Hi, I'm Tag Archives for Marketing
Finally, a new Train of Thought website
The new Train of Thought website has finally launched. This is a quick reminder to not put off until tomorrow what your marketing needs today. A client (accidentally) told me one day that they didn’t know the breadth of our … Continue reading
Is graphic design a profession or a hobby?
The real question may be, do companies hire graphic designers to fill a budget sheet or fuel their marketing? The industry and billions of dollars would seem to suggest graphic design is a real profession, yet there has never been … Continue reading
Fear: how bad hair, habits and horrible has-beens happen
Fear is a convenient excuse, a procrastination technique, an avoidance tool. Fear is free, so it’s easy to wield it in the face of anything in life that imposes difficulty. A better method is to state your fears, then dispel … Continue reading
Honest marketing begins within
Honest marketing used to be thought of as impossible. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it had to do with romancing a stone, or to put it more succinctly, polishing a turd (ick). Thing is, honest marketing has always … Continue reading
The toxicity of buddy deals
How often do you try to get ‘buddy deals’? People have approached me, saying a ‘buddy deal’ went south and didn’t turn out how they wanted. So they came to me, saying they wanted to do it the right way, … Continue reading
Kablam! Now it’s a marketing blog
KellyHobkirk.com is now a marketing blog. I’ll still be writing about brands and branding primarily on my branding and advertising firm website, trainofthought.net. Inevitable it is that some talk of brands and branding will still be here because marketing and … Continue reading
Good customer service is good marketing
‘Do unto others’ is a great rule to apply to all businesses. It’s good customer service and smart marketing. Treat people with respect, and they will respect you. If you treat them poorly, they will find they don’t need you. … Continue reading
Pink toenails and the end of gender rules
Hats off to J.Crew president and creative director Jenna Lyons who had the good taste, confidence, and authenticity to let marketing send an email out to their database featuring a photo of her son with his freshly painted neon pink … Continue reading
Bad marketing habits die hard
Bad habits are hard to break. If you are routinely investing time in low-yield marketing methods, you have yourself a bad habit. If you need proof, just take a look at some of your daily non-business habits. Here are a … Continue reading
Congratulations, Starbucks, on your chest-thumping ad campaign
An open letter to Starbucks’ marketing department: Your latest ad headline reads, “Thanks to everyone who helped make us the country’s #1 best coffee, which includes our great baristas.” Could you possibly have worded that any worse? What exactly does … Continue reading
