Are You Wowing Prospects with your Sales Presentation?
by Jeff Andrews, VP Client Services We all know that there’s no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all sales presentation that will have prospects stuffing your inbox or signing on the dotted line before you leave the meeting. But there are things you can do to engage your audience during your limited time together. Cliché, yes, but it holds true that you only have one chance to make a great first impression. One other thought before outlining some ideas about the sales presentation. Just like job hunting in today’s market, most prospects are looking to see if your organization is a group they can work with; i.e. do they like you? There are many,
How to buy media: 5 essential tips
by Dane Prickett, Media Director When people first learn what my job involves, their initial reaction tends to be something like this: “That sounds very interesting. If someone asked me how to buy media, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.” In the past, I just smiled at that comment. How could I venture to explain something so intricate in a friendly conversation? This blog post is designed to help alleviate some of the initial confusion when it comes to buying media. Mind you, these are simply 5 top-level tips. But they do provide a basic framework when you first consider how to buy media. Trust the experts – or, become one yourself Before you
Journey Journal: The tagline tar pit
by Randy Mitchell, Creative Director The time: 10,000 years ago The place: Prehistoric Los Angeles The event: The very first marketing meeting A small group of Paleoindians is gathered around a rock. They are locked in a heated debate over a timeless marketing question: “What should our tagline be?” The meeting drags on and on. It’s an epic decision and consensus seems eons away. Before they realize it, the meeting’s momentum begins to fossilize. Literally. Our intrepid marketing ancestors have been entirely engulfed by thick, black goo. I cannot confirm that this actually happened in ancient La Brea. However, I can say beyond a doubt that the tagline tar pit is real. Agencies and clients frequently disappear
How to keep the overabundance of stock images from affecting your creative process
by Fred Gaede, Chief Creative Officer In my previous blog we discussed the issue of allowing the abundance of easily accessible and reasonably priced stock images take control of the creative process. After jotting down your initial ideas, there is a great temptation to turn to stock image sites for a quick visual solution. The trouble is, you often find yourself settling for a less than perfect image, and by doing so, diluting your concept. The most important part of being a Creative requires that you be exactly that—creative! One must apply the creative process, not just in the initial ideation, but also through to the final execution. You must be innovative
When too much is not enough: how the abundance of inexpensive stock images affects the creative process.
by Fred Gaede, Chief Creative Officer As a designer, I am the first one to raise my hand and say, “Guilty!” I have been guilty of letting the availability of stock images guide my creative instead of turning things around and letting my creative direct the choice of imagery. The situation typically goes like this: one of your B2B clients has a rush project. They need to communicate a particular message to their audience in a creative and graphically pleasing manner. It could be anything. The scope of the project really doesn’t matter. You have been tasked with solving a problem and solving it quickly. As you walk out of the launch meeting,
More Than Just A Pretty Site: Why You Need A B2B Website Strategy
What comes to mind when you think of “web design”? For most people, it’s something to do with the visual appearance of the site. When a business designs or redesigns its website, they often spend lots of time on fonts, images, colors, and other visual design elements. The goal is to create a beautiful site with an impactful appearance and maybe some of the cool graphics that are all the rage on competitors’ sites. While visuals are important, equally vital is the strategy behind every aspect of the website. It’s not enough to just look good—you also have to have a purpose. Here’s why you need to focus your attention on
Amazon’s “city pitch” is a loser from an ad agency’s perspective
by Gary Mattes, CEO When Amazon opened up the opportunity to cities to be the location for its next North American headquarters, of course every community hoped they had a shot. Why not? There aren’t many opportunities to change the fortunes of a city in one fell swoop. The problem is that most cities are expending resources on this “pitch” when they are already hemorrhaging money, without much opportunity to increase revenues. It doesn’t take a bookie to see these are bad odds—it just takes someone in the agency business. The process of choosing an ad agency has often entailed the “agency pitch”—not too dissimilar to the city pitch. But when an opportunity
B2B Super Bowl ads: Keanu Reeves is not your strategy guy
by Patrick McAuley, President and Chief Strategy Officer This year’s Super Bowl mirrored every other in one respect – very few B2B brands invested in an ad for the big game. Squarespace was one of only two or three to buy a $5.5 million 30-second spot to reach B2B buyers. Why would this one B2B brand commit such resources to this one tactic? Might the strategy behind the bold move be worth considering for your B2B brand? Let’s take a look at the Squarespace ad, assess its effectiveness, and weigh it against other ways they might have spent their Super Bowl ad budget. In the ad that aired Sunday, actor Keanu Reeves – of
New Year’s revolutions 2018
By Randy Mitchell | Creative Director The headline of this blog does not contain a typo. I have officially given up on New Year’s resolutions in favor of revolutions, and I suggest you follow suit. Here’s my thinking. Traditional resolutions are heartbreakers. The good intentions that drive them are admirable. People sincerely want to lose weight, volunteer at a local charity or update their LinkedIn photo to one taken during this decade. Unfortunately, those virtuous ambitions rarely seem to last until February. Now, let’s talk revolutions. Unlike resolutions, which generally involve personal sacrifice, New Year’s revolutions are all about the moment—or possibly the movement. That’s particularly true in the world of marketing. To provide
5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Rebranding Your Business
There comes a point in the life of every business when it feels like it’s time for a change. Whether this is because the current brand has been around for a while, the business has new offerings that don’t fit with the old message, or it seems like a shakeup will bring new customers to the door, there are lots of reasons why businesses contemplate rebranding. But rebranding your business isn’t something to be taken lightly—it takes inspiration, planning, strategy and everyone’s consensus. And it’s all critical, because a poorly executed rebranding can be worse than sticking with the old brand. Here at Boomm, we recently went through the rebranding process