Musings about work, marketing and creativity
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For Some Marketers, COVID Has A Silver Lining
Pre COVID-19, only 11% of the High Museum’s visitors pre-purchased tickets online. That means that 89% of our visitors walked up to the museum and made what I call “a game-time decision.” Of course, visitation to the museum in any capacity is great; however, our walk-up model left data collection up to staff, whose priority…
How to Do More With a Shrinking Budget
As brands continue to face several challenges this year, including the unknowns surrounding the pandemic and the election, many marketers and categories also face the added challenge of operating under tighter budgets. For those struggling, the initial reaction may be to reduce or cut advertising for the remainder of 2020, but doing so could drastically…
Your Noteworthy Nine
A Free Resource to Help Define Your Brand’s Unique Voice By Andy Suggs 2020 has changed us all. A lot. And as we begin to wrap up the year and plan for 2021, there is no better time to reflect on your brand and make sure your marketing efforts are carving out a unique voice…
Defining Owner Pay and Profits for Creative Companies
Owner pay is tricky to navigate. There is no right way to pay yourself as the owner. And there are no magic formulas. But great books like Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits give us some guidance as to how to pay the owners of a growing business. Greg Crabtree, the author, makes the point…
Culture in a Crisis – Tropical Smoothie Cafe Inspires
We are all working through difficult times and many businesses have had to adjust their way of thinking and operating. At Tropical Smoothie Cafe, we have adapted quickly in ways that might help you, your team or your entire company navigate this situation. The Tropical Smoothie Cafe mission, simply put, is to Inspire Better. We…
For a Planet in Recovery, it’s About Our Customer’s Mission, Not Our Company’s Mission
In a society thrown off its axis, company messages of safety, support and ‘how we’ve adapted’ have been a positive, timely response. In the months to come, though, most of us are depending on an economic recovery to help restore our businesses. And the recovery, in turn, will depend on us. Companies will need to…
Do You Know Where and When to Spend Your Next Marketing Dollar?
Now more than ever, small and large companies are trying to determine if they should invest in marketing, pull back or stop all together. Why is there such a struggle in determining the answer? The primary culprit is the lack of integrated marketing planning and analytics needed to understand true Return on Investment. Are Facebook…
Down, But Not Out… A 30-Day Plan to Come Back Stronger Than Ever
Nearly every business and brand around the world has hit a brick wall. Retailers. Restaurants. Hospitality. Travel. Small business. Big business. Public companies. Bootstrappers. The playing field, at least for the foreseeable future, is level. Few are winning. Many aren’t even allowed to play. This article isn’t about new rules and regulations that will take…
Demand Without Brand is an Incomplete Proposition
By Randi Drinkwater During the early days of the digital marketing boom, the all-encompassing, all-powerful marketing concept known as “brand” came to be seen as a “four-letter” word. It was the start of the martech revolution, the early days of marketing automation, and the rise of a new marketing master, demand generation. It didn’t…
Networking in 2020: Fun with LinkedIn
By Anita Hampl Is “networking” one of your words for the New Year? If so, LinkedIn should be part of your game plan. Need an icebreaker at the coffee line or at a table of strangers at a conference? Suggest that everyone connect on LinkedIn! You can bring higher exposure to each other before the…