Want to impress your friends or coworkers at the next gathering? Tell them you’ve just finished taking a course from MIT on Thermodynamics & Kinetics.  ITunes U has now made continuing your education interesting, easy and best of all, free.

iTunes U offers classes from over 450 institutions, including Stanford, Yale, Oxford and UC Berkeley as well as other resources from The Museum of Modern Art and The New York Public Library. Anyone can browse and download over 500,000 free lectures, videos, books and notes on thousands of subjects.

iTunes U also offers these resources in a user friendly app that is very similar in looks to Apple’s Newsstand app. The application makes it easy to search for a particular subject, read reviews and have instant access to the content.

I recently downloaded a Marketing and Strategy course from Arizona State University via the iTunes app. This course has 26 audio lectures, which are each about 70 minutes long. I have decided to make continuing my education as easy and convenient as possible for my lifestyle. Instead of listening to music while I drive, I listen to lectures on marketing. This is one of the perks of having the content on my phone; I can listen anytime, anywhere.

This is not only a great tool for current students but also for those adults looking to continue their education. This is a great way to educate yourself on something that you do not already have a formal education on.

For your business, this might be a great opportunity for you to encourage employees to continue their education or expand their skill set to help you grow. Plus since it’s free, it keeps your continuing education costs low. Think about it! Want to talk about more ways to grow your business? Give Catalyst a call!

Every project has a beginning, a middle, and an end, much like your favorite TV show. Around here, we don’t have a specific formula we use each time, but rather depending on the project we change up our approach. Here are three ways we do it.

The McGuyver – solving complex problems using a paper clip, duct tape and a swiss army knife.

Whether it’s executing a particular tactic for a promotion, or developing a complete strategy for a client’s new initiative, this method is about being resourceful. I use everything at my disposal to get at this project – anything from our library of creative books and magazines, to my go-to online resources. Client input sessions, interviews with key people, and informal surveys help, too. In the end the concept may be a combination of different bits and parts, but when it comes together, BOOM.

The Scooby-Doo – the gang works together to unmask the villain.

Occasionally a project is too complicated or tough for just one or two people, so in those cases we get the gang together to solve the mystery. Here at Catalyst it usually works to let everyone do some thinking separately, then get together to talk through each of our ideas. Then the lead creative from that group takes these concepts away to refine them. The group then meets again to narrow the concepts even further. Darn you meddling kids, but this really works!

The NCIS – everyone has their specialty.

Gibbs doesn’t do autopsies, and Abby doesn’t carry a gun. Everyone in NCIS has their own specialty (or quirk) that makes them perfect at what they do, and makes the team stronger. Same with Catalyst. Many times we function as this type of team, where each of us is able to let our unique talents and gifts shine and it all comes together. The end result is that the criminal is brought to justice – er, every part of the campaign is executed perfectly.

These are just three ways we solve problems and approach client work here at Catalyst.  Someday I’ll tell you about The I Love Lucy, The Columbo, and The Muppet Show… stay tuned.

Have a project you need McGuyvered? Give us a call.

For the past 14 years, Steve Jobs has been at the forefront of Apple’s technological reign. He brought to us the iPod, iPhone, iPad and so much more. But with the recent announcement of Jobs stepping down from his current position due to health reasons, many wonder if Apple will be able to maintain their momentum.

In a recent poll by Twtpoll, the question was posed. “Will Steve Jobs’s resignation hurt Apple?” 40% said that Steve Jobs IS Apple. Is this true? Does Apple’s brand rely solely on one man? If so, then Apple will be in trouble.

Realistically, Apple may be hurt temporarily without Jobs, but it will carry on. But it does bring a caution to many existing brands out there. Don’t rely on a human to be the focus or leader of your brand. Many companies do this and what they fail to remember is that brands can last forever, people don’t. It’s fine for an individual to be a leading spokesperson for your brand, but when they begin to become your brand, then that’s another story. Many companies do it and it’s a risk. Let your brand speak for itself and let your spokesperson highlight the brand. The brand needs to have a life of its own. It needs to live on with or without the spokesperson.

When the iPhone 5 comes out, the truth will be told as to whether or not the Apple brand will suffer. When the iPhone 6 comes out will be when we know that the Apple brand has a life of its own.

After my post on the Catalyst blog on Online Transparency last week, I really started to think about the other side of that coin – Online Reputation. I’m not just talking about a bad reputation online either. I’m talking about the good and the bad. Again, this all has to do with relationship management of your audience.

