IMC

The Hollywood Model: Run Your Marketing Agency Like A Movie Studio

Why Empathy Matters More than Ever in B2B Content Marketing (And How to Get It Right)

Argo Blockchain vs Coinbase: what’s the best crypto stock?

The #1 Digital Marketing Agency Model for Smart Growth

2 FTSE 100 stocks to buy in a stock market crash

10 Tools for More Productive Digital Marketing

2 banks to raise mortgage rates due to inflation fears – more could follow

I was right about the Tesco share price! Here’s what I’m doing now

Your First Digital Marketing Client: How to Get Them and Keep Them!

Can the Wise share price end 2021 on a high?

5 Easy Tips to Instantly Improve Your LinkedIn Profile [VIDEO]

ASOS shares: bull vs bear

Global Business

Sales Manager

Advertising Agency

The Hollywood Model: Run Your Marketing Agency Like A Movie Studio

ASNF 19 mins ago

Building a smarter marketing agency doesn’t involve becoming the “agency of the Future,” selling marketing like a “mad man,” or aiming for 7-figures. Real growth could be as simple as employing this one agency model.

There are 3 things you need to stop doing in order to be an agency of the future.

STOP IT! #1: Stop Asking What the Agency of the Future Will Look Like

We’ve been talking about the agency of the future since 2009. Back when every agency NEEDED to start using QR codes or they were going to be left in the dust. 

The “Agency of the Future” does not define itself by the SERVICES it offers, but instead defines itself by the markets it SPECIALIZES in and SERVES.

If you waste all of your time trying to figure out the next QR code, you’re going to be left behind. You’re going to miss … Read more

What Made These Indie Brands Successful?

ASNF 24 mins ago

The world isn’t set up for small businesses to thrive. In fact, the odds are against us.

Large corporations have an undeniable advantage when it comes to anchoring themselves in the minds and habits of their audience.

They can afford to pay for big ad campaigns, celebrity endorsements and to lobby governments to legislate in their favour.

Yet, they aren’t always successful.

A Tale of Two Companies

Consider L’Occitane, the high-end beauty product brand that is so ubiquitous they even have a location in my local mall here in Calgary. The company has asked for bankruptcy protection.

Meanwhile, cult indie brand Glossier managed to raise $800 million dollars from investment partners earlier this summer.

What’s going on here?

On the surface, this appears to be a fight between an established bricks-and-mortar brand and a direct-to-consumer upstart, with DTC coming out on top during the pandemic.

It’s More Than Strong Channel … Read more

Tesco opens its first checkout-free store

ASNF 30 mins ago

The UK’s biggest retailer said its branch in High Holborn had been converted to allow customers to shop and pay without scanning a product or using a checkout. The new checkout-free format, known as GetGo, follows similar stores opened by Amazon.

Customers with the Tesco.com app will be able to pick up the groceries they need and walk straight out again.

Tesco said “a combination of cameras and weight sensors” would establish what customers had picked up and charge them for products directly through the app when they left the shop.

The technology is provided by Israeli tech start-up Trigo, which has similar partnerships with supermarkets in Germany and the Netherlands. Some of Tesco’s staff have been able to use the system in the store at its headquarters in Welwyn Garden City, but this is the first time it has been available to regular customers.

Kevin Tindall, managing director of … Read more

Why Empathy Matters More than Ever in B2B Content Marketing (And How to Get It Right)

ASNF 32 mins ago

B2B marketers forming a circle with hands image.

B2B marketers, ready for some TRUTH BOMBS?

Here we go: We need to make our content more human and more empathetic. B2B content doesn’t have to be boring; in fact, it can’t be boring and be effective. B2B buyers are just people — we need to talk to them like people.

Are you blown away by the depth and breadth of my insight? Ready to book me at your next marketing conference?

Okay, all sarcasm aside: We all have heard the old “B2Me” speech a dozen times. I’m not here to give it to you again.

Instead, I want to get deeper into the specifics of what it means to be empathetic and provide value with content.

I say this because, despite the hours of keynote speeches on the topic, B2B marketers are still coming up short. In a recent poll, 79% of buyers surveyed said they were served irrelevant … Read more

5 Tips for Defining Brand Identity Through Intentional Storytelling

ASNF 37 mins ago

Last week, I was honored to host a virtual roundtable for a small group of nonprofit marketing and communications executives on The Art of Storytelling & Brand Identity. Our special guest speaker was master storyteller, pianist, and composer Harold O’Neal, a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and creative expert on the Academy Award-winning Pixar film Soul. Harold led an exercise that challenged us to find ways to be more intentional with our storytelling. He shared some of his journey on his way to success, reminded us that everyone has a story and that the way we tell that story shapes our world.

Harold’s challenge to the group — to write a short story and assign one of five types of musical chords to each sentence — helped us explore what emotions we look to evoke when we share stories. Using his piano to underline participants’ … Read more