5 Non-Intuitive Marketing Strategies To Grow Your Marketing Career

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Our CEO, Christine Perkett, was featured in Authority Magazine’s marketing interview series to give entrepreneurs and marketers an inside look at proven strategies you might also be able to leverage to grow your business or career. In the interview, she covers a variety of topics including:

  • What she wishes someone would have told her before she started in marketing
  • Our often-emulated remote working model and its positive effects on the environment and our employees’ wellness, health, and happiness
  • Where she sees the future of marketing headed
  • What a “blueprint” for a very successful marketing campaign looks like
  • A look back at some of her favorite marketing campaigns
  • Marketing tools and technology for more effective campaigns

Read the full article here.

Remember the fun — stay creative. Return to play as a part of work. Most importantly, in this day and age of remote work, step away from the computer. Make self-care a part of your schedule every day and get enough sleep! As creatives, it’s so important because when we burn out, we struggle with new ideas. My best ideas often come to me when I’m running or sleeping and dreaming.


They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway

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Our CEO, Christine Perkett, was featured in Authority Magazine’s interview series about resilient leaders and entrepreneurs. She shares how she started the agency, why we stand out from the crowd, who inspired her, and how she strives to bring the most amount of good to the greatest number of people. Read the full article.

I balanced the naysayers by hiring only senior-level executives, and that gave us a competitive edge. We compete with “traditional” agencies all of the time.


Solving A Universal COVID-19 Business Problem

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A case study on how Intermountain Lacrosse (IMLAX), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the organization and growth of youth lacrosse in Utah and southern Idaho, and the largest geographic league in the U.S., is using HealthShield from 42Chat to safely reopen its league.

With over 179 teams and 3500 players, across 50 different programs in 20 locations, the idea of gathering thousands of COVID symptom screenings in a consistent, compliant, and timely manner was daunting. Adding to the complexity was that 75 percent of the audience – the children – couldn’t vouch for themselves, which meant that parents had to do so. And often, the parents had multiple kids playing on different teams and different fields. How would parents be in two places at once to vouch for their children and sign a paper survey? How would the league track all of the paper surveys, communicate which children had completed the survey, and where would they store them in order to prove compliance if needed? The levels of complexity were great, and the liability factor serious. 

Learn more about how they did it, here.

NBC 10 Features Team IMPACT UVM Match

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NBC 10 interviews fourth-grader Max White of Richmond, Vermont, who just became the latest team member of the University of Vermont men’s soccer team through client Team IMPACT.

UVM’s 10-Year-Old Soccer Recruit Stays Connected With Team During COVID-19 Crisis

NECN Features Client Team IMPACT

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NECN ⁦interviewed client Team IMPACT’s CEO about how the Boston-based nonprofit continues to operate and help sick kids stay connected with their matched teams during the COVID-19 quarantine. See the full story, here.

New England Patriot’s Chase Winovich joined Team IMPACT’s Virtual Gala April 29th

2020 Marketers To Follow

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Our CEO, Christine Perkett, was included in this comprehensive list of strategic marketers to follow, compiled by Rubicly. There are a lot of people – corporate and agency side – to learn from or hire if you’re looking for marketing advice, strategy, and execution.

To keep you inspired, I’ve put together this ginormous list of marketers to follow. For this list, I didn’t pay attention to number of followers. Rather, I curated a list of marketers with talent whether they’re new to the scene or a seasoned professional. Keep your marketing strategy fresh and follow all of these marketers on Twitter and connect with them on LinkedIn.


Team IMPACT CEO Writes for Chief Learning Officer

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Seth Rosenzweig, CEO of client team IMPACT, wrote a piece for Chief Learning Officer about building stronger leaders through volunteerism and mentorship. As the leader of the Boston-based nonprofit connecting children facing serious or chronic illnesses with college athletic teams, he is very familiar with the psychological and sociological effects of isolation and believes that this knowledge is something that all leaders and managers will now need to familiarize themselves with in order to lead effectively in this new reality. He shares what lessons leaders can take from this knowledge to help their isolated teams stay connected and inspired in this time of COVID-19 quarantine and social distancing.

