Kimmo Linkama

A trend of bringing your advertising account in-house is emerging among large-scale advertisers. The advertising press was quick to start weighing the pros and cons of such a move. Interestingly enough, many of the cons are easily avoidable.

Are all your documents sending the same message and properly representing your brand? With all the attention companies give to branding, advertising and marketing, I suspect they do not pay much attention to their brand consistency across documents.

If your B2B company is in the small-to-medium-size category, you may have your doubts about creating a website for your company. Direct mail, catalogues, telephone calls to customers and one-to-one sales meetings are traditionally your bread and butter, why bother with the internet? But if you can’t be found online, you’re losing a significant amount of business.

Self-admiration. Boasting. Talking about oneself. Think how you would rate a person displaying these characteristics. Listening. Wanting to help. Taking the other person into consideration. What would you think about a person like this? Why do many, if not most, companies insist on marketing themselves in ways that portray them as the first alternative above? Are marketers really incapable of applying things they’ve learned in their personal lives to their professional lives?

If you do a web search on how to find a good freelance b-to-b copywriter, you will get dozens of results purporting to give you good advice. Many of them, however, seem to just list some boilerplate answers without really going deeper into the issue. This story may give you a slightly different angle.

Distinctive product design, colours and logos have been used to help brand recognition for a long time. Now some companies are trying to appeal to our hearing as a stimulator and brand identifier. How are they succeeding?

Many experts offer online learning programmes, either free or for a charge. A large percentage of these programmes comes in audio or video format. Let's break the myth about audio and video being the ideal learning media.

It is sometimes amazing how stubbornly companies and their marketers cling to old-fashioned, clichéd and downright wrong ideas of how they should market their companies and their products or services. Here is a collection of self-destructive obsessions from my 20-year marketing communication career.

Many freelancers are looking for a magic formula that will find new prospects, convert them into clients and keep those clients. Actually, there really is such a formula. It can be condensed into one word: trust.

While your competitors are cutting down their marketing spending, you will do better if you keep your brand, product or service in front of your audience throughout the recession. Market share is won during downturns. If you play your hand wisely, your company will come out of a downturn in better shape than before it.

While your competitors are cutting down their marketing spending, you will do better if you keep your brand, product or service in front of your audience throughout the recession. Market share is won during downturns. If you play your hand wisely, your company will come out of a downturn in better shape than before it.

Are all your documents sending the same message and properly representing your brand? With all the attention companies give to branding, advertising and marketing, I suspect they do not pay much attention to their brand consistency across documents.

A trend of bringing your advertising account in-house is emerging among large-scale advertisers. The advertising press was quick to start weighing the pros and cons of such a move. Interestingly enough, many of the cons are easily avoidable.

It is sometimes amazing how stubbornly companies and their marketers cling to old-fashioned, clichéd and downright wrong ideas of how they should market their companies and their products or services. Here is a collection of self-destructive obsessions from my 20-year marketing communication career.

Distinctive product design, colours and logos have been used to help brand recognition for a long time. Now some companies are trying to appeal to our hearing as a stimulator and brand identifier. How are they succeeding?

If you do a web search on how to find a good freelance b-to-b copywriter, you will get dozens of results purporting to give you good advice. Many of them, however, seem to just list some boilerplate answers without really going deeper into the issue. This story may give you a slightly different angle.

Many freelancers are looking for a magic formula that will find new prospects, convert them into clients and keep those clients. Actually, there really is such a formula. It can be condensed into one word: trust.

Many experts offer online learning programmes, either free or for a charge. A large percentage of these programmes comes in audio or video format. Let's break the myth about audio and video being the ideal learning media.

If your B2B company is in the small-to-medium-size category, you may have your doubts about creating a website for your company. Direct mail, catalogues, telephone calls to customers and one-to-one sales meetings are traditionally your bread and butter, why bother with the internet? But if you can’t be found online, you’re losing a significant amount of business.

Self-admiration. Boasting. Talking about oneself. Think how you would rate a person displaying these characteristics. Listening. Wanting to help. Taking the other person into consideration. What would you think about a person like this? Why do many, if not most, companies insist on marketing themselves in ways that portray them as the first alternative above? Are marketers really incapable of applying things they’ve learned in their personal lives to their professional lives?

Distinctive product design, colours and logos have been used to help brand recognition for a long time. Now some companies are trying to appeal to our hearing as a stimulator and brand identifier. How are they succeeding?

While your competitors are cutting down their marketing spending, you will do better if you keep your brand, product or service in front of your audience throughout the recession. Market share is won during downturns. If you play your hand wisely, your company will come out of a downturn in better shape than before it.

Many freelancers are looking for a magic formula that will find new prospects, convert them into clients and keep those clients. Actually, there really is such a formula. It can be condensed into one word: trust.

It is sometimes amazing how stubbornly companies and their marketers cling to old-fashioned, clichéd and downright wrong ideas of how they should market their companies and their products or services. Here is a collection of self-destructive obsessions from my 20-year marketing communication career.

Many experts offer online learning programmes, either free or for a charge. A large percentage of these programmes comes in audio or video format. Let's break the myth about audio and video being the ideal learning media.

If you do a web search on how to find a good freelance b-to-b copywriter, you will get dozens of results purporting to give you good advice. Many of them, however, seem to just list some boilerplate answers without really going deeper into the issue. This story may give you a slightly different angle.

Self-admiration. Boasting. Talking about oneself. Think how you would rate a person displaying these characteristics. Listening. Wanting to help. Taking the other person into consideration. What would you think about a person like this? Why do many, if not most, companies insist on marketing themselves in ways that portray them as the first alternative above? Are marketers really incapable of applying things they’ve learned in their personal lives to their professional lives?

If your B2B company is in the small-to-medium-size category, you may have your doubts about creating a website for your company. Direct mail, catalogues, telephone calls to customers and one-to-one sales meetings are traditionally your bread and butter, why bother with the internet? But if you can’t be found online, you’re losing a significant amount of business.

Are all your documents sending the same message and properly representing your brand? With all the attention companies give to branding, advertising and marketing, I suspect they do not pay much attention to their brand consistency across documents.

A trend of bringing your advertising account in-house is emerging among large-scale advertisers. The advertising press was quick to start weighing the pros and cons of such a move. Interestingly enough, many of the cons are easily avoidable.