In today’s fiercely competitive digital landscape, businesses are constantly seeking innovative ways to attract and retain customers. One powerful tool that has emerged as a game-changer in the world of marketing is the creative demand generation website. These websites go beyond the typical online presence; they are dynamic, engaging, and strategically designed to generate interest, capture leads, and drive conversions. In this blog, we’ll explore ten benefits that demand generation websites offer to businesses.

1. Attracting Quality Leads: Creative demand generation websites are tailored to target your ideal audience. Through captivating visuals, persuasive copywriting, and user-friendly interfaces, these sites draw in potential customers who are genuinely interested in your products or services. This results in a higher conversion rate and more valuable leads for your business.

2. Enhancing Brand Visibility: A well-designed website can serve as the digital face of your brand. When it’s creatively crafted, it becomes memorable and distinct, setting you apart from competitors. A memorable online presence strengthens brand recognition and boosts brand visibility, ultimately driving more organic traffic and referrals.

3. Driving Traffic Through SEO: Creative demand generation websites are optimized for search engines, ensuring that your business ranks higher in search results. This translates to increased organic traffic, reducing the need for costly pay-per-click advertising. A consistent flow of organic traffic is a sustainable way to generate leads and sales.

4. Improved User Experience: Creativity isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s also about user experience. These websites are designed with the user in mind, making navigation intuitive and enjoyable. Visitors are more likely to stay on your site longer, explore your offerings, and convert into customers if they have a positive user experience.

5. Engaging Storytelling: Creative websites have the power to tell a compelling brand story. Through multimedia elements like videos, animations, and interactive features, you can convey your company’s values, mission, and culture in a way that resonates with your target audience. Storytelling fosters a deeper emotional connection with your brand, leading to increased loyalty.

6. Personalized Content: Modern websites can track user behavior and provide personalized content and recommendations. By tailoring content to individual preferences, you can increase the chances of conversion. When visitors see content that aligns with their interests and needs, they are more likely to engage and take action.

7. Lead Nurturing: Creative demand generation websites are equipped with tools for lead nurturing. Through email marketing, automated follow-ups, and personalized content, you can keep your leads engaged over time. This consistent communication builds trust and moves prospects through the sales funnel.

8. Analytics and Optimization: These websites offer robust analytics that allow you to track user behavior and website performance. By analyzing this data, you can make informed decisions to optimize your site further, ensuring that it continues to generate demand effectively.

9. Cost-Effective Marketing: Compared to traditional marketing channels, creative demand generation websites offer a cost-effective way to generate leads and drive conversions. Once the initial setup is complete, ongoing maintenance costs are relatively low compared to other marketing strategies.

10. Scalability and Adaptability: As your business grows and evolves, your website can grow with it. Creative demand generation websites are scalable and adaptable, allowing you to incorporate new products, services, or marketing strategies seamlessly.

The benefits of using a creative demand generation website for your business are undeniable. These websites are not just digital placeholders; they are powerful marketing tools that can transform the way you attract and retain customers. By investing in creativity and user-centric design, you can supercharge your online presence, increase brand visibility, and drive sustainable growth in your business. Don’t miss out on the opportunity, let Yalo help you leverage the full potential of a creative demand generation website.

When it comes to marketing campaigns, it’s important to remember that pets are people too. They can have a big impact on the sales of your products, so you need to be sure you’re using the right tactics for them. Here are five great marketing campaigns that will inspire you and help get you through the dog days of summer.

1. If you’ve ever watched a dog move and thought to yourself, “This is a dancer,” or if you’ve seen a video of someone’s dog playing fetch and thought, “I wish I could do that,” then you’re already familiar with the brilliance of BarkBox’s BarkWorthy Awards.
   
   The monthly subscription service for dogs celebrates dogs who have done something amazing—like become best friends with another animal or learn how to open doors—or been featured on the company’s Instagram account. This summer you can get a FREE Funboy puncture-proof Pool Float! Plus, get the Pool Party themed box!

2. Target’s dog days Instagram takeover was a fun way to engage with customers. The retailer held an Instagram contest, asking customers to share their photos of their dogs while they shopped at Target, or while they were away from home. Customers could use the hashtag “#dogdays” and tag @TargetStyle on their pictures.
   
   In addition to these awesome items, Target also shared photos of their employees’ dogs enjoying life outside during summertime (and inside during wintertime). Their Instagram feed included images showing how people can bring their pups into various areas of life—from vacations at the beach to trips through Europe.

 

3. Subaru Loves Pets – Continuing its tradition of creating popular pet-focused ads, Subaru of America has launched all-new ‘Dog Tested. Dog Approved’ advertising spots. The four spots showcase the Barkleys, a family of Labrador and Golden Retrievers, who recently helped to launch the all-new Subaru Ascent. In the newest ‘Dog Tested. Dog Approved’ spots, the Barkleys will take on everything from driving lessons, to the first day of school and even a doggy-run car wash.
   
   Subaru has many other ads like this one that use pet owners as main characters in their commercials, which helps them connect with animal lovers on a personal level. By taking advantage of these messages and incorporating them into their marketing strategies, other companies could increase sales by appealing directly to consumers who have pets—and most of us do!

4. As part of a wonderfully clever campaign aimed at finding new homes for shelter animals, IKEA has devised a way to convince shoppers that welcoming a needy dog or cat into their lives just might be the best way to tie a room together.
   
   In partnership with pet rescue charity Home For Hope, the furniture retailer has begun placing life-sized cardboard cutouts of real dogs and cats that are available for adoption alongside their in-store displays.
   
   Each cutout features a barcode with which they can access information about how to make that specific animal their pet. Best of all, there’s no assembly required.

5. Weiner Stampede By Heinz Ketchup – hard to think of anything more delightful than hundreds of sausage dogs dressed in hot dog costumes running in slow motion. This commercial certainly delivers! Accompanied by Harry Nilsson’s song ‘Without You,’ we see the joyous stampede of pooches bound toward and jump into the arms of their saucy companions. This commercial captures a beautiful emotional reunion and also showcases a great serving suggestion!

Because pets are such an integral part of many people’s lives and because they have such powerful emotions attached to them, it’s easy for your audience to connect with your efforts. You can offer rewards for good behavior, create a sense of community around your brand by showcasing how many other pet owners are using your products or services, and even use animals as a source of humor in videos or images that go viral – all while strengthening customer loyalty along the way.

And if you’re looking for inspiration of your own, we can help with that too! Yalo is an award-winning marketing, branding, and website & app development company with big heart and big soul. Just reach out to us. We’re always happy to chat with fellow animal lovers about their branding and marketing plans.

Calling all content connoisseurs and linguistic wizards. ????

Are you ready to dive into the captivating world of creative content and word choice in your social media posts? Well, hold onto your keyboards because we’re about to unleash some seriously important marketing magic!