Let’s talk about the bad reputation first. With social media and blogging being so prevalent in society, it’s easy to see how one bad comment about your leadership, service, product, sales force, etc. can spread like wildfire. All it takes is one person with online influence to see the comment and decide to run with it. Believe me, there are people out there that do this for a living. These “mixers” love to stir the proverbial pot in order to gain online followers.  So if someone in your customer service department handles a customer rudely, who will know? EVERYONE! There’s also a class of online Twitter users that love to post only negative tweets about bad experiences. These “nega-tweeters” just want to be heard and believe that Twitter is the best place for it. And because humans naturally love drama, this one tweet will be seen by thousands, retweeted by even more and eventually you have a big game of telephone going on and your brand image and reputation will suffer.

All is not lost though. You do still have businesses with a good reputation online.  I will personally tweet about a good business experiences that I’ve had. There are others like me that I call “kudo-tweeters”. We’re a positive breed of online users who understand the importance of recognizing a company when they do something right.  Although our tweets don’t spread like wildfire, they’re still out there. And they’re just waiting to be snatched up by the company and used to their advantage. The problem is, most businesses ignore the good and only pay attention to the bad. Or they forget to look for the online “bad” and flip it into an online “good”. But businesses that reward the “kudo-tweeter”, win big in the end.

What can you do to help create a good online reputation? Ben Franklin said it best, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” So if you’re just now getting into the social media or haven’t hit it big yet, keep your nose clean. Don’t post a single thing that you wouldn’t want your customers, parents, or pastor to see.

What can you do to clean up the bad stuff that’s already out there? Trust me when I say this, cleaning up the bad stuff online is VERY difficult and can take years to get rid of and that’s if you’re lucky. Online freedom of speech is a tad different and Google, Twitter, etc. protect the freedom to say what you want online.

It’s important to monitor what is going on out there so that you can catch people when they’re being good or bad. It’s all about you as the business paying attention and listening to your audience. React positively to the good AND the bad and you’ll have a great online reputation.

If you have any questions about ways to monitor your online reputation, contact us or email me.

Are you on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, LinkedIn, Posterous, Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr or some other type of social media outlet? If so, when was the last time you posted? What are you using it for? Is it just because everyone else is doing it or are you using these outlets to maximize your online presence?

You see most companies think that since their competitors have a Facebook page or blog or anything else, they need to as well. In theory, that’s true.  But the reality is that most companies never really get the purpose of social media and therefore start the account and leave it sit. Maybe they go heavy with posts on their blog and then the excitement wears off and the last time they posted was sometime last Summer. If that’s you, you have one of two choices: 1. Start posting at least three times a week, or 2. Clean up the web and delete your account.

Why do I say this? Actually it all has to do with the whole point of social media in the first place; it’s SOCIAL media. The first person to “tweet” wasn’t doing it to make a bunch of money. They were just trying to socialize. The first person to post a blog wasn’t trying to further their career. They wanted to speak their mind.

The goal of the social side of media is to engage others, make new connections and start new relationships. It’s also a numbers game. The more “friends” you have, the more exposure you get. But the challenge that companies have when trying their hand at social media, is that they forget to actually be social and then end up frustrated because they never see their numbers go up.

So, here are a few little tips to help you increase your numbers:

1. For every three serious things you say online, say one fun thing. For example, let’s say you are a runner when you’re not working.  Ask your audience what their favorite running socks are. If you go out for coffee, talk about your drink of choice. It sounds silly, but you’re being transparent.
2. Ask for your audience’s opinion on a topic. This engages your audience and starts a dialogue. It shows that you care.
3. If you’re going to blog, then be sure to blog at least three times a week. Anything less than that is a waste of time. And again, apply rule one to your blog. Show people that you are a real person.
4. The CEO and/or other leaders of your company need to blog regularly. This helps establish your company as one that regularly communicates with your customers.
5. Pictures, pictures, pictures. People want to see YOU. They want to know YOU.

I guess in all of this, there’s really only one key idea I’d like to get across. Be TRANSPARENT. When economic times are tight, people typically become increasingly relationship oriented. By being transparent to your audience and letting them know that you’re one of them, then new positive relationships can begin and trust will be established, potentially leading to new business relationships.

If you’re looking for some good advice or just need help getting started and would like to talk more, let me know. I’d love to discuss how Catalyst can assist you in becoming more transparent online.

Editor’s note: While I was working on this blog I stopped for a 22 oz. iced mocha with whipped cream, took a picture of it, posted it to Instagram and tweeted about the whole experience while also promoting the coffee place I got it from using GPS. Ahhh, transparency!  http://instagr.am/p/GrrBi/