This week, I thought it would be great to recap on the JCPenney rebrand and what has happened since its launch back in early 2012 and what we can take away from it.
Plain text email — not so fast.
I was recently surprised to see a web development company I have a great deal of regard for move to marketing their services with plain text email over HTML email. In case you’re not sure of the difference, HTML email looks like ads or brochures with images and nice looking text. Text email is plain text without images, like email you use every day to correspond with business associates.
Strategic Marketing Explained
If I asked you if you were engaged in strategic marketing, you’d probably say, “Yes, of course I am.” But strategic marketing is more than just finding your audience and marketing to them.
The "Free" Phenomenon
I’m a pretty old dog. I’ve been in the branding and marketing business for over 30 years, so I tend to think I’ve seen most everything. But it’s been impossible for a while now not to notice a phenomenon that I really thought I’d never see — working for free. We’re surrounded with free access to really complex services. Facebook is free. Twitter is free. Even hosting has become practically free.
Developing a Content Marketing Strategy
Are you just starting out with social media and interested in developing a content marketing strategy? After you’re done setting up your blog and numerous social media outlets, the next step is to create a clear and concise strategy for what types of posts you will make, and why.
Lists. Likes. Launch: insight180 April 2013 Newsletter
Developing A Content Marketing Strategy
By Tara Urso
Are you just starting out with social media and interested in developing a content marketing strategy? After you’re done setting up your blog and numerous social media outlets, the next step is to create a clear and concise strategy for what types of posts you will make, and why.
Building Your Brand One Interaction at a Time
Sometimes a gift just falls in your lap (or lands in your email box). As I was contemplating a branding blog post I was working on this morning, I received this email from one of our advisory firm clients. What a pleasure when one’s work is truly appreciated, and even better when the client really “gets” it. There are some really great insights here, and I share with his permission:
Hey, Wendy:
I’m reading a book and insight180 came to mind. The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do what They Do and How They Do It So Well, by Camille Sweeney & Josh Gosfield. The book features interviews with respected, high profile professionals about how they do what they do. I heard the authors interviewed on two different radio programs during their book tour.
Baked not Frosted
I recently heard a reference about branding and marketing that really stuck in my head. It expresses so well just how to think about branding and marketing as it relates to building a business.
Facebook Graph Search: What It Means For B2B
Why Likes Have Just Become More Important.
The hype is under way as an enticing new feature called Graph Search continues to be rolled out by Facebook, and the question on everyone’s mind is, “how can we utilize this new feature to optimize our business’ social media presence?” Besides being an ingenious incentive developed by the social network giant to encourage businesses to spend more time on its site, Graph Search has some interesting features which may shake up the way people make decisions. Although Graph Search is not a search engine which combs the entire internet, it does search the content that people on Facebook put on their pages (likes, check-ins, etc). Graph Search enables users to search for business pages, photos and people and, in the results, see how they are connected to those items through their friends or even through their friends of friends.
Avoiding Marketing’s Shiny Object Syndrome
We’ve all experienced it at one time or another – that uncontrollable urge to spend time or money on the latest gizmo, app, online tool, trick or offer. Remember Dug, the adorable talking golden retriever from Pixar Disney’s movie, Up, who in the midst of conversation would become distracted and exclaim, “Squirrel!?” You may chuckle, but Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) occurs all the time, including in our marketing.
How-To: Creating a LinkedIn Company Page
[Editor’s Note: This post was recently featured in Social Media Today. Well done, Tara!]
The Power of the Postcard
Social media, search optimization, and content marketing may be the front stage performers in marketing these days, but there’s a tried and true marketing star you should not forget — the postcard. A good postcard is a marketing workhorse. The key is to hone the message and design of your postcard carefully and expand your mailing list to new prospects who don’t already know you.
