Author: Dawn Pelon

Women Owned and Diversity in the Workplace

While there are more women in business today than at any point in history, and the journey has been commendable, there’s still a long way to go. We support the need for equal opportunities for women and diversity in the workplace to push the global economy to its full potential. The opportunity to bring diverse backgrounds to the forefront provides unique perspectives on how to relate to individual lifestyles.

Women and minorities in business, as well as aspiring minority entrepreneurs, need to build and improve confidence, network and achieve a growth mindset. Think3 Marketing is committed and actively involved to support the greater effort of providing resources, coaching, and business practices to individuals with aspirations to build opportunities for a thriving workplace and a new generation of commerce.

When you support women and minority-owned businesses, you are investing in economic empowerment, gender and race parity in commerce, vibrant communities, and the growth of the economy overall. Buying women and minority-owned is both socially conscious and economically sound. Recognizing and celebrating women and minority leaders who take risks and personal challenges to make a difference in our commerce, our environment, our future, and most importantly the individuals they employ…is what drives Think3 Marketing to stay passionate and ALL IN.

Think3 Marketing supports women and diversity-owned businesses’ opportunities through WBENC:

• Access to supplier diversity and procurement executives at hundreds of major U.S. corporations and federal, state, and local government entities that accept WBENC Certification.
• Formal and informal opportunities to pursue business with Corporate and Government Members, as well as with other WBENC-Certified WBEs.
• Access to networking events, procurement opportunities, mentoring, executive education, capacity development programs, and other business tools and resources.
• Eligibility for regional and national recognition and awards.
• Community of support from other female business owners and like-minded professionals all dedicated to the growth and success of women and minority-owned businesses.

PRINT ADVERTISING 2021

B2B INDUSTRY PUBLICATIONS

It is anticipated that most industry vertical publications will continue to consolidate into 2021. This could be a positive trend since the remaining publications will be more relevant to audiences. Also, as social distancing continues, and non-essential travel is avoided content delivered to the audience’s home for consumption becomes more of a connection point within industry circles. Therefore, let’s have a conversation of how to improve your print advertisement presence and media buys with B2B industry publications.

THE PERFECT MEDIA BUY

Negotiation with publication companies is an important component from the onset of the media buy. Print ads are incrementally more effective when they are combined with digital presence, email sponsored content and native content marketing. The top media sales representatives will present a comprehensive plan that meets the advertiser’s marketing objectives. Placing a single print ad insertion is not an effective approach to contributing to marketing goals. Working with the media sales representative to maximize all available assets offered from the publication is a huge step in making for a successful marketing campaign. Then, ask for the price you want to pay!

Timing is a main factor in ensuring your media dollars work to uplift your sales goals. It is a smart practice to chart out your key selling periods and more importantly your customer’s consideration period. When you can align your content and messaging with when your customer is in a decision-making phase this will elevate your marketing strategy. Similar to when you are investing in a key industry event, whether virtual or hopefully in the future in-person, priming your presence with a solid pre-event media presence can help maximize the marketing budget across all investments. One key take-away is to not get lost in the crowed space of special editions or pre-event editions. Think differently and create a plan that stands out from the competition.

DIFFERENTIATION

The key to having a successful print media presence is grounded in differentiation of creative, integration among other media buys, and strong language and call to actions. A proper audit of competitors and other advertisers in the publication will help to create a presence that stands out from the total print environment.

Ideally, you want to create a campaign that spans across several insertions. The main objective is to have a common thread of visuals, seductive content, or a series of calls to action that links the ad insertions together and avoids the boredom of creative that is re-run over and over again.

ENSURING PERFORMANCE

There are certain situations where testing publications alongside each other can offer superb insights into how effective each individual publication performs. Aligning run times and similar media insertions allows the marketer to assess how to spend future media budgets more effectively. It is also important to request from the publication for average performance metrics, so the marketer can assess their individual campaign compared to other advertisers that are targeting the same audience. Whatever you do, make sure you start with the end in mind, setting measurable objectives at the outset.

Branded Merchandise Ideas for Outdoor Events

The summer months are approaching, and outdoor events and activities are popping up nation-wide. As in-person events begin again and people are more active outside, there will be ample opportunities for businesses to use branded merchandise in their marketing efforts for both employees and customers.

