We don’t know about you, but it came as a shock to us when we realized that November 2022 marked 30 years since the original release of Disney’s Aladdin. So for 2023, we thought we’d prepare ourselves (and you) ahead of time for some significant dates.
25 Years Since the Launch of Google
That’s right — it’s been a quarter century since we stopped having to live with uncertainty and started being able to just Google stuff. Fun fact: the search algorithm developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin was originally called BackRub — a reference to the fact that Google checks “backlinks” (essentially, how many other sites link to a given page) to determine a site’s relevance.
20 Years Since ...
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With the world adjusting to COVID as a fact of life, travel is making a roaring comeback in 2023. And that comeback entails several new consumer trends that visitor bureaus and hospitality businesses should be aware of.
1 | Vacationers are looking for ways to “travel light.”
More and more, travelers have been looking to slim down their luggage. Destinations that hope to lure the clutter-conscious should highlight hotels offering bulky items (such as exercise equipment) for rent, or introduce potential visitors to local businesses that can supply travel essentials.
2 | The off-season is becoming more popular.
One side-effect of a global pandemic: many people have become less comfortable with crowds. So if your area is a popular one with summer travelers, ...
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If you’re anything like us, your resolution to hit the gym three times a week is going to fizzle out by mid-February. But when it comes to your business, there are a few resolutions you should work hard to keep.
1 | Take a fresh look at your brand.
What are the values and experiences that define your brand, and are they still relevant to the actual values and experiences you’re hoping to embody? Just as importantly, are they still relevant to what consumers want from a company in your space? If your most recent brand update happened a few years ago — or in reaction to a market trend that might no longer be current — the new year is ...
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We challenge you to stop doom-scrolling, sit back and relax to the tune of these three delightful facts about our beautiful planet.
Fact 1 | Need More Time in Your Day? You’re Getting It!
It’s true — the Earth’s days are in fact getting longer. Back when the Earth first formed, a day was roughly six hours long. That was 4.6 billion years ago. Then, by 620 million years ago, the days had lengthened to 21.9 hours. Why did this happen? The moon and the tides it creates cause a twisting force that slows the Earth’s rotation incrementally over time. Here’s the bad news though — this is happening at a rate of about 1.7 milliseconds every century. So if you ...
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Consumers spend hours each week on social media. And so do brands — which means it’s increasingly challenging to rise to the top amid the constant onslaught of information we all experience on our favorite platforms.
What you need is a strategy to help you cut away the noise and make your social media presence work for you. Here are a few simple tips to help you make that happen:
1 | Tailor your approach to your audience.
What age group do you want to reach? What are their values and interests? What do they need from you? The answers to those questions will determine on which platforms you’re going to concentrate your branding efforts.
If you’re a visitor bureau and want ...
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It’s every brand’s email nightmare: you work hard on crafting the perfect pitch, but when that email hits your prospects’ inbox, they hit the delete button without even opening the message.
How do you craft an email worth opening? And how do you close the sale once you have your prospects’ attention?
Step 1 | Choose a Catchy Subject Line
Good subject lines:
Are short. You want people to be able to read the whole thing, whether they’re on desktop or mobile! So keep your subject line to 40 characters or less.
Don’t contain “spammy” words. Avoid phrases like “buy now” or “free,” which could land you in spam filters.
Include a call to action. What is it you’re asking people ...
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It feels like the world is stuck in perpetual crisis mode these days. You probably didn’t need us to tell you that, but we think you do need some facts to remind you that we still live on a wondrous, fascinating planet.
Fact 1 | There is such a thing as a “moonbow.”
Rainbows are created when sunlight reflects off water droplets in the atmosphere. But did you know that it can happen with moonlight too? “Moonbows” are significantly more rare than rainbows. They only occur in places where the night sky is very dark, and when the moon is either full or close to full. The phenomenon is most often seen near waterfalls. SOURCE
Fact 2 | Times Square’s New ...
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If we had a nickel for every time someone has declared print dead, only to eat their words later… well, we’d have quite a few nickels.
The point is this: print is more valuable and resilient than a lot of people give it credit for. Here are just a few of the reasons why.
Print makes people happy.
No, seriously. You’ve probably subscribed to at least one magazine over the course of your life. Do you remember that little burst of happiness when you check your mailbox and find the most recent issue in there? You just don’t get that from clicking on a digital edition. (You also don’t get to experience that nice new-ink-and-paper smell. What do you mean, you’ve never ...
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It’s never been easier to get in touch with your audience. Gone are the days when you were limited to print ads or even email marketing blasts. Today, savvy brands choose to reach out to customers and prospects via content they’ve created themselves (or paid someone to create for them).
But it’s also never been more confusing to choose the right strategy for your brand. There are so many different kinds of content, and each of them serves a different purpose. Here is a short introduction to some of the most common terms, what they mean, and how they help your brand in different ways.
Thought Leadership
As a general rule, this kind of content comes from the top of your organization ...
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Whether digital or in print, ads are one of the best ways to get your brand in front of consumers. But given the sheer amount of information competing for your targets’ attention every day, how can you stand out?
Here are ways not to do it:
Write a novel.
Ad space is pricey, so it’s tempting to fill that space with everything you want your target audience to know. Resist that temptation. People’s eyes will slide right over an ad that is too heavy on the text. Anything more than two sentences and a couple of bullet points is probably excessive.
Combine messages.
One of the fastest ways to lose someone’s attention is by throwing too many different pieces of information at them, so ...
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