THINKing

I Feel So Used

Many agency people steer clear of clients who have never before utilized the services of outside creative resources. There often is a steep learning curve on how to properly utilize an agency most efficiently and effectively.  But often even corporations which regularly use outside resources also regularly misuse them. So, let’s review some best practices in getting the most out of your agency, no matter where you are in the marketing spectrum.

Green Content Marketing

Photo Courtesy of Morguefile
Hey, everyone is getting into the green movement. So, why not content marketers? When I was a reporter back in the 20th Century, we had a term for features that had a long shelf life. We called them evergreen. These were the items you could pull out again and again, season after season and re-run with only a bit of editing.

Activate Your Customers With Email

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love email. It still is the best customer communication tool there is. And email is a great way to bring the online and offline worlds together. Smart businesses use email to drive store traffic. The best brand interactions, IMHO, occur between real live people. So, let’s use our email list to bring customers and our employees together.

The Dusty Archives

I was strolling through the dusty THINKing archives the other day and realized how much good stuff was in here that you may have missed. So, I’m digging out the top 10 postings of all time. Enjoy.

Top 10 Story Starter Tips for Blocked Bloggers

What Customers Want

Social Media News Round-Up

Now that LinkedIn has mastered how to monetize online social networking, it is out to do itself one better.

All about Twello

YCombinator: Twitter for Links

Facebook Becomes FriendFeed

Facebook in Court With Familiar Foe

Links 6/25/2008

Advertise To Workers At Work To Influence Purchases

The results of a new study, conducted by consumer intelligence firm BIGresearch, into the media and shopping behavior of consumers at work, finds that Americans are spending 60% of their waking hours at work, more than ever before. Marketing chiefs are rethinking their ad budgets and advertisers are preparing to meet a new, highly coveted, yet entirely untapped demographic on their own beige-carpeted turf.

Help A Brother, Um, A Reporter, Out

I know you’ve often yearned to be part of ProfNet but just couldn’t make yourself pay for the privilege of getting reporters to actually ask you to pitch them.

It’s About Experiences, Not Logos

A lot of marketing experts (self-proclaimed) would have you believe that a logo and corporate identity package is all there is to a brand. I know some businesses which want to change their logo regularly in hopes that it will somehow magically improve their brand and their business. Woe are they.

Hoover At Random

A few links for your dining and dancing pleasure:

Less than one-quarter of US Internet users ages 40 and over use social networking Web sites, according to the JWT BOOM/ThirdAge “Boomers, Healthcare and Interactive Media” study conducted last month.

Big brands are using social media like Twitter to further their aims.

Is The Media’s Liberal Slip Showing?

I ran across an interesting poll from Rasmussen Reports concerning how Americans view media objectivity. According to the poll,

Just 17% of voters nationwide believe that most reporters try to offer unbiased coverage of election campaigns. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that four times as many—68%–believe most reporters try to help the candidate that they want to win.