This weeks progress includes small improvements to website, adjustments to adwords in key words and dollars, and more surveys. 

Bogged Down

We have made very good progress in terms of our technical delivery of the ringtones.

however, it is obvious that this project would take a long time to get going, because the ringtone space is so over-saturated, finding a niche in all of it is difficult.

this is compounded by the fact that each phone service tends to have its own delivery mechanism and deals with content distributors that creates a huge barrier to entry

the antidote is creating a culture around the idea of what we are doing, and spreading it one customer at a time.   

Survey Statistics

We surveyed again this week.  We had previously narrowed down our demographic to the 30 and under set.  We continue to get positive feedback on humorous ringtones, but do not have the positive results we had hoped for on the 2 ringtones that we have created thus far.  We will have to keep working on finding a ringtone that will appeal to the market.

New Ringtone ----

successfully created a new ringtone to A/B against the first one.

google adwords

Campaign report (Apr 16, 2012-Apr 22, 2012)
Campaign state	Campaign	Budget	Status	Clicks	Impressions	CTR	Avg. CPC	Cost	Avg. position
active	Campaign #1	4	eligible	20	6925	0.29%	0.9	18.1	4.88
active	You're So Awesome	3.5	eligible	2	2273	0.09%	0.82	1.65	6.06
Total - all but deleted campaigns	--	--	--	22	9198	0.24%	0.9	19.75	5.17
Total - Search	--	--	--	22	9198	0.24%	0.9	19.75	5.17
Total - Display Network	--	--	--	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0
Total	--	7.5	--	22	9198	0.24%	0.9	19.75	5.17

I set up some more campaigns in google adwords today.  I am interested to see if the "your're so awesome" ad beats the "put your hands up" ad...time will tell.

Might as well spend the full $100.00. 

good news

so the plan looks like this so far......

recording 2 more funny jingle ring tones.    one with the hook "you're so awesome"

and the other with the hook "hey, nice potato"




I also received word from my buddy that we are greenlight to get Ki Theory to take a stab at a remix ringtone.   Ki Theory is an artist from Richmond, VA who has been getting a lot of traction in film and TV, as well as in the electronic world

Suggestion about Ringtone

In some A-B testing, I have gotten a request to maybe make a fun tune out of our "you're so awesome" line that was the original test.

going to try that out as well

Sad Trombones in the background

A picture of finding out that we can't get in the iTunes store proper, but only in the iPhone iTunes.....

convenient for iPhone people!

A-B TESTING

WE HAVE BEEN DOING RESEARCH AND DISCOVERED THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD PREFER HUMOROUS RINGTONES OVER MEDITATIVE ONES.

ALSO, A/B TESTING TWO DIFFERENT TONES.     GETTING AN OVERWHELMING RESPONSE TO "PUT YOUR HANDS UP"

Our logo

live in the world ----

WE ARE OFFICIALLY LIVE WITH A PRODUCT!    POSTED IT ON FACEBOOK THIS MORNING TO START GETTING FEEDBACK.   ALSO  GOING TO A/B TEST THE TWO FUNNY TONES WE HAVE

Analytics-Report-2

Hey guys, been working like a crazy woman.  Lots of good feedback on the website.  Really needed that other set of eyes to look at things.  I am working on making it better with my group's help.  My group is awesome-everyone volunteers and we always get feedback.  One thing that I changed was the making a business email instead of using my email.  Dr. Wales was right, it didn't look professional and made people question the validity of the site.  Lived and learned, also known as validated learning.

talent is hard to manage

we tried to record Michelle's cat purring for a ringtone -----

the cat didn't purr.   

a Party Rock Anthem

Well, it has been another week of experimentation.    The fact that it costs $10 per ringtone to get on iTunes makes us vet out the process a little more.   Based on Dr. Wales reference to "Wavin' Flag" by K'Naan, which was the anthem for the World Cup, we started to mess around with a funny anthem that would catch the spirit of our project.   much like the "live strong" wrist bands and the pink ribbons, we want to create a little ringtone that is an anthem that identifies the user as someone who has downloaded the ringtone to help someone else out......

off we go

So, this last week has been taking the project to the next level.   We discovered that the best way to get our ringtones on iTunes was to go through Tunecore, which is a digital distribution service.    As iTunes got bigger and bigger, they stopped allowing individuals to do direct deals and started to do contracts with digital aggregators to cut down on the amount of paperwork they had to deal with. 

One thing that adds a bit of trickery to the situation is the fact the each ringtone is $10 to upload.   Going to have to think about each tone a bit more.....

