Templating 101 – Top Tips for Building Effective Branded Marketing Materials
As SproutLoud’s Implementation Manager, it is my job to guide new clients in how to use our marketing resource management system for effective marketing. When I take a new client through the implementation process, one of the first discussions that we have is regarding templates. Templates are essentially interactive images that represent a piece of [...]
So Happy Together – How Agile Can Align Marketing and Development
In a recent blog post on Digiday, Joe Lozito suggests an interesting paradigm shift about how Marketers need to think like Developers. He contests that, “Any kind of digital marketing execution — from an online banner to a mobile app to a Facebook page to a transactional, e-commerce website — is software development…”. He talks [...]
How Well is Your Brand Localizing your National Online Marketing? Take this Simple Test
If you are a national brand, chances are you have a pretty hefty budget for your online marketing efforts. In some industries, its a virtual dogfight – and only the best succeed while the rest die trying. But what if there was a better, easier and more cost-effective way? One ripe with missed opportunities and [...]
Want to Know What Makes Your Customers Tick? Just Ask.
Understanding how to retain customers is one of the most important lessons for a company. And when a five percent increase in customer retention can potentially augment revenue by more than 100 percent, building customer loyalty should always be top priority.* So what makes your customers happy and loyal? If you use any sort of [...]
Outsourcing Doesn’t Have to be a Dirty Word
The new millennium has ushered in a dizzying array of new media and marketing opportunities, with more arriving on the scene daily. With the rapid increase and evolution of media, corporate marketing departments and resources can have trouble keeping pace. And pity the local small business that has to stay on top of the latest [...]
Don’t Get Caught in the Media Hypestorm
The latest victim of its own success is Pinterest. At least, that’s what one would believe by scanning the latest media headlines touting the fall of Pinterest engagement. Social media, flash sales, and QR codes have all experienced similar industry backlash. So what’s really happening here? Are we as consumers turning that fickle due to [...]
Why Designers Love to KISS
Have you ever struggled with getting a design look just right? Spent countless hours tweaking and contemplating over its composition? Chances are the design is just too busy. The most successful designs are the simple ones. If you look at some of the biggest and most successful brands out there, it’s easy to see. From [...]
Have You Taken a Good Look at Your Facebook Insights?
A recent article in Mashable advised social media managers to make sure to serve content that was of interest to their audience. Basically, just not blindly pushing out content with no regard for who was receiving it. Well, duh, that’s seems pretty obvious, right? I mean the first rule of marketing is to know your [...]
Shock Value – More Bang for Your Marketing Bucks?
This past weekend my friend asked if I had seen the Spirit Airlines ad that was pulled. Given Spirit’s marketing strategy I knew it had to be bad, after all this is the company that pairs copy like “shave off the savings” with images of men’s back hair. Sure enough, Spirit’s latest ad campaign featured [...]
Use the Right Forces to Ensure Good Color Printing
The art of printing may be close to 2,000 years old, but even with the help of modern publishing software, there are still some key procedures you need to follow to produce pieces with the look you’re aiming for. Color issues are frequently caused by the difference between computers and printing presses. Printing works with a 4 [...]
