Ah, the comfort zone. So warm, inviting and comfortable. It’s always there, ready to embrace us with a big hug while it whispers, “Stay a while” in our ear. But cozy as it is, there’s typically not a lot of opportunity in that same familiar place. 2019 is the year to bust out of that comfort zone! ODEA President, Patty Rioux, is sharing why she thinks we learn best when we’re uncomfortable. Learn why you should push yourself out of the comfort zone in this week’s episode of Brain Lava. READ MORE >>
It’s hard to believe that back in 2005, the Oxford Dictionary named “podcast” its word of the year. Fast forward to March of this year and Apple Podcasts announced it passed 50 billion all-time episode downloads and streams. And you know us marketers – any place people are gathering billions of times is someplace we want to be with content! Before you get too excited and order all the equipment and software to start recording your podcast, first ask yourself why you want to create a podcast. What topics can you create content around that showcase your knowledge or point READ MORE >>
At ODEA we live and breathe BOLD. But what does BOLD really mean? We’ve each picked out an example of marketing out in the world that we find to be BOLD. As you’ll see, BOLD can take on many forms. What does BOLD mean to you? JJ’s pick… Fortnite’s NFL Skins Why is it BOLD? “As viewership of TV has decreased, where are those viewers spending their time? Video games. If you know any children who play video games (or adults who are still a child at heart) they have probably mentioned Fortnite, one of the fastest growing video games in the world. READ MORE >>
For thirteen episodes you’ve heard us give our spiels on topics ranging from being BOLD to user experience to how to give a great presentation. In this episode of Brain Lava, we’re changing it up! Welcome to the first edition of Brain Lava Trivia, a podcast that tests your graphic design knowledge while sharing insight into what our designers do here at ODEA. Cailyn, one of ODEA’s graphic designers, puts Patty and Sue on the spot with a little design trivia. Listen to this week’s episode of Brain Lava to find out how they did and test your own design READ MORE >>
Are you playing offense or defense when it comes to your marketing? Maybe it’s because we’re in the heart of football season or because we’ve had this topic come up a few times recently, but we feel like you should be thinking about it. Offense marketing means focusing on your company’s strengths as opposed to worrying about what the competition is doing (aka defense marketing). This week on Brain Lava, Patty shares a few examples of why you should be offense-minded when it comes to your marketing. Do you have thoughts about offense versus defense marketing? We would love to READ MORE >>
As a marketing agency, you may think that creativity is oozing from our minds at all times. While we wish that was so, it’s not always the case. So, what do you do when you feel like the creativity is going through a dry spell? We like to think of creativity as a muscle. The more you exercise that muscle, the stronger it becomes. Our storyteller, Amelia Dellos, had the opportunity to attend Camp Wandawega in Elkhorn, Wisconsin this year where she participated in some amazing lectures. In this week’s episode of Brain Lava, she’s sharing what she learned and READ MORE >>
A few weeks ago, we held our first official post-mortem at ODEA. Following the meeting, we discussed what we felt worked great for our team and the things that were not-so-great. A post post-mortem, if you will. Here’s what we learned: Make a list of questions We have a vocal group at ODEA but we still wanted to make sure we had a short list (about five) of questions to open up the discussion. We started the conversation with those questions but allowed the discussion to stray from the list at times, which is okay! The questions are a great READ MORE >>
The screenshare of your meeting is just about to start. You’re about to see an early version of the creative project your marketing team has been working hard on for the last few weeks. You’re excited to see some awesome eye-candy and/or hear some brilliant content. But what if you don’t love it? What if you hate it? What if you don’t know if you love it or if you hate it? Regardless, you want to be a good colleague or client and give feedback that is honest, yet respectful. But, you’re not quite sure how to do that. We READ MORE >>
We know that presenting is not always at the top of everyone’s “favorite things to-do” list but when the opportunity to present at a great conference or event falls into your lap, it’s hard to say no. As lovers of learning, we’ve attended as many conferences as we can to keep the wheels in our brains turning. As we’ve watched a variety of presentations (and even given some ourselves,) we’ve picked up a few tips on giving a great presentation. Check out episode 9 of Brain Lava for four quick presentation tips! READ MORE >>