A few weeks back, our very own Rock Star, Vanessa Hickman, wrote a blog about how Photos Bring Your Brand to Life. She invoked the oft-used expression, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And she’s right. So right. Images make us feel something. Want something. Want to be something.

We emotionally connect.

Powerful, relevant visual assets are hugely important in any marketing plan. Whatever the medium – photographs, videos, or infographics – compelling imagery makes people connect more, remember more, and engage more. Powerful images can stay with you for a lifetime.

It made me think, what imagery have I found most compelling throughout my life? What has moved me, stayed with me?

And so, drumroll please….here are my Top 5 Imagery Moments:

Farrah Fawcett’s Iconic Poster. It was the 70’s. I was just beginning to become aware of beauty and what that meant, and this Farrah Fawcett poster exemplified it for me. That hair. That smile. I wanted to look just like her. This poster was my first memory of being influenced by an image and all that it suggested.

Janet Jackson’s Pleasure Principle Video. It was the 80’s and this early video of Janet Jackson dancing alone in a warehouse struck such a chord with me, I watched it over and over and over again. She was strong and talented and beyond cool. Storytelling imagery in the form of video was taking over the world.

The 90’s Supermodels. You knew them so well you need only use their first names – Naomi. Linda. Tatjana. Christy. Cindy. They were impossibly beautiful, they ran in a pack, and they epitomized glamour in the 90’s. Everything they endorsed benefitted from the association. It was print media gone mad.

Carrie Bradshaw. I don’t know many women who don’t identify with the Sex & the City ladies, and for me, Carrie Bradshaw was my spirit animal. The styling was pure genius and every outfit told a story. The designers and brands that she wore on the show got tremendous exposure, and the world of product placement in film and television was exploding.

Misty Copeland’s Under Armour Commercial. A new decade and a new sensibility. Strength. Tenacity. Belief. And a seriously genius commercial with a tagline: “I will what I want.” I made my daughter watch it, I loved it so much. Watch it here. I defy you not to become inspired by this new breed of spokesman that is now becoming a brand ambassador.

It’s a whole new world of brand imagery.

So tell us, what imagery has spoken to you and why?

Good day to you, friends, colleagues and cherished clients!

It’s a very special time here at Front Porch Marketing, as the month of March marks our five year anniversary.

Once upon a time, I gathered the “Porter Posse,” some of my trusted friends, brightest business and marketing minds and family, plied them with delicious food and drink, and shared my dream of opening a boutique branding and marketing company. That evening spent brainstorming would form the early framework of life on the Porch, and the love and support received provided the momentum needed to make it happen.

And so, in honor of our anniversary, here is a samplin’ of five rockin’ things we’ve loved about branding and marketing businesses along the way:

1. The Porch grew! It started with one fearless leader, but along the way we added diversity, depth and experience—one person at a time. Today, we are eight core team members strong!
2. Two words: Dream. Clients. Again, we started with one. One Dallas-based luxury brand. Today, we partner with an amazing cross-section of independent-thinking entrepreneurs who are passionate about their businesses. They have challenged us and fortified us and we are thankful to have each and every one of them.
3. We picked up a prestigious certification: WBENC. And we are darn proud of it. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides a world class standard of certification to women-owned businesses throughout the country. No small feat, we are honored to have risen to the challenge and make the cut for two consecutive years.
4. Every day, we get to do what we love. Yes, branding and marketing! We are mad about it—branding, strategy, research and competitive analysis are at the core of everything we do. But we also rock the other pieces of the puzzle—advertising, communications, planning and mapping, email marketing, public relations, sustainability initiatives and social media strategy and implementation.
5. Our Clients’ success stories became our success stories. When our clients rock, so do we! Nothing is more gratifying than starting from chicken scratch, forming a plan, implementing a shared vision and watching it come to fruition. We recently highlighted two successful case studies on our website: PeopleResults and Empire Baking Company.

Thanks to all of you, the Porch is rockin’ after five great years!

Julie Porter is the chief rocker at Front Porch Marketing. You can follow her, julie_porter, or her company, itsfrontporch, on Instagram and Twitter, juliedporter01 or ItsFrontPorch.

Everyone has his or her own morning routine – mine happens to include hitting the snooze button at least once, a big cup of coffee and a quick scroll though Twitter.

Twitter is how I keep up with friends, keep up with the news, but most importantly- how I keep up with marketing. By following my favorite branding and strategy experts, I am able to learn their insights from decades of experience that I don’t have.

Over the past few months, I have curated a list of marketers that I follow to cover all the marketing bases, and here are just a few of my favorites.

Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) – Author of the book, Purple Cow and others, where he discusses how to transform your business and yourself by being remarkable, posts daily about permission marketing and tips on how to be the “purple cow” in a field full of competition. His twitter is purely reposts of his blog, which ranges in topics from how to turn your creativity into a profession, to how to power a digital future for your brand.

Jay Baer (@jaybaer) – If you want a daily update on all different aspects of digital marketing, follow Jay, as he is the most re-tweeted person in the world among digital marketers. His posts include influence marketing workbooks, six step playbooks for handling social media complaints, and everything in between.

Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) – If content marketing is your thing, then definitely follow Ann, as she is “waging a war on mediocrity in content marketing.”

Bonin Bough (@boughb) – He is currently chief of media and eCommerce at Mondelēz International (formerly Kraft Foods), and specializes in digital strategy that crosses paid, earned, owned and shared media. Posts a great deal of social media tips, and if you know Front Porch Marketing, you know we LOVE all things social media.

Marie Forleo (@marieforleo) – Guru of how to achieve the perfect work/life balance. Posts about how to build a business you love, increase customer trust through social media, and increase productivity in every day life.

Robert Caruso (@fondalo) – Another expert content and digital marketer, who tweets about innovative ways to improve your social media, tips on how to increase brand awareness for startups, and how to get results in B2B marketing.

Kim Garst (@kimgarst) – As one of Forbes top ten social media influencers, she is the queen of social selling strategy. Her tweets range from Facebook advertisement jumpstart guides, tips on how to keep the cost of SEO down, and “cheat sheets” for selling on social media.
Bryan Solis (@briansolis)- Expert on digital marketing who provides step by step help for brands looking to transform their digital approach to create a brand experience.

Neil Patel (@neilpatel) – If you want to read a little bit of everything about digital marketing, Neil is your guy. As a Forbes columnist with years of experience in marketing, he combines motivational business tips with the knowledge necessary to succeed as a modern marketer.

While these are just a few of the hundreds of successful and influential marketers to follow on Twitter, by reading a few of their posts daily I am able to keep up with the ever-changing world of marketing. In addition to following experts in the field, a lot of successful marketers follow venture capitalists, as they see and predict new innovation that affects most industries and markets. Effective and influential marketers have to keep up in order to connect with their target market, so why not utilize social media to do so?

Rachel Mains is an intern at Front Porch Marketing. Follow her on Twitter.

I admit it, I’m a little obsessed with the Academy Awards. I’m maniacal about seeing as many of the nominated movies and performances as I possibly can, I read all the nominee’s profiles in glossy magazines, I watch them charm talk show hosts on television, and by the end of it I fall a little in love with the people I hope will win.

It wasn’t until I started working here on the Porch that I realized just how big a role marketing played  in these hallowed awards. Film is big business, and winning an Oscar translates into big dollars for the winner. It’s no wonder, then, that Oscar campaigns are born from basic marketing tenets:

You Must Have A Marketing Plan.  For Oscar nominees, a marketing plan involves promotion of  their film, their performance, and themselves in a way that appeals to voters and the moviegoing public. It’s a specific, multi-platform approach designed to build support and influence voters.

You Must Commit to the Investment. I was shocked to read that big studio Oscar-winning films will have had $10 million dollars spent on their campaigns. Studios know that an investment in marketing pays dividends, so they hire PR and marketing firms to guide them every step of the way.

You Must Know Your Brand. Much like a business, an Oscar marketing plan is built on the nominee’s image (their brand, if you will), and in all promotion, the message must stay true to that brand. As an example, this year’s best actor winner, Leonardo DiCaprio, who is normally reclusive and whose reputation is more party boy than serious adult, went on talk shows to portray himself as accessible and even had a well documented meeting with the Pope. Brand, brand, brand.

You Must Utilize Your Resources Wisely. Historically, print ads in trade magazines like Variety and Hollywood Reporter have been costly but successful in the Oscar world; but with readership in traditional  publications shrinking, a reallocation of resources is taking place. Social media is a must (yes – #LeoForOscar was a thing). Attending relevant events such as film festivals, making the rounds on high profile talk shows, and being accessible for major media profiles all have their place.

These Oscar campaigns show the value of strong marketing! Marketing is essential for your business. Having a plan. Investing in the plan. Knowing your brand. Being true to your brand. And knowing how to reach your customers.

The power of good marketing is far-reaching! Hollywood knows it. Do you know it? 

We on the Porch are passionate about Branding! We have talked about branding. We have talked about lifestyle branding. Now let’s talk about how photos define your brand.

