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Kathy Bowling Columns & Editorials

Kathy is the Chief Operating Officer at Mountain Marketing Group, a boutique advertising and public relations agency located in Lake Arrowhead, California. She has also worked as a staff member, public relations consultant and/or freelance writer for several non-profit organizations such as Azusa Pacific University, the City of Glendora, Foothill Presbyterian Hospital and St. Bernardine Medical Center.

Her writing has appeared in numerous regional and national publications such as A & U Magazine, Christianity Today, Woman's World Magazine, San Bernardino Sun, and Healthwise. Mountain Marketing Group clients include architects, builders, business developers, business consultants, church and para-church organizations, claims management corporations, contractors, financial advisors, real estate brokers, health care practitioners, health & beauty experts and more.

Kathy studied at Azusa Pacific University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, graduating with a BA in Communication Studies and a minor in Business Administration.

Bowling for Business: Armchair Figure Skater
Social Media is more a marathon than a sprint
February 8, 2010

Instead of blasting our message to a passive audience, we must recognize that we are on the supply side of the equation. To learn what our target market demands, we have to be willing to listen, engage in relevant conversations, and earn a share of the voice. Social media success is less a sprint than a marathon because social media is all about relationship. And, in the real world as well as Cyberspace, it takes time to build relationships.

After I left, about a block from the repair shop, the warning lights reappeared, and remained lit until my car died just above the middle passing lane, right before a curve, away from all of the rest of the traffic in the dead of night in the middle of a blizzard on Highway 330. Without cell phone service, and with a very full bladder, I reluctantly abandoned my vehicle and accepted a ride from a kind man who was, thankfully, a real estate agent from Big Bear instead of a serial killer. He drove me up to a clearing and I awkwardly loped home through 3 feet of fresh powder in soggy leather clogs.

Although I understand football now (sort of), apart from the two times that John Elway led the Broncos in 1997 and 1998, I look forward to the Super Bowl each year for one reason alone: to witness the best in television advertising.
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Bowling for Business: The Write Stuff
How to Write Stellar Website Copy
January 18, 2010

The reason our teenagers pay attention to this type of message is because we have made it relevant to their world. By engaging them on their terms, we make them an active part of the conversation. I'm embarrassed it took so long to adopt the practice at home since we do it all of the time when it comes to writing website copy for clients at Mountain Marketing Group.

Every January, to combat the onslaught, we schedule an informal "Clean up the Crap Day." We spend hours sorting through our possessions and arranging them into piles to throw away, donate or stow. And whenever we take on the task, I wonder how, in a single calendar year, one family could have possibly made so many trips to Wal-Mart.

Over the years, I've tried pretty much every diet and fitness regime. And while you won't likely see my face on the cover of Prevention Magazine// or //Muscle and Fitness, I do manage to trim a few pounds every time I lead my family into nutritional purgatory. And I shudder to think of how large my frame would be were it not for my annual January dietary ritual.

It turns out that there is an important difference between pumpkin pie filling and canned pumpkin. While pie filling is yummy, full-bodied and sweet, pumpkin is nasty, runny and bitter. In fact, it turns out that, unadulterated, the resemblance between canned pumpkin and primate excrement is more than just visual.

No matter the economy, people like cold, hard cash. So if you want them to pay attention to you, I recommend giving away dollar bills while you speak.
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Bowling for Business: Cash Flow is King
To survive in this economy, you might need to diversify.
December 14, 2009

Now, ordinarily, any reasonable, rational person would take one look at the crowds and walk right back out the door. But this is the holiday season. So sanity is in short supply. For my part, I was willing to brave the crowds because, in so doing, I would save $4.75 on a Christmas gift for my husband. As I said, sanity is in short supply.

I finally settled on a glossy ceramic piggy bank for my mother and a box of Little Debbie Swiss Rolls for my father. I was so excited when I exited the store, I could barely contain myself. Since I loved piggy banks and chocolate, I was certain I had found the perfect presents.
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Bowling for Business: A Brand New Way
How to Boil Down Your Brand
November 30, 2009

The primary reason I made the jump from casual browser to paying customer was because the prospect of parting with $19.99 plus tax was less painful to me than the embarrassment and inconvenience of hemorrhaging all over the floor at Rite Aid. The manufacturers of Wound-Be-Gone made the sale because they met me at the point of my pain. And, in the end, every sale does the same.

She and my father-in-law spent the better part of Christmas Eve cleaning turkey grease out of the hinges and off of the slick linoleum. They jerry-rigged the door and saved as much of the meat as they could, grateful that the rest of the family was taking care of the side dishes.
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Bowling for Business: Going My Way?
In advertising and in life, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
November 16, 2009

Without strategic planning, measuring and goal-setting, no matter how much you invest in advertising, your efforts will be in vain. Remarkably, time and again, I meet with clients who have no rhyme or reason for the money they spend on advertising. In fact, many actually admit that they know they are throwing away their resources.

When it comes to people and business, for better or worse, branding happens. And it doesn't take much to get people to react to an organization's emblem. Take the controversial 2012 Olympic logo.
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Bowling for Business: Target Practice
When it comes to advertising, you can't catch sharks in a fresh water lake.
November 2, 2009

This is a point I often make with Mountain Marketing Group clients. No matter how professional your logo, slick your brochure or dynamic your website, your advertising efforts will fail if they fail to reach the right target.
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Bowling for Business: I Saw it First on Facebook
7 Ways to put Facebook to Work for Your Business
October 26, 2009

If your business is not on Facebook, it should be. Your customers (and your competitors) are already there.
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Bowling for Business: Click it Good
How to use pay per click, banner ads and email marketing to sell widgets
October 19, 2009

Whatever their reasons for associating my writing with an intense desire to lose weight, promoters advertise on websites, search engines and blogs because they know that, despite all of the buzz about free advertising with social networking, in the final analysis, it still makes sense to ante up for business leads.

Since so few people on the Internet create original content, consider the opportunity to shape the business or non-profit landscape if you have the courage to get off the bench. If you're game, here are some simple steps to take you from lurker/spectator to industry thought-leader.
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Bowling for Business: Everything but the Kitchen Link
The Top 10 Things You Should be doing on LinkedIn
October 5, 2009

"Anytime there is a tool that millions of people in one place at one time all with common interests are clamoring to use, you, as a businessperson, need to understand and take part of it."
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Bowling for Business: About Face (Book)
Using Facebook to Build Business
September 28, 2009

Although it might have initially appealed mostly to people who wanted to reconnect with faraway friends, it has slowly emerged as one of the premiere ways for business men and women to exchange ideas and share information.
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Bowling for Business: Getting My Tweet Wet
Of Puppets and Online Personas
September 20, 2009

To this day, I'll never understand why Andy didn't attend his own birthday party. But the event reminds me of my journey on Twitter…full of promise, chaos, and opportunities to rub shoulders with important people and puppets.
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Bowling for Business: The Good, the Blog and the Ugly
September 14, 2009

If you can't beat them, tweet them. Set up a website or blog as the hub of all of your information. And then, create several smaller sites that point back to the hub.
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Bowling for Business: Website Monkey Business
When it Comes to Internet Marketing, He Who Hesitates is Last.
September 7, 2009

Some people hesitate to set up a website because they want to wait to have lots of money to spend on it. This is not necessary. In fact; waiting can be detrimental to the successful promotion of your product or service. This column discusses the reasons it's critical for business owners, today, to establish an Internet presence.

My first experience as an entrepreneur dates back to 1974, when my best friend, Lori, and I opened a lemonade stand.
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