- 5.15.13 - Denver Social Media: Advertising on Twitter Now Accessible for Smaller Businesses
- 5.14.13 - Current Marketing Trends - Humanize Your Business
- 5.11.13 - Facebook Gets A New Look (Again)
- 5.3.13 - A Child's Experience at a Day in the Life of Dad
- 5.2.13 - Experiential Marketing Agency Tips: Happy Employees Make Happy Customers
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Marketing Trends
05/14/2013
Current Marketing Trends - Humanize Your Business
Categories: Marketing Trends
All trained salespeople have most definitely heard the statement, “People do business with people they know, like and trust.” But, this simple phrase also has huge implications for those in marketing, especially in the age of social media. As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends . We also provide insights as to how the world of marketing is changing and how current marketing trends must evolve for smart companies, those with vision, to stay ahead of the curve. To see how this simple statement applies to the world of marketing, w …
Read The Rest of This Post04/09/2013
Current Marketing Trends- Building Your Marketing Team
Categories: Marketing Trends
This is an actual, non-edited picture we took of a donut shop close to my house in Denver, Colorado. Aside from the unintentional change in the nature of this store’s offerings as their lights came on at night, this image provides an opportunity to discuss how the nature of corporate marketing has changed. Today, it is critical to make sure that your marketing program utilizes expertise across ALL the relevant engagement channels. Otherwise, you too may wind up with lama nuts. As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends to help our clients …
Read The Rest of This Post03/04/2013
Current Marketing Trends- Recap of 2013 Online Marketing Summit
Categories: Marketing Trends
As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends to help our clients increase their marketing success. At this year’s 2013 Online Marketing Summit, our team was able to meet with other top industry, online marketing professionals from companies like Whole Foods, Shutterfly and Sony. The primary themes of this year’s event were: Content Marketing Fresh, relevant and engaging content has been the key to successful online marketing for years. Yet, is it one of the more challenging tasks for many small and medium size businesses. The hard, …
Read The Rest of This Post02/07/2013
Current Marketing Trends - Lessons for Any Company - Top U.S. Retailers
Categories: Marketing Trends
As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends. While reading a recent article about the closing of U.S. retail stores, it was obvious that all businesses are facing many of the same challenges today. After this story summary, we have provided a list of how you can use this information to help make your company more successful. Eight Retailers That Will Close the Most Stores By Douglas A. McIntyre, Samuel Weigley, Alexander E.M. Hess and Michael B. Sauter | 24/7 Wall St – Fri, Feb 1, 2013 12:50 PM EST "It is the time of year again, …
Read The Rest of This Post01/21/2013
Current Marketing Trends- Keeping Clients by Thinking Ahead of Them
Categories: Marketing Trends
As a Denver marketing agency we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends. Sometimes the most important trends are identified by taking a step back and reviewing the basics of successful marketing. How will success be measured? What are the critical factors for moving this needle? In general, marketing success will be measured by the increase in overall company sales. So, the next question is, What are the key factors to moving this needle? This can be broken down into 2 categories: Existing Client Retention – keep all your existing clients a …
Read The Rest of This Post12/03/2012
Current Marketing Trends – Budgeting for 2013 – Evolving Your Viewpoint
Categories: Marketing Trends
As an advertising agency, Webolutions is actively engaged with our clients in creating and allocating annual marketing budgets. However, in a world with: decreased brand loyalty constant price shopping social media and where the importance of creating an engaged community around your brand is ever-more critical, the approach to developing an effective marketing budget is very different than it was just a few short years ago. Of course, everyone knows that the goal of marketing is to generate more business, right? Where the evolution in thought must now enter …
Read The Rest of This Post11/05/2012
Current Marketing Trends - Transparency Marketing – Unleashing the Power of You
Categories: Marketing Trends
As a full-service Denver Marketing Agency, Webolutions observes many marketplace trends. One of the most prolific trends we see today is what we call Transparency Marketing. We have loosely defined Transparency Marketing as: The art of sharing the essence of your company and what it stands for in order to create an actively engaged community around your brand. On the surface this might sound easy, but to successfully achieve this goal, requires some time of real …
