If you’ve only visited Washington, D.C., you probably never heard of Frager’s. If you live in the district, there’s a good chance you know of the venerable hardware store that first opened in 1920. And if you ever lived on Capitol Hill, Frager’s was likely a staple in your life. Living only two blocks from…
Is there a future for standalone social media and digital marketing agencies? Not if you ask the next generation of marketing and communication pros, at least in Europe. According to a study of 2,000 students there, 80 percent believe these specialized agencies will disappear within 10 years. Nearly as many – 70 percent – believe marketing will be dominated…
Last week I attended the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) annual conference in Austin. For over 10 years I have been going to this conference – in person and remotely – to keep abreast of the latest developments in this unique segment of the healthcare IT industry. More Than an Academic Experiment As has been the…
As part of an ongoing series, I will be discussing how differing perspectives can create opportunities and challenges in driving success in customer representations, communications efforts, messaging approaches, and marketing strategies. This segment on Perspectives focuses on measurement and some pitfalls that may occur if shifting expectations are not carefully monitored. On Measuring Success The…
A recent PBS special on the coming-of-age of Silicon Valley reminded me of the excitement I had dreaming up the seemingly endless uses for my family’s first home computer (a Timex Sinclair 1000, with 1.5k of built-in memory, circa 1982), and the epochal significance of the work everyone in the technology sector is doing today,…
This year, HIMSS was remarkable for many reasons. For me, it re-introduced the city of New Orleans and (after multiple negative experiences) the allure the city can have. It also represented a personal success in winning an iPad Mini from Cigna – thanks to 42,000 steps in a 24-hour Fitbit competition. But, more importantly, sitting with clients in…
You’re ready to launch. Your development team has worked its magic, your distribution and pricing models are set, your shareholders and partners have bought off. All set, right? Too often emerging and established companies leave marketing and PR considerations as the last piece of their launch puzzle. It’s easy to push these elements to the…
Maker’s Mark recently announced it would drop the whiskey’s proof from 90 to 84 and then stumbled a bit before going back to its original recipe and apologizing for the mess it had caused along the way.  In that controversy, one of America’s truly great brands forgot — even if just for a day or…
What’s in a name? Well, if you are a Boeing, Gates, Schultz, or Ballmer, your name is synonymous with a well-recognized brand. And, in addition to being associated with hugely successful empires, what do all of these names have in common? They all have solid philanthropic reputations that not only benefit their communities, but also…
Schema Creator Form Social media is everywhere these days, like water around a fish. The original players – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – are as popular and influential as ever. And new platforms are popping up at a dizzying pace, such as Google + and Pinterest. Despite the hype, social media has proven to be a…
When rolling out a new product or service to your customers, establishing valuable and authentic communication is of vital importance. You want to tell them what’s new and at the same time communicate your value. A robust email campaign is a tried and true method for sending out the message. One of our clients, Clarity…
Whom do we really trust? People we know. And when people we know recommend a product or service, we tend to listen to them. That’s the power of word-of-mouth marketing. It’s amazing how persuasive this seemingly casual marketing technique can be. According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (which, admittedly, has a point of…
