Brand Name Development, Part 2

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Photo of Lenovo HQ: 'Le-' is from its former Legend Computers and 'novo' meaning new. Also my laptop of choice.

A winning brand name is a crucial piece of your marketing plan.  It will represent all your hard work as an entrepreneur.  As your brand name is shaped, it will take on a life of its own and hopefully inspire others.  You may even secretly talk to it during late nights in the office.

In Part 1 of this exercise to rename my consulting company, I brainstormed different words that are appealing, trustworthy, memorable and meaningful to my service and to me.  In this second part I will explore different ways to combine these words, check on availability, and select my winning new name.

Creating a Short-List

There are three common origins of company names: acronyms and portmanteaus, names and places, and real words.  In the process of moving from my current name of JYK Marketing, I ruled and acronyms and sought inspiration from some of the portmanteaus found in a list of company name etymologies.  I also examined the naming choices of two companies I worked for previously:

  • Edge Research: Here we have the real word, Edge, representing ‘cutting edge’ followed up with the service, Research.  By itself ‘Edge’ is vague and used by other companies in various industries.  Prospective clients may not get ‘cutting edge’ right off the bat, but will associate attributes like sharp, direct and well-defined—a perfect combination for a company that conducts research.
  • Hinge: This branding and design firm does not have a modifier in its brand name.  Initial reactions may suggest a piece of hardware, but the name sparks curiosity.  This provides an ice breaker for a conversation about what the company does: ‘create pivotal brands.’

At this point, I began narrowing the list and playing with various word combinations including:

  • Breakaway Strategy – A concept taken from cycling, but an obvious positive for strategy and marketing
  • Moso Marketing – A type of quick growing bamboo that hints at my passion for sustainability
  • Lyonmark – Lyon Park is the neighborhood I live in and ‘mark’ from marketing.
  • Digsus – A combination of digital and sustainability, two of my passions that will impact the future of marketing and business.
  • Digital Insights, or Digsights – Relevant concepts but they don’t quite roll of the tongue.

Availability

The easiest way to narrow this list down further is to check on the names’ availability.  Today finding an appropriate URL is one of the easiest ways to see if someone else already has the name.   After checking GoDaddy, I found that Digsus.com and Digsights.com were the only .com domains available.  MosoMarketing.com and Lyonmark.com were held by speculators.  If someone else already has your desired name, you can probably still trade under it if it isn’t registered it in your state, but your URL will need an additional modifier.

Next you will want to check to see if there are any trademarks on your company name.  Since my company is offering services at a regional level, I’m not concerned about getting the trademark but it’s good to know who else may be using the same name.

Perception

Your brand name should be appealing and convey some of the key attributes your firm seeks to represent.  Try to talk to at least 10 people about their perception of your potential company names, including colleagues, clients, designers and family members (kids will be the most honest with you).  Five questions to ask are:

  • Which of the following brand names is most appealing to you…[read list]?
  • What are your first impressions of the word (s) [_brand name_]?
  • What products or services would you expect [_brand name_] to offer?
  • What attributes do you associate with [_brand name_]?
  • Would you ever hire a company named [_brand name_]?

JYK Marketing is now…

Digsus (Digsus LLC to be exact).

Feedback from others narrowed the choice down to Breakaway Strategy and Digsus.  Breakaway Strategy was the most appealing and first impressions were good.  Digsus was more of a blank slate. No one guessed the two words it was made from and no one could come up with any associations, but people liked its uniqueness.

I chewed on these names for more than a week, repeating: “I work for___,” “I’m the founder of___,” “___ has the solutions you need.”  Each appealed to me for different reasons, but the URL availability and character count (for Twitter) tipped the scale in favor of Digsus.  Now it’s time to begin shaping its identity and reputation.

What can Digsus do for you? (The tagline can come later)

A winning brand name is crucial for your marketing plan.  It will represent your vision, mission, core strategy and hard work as an entrepreneur.  As your brand name is shaped, it will take on a life of its own and hopefully inspire others.

Nine Tactics for Networking Events

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A large part of a consultant’s job is finding new leads.  Networking can be a fun, easy and effective way to meet prospective clients.  In DC there is no shortage of networking events; I could easily attend 2-3 per week.  Whether the event is focused on instruction, a panel or just a happy hour, it provides opportunities to meet potential partners, learn about your competition, and expand your list of contacts.

For the non-salesperson, sparking a conversation with a stranger can be an intimidating experience.  To help navigate the sometimes overwhelming environment of the networking event, I have listed nine strategies for success.

