Cincinnati, the “brand capital of the world,” recently served as the backdrop for Brandemonium, a week-long, experiential, brand-focused conference and festival. Vya was fortunate to have a front row seat to this first-ever international brand event, which took place right here in our own back yard.

Tags: branding, brand consistency, marketing technology, marketing productivity, brand experience, marketing staff

There is a lot of energy and excitement flowing around the halls of Vya right now. Our big brand relaunch last week certainly has something do to with that (though we have always been a high-energy group). To me, that’s because our new brand is so true to who we are, have always been and will always be. Vya captures our dedication, determination and focus that our employees live every single day, from the inside out.

Tags: branding, marketing resource management, local marketing, Vya

At the risk of labeling myself a musical novice, I have to admit that I am rarely moved by a piece of music the first time I encounter it. I need to hear it a few times, get familiar with it. Over time, some music can evoke a pleasant feeling of general nostalgia. Other pieces become associated with specific memories. So, although the initial experience may not have affected me at all, over time that same music could have the power to generate a genuine emotional connection. It strikes me that there is a similarity here with the brand experience.

Tags: branding, brand consistency, brand experience, nostalgia marketing

Stay better informed as a marketing professional with this monthly series highlighting the latest developments in all things marketing. Get caught up with the May Marketing News Snapshot.

Tags: branding, Twitter, mobile, marketing, technology, content, twitterstorm, strategy, customer, tweetchat, digital

I grew up in Grinnell, Iowa, a small town in the rural Midwest. It’s not exactly the place you would expect to find the most prolific scoring basketball team in the nation. Grinnell College’s run-and-gun offense is considered unorthodox, even chaotic, but it is fun to watch. Grinnell’s record as of February 22^nd is 18 wins and 5 losses. In the second game of this season, senior guard Jack Taylor scored 109 points, the third highest in NCAA history in a 173-123 victory over Crossroads College. According to Head Coach David Arseneault’s book titled “The Running Game: A Formula for Success,” his strategy is based on five basic principles:

The team must take at least 100 shots in a game. The goal is to attempt a shot every 12 seconds and try to get the ball back within 10 seconds.

Tags: branding, marketing, creativity, social media, Customer Acquisition, service, customers, audience, strategy, organizations, relationship-building, loyalty

Discussing the marketing value of branded online communities with some of the area’s top marketers

Tags: branding, Twitter, messaging, credibility, marketing, metrics, social media, mike dover, wikibrands, communities

As the relationship between businesses and customers continues to evolve, the value of the customer experience has been magnified greatly. Customer-facing social media channels and the general ease with which anyone can find information about anyone/anything online have made businesses and their employees and managers more accessible than ever before. This means businesses – the whole business – must be ready to address customer needs across any number of outlets. But good customer experience doesn’t just mean effectively handling complaints, issues or questions; it means having a real relationship with your customers.

Tags: branding, engagement, marketing, social media, customer experience, service

While perusing the Internet for new ideas and to keep myself updated on the latest business happenings, I came across this excellent presentation on marketing localization and thought it had some very interesting statistics that make the case for why you need to localize your marketing efforts. The first number isn’t a huge shock, but does lay the foundation for nearly everything I’m about to say: 97% of consumers do online research before making a local purchase. Translation: If you can’t be found locally and aren’t targeting locally, you aren’t going to beat the competition.

So how are companies making their local presence felt? In short, many aren’t. We all know one of the laws of marketing is to be where your customers are. Yet somehow, the fundamental tenet has slipped many companies’ minds. According to ReachLocal, of marketing organizations surveyed:

Tags: branding, SEO, email marketing, MRM, social media, localized marketing, marketing resource management, direct marketing, paid search

There was breakdown in the assembly line and no one on Henry Ford’s staff could fix it. As the story goes, his production lines were down for hours; hours turned into days, and Ford was frustrated. In desperation he called an electrical engineer friend whom he trusted to come to his plant, diagnose and repair the problem. His friend promptly arrived and after about ten minutes the Ford lines were up and running. A most grateful Henry Ford thanked him and told his friend to invoice the Ford Company for the repairs. A few days later Henry Ford received an invoice from his friend in the amount of $10,000. Flabbergasted, Henry called his friend on the telephone and protested, “You only tinkered around for ten minutes! Ten-thousand dollars?!” His friend agreed that he would re-invoice the repairs. A few days later Henry Ford received a modified invoice:

Tinkering…..$10

Tags: branding, facebook, google, Twitter, sales, LinkedIn, Klout, blogging, marketing, marketing strategy, social media, social media strategy

We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing the challenges and benefits of localizing your marketing strategy across both traditional and digital marketing channels, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a marketer that doesn’t see the value in the practice. But there’s one marketing channel where questions about localization remain and answers are hard to come by: social media.

When I was at the Integrated Marketing Week Conference in June, this was a continuing theme and topic of conversation, whether it came up in presentations, questions to speakers or simply conversations among attendees, so it’s clearly an issue of great consternation in the marketing community. That being said, let’s take a look at some possible strategies that can help businesses overcome the challenges of social media localization.

Tags: branding, facebook, Twitter, engagement, LinkedIn, messaging, marketing, social media, localized marketing, local marketing, segmentation, SMB, integrated marketing week conference, content, strategy