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Four Social Media Best Practices for Retail Brands in 2024

Mastering social for retail to win more sales As the social space continues to evolve, retailers stand to gain the most from social media marketing where social followers represent potential business for brands of all shapes and sizes. Social media for retail is largely centered around the customer journey and ensuring customers feel seen and…

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2024 Ecommerce Holiday Calendar

Now that we’ve settled into 2024, it’s time for businesses to plan and prep for the upcoming holiday sales calendar. Yes, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas are major boons to retail brands. But there are real opportunities to maximize sales, reach new customers, and increase brand awareness throughout the year. Below is a…

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MFA Sites: What Marketing Professionals Need to Know

With the rise of Programmatic Advertising, there are opportunities to place your ads just about anywhere. Unfortunately, anywhere now includes made-for-advertising sites (MFAs). These websites have become integrated with the advertising ecosystem with the sole purpose of increasing their profits and completely disregarding the customer experience.  What are MFA Sites? Have you ever gone to…

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2024 Marketing Trends: What to Expect in Digital Marketing

Recapping 2023  Last year, we predicted six trends that turned out to be fairly spot-on: Here are the digital marketing trends we’re watching in 2024: Programmatic Sustainability  Long supply chains make ads perform less efficiently and contribute to global warming. Serving 1,000 impressions uses the same amount of energy as running a load of laundry….

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The Reason You Need an Amazon Storefront

Amazon Storefronts offer a unique opportunity for online retailers to establish a strong, branded presence on the world’s largest ecommerce platform. To really win sales and stand out against competitors, there are a number of factors to consider.  Understanding Amazon Storefronts An Amazon Storefront, also known as a Brand Store, serves as the equivalent of…

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4 Skill Sets of Highly Effective Creative Project Managers

The buck stops here. One of the reasons a project manager at your average ad agency typically clocks 10+ hours a day in her timesheets is because we’re responsible for managing budgets, developing project plans, communicating all project expectations, graciously herding the team along the primrose path of the timeline, and coming up with ad…

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Personas: Building a Bridge to Your Audience

Understanding your target audience is the cornerstone of effective marketing, and customer personas serve as the ultimate tool for forging these connections. They humanize your audience and provide insights into their needs, desires, and pain points. By inhabiting their perspectives, you can tailor your marketing strategies, content, and messaging to resonate with their unique perspectives. …

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Seller’s Guide to Amazon Prime Day 2023

The highly anticipated shopping event of the summer, Prime Day (July 11th & 12th), is quickly approaching. As the global leader in ecommerce, Amazon holds immense influence over consumer trends and industry standards. Prime Day, along with the Prime Early Access Sale, has become a crucial barometer for understanding consumer behavior and effective marketing strategies….

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Afterpay & Buy with Prime: Boost Ecommerce Conversions with Alternative Payment Methods

In the dynamic world of ecommerce, savvy businesses are constantly seeking innovative strategies to optimize their online shopping experience. Two alternative payment methods, Afterpay and Buy with Prime, have emerged as powerful tools to increase conversions. So, in this article, we provide a deep dive into each tool, explaining what these alternative payment methods are…

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Mindgruve Unveils Future Forward Rebrand for Mitek

Mindgruve, one of the fastest-growing digital marketing agencies in the U.S., announced today the completion of a rebrand for Mitek, a global leader in digital identity verification solutions that makes digital access faster and more secure than ever. As part of the project, Mindgruve designed a new logo and identity system along with a tagline…

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Adopting AI Into Your Marketing Strategy

First, let’s address the elephant in the room: Will AI replace advertising and marketing professionals? The short answer: No.  And this is why: AI cannot write to political, topical, or regional nuances. It cannot replicate the big-picture thinking of campaign work. Chick-fil-A’s long-standing “EAT MOR CHIKIN” campaign, brought to you at the behest of cows…

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Demystifying WCAG

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and in 2022, chances are you’ve heard of it. But what exactly is WCAG and what role does it play in your accessibility compliance goals? We’ll be diving into each of these questions, exploring some fundamental concepts, and more in this WCAG overview.  What is WCAG? WCAG is…

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The Art of Account Management

In modern day marketing, the blurred lines between departments have diluted the art of account management.  And yet, the need to closely partner with clients, to support them in solving their marketing challenges and provide strategic leadership, has never been greater. That is where powerful account management comes into play, and where the prioritization of…

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Communication in Project Management