1. List your goals for the event. For example, you may want to give out 20 business cards or meet three CEOs.  A simple goal like this will keep you focused on working the room and prevent you from getting distracted by idle chatter about the playoffs.

2. Practice your messages before the event.  Create one sentence answers for the following basic questions: “What do you do?” “Why are you here?” “What does your company do?”  “How do you think social media is impacting our industry?” Also prepare for likely content-specific questions about your business.

3. Identify your target audience and let people know who you hope to meet. Many people at an event are not going to be prospective clients but you should be polite to everyone.  Staying focused on who could be a future client is important.  In the course of your conversations, feel free to mention the types of people you are hoping to meet and you may end up with valuable introductions.

4. Try a warm-up conversation.  Practicing in front of a mirror is one thing but nothing builds confidence for talking to prospective clients better than a few rounds with someone as nervous as you. This person might be unemployed or working at a more junior level so you’ll only need to talk for a few minutes, but this strategy allows you to rehearse your elevator pitch and answers to questions in suggestion #2.  Repeat, if necessary, until you are comfortable with your pitch and the social environment.

5. Arrange an introduction.  Since a formal introduction often makes a good impression, inform the event organizer of your target audience. The organizer generally knows many of the people in attendance and loves to introduce people. The organizer will be swamped at the beginning of the event so try to connect before the raffle or announcements that occur later in the event. Being a newcomer to a networking event often elicits special efforts to introduce you to others and make you feel comfortable.

6. Approach a group with confidence. Social norms teach us that interrupting a group mid conversation is rude, but not at networking events. This can be the most terrifying part of networking, but most people are open to it and appreciate a fresh face.  Practicing your messages ahead of time and warming up will help to make a confident first impression and steer the conversation toward your objectives.

7. Know how and when to leave a conversation.  If your goal is to pass out 20 business cards, it won’t happen if you stick with one group all night. You must learn to feel comfortable excusing yourself to move on to others.  If those you are talking to aren’t in your target audience, don’t know anyone in your target audience, or won’t let you get a word in after five minutes, it’s time to move on.

8. Consider using ice-breakers.  If you are not comfortable jumping into a group, you might use an ice-breaker to attract people to you.  Examples include wearing a creative name-tag, standing by the open bar, or carrying a popular book or electronic gadget (e.g., the original iphone). It will probably be harder to complete your goals using this tactic but this strategy may help to get you started in an unfamiliar event or setting.

9. Bring a colleague or friend.  Similar to using an ice-breaker, bringing a colleague or friend to an event may be a helpful crutch in navigating the initial awkwardness of networking.  However, if the other person is uninterested in the subject matter or bored with those at the event, this strategy can make it more difficult to accomplish your goals.

BONUS TIP. What to drink: One drink can help to loosen you up for an informal, yet professional, conversation but more than one may obstruct your goals.  If possible, I like to get club soda with a lime.  It looks like a gin and tonic so others don’t ask “Where’s your drink!” but you’ll be on point all night.

Consciously employing these strategies throughout a networking event will help you to have fun and to meet some interesting business prospects. And don’t forget to pass out your business cards!

Brand Name Development, Part 1

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Photo a worker on the Chrysler building. Chrysler was named after the company founder, Walter P. Chrysler.

Like naming your make-believe band, a child or a newfound kitten, the job of picking your company’s name can be daunting. Entrepreneurs face a host of challenges when launching a new company, including legal paperwork, accounting, marketing, and recruiting clients. One thing that should not be overlooked, however, is creating an appealing company name.

For the new decade I have decided to change the name of my consulting company, JYK Marketing. As I’ve grown my consulting practice from word-of-mouth freelance gigs to a full time job, I have revisited the name that represents my work many times.  In 2010 I am changing my company’s structure to a LLC and creating a new name as part of this process.

In Part 1 of my approach to developing a brand name, I explored various naming conventions and developed a long list of words that fit my new brand message and positioning.  In Part 2, I will narrow these concepts by checking trademarks and creatively evaluating each name’s fit.

Types of Brand Names

Brand names have many origins, but most fall into one of these groups:

  • Acronyms and portmanteaus like GEICO from Government Employees Insurance Company and Comcast  from communications and broadcast.
  • A person’s name like Chrysler after company founder, Walter P. Chrysler
  • Real words (Adobe, Nike, Virgin) including mispellings (Digg (dig), Google (googol))
  • Internet start-ups have broken many traditional naming conventions with names coming from made up words (Hulu, Twitter), affixed words (Napster, Friendster), and tweaked words (ebay,iTunes) More here.

