Archive for August, 2021

Tips for Finding Experts in Content and Content Marketing

Tuesday, August 17th, 2021

I do a lot of presentations (and since the pandemic emerged, webinars) on marketing-related topics. When I do, I try to provide as much practical and useful advice as I can. I don’t worry about “giving away my secrets” for a couple of reasons:

  • They’re not that secret—they’re just good, proven, elements of effective marketing and communication.
  • Telling someone how to do something rarely translates into the ability to actually do that something.
  • The small business owners and entrepreneurs—and, often, even senior and very seasoned marketing executives in large organizations—simply don’t have the time to do it themselves.

They often need to call upon others—agencies or freelancers—to help them out. (more…)

Tackling the Special Challenges of Building and Sustaining Strong Service Brands

Thursday, August 12th, 2021

Much of my work over the years has been with “service brands”—brands that are not tied to a particular product, but to the delivery of some type of service—educational services, healthcare services, energy services, engineering services, consulting services, etc.

Developing and maintaining a strong brand for a service is, in my opinion, significantly more challenging than developing and maintaining a strong brand for a product. Why? (more…)

Marketers Must Have Good Products But Sometimes Good Isn’t Good Enough

Tuesday, August 10th, 2021

Not many people remember a product called Zima, and that’s the point of this post. As a marketing professional, I’ve always been interested in new product introductions and advertising campaigns in general— how well do they work? how long do they “run” (suggesting that the positive effects are continuing to produce results or, if nothing else, that the agency and client haven’t “pulled the plug” prematurely).

In addition, as someone who is not a “beer drinker,” I was interested several years ago when a new product was introduced—Zima—a beer-based beverage that was supposed to be light and refreshing. Hmm. Sounded interesting. The campaign was extensive, attention-getting, and effective—to a degree. It raised awareness. It generated preference (at least initially). All was good. Right? Wrong. (more…)

Best Practices for Finding Freelancers: Top Go-To Sources of Talent

Monday, August 2nd, 2021

video marketingContent is king, as the saying goes, and that’s certainly true in a digital world. Consumer appetite for content is at an all-time high and continuing to grow. That’s great for organizations that have well-oiled content creation teams in place to meet the demand. For others, though, developing content on a regular basis that is high-quality and focused on issues and topics that resonate with their audiences can be a challenge. The gig economy can help. A wide range of freelancers and contract content creators are available to organizations to help produce content for any format. (more…)