Read The Rest of This Post10/02/2012
Current Marketing Trends: Introduction to Gamification in Marketing
Categories: Marketing Trends
The marketing trend of gamification is becoming so popular that it has its own wiki at gamification.org. According to the site, “gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging.” Adding game elements to your marketing program can be a very effective way to turn a passive customer into a brand evangelist in a short amount of time. While it may seem like this is a recent trend brought on by social media and smartphones, a classic gamification success story kicked off way back in 1992 when McDonald’s …
Read The Rest of This Post09/06/2012
Answers to Common Questions About Blogging
Categories: Marketing Trends
Any business today needs a website and a central component of that website needs to be a blog. We have covered the basics of why a blog is an important part of your website. Blogging is a topic that can generate a fair amount of anxiety from “non-creative” business people. Don’t yield the great opportunity that blogging offers small businesses to academics, copywriters and other “wordy” professions! Let’s walk through two of the common concerns that still hold businesses back from making the most of this powerful web marketing tool. You can control com …
Read The Rest of This Post08/03/2012
Current Marketing Trends: Creating Customized Customer Experiences
Categories: Marketing Trends
Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, wrote in his autobiography that “any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants as long as it is black.” This statement is an often repeated mantra by businesses that expect to be able to offer the identical product or service to all of their clients. This era of top-down thinking is rapidly coming to an end. Consumers are beginning to expect that the products and services they purchase will offer an opportunity for customization to fit their personal tastes. Whether it’s a custom graphic on their mobile phone c …
Read The Rest of This Post07/26/2012
Marketing Strategy: Integrating Social Media and Traditional Advertising
Categories: Marketing Trends Social Marketing
“Find us on Facebook,” often with an accompanying incentive, has replaced, “Get it at these fine retailers,” and the like, as the predominant call to action in print and broadcast media. Integration of social media with traditional advertising has been increasing for years. Irreversible changes in communications technology—most prevalently, Internet social networks--have brought unprecedented power to the purchaser. As adoption and use of social media by purchasers grows, so does the acumen to use it for matters beyond diversion and entertainment. Increasi …
Read The Rest of This Post07/03/2012
Current Marketing Trends: Invest in the Community Around Your Brand
Categories: Marketing Trends
What is it that you are really selling to your customers? Author Tom Peters has included a telling example in one of his books that comes from a Harley-Davidson executive. This executive talked about how riding a Harley is more than a form of transportation; is a statement about the identity of the person who buys it. “What we sell is the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns, and have people be afraid of him.” This playful quote gets the core of what Harley-Davidson offers their devotees. It’s a sense of belonging to a comm …
Read The Rest of This Post05/29/2012
Current Marketing Trends: Why a Blog is an Important Part of Your Website
Categories: Marketing Trends
We encourage every client we work with at Webolutions to have a blog on their website and publish content on a regular basis. This recommendation is sometimes met with a certain amount anxiety and uncertainty. What should I say about my business? How often do I need to do it? Why is this important? Blogging gives you and your business an easy and virtually free way to publish content that tells your story and make it available to the world. We reviewed easy ways to develop your content marketing strategy last month. Let’s look at why having a blog is a smart move for your business websi …
Read The Rest of This Post04/30/2012
Current Marketing Trends – Getting Your Content Marketing Strategy Started
Categories: Marketing Trends
If you need proof of the emerging value of content marketing, look no further than the inclusion of Red Bull Media House on Fast Company magazine’s list of The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies. The media arm of the energy drink company became an independent entity in Europe in 2007 and did the same in the United States in 2011. Red Bull Media House actively creates content that supports the extreme sports lifestyle demographic that makes up a large part of its target marketing. One of the media company’s most recent successes was a documentary about snowboarders called …