Simply put, pictures are as integral to your brand as grapes are to wine! They bring your brand to life. Beautiful photography can be used in so many ways! Photos can be used on your website, for sales materials, market/trade shows, third-party training materials and for social media.

Delivering your brand message via social media is imperative. Of the top five social media sites, two of them are 100% visual! You can’t gram or pin without a photo, so what should that visual be? Your visual storyboard is just as important as your branding message.

Considerations:
Studio Shoot or Location Shoot?
Obvious or Subtle?
To Demonstrate or Not to Demonstrate?
Features need highlighting?
Professional or smart phone?
How to Represent the Brand?

Hold up a minute! How to represent the brand? Yes, remember all the branding work you’ve done around brand promise, brand characteristics … these need to be applied to your photography.  A simple three-question quiz to ask when choosing a photo to represent your brand:

1. Does it match your brand personality, characteristics and definition?
2. Does it evoke emotion?
3. Does it illustrate your story?

Should you invest in professional photography? Heck, yes. There is a direct correlation to sales for almost all the brands we represent. Photography matters. It is worth the investment.

Need proof? Here’s our Client L’Amour Des Pied’s showroom floor before and after an investment in photography.

Our world is served to us on screens and those screens can’t give us a 5 sense experience, we must rely on the photo to evoke necessary emotion. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Branding Rocks!

Duh! Of course we are going to say that. It’s what we do. It’s what we are passionate about! So you have your logo. Sweet! You have a vision. Fantastic! You have beautiful photography. Terrific! But do you have a brand? Not quite.

At the core of every marketer is a storyteller. We love to tell stories about:

• products
• places
• experiences
• … well we don’t really need a list – we just like to tell stories!

Digital media has opened up the communication lines for marketers. In the ‘old days’ (as my children say) you had a story to tell about your company, product, place or experience but you had to pay mightily for that story to be shared. Now there are several public forums that you can utilize to tell your story, which is a MARKETING DREAM.

So what does this have to do with your brand? Your brand is your story and vice versa. Why is it important to have a BRAND strategy in addition to your marketing plan? Here’s 8 reasons (we could give you 80, but we will save some for porch conversations):

#1 Your story makes you uniquely you! No one else is the same, which DIFFERENTIATES you from your competition.

#2 Consistent branding translates into RECOGNITION.

#3 Your brand is a PROMISE to your customers, your team and to the marketplace.

#4 Brands create an EMOTIONAL CONNECTION with your customer.

#5 Branding creates TRUST with all audiences.

#6 An established brand provides BUSINESS VALUE.

#7 A compelling background, history or brand strategy will MOTIVATE your staff and provide DIRECTION.

#8 Branding can FOCUS and guide your marketing efforts, saving time and money.

Sounds pretty good, eh? So what are you waiting for? It’s time to start rockin’ YOUR brand strategy!

Forrester predicts that in 2016, US advertisers will spend more on digital advertising than TV ads. Interactive marketing spend (email marketing, social media, display advertising and search marketing) will be 30% of marketing budgets (up from 24% in 2014).

Whether you are a start-up, a small business, or a business that is well-established, you should give yourself the gift of an interactive marketing strategy in 2016.

An October 2015 study by Pew Research Center found that 65 percent of American adults surveyed use social networking sites. Without social media as part of your interactive plan, you miss delivering your message to two-thirds of the U.S. population!!

Already rockin’ a social media plan? Awesome. Go you!

Let’s talk Facebook. In 2015, Facebook was the only platform to see a drop in active usage (-9% per the chart below). As Facebook fine-tunes their ad machine, organic growth is almost dead, so efforts on this network seem to be for not. In fact, several articles are calling for a move away from Facebook.

*Global Web Index – social-q1-summary-report

But not so fast! Facebook is still the largest social media platform with 1.55 Billion users. YouTube is in second place with 1 Billion. All other platforms are in the millions. So rather than move away from it entirely, we suggest you pay attention and leverage your audience.

Gone are the days of random posts and sporadic efforts. You need a strategy to maximize your investment. Your strategy should include content, consistency, connection and currency (advertising spend). With the right approach you can:

• Maximize your spend
• Reach new customers
• Grow your overall interactive reach

As an example, right now, L’Amour Des Pieds (one of our clients) is running a contest, which is a great way to connect. The marketing goal was to increase e-newsletter subscription, so we used a boosted post on Facebook to promote sign-ups.

Entering the contest is easy:

1. Like the L’Amour Des Pieds Facebook page
2. Sign up for their e-newsletter on lamourdespieds.com
3. Follow L’Amour Des Pieds Instagram (@lamourdespieds)

The contest ends today at 5 p.m. and the email database has already tripled! It goes to show what a focused strategy can accomplish.

