Category: Uncategorized

Psychology of the User Experience

Posted on | by Ketner Group | 2 Comments on Psychology of the User Experience

Right after SXSW Interactive, I promised a comprehensive recap, and I have a confession to make – this  Word document has been sitting here in blog post purgatory for over a week (literally!) now, because I’ve realized that: A) I’m not an authority on this event, since it was my first time going, B) there are tons of great posts out there recapping the event as a whole (check out see Omar Gallaga, Jay Baer, and Chris Brogan’s helpful and thoughtful posts), and C) while SXSW was incredibly valuable to me overall for reasons I mentioned in the previous short post, there are only a few things that I took away as total “a ha!” moments in terms of bringing new ideas and practices to Ketner Group and our clients. One of those was definitely Brian Solis’ session on How Your Brand Can Succeed in the New Web, but I’d much rather speak about that after I’ve read his new book, Engage! – and how handy that I asked a question during the Q&A portion of the talk and scored a crisp hardback copy! Be on the lookout for my review on that book soon.

For now, I’d like to dedicate this post to the other session I felt most interesting and pertinent to the work we do here at KG, Stephen Anderson’s talk on the Art & Science of Seductive Interactions – basically, how we can apply the principles of human psychology to creating a better User Experience (which can apply to developing products, websites, etc.)  I love the study of psychology, and in fact I also recently discovered a great lecture series on the Mind & Brain from the University of Arizona available for free download from iTunes U – I highly recommend checking that out. Anyway, Stephen Anderson’s main point in his SXSW panel was that, when we are creating something for other people, we need to get back to the basics. What makes successful experiments, products, and campaigns work? Generally, at the root of it is human psychology. Are you building your product or website or campaign by starting with a basic assessment of what you want people to do and how you can incent them to do so?

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Public Relations, the wild child: Commonly misunderstood and wrongfully stereotyped

Posted on | by Ketner Group

Public relations may be one of the most widely misunderstood professions. SXSW® Interactive is taking place here in Austin this week and I’ve been hearing chatter about “those PR types” that are annoying to who exactly, I’m not sure. During inevitable polite small talk babble, when I get asked the “What do you do” question, I typically respond, “I do PR for high tech companies.” More often than not, my inquisitor will look at me in one of two ways:

  1. As if I just told them I worked in quantum mechanics (they have no idea what PR is), or
  2. As if I just told them I’m an evil advertiser who sucks up all of your money, sends you mail you hate to receive and interrupts your Sunday evening showing of Desperate Housewives once every 15-20 minutes with those darn commercials.

I must say that I am neither one of those. I am also not at all like Samantha Jones from Sex and the City, I do not throw parties and plan events all day long, and – much to the dismay of a BCBG sales associate a few weeks ago – I could never get away with wearing a slinky, tight skirt suit that distracts from my awesome personality while I’m representing a client.

Because that’s what we do. We represent – we ARE – our clients. Everything we say and do reflects upon our clients. Perhaps the reason why PR is so widely misunderstood is because we work hard to remain invisible to those on the outside. We are essentially our clients’ eyes, ears and mouths. “What are people saying about X?” “What do we see X’s competitors doing?” and “What does X need to say to effectively and positively communicate with their audience?” Continue reading →

A word from our newest!

Posted on | by Ketner Group | 1 Comment on A word from our newest!

Brittany graduateI’m Ketner Group’s resident rookie. I graduated with my bachelor’s of public relations way, way back in May 2009, and promptly joined the Ketner Group family.

I’ve known from the beginning that I liked my job. We have awesome clients. I have a super cute desk (let’s be honest, what PR girl does not like cute office furniture from IKEA?) and post-it notes that bear my initials (again, PR ladies, do not act like you aren’t jealous). I even have my own extension and business cards (I know you are impressed!). Our team really is like a family, which I proudly admit even though I fall squarely in the “cliché” camp with that admission.

I knew I liked my job, but when friends, family and really anyone else asked me how I liked it, I would quickly give a thoughtless answer, something like, “It’s OK,” and change the subject.
Really? It’s just OK?

I blame my wishy-washy feelings on the transition from full-time student to full-time employee. Let’s examine.

Maybe it was my deep-seated fear that I chose the wrong major. I mean, there was that existential meltdown of 2007 when I applied for and was accepted to become an advertising major, only to jump right back into the PR camp after deciding my professors were biased and made advertising appear overly sexy and glamorous. For shame, professors! But I never did feel confident in my decision again.