“Philanthropy and volunteerism can help us navigate seemingly impossible situations and focus on silver linings — something we can all benefit from at a time like this. The lessons we can take from being mentors, for example, are many and can be applied to other areas of life such as leadership, management, self-control and more. How can you encourage your team to give back not only in a time of need but as a way of life?”

Read the full story, here.

How Small Businesses Can Stay Engaged When They’re Closed

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The Coronavirus pandemic is awful, no question. But if we look around, we can find a lot of positive, creative things happening as people continue to try and connect with and inspire others. Likewise, while many small businesses are unable to open or have lost clients, they still want to engage with their customers and stay top of mind for the future. But how?

We’ve seen a lot of really creative things happening in the art world, such as virtual museum tours, online Broadway shows, musicians offering free concerts, and more. But small businesses don’t always have the resources that these larger organizations or celebrities do. However, they can get creative with social content. As a Top 100 Champion in the Small Business Influencer Awards from Small Business Trends and Smallbiz Technology, we thought we’d share a few simple ideas to inspire small businesses to keep engaging their audiences.

Partner up with other SMBs to create unexpected, resourceful content. Ex: record a Zoom video call between you and another small business owner. Make it fun and memorable; be light-hearted and humorous. Imagine a candy shop owner and a wine shop owner together, and the candy shop owner holds up different types of candy while the wine shop owner recommends wine to pair with it. Not two things that generally go together, which makes it interesting and inventive. Besides, we all know we’re eating more candy and drinking more wine than normal right now.

Get creative with what you offer, even if you can’t sell it right now. A jeweler might offer a customer contest to virtually help design a ring, or vote to choose a “stone of the week” that the jeweler then uses to create a new piece and names it after the customer. Once the jeweler can open again, they can offer the piece at a special price to that customer. Or, a florist might invite followers to name 5-10 flowers on its Facebook page and then create a bouquet of those flowers and share images. When they can reopen, they can offer that bouquet at a special price.

Involve your fans. It’s been well-known for quite some time that fans love being involved and noticed. Provide them with new ways to do so. For example, an artist can have fans nominate what his or her next piece of art should be; a pizza shop can let fans pitch in on ideas for new toppings or a weekly special to encourage takeout orders. Here in Boston, the New England Aquarium is doing #virtualvisits videos so fans can watch along as they care for the animals. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles challenged art fans to post photos of themselves at home, recreating their favorite works of art.

We’ve also seen some innovative ideas from local small businesses in our community. One popular sign company created a “Signs of Hope” campaign, which consists of various heart-themed designs of door signs, sold both online and at self-serve kiosks around multiple towns. They are selling on the honor system, something you don’t see much anymore, which is a vital part of establishing the feeling of a trusted community, support, and, well, hope. People remember how you made them feel and evoking positive emotion in your campaign can make a lasting impression.

Another great example we’ve seen is the Front Steps Project. Local photographers are offering families in their communities highly discounted or free (although you can donate an amount you think is fair and which you can afford), family portrait sessions on your front steps or in your yard. They’ll drive to your home, keep a safe distance, and take your photos. My family is having ours taken this weekend, and the photographer is offering us five pictures at an extremely reasonable price. We get to support another small business and do something unique together in this time of home isolation.

As a small business ourselves, we understand the anxiety and frustration taking place as a result of the economic fallout from the pandemic. But if you can, keep marketing and try some creative campaigns that you might not otherwise have explored when things were “normal.” Think about your expertise and what you can offer to others besides products and services. How can what you do tie into helping people through this unprecedented situation while keeping your business top of mind? As long as campaigns are respectful and socially-minded, most people will applaud your efforts and want to support you the best that they can in this uncertain time and as we all recover in the future.

If you need additional content ideas or social media training, give us a shout. We’re currently offering free one hour consulting sessions to hear about your business, your current challenges, and your long term goals – and to provide a few ideas for content and positioning.

Stay mindful, but more importantly, stay hopeful and stay home.

Marketing During A Crisis

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It’s a question on the minds of many Chief Marketing officers, marketing executives, and small business owners: “What should we do about marketing in the current COVID-19 crisis? Should we even be marketing?”

To Market Or Not To Market?

As has been said in the wake of past disasters, the answer is yes. The more important question is “How and what should we be marketing”? Marketing is often the first thing to go during a financial crisis – it’s an “easy cut” that doesn’t always have a stark, noticeable impact on the bottom line. (This is why measurement and analytics are so important!) But in difficult times, marketing may be more critical than ever. While it may not drive hot leads today, it will generate warm leads and loyalty for tomorrow when buyers begin to spend money again.

