Kim Kohatsu

Kim Kohatsu is the chief marketing officer at PickFu and the founder of Charles Ave Marketing. She began her career as a copywriter for several leading ad agencies. While working in advertising, she spearheaded award-winning print, radio, TV, outdoor, and guerrilla campaigns for clients including the California Avocado Commission, AAA, The Orange County Register, The Hilton Family of Hotels, Yamaha, Wienerschnitzel, KFC, and Power Automotive, among others. After several years, Kim shifted her specialty into online marketing, helping tech startups improve their online presence through PPC, SEO, email marketing, reputation management, blogging, and social media. Today, she combines her traditional and new media experience to create and strengthen brands like PickFu. Kim and her team help others use PickFu to write better copy, present products in their best light, and position themselves as market leaders.

4 Top Tips to Test Your Business Name with PickFu

Modified: By
Test your business name using PickFu

There are many reasons to test your business name, but this might be the most compelling: names can influence destiny. Studies have linked a person’s first name with chosen career, company rank, even juvenile delinquency. For instance, one study claimed that if you are a woman with a gender-neutral name like Cameron, you may be more likely to succeed in a legal career. There’s even a fancy term for it: nominative determinism.

In business, shorter company names are usually more memorable and distinctive than long ones. And, as one blogger observed, IPOs may be more likely with a name under 13 characters. A name that begins towards the start of the alphabet might place you towards the top in local or online lists.

… Continue reading

How to Test Your Logo Design with PickFu Instant Polls

Modified: By
logo design test in pickfu

One of the most popular uses for PickFu is to run preference tests on logo designs. If you’re in the process of creating a logo, learn from these past polls and make your tests the best they can be.

1. Decide how much you want to reveal.

Your question is the heart of your PickFu poll, the basic information to which respondents react. When testing a logo, you should consider what, if anything, to tell them about your business or service. … Continue reading

6 Tips for Getting More from Your Amazon Author Central Page

Modified: By
Amazon Author Central Page

Amazon is the world’s largest bookstore, and if you’re an author, you need to make the most of your presence there. I spoke with several indie authors to get their advice on how to maximize your Amazon Author Central page.

Personalize your Amazon Author Central URL

Amazon Author Central gives you the option to customize your URL. Author Karen Dimmick calls this a “pretty link” which she uses to “easily send people directly to it.” Her personalized link https://amazon.com/author/karendimmick looks nicer than the auto-assigned https://www.amazon.com/Karen-Dimmick/e/B01E0BXITY (though both land you in the same place). Include your Amazon Author Central link in your email signature or on your business cards. Author Amber Fallon adds, “The best way to put your Amazon Author Central page to work for you is to make sure people know about it. Tweet it once in a while. Be sure to include [the link] on your website and your social media profiles.” Tyrone Givens notes that the “author dashboard has a very convenient button for sharing the link to the page.” … Continue reading

9 E-Commerce Marketing Opportunities You Don’t Want to Miss

Modified: By
e-commerce marketing strategies you don't want to miss

How do you bring the right people to your online store? How do you get them to stay? What sets you apart from competitors? Your e-commerce marketing strategy should answer these tough questions.

Many e-commerce sites take advantage of pay-per-click advertising, social media channels, and search engine optimization to boost site traffic and sales. But on top of these tried-and-true strategies, what else can you do? I spoke to online store owners to get their advice on e-commerce marketing opportunities you don’t want to miss.

… Continue reading

Why Testing Your Creative in Context Is a Smart Move

Modified: By

PickFu polls are popular among mobile app companies, self-publishing authors, and e-commerce businesses. But these pollsters may be missing out on a helpful strategy: testing creative in context.

What does it mean to test something in context?

In a previous life, I worked in an ad agency. Whenever we pitched an idea for a billboard, we would Photoshop the creative onto a billboard. If we were creating a website layout, we would show the layout in a web browser. Sometimes when we pitched a TV commercial, we would even take a frame from the storyboard and Photoshop it onto a screen.

The same principle applies when you take a creative option, such an app icon, a book cover, or a featured photo, and test it using PickFu. You show that option in the context it will appear to the user, such as on a mobile device, on Amazon, or in a browser. … Continue reading

How to Write Unbiased Poll Questions

Modified: By
good bad survey questions

Creating unbiased poll questions will help you achieve unbiased results.

One of the biggest benefits of polling is accessing an audience of people who have no familiarity with your product, logo, book, business name, or whatever it is you’re testing. They approach the question without bias… but as the poll creator, do you?

This guide will help you recognize whether biases may be influencing your results. Avoid these common mistakes and poll respondents will answer more openly and honestly.

… Continue reading

The Biggest Marketing Mistakes New Authors Make

Modified: By

What are the biggest and most common mistakes that new self-publishers should avoid? We reached out to three successful authorpreneurs to get advice.

Writing might be the “easy” part

“The biggest mistake self-published authors make is not approaching book publishing as a business, says “Inspiration to Creation” coach Nina Amir. “Many writers don’t realize that when they decide to self-publish, they become publishers. They open a publishing house. They enter into this endeavor eagerly because they are told it will be easy to self-publish, and they are surprised that they can’t just write, and that there is more to it than expected. They must carve out time to manage a team of designers and editors, pay taxes, promote, manage their publishing business’s finances, manage book sales, and more.” … Continue reading

Strategies to Get Your App Featured

Modified: By

What are the best ways to promote your app in news outlets and in the App Stores? I spoke with app creators to get their advice.

Timing is everything

Philippe Levieux is the creator of infiltr, a photo filter app that has been named an Editors’ Choice, Best New App, and Hot this Week in the iTunes App Store, and featured in over 150 countries. Timing is the key to his advice. “Always release your app on a Thursday,” he says, because Features also change on Thursday. Or more precisely, “We always schedule infltr to be released on Wednesday at 11 pm UK time, so if the feature team wants to feature it, it is perfect timing.” He also recommends “to leverage the new technology (both software and hardware) that Apple releases!” For example, “we were the first app allowing you to filter Live Photos back in iOS 9; we were the first allowing you to capture filtered Live Photos in iOS 10; we were the first to fully use the camera in an iMessage App! We are available on iPhone, iPad, iMessage & Apple Watch.” Being first with new features that Apple releases is an almost surefire way to endear your app to Apple’s editors. For infiltr, Levieux says, “we make extensive use of 3D-touch through the app. We have a Today Widget and a Photo/Video & Live Photos Editing Extension… Apple loves these.” … Continue reading