by admin | Oct 9, 2014 | Communication strategy
It has been shown through data, most recently by Forrester Research, that Instagram represents by far, the best platform for marketers to interact with consumers. Brands are beginning to understand that having a presence on the platform is a necessity, but many don’t understand all of the features it has to offer. One part of the service to note is the 15-second video feature. According to a report from BI Intelligence, in the U.S. 50 million people watch video via their mobile devices. Globally, 15 percent of all time spent watching online videos is done using a smartphone, tablet or other mobile devices. While a common misconception amongst brands is that video marketing is too costly of an endeavor, by utilizing Instagram’s free 15-second video editing feature, businesses now have an invaluable tool to engage their audience with. Read more...
by admin | Oct 9, 2014 | Communication strategy
It’s been more than year since Instagram added video to its bag of tricks, giving its users 15 seconds to tell their stories. That was a generous 9 seconds more than Twitter’s Vine, whose 6-second clips presented a challenge to even the most creative marketers by making them find a way to produce a brand pop in a literal blink of an eye. Instagram Video’s 15 seconds may not be much, but it’s as long as many TV spots, and the platform offers marketers compelling reasons to attempt this kind of ultra-short form messaging: audiences numbering the hundreds of millions; a virtually non-existent barrier to entry; high levels of engagement, awareness building, and sharing; and no concerns about taxing a viewer’s attention. Read more...
by admin | Oct 8, 2014 | Brand targeting & positioning
The Internet age has been a boon to many businesses, especially smaller ones that don’t have the marketing budget to compete against massive corporations. There are countless channels to take your products and services online, with unprecedented access to your prospective customers. Internet marketing these days is more than simply showing up with a website. You must build a strong online brand to make an impression and stand out from the competition. Thankfully, there are many marketing channels, methods, and tools that help you do just that. 1. Boost Your Brand’s Visibility First step is to make sure that your company is attractive for search engines and shows up in SERP. It’s crucial. All brands (the big and the small ones) would like to be discoverable via search and social media. Optimizing search engines for specific keywords can be a tough task and will definitely require at least basic knowledge about SEO. The good news is that there are tons of quality guides for non-pros out there and even more reasons to start doing SEO right away! There are also a lot of tools on the market that can help you with SEO, and if you don’t feel comfortable with optimizing your brand’s visibility by yourself, you can hire an agency to do that for you. No matter which way you choose, SEO is absolutely a crucial step on your way to making your brand not only visible, but a strong one as well. Read more about it...
by admin | Oct 8, 2014 | Innovation
Headset vendor Plantronics is sponsoring a contest with $85,000 in total prize money to encourage developers to create innovations for future-generation Bluetooth headsets that will be used by enterprises, hearing-impaired people and the general public. The 2015 PLT Labs Application Innovation Contest, which is open to participants in 33 nations, opens for competition Sept. 29 and will crown its winners on May 9, 2015, according to a recent announcement by the company. The contest will give developers access to Plantronics APIs, SDKs and product concept prototypes that will allow them to experiment and create innovations that could find their way into future products from the company, Cary Bran, the vice president of innovation and new ventures with Plantronics, told eWEEK in an interview. It’s the first time that the company has sponsored a formal design contest like this one, outside of frequent 24- or 48-hour hackathons and smaller events it has participated in over the last few years, said Bran. “It’s ground-breaking for us. We’re very excited about it.” Read more about it...
by admin | Oct 7, 2014 | Innovation
Let’s do some word association. What’s your first thought when someone talks about “innovation” at your company? You probably think of “ground-breaking changes” and “drastic overhauls.” Gmail, the XBox, Nike Air, the Post-It Note. “We’re gonna make millions…” Yes, those certainly fit the definition of innovation. But there’s something to be said for getting the innovation ball rolling by focusing on a series of small ideas that have measurable impact over time. Read more about it...
