Big
Thinking

The traditional marketing and branding model is changing. The standard model was a "one-to-many" proposition, where you try to get your message to as many people as possible.

Unless your marketing dollars grow on trees, a big part of your job as a marketing professional is about validating your budget to your superiors - especially in an economy such as this one.

Did you know that 85% of all purchases are made by women? That doesn't mean you need to create a separate brand or marketing campaign to reach women. What you need is a smarter marketing strategy.

As budgets tighten, some businesses are looking at ways to cut back on marketing. A better idea is to look at how to make your marketing work better. If you can find a more efficient approach, you may be able to trim your marketing budget.

One of the most compelling aspects of marketing in the digital age is the ability to connect with your customers. Technology has made it possible to engage your audience and get them to interact with your brand in a very powerful way.

When most people think about building their company's brand they think about investing in marketing and advertising strategies. Typically the focus is on brand awareness and brand perception. That's a good start.

Uncovering newsworthy story ideas is what sets your PR efforts on fire. But it's not always easy to recognize the newsworthy events going on in your world when you live and breathe them every day!

Everywhere you turn these days, you hear dire warnings about the economy. If you advertise, your ad reps are warning you to resist the impulse to cut back on your advertising until the economy improves.

There's been a powerful shift in control over the past eight years or so. Marketers used to be in control. They would shape advertising campaigns to influence how consumers viewed their products or services.

It's all about communicating the right message to the right person in the right place at the right time.

Most companies have focused their attention on the most visible aspects of a brand: the logo and tagline, the carefully crafted advertising campaign, or the cool web site that was just launched. But, the brand is still about what's under the surface.

We all have relationships with brands. During branding workshops, I ask participants to name the brands they've encountered so far that day. Participants often mention some of the same brands: Starbucks, Crest, Apple, Dell, Toyota, BP, Google, and Pepsi.