Posted on

A Win for Oreo’s Great Gatsby Tweet

Oreo nailed it with its Great Gatsby inspired tweet that it posted on the film’s booming opening day last Friday.

While the tweet never specifically mentioned The Great Gatsby by name, it alluded to some of the story’s main points including the iconic and symbolic Doctor T.J. Eckleburg billboard—promoting an optometrist’s practice but also serving as a reminder of the growing commercialism of America and the emergence of the American dream—and J. Gatsby’s affinity for calling everybody “old sport.”  Perfectly tying it into the Oreo brand, the company shared a tweet that read “A Great story calls for a great cookie.”

Oreo   tjeckleburg

Continue reading “A Win for Oreo’s Great Gatsby Tweet”

Posted on

The Dangers of Inconsistent Branding

Do you hate it when someone spells your name wrong? Like when they add an “h” to the end of Sara or assume that Jamie is always—unequivocally—written as Jamie. In my case, I see a variety of misspellings for my name from Kari to Cari to Kerry. Drives. Me. Nuts.

brand strategySo why do we get so bothered when someone misspells or mispronounces our name? Because our name is quite possibly our chief identifier. It’s what makes us who we are. It’s what “brands” us, as we marketing folk say.

Continue reading “The Dangers of Inconsistent Branding”

Posted on

How Do You Talk to an Audience Who Can’t Talk Back?

It’s not enough to just talk to your customers anymore. You have to really see them for who they are. You have to truly understand them and understand your connection to them (or the connection you hope to one day establish with them). What have they experienced in life? What may they be facing now? This is the pinnacle of targeting your audience regardless of the objective – whether it’s raising awareness of a greater cause or generating sales.

blog8

Continue reading “How Do You Talk to an Audience Who Can’t Talk Back?”

Posted on

Your Content Marketing Mantra for Today – ‘Let it Be’

let it beOver time, we have shifted from traditional marketing campaigns (i.e. mail-ins, door-to-door and print advertisement) to a world filled with competitive online strategies. It’s no surprise this move to the digital realm has shaken up the brand strategies of many. In fact, when recently asked what their current biggest marketing challenge was, 43 percent of marketers noted that they struggle with differentiating themselves in the marketplace and 29 percent reported that they experience difficulty defining target audiences.

Today marks the 43rd anniversary of the Beatles’ final album release, “Let it Be.” So, if you’re facing some corporate branding roadblocks, consider these words of wisdom for getting your name in the minds of your online audience. When it comes to content marketing strategy, let it be…

Continue reading “Your Content Marketing Mantra for Today – ‘Let it Be’”

Posted on

Don’t be Afraid of the Digital Marketing Monster

I’ve never known a child who did not have at least one kind of irrational fear, perhaps one of the biggest being nighttime monsters in the closet.  This very common fear has cracked open the bedroom door for many children, but as adults, we know these once terrifying tales are just age-old myths.  So…why do we have similar content marketing fears?

monster

Perhaps the biggest reason seems to be from marketers’ collective fear – or general uncertainty – of taking their campaigns to the digital realm. A quick scan on the Web reveals that many individuals are searching for countless articles ranging from “fears that keep digital marketers up at night” to “why marketers should fear digital marketing.” It cannot be disputed that we are indeed amidst a great marketing revolution. In fact, 22 percent of online adults in the U.S. are connecting everywhere, and frequently, according to Research Director and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, Melissa Parrish. This is a huge need that marketers should be aiming to meet, yet some are not.

Continue reading “Don’t be Afraid of the Digital Marketing Monster”

Posted on

Three Things You Need to Stop Doing When Sending E-mails

spamWe are all inundated with e-mail; we’re sending it, receiving it and saving it. In fact, as of November 2012, 144 billion e-mails were being sent every day. But in an age of social media, it seems like e-mails are a marketing campaign of yesteryear. Not so fast, though. Just because 65 percent of all e-mails are spam doesn’t mean that your company’s targeted e-mail campaign has to get dragged to that daunting folder in customers’ inboxes.

Today, the delete button is heavier than the sword. Here are three things you could be doing wrong with your e-mail marketing campaign.

Continue reading “Three Things You Need to Stop Doing When Sending E-mails”

Posted on

Avoiding the Riptide of Brand Strategy

The sun is shining, the weather is warming and before you know it, we’ll be in flip flops and bathing suits. But it’s not all fun in the sun for some businesses when it comes to brand strategy. Some seem to be instead swamped in a sea of questions, from ‘How do we maintain brand integrity?’ to ‘How do we sharpen our corporate identity?’ For businesses looking to avoid this, Twitter is an excellent way to boost brand.

According to a recent infographic by Mediabistro, in 2012, Twitter was declared the world’s fastest-growing social platform, adding 40 percent more active users between Q2 and Q4 of last year. Twitter is teeming with ways to inspire, create and expand your business to strengthen brand loyalty.

Continue reading “Avoiding the Riptide of Brand Strategy”

Posted on

April Showers Bring Fresh Social Media Strategies

Every minute, 100,000 new tweets are published and six million Facebook pages are viewed, and these numbers only represent what happens on the Internet every 60 seconds. Can you imagine what this will look like in the future? Allow us to put this into perspective for you.

Today’s number of networked devices is equivalent to our global population, and by 2015, this number of networked devices will be twice that of the global population.

Continue reading “April Showers Bring Fresh Social Media Strategies”

Posted on

Marketing during Human Tragedy = Unthinkable Insensitivity

To say it’s been a tragic week for U.S. citizens, and even the billions around the world, is a gross understatement. The unfathomable events that transpired this week—from the very first explosion during the Boston Marathon, to the Texas fertilizer plant blast, to the still ongoing hunt for Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev—have left us all without words.

Disbelief, Distraught, Empathy, Anger and Confusion have entered our world—from our local delis to our workplace to our neighborhoods. And all we can do is ask: “Why?”

Why does such evil exist in this world? Why has our universe become so recently shattered—not to forget the Batman movie shooting to the Sandy Hook massacre—making us afraid of even our own shadow? Why does it seem that acts of cruelty occur more frequently than acts of benevolence?

Continue reading “Marketing during Human Tragedy = Unthinkable Insensitivity”

Posted on

Power Up that Laptop; You’ve Got a Story to Tell

While this may come as no surprise, especially as someone who has made a career out of writing, I love everything related to the English language. I love the fact that a single word can inspire, energize, upset, anger and intrigue—sometimes all at once. I love that for every 10 people who read a book, you get 10 different opinions about the true themes and symbolism. I love how we share our stories about ourselves, our companies, and our passions through our writing—oftentimes meticulously massaging each word, caressing tone and losing ourselves in the process of wordsmithing.

So you can imagine how important I think it is for each company to have a section of their website dedicated to storytelling. The part of their website that gives customers, channel partners, stakeholders, investors and potential partners the first few chapters of a company’s novel.

Continue reading “Power Up that Laptop; You’ve Got a Story to Tell”