Generating the Word List

My new company name must be recognizable, trustworthy, memorable and meaningful–with a story behind it that adds value to the brand. It should roll off the tongue and give some insight into my services. Here are some questions that got me started:

  1. What does my company do?  What are the key words in my elevator pitch?
  2. Who else does what I do and how did they pick their names? Are there any common naming conventions in my industry that I should stick to or break from?
  3. If I were to personify the business how would I characterize it?

Answering these questions generated a short list of conventional naming ideas to throw into the mix:

Founder’s Name: John, Koblinsky, JYK, JK

Locations: Arlington, Virginia, 703 (area code), 1st St (street address), Clarendon (neighborhood), Mid-Atlantic

Services: Marketing, Marketing Research, Insights, Foresights, Planning, Marketing Strategy

Service niches and adjectives: Digital, Green, New Media, Sustainable, Online, Consumer, Quantitative, Innovative

Additional Modifiers: Consulting, Group, LLC, Partners, Bros, Co., & Sons

In the search for a new name I have also considered unique words that I might use or tweak.  Literature, architecture, religion, nature, science and sport have been sources of such words.  Among those I added to the list are:  moso (a type of bamboo), breakaway (from cycling), bullnose (the first open step in a stairway) and Jackson Island (from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Languages like Latin can be a great source of appealing words. One of my favorite portmanteaus is Verizon, which combines veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon.

With a fixed list of about 100 words that satisfied my criteria of being recognizable, memorable and meaningful, I completed the first stage of creating my new brand name.

UPDATE: Continue reading Part 2 here…

Marketing the B-boy

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Photo by Craig Kolesky of B-boys Cico and Roxrite @ BC One w/logos imposed

Advertisers love to use hip-hop to target the attention of young audiences.  Of the four elements of hip-hop–graffiti, rap, DJing, breakdance–none has been more showcased by advertisers than breaking.  And no other dance form has seen the highs and lows in popularity that breaking (or b-boying) has over the past three decades.  It is the heart of this art, improvisation, that has helped b-boying adapt to variable popularity and evolve into the attention-grabbing beast that it is today. So why haven’t marketers used this more to their advantage?


History
With the boredom of disco setting in, the media and advertisers were quick to pounce on a new style of music coming out of NYC in the early 80s.  The newly discovered dance that put the exclamation point on this music was built on gravity defying power moves designed to humiliate and defeat an opposing crew.  Closely related to martial arts, b-boying was misunderstood by the media from the start and often lumped into an amalgam of hip-hop dance styles like popping, locking and uprocking.

In the hands of MTV and advertisers, b-boying became a frankenstein mash-up that the general public could imitate.  The result lacked the amazing power moves that contributed to true entertainment value and led to the death of b-boying in the US.

Although breaking (along with another extreme sport, skateboarding) faded from the attention of the American mainstream by the early 90’s, the dance was exploding overseas. Throughout the 90’s b-boying took off in Europe and Asia, benefiting from increased organization and originality.  As Y2K crept in and gangster rap died down, the b-boy returned to Madison Ave. Today, breakdance is treated as both a sport and an art form, with growing international competitions and respect from classically trained dancers on shows such as  “So You Think You Can Dance” and “America’s Got Talent.”

The B-Boy Market
Earlier I made a parallel to skateboarding which suffered a similar rise and fall in popularity. However, today skateboarding is a $4.8 billion market and bboying is…nothing close. Currently, Red Bull is the most identifiable sponsor of b-boying with its major international competition, the Red Bull BC One.  For performers, the goal is to win a major tournament like the BC One or Battle of the Year (BOTY) and use the recognition to book corporate performances or advertisements. Those crews unable to reach the top must rely on street performances and smaller competitions to support their passion.

Let’s Make a Deal
So if b-boys command attention with their magical moves, why haven’t sports marketers slapped their brand on the fronts, backs, and skull caps of any crews?  Have I missed it in all the street performances and videos that I’ve watched over the years, or has the conversation never taken place?  As the founder of my college’s breaking crew, I would have welcomed sponsored clothing and a little pocket change in exchange for exhibiting my moves on campus, but I never thought to ask.

