The days of marketers pulling in consumers with mindless product platitudes may be over. As the conversations unfold, consumers are becoming smarter and are able to question the validity and authenticity of a brand’s messages. The days of pulling in consumers with generalized mindless product platitudes may be over. Developing an effective content marketing strategy is critical...Read More

Concerns for the health of our environment and people have been an important issue for decades. The once unofficial corporate response to these concerns has grown from a pestilent “They’re just a bunch of tree huggers”, some time ago, to general acceptance in the business world. The realization that sustainable products and services were experiencing...Read More

The practice of collecting and selling consumer data that tracks buying behaviors and monitors physical movements of every internet user is causing serious concern and consternation among the virtually connected. Effective digital marketing techniques depend greatly on understanding and utilizing the vast amount of data generated by social media users and the platforms that collect,...Read More

Now that a glimmer of light is appearing on the horizon after more than a year of business closures and sequestrations, the question for many businesses and marketers is: Now what? The COVID-19 pandemic imposed restrictive actions on every type of commerce. If ever there was a time that defied historic experience it has been...Read More

Inclusion is something that has been at the forefront of business and social conversations for years. Businesses have become accustomed to rules that have been initiated to establish an order of fairness; a common set of regulations to ensure equal participation in the physical and virtual commercial environments. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was...Read More

E-commerce spending by consumers has been on the increase for nearly two decades as consumers embrace the convenience, cost, and variety available from a home computer, laptop, or mobile device. In 2020, consumers spent more than $861 billion on purchases from online merchants. E-commerce now represents 21.3% of all retail sales. During a year when...Read More

As the totality of events of 2020 is chronicled and shelved to history, few participants living through the year of the COVID-19 pandemic will speak of positive experiences or focus on winners and silver linings. Most will recount experiences of the significant losses, financial and personal, suffered during the overwhelming disruptions to basic human maneuvering....Read More

The revolutionary gravitation to social media has been ongoing for nearly two decades. In 2020, the world’s population used social media platforms for commerce, news, and personal connections and interactions every day. More than 4.2 billion people are active across multiple platforms, each spending an average of 2 hours and 25 minutes per day on...Read More

Image Credit: Chinnapong / Shutterstock.com In the beginning, it promised a new era of opportunity to advance the cause of free enterprise; a new pathway that promised a level field of competition where industries would compete for customers regardless of size, and where small, more disadvantaged marketers could meet larger, better-capitalized players on more even...Read More

Image Credit: Ascannio / Shutterstock.com It was a potentially explosive announcement for social media marketing, but it would appear that for advertisers and marketers, who rely on social media platforms to connect with customers, the news barely received notice. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in December that they would be filing antitrust legislation against...Read More