Project managers are in high demand across a variety of industries. Why? They’re professional organizers — and, let’s face it, most businesses need more organization. This is especially true for marketing agencies, which have a lot of moving parts: a growing list of clients, various types of projects, and team members with different levels of…

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6 Tips for Managing Client Relationships Remotely

It’s no surprise that things have changed since remote work became the norm after the 2020 pandemic. People had to rearrange their living space to accommodate their desk setup, make sure roommates or partners weren’t in the background during Zoom calls, and continuously manage new distractions they didn’t experience in the office (in my case,…

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3 Tips to Refine Communication Strategies

Data is the golden ticket to effective marketing and communication. As the need for understanding customers has heightened, so does understanding analytics in real-time. In 2022, everyone has the power to have a platform, go viral, and become the monthly trend. The challenge for communication strategists is to make sure their clients are not getting…

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A Guide to Project Managing Effectively When Working Remote

A strong marketing project manager is organized, pays attention to detail, has good time management skills and is a good “multitasker” — someone who can juggle multiple balls at once. Putting these skills to good use in the frenetic pace of your average marketing department can be a challenge, even when everyone is physically working…

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4 Small Steps to Big Consumer Insights

Your customers are the heart of your company and the key to its success. Therefore, gathering  information about their needs and preferences is imperative. Conducting market research allows you to get to know your customer better, creates more definition in your audience, and can even help you make key marketing and branding decisions for your…

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Project Management: Timelines and How They Lead Projects to Success

Effective project managers know there are several steps to lead a project successfully, but they always begin with this: A detailed, thorough timeline. It confirms the scope so everyone is aligned, laying out a clear path of what needs to happen and when, and makes the hierarchy of the project straightforward. Doing this prevents bottlenecks…

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An Accessible Website is Crucial for Your Business. Here’s Why.

If you’re wondering what accessibility means and how to get started making your website accessible, you’re in the right place. Let’s take a look at what it means to create an accessible website and provide some high-level tips on how to achieve it. Before getting started, we need to understand why accessibility matters, and how external factors…

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Top Reasons Why Your Company Should Consider Leveraging LinkedIn

Creating an account on LinkedIn is an excellent opportunity for large or small businesses specializing in various industries. LinkedIn allows your organization to build a sustainable and trusted brand online while creating brand awareness and engaging with professional audiences on a global scale.  Your business page on LinkedIn allows you to tell your organization’s story,…

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Tips to Optimize Your Brand’s Social Media Presence

Why optimize? Having a social media presence is a new cultural norm. In fact, according to Backlinko, 56.8% of the world’s population has some sort of social media presence, with the average person having 8.4 different social accounts. That’s a lot of potential touchpoints and opportunities for your brand to have, which is why most…

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2022 Marketing Trends: What to Expect in Digital Marketing

What can marketers expect in 2022? We expect to get more comfortable with our new normal in 2022, with many returning to pre-pandemic activities, despite Omicron’s spread. It’s to be determined what this will mean in future months, but marketing trends, at least, are optimistic.  eMarketer projects total media ad spend in the US will…

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The Future of Youtube Advertising

As Youtube continues to grow in size and value, the Google-owned company is consistently testing new ways to help brands reach their target audience through advertising. Youtube advertising has become one of the largest centers for digital ads right after Facebook and Amazon, with reported ad revenue of $20 billion last year alone. In order…

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How to Craft Holiday Messaging for Your Brand

Holiday Advertising: How to Craft Messaging that Naturally Ties Into the Holiday Season The key is simple: Don’t do holiday-themed ads just to do holiday-themed ads — consider how your brand actually ties into the holiday season. In doing so, not only will you maintain brand identity throughout the most wonderful time of the year,…

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Marketing Tips For The Holidays

The Holiday season is one of the most critical times of the year for marketing. Winter holidays are crucial to prepare for due to people’s willingness to splurge on products. In fact, according to a 2020 article from Investopedia, the average shopper will spend almost $1000 on holiday gifts. Businesses need to adapt to trends…

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Boost Holiday Sales with Stronger Emails

We’re almost to December, and all across the country people are breaking out their holiday decor. Preparing for the holiday season can spark a wealth of different emotions, ranging from bliss to dread — and that’s not even factoring in the pandemic burnout many may still be dealing with. So how can you market to…

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Is Nextdoor The Next Big Ad Platform?