Sponsorships

Companies participating as a sponsor for an event have a great opportunity for boosting exposure and brand awareness to thousands of people. The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) 2019 Survey reports that “Data shows the average household in the U.S. owns 30 promotional items.” Sports, festivals, music performances and community activities are popular events to sponsor. Many sponsorship packages include an exhibitor booth or other avenues to distribute merchandise to spectators. For the summer months, items such as baseball caps, rally towels, water bottles, sunscreen, beach balls, wearable speaker, drawstring bags, mini-fans, pens and sunglasses are great options that are both functionable and fun!

Exhibitor Booths

Outdoor events often have exhibitor booths available and are designed for companies to sell and promote their product or service. Branded merchandise is an effective way to boost traffic and sales leads. Create a merchandise strategy with items complementing your product or service. For example, if a company is selling moving services, incorporating a tape measure, tape dispenser, flashlight or small tool kit are helpful items for people in the market for that service. The goal is to be the popular booth that everyone wants to visit. The more visitors, the more impressions!

Employee Initiatives

The summer season is a perfect time for companies to encourage health initiatives. There are a number of high-quality active apparel items available to brand such as jackets, shirts, pullovers, fleeces and joggers. Wireless earbuds, health monitors, water bottles, beach towels and gym bags are all fun accessory options that also work well in rewarding and motivating. Employees can don the company logo while working out at the gym or running in the park for all to see!

Tips on Choosing Merchandise

• Select merchandise that reflects your brand or marketing campaign. For example, if your company has a spirited culture, choose merchandise that shows off your humor!
• Choose colors that complement your company or campaign logo.
• Coordinate merchandise with the message of your company slogan or tagline.
• Imprint contact information or social media handles along with your logo.
• Invest in volume discounts. The more you purchase, the bigger the price discount. Think about current and future opportunities to distribute materials. It is often helpful to have a supply of items on-hand for last minute promotion opportunities.
• Research current merchandise trends. Tech products such as wireless charging mousepads, power banks, and wireless headphones are popular with current crowds.

Branded merchandise is a cost-effective tool that increases brand awareness, generates sales leads and builds brand loyalty. ASI reports, “The cost per impression (CPI) of promotional products can be as low as 1/10 of one cent – lower than nearly any other advertising medium…” With so many different options available for branding, any business, in any industry will find items that will work great for their company. If you would like assistance in creating a winning merchandise strategy for your company, contact Think3 today or visit our merchandise store today Shop Today!

Networking

As we come out of the COVID pandemic, we can expect live events to surge. In the meantime, virtual events are still a great way to network and exchange industry goals and information. However, whether it be an in-person or virtual event you need to choose wisely as your time and efforts are precious.

Finding the Right Venue

When choosing the right event to spend your time here are some considerations:

• Time and place. Essentially spending time to network takes away from your daily work obligations. The opportunity should outweigh what your regular work schedule requires.
• Several events have a scale of investment levels. Chose the right event that meets your budget. There are times where sponsoring, presenting and exhibiting make sense while other situations can be successful with walking the floor, planning dinners or participating in social activities.
• Attendees and Sponsors. Your time is precious, so do the homework on ensuring the attendees and participating sponsors are on target. Check the attendee list from previous years of the event to help verify the participation list.

Know your Audience

Once you determine that the audience is on target for networking, create a target list of who you want to connect with at the event. Also, make sure to have specific talking points that will help make the connection point relevant. For instance:

• Do you have common connections?
• Do you have prior experience with their company?
• Do you know any pain points that they could be experiencing?
• Is their specific service offerings or product knowledge that you can offer to them?

Understand the Conversation

Strategize your conversation and goal from the networking interaction. Everyone’s time is important and ensuring that an effective conversation is respectful and effective. Managing the conversation is critical to offer mutual benefits. If there is something you can offer make sure that you present that all the while by connecting on a personal basis. Never forget we are all human and making a personal connection is key to building strong and confident relationships and partnerships.

Gain the Attended Outcome

Once you have established a strong networking conversation, make sure you state the desired outcome. Whether it is a simple business card exchange, an industry referral, a next meeting or a cocktail in the lobby…ask for the outcome that you are intending. Never leave a conversation as a pointless conversation.

Don’t be shy to go for the “ask”, your confidence is key to your success. Also, networking should be expected in certain situations. So be confident and lead with your entrepreneurial spirit.

Follow-up as Necessary

Now that you have established a connection, it is imperative to follow-up and continue the conversation. Refer to your notes from the conversation and recall specific topics that make the previous connection point memorable. Follow-up on the “ask” and move the conversation forward. Also keep in mind people are busy to staying in contact can be a multi-step activity. Ensure outreach via social media as well. LinkedIn is a great way to validate your business networking interchange as well following the individual on Twitter and Instagram. Maintaining updates on your social profiles is also very important to ensure your professional validity and relevance.

