Weather-wise, we're happy to see February go! We're tired of shoveling snow, but thankful we don't live in Boston! Business-wise, things are heating up! Everyone seems ready to go on their marketing. Are you? We wrote on a number of topics this past month and you might have missed something that can help your business. So here's a breakdown of our February blog posts:
Read MoreTopics: Marketing
How many times has it been said that postage rates, PPC, or another marketing innovation will finally kill direct mail? USPO hasn’t helped their business either. Steadily increasing postage rates, the US Post Office has done a great job on their own to try to kill direct mail.
Read MoreTopics: Advertising, Marketing, Direct Mail
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is pushing for the widespread adoption of new retail packaging design that effectively alerts consumers when their food is going bad and when it's completely spoiled. Using gel tags that are inlaid with nanorods crafted from gold and silver, the packaging detects changing composition of gases and other chemicals within packages. As the composition changes from fresh, edible food toward the spoiled end of the spectrum, the tags change color from red to green to violet — with shades in between — denoting the stages of decay.
Read MoreTopics: Marketing, Packaging Design, Business Management
Insuring the viability of your business 10+ years into the future is not just a matter improving your manufacturing process and maintaining a brand reputation. Investing in marketing will always be a part of business operations, but the global economy has turned business sustainability practices on its head. Having the latest equipment is not a guarantee of success. Investing 8%+ of income on marketing is still smart planning but the planning process needs to change.
Read MoreTopics: Branding, Marketing, Business Management
We've all read and been told to have social icons in emails headers or footers to grow your fan base and followers. It's important to test subject lines and offers to determine which get the best response. Tracking marketing results is a no-brainer for experienced marketers and business owners. Besides these obvious activities there is more you can do to achieve social marketing and email success.
Topics: Online Marketing, Social Media, Marketing
Smart phones continue to change the way people shop and communicate. They are the epitome of convenience. It's amazing how technology has changed our lives. The changes are happening at breakneck speed and have impacted every person and every industry. It has created new industries, destroyed some and radically changed others. Advertising is still evolving and new specialties are being created because of technology developments.
I believe mobile strategy has a place in every business. Minimally, every business needs a mobile website. Beware of mobile friendly claims. Some products will recognize the devise accessing the site and size it accordingly. Some products will try but not always work with every devise. We won a new client just for that reason. The company she had been working with didn't explain their product couldn't make her site that they designed fit on the most common smart phones. Her site resizes to fit on an iPhone but not her Droid. It treats the Droid as though it is a laptop or tablet.
Read MoreTopics: Online Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Marketing
Packaging plays an important role in business success. As I wrote in other blogs, retail package design must attract the target audience. Personal preferences need to be put aside. The goal is to create a branded product package design that communicates what is inside and connects emotionally with the buyer.
Read MoreTopics: Branding, Marketing, Packaging Design