Do you have your interactive marketing strategy for 2016? The ‘Porch is ready to help you rock it!

As our Chief Rocker continually espouses, marketing is not a science, it is an art. There is no one size fits all. It is a continual effort to fine tune your strategy including your message and its delivery.

Like an actor playing to an audience, there is a relationship – the transfer of energy and interaction from stage to audience is palpable. If an actor correctly reads the audience’s cues, the energy feeds on itself. The same holds true of marketing a product or service.

As an entrepreneur or small business, you’ve done your demographic research for your target market – your audience. Don’t fail to use it. This is your chance to tell the story of your brand and your value to potential customers and to let them know what makes your product stand apart.

Content and delivery are both important. And as new apps and technologies are continually evolving, it’s important to remain relevant. There is an element of trial and error. Pay attention to shifts. If it’s not working anymore – move on! Remember to know and address your audience.

Melissa McCarthy’s blunt and physical brand of comedy is a sharp contrast to Helen Mirren’s more serious and dramatic performance. While both are wildly talented and entertaining, they each have different “brands” and vastly different audience appeal. Bridesmaids plays to a very different audience than Queen Elizabeth. Both are great. But, there is an audience for each.

Know your audience. Remember, you are telling the story of your brand. Focus on the artistry of conveying your brand’s voice and message.

We love our business and are thrilled by the predictions for expected global growth in video content. Take this statistic, for instance:

• According to Cisco, video will account for 69% of all consumer Internet traffic by 2017 (and some sources take this figure as high as 74%).

Experts indicate that video is the future of content marketing, and that trend is already in full swing. Nielsen claims 64% of marketers expect video marketing to dominate their strategies in the near future.

Our role is to develop clear, concise and engaging video stories for our clients. We know that in this age of information overload people want a quick visual message so they can move on.

In fact, even using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19% and click-through rates by 65%, as reported by Syndacast.

The icing on the cake?

Axxon Research reports seven in 10 folks view brands in a more positive light after watching interesting video content from them.

Videos are a great way to create an emotional connection with your audience and leave a lasting impact long after the video is over. And we love client stories with happy endings!

John Doty, owner of InMotion Imagery, is an Emmy Award winning director and editor who has now worked in broadcast television and video production for more than 25 years. His work has been recognized by, among others, the Telly Awards and The Press Club of Dallas.

Not only is he expert at creating the perfect script-to-screen visual communications tools for clients, but he also directed the construction of InMotion’s sound stages from blueprint to finish. He has led teams of industry experts in producing television programs, live national broadcasts and corporate Webcasts. He’s a member of the Dallas Producers Association.

Like InMotion Imagery on Facebook and follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Vimeo as well.

It started as a typical day, moving forward, stopping at the store to pick up milk. I back out of the parking spot, turn the wheels to drive forward, and realize I’m stuck. In reverse. The gear shift is broken. After several scrapped knee-jerk plans (sit and wait, don’t move, don’t turn off the car, drive the car home in reverse) the final decision is made.

Tow it. Fix it. Move forward. 

During this brief, chaotic situation, it occurred to me that I take two beautiful abilities for granted; the ability to shift gears and the ability to move forward. Thank you, vehicle, for the head smack. How awful it would be to only move backward!! Unfortunately, we find ourselves looking backward far too frequently.

We can’t redo yesterday, last week or 10 years ago, so why do we spin our wheels in reverse?

Companies do this all the time. All the time. How many times have you heard or said:

• We will not carry zuladings because we tried and they don’t sell …
• We will not invest in social media (insert any marketing tactic print, radio, TV, community outreach, etc). We tried and it doesn’t work …

Decisions made from a rear view will hinder future success. 

A couple of real business examples:

1. In 2009, Starbucks breakfast sandwiches were a hard fast no. Too much aroma competition. “Coffee must win.”
2. For most of this decade, Michaels Arts and Crafts’ only mass reach tool was the weekly insert in the Sunday paper. The company would not invest in anything else because, “Only print worked.”
3. In late 2009 Domino’s Pizza changed its pizza recipe! After almost 50 years. “Yes, please” was not the initial response.

In all these cases, they didn’t let their rear view to deter them from moving forward. Yes, history can repeat and lessons should be learned; but what didn’t work once might work today because it is a new day, with a different landscape, different customers, and different needs.

Business strategy should always be forward-thinking and used to drive success.

Everyone has the ability to shift gears and move forward personally and professionally. If something is broke, fix it! By the way, I rode my bike to pick up my repaired vehicle. And you know what’s beautiful about a bike? It only goes forward.