Blog

Join us in conversation on the topics we believe matter...to our industry, our city and our society.

Video Backgrounds in Web Design

By Kris Travis | Feb 10, 2016

Not everyone is doing it…yet. But video backgrounds in web design can be incredibly impactful and compelling in drawing the visitor into a brand. Longtime concerns over load times and usability are on the decline as web technologies improve every day, opening up new possibilities to creating an immersive brand experience online. Here are a […]

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Roundup of Top Posts

By Christy Caplan | Feb 9, 2016

It’s time to look back at our most popular content with this roundup of top posts. Some of these are from last year and some are more recent. Some of these were our most popular posts and others received a large amount of engagement across our social channels so we wanted to post a roundup as […]

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Direct Mail is Not Dead — Especially Among the 18-34 Crowd

By Christine Antles | Feb 9, 2016

Despite its reputation as a waning content marketing tool, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) reports that direct mail is still very relevant. In fact, according to a recent study referenced by the SBA, nearly two-thirds of all consumers reported they had purchased something as a result of direct mail in the past year. Among […]

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Avoid Bad PR with Good Grammar

By A.wordsmith | Feb 4, 2016

There’s no shortage of articles about the enduring importance of good grammar in the modern business world. They illuminate the ways it bestows credibility on the writer, indicates professionalism, and ensures clarity and accuracy. As a grammar nut myself, I couldn’t agree more. But there’s one more thing I’d like to add to that list: bad […]

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Nonprofit Social Media: Suggestions for Policies and Guidelines

By Natalie O'Grady | Jan 27, 2016

Working in the world of nonprofits often means getting creative with a tight budget. This means that there aren’t many nonprofits (especially small, local ones) that have money to spare for a full-time nonprofit social media person on staff. While working with an outside public relations agency to fill this need can be extremely beneficial, […]

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Design Trends for 2016

By Kris Travis | Jan 14, 2016

Happy New Year! Do you have any big design plans this year? A rebrand, some new print materials, perhaps an updated website? I’ve been curious about what design trends to expect in 2016, so I looked around to see what the internet creative hivemind is saying. Here are some recurring predictions I noticed: Monochromatic Color […]

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Promote Your Client’s Business with Meetup, the Antidote to Traditional Social Media

By A.wordsmith | Jan 13, 2016

A client recently asked us about using Meetup.com to expand their reach. Meetup, if you aren’t familiar, is a social network that allows users to organize real life, face-to-face events. Think of Meetup as the antidote to traditional social media. If Facebook is diluting good old-fashioned friendship and Twitter disconnects us from our neighbors, Meetup […]

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Pinterest Increases Engagement for Brands

By Christy Caplan | Jan 11, 2016

In news this week is Pinterest. Both the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and Social Media Examiner are saying that Pinterest is the fastest growing social media platform. A CMI post says that when compared to Facebook’s 6% member growth, Pinterest increases engagement for brands and experienced a huge 57% jump in members in 2014 and […]

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Audience Analysis: What to Do During a Presentation for Effective Communication

By Gretchen Hoffman | Jan 7, 2016

A few weeks back, we wrote about effective audience analysis and the role it plays in effective communication. More specifically, we went into detail about the first phase: before you are speaking in front of an audience. In this post, we’ll delve a little deeper into what to do during the second phase – once […]

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3 Tools for Staying on Top of News & Trends

By Natalie O'Grady | Dec 18, 2015

Working in public communications means you’ll likely spend a decent amount of time each week perusing news headlines, industry publications, and social media hashtags. In order to best represent your clients and find prime opportunities for coverage, you need to be aware of the top trends and breaking news. This includes public relations news, industry talk […]

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