Corporate giving to charities has seen a significant increase since 2016. In 2021, corporations donated an estimated $21.08 billion to U.S. charities, marking an increase of 23.8% from the previous year. This trend continued into 2022, with corporate giving estimated to have increased by 3.4%, totaling $29.48 billion. This increase in corporate giving is part of a broader trend in corporate philanthropy, with giving having increased by more than 15% for 6 out of 10 companies in recent years.
Selling Experiences: What Marketers Can Learn From Local Wineries, Microbreweries and Distilleries
December 5th, 2023Over the past several years a growing number of wineries, microbreweries and distilleries have been springing up around the country as entrepreneurs seek to address a growing market not simply for alcoholic beverages but for local destination experiences.
Consumers have long been able to buy wine, beer or spirits at local liquor stores with no discernible lack of brand options available at varying price points. Why, then, are these relatively small players having such a big impact on the economy? Read the rest of this entry »
Hiring Freelancers and Contractors: Tips and Best Practices
November 29th, 2023While Uber and Lyft have popularized the concept of the gig economy, the truth is that gig, freelance, or contract workers have been around for a long time. In fact, I’ve been one of these since 1981, when I first started writing business articles for a wide range of trade and business publications. I’ve worked remotely with publishers and editors for years—most of them I’ve never physically met! My interest in the gig economy, which traditionally had been referred to as telecommuting, led me to research and write a book on the topic some years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Companies That Stand the Test of Time: What Does It Take?
November 21st, 2023Vinyl records. Audiotapes. Typewriters. Carbon paper. That white stuff that Mike Nesmith’s mom invented that we used to use to correct typing errors. Rotary phones. The Post Office (well, not yet…). Look back over the past 10, 20 or 50 years, and you’ll find countless examples of products and services that simply no longer exist — or that have morphed into something else. Products and services that, for whatever reasons, have become obsolete. Read the rest of this entry »
Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Influencer?
November 7th, 2023Opportunities for Building Generative AI Into Work Processes
October 10th, 2023If you’re involved in content creation or management and you haven’t heard of ChatGPT by now, you must be living under a rock. ChatGPT is a form of generative AI—“a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce various types of content including text, imagery, audio and synthetic data,” according to George Lawton in an article from TechTarget.
It holds a lot of promise but also, potentially, a lot of peril for users.
The Top Marketing Trends for 2023: AI Captures the Most Mindshare, but Marketers Have More on Their Plates
October 3rd, 2023When it comes to trend spotting in the marketing space, there’s a bright, shiny thing in the room: artificial intelligence.
AI is clearly top of mind for marketers. But it can also be a distraction that keeps marketing pros focused raptly on it and turning their attention away from other compelling technologies and trends that should be on their radar screens. Nonetheless, its current and potential impact cannot be ignored. Read the rest of this entry »
Customer Intent: Elusive, but Not Impossible to Obtain
September 27th, 2023Customer or buyer intent refers to the motivations that drive consumer behaviors—not simply what they want, but why they want it. The ability to discern the whys behind the whats is obviously important to marketers. The more they can understand the motivations of their customers, the better they will be able to produce the goods and services that best meet their needs and effectively communicate the right points to compel the desired action—a sale. Read the rest of this entry »
Direct Mail — The “Snail Mail” Kind — Never Goes Out of Style
September 1st, 2023A number of years ago, a colleague of mine gave me a book on fractals to read and it was fascinating! At least I thought so. It was all about how nature is made up of fractals that operate in a systematic way to create patterns (in clouds, in leaves, in trees—in everything!). It’s all very mathematical (and I didn’t understand much of the really technical content…) but the images were fascinating and the idea that there are patterns—often predictable patterns—in everything around us, was Read the rest of this entry »