Good Social Media Engagement While Social Distancing

By on   /   Blog, Brand Marketing, Education and Training, Interactive Media, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Strategy  
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Engaging brands on Twitter and Facebook and other various social media channels have a unique challenge when it comes to truly building community and support behind their brands.  Do brand managers monitoring their social media experience engage every tweet and post that mentions their name, product, service or industry? How appropriate is it to “chime in” on conversation streams with advice and “promotions?” And when is the line crossed from Good Social Media Practice to Something Dangerous? Below, we’ve put together four helpful tips to remember when it comes to being a good steward of your social media brand. While

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5 Free Action Items for Better Digital Marketing in 2019

By on   /   Blog, Brand Marketing, Education and Training, Interactive Media, Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Strategy  
free digital marketing for 2019

Okay, 2018 is over and we can all look back and take a deep breath. Suffice it to say, 2018 was “Interesting.” Many cringe-worthy moments. Many upturned industries. Many marketing mistakes. At the same time there were some brilliant marketing events as well. All things considered, it’s time to set up the blocks that tumbled down in 2018 and start building for a more impactful 2019. To help us all get some traction in 2019, we’ve put together 5 action items you and your team (if you have one) can use to make sure you’re on the right track just

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3 Easy Steps to Better Marketing Communications

By on   /   Blog, Brand Marketing, Education and Training, Marketing, Strategy  
better marketing communications plan

Listen, marketing communications isn’t rocket science. While I’ve seen CMOs and and entire Marketing departments wringing their hands over the most inane of situations, I try to explain, “If we do a bit of strategic thinking to create a program that uses dollars efficiently and produces quality leads, we’ll be well on our way to being a marketing communications stud-bolts.” So below are three easy steps to building confidence in your marketing communications efforts as well as your team, your company, and your customers. 1) Define the Players The primary step in shaping a successful marketing communications plan is to

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3 Simple Tips for Making Your Email Marketing Campaigns Better

By on   /   Blog, Education and Training, Interactive Media, Marketing, Strategy  

‘Tis the season for pointless Email … Email Marketing! Email, email everywhere, but not a click to link… Okay that sounded better in my head… We have a love/hate relationship with email. Marketers love it for it’s economy, it’s simplicity and it’s tracking potential. Consumers love it for about a day and then get irritated when their in-boxes are swamped with “Awesome Offers” and “Amazing Deals!”  Marketers and business owners also wring their hands and fret over each and every email they send, wondering, “What do I write about next?” or “Does it say the right thing,” or “…make the

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#6SecondMarketing – Vine 001

By on   /   #6SecondMarketing, Blog, Web Video  
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Vine Marketing – #6SecondMarketing by The Brand Chef. Vine-001 To play the video with sound, hover over the upper left corner and turn it on.  😉 https://vine.co/v/Mwh77JaJJ93/ Comment below to discuss your #Marketing and #Branding questions. I’ll be picking topics from the comments and other discussions throughout the weeks to share here! And what ever you do… Keep Cookin’ The Brand Chef #Vine #Marketing

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Interview: Our Communications Future

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spoke communications des moines marketing company

Interview: Our Communications Future I’m at “that age” now. I can see into the Communications Future! (for what it’s worth) Yep. My eldest daughter is in college, and I’m THAT parent. The parent that the Coe College freshman communications class turns to for “Industry Insight.” While I’m somewhat honored, It’s really making me feel my age. I’ve spent 25 years in the communications industry, 25 years as a communications “Professional.” HA…  While I would never consider myself an “Expert,” I s’pose I could call myself “Professional” at this stage in the game. 🙂 When I started, back in the early

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Facebook’s Graph Search Just Made Content Marketing More Powerful

By on   /   Blog, Brand Marketing, Interactive Media, Social Media Marketing  

If you missed the announcement, today, Mark Zuckerberg of FaceBook introduced a new search query function for Facebook called Graph Search. In a nutshell, Graph Search gives the search option in Facebook more of an honest “query-style” approach – wherein it will search for your specific terms as usual, but also suggest related results based on varying degrees of separation between your query and the related returns. So, from a content marketing standpoint, if you have been strategically building relevant content through your posts on and to Facebook, Facebook’s Graph Search just made your content marketing more powerful! From NBCNews.com:

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Leadership & Parenting: “Just Do Your Best?”

By on   /   Blog, Education and Training  

My parents told me, from kindergarten through college as well as all of my years in competitive sports, “Just do your best,” and with that, I went on into the world a “fairly well-adjusted, happy kid.” I never quite excelled in school. I never quite excelled in sports. Sure, I was a good student and student-athlete, but was “good” really my best? Just do your best? While I love my parents, I have to say it was a mistake to tell me (an incredibly insecure, sensitive, creative child) to “Just do your best.” Think about it.  What are the benchmarks?

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How To Fight The Cost Of “Free” Media

By on   /   Blog, Brand Marketing, SPOKE News  

There’ IS a price to “FREE” media production; while it may not show on the books, it will show on your brand. Buying radio or television media production is every creative’s worst nightmare. The schedules are hard to plan – especially in the “Political” and “Sporting” blitz months. Any positive calendar can be preempted at the drop of a very well financed hat.  Budgeting is often a guessing game and costly without the right media partner or a person at the station “going to bat” for you. And God forbid if the spots are produced at the station…   (think

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The 8 D’s Of Successful Marketing

By on   /   Blog, Brand Marketing, Education and Training  

If I include my college internship, this September {was} my 21st year working in, on and around marketing. I’ve seen some successful campaigns. I’ve seen some pitiful campaigns. Fortunately, I’ve learned something from them all, but the most important thing I’ve learned is how to tell them apart. (Trust me, some can’t…) So what IS the difference between a successful and a pitiful marketing campaign? STRATEGY. All Marketing Strategy Is Not The Same If you walk through any marketing department or advertising agency, without a doubt, you’ll see computers, printers, scanners, cameras and all of the nifty tools that go

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