Origins of Marketing Terms (Infographic)

In the last few years, history has been made. Words like selfie, selfie stick, twerk, derp and bae have all been added to the dictionary. It’s not surprising to hear something new everyday. Despite the ever-evolving lingo, there are a few marketing terms that seem to not be going anywhere anytime soon.

Have you ever stopped and wondered where some of these common words come from? No need to brush up on your marketing etymology to find out–we’ve decoded 6 frequently used marketing terms for you ourselves.Continue reading

Marketing Evolution in 3 Infographics

marketing evolution - 3 infographichs

In many ways, marketing is as old as civilization itself. Since before the times of ancient Greece, culture has based its trading and selling upon the ability to move products faster than the man next to him. As a result, marketing was born–a concept birthed from the need to set an individual or group apart from the crowd. In many ways, marketing seems akin to Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.” The recent marketing evolution is a small part of this bigger picture and it is about survival.

To help you up your marketing game, we’ve put together 3 visual representations of the marketing evolution of recent years. Most of us don’t want our businesses to merely survive–we want to thrive. Transistioning to the new era of marketing is the only way to maintain (or gain) a position as a frontrunner or at the very least, stay in your client’s view.Continue reading

9 Things that Mean Something Different in the South

In the south we may not all be country folk or small town folk, but we appreciate the homegrown, porch-sitting, tea-sippin’, take ‘er easy southern pace of living. We have our own way of doing things and often, we have our own way saying things. Words often mean something different than how they sound. We understand that if you didn’t grow up here, you might need translations for some of our favorite sayings. Ya reckon?Continue reading

7 Ways to Crush Social Media like Buzzfeed

buzzfeed crushes social media

With 150 million monthly users, Buzzfeed has launched into viral hemispheres that were previously uncharted. Valued at three times more than the Washington Post, it seems as though Buzzfeed has solved the mysterious love affair between audience and content by finding what makes them connect.

With articles about necklaces that hold a full slice of pizza in a pouch around your neck to dozens of others littered with kitten memes, you might be thinking that sites like the New York Times are more credible. After all, The Times drives around 57 million monthly unique visitors!

You might not be aware that in addition to all the pizza and cat stories, Buzzfeed also reports on serious issues like Syria and the coming Presidential Election. Also, Buzzfeed currently sees one billion monthly users. In just four years, Buzzfeed has transformed into one of the fastest growing social media business with over 300 staff, including a Pulitzer prize winner.Continue reading

6 Reasons Your Menu Should be on Facebook

menu on facebook

 

If menus weren’t available online, I think my husband and I actually might have starved by now. Each night around 6:00 without fail, my husband and I inevitably ask the same question:

So, what’s for supper?

We can’t seem to agree on a place and eventually, one of us gets hangry.

Thankfully, since Facebook implemented its Menu tabs, which allows restaurants to directly display their menu on Facebook business pages, we can resolve our dinner dilemmas more quickly. We can easily scan restaurant menus to find dishes that sound good to both of us.

The addition of menu tabs on Facebook isn’t just better for my evenings, it provides businesses a wider audience engagement that results in some serious ROI.

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Why You Might Desperately Need Brand Management Clean-up

brand management

Now that social media is the place for marketing, businesses need an increased focus on consistency in brand management.

We see it all the time–social media profiles for the same business contain varying and confusing information. Facebook will have one logo, while Twitter shows a different one. Their LinkedIn hasn’t been updated in months or there is a link for an March special and it’s June.

Which profile is up to date? Are these social media profiles for the same business or separate ones?

You do not want customers to ask these questions. You want current and complete social media profiles to further your brand identity. Ours is a world of fast clicks and quick scrolls, and instant brand recognition is imperative.

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How to Build a Brand & Why It Matters

how to build a brand concept

The first step in learning how to build a brand is to acknowledge that a true brand is more than a logo, more than a name. A brand is a dynamic, breathing thing that evolves and grows. It lives, it connects, it touches, it evokes, and it produces. Figuring out how to build a brand means putting the magical uniqueness of your business out there in a connectable way.

The concept of what a brand truly is is often misunderstood. In his book The Brand Gap, Marty Newmeier affirms that a brand is actually “a person’s gut feeling about a product or organization.” So, how do you ignite a “gut feeling?” Decide what you want consumers to feel about you, think about you, and associate with you and your business. Products have life cycles. A live brand, though, extends beyond products or service to continue the conversation (and conversions) for your business.

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3 Psychological Principles for Social Media Marketing

psychological principles in social media
By looking at some basic psychological principles, we form insight into how to make social media work for marketing.

The German philosophers Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka founded Gestalt psychology, which argues that human behavior can’t be truly understood by only looking at a few components of behavior. Instead, one must look at the whole individual. This line of thinking created a series of laws that illustrate the way people perceive the world. What these laws conclude is that humanity generally views the world as meaningful and complete, not as series of individual parts.

The Gestalt principles, which break down human perception into 8 laws of receptivity, are called the Laws of Perceptual Organization. The 3 psychological principles that apply best to marketing in social media will help businesses connect with their audiences in a more direct and meaningful way.

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16 Small Business Ideas for Small Towns, Part 2

jemully media business ideas for small towns part 2

8 (More) Ideas for Small Town Business

This is the second part of our post 16 Small Business Ideas for Small Towns. Here are eight more ideas for fabulous small town businesses that have worked successfully in other communities! After you review the list, perhaps you will find one that sparks your interest and starts you down the entrepreneurial path. It’s a great time to revitalize your small town and bring in new life!

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