JKB's Mastery Journal

Hello, I am James Burkhardt from Davenport, Florida. For me, the Internet is a fascinating place and I'm endeavoring to learn all I can in order to harness its full potential to make the world a better place. That is a worthy legacy and in this blog I will share my thoughts and ideas as I live out this odyssey.

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VOTE YOUR VALUES IN 2020. STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT!

Like it or not, Christians will be the deciding factor in the upcoming election this November. If enough of us vote our values, then good will prevail. If we stay apathetic and do not engage in the process by first registering to vote, and speaking our voice by voting then we, the Body of Christ in America, will reap the whirlwind of tyranny and Socialism.

George Barna, the esteemed researcher…

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SNTRadio.com 10 Years Of Streaming Christian Music 24/7.

SNTRadio.com 10 Years Of Streaming Christian Music 24/7.

#Christianmusic #Streamingchristianmusic,#Jesusmusic, #Larrynorman, #Lovesong, #Paulclark, #Wcrmfm, SNTRADIO

Naples, FL May 24, 2019

Wow! It’s A Dream Come True… 10 Years Streaming Christian Music. The Backstory I’ve Never Told.

All I can say is Glory To God for His blessing of longevity. It was the Lord who directed me to begin streaming Christian Music 24/7 long before Spotify and…

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SNTRadio.com - Streaming Christian Music For 10 Years On Sunday, May 26th.

SNTRadio.com – Streaming Christian Music For 10 Years On Sunday, May 26th.

Naples, FL May 24, 2019

Memorial Day Monday 2009 is when a unique website started streaming Christian music through cyber-space. The core concept was to showcase 40 years worth of Christian Music. Listener edification and education of the many gifted artists and music that had gone before. This was accomplished by literally inventing a new format called “The Greatest Christian Music.”…

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'E. Pluribus Unum' -- From Many, One.

‘E. Pluribus Unum’ — From Many, One.

The  Caravan from Central America is lingering in Tijuana, Mexico Have we sheep have allowed a good sounding word promoted to our kind and accepting nature to become a poison pill?

If we look around we can see this happening from day to day. A very troubling read, but profound in its reminiscence of history and current facts of life. Troubling, but necessary to read and think about. Wherever you…

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Hello SNT iNews Blog.

Hello SNT iNews Blog.

SPONSORED BY SNT PRIMO COFFEE BEANS

Our mission at SNT iNews is publishing News in the Spirit of Truth. There’s an emerging need for news and information for our listeners that will now be served by thisWordPress Blog we’ve branding as the SNT iNews Blog. It is our hope to be a unifying resource that always opine in a respectful tone no matter the intensity of public debate. Last summer we…

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Epístola de Santiago / The Book of Saint James (Español) - Digital Mp3

Epístola de Santiago / The Book of Saint James (Español) – Digital Mp3

Descarga la Epístola de Santiago – mp3

La Epístola de Santiago – Alienta a los cristianos a las acciones similares a Cristo. El Nuevo Testamento de la Biblia WatchWORD en Español. (HD)

La Epístola de Santiago se centra en las formas practicas en que los creyentes deben vivir de una manera que sea consistente con nuestra fe cristiana. Su pregunta central: “¿Nuestras acciones reflejan la fe que…

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Bracing for Blowback: Giving Christ's Love to 8 Burned Iranian Children. part 1

Bracing for Blowback: Giving Christ’s Love to 8 Burned Iranian Children. part 1

You’ve probably heard reports about Jesus appearing in dreams to many of the Islamic faith, including Iraqi, Iranian, Saudi and Syrian clergy, and they are embracing Christianity in droves. So have I and it has me prayerfully pondering, “What is God up to here and what can I do to come into alignment with what He is doing? Wouldn’t it be amazing if some in ISIS leadership are having an encounter…

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What?? Live-Streaming is the future of SnTRadio.com. Huh??

What?? Live-Streaming is the future of SnTRadio.com. Huh??

Christmas came in July when my wife received her new Sony production suite of a pro-grade digital video camera, lights, and accessories. This is all part of her Digital Cinematography degree from Full Sail Universitywhere she is an honor student. I love the fact that she now has the means to make films, videos and do live streaming events. There is an exciting new chapter in the future at…

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Jesus Music and Hot Dog Evangelism

Jesus Music and Hot Dog Evangelism

Recently, I had the task to select special Jesus Music for the new Jesus Music Radio show, which will begin streaming Saturday nights on SnTRadio.com from 6 p.m. until Midnight all summer long in advance of launching JesusMusicRadio.com in the of Fall 2016. Seeing classic Jesus Music album covers and hearing songs from groups like Prodigal and Fireworks caused me to remember The Harvest Rockfest…

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Speak Up and Be Counted.

Speak Up and Be Counted.

