Last year, as anxiety surrounding the pandemic was at its peak, the term “pivot” became all-too-common — and oversimplified — guidance for brands eager to navigate the ever-shifting crisis. And while the term itself became overused, the core of that principle remains to this day: To weather such dramatic change (pandemic or not), companies must evolve to be more nimble, … [More]
2021 Is a Reset Year, and Opportunity Is Pounding on the Door
In every type of downturn, the first thing businesses do is cut their marketing budget. We’d already anticipated that a recession would begin during 2020. We posted a premium download about “How to Market in a Recession” quite early in the year, stressing the importance of businesses sticking with their marketing efforts during bad times, but nobody could have anticipated the … [More]
Reigniting the Marketing Engine in a Post-Pandemic World
Being seen and heard is a necessary part of running a successful business. However, 2020 all but halted some companies’ outreach and impacted marketing budgets across the world. As businesses reemerge, branding and awareness are crucial in letting the public know a company is still open for business. What are some of those first steps when restarting the marketing wheel? … [More]
Savvy Business Leaders Focus Their Marketing on What Matters Most to Their Customers
The pandemic of 2020 had differing effects on various industries. Many businesses in tourism and live entertainment came to a screeching halt, while others such as healthcare, financial services and certain consumer products — like furniture and groceries — flourished. In either case, savvy business leaders learned to change on a moment's notice and focus on what mattered most … [More]
Post-Pandemic, Doing Good Is Good for Business
We are entering a period of post-pandemic growth, and there has never been a better time for businesses to consider their purpose — their “why.” Purpose is rooted in long-term strategy, aligning brand identity with consumer beliefs, and it has become the fifth “P” of marketing, creating connection, conversation and loyalty between businesses and their customers. Organizations … [More]
Consumers Bring a New Reality to Their Brand Interactions
With more than half of Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the economy is in much better shape than a year ago. And while this is good news for businesses, we’re entering a new phase where the recovery is expected to continue at a slower pace. It’s easy to understand why so many businesses are rushing to launch new marketing campaigns after such a dismal … [More]
Ditch the ‘Wait and See’ and Nurture Subject Matter Experts
There is no question that COVID was difficult on all businesses, but even more so on destination travel. As we started to turn the corner and see some sense of return to “normalcy,” it was important that we prepare our clients for the phases of reentry to ensure that they would be ready. Timing is of the essence as things were (and are) changing every day. TJA presented a … [More]
Rebuilding Your Brand, Growing Your Workforce and Supporting Local Business
While COVID-19 certainly took its toll on many business-to-consumer market sectors — particularly entertainment, hospitality and travel — business-to-business sectors such as high tech, sustainability and life science experienced unprecedented growth. As we emerge from the pandemic, the marketing and business development needs of all these areas vary greatly, depending on both … [More]
Jos Anshell, Marketing Forensics
Over this past year, the word “pivot” has become the buzzword as businesses responded to a new climate for commerce. Successful pivots are grounded in good communication — and that’s the realm of marketing. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a few things have changed in the past 18 months. The key is survival; “thrival” is … the consumer. And if you you’re not listening to … [More]
The Creative Brief Blueprint
As the world of marketing communications has become more tactically complex, the strategy behind the work has suffered. Most ads don’t achieve the results the company desires. The problem is, as technology has improved, people have become better at learning just how bad they are. As brands are able to test more efficiently, they are witnessing less effective and even … [More]
Blend Out
You’re skilled, you’re smart and you know how much you can accomplish, so why aren’t prospects beating down your door? It’s because they don’t know who you are. Snappy Kraken CEO Robert Sofia dives into the marketing history of some of the world’s most successful companies, exploring the steps they took that left an unshakable impression with their target audiences and then … [More]
Positioning for Advantage
Most of us have an intuitive sense of superior branding. We prefer to purchase brands we find distinctive — that deliver on some important, relevant dimension better than other brands. These brands have typically achieved positional advantage. Yet few professionals have had the formal training that goes beyond marketing theory to bridge the “theory-doing gap” — understanding … [More]
Social Media Campaign #ShopGlendaleAZ Relaunches
In an effort to help promote and support Glendale based businesses the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the City of Glendale will re-launch the social media campaign #ShopGlendaleAZ. The campaign encourages Glendale residents and visitors to share their experience patronizing a local business for a chance to win a $100 gift card. The goal and purpose of … [More]
Branding and Politics
The corporate furor over new restrictive voting laws currently being advanced across the country is the latest example of corporations rewriting how they are engaging with social and political issues. In the past, companies tended to remain publicly neutral on even potentially divisive topics. However, over the last decade, more corporate entities and business leaders have … [More]
