B+LOG
Six Tips for “Pitch” Emails
Unsolicited emails are an annoying fact of life. I begin every morning by wading through dozens and dozens of them, deleting at least 90 percent. Ironically, once I’m finished, I often begin sending unsolicited emails myself. This is probably true for many businesspeople. While person-to-person networking, inbound marketing and social media interactions are all important…
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Good Banking PR Doesn’t Take An Oversized Check
“Can you take a photo of us handing over a $500 check to a local charity?” It was one of the most annoying calls I ever took as a newspaper reporter. Don’t get me wrong, donating to worthwhile causes is great. But calling local media to come take a “grip ‘n grin” photo isn’t good…
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Pokémon Go: The Augmented Reality Show
Millions of people across the U.S. are trying to “catch ‘em all.” No, it’s not the ‘90s, but Pokémon Go has the all-so-coveted attention of the modern millennial consumer. What better way to intrigue a generation resisting the urge to plunge into traditional adulthood than to pique their childhood interests? Google startup Niantic, the studio…
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Education a Key for Food Marketers
For many of today’s consumers, food has to be more than just calories to fill you up. It has to contribute to a healthy diet and overall lifestyle. Looking at the last meal you ate, do you know what it did for your body? How much protein it provided? How many carbs? Were there any…
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Millennials Surfing For Health Care Value
Millennials might not seem like the target audience for a health care marketing campaign, but the truth is, they should be. Millennials have surpassed Gen Xers as the largest generation in the U.S. labor force, according to the Pew Research Center, and they’re bringing unique health needs with them. Combine that with their $2.45 trillion…
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Organizational Culture: Not Just a Buzzword
“Organizational culture” is a buzzword that I used to be skeptical of, particularly in relation to agency management. In the dog-eat-dog world of advertising, it just seemed too squishy. Why not let hard data (like billing projections and balance statements) drive management discussions? Certainly, that’s the safe, CYA approach; having a quantitative rationale makes any…
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Big Changes at Google Will Impact Marketers
As Heraclitus said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” Google lives by that mantra. Not only does their name doodle change (almost) daily on the homepage, the search engine has made many updates to their ad platform during the last few months. To keep up with competing ad platforms, there are some key…
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HOW Design Live 2016
“When you make something no one hates, no one will love it.” While I didn’t agree with everything that Fredrick Ost and Magnus Berg presented during their breakout session at the HOW Design Live annual conference last week, this quote from the founders of Swedish design firm SNASK really struck me. It dared all of…
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New Technology Simplifying Insurance Claims
Nobody likes having to pay for insurance. The only time you’re glad you have insurance is after something bad happens. And that feeling of relief is usually short lived. That’s because the claims process is only slightly less painful than major dental work. It’s time consuming and frustrating. I know from experience. After a bad…
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Telemedicine & The Disappearing Waiting Room
Willy Wonka character Veruca Salt said it best: “I want it NOW!” We live in a society that demands goods and services on the spot. With a few clicks of a button we are guaranteed an Amazon same-day delivery, an Uber in the driveway and Blue Apron dinners on our doorstep. To add to that…
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