“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”

So goes the Adlai Steveson adaption of an ancient Chinese proverb from an address he gave to the United Nations General Assembly in 1962. Darkness is growing and it’s time to light a candle by finding our collective voice, speak up and be counted in the national debate. But do so with love, mercy, and compassion or else risk being…

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Donald Trump and Don Francisco’s Balaam The final verse goes, "The Lord's the one who makes the choice of the instrument He's using.

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Jesus Music Is Different From Today's Christian Music

Jesus Music Is Different From Today’s Christian Music

Most people today have not heard any Jesus Music because it happened long before 2000 AD.

Blame it on the desire by so many programming today’s Christian radio and churches to be perceived as “relevant” but there is an unwritten rule not to feature any songs recorded last century during worship or on the radio. Many Jesus Music pioneers who are actively performing today get very little airplay…

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The most recent innovative marketing campaigns. A paper by James Burkhardt.

Abstract This presentation will provide insight and commentary on marketing campaign innovation. The early 2000’s marks the beginning of the Internet’s shift from outbound to inbound marketing. "Young people are suspicious about marketing as they should be," said Rick Bolton, founder of Fresh Machine that helped Toyota launch its Scion brand at that time. The 18 to 24-year-old Gen Y consumer Mr. Bolton was referring to then have grown up. Now they’re 33 – 39 and maturing. With that fact in mind, this paper addresses these questions.

• 1. What are the most prevalent types of marketing campaigns that you discovered in your research?

• 2. In your opinion, what 3 marketing campaigns displayed the greatest levelof innovation? What were each of the campaigns about and who was behind it?

• 3. What aspects of the marketing campaigns that you identified may be applicable to the launch of your marketing campaign for this course?

Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, and Taco Bell conducted the featured marketing campaigns. A campaign by L’Oreal utilizing an exciting new technology breakthrough that is currently in development is also highlighted. This paper concludes with insights and applications for 149Song.com based on the four featured campaigns.

Types of Marketing Campaigns              There are six types of marketing, in general; brand, B2B, referral, outbound (traditional), mobile, and digital marketing. Digital or Internet marketing focuses on search engine or SEM, keyword, inbound, social media, content, article, video, and affiliate marketing campaigns. SEM campaigns promote a website through search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing to gain traffic. Keyword marketing uses highly relevant keywords on its website to improve its rankings on Search Engine Results Pages or SERPs. Inbound marketing creates and shares content that is considered valuable by a target audience mainly through blogs and social media, which lures them into becoming loyal customers. Products, brands, and services are promoted through comprehensive social media platforms like Facebook or Google+ or dedicated channels like Twitter and Instagram by connecting people who have similar interests in common. Content marketing creates compelling content like articles, infographics, podcasts or videos that caters to interests of highly qualified prospects to convert them into a devoted customer base. A sub-category of content marketing, article marketing is about posting written articles on different websites, which drives traffic to a specific landing page or site promoting the product. Guest blogging on respected websites is considered an article marketing best practice method resulting in gaining quality links. Video marketing creates a wide variety of relevant video content that includes interviews, customer testimonials, branded films, animation, and commercials to promote a product or service. Affiliate marketing is a type of referral marketing where third party advocates who are driven to promote a brand, product or service receive a commission for every sale they generate through their efforts.

Marketing Campaign Standouts The innovative campaigns cited are the re-launching of PG.com that yielded the long-running “BeingGirl.com” community, Taco Bell’s “Blackout”, and Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty”, But first, there’s an upcoming innovative campaign from L’Oreal.

L’Oreal. A yet to be run campaign by L’Oreal seeks to have a mobile pay platform integrated into all marketing communications by using the new “PowaTag” from Powa Technologies, which made headlines in November 2014 by raising nearly $80 million to launch its proprietary platform. L'Oreal said in a statement that “the PowaTag technology can "transform any consumer touch point, from print and TV advertising to e-commerce, retail stores, and social media into a platform for mobile transactions, promotions and more on person's smartphone." PowaTag provides 2-D barcodes that consumers can scan with an app to order products quickly. This campaign promises to make all types of advertisements, both online and offline, “shoppable” by allowing direct response tags on all ads and promotions. In my opinion, this innovative “across all platforms” campaign is the one to watch in 2015.  The main parties responsible for this groundbreaking alliance are Marie Gulin-Merle, chief marketing officer of L'Oreal USA and Dan Wagner, CEO and founder of Powa Technologies.