Picture this: You’re scrolling through your favorite social media platform, looking for something that catches your eye, something that makes you go, “Oh wow, I need to click on this!” What do you think makes you stop mid-scroll and pay attention? You got it—captivating content and the perfect choice of words.

Let’s be real, folks. Social media is a crowded playground filled with countless posts, memes, and videos all vying for attention. So, how do you stand out in this digital jungle? It’s all about the power of words, my friends! A well-crafted post can grab your audience’s attention, make them laugh, spark their curiosity, or even bring a tear to their eye. That’s the kind of influence words have!

But it’s not just about throwing words together like confetti. Nope, nope, nope! It’s about understanding your target audience, speaking their language, and making a genuine connection. You want your audience to feel like you’re their virtual BFF, their confidante, the one who gets them and delivers the goods.

Here’s the secret sauce: relatability and authenticity. When you create content that speaks directly to your audience’s interests, needs, or pain points, you become their go-to source of wisdom. And when you sprinkle it with a dash of your brand’s personality, you create a bond that’s stronger than any online cat video.

Let’s not forget about the almighty algorithms. They’re always lurking in the shadows, determining what content gets seen and what gets lost in the digital abyss. But worry not, for we hold the key to their hearts: engagement! When you craft content that sparks conversation, encourages likes, comments, and shares, those sneaky algorithms can’t help but notice. They’ll shower your posts with love, boosting your visibility and reaching more eyeballs than you can shake a GIF at.

So, how can you nail the art of content and word choice? Here are a few tips to keep in your marketing arsenal:

Know thy audience: Get to know your target market like they’re your favorite sitcom characters. Understand their pain points, desires, and what makes them tick. Then, serve up content that caters to their cravings.

Be a word wizard: Words have power, my friends. Choose them wisely and strategically. Craft headlines that demand attention, use evocative language to create an emotional connection, and sprinkle in a touch of humor to brighten their day.

Keep it concise: In the age of scroll-happy fingers, brevity is your best friend. Grab attention with concise, punchy copy that gets straight to the point. Think of it as a micro-story that leaves your audience craving more.

Embrace multimedia magic: A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. But why stop at just one medium? Combine engaging visuals with clever captions, witty hashtags, and interactive elements to create an immersive experience that makes your audience come back for more.

Remember, dear marketers, every social media post is a chance to leave a lasting impression. So, grab that metaphorical pen, unleash your creativity, and let your words dance across the digital realm. Your audience is waiting to be wowed, and you, my friend, have all the power to make it happen. Happy posting!

We know we’re making it sound a bit easier than it actually is! But “a thousand-mile journey begins with one step,” as the famous philosopher Lao Tsu wrote. Yalo is here to help you shine in the world of content marketing strategy for social media. Our content marketing services are delivered by tried-and-true marketing and branding pros who know how to turn a phrase, and where to turn it. Contact us below using the Contact button and let’s start a conversation – either by phone …. Or by words!

In today’s world, consumers are bombarded by countless advertisements on a daily basis.  Consumers are now looking for more out of these advertisements than just sale prices.  The younger generation, ages 18-25, are also interested to see if a brand supports diversity and inclusion.  Because of this, brands are also increasing their focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well.  

Consumers today want to support brands that represent them as well as their values. Many organizations that have made DEI efforts a core priority also recognize that it’s just as important to feature representation in front of the camera as it is behind the scenes.

There are several ways companies can accomplish this.  

One way is to ensure your teams and suppliers reflect your market. Teams—both internal and external—that closely reflect the markets they serve can reduce the cultural and demographic distance between the brand and the consumers they aspire to reach. 

Companies can also utilize diverse voices for the organization. As companies are often continually researching their changing customer base, they should use those findings to continuously monitor and bring the needs of underrepresented communities to their organization—and feature those voices and faces in campaigns. 

Most importantly, ensure your commitments are measurable. Often times, organizational leaders state that improving diversity is a goal that they are working towards – and a year or more goes by and they have made no progress.  There should be specific goals companies are trying to reach including representation at all levels of the organization.  Ultimately, no amount of messaging can help a brand overcome the hurdle of being labeled disingenuous. One way to solve for this is to make sure your DEI goals are not just checking a box but creating real, measurable outcomes including leadership representation.

I will leave you with an interesting statistic that helps validate the impact of diversity in marketing. According to the Deloitte 2022 Marketing Trends Report, high-growth brands (defined as those with annual revenue increase of 10% or more) are more frequently establishing key performance metrics for DEI objectives than their lower-growth competitors. How are your DEI actions measuring up?

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Brandon Bradford makes sense here, doesn’t he? At Digital Yalo, we’re working hard to reflect the culture and demographics we live within, and enjoying the journey along the way. Would you like to work with us? Yalo has open positions from time to time and we’re looking for talented, capable, forward-thinking individuals.

We’re also striving to deliver the best customer service, ideas and deliverables when it comes to our clients and our branding and marketing services. Would you like us to work for you? We feel that our work speaks volumes about our capabilities – take a look at some of our recent samples, and then reach-out to us at the bottom of this page or via our simple Contact form. We look forward to hearing from you.

It probably seems easy to get people to read copy. After all, you’re reading this. Here’s another sentence that you’re reading. I could just keep going and going and you’ll just keep reading. And these words don’t even mean anything! I guess I could stop writing now and make my life a lot easier. Ok, later taters.

So what’s the catch? You may be asking yourself.

Here’s another question for you: Sure, you read it. But will you remember it?

Let’s back up for a second. Most people can write copy, provided they can form grammatically correct sentences. It’s not an art, it requires no special talent.

Writing copy is easy. Writing memorable copy is a whole other animal. And while I can’t teach you how to do it in one blog post (if I could I’d be a very rich person and probably not writing this blog), I can convey the importance of good, memorable copy.

What can history teach us, besides just like wars and stuff.

Let’s back up even further for another few seconds. Copy has been around since the dawn of printed advertising.

And though the headline DISPENSE WITH A HORSE kind of rules, these early ads were primarily informative, if not a bit overwritten. It wasn’t until the mid 60’s that writers discovered that they could sober up for like a half second and get clever with copy, using words to make people think instead of just learn.

VW ads* from the 1960’s were a massive disruption to the print ad game, using an interesting headline with supporting copy. While this may seem like a no-brainer today, this strategy (and resulting copy) shook the advertising world to its strait-laced, whiskey-soaked core. Suddenly ads were conceptual. Suddenly copy was clever, not just sales-y. VW ads were created by DDB, who went on to produce such advertising as Uncle O’Grimacey, spokescreature for the Shamrock Shake.

I could do a deeper dive into history, but there are already tons of books and blogs that do that better and coherently. Instead I’m going to share some famous examples of headlines, the kind that copywriters immediately think of when someone mentions “clever headlines” or say “hey, can you write a blog post about copy?”

