Dayton AMA

Why is Google Earth so cool? Here is one reason. Have you ever rented a "beach-front" vacation spot, only to find out that it was not remotely close to the beach. Plug in the address in Google Earth and scout it out prior to going. Technology is awesome!Official Google Blog: This is "beach-front"?

How fall begins, and how it ends - with a single leaf:




Just last week in Sugarcreek MetroPark.















November 2002. Red River Gorge, Kentucky


For more thoughts on the arrival of fall (my favorite and the best time of year for outdoor photography) read my ramblings at: http://neophotog.blogspot.com/

Here is a very cool, very simple idea. FutureMe.org will send you or someone else an e-mail in the future. You can do it anonymously, or register your e-mail address. Great application for sending reminders, birthday greetings, and more. F u t u r e M e . o r g

Registration for the October 12th meeting of the Dayton Chapter of the American Marketing Association at the Schuster Center is now open. The featured speaker is Rod Sommer, corporate marketing director for LJB, Inc. He will be discussing "Bridging the Gap between Sales and Marketing." Check out the event page for more information. Register early to reserve your spot, as seating may be limited.Welcome - AMA Dayton Chapter - daytonama.marketingpower.com

More good stuff from Presentation Zen!Presentation Zen: The "Godin Method" of presentation design

To Done has a great post about how to use the new Google Desktop 2 program to organize your workday. The post is based on the David Allen book Getting Things Done. If you are a David Allen fan, you will like this post. I have installed Desktop 2, and love it. It is so easy to track down files, e-mail, and other random items. There is a cool sidebar feature as well that previews e-mail, provides RSS feeds, and even has a spot to control itunes. It takes a while to index your computer, but it is totally worth the waiting.
To-Done

Only in Marketing is "Viral" a good thing. Why do some ideas go "viral" while others don't? Check out this post by Seth Godin, the author of "Unleashing the Ideavirus." Seth discusses the basic elements of a "viral" idea. Want to know more about idea viruses? Seth Godin has a free PDF version of the book Unleashing the Ideavirus available online. Like all of his books, it is a great read. Worth the download.Seth's Blog: What makes an idea viral?

Are you bored at work? I am not, but on the off chance that the problem of boredom should arise, check out Google Video, which is now running "Everybody Hates Chris." The show stars Chris Rock, and premiered a week ago on UPN. Google is now making the entire episode available over the internet for free. As Google Video's site says, "the era of the couch potato is so over."
Official Google Blog: Everybody won't hate this

Seth Godin points to this blog "Presentation Zen" as a great site for learning how to improve your Presentation skills. Great stuff on this site.Presentation Zen

Do you have someone's cell number and know what carrier they use. Well, did you know that you can use that information to send them a text message by e-mailing them from your desktop. I picked up this cool trick on Lifehacker. Apparently this has been around for some time, but it is news to me. I tested it, and it worked. You may want to check with your friends and make sure they have free text before you go crazy with this.
Enter their phone number with area code to the left of the @ sign and follow it with the appropriate carrier e-mail info:
T-Mobile phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
Type your message and send.

Cool stuff from Lifehacker.
Send SMS from E-Mail - Lifehacker
Follow up: According to customer service, Verizon does charge for text messages, but only if message is opened. (Try using subject line for quick message which does not need to be opened.)

I know I'm a bit early with my "Picture of the Week," but I wanted to post this now since I'm going to be out on a shoot tomorrow.

This week's image pays homage to our Renaissance Festival - a favorite venue for late summer and early fall.

This image may also represent how some of you feel when battling the dragons of corporate culture and conquering the black knights of troublesome vendors (ah, memories!).

If by chance one of those "troublesome vendors" is your commercial photographer (or your agency that hires your commercial photographer), then please give Jim Crotty a call at 432-6711 or email.

I ended up with a camera phone because it was on special. I rarely use the camera in it because I would have had to pay extra to do something with the pictures, which are of poor quality anyway. Enter this post from 43 Folders on great uses for a camera phone. My personal favorite, take a picture of where you parked in a crowded lot or garage so you can find your car later when you return.43 Folders | How do you get creative with your phonecam?

Church of the Customer, a great blog about word of mouth marketing has a link to a new survey being conducted by Jupiter Research. I suggest the following idea. Go through the survey and print out each individual page. While the survey is asking what you are currently doing to generate word of mouth, it lists things that others are doing. Thus even if your current answer is no, you might be able to glean some new ideas simply by looking through what other companies are doing. If you are already utilizing the techniques they are asking about Kudos to you!
Church of the Customer: Jupiter word of mouth study

A friend forwarded an article to me from ClickZ Network - "Solutions for Marketers." It's an on-line newsletter about internet marketing. I thought some of you might find it interesting.
http://www.clickz.com/

The article that he sent me was about "rich media" campaigns, an area that we have been involved with over the last couple years (as we evolve from a video production resource to a rich media production group). The headline suggests agencies are outsourcing rich media "grunt work," but the article talks about outsourcing because of the growing complexity of rich media projects.
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3528501

Love what you do! Here are some suggestions on how to have more fun at work from Keith at To-Done.The Power of Play at Work

Do you Google? If so, check out this page of helpful hints that may improve your search results. Thanks to Lifehacker for the tip to this page.Google MyWay - How to search Google efficiently

