We know these are some extremely rough and unprecedented times due to the Coronavirus shutdowns and shut-ins. Businesses are closed and people have lost their jobs. Over 40million have filed for unemployment. Who could’ve predicted a majority of businesses in the United States would have to temporarily…
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We marketers love a hook, a holiday marketing theme we can build a plan around and use all the tools we have available under one umbrella to make that plan stick. Make it cohesive, on brand, and add a dash of fun or humor and you have a…
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Bye, 2019! Hello, 2020! 2019 has absolutely flew by. I felt like we were just planning for 2019 events, and yet, now it’s time to look forward in 2020. If you’re just as baffled as me, you’re in luck. I’ve compiled a list of ideas to help…
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Working From Home Is Easy… Isn’t It? I was blessed with a very special opportunity two and a half years ago: to work from home. As naive as I once was, I thought working from home would be easy-peasy lemon-squeezy right off the bat. No commute, no…
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Did you know blogging has been around…TWENTY FIVE YEARS! A whole quarter of a century! And there are still many benefits to blogging today! History of the Blog That’s how long the concept of a blog, if not the name, has been a part of our digital…
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It seems social media is always upgrading itself, and Instagram is no exception to this. There’s a fun new feature out called Instagram Highlights. While it’s not exactly a brand new feature, it’s still new to many who aren’t utilizing it yet. Many of you may want…
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With so many new apps, platforms and technological advances in recent years, our language has expanded greatly with the addition of so many tech-related words to our daily vocabulary. Since we were a little hungry today, we thought what better time than to crack the mystery of…
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While spring has sprung, summer is just around the corner. Summer is a good time to look at how your business and how it fits into the warm season. Travel The nature of the summer season often dictates changes in business traffic and a strategic summer strategy may…
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Ah yes, 2019 is here. Resolutions have been made and broken. While we’ve been extremely busy these last few months, things will begin to die down in the coming weeks. While seasonal sales and specials will be disappearing for the next few months (hello, Valentine’s Day and…
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Black Friday. Small Business Saturday. Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday. Phew! The November retail holiday marketing blitz is here! But what to focus on? Where do you put your time, energy and budget? Can you hit all these targets without overwhelming or confusing your customers? Definitely. By putting…
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Starbucks Rewards. REI Co-Op. Movie theater reward programs. We’re all familiar with customer loyalty programs that reward us for staying true to a brand. Offering repeat customers exclusive discounts and perks such as product previews and invite-only status to events, these incentivized groups look to make casual…
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Customer retention: Facebook Retargeting Facebook Ads can be the perfect marketing and advertising tool for a number of reasons. I think we as marketers have a done a poor job explaining the ALL of its purposes. I could very well just be speaking for myself but I…
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Google reviews are more important than ever but, how do you ask your customers for Google+ Business Reviews? Online Face Of Your Business Google is often the first point of contact between a customer and a business. We plug keywords and questions into Google to help us…
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There’s a lot of media noise out there and the more players that get in the marketing game, the louder the din you need to break through to get noticed as a unique and genuine presence in the market. With changes on the horizon from platforms like…
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Although we’re still buried knee-deep in fall specials and pumpkin spice everything, it’s time to turn our thoughts to the ever-so-busy holiday season. No matter what your business, the holidays bring with them a whole host of opportunities to reach new audiences, communicate with current customers and get…
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Old School Marketing 101 Remember the 4 Ps from your intro to marketing class? Price, product, promotion, and place have been used over the past century by marketers as an organizing framework for the core elements of a solid marketing plan. The Four Ps were created in…
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What Is A Style Guide? A style guide is a set of standards and rules that define your company’s branding. It tells you how that business presents itself to the world. Branding and style guides provide consistency when making posts or branding images. It ensures that every…
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What’s the first thing you do when deciding to try a new local restaurant or service? For nearly 90 percent of consumers, the answer is the same: look up their online reviews! When prospective patients look your practice up on Google, Facebook or Yelp, the first impression…
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Companies are finding that video content is the most effective way to share news, entertainment, advertisements — even recipes. Using just your smartphone, you too can create videos that will build your business’s online presence more than any other type of content. Social Media Marketing Is Going…
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Millennials may not be perfect, but they are the future. No business, large or small, can afford to ignore the purchasing power they hold. Marketing to millennials isn’t impossible. It just takes quite a bit more attention to detail and humanization. No more generic advertising methods. We…
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Well, not exactly… although we do celebrate marketing every day around here! But really, who doesn’t love a reason to celebrate? Inject a bit of the unexpected into your business calendar by playing into the wealth of all the off-the-wall and crazily specific holidays out there. Whether…
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Many times clients ask for a specific need like marketing, advertising, public relations or business communications. However, many don’t really understand the difference between each. I thought it would be fun to break each down to help differentiate each area. Although, many cross over. That is part…
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Winter is here and with it comes a great time to reflect on fresh starts and new ideas to ramp up your marketing efforts. Website Refresh Haven’t given your website any love lately? Not getting the traffic you used to get when you first launched that bright and…
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People want to do business with people. Not Brands! The first step I take with a client is to look at their brand from a human perspective. Help them craft their unique story! Parts of the story: What is the brands mission? What are the core values?…
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The holidays are such a frantic, festive time of year! Every business, from the cupcake shop on the corner to the largest retailers in the country, is vying for the attention of that all important holidays shopper. And even those businesses that aren’t based out of a brick-and-mortar…
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A few years ago a quote began floating around the Internet, where I found it on Pinterest. It stated, “You have the same 24 hours a day as Beyoncé.” While this statement is technically true, as a freelance writer I fall woefully short of her estimated net…
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Marketing messages are everywhere. On the television, radio, newspapers, our devices like cell phones, tablets and more! There are companies who are focusing on social media and killing it than ever before. These aren’t just the big companies like Oreo, Coca Cola etc., they are mom and…
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So, you’ve decided to take your business to the next level with a marketing mindset, but you’ve been bombarded by what seems like a veritable clown car of options. Take a deep breath, and let’s focus on step one: the logo. A high-quality logo is one that…
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First impressions are powerful. Before meeting a prospective client or business contact, you put in the work. You do your research and do your all to present your best self so you feel prepared and pulled together. You follow those tried and tried “rules” of making a…
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People want to do business with other people, not just a name and not just a stock photo of a smiling face. People crave connections and emotional attachments. Your business and/or brand shouldn’t just be a logo…ever. And your feed shouldn’t be filled with pitches and sales.…
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On the surface, this seems like a very easy question. Most folks have a canned response all set. Many have even practiced their “30-second commercial.” But at the end of the day, most miss the mark. This post is about getting to the “real” unique you/business proposition.…
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The world is full of people buying stuff. But the question is who will actually buy your stuff? This is who your business will serve. The fact is, most businesses define themselves solely by the services or products they sell. This is a disastrous business mistake. Customer Centric Marketing Example:…
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There are many different definitions of marketing but I really like this one. Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. — The Process of Know, Like, Trust Marketing…
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One of the biggest challenges business owners face is…focus. This applies to marketing as well. There are so many tools, resources and ways to implement marketing today, businesses need to choose which ones are the best for their specific industry and how to make the best uses…
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