The strategy for The Economist campaign was probably something like “The Economist keeps you educated and good at your business job.” But instead of writing a headline like “Read a Magazine That Will Make You Indispensable at Work,” the writer went a step further in defining the impact of being incredible at your job. It’s clever and it appeals to The Economist’s educated audience.

Even if your audience isn’t rife with MBAs, don’t assume they won’t appreciate a smart headline. This line is the probably the result of a strategy that’s something like “Enjoy an Unmatched Sense of Freedom on a Harley.” (Again, just guessing here.) What’s the opposite of feeling free? Being cooped up, like on an airplane.

What do these ads all have in common? They sell an idea, not just a product. They also use a single sentence to make a huge statement—sure, two of them include supporting copy, but even if you just remember “Live Below Your Means” the general idea stays with you. The writers have also taken time and care with the copy, thinking about each word and whether it’s necessary.

Do you have a favorite book or poem? Or maybe even favorite lyrics or television dialogue? Have you taken the time to think about how whoever wrote said piece took time to select each word or phrase or sentence? Not to get all English-section-of-the-SATs on you but writing marketing copy is to writing published material as designing a webpage or ad is to creating visual art. There’s a craft that goes into manipulating the English language to evoke a laugh or some second feeling that I’m sure I’ll learn about someday.

Find your audience. Then, ignore them.

You’ll notice that I haven’t yet included a section on writing for different audiences. That’s because I don’t think the divide between Gen Z and Boomers or whoever is as wide and unpassable as most marketers assume. We’re all human. We all like being entertained, like laughing, most of us cry when things are sad. The best writers know how to write for human beings, not for target demographics.

Technical jargon not withstanding (which may or may not be necessary, depending on the client), trying to use slang to connect with a group of individuals is almost always going to end poorly. Think about how obvious it is when a city-centric ad is written by people who have never set foot in said city. It’s like that, but with age groups. Of course you need to find your audience, but that’s usually a job for strategists and/or the media department.

Think of it this way: If you were to show this year’s Super Bowl spots to a group of individuals aged 18-95, chances are they’re all going to like the same group of five or so ads. That’s because a good concept and good writing is universal.

And finally, in conclusion, we’ve come to the end.

There’s a million more things I could write about writing. And there’s also a good chance I could be wrong about all of them! Like a lot of things in life, marketing can be a fickle thing, and copy is just one small portion of the reason a campaign works or doesn’t work. BUT. If you can make that one small portion great, why wouldn’t you? Like every other journey in life, it’s completed one successful step at a time.

And hey, if you can’t keep the journey interesting, at least keep it brief. (I didn’t.)

See what we did here? Wasn’t this a fun blog post to read? Digital Yalo’s strong Content Marketing and Brand Strategy services can make your messaging and communications outstanding also. We’d love to have a conversation with you – please scroll-down to the Contact button at the bottom of the page to engage. You can also sign-up for our beloved emails below and we’ll send you these great articles a few times a month. Sign, sealed, delivered – they’re yours.

*VW ads were created by DDB, who went on to produce such advertising as Uncle O’Grimacey, spokescreature for the Shamrock Shake.

Let’s get this out of the way early—copy and content aren’t the same thing. They are also the same thing. And also aren’t. They both live in the world of marketing and involve words, but they have distinct uses and places. What are these places? When should I employ a copy vs content writer? Will a chatbot one day murder me and take my place? All these questions and more will be answered in this informative blog post. 

Let’s Start with Content

Content is everywhere and inescapable. As we speak, you are probably being taunted by 20 open tabs full of content. Even before the rise* of ChatGPT and our AI overlords, searching for information on a topic via the internet brought up tens of oddly similar articles, due to content writers a.) trying to please the SEO overlords and b.) probably not knowing tooooo much about the topic and cribbing off other articles. Content writers generally rely on cursory internet searches for most of their research, as they aren’t well-versed in every subject on earth. (This surface-level research is necessary, otherwise nothing would get written as every writer would be busy pursuing postgraduate degrees.) 

Not to crap all over content marketers. This blog right here? This is content. Content—for the purpose of writing because the word content also means a second** thing in the world of marketing—includes things like blog posts, social posts, case studies and white papers. 

Here’s an example of one of our favorite content pieces from “How to Spoil Your Chihuahua” on Wikihow. It’s informative, entertaining, and includes the best image on the face of the earth: 

Here’s another example of content, this one somewhat less bonkers. It’s from an IKEA blog about workspaces, featuring IKEA products throughout. The primary purpose is to inform instead of sell: 

Ok, Now It’s Time for Copy

Copy is also everywhere. It’s on billboards, all over digital ads, you hear it on the radio and on television, provided you’re still into listening to the radio and watching television. 

Here’s some copy:

Here’s also some copy:

From the copy-heaviest print ad to a television spot with no copy whatsoever, both involved a copywriter. Sometimes they’ll need to write thousands of words, sometimes they’ll just need to write a few in the form of an idea. Basically, whatever they need to communicate for the consumer to take action. When you read headlines on a billboard, or hear a television commercial, or see a banner ad on a website, those were probably written by copywriters (or overzealous marketing managers depending on how “hands on” the client likes to be.)

Whether it’s buying a product, clicking a link, making a call, or a secret fourth thing, copywriters encourage consumers to do something, whereas content simply informs or entertains or info-tains. 

But What About the Chatbots?

Yep, they can write, too. Right now they sound about as proficient as a high school freshman attempting to write an pop-quiz essay after staying up all night playing video games. Will they get better? Probably. Will marketers attempt to use them? Almost definitely. They’re sure to make the world of content even more repetitive and bloated. And though it may seem like all these new options for communication make getting the word out about your product easier, it’s actually tougher than ever to stand out. But that’s a whole other blog post. Stay tuned!

But Will a Chatbot Kill Me and My Family? 

Maybe? How should we know? We aren’t a robotics company. 

*We assume you’re reading this from an underground bunker as ChatBots roam the earth, scavenging for questions to answer and feedback loops in which to get caught

**Content can also refer to all the stuff on a page, including the words, pictures, charts, etc. It’s confusing, we know. Just wait until you learn that the word content, when pronounced slightly differently, also means “at peace with the world.” We’ll never use that version! 

Digital Yalo creates content and copy, do you copy that? It’s all part of our Content Marketing services, which are used in-service to the branding and marketing work we do for customers all around the country. We’re extremely proud of our wordsmiths – they do a lot to help our clients communicate their value to the world. You can find out for yourself – reach-out to us today and let’s have a discussion about what brand messaging and content can do for your business. Let’s talk – using words!

In today’s fast paced world, everyone wants everything now. Same can be said in marketing. There is enormous pressure on marketing to do something quickly because the company needs results. Unfortunately, if you have not taken the right approach to developing your marketing strategy and subsequent plan, these quick actions often lead to lackluster results. Lead gen, brand awareness campaigns, and others tactics are usually staples of a marketing strategy. But can you answer some fundamental questions regarding why these items showed up on your marketing strategy and plan in the first place? What tactics should I be executing? How should I execute them? Where do they live? You need fundamental inputs to develop the marketing strategy that is right for your company. Otherwise, what happens is a lot of good people, work really hard and do not achieve the intended results.