Proctor and Gamble. The re-launch of PG.com and other brand websites for Proctor & Gamble products has been an ongoing lesson in cutting-edge Web 2.0 marketing since 2000. When you log on to it, you see a consumer-friendly and content rich environment. Today, visitors can call up a wealth of information by linking to P&Geveryday.com that offers "tips and techniques" about family life, food, health & wellbeing, home & garden and beauty, plus brand information, communities, and coupons & offers. At 38, Greg Icenhower, was an associate director of corporate communications at P&G and the first man who took the lead in revamping PG.com. Ad Age named P&G the best marketer of the 20th Century.  “In the 21st century, we want to be the best listeners”, says Icenhower who convinced his bosses that the focus of his team's work should be on experimentation. "I told them that we wouldn't get everything right but that by making mistakes, we would start learning lessons immediately." It’s all about new approaches to branding, and new ways to make the shift from shouting to listening. A great modern example is the “Empowering Young Women” community section, which now directs visitors to the current BeingGirl.com site. Make no mistake: this campaign is still about getting teenage girls to buy the P&G brands Always and Tampax.  But P&G learned that to reach those young Gen Y girls via the Web, it had to create an environment where they feel no less at ease than they do at the nearest shopping mall. Now, it’s been updated to reach Gen Z girls. "The big keys for us are tone of voice and the nature of the content," says Derrick Tarver, who originally helped develop BeingGirl.com as a global brand manager for P&G Femcare Interactive. "And we always keep in mind that teens today have an acute awareness of commercialization", which is a key factor in keeping this innovative marketing campaign a success today.

Taco Bell. In late 2014, Taco Bell blacked out its social-media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and even its website as part of launching a new mobile payment app. The idea was to attract attention with a Twitter feed, Facebook page and website all showing nothing but a black screen. Each of those pages only offered a link to the app download, available for both iOS and Android phones. The chain’s #onlyintheapp hashtag illustrated to customers how they could view and select specific ingredients for their food with the app in a way they previously weren’t able to. Under the watchful eye of Taco Bell CMO Ram Krishman, Digitas, created the app and the digital campaign, including the blackout. The bold move landed Taco Bell’s app at the No. 1 spot in the Food & Beverage category in the iTunes App Store, with thousands of app downloads. Many Taco Bell stores received orders from app users during the very first day.

Unilever Dove. Nearly ten years ago, Dove defied convention and launched what has become the “Campaign for Real Beauty” with an outdoor campaign. The “Little Girls” Super Bowl TV Ad in 2005, and the viral video “Evolution” were early components of what has become largely a worldwide print and social media mega campaign. It began with a 2004 survey conducted in 13 countries, and “The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report” was issued. The most telling fact was “only a minority of women see themselves as above average in appearance, and only 2% of women claim to be beautiful.”  Courageous Unilever executives warmed up to the genuine and transparency of the fact based creative which featured women in all shapes and sizes. Players included Steve Miles, SVP global Dove and Ogilvy & Mather creative Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin. Today, it’s alive and well on social media, and the campaigns significant impact are irrefutable.

Applications to 149Song.com Launch The applications to the launch of the marketing campaign for 149Song.com can be characterized by “listen to what your customers and prospects are telling you, do your homework and due diligence, test and re-test then go big, go bold, communicate effectively by speaking one unified message in one voice, use the channel that best fits the message and target audience, and always remember that it’s all about the customer and their interests.”  It is recommended to revisit the website testing and take a second look at the organization of the content to make sure that it is customer focused to the highest power. Proctor and Gamble’s website makes a great template.

Conclusion Marketing campaign innovation continues because of thinking outside-of-the-box. One could argue that the dreaming is the easy part. All the campaigns did this; Proctor and Gamble reimagining their websites, Taco Bell’s social media blackout, Dove’s bold stereotype crushing creative, and soon L’Oreal driving instant sales with innovative technology. But research based strategy is key. True marketing campaign success always comes down to planning and execution, which is never as easy as it appears.

References Abrena, J. (2013, April 1). Types Of Marketing You NEED To Understand To Survive The Digital Age. Retrieved March 14, 2015, from http://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/2013/04/01/types-of-marketing-you-need-to-understand-to-survive-the-digital-age/

AdAge Top 15 Campaigns of the 21st Century. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://adage.com/lp/top15/#realbeauty Chapman, L. (2014, November 7). Powa Raises $80 Million to Launch Its Mobile, E-Commerce Payments in U.S. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/11/07/powa-raises-80-million-to-launch-its-mobile-e-commerce-payments-in-u-s/

L'Oreal USA Announces Strategic Partnership with Powa to Deploy PowaTag's Mobile Technology. (2105, March 12). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/loreal-usa-announces-strategic-partnership-with-powa-to-deploy-powatags-mobile-technology-300049680.html

Neff, J. (2015, March 12). L'Oreal USA Moves to Make All Types of Ads -- Online and off --       'Shoppable' Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://adage.com/article/digital/l-oreal-usa-moves-link-kinds-ads-e-commerce/297562/

Procter & Gamble. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.pg.com/en_US/brands/connect-explore-save.shtml Puberty and Period Advice & Information | BeingGirl. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.beinggirl.com/

Rodgers, A. (2001, November 30). Driving Innovation. Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.fastcompany.com/65117/driving-innovation Schultz, E. (2015, March 11). How a Top Frito-Lay Marketer Keeps Up With Digital Trends. Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://adage.com/article/digital/a-top-frito-lay-marketer-digital-trends/297536/

Warner, F. (2001, July 31). Don't Shout, Listen. Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.fastcompany.com/43534/dont-shout-listen Why Taco Bell’s Social Media Blackout Was a Brilliant Campaign - LookBook: Advertising Agency Directory - Advertising Age - LookBook. (2015, February 16). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://adage.com/lookbook/topic/18

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The best compliment ever.

