This past Tuesday, 770 area nonprofits in Middle Tennessee received a big hug from the city of Nashville and surrounding areas. The Big Payback, an initiative of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, hosted a 24-hour marathon for the sole purpose of raising much needed funds to support the good work done by various programs…
Very few things in life boost the credibility of your brand like the praise of others. By delivering on your brand promises, you earn the respect and trust of others before you need it, and when you need it to make the sale, it’s already there, so says Seth Godin. That’s the power of earned…
We make the list every year. In 2016, we’re #6 Most Stressful Jobs according to Forbes, right behind military personnel and emergency first responders. PR executives get a bad rap for being hacks or flacks but at the end of the day, they’re the ones taking the heat if your company is under fire by…
Gone are the days, thankfully, that we have to wait on a media outlet to pick up a news release or run a story we’ve written. Technology has empowered business owners to be creators of their own destiny, giving us platforms to publish our own content as often as we want on whatever topic we…
When creating a campaign to market your business or a particular aspect of your business, your content is at the mercy of your strategy. Building an effective content strategy that leverages the benefits of owned, paid, and earned media helps you tap into resources you already own while getting a boost from advertising and positive…
We’re all in the people business. Regardless of what you sell, there’s a person behind ever dollar made. And it’s not just your customer. Employee engagement has a direct impact on customer experience. Not knowing what motivates your employees will make it nearly impossible to deliver on your brand promise of serving your customers. What is…
An interesting phenomenon has occurred in the digital age – consumers are now listening to the opinions of strangers to influence their purchasing decisions. With sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and Goodsnitch, consumers are now able to rate their experience and provide detail on what they liked and did not like with this information being…
The customer may not always be right, but the customer is certainly at the center of a brand that is top of mind. And the way these brands pull that off is by delivering exceptional customer experiences that go beyond the 800 number and help enrich the lives of their customers. Sounds like a tall…
We’ve reached a tipping point. Brands are no longer competing solely on the quality of their products and services. Consumer sentiment is favoring brands who not only deliver the “goods”, but the service to match. When combined, these brands offer a contagious customer experience that these newly minted brand advocates – customers – can’t wait…
Creating a “compelling brand narrative” sure sounds good, but isn’t quite as easy to do as it sounds. It’s not that you don’t have a story. Every brand has one. And that story should show up in every aspect of your business, from your logo design to product packaging. Website copy to social media content….
Newsflash: Your ‘About Us’ page on your website isn’t really about you. No, I’m being serious. I know what you’re thinking: “How can that be true? After all, the name of the page says that it is, you know, about us.” I get it. When we put together an About page that only details historical…
Buy them. Now, that doesn’t mean that you don’t use paid advertising on platforms that make sense for your brand. But it does mean that you shouldn’t rely solely on paid advertising to cultivate an audience for your brand when, with a little elbow grease, you can do some of the work and see a…