What are the Fundamental Inputs? Know your Brand. Know your Customer. Know your Strengths. Finally – know what Success looks like. Knowing your brand sounds simple enough. Try this quick test. Stick your head outside your office, or Slack a handful of your colleagues and ask them if know your company’s Mission & Vision. Even if they do, how well can they interpret it? One more quiz. Would you classify your brand as a Hero, Outlaw or something else? Knowing how to describe your brand, its characteristics and tone of voice are critical inputs into answering the “how to execute” questions in your overall marketing strategy, as well as what is on the marketing plan in the first place. 

Like Mars Blackmon says “Do you know, do you know, do you know?”…

Know your customer. Again sounds simple enough. Go ask sales what the customer needs (probably not the only thing you should do). While sales can offer great insight like what challenges they experience and why they believe the company wins; the best bet to know your customer is to talk to them directly. Existing customers, past customers, potential customers should all be in the mix. Any method to collect consumer data should be deployed as well – surveys, focus groups, direct interviews. Invaluable insights like buying factors, sources used for research, why they chose you or someone else will greatly influence the what, how and where of your marketing strategy. By the way, would strongly suggest this becomes a periodic exercise as well as event driven like if a new product or service offering is being explored.

Know your strengths. Is it world-class customer service, world-class supply chain, or a truly unique product? Confirming these strengths, making sure they are different and unique from the competition will inform literally every piece of content and style that appears as tactics in your marketing strategy. You can also validate these strengths against the customer insight exercises that you have gathered. Sometimes what you think is unique and different is not really why the customer is choosing you.

Finally, know what success looks like. What are the goals and objectives of your marketing strategy? This should not be an exhaustive list of marketing metrics that you can track across your website, CRM or e-commerce platform. Rather it should be 3-5 KPI’s that marketing can own. You should also pressure test these KPI’s against the overall company’s strategy and objectives. The Marketing Objectives must align to the overall Business Objectives – otherwise the race is over before you have even begun.

Getting these marketing strategy fundamental inputs nailed is the difference between having a marketing strategy and not having one at all. Without them there is no marketing strategy even if your marketing plan is stuffed with elaborate media, social, and or lead-gen campaigns. This will result in a ton of effort and money being spent without the desired outcomes and results. Chances are, you won’t get the opportunity to spend that money again.

*Check out how Yalo helped Cortland confirm their brand via brand campaign strategy.
*Northside Tool Rental knows their customers – our creative design team used photography & design to help reach them right where they live.
*Illumagear play to their strengths, and our marketing communications and brand strategy captured those strengths beautifully.

Like what you’re reading and seeing? Reach out to Yalo and let’s have a conversation about your marketing fundamentals. Our marketing and branding consultants will help you to dig deep to develop a powerful brand voice and identity to stand-out in the 21st century marketplace.

Ready for more comprehensive messaging and marketing support? The best creative and marketing efforts begin with Yalo’s popular and innovative Brand Strategy Bootcamp.

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A lot has been written about the importance of music in branding. Whether it’s discovering a new favorite song in a commercial (“Pink Moon” in a VW ad), hearing a jingle that you sing over and over again for years despite never having set foot in the store (O-O-O-Oreilly’s!), or the sweeping score that adds even more melodrama to a heart wrenching spot (looking at you, multitude of P&G Olympics ads), music can make an otherwise forgettable visual last for years. 

Why? People connect with music in a way that eclipses most other ways of communication. There’s a reason earworms exist but not eyeworms (gross)—even the most annoying or mundane jingle can sit in your brain just as easily as your favorite song*. This has been proven again and again far beyond the marketing world and long before recorded sound.  

One of the earliest examples of music as a communication tool is opera. Beginning in the 1500s and (slowly) spreading across cultures and languages, opera managed storytelling through music in a way that didn’t require an understanding of Italian—only an understanding that a key change can indicate sadness or happiness, and that a whole story can be told without a single word. It was one of the first times that music was used to help bridge barriers between cultures—a phenomenon that continues to this day. Songs have since been used as rally cries, as protest vehicles, and ways to incite change and celebrate victories. 

A recent study by Harvard University found that no matter what genre a song is in, or what language the participant spoke, the psychological purpose of a song (is it meant to make you happy? Sad? Pump you up? Is it a lullaby?) can easily be identified through tonality, tempo and instrumentation. All societies put words to songs. All societies dance. In an economy that’s becoming increasingly global, music might be our best chance to transcend differences. 

Ok, back to the world of marketing. Like we said, music can make a huge impact on your brand. But did you know it can help even before a single ad is written, or concept is concepted, or strategy is…uh…strategized? Mention the word “music” and a tune probably starts playing in your head. Though this tune is different for everyone, it’s still made up of notes and rhythm that compose a universal language. How else could 100,000 people sing a song correctly and in tune from a band halfway around the world? In the world of marketing where “right” is never black and white, music provides an ideal medium to define a singular, unified direction. 

At Yalo we use music to help companies set the emotional compass of their brand before the heavy lift of designs, mock-ups, or mood boards are executed. In fact, we put music at the core of everything we do. Our tribe is encouraged to use music as a concepting tool, as a way of drumming up inspiration (pun completely intended) or as a way to relax when things get a little hectic. We’re even given a concert budget to see live music. 

Want to learn more about how music can help your brand? Just ask! And In case you’re wondering what our favorite song is these days, just press play below. (Though with a medium so dynamic and diverse as music, it changes all the time.)

*We’re not telling you to go out and write a jingle for your brand. Whether jingles actually drive sales is a whole other can of (ear)worms.

If you enjoyed these ideas and information, why not sign-up for Yalo’s bi-weekly email blasts directly below? We cover advertising & marketing strategy, trends and technologies, as well as popular music and culture, arts and sports. We give our readers food for thought, and stimulating content you can share with hipsters, geeks, CEOs and jocks alike. Come on, we know you want to!

At one point or another you’ve probably asked yourself: “How can I improve my marketing skills?” Maybe not in those exact words (that’s kinda weird), but you’ve definitely wondered if you could be working harder or smarter to build your brand.

The answer is yes, of course. Everyone could. And a good way to start is by learning which marketing strategies to avoid. Sounds complicated? Just bear with us.

There’s a reason Socrates, Plato, and Descartes aren’t well known for their social posts, email campaigns, and out-of-home work. (Besides the fact that they lived roughly a million years before electricity.) It’s because content isn’t a philosophy; it’s a tactic. Too often, when coming up with marketing strategies, these two things get confused.

While there are many viable tactics that play an important role in growing a brand, what’s really important are the philosophies behind the tactics. Here, we’re going to discuss some marketing mistakes to avoid that miss the big picture and put your brand or business in a hole from the start.

