Where is that collateral taking your customers? And your company?

By Ernie Wood   |   September 29, 2015

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the “buyer’s journey.” But in B2B marketing, the journey is not entirely about buyers. It’s also about the company reaching them. And about the communications vehicles for the trip.

The concept of buyer’s journey describes the path from awareness of a need, to consideration of options, to the decision to make a purchase. Some companies add steps specific to their industry, but awareness, consideration and decision are the basic three.

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Getting the final word: When punctuation turns emotional

By Sara Richardson   |   September 23, 2015

 

We all like to poke fun at those little lapses of punctuation that float around the Internet, and when better than National Punctuation Day on September 24th to bring these gems up? You know the ones: “Egg’s 5¢,” “Caution: ‘Wet’ floor,” “Smile your on camera,” “Please ‘do not’ disturb.” Everyone likes to cringe and point, but it takes a punctuation nut to get truly emotional about it—the grammarians, the English professors, all those writers,

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In the fight against malware, the more publicity and attention the better

By Ernie Wood   |   September 1, 2015

In our work for IBM Security, it’s not unusual to draw attention to data breaches that have been in the news. So it’s especially gratifying when the other side of the story—data protection—makes news.

Whether DeLaune and Associates is writing a white paper or solution brief from scratch, updating an existing document, or editing text written by the security experts at IBM, stories of data breaches are common. Target. Sony. Anthem. Unfortunately, the list goes on and on.

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Get Ready for Homemade Vanilla: Blue Bell Returns

By Sara Rider   |   August 31, 2015

If you’re one of the thousands of people who have been missing their Blue Bell, the announcement that limited distribution begins on Monday, August 31st in selected markets was welcome news.  (Sorry, Ben & Jerry’s, but it’s just not the same.)  But while people are scooping a bowl of their favorite vanilla, lots of questions remain about how the company will survive the repercussions of the listeria outbreak.  That makes it a good time to think about your own company’s commitment to your products and services—and how you would bounce back from a major crisis.

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Sometimes the truth hurts…

By Amy Valentine   |   August 27, 2015

Weird Al Yankovic created a parody of last year’s pop hit song, “Blurred Lines” called “Word Crimes.” We hope you find it as funny as we do. (If you want more Weird Al, visit his website.)

 

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Mobile Phone Use and Cars: a Dangerous and Disturbing Combination

By Amy Valentine   |   August 4, 2015

One of the most disturbing ad campaigns running these days is AT&T’s campaign “It Can Wait,” advocating mobile phone safety. With Austin enacting a strict hands-free mobile-phones-in-car policy as of January 1, 2015, this campaign resonated with me. And the campaign has done exactly what the creators intended: made one driver stop checking her mobile phone in the car.

Prior mobile phone safety ads have focused on the teen and young adult demographic,

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Using Snapchat to Advertise to a Young Demographic

By Amy Valentine   |   July 23, 2015

At this year’s Cannes Lions Festival, a convention of 6,000 of the world’s top advertising executives, young faces dominated the crowd, representing social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and Pinterest. But the one young star making a huge splash was Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snapchat, promoting his platform for advertising to a young demographic. In marketers’ eyes, Snapchat is especially interesting as it opens the door to an often previously unreachable audience: tweens and teens.

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Making Lemonade

By Sara Rider   |   July 1, 2015

Sometimes what our companies want to sell is not something people want to buy.  That presents a problem.  So what do you do if part of your product mix isn’t considered a hot item by the buying public?  You can discontinue the product or service—but if you’ve invested in developing the product, that can be hard to swallow.  In some situations, the best course may be to reposition the product or service—find another way to make it attractive to your audience.

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Communicating with Millennials

By Amy Valentine   |   June 25, 2015

All communicators know the challenges of communicating with different audiences. Tone and word choice change if an advertiser is addressing moms of children shopping for healthcare services, technology professionals reading white papers, or millennials looking for humor and brand loyalty programs.

http://www.adweek.com/prnewser/the-keys-to-winning-millennials-csr-humor-and-loyalty-rewards/74501

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Word-of-Mouth in Social Media

By Brian Silverman   |   June 23, 2015
Word-of-Mouth in Social Media can be Brutal for a New Business

Take a Few Keys to Success from the TV Networks

by Brian Silverman

Just a few years back, if you were a new retail establishment, — a new bank in town, medical urgent care center or a restaurant, you knew the first step to success was to get your doors open.  A fresh idea, good service, new cuisine: whatever your new business —

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