From a sponsor’s perspective there is a risk that a crew might not attract enough eyes, but the eyes b-boys are performing for fit neatly into a target market similar to skateboarding. My first thought is for Adidas, Puma or UnderArmour to strike an exclusive clothing deal with the top crews. However, instead of using breakers solely for clothing commercials, for a relatively small investment fast food and electronics companies could put their logos all over b-boys as they have for cycling and soccer.

The top crews would probably need to break ground in sponsorship deals to make the concept popular, but lesser known crews that frequently perform on the street and battle in local competitions also have the eyes of many potential customers. Watching a b-boy crew the other weekend on Fisherman’s Wharf in SF with 40 other people, the idea of a sponsorship deal with a local sporting goods store or a trendy restaurant catering to youth seemed perfectly logical.

All b-bboys and b-girls consider their dance to be performance art so they might perceive that slapping on a brand discounts their style and creativity, making them puppets of a corporation. But in the real world, having a sponsor increases your visibility, credibility and travel money. As someone who rides for an amateur cycling team with ten sponsors on the kit, I feel in no sense that my skills are owned by faceless companies; on the contrary, I feel connected to something bigger than just the team of racers.

The B-Boy is Dead, Long Live the B-Boy
B-boying has been declared dead for the last time and will only gain popularity going forward. Just like business, it is extremely competitive and the crews who make their mark will do so with creativity and innovation, as well as hard work.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and if any company or crew would like me to broker a sponsorship deal, holla!

Hurry Up and Get Your Social Media

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Here’s a quick guide for setting up your social media plan, whether you think you need one now or not.  News flash: it’s land grab out there and if you’re caught napping your brand could suffer.  Just like getting a URL for your company, you need to claim your name and begin to understand how to use these new tools to communicate with people.  Here’s a short guide for how to get started:

Adding Social Media Tools

Sign up for any and every social media service to reserve your company’s name.  Whether you’re ready to develop content doesn’t matter; you don’t want someone else taking your company’s name first and possibly defaming it.

Profile setup:

  • Use standard company email address
  • Add your company information (address, phone #, fax, etc)
  • Set privacy settings to be as open as possible and still within the social rules of the community.  Your company won’t post anything secret, but sometimes “friends” or “connections” don’t want their social media communications out there.
  • Sign up for email notifications and RSS feeds and put them into the corporate RSS reader account.  Status emails should go to RSS through the email-to-RSS bridge.

Communications Guidelines

  • Above all, new media communications should be honest and fair.
  • Be responsible for what you and your employees write
  • Respect copyrights and fair use
  • Remember to protect confidential & proprietary info
  • Show enthusiasm and love of your brand.
  • Respond to all communication within 24 hours in this order: employees, old/repeat customers, vendors, affiliates, new customers, potential customers.  Always mark something as being worked on or done as soon as you finish.
  • Be authentic – Include your name and, when appropriate, your company name and your title. Consumers buy from people that they know and trust, so let people know who you are.
  • Consider the audience – your readers include current clients, potential clients, as well as current/past/future employees. Consider that before you publish and make sure you aren’t alienating any of those groups.
  • Employee’s private social media: companies can and will monitor employee use of social media and social networking web sites, even if they are engaging in social networking or social media use away from the office. Good judgment is paramount regardless of whether an employee’s online comments relate directly to their job.

Doing these things at a minimum will at least get your brands foot in the door.  With this platform you will be perfectly positioned to create a social media strategy that has a real impact on sales growth.

Creating a Greener DC

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Project: H St. NE Grows Green Initiative
Client: H St. NE Business Community
Team: DC Greenworks, Green Living Consulting, H St Main Street, DC Government (Ward 6, DDOE, DMPED)
Role: Academic Partner, Researcher

Abstract:

The H St. NE Corridor is unique in many ways—historically, culturally, demographically and commercially. It is currently scheduled for revitalization, an effort challenged by the today’s economy and the public’s desire to see environmentally sensitive intervention.   Rather than adopting the “bulldoze and build” strategy of many other DC neighborhoods, efforts are being made to involve current H Street residents and business owners in the planning, design, and renovation of their community. A major goal of this initiative is to help the H Street NE business community realize the benefits of being a vibrant, profitable, and eco-friendly commercial district.

TThe “H St. NE Grows Green Initiative” kicked-off at a reception on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.  Members of the local business community learned about ways to “green” their community by improving building efficiency, cutting operating expenses, creating healthier spaces, and developing a reputation as a sustainable destination district. DC Greenworks and Green Living Consulting are providing resources to help businesses enhance their economic potential while reducing their impact on the environment.