Read The Rest of This Post04/26/2012
Pinterest for Business Social Media Marketing Example: Footers Catering in Denver
Categories: Marketing Trends Social Marketing
Pinterest was the fastest Internet social network in history to 10 million users, so naturally it has drawn the interest of social media marketers looking for ways to use it to build their brands, grow their businesses and participate in the growing marketing trend of image-based communication. Footers Catering in Denver, Colorado, was an early adopter of using social media marketing to build its brand and interact with clients and prospects. The second-generation company is continuing its innovative approach to new media marketing by using Pinterest for a visual dialogue with brides-to-be, …
Read The Rest of This Post04/13/2012
Online Video SEO: Marketing Your Web Video to Internet Search Engines
Categories: Marketing Trends Social Marketing
Internet video is the top area of new and increased investment in marketing for 2012. As with everything else Web, search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to get your video found by your target audience. The largest online video sharing Website is YouTube, a social network that has become the second most used search engine. Businesses use YouTube to host videos and in hopes their videos will turn up in search results, expand their audience for marketing messages and generate leads. Simply uploading a video, however, won't achieve any marketing goals. Optimizing the video for sear …
Read The Rest of This Post04/02/2012
Current Marketing Trends – Infographics The Art of Communication
Categories: Marketing Trends
Information graphics or infographics are well-organized, visual representations of information and knowledge. Infographics allow the quick and clear conveyance of somewhat complex information via a more engaging, artful experience. With an information graphic, computer scientists, mathematicians, and marketers are easily able to communicate complex concepts using a single symbol or graphic. The coffee infographic featured in this post conveys the ingredients of popular coffee drinks (at a glance), all in a single, concise image. By looking at this image, anyone could quickly know what ingr …
Read The Rest of This Post03/06/2012
Current Marketing Trends – Image-Based Communication – Picture Your Company
Categories: Marketing Trends
“A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words.” We have all heard this expression, but today this notion is perhaps more true than ever before. I don’t have 100% proof of this fundamental swing, but a huge part of my job at Webolutions (going on 18 years) is observing, identifying and bringing to light new trends in sociological behavior. Over the past few months, I have been seeing a real tipping point in information consumption behavior that is worthy of noting to the savvy business owners and marketers that read our blog. Image-Based Communications is the term …
Read The Rest of This Post02/15/2012
Current Marketing Trends – The Extinction of Previously Successful Businesses
Categories: Marketing Trends
We see it all around us every day. Yet many businesses do not believe it can happen to them. We are witnessing the extinction of previously successful business models. Some of the more obvious examples include: • Travel Agencies • Book Stores • Music Stores • Smaller Stores (hardware, shoes, candy, etc.) We are also seeing the closing of post offices across the country. This American institution has been operating since 1683. For those of you reading this who believe that this shakeou …
Read The Rest of This Post02/13/2012
4 Reasons Comments on Your Facebook Business Page are Hurting Your Company’s Online Reputation
Categories: Marketing Trends Online Marketing Social Marketing
If Facebook were a country, its 845 million users would make it the third largest in the world. One out of every seven minutes spent online is spent on Facebook. With each update to the social network’s interface, comments people make gain breadth of reach. 51 percent of American consumers use social media to communicate with companies, yet 95 percent of posts to brands’ pages on Facebook go unanswered. Small wonder only 8 percent of those consumers are satisfied with companies’ use of social media as a communications tool. The issue is not just limited to Facebook. Re …
Read The Rest of This Post01/24/2012
Top 12 Free Mobile Apps for Business
Categories: Marketing Trends Social Marketing
