In contrast to the truly uninspired Pepsi Facebook strategy we reviewed last week, a small nonprofit here in the Bay Area, is doing something very interesting and increasing fan engagement at the same time. Probably not a coincidence! In the spirit of transparency, this nonprofit is a ThinkResults client but we did not come up… More »
Facebook Content Strategy: Why Pepsi Has It All Wrong
At the risk of getting slammed by the Pepsi brand team, I just have to point out that being a big brand and having a big budget doesn’t always equal smart. The Pepsi Facebook strategy is … lame. There’s no other way to describe it. Here are a few representative posts: Tuesday, January 15 Saturday,… More »
My virgin Virgin Experience: A Brand that Surrounds Its Customers with Care
Just had my virgin Virgin America experience and it was awesome. I am a new convert. They take air travel to a very civilised 😉 plane. Not only do they understand their travelers and what they want — flexible, personal food and drink delivery, personalized viewing options, great music, power at every seat (the only… More »
Our Latest Mission: Rebranding a Nonprofit to Win
Over the summer, we’ve been secretly working on a great project … we’re doing a pro bono brand relaunch for Operation Freedom Paws. Why? Because we are a bunch of softies here at ThinkResults. The combination of giving shelter dogs new lives as service dogs and helping veterans with invisible wounds move back into a… More »
A Nine Year Birth: The ThinkResults Marketing Manifesto
Some births simply take longer than others. This Manifesto has been nine years in the making. Now that there is a solid team here at ThinkResults, this baby was ready to come out. Thanks to the ThinkResults team for their edits, comments and feedback on my original draft. The ThinkResults Manifesto This is a living,… More »
Quick Tips to Prepare for the March 30 Facebook Timeline Deadline
With the March 30 deadline looming for the Facebook transition to the new Timelime format for brands, there is much to learn. Here’s another great article on some of the key new features and how to best take advantage of them: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-new-facebook-changes-impacting-businesses/ I particularly like Tip #4 about the new application display format and how… More »
Facebook Timeline for Brands: Big Changes
We have gotten lots of questions over the last week about the new Timeline format for brands, which will become mandatory by March 31. It’s definitely a big change in the way your brand page looks. If you’ve already converted over to the new timeline format on your personal page, it will be a bit… More »
Introducing Ready, Set, Launch!: Our New Quick Start Launch Program
Do you need to get your new venture launched very quickly and with a fixed cost? Do you need a soup to nuts identity (logo, stationery designs and a slick website)? Not sure it can be done in your crazy short timeframe? Then consider our fixed-scope, fixed-fee quick start launch program, Ready, Set, Launch! We… More »
Pinterest Is Building a Social Circle of Love
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Pinterest is definitely a place of love. And I expect that will continue for some time as we are highly visual creatures. It’s in our nature. (BTW, I think, as an evolutionary biologist by training, this is one of the main reasons why Facebook is much more successful than Twitter and… More »
Drinking Our Own Medicine Is Painful
For the last several months, I’ve been running ThinkResults Marketing through our own full relaunch process and it’s been a humbling experience. When we’re working with clients through a launch process, we are fully prepared for emotional reactions, for them to take longer to move through the plan than they expect, and for there to… More »
Whose Logo Is It Anyway?
A client recently asked us about our logo design philosophy, which I thought was a very interesting and perceptive question (reflects the questioner well). To us, logo design is much like the rest of what we do. It’s centered around our belief that we are designing work for our clients’ use. That seems obvious but… More »
Move over PPT … New Kids on the Block!
Just received this from a colleague who works at SlideRocket: This is a such a fun and hopeful story I just had to share. And, I had the opportunity to see it unfold first-hand as I am doing some work at this company (SlideRocket – think PPT on steroids!). We all know people who have… More »
Your Logo Is A Prima Donna — and a Cash Cow (Simple Logo Usage Guidelines for Optimizing Your Investment)
Your logo is a like a delicate prima donna — one that delivers every time. If you treat your logo with the respect and care it deserves. You spent time, money and energy developing this critical corporate asset. From building signs to business cards to websites and tradeshow booths is often the first visual impression… More »
What the heck is a “favicon” and why do I care?
Ah, back to the ol’ days, when all we had to do was design a logo that reflected our brand well, and could fit on the side of a pen, as well as a billboard. Living was easy then …. Now we need to be sure the logo, or an element of it, can be… More »
The Power of Branded Events
A branded executive event can do wonders for your sales cycle. I recently attended an executive forum hosted by a large payroll company and it was a great experience for many of the attendees. The company was seeking to have the attendees sign on as customers, but they provided solid value in the form of information and netwroking opportunities. The… More »
Choosing Your Baby (Company)’s Name – Part IV
Over the last three weeks, I’ve shared some common rules I’ve used in naming new companies/products/services over the years. Hopefully these guidelines will be helpful to you. Another big decision in the naming process is deciding whether you really want a real word name (or a close approximation) like Apple or Google, or are willing… More »
Choosing Your Baby (Company)’s Name – Part III
Over the last two weeks, I shared some important rules about naming a company/product/service including making short, memorable, easy to say, with a good URL and being sure it won’t translate into something awful in another language. The final two rules include that the new name should be: 6. Available in your category – you will… More »
Choosing Your Baby (Company)’s Name – Part II
Last week, I talked about the importance of keeping the new company/product/service name short and memorable. Those two rules are a great start, and here are a few others to consider. The new name should be: 3. Easy to Pronounce – if people can’t figure out how to pronounce it, that will make it harder to… More »