can push to make my screen resolution larger.

We didn’t think it would be a big deal – my French is more than passable, and Peyton learned early on how to order his steak “au point” (medium).  The problem was that in most cases, we were immediately identified as Americans (probably a combination of my big white sneakers – I was going for comfort outside of meetings – and Peyton’s southern accent) and handed the “English” menu.

And this was where it got interesting.  

Many of the small cafés and brasseries we frequented clearly used a software program – perhaps similar to Google Translate – to translate their menus from French to English.  Of course, many French foods have no English translation:  crème brulee is crème brulee the world over.  Unless you are an “American in Paris,” where it turns out you’re ordering burnt cream.

I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Later, I had a hankering for crepes – delicious, savory, delicate crepes – but I couldn’t find them on any menu – even after seeing signage outside the cafes advertising them.  We soon figured out the issue – on the English menu they were listed as “salt pancakes!”

Blech.

I love crepes – but salted pancakes sounded, well, disgusting.

At Tin Cans, we complete an incredible amount of work in multiple languages – websites, brochures and the like – everything from Spanish and Portuguese to French and Chinese.  We spend an inordinate amount of time working with incredible translators to ensure that the translated work is pitch-perfect and completed by native speakers.  We double and triple check to ensure accuracy.  We never, EVER translate content word-for-word. We transCREATE content to ensure the proper context survives the process.

Because no one wants salted pancakes.

Tim: I had a meeting with a businesswoman who was looking for some marketing insight.  At Tin Cans, we love to have these conversations. Her goal was to improve her marketing efforts, so we spent some time discussing what she was doing, and what her company might do in the future.

Her company sells what could only be described as a durable good. Durable goods are those things you buy and depreciate over a long period of time. Unlike copier paper or printer cartridges, these capital purchases are usually the result of doing some research before making the decision, but it is not something one thinks about a lot.

Professional services such as legal services, are similar. Nobody thinks they need a lawyer until they do. Then it is a scramble to find one.

A key component of marketing for those whose customers do not need their product or service very often is to maintain something called top of mind awareness, or TOMA.

Consider the game show Family Feud. One-hundred people surveyed and asked “name a brand of motorcycle.” For every American who rides a motorcycle, there are hundreds who do not. Of the 100 in this survey, few are likely to be bikers – at least not enough to change the top 5 responses.

Think of this question as a test of TOMA for the motorcycle industry.

When a potential customer determines they have need of my prospect’s product, TOMA is what puts her company at the top of the list of manufacturers to call. Maintaining TOMA is typically a function of advertising in appropriate venues and with sufficient regularity. Companies with high TOMA tend to have the greater market share.

Among the most powerful methods of achieving and maintaining TOMA is social media. It is free to do, and getting your name out there costs the same if you do it 10 times or 100. However, one can only promote a product so often before you begin to bore your fans.

Send an email newsletter with a “buy this” appeal and nothing of value to the person who is not ready to buy, and you’ll get a quick unsubscribe. This is where businesses falter with social media. Now that I’ve promoted my product, what do I say next?

Your social media stream has to provide value to your audience in the broader social sphere that surrounds your product or service.

Say you are a cabinet maker. You can logically infer that a person who wants kitchen cabinets is interested in making and keeping their home beautiful. This means landscaping, HVAC, home repair, green home technology, appliances etc. Therefore a social media stream for a cabinet company would introduce DIY links and articles about remodeling projects, home maintenance, etc.

Someone who gets a great tip on how to get gum off a mahogany table will think of the cabinet company when the time comes to look for a custom entertainment center.