Analytics report

Team, I feel like this class is getting me updated on technology.  I have done so many new things and it is super exciting.  Attached is a report that I exported out of Google Analytics and attached to our blog.  I had to upload it to Scribd before I could get it to work.  It is a neat site, it is connected with Facebook.   

Hey I figured out how to fix the logo on twitter.  The logo was originally a rectangle and twitter is set up for square logos.  There is a site out there that will re-size a jpeg or png file for FREE.   I know it is a small thing, but it really bothered me.  The devil is in the details:-)

Facebook Page is Available

Look up FUNNY-TONES on Facebook and you will find us!  Until we have our page ready for sales, we don't have too much to say there, but it is ready and waiting.

Demo Ringtone is Up and Running

Well, it took about 50 iterations and a whole lot of research, but we finally have our test ringtone up and running.  Now that we have the formula, it should actually be an easy process.  Isn't that how it usually is after about 5 hours of banging your head against the wall?  The answer was so easy that a 10 year old could have probably shortened the learning process for us.

Twitter is up, but am having trouble with the logo since it is rectangular and not square.  I have reached out for technical assistance, but it may take a couple of days. 

SOME FEEDBACK

• 80% have bought 5 or less

• 43% would like to buy a humorous ring tone

• A big 80% would be willing to do this for charity!!!

• 50% would buy ring tones catered to a person (significant other, child, friend)

•  Most would pay $1-$2

LOGO

looking for that "money" idea

the ring tone space is well populated ------  needing to find that magical niche that we can spread through word of mouth and the goodwill chain!

the "factory"

a picture of the pro tools hardware we will use to make the ringtones.    with the advancement of software etc......there is a greater use of codes, which go stale when you don't update every year.....so, we have to wade through the BS with the company to turn our factory on again......

We are looking at some angles for some funny ringtones we can create.    One issue that we are going to have to deal with is how to get them on people's phones.   should prove interesting!

This is the beginning of an article in today's Daily News Record about the charity that our group chose to support.  What an awesome story and a truly awesome human being!  I am proud that our group chose to support such an inspiring cause.

 

 

A Long Walk

JMU Kinesiology Professor Inspires Documentary

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Posted: March 20, 2012
By Joshua Brown

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Tom Moran, professor of kinesiology at James Madison University, did not let cerebral palsy stop him from doing what he loved. It was this tenacity that inspired fellow JMU professor Mike Grundmann to chronicle Moran’s story in “Why Me? Tom Moran’s Long Walk.” The documentary will debut during a free event at 8:30 p.m. on March 23 at Court Square Theater. (Photo by Justin Falls / DN-R)

tonight I learned that PayPal charges 2.9% plus 0.30 cents per transaction.

I also learned that the top 20 ringtones in the Sprint website are by people who I have never heard of. Boy, I feel old.

They charge $2.50 to buy the ringtone.

Stay tuned for more progress. This is very exciting

Launch & Learn - Off and Running

Week 1 has been a whirlwind of decision making for our team.  We threw around a few ideas of what we could sell.  The idea of uplifting messages for co-workers and how we could deliver those messages morphed into funny and positive ring tones.  We all loved this idea because Craig already has the recording equipment and ability to make our ring tones.  When you combine that with the fact that we would not have to purchase inventory nor provide a physical distribution channel, this seemed like a great way to quickly produce a product to sell without investing in inventory that no one may want.

So, we decided on our product, but we really didn't know if we could find a place in the market.  We set up a survey on surveymonkey.com and are gathering those results.  It seems that about 50% of respondents have purchased ring tones and most of them were open to considering our funny ring tones when the time comes.  We will hold off on a final decision until the survey is complete, but things are looking good!

We registered our domain and we are www.funny-tones.com.  PayPal is set up to accept payments.  We will gather survey responses for the next few days and then if the results indicate we should continue, we will record our ring tones and launch our web site.

Robin's daughter volunteers with an organization called Overcoming Barriers here at JMU.  The organization provides free services to children with disabilities in the Shenandoah Valley.  This program offers exercise therapy and recreation for children with disabilities that range from minor to severe.  They offer gym class, swimming, weight lifting and general exercise meant to stimulate physical strength and growth.  Unfortunately for the children in the program, their grant will not be renewed next year due to budget cuts.  Overcoming Barriers does not charge the families for the services they provide, but they are not able to provide them completely for free.  Our hope is that the organization can use our funds to extend their program while they search for additional funding.

This wraps up week 1.  Hopefully, we will be in business quickly so we can maximize the impact our web site can have for our charitable organization.