What is Nextdoor? Nextdoor is a social media platform that offers exclusive, local neighborhood updates where users exchange helpful information, goods and services. Nextdoor is unique from other social media platforms through its verification process; all Nextdoor users have to verify their address before joining to ensure that they receive content related to their specific…

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Using Youtube to Grow Your Brand

Although we may think of Youtube as the prime destination for funny cat videos, in recent years it has grown to be an effective way to advertise and reach your target audience. Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world, with over 1 billion registered subscribers. The odds are, your audience is on…

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Privacy-Safe Growth Strategies

With new updates to privacy laws occurring every day, the most dynamic marketers need to be constantly aware of the changing digital ads ecosystem and why privacy matters. Google recently hosted a Privacy-Safe Growth webinar, and we outlined the top takeaways that will be beneficial to anyone participating in marketing endeavours for their business or…

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Video Marketing on Amazon

Every company selling on Amazon should include videos in their listings. Not only do customers want videos, but Amazon’s search algorithms prioritize pages with video over pages with just text. On top of that, the right video content can boost conversion and page engagement.  Producing videos may sound daunting to most brands, but it doesn’t…

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Amazon OTT Advertising 101

As over-the-top (OTT) advertising continues to grow, Amazon has been working to set its brand and marketplace sellers up for success. By connecting hardware and software, Amazon gains greater insights into user behavior and thus has the ability to improve its marketing tactics. Here’s how it works.  IMDb TV — OTT Video Blockbuster IMDb TV,…

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What’s Next for Ecommerce?

2020 was a monumental year for ecommerce.  At one point, it saw a 10-year growth in just a 90-day period. But will it stick in 2021?  Below we take a look at what elements of ecommerce are likely here to stay. Convenience As small businesses scrambled to go online and survive last year, many turned…

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Succeeding in Amazon’s Softlines Category

Softlines is arguably one of the most competitive categories on Amazon. More and more big name apparel brands are migrating to the platform while Amazon steps up its own game with private label apparel brands as well as an influencer-designed line known as The Drop. But the saturation shouldn’t deter retailers from carving out their…

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What is Six Sigma? | Agency Case Study | Mindgruve

What is Six Sigma?  Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation. Some believe it can only be applied in manufacturing, but there are numerous opportunities to use Lean Six Sigma as a tool for change within marketing. More specifically,…

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How to Navigate a Cookieless World

Are Cookies a thing of the past? If so, what does this mean for brands? How about their customers? Is this the end of targeting? From the marketing industry to state and federal governments, questions are swirling around data, tracking and privacy. The answers below will begin to help you navigate what could one day…

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The Impact of the Consumer Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) – Proposition 24

Californians recently had the chance to vote on Proposition 24, also known as the Consumer Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). Broadly speaking, it’s meant to expand the preexisting California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and give consumers more control over how companies use their data. It also eliminates the ability of those companies to fix violations before…

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5 Paid Social Tips for the Holiday Season

Historically, the cost of digital advertising increases at the end of each year due to retailers capitalizing on gift-giving holidays and major retail sales events such as Black Friday. Adding the effects of the pandemic to the mix in 2020, the cost may be higher than anything the industry has experienced.  In the past six…

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How Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform Improves Advertising

Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP) helps brands move shoppers down the funnel. More specifically, this unique advertising platform serves ads at the right moment based on specific, interest-based audience segmentation and bridges the gap between brand discovery and purchase. Amazon has rolled out a number of features to the Demand-Side Platform since its launch, perhaps the…

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Amazon Marketing Guide: ABCs of Amazon – Mindgruve

There is a wide variety of terms associated with Amazon marketing. Below is a glossary of the most common of them, including relevant acronyms, to help novices and experts alike more effectively navigate the Amazon platform. For more on Amazon, check out our other articles on Amazon marketing strategies and how to plan for Prime…

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Mindgruve Drives Record Sales Volume in U.S. for Victorinox Swiss Army

Victorinox Swiss Army (VSA) was founded in 1884 when Karl Elsener opened a cutler’s workshop in Ibach-Schwyz. His idea was to manufacture a compact knife with an array of practical functions. More than 130 years after the legendary Swiss Army Knife was born, VSA remains a family-owned business with an unwavering focus on tradition, quality…

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How to Plan for Prime Day & Beyond

For the first time, Prime Day didn’t take place in mid-July. Amazon, instead, refocused its efforts on meeting high consumer demand for products like PPE, cleaning supplies, dry goods and more. As an alternative to perhaps the most anticipated sales event of the year, the company hosted what it dubbed the “Big Style Sale.” Shoppers…