#1 The “Silver Bullet” Marketing Strategy

Unless you are marketing to an extremely specific, possibly magical market segment, the consumer is not a werewolf. One strategy (or silver bullet) is not going to take care of your entire problem. How many times have you seen a brand make one Instagram post a week and leave it at that? If you want to have meaningful engagement with the consumer, you need to create a constant dialogue to grow the relationship over time. Repeated interaction with a brand builds the interest and, more importantly, the trust that is required to maintain those relationships. Branch out and engage your target audience in multiple ways and continue to do so consistently over a long period of time. It won’t kill a werewolf (probably?), but it will help your business.

#2 The “If We Build It, They Will Come” Marketing Strategy

An outdated marketing technique that we see all the time is the idea that you just need a cool website, and the money will start rolling in. Building a website is just the tip of strategy iceberg. This points back to strategy #1—there is no silver bullet, not even parallax scroll. Unless you are constantly going out of your way to engage the consumer, they’re not going to just show up in person or virtually and give you their money. The ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson might be powerless to avoid what you’ve built, but everyone else is going to need a little bit more from your brand. That’s a “Field of Dreams” reference, for those of you under the age of 45.

#3 The “Going with Your Gut” Marketing Strategy

Speaking of outdated references, there’s a reason the phrase “OK Boomer” became part of the pop culture lexicon. It’s not so much about that specific generation as it is about thinking that your experience is universal—that it transcends geography and generations. Consumers are all different. They’re different from each other and different from you. Even if a 55-year-old man has been working in the same business for 25 years, that doesn’t mean he knows the best way to reach his 28-year-old female audience. There are numerous ways you can survey consumers to figure out what they want and develop a strategy that addresses those specific needs and desires. So don’t just go with your gut—do the research. OK Boomer?

#4 The “Strategy-less” Marketing Strategy

“Do you make viral videos? Let’s do that.”

A viral video or any singular piece of content is a “what.” Before a brand has a “what,” it needs a “why.” It’s essential to develop a strategy as the foundation for your content. Before you can make something meaningful, you have to figure out why you’re making it in the first place. What purpose will it serve? How does it fit with the other moving parts of the brand? Foregoing strategy to just “make stuff” is like shouting into the wind. So put a purposeful strategy in place, and you won’t just be making stuff; you’ll be building something.

#5 The “All We Need Is an Intern” Marketing Strategy

Imagine the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs letting his nephew start at quarterback because he’s really, really good at playing Madden on his PS5. Sounds ridiculous, but similar things happen all the time in the marketing and advertising industry. Just because your sister’s boyfriend took a Photoshop class last semester does not mean he should be handling crucial aspects of your business. Professionals—people who’ve studied advertising and marketing and put it into practice for multiple industries—have more than just the basic tools and programs to make a piece of content. They also have the experience and understanding to give meaning to the work. It’s worth investing in people who know what they’re doing when it comes to your business needs.

#6 The “We Don’t Have a Budget” Marketing Strategy

If you and your agency have a clear picture of your budget from the start, then you can work within that framework to create a strategy that maximizes resources and ensures all your ideas remain viable options. While it may seem freeing to have no budget, it can be a huge waste of time and resources to come up with 100 different variations of an idea only to have 99 of them dismissed because you can’t afford them. Think of it like building a sandcastle: it’s far easier to focus on getting it right if you’re working in a sandbox as opposed to running all over a huge beach. Your agency needs the sandbox.

#7 The “Hire a Pro, Treat ‘Em Like a Rookie” Marketing Strategy

There’s an old idiom that says, “why keep a dog and bark yourself?” And while we’re not sure why any human would bark (idioms can be weird), there’s a lot of truth in that statement when it comes to hiring marketing teams. When you pay an experienced marketing team to do what they do best, it’s a huge waste of time and effort to not delegate the work to them. Allowing the team you hired to do their jobs is an incredibly important strategy, yet work is so often undercut with “thanks, but let’s do my idea instead.” In other words: let the people you pay to do a job actually do their job. In other, other words: let the dog bark.

#8 The “Keep Your Cards Close to Your Vest” Marketing Strategy

Welcome to the loop. Sales doesn’t know what Marketing is doing. Marketing doesn’t know what Operations is doing. Operations doesn’t know what Sales is doing. Ad infinitum. If you aren’t sharing business goals and objectives with all the departments involved with those goals and objectives, you don’t get a well-oiled machine—you get a Rube Goldberg device that leads nowhere. It’s crucial to make sure everyone can see the bigger picture; that way, each part can work toward a cohesive whole, and you’ll have a strategy to avoid a communication breakdown.

#9 The “We’re Just Like Apple” Marketing Strategy

Does your business or brand spend millions of dollars a year on creative? How about hundreds of millions on marketing as a whole? Do you have a passionate, sometimes obsessive fan base that will probably support your brand no matter what? If you said yes to this, then congratulations, you are Apple. Otherwise, you’re going to have to approach things another way. Without investment in resources, you can’t get the quality, consistency, and loyalty you desire. Let’s be honest, even with all that, you still can’t be Apple. But you can take a page out of their book—when it comes to your brand’s strategy, “Think Different.”

More likely than not, you’ve already experienced a few of these “strategies.” Don’t worry, we’ve all been there at some point. But with the right agency, budget, and team behind your brand helping you build a strategy that’s right for you, success will come. Good luck out there.

Oh and by the way, Yalo has been helping companies excel and stand-out in the marketplace for a long time now. We’ve even won awards. You can consider us for your needs too. Reach us at the bottom of this page to start a conversation.

As a new year begins, marketers are predicting which marketing trends will matter the most and placing their bets (and budgets) on those they believe will show the most return on investment. Here below are five tactical trends that we see adding value to the market(ing) place in 2023.

1. A Greater Emphasis On Building A Strong Brand

A strong brand can build customer loyalty, increase customer lifetime value, drive business growth, and increase the perceived value of your products or services, which can lead to higher prices and more profitability.

A few benefits of building a strong brand:

1. A strong brand helps to establish a company’s identity and sets it apart from competitors.
2. A well-known brand helps to build trust with customers, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.
3. A powerful brand can lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction, as customers are more likely to have positive experiences with a well-known and trusted brand.
4. In today’s digital age, a strong brand is also important for online visibility and search engine optimization (SEO). A well-known brand is more likely to show up at the top of search engine results, which can lead to increased traffic and sales.

Full disclosure: Yalo offers our Brand Strategy Bootcamp to help fledgling as well as established brands to dip their toes in the world of brand strategy for greater awareness in the public sector. It’s a fun, informative, effective exercise our clients love to experience!