I've been asked a few times recently what free mobile apps I find most useful for my business. Excluding the calendar, email, text, browser and camera, which have, I believe, become a minimum expectation for anyone carrying a smartphone, here are the tools I use and what I get out of them: QR Droid – Admittedly, most of my QR code activity is verifying the QR codes we create are routing and tracking correctly, but I needed to work it in here because a properly packaged QR campaign can be super for creating engagement and excitement around your business, and can provide valuable da …
Read The Rest of This Post01/06/2012
Top Marketing Trends for 2012
Categories: Marketing Trends
Top marketing trends for 2012 predominatly revolve around social media and mobile devices. New mobile and social technologies continue to arise, thus the biggest trends for the year are all vastly interrelated in these two areas. Below are our top five trends for the year. 1. Social Media Marketing Because social is such a big focus for the year, we have broken social down into additional sub-categories. Social Mobile - With smart phone sales expected to surpass computer sales in 2012 (more than 450 million smart phones are expected to be sold this year alone), social mobile i …
Read The Rest of This Post12/12/2011
Current Marketing Trends: Mobile Websites a Must for Businesses
Categories: Marketing Trends
All marketing trends occur as a result of consumer behavior. Businesses must anticipate the consumer needs and react by meeting these needs (demands). This is certainly true when it comes to the consumer’s demand to access information via mobile devices. This is not a future trend. This is the here and now. Last quarter, for the first time, over 55% of all phones sold were smart phones. From January through October 2011 there were 1.2 million non-iPad tablets sold and Apple is on pace to sell nearly 40 million iPads in the 2011 calendar year (a 342% increase over last year). &nbs …
Read The Rest of This Post11/08/2011
Current Marketing Trend: Consumers Demanding Value
Categories: Marketing Trends
Marketing trends occur as a result of consumer behavior, and with the new trend towards value, businesses are being forced to take notice and act accordingly. Consumers are not just expecting affordable prices, they are demanding good quality at a good price. The value of a product isn't just in its price. While a low price is important, consumers expect the kind of quality they used to get in the pricier products, simply at a more attractive price. As Americans are struggling to pull out of the recession, they have adopted a post-recession mentality. In reaction …
Read The Rest of This Post11/05/2011
Relationships: A Timeless Marketing Trend
Categories: Experience Marketing Marketing Trends
Each year, on the Friday before Halloween, you'll find Webolutions at the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce's Annual Business Expo. This year, the "Webolutions Marketing Speakeasy" was voted Most Creative Booth. Visitors to the "Bootleg Candy Bar" took a quiz that asked, "What era is your marketing in?" and CEO John Vachalek delivered a seminar on Mobile Marketing. The "speakeasy" theme for the Webolutions booth reflected the 1920's theme for the Expo. "We chose the 1920's theme," said John Brackney, CEO of the Chamber, "to highlig …
Read The Rest of This Post10/27/2011
Facebook Advertising, Online Reviews Lead 2011 Holiday Marketing Strategies for Retail
Categories: Marketing Trends Online Marketing Social Marketing
According to recent studies by BIA/Kelsey and ConStat, 97 percent of all purchases have an Internet component. 90 percent of all purchases are researched, at some level, on search engines. The average American uses 7.9 media sources to research a purchase…and most purchase at a local business. Combine those facts with the growing use of social media, especially Facebook, among demographics with purchasing power and the time for retailers to push social media to the marketing fore is right now. Online Advertising is Effective for Driving Offline Sales • Online a …
Read The Rest of This Post10/13/2011
Current Marketing Trends – Transparency of Your Brand
Categories: Marketing Trends
Transparency is still a relatively new notion for many businesses. However, this idea is critical for all businesses to understand and carry forward with them on a daily basis. As one of the current marketing trends, it is a fundamental marketing concept that can have an extremely powerful impact on your brand. So, what do we mean when we say transparency? Transparency is the notion (fact) that we live in an age where your customers and everyone else with whom you interact have the ability to publically share their experiences with your brand. This can be done through reviews, blog post …
Read The Rest of This Post10/11/2011
Social Media and Mobile Marketing Still Gaining Importance in Company Marketing Plans - Nielsen
Categories: Marketing Trends Social Marketing
