Just a few years ago, brand activation was a phrase most of us had never heard. But as the era of “engagement” dawned in marketing, brand activation became an essential part of any professional’s toolkit.

The equation was simple: replace impressions with experiences to create a stronger relationship and deeper loyalty between the consumer and the brand. In its truest sense, brand activation is the art of driving consumer action through brand interaction. The key aim of brand activation marketing campaigns is to get consumers to act. It’s about bringing brands to life via experiences and forming long-term emotional connections. 

If you are a nonprofit organization, here are three important marketing trends you should include in your 2019 planning.

1. The Revival of Email

As the reach on social media channels like Facebook declines through stricter algorithms and policies, nonprofits should ramp up email communications.  By 2021, 7.7 billion email accounts are expected worldwide.  Smartphone users check emails 81% of the time on their device.  And with 59% of email opens occurring on mobile, you need to ensure any landing page click thru’s are mobile optimized as well.

Google has always seen itself as more than a search bar.  In fact, if you saw the news last week, Google is committing itself to the healthcare space from a variety of angles. 

Google announced last Friday that Geisinger Health CEO David Feinberg has been hired to head up their healthcare initiatives.  Feinberg will work to coordinate Google’s move into the $3 trillion healthcare market across many groups including Google Brain (the artificial intelligence team), Nest home automation group and Google Fit wearables team.

I had a conversation with a recent college graduate last week and I asked him if he used LinkedIn to prep for a meeting. His response surprised me. “I already have a job. I don’t need LinkedIn.” Really? In this time of big-data, constant networking and social media driven everything, LinkedIn still is thought of as just a place to find a job?

LinkedIn is so much more. And if you’re not using it as part of your organizations digital marketing strategy you are missing out.

Learning the Ropes of Social Media

Your website’s metadata is crucial to search engines and to customers being able to discover your information and in order to use it to research or make a purchase.

Despite our up-front and color-biased moniker, Team Orange is proficient with “all the colors in the crayon box.”

Toledo Region UX Conference

In my role as Digital Project Manager at Thread Marketing Group, I had the privilege of attending the Toledo Region UX Virtual Conference, “User Research for Everyone.” The virtual conference was hosted and broadcast by Rosenfeld Media, a well-known name in the realm of user experience expertise.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is a strategic method of bringing attention to your brand or product by harnessing respected voices in your industry. The use of blogging and social media are common in online marketing, and because of that the digital landscape is saturated with messaging. Influencer marketing can amplify your message and make your brand stand out from the crowd.

2016 has been a great year for social media and the ever evolving platforms and tools that we use.  As Thanksgiving approaches, we’re looking back at some of the biggest updates and social media releases that we’re thankful for and that have helped move our brand and clients forward.