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Effective Strategies for Retail Brands on Amazon

Amazon accounts for 40% of all US online retail sales, according to eMarketer. That was pre-pandemic and since then Amazon reported a 25% sales increase YoY in Q1 with stock up 45%. Its brand value is now worth more than $415 billion, according to Kantar and WPP. These staggering statistics mean brands must balance their…

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Retail, Fashion and eCommerce

Like so many parts of life, COVID-19 has upended the ways people shop. As a result, brands, their stores and ecommerce channels are pivoting on a daily basis to stay relevant and reach their customers in meaningful ways. We sat down with Anna Kaplan, Mindgruve’s VP of Account Management, to discuss the changes to expect…

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Top 10 Marketing Trends for 2020

From innovative technologies to the desire for more personal, emotional connections, we’re peering into 2020 and highlighting ten critical marketing trends that will significantly impact the industry. Through the thoughtful application of forward-thinking marketing strategies, brands can stay ahead of the rapidly-changing needs of their customers, foster growth and increase ROI. TREND #1 The Humanization…

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Why Your Agency’s Project Manager is Worth Every Penny

Assigns resources. Validates estimates. Fine-tunes scopes. Creates timelines. Runs burn reports. Tracks approvals. Coordinates vendors. “QAs” and troubleshoots. Reconciles budgets and billing. The job description for agency project managers goes on and on. Saying they wear multiple hats is an understatement. These are the people behind the scenes, planning, organizing and prioritizing resources and tasks…

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Don’t Underestimate The Value of Voice for Your Business

It’s 2019 and nearly everyone has a built in assistant – voice assistant that is. Voice technology and its underlying software – voice recognition, artificial intelligence, natural language processing and beyond – is evolving rapidly and becoming omnipresent. With the rise of position zero, the coveted search result spot that voice assistants are pulling from,…

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Who Are Brands Overlooking at Comic-Con?

What comes to mind when you picture a San Diego Comic-Con attendee? Is it a comic book “geek” with a poster tube slung across his shoulder? A film buff in a movie t-shirt and cargo shorts? Or is it an avid gamer with a Mountain Dew in hand? Every year, Comic-Con grows exponentially with 130,000…

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Welcome to Agency X – Can I Take Your Order?

Dunkin Donuts, Jack in the Box, Subway… agency? Franchises aren’t just for food anymore –with chain shops popping up around the US, media outlets are beginning to take interest in this unconventional format. In a recent AdAge article, Alexandra Bruell delves into the franchise model with a focus on ViaMark, an East Coast-based agency that…

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[INFOGRAPHIC] Online vs. Offline

Even with today’s heavy focus on digital content, more than half of web consumers are influenced by offline word-of-mouth recommendations, while 40% look beyond the Internet to inform purchasing decisions. Offline marketing is still a major player in overall marketing success, although it’s decidedly more enigmatic when it comes to pulling metrics. Get some insight…

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Webinar Recap: “Evolving the Press Release to Drive New Outcomes”

“The press release is dead.” How many times have you heard that stated, debated, retracted, and restated by public relations and marketing professionals? Since press releases got their start in the glory days of print, many digital-centric marketers have mentally cataloged them in the “do not resuscitate” file and turned exclusively to social media, blogs,…

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Re-marketing Gone Wrong: Don’t be an Online Stalker

Everyone knows the saying, “too much of a good thing,” but lately, I’ve noticed many brands that should be taking it to heart. When it comes to customer targeting, a vast number of brands are re-marketing with no strategy, and it needs to stop. There is an effective way to do re-marketing, and then there…

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Cause Criteria: Consumers Get Cause-centric, Should Your Brand Follow?

Cause marketing is nothing new. Yoplait has been supporting breast cancer research for years. What is new, are the “New Affluents,” who spend over $303 billion a year in the U.S. on their favorite brands. With their spending power, this group is single-handedly redefining what makes a “good” brand, including if that brand represents integrity…

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Balancing Media Content and Cost in a Social World

The beginning of 2010 has already shown us a lot of exciting potential for the social world, including Apple’s iPad and Super Bowl XLIV ad campaigns’ interaction in social media. But what we’re most intrigued with are two recent articles from Caroline McCarthy and Joe Marchese. Both articles discuss the emergence and dispersion of noteworthy…

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