The Nielsen Q3 2011 Social Media Report confirms that businesses wanting to go where the customers are, will beat a direct path to social media, understand who is using the medium and how, and consider how they are accessing it. Attention Share: Follow the Fingertips Social networks and blogs account for 23 percent of total time Americans spend on the Internet—more than twice as much as the #2 category, Online Gaming. Time spent on the 75 “other” categories accounts for 35 percent of Americans’ total Internet time. Nearly 4 in 5 active Internet users visi …
Read The Rest of This Post09/19/2011
Webolutions And Kickball For Kids
Categories: Marketing Trends
For the second year in a row, Webolutions will be participating in the annual Make-A-Wish Kickball Tournament. The event will take place on Saturday, September 24th at 8am at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO. Webolutions believes in giving back to the community and working with local charities to make a difference in the lives of others. The Colorado Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of Colorado children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Webolutions supports them in this mission. Weboluti …
Read The Rest of This Post09/19/2011
Experiential Marketing Example – Continued - Glenwood Canyon Brewpub - Case Study
Categories: Experience Marketing Marketing Trends Social Marketing
Experiential Marketing and the impact it has on your social media (thus your overall reputation) is replacing the attention most businesses paid to their conventional advertising strategies. This series of posts will serve an interactive case study in the areas Experience Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Marketing Trends and more. Read on and see what you think. On 7/26/2011 we published a post outlining the experience I had on 5/30/2011 when my family visited the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub at the Hotel Denver in Glenwood Springs. As part of this …
Read The Rest of This Post07/26/2011
Experiential Marketing Example – Glenwood Canyon Brewpub - An Interactive Case Study
Categories: Experience Marketing Marketing Trends Social Marketing
Experiential Marketing deals with an overall customer or client experience. It focuses on how the customer feels and what they experience during their entire engagement with your business. This engagement might begin to occur before they actually meet with you via the correspondence you have before they come in. It occurs while they meet or visit with you and it has the ability to continue as long as the communications continue. This continuance of the communication provides a huge opportunity for businesses to stand out and keep the experience of their brand alive in the custo …
Read The Rest of This Post06/08/2011
Current Marketing Trends: QR Codes and Your Business
Categories: Marketing Trends
Marketing agencies like Webolutions help clients determine what marketing trends would be most beneficial for their businesses. QR codes can be helpful in many industries; connecting with your consumers is essential in today’s business world. A Quick Response (QR) code is a 2-D barcode that can be scanned by a smart phone’s camera and transfer information to the user via cell phone. QR codes have been used widely in Japan for over a decade, and the technology is now gaining popularity in the United States. QR codes were created in 1994 in Japan by a Toyota subsidiary, Denso-W …
Read The Rest of This Post04/05/2011
Current Marketing Trends :The Evolution of Business Marketing
Categories: Marketing Trends
Marketing agencies like Webolutions ensure our clients connect with customers on a more personal basis. We create true engagement between the brand’s marketing and the marketplace. In an era of social media marketing and extreme word-of-mouth connectivity, this is critical. In 1859 Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species. Over the next few years, the general public came to accept evolution as scientific fact. However, not until the 1950s (nearly 100 years later) did natural selection become recognized as the basic mechanism of evolution. Current ma …
Read The Rest of This Post02/22/2011
Community Involvement as a Part of Doing Business
Categories: Marketing Trends
More and more companies today are including community involvement as a normal part of the way they do business. Consumers respect companies that give back and contribute to making their local communities a better place to live, work and play. People want to support these companies because it shows they are invested in the local community they share. Letting the public know you care about and support your community is a great way to improve your reputation with consumers. You don’t have to spend a lot as a company to become more involved in the community. You can set aside a budget for d …
Read The Rest of This Post02/02/2011
Marketing Trends 2011: The Shift to Online Continues.
