Grotto Communications, Inc.

12/15/2025

"We define slop as 'digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.' All that stuff dumped on our screens, captured in just four letters: the English language came through again." So. Much. Slop!

Plus 'gerrymander', 'touch grass', 'performative', and other words that defined the year

11/29/2025

BONUS: Some of my fave local shops deliver (esp neat for snowdump states). That means you, too, could enjoy or gift these delights from afar. Support my local and shop (sorta) small!

Belgian Chocolatier Piron, https://belgchocpiron.com/

Dave's Down-to-Earth Rock Shop, https://davesrockshop.com/

Luna Delgado Botanicals, https://www.lunadelgadobotanicals.com/

Stumble & Relish, https://stumbleandrelish.com/

Vintage Vinyl, https://www.vvmo.com/

Walsh Natural Health, https://walshnatural.com/

11/28/2025

Whatcha doin'?
STOP IT & SHOP LOCAL!

Support your community for real. Go chat with shop owners & their team. Find cool stuff. And if the weather is getting a little too interesting, you have plenty of ways to do it online like Bookshop.org and local stores with pick-up or delivery options.

https://bookshop.org/info/about-us

A better way to buy books online. Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores.

12/18/2024

Can you even believe it?!

Grotto Communications and I are celebrating a whole 25 years helping other small business owners and not-for-profit runners show off their specialties.

A "quarter century" is a formidable chunk of time. More widely notable "firsts" in 1999 included the "The Matrix" premier, Serena Williams winning her first Grand Slam, and the intro of the Euro. Sure, we also tried to bend over backwards to help our clients and may have hit an ace or two.

Mostly, I remain extremely touched and grateful for all the clients who trusted Grotto to help and our colleagues/support network for their irreplaceable input and good humor.

Here's hoping you and yours are enjoying and sharing your own many successes!

Merry marketing! —Kim

11/12/2024

This rebrand for the Guggenheim really does sizzle. Scroll down this gushing review to see the animated aspect of it. Kinda love it!

Enduring heritage gets a contemporary glow up.

10/07/2024

Colleagues on LinkedIn, best to read the updated User Agreement. If you do not want their AI to use your personal information and post content, you must specifically Opt Out in the Data Privacy Settings.

"At this time, we are not enabling training for generative AI on member data from the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. For those outside these regions, we’ve proactively made available an opt-out setting for any members who choose not to make this information available for this purpose."

07/03/2024

If you are a small business owner (or manage one), you may be grappling with rising costs, hiring challenges, and other pressures. But the truth is that "large percentages of U.S. consumers feel a strong impulse to shop with small businesses."

People really DO want to support you. The trick is to align your marketing tactics to connect with them.

How can small businesses compete with big corporations? By going deeper into the local community. See how better small business marketing can help.

06/12/2024

As Adobe tries to dig itself out of the PR hellscape it created with muddled terms about AI and your precious content, the design community shares many alternatives to the creative tool giant.

No more "draconian terms of service”.

05/28/2024

Has this Google AI integration invasion fed you an unexpected, nay alarming response? If you haven’t used other search engines like DuckDuckGo or Brave.com, might be a good time to check out the options.

https://www.popsci.com/technology/google-ai-overview-wrong/

Who knew feeding the entirety of Reddit into the large language model would be a bad idea?

04/10/2024

Better brush up your detection skills. Between election year misdirects and unattainable “beauty” standards, the potential effects of AI-generated content may not always be what they seem. The tech is here to stay, so start training your eyes and using some of these resources to know the difference. Let’s not get bamboozled so easily.

(For the record, I got 10/10 correct in their AI Detection Quiz.💯 )

Determining whether or not an image was created by generative AI is harder than ever, but it's still possible if you know the telltale signs to look for.

01/02/2024

A welcome first step from the EU outlining their new guardrails for navigating innovative, yet ethical uses of AI.

“It introduces a ‘risk-based’ approach to categorizing AI systems, emphasizing stringent rules for high-risk applications while banning AI practices that could significantly compromise civil liberties.

“The act aims to set a global benchmark in AI regulation, similar to GDPR and includes substantial penalties for non-compliance. It represents an opportunity for emerging European nations to lead in ethical AI development, balancing technological advancement with democratic values and human rights.”

The European Union has provisionally adopted the Artificial Intelligence Act. Here's what it means for marketing.