When I was a youngster attending a parochial grammar school in the heart of Boston, we had televisions in every classroom. This was a big deal because I am talking about the early sixties, and using television as an educational tool was not all that common. I don’t know why some things remain with me and others do not, but I remember that the nuns in our school (St. Peter’s in Dorchester) always tuned in to a particular show on the local public broadcasting channel. The show featured a folk singer named Tony Saladin.

I remember one song in particular that he performed. It has stayed with me all these years and the wisdom of the lyrics that escaped me at such an early age have become the central tenet of my life today. He sang; “Love is something that if you give it away, give it away, give it away – Love is something that if you give it away, you end up having more.” Read more…

There are many highly qualified marketing agencies in Boston, the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire. The really big advertising agencies typically work with very large corporations whose budgets range in the millions of dollars. There are mid range agencies that specialize in certain vertical niches such as healthcare, accounting, finance and biotech. And there are smaller agencies that are more comfortable working in one medium, such as search engine optimization, direct mail, traditional advertising, or strategic consultation.

In order to make a good decision as to which agency can better help you to increase the reach of your brand, create the proper message on the appropriate media platform, and become a virtually invisible extension of your own company, some homework needs to be done. Read more…

The easiest thing in the world to do is that which you have always done. I suppose there is at least some validity to the old saying; everything that can be done has already been done, and the trick is to think of it again. However, I tend to disagree. And, in as much as this article is going to live on a blog that concerns itself with marketing, I will focus my remarks through that particular lens, understanding that what I am going to say can be successfully applied to any facet of anyone’s life.

I think that unconscious reliance on the tried and true, even if it re-packaged in new and interesting ways, perpetuates intellectual and emotional laziness and acceptance of the status quo – even if it has the illusion of being refreshingly new. This trap is exceedingly easy for marketers to fall into. Read more…

The beginning of a new campaign is a very exciting time in the life of a marketing agency. We conduct the necessary research to accurately identify the target market, we gather the intelligence we need to devise a message that will appeal to a certain audience, we know the demographics, we understand the dynamics of the particular marketplace and we bring the best and most creative minds together for the intense brainstorming sessions that will bring the compelling messages to life.

There are many answers to the above questions, but I will focus on only one aspect of a phenomenon that pervades the marketing industry today. It is the fact that the individual human being, the person with his or her own set of unique thoughts and feelings that we are trying to motivate into measurable action, is lost in the equation. Marketers tend to forget that, no matter how many millions of people see or hear an ad, it is really only experienced by a vast collection of individuals, not by a collective mind. Read more…

You can create the most aesthetically compelling website imaginable, Send out an email blast announcing the birth of your new presence on the web, print the URL on your stationery and make sure to incorporate it in any traditional advertising you design. The excitement you feel when you finally see the new website completed and launched is very real. However, without you knowing it, your website could possibly be useless.

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