Categories: Marketing Trends
B to B marketers are placing more and more confidence in online marketing and less and less in "traditional media." That's not just an agency with "Web" in its moniker talking. Its the result of a Marketing Sherpa survey, released February 1, 2011. As the attached graphic indicates, budgets are increasing for Web-based efforts and decreasing for print and broadcast. Direct mail is a wash. Why? Among our beliefs and observations are: We like what we can measure. No tactic is more trackable than Internet advertising. Increasingly, our online activities d …
Read The Rest of This Post12/23/2010
Marketing Trends 2011: Apps we'd like to see
Categories: Marketing Trends
Part I of ?? Inspired by this Pete Blackshaw blurb from Ad Age, we decided to take a peek inside the minds of some Webolutions' staff members. Turns out we think we're pretty clever. What app should be invented in 2011? Responder: Erik Landru, IT App: iHysteria What it does: Shows countdown to next Apple media event with links to discussions and media posts on what the Apple genies will release next. Sez Erik: "I am a bit of an Apple fanboy so if this were actually real and free - I would have it." Responder: Patrick Yuan, Online Marketing Coordinator Mobile App: iCanCa …
Read The Rest of This Post12/14/2010
Marketing Trends 2011: Merging Search and Social Media
Categories: Marketing Trends Social Marketing
One major area of our business is achieving optimal position for relevant Internet searches for our clients. Another is improving online reputations. It's not difficult to see how the two complement each other. The pursuit of positive comments, "check-ins," the change in Websites from billboards to interactive information hubs is evident in the marketplace of nearly every industry, especially in the B to C sector. Just outside of the mainstream media, but easy t …
Read The Rest of This Post11/29/2010
Marketing Trends 2011: Advertising Becomes Personal with Billboards that See You
Categories: Marketing TrendsThe following is re-posted from July 27, 2009. We live in a “me” society, where everything is on demand, and customized and personalized just for me. I have MySpace, iGoogle, my Yahoo, my iTunes – everything directed towards me, in the way I choose to consume it. I no longer read a print newspaper; instead I simply log onto my Google desktop, and can see my top interest news, specifically in the way I have decided to filter it, and specifically in the order I want it displayed. I no longer listen to the radio, I play my iTunes, which are songs I have chosen …
Read The Rest of This Post11/26/2010
Marketing Trends 2011: 3 Factors to consider for Email Marketing Tools
Categories: Marketing Trends Online Marketing Social Marketing
I was recently part of an online discussion in a LinkedIn group about Email marketing tools. Recommendations and insights were sought to aid the comparison of ExactTarget, Constant Contact and MailChimp. (Disclosure: Webolutions uses ExactTarget. We also manage client accounts on ExactTarget and Constant Contact.) All of the responses were thoughtful and each endorsed a service based on ease of use and design options. Choosing an Email Marketing Tool Especially if you're doing it yourself, ease of use is essential. We wouldn't be much of a design company if we didn't stress the i …
Read The Rest of This Post10/27/2010
Denver Social Media: The rapid and inevitable evolution of college athletics
Categories: Marketing Trends Social Marketing
Today, John and I addressed a gathering of about 50 coaches, administrators and marketers of the athletic department at the University of Denver. Our message: In the near future, a university's approach to social media will be the differentiator in recruiting, marketing and alumni/booster relationships. As marketing professionals and sports fans, we observe with great interest the developing relationship among student-athletes, their programs and social media. The landscape is littered with young people in high profile positions sharing the consequences of poor decisions. North Ca …
Read The Rest of This Post08/23/2010
Denver Social Media: Foursquare for Business - What, Why and How
Categories: Marketing Trends
I’m sure by now you have heard of Foursquare, and know a lot of people using it. If you’re anything like me, you have yet to get on Foursquare, and are unsure as to why you would want to in the first place….”Why do I want people following me around knowing where I am every second?” Well, I’ll tell you why… What is Foursquare Foursquare is a service that allows you to “check-in” to different locations you visit, using your phone. You can check into pretty much any location – bars, restaurants, parks, golf courses, …
Read The Rest of This Post07/08/2010
Denver Social Media: Content Sharing - What, How, and Why?
