Remember New Coke? I don’t; I was born a little too late. But you can bet I’ve heard about it. Everyone has. It’s one of the biggest new product flops in history, born of corporate hubris and misguided focus group data. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Coca-Cola was under a lot of pressure from PepsiCo. Its market share was declining, and Continue Reading...

Vine may be dead, but it casts a long shadow. If you’ve ever seen a video from the Paul brothers or heard a Shawn Mendes song, you’ve felt the legacy of Vine. Many creators and online celebrities got their start creating 6-second loops on the short-lived platform. Vine died in 2017, but right as it was shutting down, China’s ByteDance was Continue Reading...

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the late Marvin Hamlisch. For those who don’t know, Hamlisch was one of the most prolific and successful conductors and composers of the last century, winning multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, Oscar and Tony awards (the prestigious “EGOT”) and a Pulitzer Prize. And I, a wet-behind-the-ears college student, Continue Reading...

Sell online? Chances are at least some of your business runs through an online retail platform of some sort. Amazon. Etsy. eBay. TikTok. Meta (Instagram or Facebook). These platforms make life easier for people who want to sell on the Internet. And it’s worth it for them; they make a lot of money. But is it worth it for you? Using one of Continue Reading...

Google rules the search market, owning 82% of all global search activity. It’s impossible for the search giant to change something without shaking the entire digital world. And right now, there’s a lot of shaking. Google’s changing huge chunks of its search model, including updates aimed at making content expertise more relevant, AI Continue Reading...

AI is all over the news. It’s inescapable — and even in its current fledgling form, it’s changing digital marketing, agencies and business models. The news is full of people yelling about AI. Either it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, or it’s going to turn into Skynet and kill us all. No in between. The truth is less Continue Reading...

Middlemen are the backbone of modern marketing. They’re all names you know. Google for search; Meta, X and TikTok for social media; Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Amazon Ads for advertising. All the power in digital has been in the hands of the middlemen since the beginning. Why? Access to audience. They gave users value through Continue Reading...

  I’ve been asking all the small business owners I know what their biggest digital marketing need is today — and one of the first things they bring up is social media. If you’re one of those small business owners, this one’s for you. Social media is one of the most important pillars of your digital marketing strategy, but you Continue Reading...

Google’s been all over the news lately. Results have gotten much less useful over the last few years, and headlines proclaiming Google’s downfall are everywhere. It wasn’t always this way. Google is the world leader in search for a reason. Early on, while its competitors were struggling to determine which sites mattered, Google hit on the Continue Reading...

Why do people buy Heinz® ketchup, Apple® smartphones or Kleenex® tissues over other brands? Branding. It’s one thing to be able to sell someone a product or service once. But to get them to be loyal to your brand above all others — that’s a whole different ball game. And it’s harder now than ever before. In an age where disinformation is Continue Reading...