Storytelling is Just That – Even for Businesses

ISSUE 18

Does your company have a story to tell? Telling a story is another way to connect with your customers and prospects. No matter what your company does, or what it sells, you have an opportunity to tell your story. For many industrials companies with not-so-exciting products, you may have to “Hollywood” your story a bit. I don’t mean fabricate and make up features and benefits for your products and services, I mean telling your story in an interesting way that captures the attention of your readers. This is the approach I take in building Content Marketing and PR programs for my clients.
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Content Marketing Never Stops

ISSUE 17

In my last blog, I introduced you to Content Marketing, about the storytelling of your products and services to build and nurture personal relationships with your customers. Now you can guess what I want to say…. you should never stop your Content Marketing efforts. Almost everyday or every week at the least, communicate with your customers and prospects.
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Content Marketing is the Future of Promotion

ISSUE 16

I see a chasm between creating great marketing campaigns and maintaining great marketing and branding. It seems the world is focused on the next big creative idea. The ‘ice bucket challenge’ of the past year comes to mind. But what drives branding excellence? What makes people remember your company and your brand and keep coming back for more? It is content marketing.
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Thinking Big Leads to Big Results

ISSUE 15

Now and then I write a case history on content marketing projects I’ve worked on where “thinking out of the box” or “thinking big” helped customers create a lot of buzz and interest for their products or events.
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‘To Advertise or Not to Advertise’ in the Trade Press

ISSUE 14

For the majority of the world, when you talk about advertising, the images of those clever commercials come to mind as seen during the Super Bowl. They are expensive to produce, and each year the price seems to rise for the time slot. Some are memorable, some are not. (I personally still like that little Darth Vader boy in the Volkswagen commercial). Sometimes it seems the PR generated around the commercial delivers more punch than seeing it live.
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Consistent Graphics on all Platforms Builds Brands

ISSUE 13

Want to get extra mileage for your branding efforts? Then make sure that everything you do has a consistent graphic approach.
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JUST DO IT! (I did. It worked.)

ISSUE 12

Slogans. Catchphrases. Themes. Advertising jingles. Whatever you call them, they just snare your attention. Everyone can name dozens off the top of their head without even blinking. Do they work? Let’s see. I’m going to throw in my thoughts on slogans and when to use them. When I think back to my marketing classes in college, the professors drooled over topics like this.
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Making the Most of Smaller Marketing Budgets

ISSUE 11

When I hear, “I’m melting. I’m melting,” from the crying Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz movie (1939), I sometimes think of some companies in the marketing field. Some budgets just seem to shrink year to year. So what should you do if your marketing budget doesn’t allow for world-class commercials during the Super Bowl? Do the next best thing – focus instead on doing a few things right!
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Keep Your Business Healthy

ISSUE 10

I want to present some questions in this blog that you should have the answers to, even before we start any content marketing work. Questions that will ascertain ‘why’ your business is even in existence and what it is supposed to do.
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"Keep It Simple" Should Be Writing Theme for Us All

ISSUE 09

I saw a concert by Michael Stanley (of the famous Michael Stanley Band). He was just emerging as a local rock star in the Kent/Akron/Cleveland area in the mid-70s when I loved his music. Hearing him live again was a treat. He delivered the same passion in his music as almost 40 years ago. Why? I believe it is because he loves what he does.
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It’s ‘All in the Cards’ for Major Product Launch

ISSUE 08

Ok. One more blog on special events, when I served as Manager of Public Relations at American Greetings Corporation, this time focusing on the single largest greeting card launch in the history of the company and how we promoted this.
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Special Events Deliver Special Results

ISSUE 07

Going back in time… when I was Manager of Public Relations at American Greetings Corporation, a Fortune 500 company in the mid-1980s, this blog relates how special events can take a company to another level.
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Website 101 - Keep Your Website Fresh… and Keep it Current

ISSUE 06

The topic of the day covers the Granddaddy of all marketing tools – the website! This is probably the single most important marketing tool in your arsenal. It can do so much for your company or organization if it is done well and kept current.
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HOBRATH GROUP LLC