Categories: Marketing Trends Social Marketing
What is Content Sharing The sharing of all content across social media; general information, pictures, audio and video content. “ShareThis” is one such tool that allows for the sharing of social content. Now when you see a blog post or a piece of content that is enabled with “ShareThis”, and you can choose to share the content on the media of your choice. Choose to share it with your Facebook friends by posting it on your Facebook wall, or via your Twitter account, Delicious, text message, Stumbleupon, etc. Whatever social media you are a part o …
Read The Rest of This Post04/13/2010
Marketing Trends 2011: 5 Ways to Grow Your Business
Categories: Marketing Trends
It is possible to grow your business while taking the environment into consideration? Companies all over the globe are thinking about ways to save money in their businesses while increasing their revenue. It is definitely possible to do; a little creativity is all you need. Consumers appreciate when companies give back to the community, actively participate in creating a better society and consider the environment when making business decisions. Consumers also want to know that the companies they work with are cutting edge, use up-to-date technology and can get the job done well. Some …
Read The Rest of This Post03/29/2010
7 Benefits of a Business Blog
Categories: Marketing Trends
With the dramatic increase in popularity of Twitter and Facebook, it seems blogs are getting lost and forgotten in the mix. Don’t dismiss blogs as part of the past just yet. They are still an incredibly useful tool, and when used correctly, can be a great asset to your overall new media strategy marketing plan. While blog use as a purely “social” medium is down, blogs for business are doing very well. In fact, 70% of bloggers are now organically talking about their brands on their blog, and 38% of bloggers post brand or product reviews. This means that if you don’t hav …
Read The Rest of This Post03/07/2010
2010 Marketing Trends - Why Social?
Categories: Marketing Trends
In our Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2010 blog post last month, we named social marketing among the top 5 marketing trends for 2010. Everyone hears about Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on a daily basis. However, most businesses are not making the connection between these tools and good old fashion word-of-mouth marketing, which has been a key to successful marketing for decades. We all know that a word-of-mouth referral to our business is almost as good as a check in the bank. This potential client will ask less questions, and the relationship will begin on a more personal level. In mo …
Read The Rest of This Post02/08/2010
Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2010
Categories: Marketing Trends
Webolutions is a fully-integrated, strategic marketing agency specializing in helping our clients optimize the highest impact areas of their marketing programs. Below is our list of the Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2010 1. Value – Thought, Leadership, Help, Innovations, Green After a year like 2009, all businesses need to be able to define the value they provide to their customers. Are your prices in line with the value that you provide to your clients? Are you sure your competition has not snuck up on you and is offering somethin …
Read The Rest of This Post12/21/2009
Go Green and Save Your Business Money
Categories: Marketing Trends
Greening your business is easier than you think. By doing a few small things you can save energy and resources and save your company money. The economic and business climate has changed over the past few years. Much emphasis has been placed on the downward spiraling economy and how this affects business owners today. Many small businesses and even corporations are closing their doors after years of hard work and dedication. There are several small steps your business can take to save a few dollars here and there; this will help improve your bottom line. There has also been a lot of …
Read The Rest of This Post11/17/2009
Giving for Free - Strategic or Silly?
Categories: Marketing Trends
You always hear people say, "there's no such thing as free..." While this may be true in some cases, there are a multitude of exceptions to this antiquated rule. When you're in business, sometimes giving things away for free is beneficial. In fact, many times, giving something away for free can actually save you money. We are fast approaching a time where the consumer expects to get a lot for free. iPhone apps are free, blogging is free, consuming blog content is free, consuming online newspapers is free, tv shows and songs can be downloaded for free, you can …
Read The Rest of This Post11/11/2009
Transparency in Marketing
Categories: Marketing Trends
There is a lot of talk today about transparency in marketing and what this means. A blog post that I recently read defines transparency as, “the degree to which a company shares its leaders, employees, values, culture, strategy, business processes and the results of those processes with its publics. It’s the opposite of opacity, in which companies operate behind closed doors and shuttered windows." (By Shel Holtz of Shel Holtz PC , http://blog.holtz.com/index.php) This definition is as good as any for this post on why marketing transparency is so important for your busi …
Read The Rest of This Post09/14/2009
Client Relationship Building - Critical to Your Long-Term Business Success
Categories: Marketing Trends
Changes in the world have made Relationship Marketing to your existing client-base more important than ever. Some of these key changes include: Unlimited access to information and options Decreased overall brand loyalty Perceived and actual commoditization of products and services Blogs, rating systems, and other consumer-driven publishing platforms The downturn in the economy The trend towards the personalization of all products and services Never before has the consumer had so much influence over the products and services they purchase. Previously, bu …
Read The Rest of This Post09/10/2009
When Customer Incentives Become the Expectation
Categories: Marketing TrendsA friend of mine recently moved to Denver and bought a new house. Being new to Colorado, she was unfamiliar with American Furniture Warehouse. As she was perusing the ads a few weeks ago, she was absolutely elated to see that AFW was having a huge Labor Day Sale. I just sort of chuckled to myself, and went on about my day. I figured I would let her stay excited; she'd learn soon enough. What she will come to know, is that AFW is ALWAYS having a sale; there is nothing really special about this particular "Labor Day Sale." Last month it was a "Back t …
Read The Rest of This Post08/08/2009
Product Customization – Are You Keeping Up?