Maybe it was how I didn’t know how I truly felt about the cold, hard fact that I will never again have a summer vacation or a whole month off for winter break. Truthfully, it was a little difficult to pick and choose which family holiday obligations I was actually obliged to attend, and then to carefully ration my vacation days so as to make the most people happy while saving enough days for the rest of the year. Continue reading →

The Power of the Press (Release)

Posted on | by Jeff Ketner

For better or worse, press releases are a staple of every public relations toolkit. Used incorrectly, they can be the bane of an editor’s inbox: when the “news” isn’t really newsworthy, when companies take a shotgun approach to the media list, and when media outlets are bombarded with irrelevant information (does the New York Times really care about your software company’s latest technology partnership?).

Used properly, however, a press release is a powerful communications tool that can help create sales opportunities, drive revenues and much more – all of which is underscored by several client examples from the past few months.

Just before this month’s NRF (National Retail Federation) show, for example, one of our retail technology clients, an NRF exhibitor, received a call from a midsized apparel retailer, requesting a meeting at the show. The impetus? The retailer had just seen a press release announcing that another retailer (one of our client’s customers) had received a major industry award for successfully implementing our client’s software. If our client’s software could provide a competitive advantage, this retailer didn’t want to be left out in the cold. The press release opened a door, the meeting went well, and sales discussions are continuing.

In a similar vein, this fall we announced that a well-known consumer electronics brand had tapped another of our clients for a major technology initiative – and within a few days, our client received an inquiry from another brand looking for a similar solution. That inquiry has led to ongoing sales meetings, and at this point, a deal looks probable. If so, the revenue from that one customer will likely cover the cost of our PR services for many years to come.

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The year of Twitter: Is there such a thing as too much talk about social media?

Posted on | by Ketner Group | 6 Comments on The year of Twitter: Is there such a thing as too much talk about social media?

socmed

The Global Language Monitor, which examines language usage across the world, recently ranked “Twitter” as the top word in the English language for 2009 — meaning it out-ranked “Obama,” “H1N1,” “stimulus,” and “vampire” to take #1.

While this seems a bit surprising with everything that’s gone on this year, it’s not shocking. Social media came to the forefront of interest and attention, and every traditional media outlet jumped in the ring to break that minute’s social media trend story and to get a piece of the pie themselves by connecting with their readers via social networks.

Not that we’re complaining — we’ve gotten to see the social media craze first-hand with our client CheapTweet.  Launched just before Black Friday in 2008, CheapTweet couldn’t have been better positioned for what 2009 had in store: an aggregator that pulls deals from Twitter and creates a community around finding the best possible deals for every shopping need.  Social media darling Twitter? Check. Saving money in a recession? Check. We worked with CheapTweet to formulate the message and get the word out, and the site was featured as a holiday shopping must-see on MSNBC less than two weeks later. That followed in 2009 with hits including InStyle, Parents, New York Times, CNN, TechCrunch, Internet Retailer and tons more — and thankfully, CheapTweet’s message and product were strong enough to roll over the competitors that popped up along the way. Cyber Monday (yesterday) brought the company’s heaviest traffic to date. Continue reading →

Beauty is only skin deep. Right?

Posted on | by Ketner Group

beauty

I’m a big believer in inner beauty — a huge fan of Dove’s famous Campaign for Real Beauty, a follower of feminist ideals, you name it. But I can’t deny the huge rule that image plays in peoples’ perceptions and beliefs regarding just about everything, from the latest runway fashions to celebrities to homes to the logo design on a box of trash bags. People often judge a book by its cover (I’m certainly not immune)  — and I’ll bet the image at the top of this blog caught your attention enough to start reading this post (don’t stop now!) As any marketer knows, image can make or break success, regardless of what’s underneath. With people, we can all strive to judge others by the beauty of our characters — and when it comes to a product or service, by the quality of what you’re paying for. But with the tough competition in today’s market, quality does not always equate to success, and we marketers owe our jobs to that fact.

So why all the talk about image? Well, as a 19-year old company that’s gone through more exciting changes in the last year than ever before, we were in desperate need of a facelift. There was a disconnect in what our website was saying about us and who we felt we were. And after a few hiccups along the way, we’re finally here! We are proud to unveil the brand new www.ketnergroup.com, and we hope you’ll come back often to check out our blog posts and latest client news. Any comments or suggestions on our new look? Feel free to leave them here!

Stay beautiful, folks.

Welcome to “kblog”

Posted on | by Jeff Ketner

Welcome to “kblog” and the new Ketner Group website!  We’re excited to be launching our new site, and the timing couldn’t be better.  With all the unprecedented changes that are reshaping the media and the ways that we practice PR and marketing, it’s the perfect time for us to put a “fresh face” on Ketner Group and open up this new channel of communication with you.

I’ve been in this business for over 30 years now, spending five years as a working journalist before crossing over to the “other side” as a PR and marketing professional.  And I can honestly say I’m having more fun than ever.  It’s an exciting, dynamic time to be in this business, as the media landscape continues to change at an accelerating pace and all the old assumptions are turned topsy-turvy. Continue reading →