If you follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you may have seen some of our marketing stats posts. As marketers, we’re always trying to stay in the loop with the latest data. What’s working for B2B marketers? What are the habits of today’s consumers? How is technology impacting the way we market? Below are some of our favorite marketing stats that speak volumes to us. We try and take these nuggets of information into account when we research a new project or opportunity. We hope they inspire you to think about marketing a little differently! EMAIL Each of these READ MORE >>
As a marketer, you’ve undoubtedly been asked by your boss or your CEO to explain the ROI of a certain project or initiative. Marketers are often challenged to prove that their efforts have made an impact and that the budget spent was worthwhile. This push for ROI is common but overlooks some of the most valuable data points we have. While stats like web traffic and email engagements can’t be directly equated to a sale, they can tell a story. At ODEA, in addition to focusing on the elusive “return on investment”, we believe analytics give specific insights into what READ MORE >>
Yolo. Totes. Awesomesauce. Cray. Are you cringing yet? Me too. Trendy things, from clothes to cars to food, all have a shelf life. We believe words have expiration dates too, especially when a perfectly innocent word transforms into a buzzword. The rise and fall of buzzwords are especially true in marketing and branding, where they have a distinct season of popularity before plummeting into the abyss. Harold Evans says in his book, Do I Make Myself Clear? Why Writing Well Matters, that “…clarity and wit, not trendiness, are the goals of quality writing.” Over time, buzzwords eventually lose not only READ MORE >>
“If you’re going to lead, lead with grace and compassion.” – Michelle Obama As a three-year user of HubSpot, I was thrilled to finally attend my first Inbound. And it was worth the wait! While I came back to work with a wealth of knowledge, several Word docs of notes and a notebook filled with chicken scratch revelations, I have condensed my learnings into seven key points. I hope they inspire you as much as they’ve inspired me! 1. Create the conditions for your creativity. Piera Gelardi, Refinery 29 My very first session was Piera’s insightful keynote. She READ MORE >>
If you are new to the world of content marketing, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed when it comes to planning your blogs, eBlasts and social media posts for the week. How do you know what to write about? When should it be shared? What did we post last week? That’s where a content calendar can make your life easier. Content calendars can take many forms depending on how you like to stay organized. Regardless of what yours looks like, the goal is simple: keep track of content that you’re planning to send out in the future. The elements READ MORE >>
Curious about what we’ve been working on lately? As always, our projects run the gamut. From web design to branding to signage and more, we’ve had a lot of fun with our clients so far this year (and ourselves!). Check out our project highlight reel featuring a few of our favorites from the last few months: ODEA Business Cards ODEA Office Signage Big River Steel’s Grand Opening Micro-Site WelComb’s Retail Packaging READ MORE >>
You may have noticed that 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 bold. As you’ll see, bold can take on many forms. What does bold mean to you? JJ’s pick… Inside Abbey Road with Google Why is it BOLD? “For something to be BOLD, it needs to be big and to stand out from the rest. I can’t think of anything bolder than Abbey Road Studios. It is where many popular songs were recorded from The Beatles to the READ MORE >>
We’re huge proponents of inbound marketing. But before we go into the reasons why you should be using the inbound methodology, we should probably tell you what it is! For a detailed description, you can read our whitepaper on inbound marketing. If you want the short and sweet version, read on: Outbound marketing focuses on reaching OUT to your target audience with advertising, buying email lists, sending direct mail, cold calling, etc. Inbound marketing focuses on using content that educates or entertains to draw your target audience IN. Typically, your audience is directed to your website where they READ MORE >>
Amazing experiences that make you say “wow” just keep on coming. We recently covered the differences between Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), 360 Degree Experiences and Mixed Reality (MR); you can read it here in case you missed it. While it’s not the year of hover boards yet, there’s no doubt that the “wow” factor of VR is still there. Here are a few trends in VR that continue to amaze us and make us believe the integration into marketing has only just begun. EYE TRACKING Eye tracking is going to be the next big thing that VR, AR, READ MORE >>