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2. The Burgeoning Creator Economy

Creators are the beating heart of social media, and their endorsements can shape consumer behavior drastically. The creator economy refers to the network of people who create and share content online, often for a large and engaged audience. Brands can tap into the creator economy in a number of ways:

1. Collaboration: Brands can work with creators to produce sponsored content or to promote their products. This can be a win-win for both parties, as creators get paid for their work and brands get exposure to the creator’s audience.
2. Sponsorship: Brands can sponsor events or projects featuring creators, or they can sponsor a creator’s content directly. This can help the brand reach the creator’s audience and establish a relationship with the creator.
3. Affiliate marketing: Brands can work with creators to promote their products through affiliate links. When a creator’s audience makes a purchase using the link, the creator earns a commission.
4. Product development: Brands can work with creators to develop products based on their content or ideas. This can be a great way to tap into the creator’s audience and get valuable feedback on product development.
5. User-generated content: Brands can encourage their customers to create content featuring their products and share it online. This can help to increase brand awareness and engagement.

Overall, the key to success in the creator economy is to build authentic and mutually beneficial relationships with creators. This can help brands to reach new audiences and stay relevant in an increasingly digital world.

3. The Implementation Of Automation And AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are being increasingly used in marketing to help companies save time and resources, as well as to improve their marketing efforts. Some common applications of AI in marketing include:

1. Customer segmentation: AI can help companies segment their customers based on various characteristics, such as demographics, behaviors, and interests. This allows companies to tailor their marketing efforts to specific groups of customers.
2. Personalization: AI can be used to personalize marketing messages, content, and recommendations based on a customer’s past interactions with a company. This can help increase the relevance and effectiveness of marketing efforts.
3. Predictive analysis: AI can be used to analyze customer data and make predictions about their future behavior. This can help companies plan and execute more effective marketing campaigns.
4. Chatbots: AI-powered chatbots can be used to interact with customers in real-time, answering questions and providing assistance. This can help companies scale their customer service efforts and improve the customer experience.
5. Content creation: AI can be used to generate marketing content, such as social media posts and email subject lines. This can help companies save time and resources on content creation.

Another disclosure! Yalo has been offering Sentiment Analysis services powered by AI for some time now for business intelligence for our clients.

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4. The Cost-Efficiency Of User-Generated Social Media Videos

TikTok and user-generated social media videos that organically draw in an audience or create word-of-mouth are the best bang for your buck. There are several benefits of user-generated social media videos:

1. Authenticity: User-generated content is typically more authentic and genuine than content created by brands. This can help increase trust and credibility with your audience.
2. Cost-effective: User-generated content is often free or low-cost to produce, as it is created by individuals rather than professional marketers.
3. Increased reach: User-generated content has the potential to go viral, which can significantly increase the reach of your brand.
4. Customer engagement: User-generated content can help increase customer engagement by giving them a way to participate in your brand and share their experiences with others.
5. User-generated content can also provide valuable insights and ideas for your marketing campaigns.

5. The Rise Of Web3 And Virtual Influencer Marketing

Brands can leverage web3 technology and virtual influencers in a number of ways. Here are a few potential strategies:

1. Partnering with virtual influencers: Brands can partner with virtual influencers by sponsoring their content, creating sponsored posts together, or collaborating on projects. This can help brands reach new audiences and tap into the influence of virtual influencers.
2. Creating their own virtual influencers: Some brands have created their own virtual influencers to promote their products or services. These virtual influencers can be used to reach specific demographics or to promote products in a more immersive way.
3. Utilizing non-fungible tokens (NFTs): Brands can use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to create unique, collectible experiences for their customers. This could include exclusive virtual events with virtual influencers, or limited-edition digital goods that are only available through the use of NFTs.
4. Experimenting with new web3 platforms: There are many new web3 platforms emerging that allow for immersive and interactive experiences. Brands can experiment with these platforms to find new ways to engage with their audience and promote their products.

Overall, virtual influencers and web3 technology offer brands new and innovative ways to reach and engage with their audience. By staying up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies, brands can find creative ways to leverage these tools to their advantage.

Let Yalo keep you on-trend in 2023. Subscribe to our free e-blasts below for informative, entertaining and stimulating analysis and critiques on what‘s happening in the worlds of marketing, advertising and pop culture. Scroll down to the bottom of the page if you’d like to start a conversation with us!

The end of summer marks a transition into the fall season, and it’s an important time to consider the changes that come with it. In marketing, this means considering how your brand can stay relevant during such a busy time of year—and whether or not your strategy needs updating.

With that in mind, here are some top trends we expect will dominate marketing conversations as August begins.

Adapting Media Mixes To Changing Consumer Habits

In addition to demanding the content they want, where they want it, and when they want it, consumers also expect that content to be interconnected. That’s where we start to see cohesion become critical across media platforms, and media start to blend into other sectors. Adjust your media mix to adapt to massively changing consumer habits. 

Personalizing Branding According to Customer Behaviors

If brands want to stay ahead of the curve, they need to get on the personalization train. The surge in online interactions since the onset of the pandemic escalated expectations—giving consumers more exposure to the personalization practices of e-commerce leaders and raising the bar for everyone else. From web to mobile and in-person interactions, consumers now view personalization as the default standard for engagement. 

Aligning Brand Practices With Consumers’ Values

Today’s discerning customers have high expectations from the brands they choose to associate with and they are actively making choices based on brands’ alignment with their personal values. A purpose, rather than a promise, moves consumers to align themselves with a brand.

Telling Micro Stories

With TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, everyone’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter. We need to be able to hook people in the first three seconds – helping people understand the story by fixing down its key turning points. This is the approach screenwriters have been using for decades, and it works very well. 

Exploring The New Frontier Of The Metaverse

The Metaverse and Web3 are the future of the internet. This multifaceted extension of our physical reality, where gaming, social networks, unconventional presences and crypto converge to create new avenues is creating new opportunities for businesses with a curious digital mindset. 

We know there are many different marketing strategies to choose from and we want to help you find what works best for your business. By understanding what your audience wants and how they consume content, we can ensure that your brand will grow successfully. Yalo knows brands, and we work tirelessly to build marketing campaigns that help our clients to rock in their perspective industries.

Want to find out what we can do for your brand? Let’s have an intro conversation and then take over the world together. Contact us at the bottom of this page, or via our simple online form. Don’t forget to sign-up for our emails directly below – you wouldn’t want to miss our consultative and cultural commentaries on Pop Culture, would you?

On St. Patrick’s Day, “Everybody’s Irish” and it’s sure to attract an online crowd! Here are 7 lucky branding & marketing campaigns that are striking gold!

Friendliest Day Of The Year

It would have been impossible to start this post off without a nod to Guinness, a brand that goes hand-in-hand with St. Patrick’s Day. With the creation of an interactive infographic, Guinness championed friends and families coming together and making St. Patrick’s Day “the friendliest day of the year”. To top things off, they entered the book of world records for successfully creating the friendliest day of the year. Selling pints is one thing; creating folklore, a feeling of community, and a lasting reputation for your brand is invaluable.