Moving To Socially-Minded Campaigns

Every organization now needs to refocus their marketing approach to be socially-minded. If your company’s previous marketing was all about your brand, it’s time to think differently. True, consumers and businesses may be slowing down buying today, but tomorrow will come and marketers need to be thinking about that in their strategy.

Socially-minded marketing during this crisis is focused on brands being a resource to customers and prospects today. Provide more information, share more insights, give more than you have previously. Consider pricing strategies, reductions, or payment plans that will allow your customers to stay with you during these tough times. Think about how your marketing actions today will build long term loyalty when we all begin to recover and spend again.

What Brands Are Doing It Right?

Take, for example, Planet Fitness. They swiftly conducted a series of smart marketing moves:

  • On March 10, they sent a member newsletter on health and wellness guidelines and best practices for staying clean and healthy during flu season and among “heightened awareness around COVID-19.” (Because none of us yet knew the full implications!)
  • They closed all clubs proactively (not waiting to be forced by government mandates) on Friday, March 20
  • They proactively froze all member accounts, not charging any fees “during this time.” Considering that no one seems to know how long “this time” will last, this is particularly impressive. As long as their clubs remain closed, they will not charge membership fees. Admittedly, this is a difficult decision that affects the bottom line. But they immediately recognized their role in helping to stop the spread of Coronavirus (closing all clubs) and the financial strain that consumers were going to be facing. While the $20 I spend on my monthly membership isn’t going to help pay my mortgage, it does make me loyal to a brand that puts its customers first, and I’ll remember that.
  • Thereafter, they did not send out any other newsletters or promotions until this Monday, March 23. They took their time to think carefully about what to market, how, and when.
  • They are now offering free fitness classes for everyone – branded “Home Work-Ins,” streaming live daily Monday – Friday at 7 p.m., hosted by their trainers and celebrity guests. They require no equipment and are just 20 minutes or less. What a brilliant way to keep current members engaged and appeal to prospective members who a) may have no other workout options and b) have never tried Planet Fitness before and can now get a feel for how they treat their members, how they train, etc. The classes are also available on Facebook and YouTube after each broadcast, allowing fitness buffs to do them on their own time.
  • They quickly updated their website to reflect the new campaign, “United We Move: We’re Bringing The Gym To You.”

Other brands did not move as swiftly or as carefully. They may not have considered just how vital intelligent, socially-minded marketing is in a crisis like this. They continued to think only with a promotional viewpoint and not a research-based, customer-first mindset. Sending your regular newsletter with a side note on COVID19 was not enough. Here’s a different tale from Vineyard Vines:

  • On March 13 Vineyard Vines sent a newsletter out encouraging customers to continue shopping in their stores because “they remained open.” A note that the company had stepped up their “already rigorous store cleaning protocols,” was included and that they wanted to be a place of “respite and positivity” during this time. I was surprised that they didn’t instead promote online shopping and encourage people to stay home – both for their employees’ and their customers’ sake.
  • Over the next two days, on March 14 and 15, they continued to send newsletters with regular promotions such as “Spring Print Spotlight,” and “Sale’s on Sale.” They lacked any new thoughts/positioning on why consumers should even think about shopping for Spring weather or vacation clothing during this time of uncertainty and social distancing.
  • Later on March 15, they sent a second newsletter of the day stating their stores would be closed through March 27. They did announce that they would be paying employees for any previously scheduled shifts and that their website would remain open. Still, there was no real positioning on what they were doing to help employees for the long term, why customers should consider continuing to spend money with them, or to connect their tagline, “Every Day Should Feel This Good” to what customers could do to stay positive and “feel good” during such a time. I consider that a lost opportunity. They could have shared ideas for staying positive, being resilient, keeping entertained, etc. that tied to “feeling good.”

The next day, they were back to their regularly scheduled “40 percent off” newsletters.

Finally, Monday of this week, they started to tie it in, offering “the most comfortable work from home styles,” and a new hashtag, “whaleathome,” accompanied by a website featuring “Tales of the Good Life from our friends, activities and inspiration for whale-you’re-at-home, and more to give you a brief escape from these uncertain times.” They began promoting images of people wearing and using their products at home and they tied in “We hope this reminds you that Every Day Should Feel This Good.”