Categories: Marketing TrendsMany companies are finding ways to customize their products and services. This customization allows them to provide an individualized experience for every customer. Customization adds to the novelty of doing business with them, which helps them stand out from their competitors. Below is a list of products and services which illustrate this trend towards increased customization: • Nike & Converse – Design your own shoes …
Read The Rest of This Post07/27/2009
Social Responsibility - A Growing Marketing Niche
Categories: Marketing TrendsThe world as we know it is changing. The current economic situation has people changing their lifestyles to match these challenging times we are in. Unemployment rate is high and it continues to rise, people are cutting back in a variety of ways, and are conserving in areas of their life that they never considered conserving in before. People are re-evaluating their priorities and consumers are changing their buying habits. Companies that are quick to embrace these changes are going to be more likely to prosper in a difficult economic climate. Today many people are losing their jobs, taking pay cuts and as a result, they are learning to reduce their personal spending. Over time, people will become accustomed to this and eventually learn to appreciate and value a more simplified lifestyle. Living more simply will happily coexist with living smarter. Consumer trends drive profits and shape the marketplace. There is a $230 billion marketplace that exists for products and services that meet the needs of consumers who buy based on their personal, social and environmental values. What can your brand do to ensure it will still be relevant in the changing times? …
Read The Rest of This Post04/08/2009
Push the Reset Button on Your Marketing Initiatives
Categories: Marketing TrendsThe markets are topsy turvy. The employment and business landscapes have changed. Everything seems to be in somewhat of a state of flux. I heard once that the Chinese word for crisis is, “Opportunity Riding the Dangerous Wind.” I always remember this. I am truly of the opinion that when drastic change occurs, great opportunities arise, at least for those who are looking for them! Are you someone who stops growing your business when times change or someone who refuses to be beat, no matter what? In a recent South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce (www.bestchamber.com) m …
Read The Rest of This Post08/03/2008
Starbucks Marketing Observations
Categories: Marketing Trends
Starbucks current branding, marketing and advertising seems to focus on a “return to our roots” effort. They are refocusing on what has made them such a huge success in the world. Using this as an example, we can identify some keys to marketing success in today’s marketplace. This video focuses on the experience of Starbucks. At Starbuck"s website select, “Discover Our Heritage” then, “In The Beginning”. As you watch this video, pull yourself away from the company itself and focus your attention on the messaging, and the specific language t …
Read The Rest of This Post11/20/2007
When you compete on price you lose
Categories: Marketing Trends
Creating unique, relevant and memorable marketing experiences attract new customers, reawaken the interest of existing customers and generate additional demand for products and services. …
Read The Rest of This Post10/08/2007
The more you give away the more clients you get
Categories: Marketing Trends
When people are shopping for a new product or service they want to make the best choice. They are likely thinking: …
Read The Rest of This Post10/07/2007
The most important question in marketing
Categories: Marketing Trends
In a previous post I talked about asking questions as a way to stimulate ideas. Questions open your mind to possibilities. One question in particular, when asked over and over again, can dramatically improve your company"s long-term profitability. That question is: …
Read The Rest of This Post10/06/2007
People never buy your product or service
Categories: Marketing Trends
Many business owners don’t know what they are “really” selling. Once you understand what your customers are “actually” buying, you have a much better chance of selling them. …
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