Getting Shamrocked

Get ready to get ShamRocked at Hard Rock Cafe this St. Paddy’s Day!

The pot of gold at the end of this rainbow is the all-new St. Paddy’s Shake, an Instagram-worthy shake that combines Absolut^® Vanilla vodka, creamy vanilla ice cream, Oreo^® cookies, a touch of mint and homemade white chocolate whipped cream before being topped with rainbow candy ribbons and gold star sprinkles.

In addition to the St. Paddy’s Shake, those looking to sink their teeth into gold can order the Guinness^® & Bacon Jam Cheeseburger, a half-pound burger topped with Jameson^® bacon jam and Guinness^® cheese sauce, crisp lettuce and vine-ripened tomato, served on a toasted bun with a side of seasoned fries.

Beer. Doughnuts.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, fans of Krispy Kreme can get a free O’riginal Glazed Doughnut — i.e., a green-dyed glazed doughnut — just by dressing up in green and showing up at a participating shop. Guests can redeem one doughnut each on March 16 and 17, no purchase necessary.

Not content with just one doughnut? Krispy Kreme is currently also offering its St. Patrick’s Day Collection, which includes four different St. Paddy’s-themed doughnuts decorated with rainbows, shamrocks, and the perpetually wide-eyed face of a bearded leprechaun.

Make It A Double

This Saint Patrick’s Day, Jameson Irish Whiskey will pay whiskey loving imbibers to make it a double — a double holiday, that is. After two years of St. Patrick’s Day cancellations, Jameson is encouraging fans to make up for lost time and celebrate on both the 17th and the 18th in 2022. To incentivize them, Jameson will award thousands who take the two-day pledge with cash and a full Irish breakfast through UberEats to help fuel the fun—responsibly, of course—for 48 hours.

McMagic

A brand knows it has found a pot of gold when it creates organic hype around a product. McDonald’s has the financial muscle to flex it with the best of them when it comes to marketing, but all it took was a St. Patrick’s Day themed milkshake to send the internet into a frenzy.

Every year McDonald’s releases its Shamrock Shake in the month leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. The shake is essentially a mint chocolate chip milkshake, but adding the Irish-theme creates an aura around it—and people want to get their hands on the shake.

Puzzle Me This

Wordle be damned…here comes SEMrush. They came at St Paddy’s Day creatively, choosing to create a crossword puzzle challenge for followers to win Irish-themed wares. 

With their key audience consisting of marketers and small businesses that want to build their reputation online, the challenge of a crossword struck a chord and grabbed the attention of their 100,00-plus social following.  

The Guinness gift set prize was an extra incentive to get people on board, in what was already a clever marketing ploy. That people still hold the campaign in such high esteem two years after its initial conception goes to show how marketing efforts around big events can create longevity.

Imbibe And Stay Alive

Although alcohol is an expected offering on this of all days, it isn’t the only voice out there. There’s also a voice of reason running about, reminding everyone of the importance of having designated drivers – and that’s the folks at the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. This year, their Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving campaign seeks to keep parade and party goers safe. 

Ready to try your luck at an innovative marketing campaign? We write the book on them every day. Let’s have a beer and create something memorable! Reach out to Yalo below to get started with your own luck o’ the Irish.

The marketing world moves at the speed of thought. And, in 2021, we saw just how quickly the marketing industry can evolve. Here are the top 5 Trends we are excited about for 2022. 

1. Web 3.0 is Here and Rapidly Evolving Brand Marketing

Get on board or get left behind. Nothing in the past few decades is going to shake up consumer brand marketing and selling as much as Web 3.0. Brands that secure their place in the new 3.0 universe will be ahead of the curve since they are learning and participating as the landscape evolves. This new digital retail landscape will allow consumers to experience everything from trying on a new outfit, test-driving the latest luxury car, to being part of a brand’s community. All of these experiences are quickly becoming part of the new customer journey. 

2. Social Selling Continues to Takeover

The most active social site for brands to sell is … Pinterest. Which goes against what other social sites want us to believe. The app allows users to curate and sell a lifestyle. With Gen Z becoming more active users for the app, the sky is the limit for brands on Pinterest. Why is this important? Pinterest still only ranks as the 14^th most popular social media app. All marketers need to embrace social selling across multiple channels and apps to continue to engage with key customers and prospects when and where they are searching for your brand. From shoppable stories on Instagram to shoppable Pins on Pinterest, being able to purchase in app is just as crucial as the social influencers brands partner with. Ease of purchase and the social clout of purchase are equally important as social selling continues to take over the shopping experience. 

3. Digital Native Brands Will Continue to Disrupt the Marketplace 

Supply chain issues aside, the true disruption in consumer brand marketing is the continued rise in digital native brands. With digital native brands growing almost three times as fast as traditional brands, all brands must have a digital first approach when engaging with consumers. Gone are the days of push-pull advertising and marketing programs. In addition to product innovation, Digital native brands are evolving marketing to include the use of social audio to drive engagement, augmented reality to experience a product, and customer service becoming a social first channel.  

4. Disruptive Branding will be the Norm 

Jumbled words; messy layouts; unique spelling of names … all design choices that go against the grain. As brands look to stand out on shelf and online, disrupting the normal design tenets through strong creative expressions will be common in the next year. Stand out and sell out … that’s our slogan for the next few months. 

5. Cohesive Multi-Touchpoint Customer Journeys are the Norm   

The old customer playbook is dead and should be buried in a time capsule for future generations to laugh at us about how smart we thought we were. Learning about and researching a product prior to and after purchase can be done in a car, at home in front of the TV, in store, or wherever consumers have access to a smart device. TikTok and OnlyFans are becoming two of the fastest growing sales channels for traditional brands. CPG marketing must begin to make cohesiveness the center of all campaigns to proactively share the right narrative, as well as mitigating any consumer issues. A great example of this is Fly By Jing – you really need to give it try!

Do you want to start the new year off on the right marketing foot? Yalo is here for you with creative branding and marketing services to make your brand POP and ROCK in 2022. Our portfolio of colorful client victories continues to expand and we’re excited for the future – both ours and yours! Shall we have a conversation? Contact us below or by following this link.

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In celebration of National IPA Day we are sharing our favorite ideas for beer sales and promotions. Categories include: Contests and sweepstakes, promotions, on-site and online activities, and charitable initiatives.

Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewing streams its Hop College Class, dissecting the classic Dortmunder Gold Lager

“Our public Hop College program is one of the main ways we bring beer education and an elevated tasting experience to our customers, so we thought we’d create a bite-sized version of one of those programs that could be easily accessed from home. Because we just launched our flagship Dortmunder Gold Lager in cans, it made for a perfect Hop College at Home 101 course. A little history, a little style education and some fun stories accompany a guided tasting of one of our most iconic beers.”