Two Different Approaches

Of course, I acknowledge that every brand is different, and not all have something to offer that can tie into the social distancing and isolation we are all currently faced with today. However, this shows the difference between the two marketing strategies and approaches:

  1. A fast-moving, research-based, customer-first vs. sales first, resourceful and socially-minded campaign that will build long term customer loyalty
  2. A sales-first, slightly oblivious, self-absorbed campaign that barely acknowledged a new reality for the entire globe for over a week

In times of crisis, marketing is essential, but it changes. Swift moves backed by critical thinking, and research are vital. Crisis experts should be consulted, and it’s better to halt promotions until you have a clear strategy in place. Keep this in mind as you continue to navigate the murky waters we are all swimming in today, with no definitive end in sight. How will you connect with and help your customers during this time? Stop thinking sales-first for now, and start building loyalty-based campaigns that will help both you and your customers when we reach the recovery phase.

What brands have you seen doing a good job marketing during this crisis?

Develop A Golden Image Standard For Remote Workers

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As the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) shuts down much of the world’s regular operations, more companies than ever are suddenly managing a remote workforce. I founded a virtual organization in 1998 and have since been managing a remote workforce around the world. Forrester Research studied our processes and named us a “Golden Image Standard” for other companies to follow, so I thought I would share some insights on how to best manage this new reality.

Tech Priorities – Remote work is first and foremost about good tech. It’s not as simple as assigning employees a laptop and sending them on their merry way. Forrester applauded our remote support technologies, robust storage capabilities, collaboration tools, and proactive approach to green IT, calling our remote workers more productive and greener when compared with their previous office-based environments. We’re proud of that but truth be told, smart IT is even easier these days. Companies like Zoom, Skype, and Google make it easy to teleconference and hold meetings (although, as you always should, consider which meetings are truly vital). Slack is a great way to keep communications constant and within different working groups. Microsoft Sharepoint and Google make it easy to share, store, and manage versions of documents. And most everyone now has a mobile phone, which allows them to work within and manage these applications from anywhere. Also, think of equipment in an employee’s office – besides a laptop, what should you invest in to ensure they are comfortable, productive, and happy?

Security Policies and Procedures are also vital. IT will need to prep laptops before being assigned to employees. Quickly assemble a “must have list” of apps for all employees as well as a list of things not to download, depending on your type of business. Ensure that you have policies in place for using public WiFi, choosing intelligent passwords, and using two-step authentication, as well as using the laptop for any personal needs. Consider whether you will use 24/7 remote monitoring to help ensure a secure virtual work environment.

General working policies must quickly be written and communicated. Should employees have video on for remote meetings? What is the expectation around working hours? Are you going to allow flexibility for working parents who also have young children at home because schools are closed? What is different now vs when they were working from a physical office? Be sure you also provide suggestions on how to stay productive and focused as a remote worker. Not everyone has the self discipline it takes but with many companies requiring all employees to work from home for a while, it’s vital to provide as much guidance and support as possible. When, where, and how will they (or should they) track hours and projects? How often are they expected to check in with managers?

Support Leadership – Perhaps your managers have never led a remote team before. Don’t forget to provide them with training and guidance as well. Jumping into constant meetings in order to ensure people are working will not be efficient or productive. You have to give them support on how to manage remotely and recognize signs of lackadaisical employees. How should they handle such situations? What should they look for and expect? How can they keep employees engaged?

Communicate – The most obvious tip but one that is often overlooked or misunderstood. Communication is key and should be consistent in such uncertain times. THIS DOES NOT MEAN MORE MEETINGS. If you’re a smaller company, a daily email from management or the CEO can go a long way in keeping a cohesive and connected work environment. Check in and let them know developments of the day or week, recognize workers who have done a great job (this may be even more important than ever now), and ask questions. Ensure you are giving them a platform to share how they are getting along virtually, any concerns or questions they have, and ideas they may want to share to keep your culture positive and connected.

If you need help developing IT or HR policies for a remote workforce, reach out. After 20+ years managing employees from coast to coast, we can help. In the meantime, be safe and be well.