The best compliment ever.

Every writer’s nightmare is writer’s block. The absolute worst version of this nightmare contains a “loss of confidence” in the author’s ability to write. Self-doubt overtakes one’s reasonable assessment of their ability to be rational. This is not the time to lose confidence when you’re a graduate student and have a major paper called a thesis to write. But that is exactly what happened to me during the first 10 days of the final class of my Internet Marketing Master of Science program at Full Sail University.

No matter what technique I tried to do, like “positive self-talk” and “walking away from the work for a day or two” would break the thick mental fog of this funky mental condition. That is until I received the instructor’s comment regarding a 1499 word paper, which was submitted a week earlier. It reads, “This is a beautifully written paper. I encourage you to put the narrative on your blog or contact a blogger about publishing it. You had excellent support for your examples and the statement in the conclusion is every marketing instructors’ dream. Well done.” The first sentence was all it took to break through the funk. I was able to resume writing the final 50+-page paper that very afternoon. The paper will be the next posting published to this blog.

in retrospect, the post-graduate experience has been one of the best that I’ve had in life. It was an enormous challenge on many levels and the academic success is just one reason for satisfaction. The main thing is that this “baby boomer” has a much better understanding of the post-modern Internet world and how to conduct business. This makes me a better citizen with relevant resources available for the people in my life. I never heard that mentioned as a program benefit when I enrolled.

So the big takeaway from my Marketing Campaign Plan Development class is actually rooted in a Bible verse, Proverbs15:23: “Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!” - New Living Translation 2nd Edition, Tyndale House Publishers (2004). Since my instructor, Genon Murray, was in India on a medical mission with Rotary International, I am not quite sure if she or her colleague, Carol Cox who was covering the class during the trip gave the game-changing reply. But, I shall never forget the impact those words had and in the future, I will take extra care when making comments to others. One may never know the significance that a positive statement will carry, especially in the workplace, family or friend on social media. Words really do matter, so choose them wisely.

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Come on in, the water's fine.

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Ahoy Columbus!

Web Analytics and Optimization is a course that I wish would go on a bit longer, only because it seemed like a fun theme park ride, which ended too soon after it began. In anticipation of the course, I projected these ambitions: “My goal is to gain a practical understanding of web metrics and analysis principles to help me make productive decisions in the real world that facilitate growth and strengthen my brands’ marketing goal. Search and watch Lynda.com for the most current videos on search, and strategic analysis and reporting techniques.” I started watching relevant Web Analytics Lynda.com videos on the second day of class, and have many more to view. My family is getting me a Lynda.com subscription as a graduation gift because I get a better Return on Investment for my time than most other free time activities. Meeting the first goal will be on-going, but I'm off to a great start because of the thinking process gleaned in this course.

Usually when I compose my posts for these Mastery Journal entries, I have a humorous angle to make it a bit more entertaining. Not this time. Today I can only say that I am just awestruck at the depth of information that Web Analytics can offer, and the tools that are available to successfully mine it. It’s like a big ocean of data, which one can sail and conquer if they’re brave enough, and discover the new Internet world, or in this case, “the story behind the numbers.” Learning how to think more like a scientist or a detective was my biggest takeaway. Our esteemed course director, Professor Phillip Arlen is an accomplished biological scientist, and thoroughly knows the scientific method. What’s even better is that he communicates a purely scientific approach to Web Analytics, which I found both refreshing, and positively challenging. He taught us how to dig into data like a scientist. The rubrics were more detailed, and had more steps in the assignments than much of my preceding course work. I appreciated the benefits derived from having to high dive into the deep end of the data pool. Like Einstein, I brought my “curious mind”, and like Columbus, set sail to discover a new route to customer conversion by defining the data in a logical content. That sounds simpler than it is in practice because there is so much volume of data; it’s easy to get off course. One must stay focused on what the customer is telling you in the data.

I guess that's why they call it Masters of Science degree. So trim the sails, and catch the wind at your back. Move forward into a brave new world.  

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Albert Einstein wants you to know that everything is NOT relative, America is a great country, and he might have been a happy, mediocre fiddler if he hadn't become a genius in physics.

Some still call me a "dreamer." I wear that as a badge of honor. Use your imagination, and shape your future.