Industry-wide Rising Hope collabs brewed to fight childhood cancer and showcase your charitable side

Kicking off in October, craft brewers from states around the nation handcrafted a signature charity beer, Rising Hope, with 100 percent of proceeds benefiting NPCF.

Purina and Urban Chestnut Brewing team up again to support St. Louis animal shelters

From Aug. 1 through Sept. 30, for every Urban Underdog Dinner Pack sold at UCBC’s Grove Brewery & Bierhall, the pet experts at Purina donated $10 to the Petfinder Foundation to help local shelter pets and the organizations that serve them. The campaign in total aimed to raise $25,000, which will be shared among shelters in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Fun idea: Rogue launches Dead Guy can art contest to celebrate the beer’s 30th birthday

Rogue Ales & Spirits celebrated the 30th anniversary of its flagship beer Dead Guy Ale by challenging fans to ‘Paint the Can Dead’ by creating their own original Dead Guy can art.

Denver’s River North Brewery celebrates International Beer Day with online escape rooms

Paruzal games are not only cool, they are pandemic appropriate. The Denver-based internet business basically brings the escape room experience into your house. While the business seems like a reaction to Covid-19, it actually started in 2019, and its premise is now perfect for our collective homebound lifestyles.

CraftHaus sells a tasting kit as part of sixth anniversary

One fun thing in this horribly un-fun year was seeing all the new, inventive ways craft breweries are trying to connect with customers. If they can’t come to the taproom, bring the taproom to them. For its sixth anniversary celebration, Las Vegas’ CraftHaus Brewery hosted its usual awesome birthday bash, complete with a concert by local rock trio, The Dirty Hooks. But they also put together a tasting kit for fans to enjoy virtually.

Urban South Brewery is pairing beer releases with live web-Beer-nars, hosted by the head brewer

With social distancing and the closure of bars and restaurants across the country, some breweries are trying to revive that community spirit in virtual hangouts. Our favorite approach thus far is Urban South Brewery‘s live web”BEER”nar concept. Customers were sent an invite to sample a handful of specialty beers and learn more about the intent behind the beers directly from Alex Flores, Head Brewer at Urban South Brewery, from the comfort of their quarantine.

Check out Craft Brewing Business for even more great beverage marketing ideas!

If you are ready to start your own brewery or just need a professional drinking buddy, be sure to reach out to your pals here at Yalo! We’ve has some experience with beverage marketing ourselves.

The final piece of our Content Calendar for Professional Growth entails some heavy lifting. But not to worry, we don’t expect you to carry the weight of the content load.

To recap, part one helped you identify themes, goals, and responsibilities, while part two mapped out your calendar. In part three, our final part of your professional content planning, we’ll show you how to maintain the forward motion of your new roadmap.

Setting something up for success doesn’t always make it a success. We are all as strong as the tools we put in place.

Make your life easy, use the tools

• Adopt a Platform. 
  There are new tools and subscription services appearing daily to help manage calendars and schedules. Review a few and choose the one that works best for you. Managing teams and clients, we use various tools to create process and efficiencies for communications. I’m a fan of Asana, SmartSheet, Google sheets, Trello and Evernote as options. I prefer to avoid paid subscription until the use and adoption validates the investment. If you see an opportunity for larger team adoption, bring it up with your team for testing.
• Set Reminders.
  Whether it’s an email or a push notification to your mobile device, every app has the option to keep you informed. Most allow you to customize how many reminders and how far ahead to go. Let the tools be your own personal project manager.
• Connect Devices. 
  Make it easy for yourself to stay on task whether you are in front of your computer or checking your smartphone during a meeting. Download the app and sync it to your calendar. There is no need to check multiple places to ensure you are staying the course.

Test and measure

• Set Success Metrics.
  Put realistic numbers in place and work towards those goals. As marketers, we know how critical it is to set up parameters to measure growth. Review the numbers regularly to gage your trajectory toward success.
• Not Working? Change it.
  You wouldn’t continue to dump money into a marketing campaign that wasn’t generating new leads. The same is true for professional growth. It’s easy to get sucked into the busyness of your new calendar schedule. Remember, you didn’t set up thoughtful ideas and meetings to keep yourself busy. You created a plan to foster growth.
• Identify Gaps. 
  As you continue to test and track, take a step back to ensure you aren’t missing key themes. Maybe the board you joined sounded right on paper but, in reality, it’s not challenging you in the right way. Stay true to your goals to ensure where you spend your time has the most impact on the bigger journey.
• Continue to Evolve. 
  Remember, you put together a plan to work for you. Everyone moves at a different pace. Are you getting the right information to help you stay the course?

As the first six weeks of the new year come to an end, now is the best time to finalize and execute your plan for professional growth. Whether you map out the next year or a few months, just get started.

If you need a solid place to start, tick through the first part of our blog series to kick things off!

“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it FUN to read.” – Leo Burnett

With the constant demand for more quality content and the growing need for effective copywriting – one to attract visitors, the other to convert them to leads and customers – consistently producing powerful, high-quality copy is tough. As writers and content marketers, we are constantly looking for inspiration which is why we keep a swipe file. A swipe file is a collection of emails, ads, and other copy or content that you find memorable or performed well. 

Swipe right for our favorite fun and memorable copywriting examples to add to your file:

Get the cluck out of here! KFC UK’s mea culpa for its 2018 chicken shortage was a simple, genius three letters: FCK

L’Oreal Paris’ print campaign focused on workplace gender equality. The result: Copy that reads, “This is an ad for men. Hire more women in leadership roles. We’re all worth it.”

It’s all downhill from here. Snowbird Ski Resort curated negative reviews and turned them into clever advertisements. Challenge accepted!

Ricola ran a series of ads with examples of how a misplaced cough could ruin the meaning of a sentence (and coughing in public now could ruin your life). Funny and slightly edgy yet simple and relatable.

Fast cars love quick wit. Aspirational and humorous. At first glance, you read it and then you kinda sing it. Corvette is right… they don’t write songs about Volvos.

Hey Rulebreakers… here are 3 rules for creating clear convertible copy:

1. Clarity & Cleverness. First and foremost, you want your audience to understand your copy. It’s fun to be funny, but first, you need to:

• Make people understand 
• Make people curious
• Make people engage

2. Use conventional language. Writing that sounds like a person— especially when you use your customers’ voice — it’s easier to understand and believe.

3. Solve a problem. You can’t offer a solution if you don’t know the problem. Target your customers’ pain points and ease their pain.

• Pain: Clearly lay out your customer’s pain point
• Agitation: Shake it up by making it more emotional
• Solution: Finally introduce the antidote to your customers’ pain

Follow these rules, keep a stacked swipe file, and you’ll be well on your way to creating clever, catchy, and concise copy. And if you hit writers block.. we are just a click away.

See more of what we can do with language and verbiage through Content Marketing. Read stories of our past successes with strategic communications that are far from a tall tale.