How is this one for a distribution channel? In Singapore, Nike has set up vending machines that distribute soccer balls. (aka Footballs) This is designed to promote the sport, and pump up demand for Nike products related to it. Adrants � Nike Vending Machines Dispense Footballs

43 Folders, a blog inspired by the David Allen book "Getting Things Done" has a great article about how to write sensible e-mail messages. Short, sweet, and to the point.
43 Folders | Writing sensible email messages

Great tips on how to be more assertive in an effective manner using the LADDER method from 43 Folders.com Worth a look. I struggle with this all the time. How do you get what you want without being percieved as a complete jerk? These tips will certainly help.43 Folders | Assertiveness with LADDER

If you can only read one Marketing related blog, besides Dayton AMA of course, it should be Seth Godin's blog. I find something great on here almost daily. Check out his take on Managing the Vague. If you do anything today, get an RSS feed and subscribe to his blog, and Dayton AMA too. I guarantee that you will have a high marketing ROI for your time and efforts.
Seth's Blog: Managing the vague

With kudos and thanks to David for a great suggestion, I am pleased to introduce PhotoJim's "Picture of the Week."

Each Friday (when I'm not of town on a photo shoot) I will post a new image that was captured during previous week, symbolic of the season. Most will be nature, landscape or cityscape.

My first post is a slight step away from having been captured "within the last week."However, I think it's representative of all things summer. This image is also one of many added to my latest online gallery - A Last Look at Summer in Dayton - 2005. And yes, all images are available as prints, from 5"x7" to 24"x36", as well as non-exclusive, limited-use rights for print and e-publication.

Yes, it is true that I am a sucker for a good Google trick. Check out this article from Lifehacker about how to measure area with Google Aerometer in Google Maps.
Measure area with Google Areometer - Lifehacker

Here is a really cool site for some Friday fun. Josh Kaufman's Personal MBA site. It sprung out of a blog post on Seth Godin's blog about how much one could learn on their own vs. paying ot learn it in a classroom. The site is really cool, has a great list of suggested reading material, links to so many other great sites, and tons of discussion threads. Josh also has a manifesto explaining the project on Changethis.com this month. Check it out.
Josh Kaufman: Inside My Bald Head

Please contact me if you would like a copy of Irene Dickey's Powerpoint Slides from the September 14th meeting.
- David

AMA Dayton held the first chapter meeting at the Schuster Center yesterday, September 14th, and WOW was it fantastic. President Greg Evans kicked off the meeting by introducing this year's board. Tracy Martin followed up with a rundown of coming events, and Shawn Frecska announced the Most Valuable Marketer contest, and then I had the pleasure of introducing the keynote speaker, Irene Dickey. Talk about hitting a home run! The presentation was fantastic. Irene spoke about emerging technology in marketing, and it was truly fantastic. She covered web development, e-commerce, m-commerce, blogs, and on and on. (There was even a fire drill thrown in for good measure) On behalf of the Dayton AMA I would like to personally thank Professor Dickey for coming and sharing her knowledge with us. Finally the meeting closed with Megan Hammerer rewarding 2 lucky attendees with gift certificates to Boston Stoker. If you were not able to attend, you missed a great event, but don't fret. We have more in store for you. October 12th is our next meeting and our speaker will be Rod Sommer from LJB. He will be discussing the challenging task of "Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Marketing." This is going to be another home run. Check out the Dayton AMA homepage for more information and reserve your spot today! Thanks again to everyone who made the first meeting so fantastic.
Welcome - AMA Dayton Chapter - daytonama.marketingpower.com

Congratulations Dave on your new job with Relizon, and thank you for doing such a good job in managing this blog. It's a great idea, and wonderful way for getting the word out.

I wanted to let everyone know about my new studio and gallery, located off Far Hills in Centerville. I now have over 1,100 square feet for in-studio, commercial photography work as well as display of my fine art prints. A big plus is that my customers no longer have to climb the stairs to get to my location. My new studio and gallery is located between Elsa's Restaurant and Jungle Red Salon on the side of the center that faces Far Hills. Just look for the Picture Ohio sign. Please feel free to stop by for a visit. Unless I'm out on a location shoot, my hours are M-F, 9AM - 5:30PM, or by appointment.
A great idea for a unique holiday gift is a custom montage poster-print that can include local Dayton images from my stock library or client-provided images. These prints can include a company name, logo or other personal message. Click here to see samples.

Also, I just recently completed commercial photo shoots for Great Lakes Publishing, Copp Systems, Phil Herman ReMax Real Estate, Turner Marketing and Van Dyne Crotty, Inc. Click here for Samples from other commercial photo shoots.

Back from vacation and hard at work on a new job, I still needed to get at least one post up on to the blog this week. Seth Godin has a great, actually a couple great posts on his blog this week. This link is to a post that discusses RSS feeds. It will walk you through what they are, how they work, and why they are important. Additionally he has put up a free e-book on his web-site dealing with blogs, the web, and new media. I downloaded it, but have not had a chance to read it yet. I am willing to bet that it is going to be great. It is called Who's There, and is available for free download on his blog site. He has another e-book called "Knock, Knock" that is also excellent. I am excited to check it out. This all ties in well with next week's AMA meeting at the Schuster Center, at which Irene Dickey will be discussing emerging technology in Marketing. It is not too late to sign up. Hit the Dayton AMA link and register today. I hope to see you there.