A recent talk by the CEO from Forrester reported that “Americans are spending more time on social media than volunteering, praying, talking on the phone, emailing, or even exercising.” I think it’s also true that 2012 will be the year that B2B gets on board with social media as part of their marketing strategy (for… More »
Google!
Sheesh, after over a dozen years of trying to decipher Google’s highly secret rubric for search, I think we’ve gotten darn good at it. We’ve catapulted brands to the top of the search heap and seen them maintain that position sometimes for YEARS after we finished our search engine optimization work for them. So we… 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 »
Do Politics and Hosting Providers Mix?
Hosting provider discussion = heated and passionate … really? Who knew? Just recently, our team entered into a vehement discussion of the pros and cons of various hosting providers. I had no idea our tech experts felt so passionate about such a seemingly simple decision. The discussion was spurred by a recent ZDNet posting spied… 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 »
Social Media is Now Imperative for Business
Some of you may have missed the news last week but I think it’s really important and indicates a sea change in online marketing. If you’ve been ignoring social media for your business, it’s more than time to stop. Last week, Bing announced that it was tightly integrating Facebook, yes Facebook, likes into its search… More »
AMA’s “Cracking the Code”: Social Media Trends
In our previous entry, we discussed the recent American Marketing Association virtual event, Cracking the Code: Advanced Social Media Strategies. It is more apparent than ever that social media has become essential to any company that wants to remain on the cutting edge of marketing. The event’s presenters delved deep into the issues surrounding the… 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 »
Flaunting It: Why Being Bold Matters
Have you seen the ads for LifeLock? If you have, you know they are very difficult ignore. They feature the CEO, Todd Davis, SSN 457-55-5462, standing there boldly holding out his social security card. And offering you a million dollars if his service doesn’t protect your name and SSN from identity theft. Now if there’s… More »
Choosing Your Baby (Company)’s Name
So you’ve decided to have a … company. One of the first (of many) decisions is what to name it, right? This is an important, and often emotional, decision that is no less crucial than naming a baby. Except there can be more than one Brittany or Jennifer (trust me on that one … there… More »
Zen and the Art of Speaking
Sometimes less really IS more. I just returned from a weekend at a Buddhist/Zen meditation center (those who know me found it amusing that I chose to be (or even could be!) silent for a full day … but that’s a different story). As always, I was (subconsciously) on the lookout for good marketing ideas. I’m an… More »
A Powerful Tagline Can Make An Entire Ad Campaign
I recently returned from a great weekend getaway with my husband to Las Vegas. Although I was on vacation, I just can’t stop myself when it comes to looking for great ideas — even when I think I’m just relaxing. We stayed at the Bellagio, and the in room magazine had a GREAT ad on… More »
The Paradox of Super Bowl Sunday in the World of Pay-per-Click
By the time you read this, the most exciting advertising day of the year will be over. Along with the leftover guacamole, we marketing obsessed folks will rehash every ad that aired on Super Bowl Sunday, including who made the biggest faux pas (“What were they thinking??!”), the newcomers, and the trend-setters. For those of… More »