The Blog - Page 12 of 30

Free Online Alternatives to Photoshop

By Bethany Howell
January 20, 2015
Tools

Want to turn boring images into better, more eye-catching visual masterpieces for your blog and social media posts but don’t want to invest hundreds of dollars on Photoshop? Then this post is definitely for you. There is no reason why our clients can’t add photos to their websites and social media sites on their own. Actually we encourage it. That is after all, why we have turned to WordPress to create all of our websites. It makes it so you, as the client can edit your website and and add photos on your own without always having to ask us for help.

Speaker Series: “Branding and Trademark -The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"

By Tara Urso
January 15, 2015
Events

Join insight180’s Wendy Baird and Mary Beth Tung, attorney with Davis Agnor Rapaport Skalny, for the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship‘s Speaker Series: “Branding and Trademark -The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” Friday, January 23rd from 12-1:30 pm.

User Experience and Other Marketing Trends for 2015

By Tara Urso
January 15, 2015
marketing

It’s a new year and most likely, you’re thinking of new ways to reach your target market. Last year we made some digital marketing predictions for 2014, but what’s becoming exceedingly clear is that there should not be a separation between marketing and digital marketing. It’s true that there are traditional marketing tactics (i.e. direct mail, print advertising) which still have their place, but digital marketing should not be an afterthought. “Digital Marketing” should automatically be included in your marketing mix.

Using Brand Transparency to Correct Negative Connotations

By Tara Urso
December 15, 2014
strategy

Each year, organizations pay millions in marketing efforts. Whether it’s content marketing, video, outdoor, print ads, social media campaigns,etc., it’s clear to brands that it’s more important than ever to mold and maintain their audience’s perception. While “branding” is defined as what your audience collectively thinks of you, it’s up to the organization to provide brand messaging and create experiences or your audience will run amok. Through the internet and social media, consumers can investigate anything and everything about your brand, and they will. This is why brands who are transparent are the ones that will thrive.

Basic HTML You Should Know

By Bethany Howell
December 2, 2014
Tools,Uncategorized,website

One of the neat things about a WordPress website or blog is that you don’t need to have any coding skills. Whether you’re running a simple blog or a business website, you can get by just fine without knowing code. The array of built-in features and customization options that come with most plugins and themes enable you to create a site that makes you look like a programming whiz.

Web and Graphic Design Trends for 2015

By Tara Urso
November 20, 2014
design

While these styles have been around in some way or another for a while, here are some trends in graphic and web design that we think will be bigger than ever in 2015!

Practicality Marketing

By insight180 team
November 10, 2014
blogging,branding,content,insight180 newsletters,leadership,marketing,strategy

Those of you who know me and are familiar with my role and responsibilities as “Principal of Practicality” at Insight180 will chuckle at how NOT surprising it is I would coin the phrase or espouse the concept of “Practicality Marketing.” (Well, some things should be predictable in life, shouldn’t they?)

5 Facts About Baltimore Brand Old Bay

By Tara Urso
October 14, 2014
baltimore,branding

When thinking of uniquely Maryland brands, a few that always come to mind are Under Armour, Natty Boh and of course, Old Bay. Marylanders are known for their brand loyalty. Search Instagram and Twitter for #oldbay and you’ll find hundreds of photos of people showing their Maryland pride with their favorite seasoning blend.

7 Tips for Responding to Negative Comments on Social Media

By Wendy Baird
October 9, 2014
facebook,insight180 newsletters,social media

As a small business owner, consultant or upper-level manager in a professional services firm, you’re busy, and each day, more and more demands are made on your time. Your company made the dive into social media, and now your agency tells you that you got a negative review on Facebook or some suspect comments on your blog. So you’re thinking, “why did we ever say we would do this social media in the first place?” Well, it’s because you also want to reach more people, be known as a thought leader, and more than that, have an engaged audience. But what happens if you’ve got that “one bad apple” among lots of healthy, positive engagement?

Is Blogging Really Necessary?

By Bethany Howell
September 26, 2014
blogging

What are your goals?

Over the past few months we have been updating a bunch of our client websites to WordPress and with that has come the synonymous question of whether or not they “need” to have a blog on their site. The answer depends on a few key elements: The goals you have for your website, the size of your current audience, your current domain rank, if others sites with a high domain rank are regularly linking to your site and whether your website is regularly putting out fresh content in other ways. If the end doesn’t justify the means, spending time on blogging may not be for you. However, if your company is putting time, energy and money into a new website, it could all be for nothing without a blog. It all depends on your goals.

Branding, Differentiation, Positioning & Corporate Identity

By Tara Urso
September 23, 2014
branding

In a previous blog post we addressed the fact that many times, marketing terms get used interchangeably when they actually mean very different things. Learn below the actual meaning of branding, differentiation, positioning and corporate identity and the roles they play in business development and marketing.

Facebook Changes to Allow Page Admins to Like, Comment as Themselves

By Tara Urso
September 23, 2014
facebook,social media,strategy

Remember all those times you posted a great article or image on your Facebook company page and you wanted to like or comment on it as yourself but couldn’t? Thanks to Facebook’s latest change you can now like and comment on page posts as yourself and other pages you admin. With the ability to interact with a page post as yourself, opportunities to start or continue a blossoming conversation arise. If you post an article on your organization’s page, you could then comment as yourself detailing what you think is good and/or bad about it. When your friends and others who like your page see your comment, this could spur a conversation. While you’ve always been able to comment on page posts, commenting as yourself brings a new facet.