Event Marketing

Corporate Meetings & Conferences

Corporate conferences are hugely effective in fostering alignment amongst leadership teams, kicking off a new year or motivating employees. Our event planners work with companies, organizations and associations to design strategy, goals, event branding, logistics, production and on-site management. We also gladly produce content, presentations and interactive exercises that deliver engagement and team building. So you don’t have to!

Tradeshows & Industry Summits

When you are looking to build a presence within the industry, we can lend some expertise. Whether it is a tradeshow, summit or industry association conference, we will work with you from start to finish, to determine the optimal level of participation, objectives and craft your on-site presence. Then we’ll build conversation around your exhibit with a newsletter, social media, website content, paid media campaign and industry publicity.

Customer & Dealer Events

Making connections is critical to building brand loyalty, especially with your customer base and dealer/distributor network. We create interactive environments and experiences that build better understanding and value of your organization among customers and your reseller network. We’ll help you craft effective communications and content strategy, while managing logistics, speaker management and on-site execution.

Training & Sales Meetings

Keeping your teams knowledgeable and passionate is a critical investment. We assist our client partners in creating the right agendas, objectives and interactive environments to train, launch new products, team build and motivate the teams responsible for your business growth. With engaging training materials, team building, meeting logistics, production and motivational speaker management, we’ll take the burden of event management off your shoulders so you can focus on your business needs.

Think3 Marketing launches new website with a brand refresh

Philadelphia, May 5, 2021

Think3 Marketing, one of the top rising performance marketing agencies in the U.S., has made another significant investment in its growth with a complete brand refresh and new website. The work was done by Think3 Marketing’s in-house digital marketing and creative teams.

“Everyone is looking for a fresh start as we move into 2021,” says Dawn Pelon, Managing Partner. “At Think3 Marketing, we are ‘all in’ on supporting our clients and made significant investments in Think3 Marketing’s positioning to demonstrate exactly how we do that. Our strong focus to solve client partners’ marketing challenges and drive better business results from every dollar that they spend is our agency’s priority, however, we’re telling that story in a bigger, fresher and targeted way.”

The new site includes the launch of a leadership blog series with topics spanning from how marketers can accelerate performance and stay atop of their game with the latest trends in the industry to how to network effectively, and so on. “The revamped site has an energetic, uncluttered design to make navigation simple and create an enhanced user experience. It features in-depth new content including comprehensive information about services such as web design, digital marketing, branding and design, SEO and content marketing, and ecommerce site development,” says Pelon.

“Every aspect of how we designed the site and refreshed our visual identity was centered around making it easy for our target audience to understand how Think3 Marketing operates and can uniquely address their marketing pain points,” says Jacquie Maggio, Managing Partner. “We warmed up our branding to better reflect who we are as a team: approachable, flexible, transparent, value-oriented and true partners to our clients. We want to attract client partners who have similar values so we can continue to achieve long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships, like we have with our current clients. The goal of the new website is to be informative, educational and a little whimsical to highlight our creativity, including a Magic 8 Ball feature on the Performance page.”

Additionally, Think3 Marketing has expanded services such as event marketing (live and virtual events) and a promotional merchandise division. “Offering our client partners cost-effective branded merchandising programs as part of our full-service marketing solutions is one way we make it easier for our clients to activate their brands. This allows our agency to differentiate while providing true value and stronger customer service to our client partners,” says Maggio.

The brand refresh allows the agency to better articulate their unique process and values, so future client partners and team members can know what to expect from Think3 Marketing. Visit the new think3marketing.com for quick and easy access to past client work, case studies, and helpful business insights.

About Think3 Marketing

Think3 Marketing is a full-service marketing agency focused on providing client partners with strategic services and white glove customer service. Dedicated to driving better business outcomes for enterprise and niche brands, Think3 uses a proven approach to cross-channel management and brand development. Think3 Marketing has the resources and knowledge to help a wide variety of clients in multiple vertical industries, including agriculture, food & beverage, retail, financial/insurance, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, business to business and direct-to-consumer marketing. For more information, visit think3marketing.com or follow the company on Twitter @think3marketing.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Dawn Pelon | dpelon@think3marketing.com | 610-585-7901

Jacquie Maggio | jmaggio@think3marketing.com| 973-462-7008