An ongoing research project involving Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland MBA students is obtaining additional data on ways to promote sustainable business revitalization in this urban neighborhood.

Read More (PDF)

Building America’s Greenest Main Street

Professional Cycling Marketing Tactics

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The 2009 Tour de France — a 3 week cycling race around France — ended this past Sunday with many viewers wondering, “What the heck is Astana?” Astana, as it turns out, is a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan, named after its capital city Astana. It is also the sponsor of this year’s Tour winner Alberto Contador, third place finisher Lance Armstrong, and the race’s overall winning team.

Watching this year’s race, I noticed that a lot of big corporations — many of which are professional services firms in the sectors of finance, telecommunications and consulting — have chosen to sponsor cycling.  This trend isn’t all that surprising once you realize that cycling has gained on golf as a networking activity for corporate executives. And increased participation in the sport naturally drives an interest at the professional level.

With an annual price tag of $3-5 million, lead sponsorship of an international professional team is out of reach of most companies.  But to target a burgeoning crowd of corporate executives, a number of professional services firms have begun to sponsor local amateur cycling clubs.

In the DC area alone there are 11 amateur racing clubs with 50-400 members each — all wearing corporate logos on their jerseys.  Clubs increase the visibility of their sponsors every time they participate in a mid-Atlantic-region race, train on the roads, or sit in coffee shops before and after rides.  Today, sponsors include Kelly Benefit Strategies, Inova Health System, Signal Financial, Bohler Engineering and Deloitte, each of whom pay $2,000-$20,000 for their logo to appear on a club’s jersey (cost depends on the team, as well as size and placement of the logo on the jersey).

Sponsoring a local cycling club is an easy way to boost visibility of your company’s brand, promote an active lifestyle, and foster a competitive spirit.  With the return of Lance Armstrong, a Tour finally free of doping scandals and improved television coverage, the sport of cycling is growing in popularity. So next time you climb on your bike, consider whether a foray into sports sponsorship might help your firm reach new audiences.

[Originally posted by John Koblinsky on The Hinge Marketing Blog]

Marketing Research Consulting

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Project: Online Survey Research
Clients:Parallels, Sustainable America, JoshSpear.com & others
Team: Self
Role: Full-service marketing research consultant

John has provided marketing research services to technology start-ups, non-profits, associations, and even professional bloggers.  These research services include: study development, programming online surveys in SPSS Dimensions and Sawtooth Software, executing email campaigns,  statistical analysis (such as conjoint, segmentation, and regression) and report creation.  John also has a Professional Research Certification (PRC) from the Marketing Research Association (MRA).  Some projects he has worked on include:

  • Designed and conducted usability and readership analysis for JoshSpear.com, a trend-spotting blog consulted by marketers, brand managers and advertisers; presented data and proposed ideas for new features for the Spear Creative Group.
  • Developed a vision and strategic plan for the businesses on the H St. NE corridor in DC to become a “green” community; partners included Green Living Consulting, DC GreenWorks, and the DC Government.
  • Conducted an online survey for Sustainable Future, Inc., a non-partisan group that polled 750+ Senate and Congressional candidates about their positions on environmental issues.

Fundraising Strategies for a Nonprofit

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Project: Donor Strategy for DC SCORES
Client: DC SCORES/ America SCORES
Team: Compass DC, team of seven consultants
Role: Equal roles; focus on consulting

Completed a fundraising strategy for DC Scores

About Compass DC

Through pro bono strategic consulting, Compass strengthens the capacity, effectiveness and sustainability of Greater Washington DC nonprofits.  Compass volunteer teams, mainly MBA alumni from top business schools, guide nonprofit leaders to generate near-term gains in effectiveness and capacity and long-lasting organizational imrpovements.

About DC Scores

DC SCORES inspires youth to lead healthy lifestyles, be engaged students, and become agents of change in their communities.

DC SCORES creates a positive connection fro students to the school and surrounding community by creating a bridge from the school day to after-school. We strongly believe that innovative and creative after-school programming help increase a student’s level of school engagement, physical fitness, self-worth, and sense of belonging in his/her community.  We hire and train motivated DC public school teachers to run the program at each school, thus providing each student with direct access to a trusted mentor.  Writing and soccer coaches are given a year-long curriculum, supplies and equipment, and are supported by DC SCORES program staff to ensure standardized, flexible and contextual daily lessons.  Our program maintains a lot ration of students to teachers and gives ownership to each school so that the school’s community embraces the program.

Read More (PDF)

Building a Smart Home – Home Automation

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Thinking back on my initial motivations for investing time and money into developing a smart home, I believe it was equal parts curiosity and desire for control over this sudden expansion of space.  I have used a Home Theater PC with Windows Media Center as my main entertainment system for TV and movies for many years in the condo, so I was already interested in using computers to control more than just Word and Excel.

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The basement 'Man Room' with Vista Media Center and MControl

With the proper inputs and interfaces a computer should be able to dynamically control the environment of your house.

Goal

Other than for the pure sake of ‘geeking out,’ there are three core objectives that I hope to accomplish by adding home automation to my house.

First, I want to improve the efficiency of house to use less electricity.  That means collecting stats on energy usage and then training the house to only use energy when it has an impact on someone in the house.  For example, the computer will run the HVAC less when you’re actually out of the house and not just by what time it is.

Second, convenience. Many much wealthier new homes are incorporating the new technology because it makes life a little bit easier and more luxurious.  For example, when you begin to play a movie, the lights dim to improve the experience or your garden gets watered automatically everyday with an irrigation system.

Lastly, I want to prove that home automation can be affordable and not that out of reach of the average consumer.  Many custom builders are offerring services to renovate your house with a home automation, but this option is extremely expensive and invasive.  Using wireless technology like Z-Wave and Insteon, I can get the same result for a fraction of the price.

The Setup

I would need three elements to make this all work out: automation software, a USB controller, and interfaces for the things that I want to control. NOTE: This setup assumes I have an always on computer or server to run the software and USB controller.

The software: I eventually landed on Embedded Automation’s MControl.  This software supports multiple types of communications protocalls like X10, Insteon, and Z-Wave as well as maintaining and active support forum.  This software also has add-ins for Windows Home Server and Vista Media Center which were core elements that I wanted to take full advantage of.

USB controller: For the computer to talk to the interfaces I needed to pick a communications protocol and install a USB controller to talk to the devices I wanted to control.  I ended up picking Z-Wave because it offered two way communication–the device not only takes orders from the computer, but it can report which state it’s in as well (on, off, dimmed, etc.).  For this I picked the ThinkStick Z-Wave USB Adapter by ControlThink, which I highly recommend.

Controls: To start I wanted to get lighting elements installed for whenever we were out of town.  I also wanted to experiment with automatic lighting environments for the media room.  Another element to home automation is security and I purchased an IP camera to be controlled by MControl as well.

Result

Without getting too technical, here’s what I’ve been able to do so far with my home automation system that cost under $300 (eBay helped keep prices low).

Currently I have two zones: the family and dining room on the main floor and the basement, aka the man room.

Lighting:

  • In the winter we get home after dark so I like the front light to be on when I get home.  MControl knows what time the sun sets and will turn on my front light right at dusk.
  • The dining room has a scene for ‘Dinner’ which dims certain lights for a nice atmosphere.
  • In the Man Room, my Home Theater PC (running Vista Media Center) will dim the front lights and turn off the rear lights when I start a movie.  If I stop or pause the movie, the lighting gets brighter in anticipation of someone getting up and moving around.  Lighting is returned to the dim state when movie is playing again. This application is my favorite so far.

Security: Using an IP camera with motion sensing I get an email sent to me whenever there is motion in a particular area.  To prevent this system from going off all the time, it is tied to when I’m out of the house.  Knock on wood, outside of testing I’ve never received an email.

Future Add-ons

If you have Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFLs) in most rooms as I do there is one drawback to Z-Wave which is that wall lighting controls need at least a 40 Watt charge running through them to operate–CFLs generally consume less than 40 Watts.  One can get around this by adding Insteon technology, a competing communication system to Z-Wave that uses a combination of powerline and RF technology, but doesn’t have a minimum wattage.  Prices for components are comparable and both Z-Wave and Insteon controllers can run simultaneously with MControl on a WHS.  Insteon does however require a negative wire however and because my house was built before negative wires were common I will need to consult an electrician before I get this system.

After the lighting has been taken care of, the possibilities are endless.  Anything that has moving parts and is close to a power source can be automated and controlled: blinds can shut when the sun gets too bright, the garden and lawn can be watered on a schedule, and you can get an MMS when your security system is triggered with a video of what caused it.

Finally, installing a energy monitoring system like The Energy Detective (T.E.D.) will allow me to learn more about how my house is consuming energy so that I can tweak automation even more to save electricity.