Does Your Brand Have Enough Sizzle?

Does Your Brand Have Enough Sizzle?

Blog, Clients, Featured, Marketing, Publication, Social Media
Imagine you’ve recently moved to a new city, or maybe you’re on vacation in a state or even country you’ve never visited before. It’s a new area and you’re unfamiliar, perhaps even a little culturally shocked. You’ve just landed, and you hear that grumble in your stomach. You’re thinking it would be great to have a home-cooked meal, but you know that isn’t going to happen. So, what do you do? You look for something you can relate to, something you recognize. After carefully observing the area, something appears: it’s the familiar sign of one of your favorite restaurants. You know when you enter, you’ll be able to order something you’ve once enjoyed. This is called brand recognition and it’s done by design. Does your product or service have a…
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How Using Snapchat Can Help Your Business

Blog, Featured, Marketing, Social Media
Social media is viewed and used by people on a daily basis. Over the last 10 years, social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become easily accessible to anyone with a smartphone or tablet. These social media applications have become great platforms for major businesses to advertise and connect with customers and clients. In September of 2011 the social media application Snapchat was launched and soon became very popular. According to the website Social Media Examiner, as of February 2017, Snapchat had 158 million users, with the average number of snaps per day at 2.5 billion. 45% of the daily active users live in North America. Many Snapchat users are young people between the ages of 18 to 35, but as time goes on, the statistics show that…
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Mickle Communications Voted Most Loved Video Production Company Again

Blog, Featured, Marketing
https://vimeo.com/191042490 Chopper from Locals Love Us presents Mike Mickle the 2017 Locals Love Us award for favorite Video Production company. This is the fourth time Mickle Communications has been voted most loved Video Production Company. Thank you for your support again this year. What can we do for your business? E-mail Mike Mickle at mike@micklecommunications to setup a time to talk about how we can help your business in 2017.    
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What Green Day Can Teach You About Brand Loyality

Blog, Featured, Marketing
https://youtu.be/_y1Gz7v1fnk What can three alternative rock stars who are now in their mid 40's teach you about brand loyality and creating dedicated fans? Last night as I was watching Green Day at the last of their seven club dates to promote their new album Bang Bang, I watched the other 2000 loyal fans there go crazy for song after song and asked myself the above question. The answer is a lot if you look at how the band approaches their craft and how they treat their fans. The music world is fan oriented. Without fans it doesn't matter how great your band is. Without fans, there are no music sales or concert tickets sold. Your business is the same. Without customers, no matter how great your product is, it doesn't…
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22 Marketing Tactics If You Have A Limited Budget

22 Marketing Tactics If You Have A Limited Budget

Blog, Featured, Marketing
Don't have an unlimited marketing budget? WordStream, an online advertising blog, lists 22 of their favorite ways small business can save money on their marketing. 1. Publish Great Content. I don’t think I even need to say this, but it’d be neglectful not to mention the importance of kick-ass content. If you can create it yourself, all the better (isn’t free always better?). Even if writing isn’t your strong point, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting someone on your team to crank out some articles for your blog. Try top 10 lists, tip collections, best practices for your industry, etc. I shared a bunch of creative content marketing ideas here, and Elisa recently rewrote the rules of content marketing for small businesses. 2. Create Instructional Videos. Video content is…
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97th Annual Mississippi Valley Fair is Right Around the Corner

97th Annual Mississippi Valley Fair is Right Around the Corner

Marketing
This year’s Mississippi Valley Fair will take place from August 2 through 7 and will feature a variety of carnival rides, attractions, and food vendors, in addition to agriculture, home arts, and leisure time exhibits. Each evening will showcase a grandstand music act from some of the biggest names in the music industry. A FunCard costs $55 and serves as your entry into the fairgrounds and grandstand acts for all six days of the Mississippi Valley Fair. The card will be punched at the admissions gate and at the entrance to the grandstand shows. No individual tickets will be sold for the grandstand shows so, whether you wish to see one show or all six shows, you must purchase a FunCard. FunCards can be purchased online at mvfair.com and by…
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Food Truck Trend Comes to the Quad Cities

Food Truck Trend Comes to the Quad Cities

Featured, Marketing
Food trucks are a dining trend that is starting to gain traction in the Quad Cities. Offering affordable meals on wheels, these vendors are selling a variety of foods throughout the Quad Cities. Be sure to check some of them out and enjoy the new dining options the area has to offer!   Meals—  La Flama on Wheels What they offer: tacos, burritos, chips When: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10:30am to 7:30pm Where: K&K True Value Hardware in Bettendorf, IA http://tinyurl.com/laflamaonwheels    Static Melt What they offer: grilled cheese sandwiches When and where: Since opening last week, Static Melt hasn’t found a consistent location or time yet. Check their Facebook page for updates! https://www.facebook.com/staticmeltqc   Saucy Sisters What they offer: sandwiches, salads, wraps, sausage When: Tuesdays-Sunday 10:45am-5:30pm Where: Menard’s…
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Restaurants to Discover in the Quad Cities

Restaurants to Discover in the Quad Cities

Featured, Marketing
  Enjoy Quad Cities Style Pizza at Harris Pizza http://www.harrispizza.com Yelp: 4.5 stars The Quad Cities is known for its distinctive pizza style, one that features a nutty crust, spicy tomato sauce, toppings under the cheese, and pizza cut into strips rather than slices. The best example of this pizza can be found at Harris Pizza and is an experience all Quad Citians must have.   Have an Authentic Mexican Experience at La Rancherita https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Rancherita/ Yelp: 4 stars La Rancherita is a local favorite with some of the most authentic Mexican food in the area. The restaurant’s impressive pico de gallo and beef tacos are sure to make your experience at this cash-only establishment worth the visit.   Benefit from a filling lunch at Café d’Marie http://www.cafedmarie.com Yelp: 5 stars…
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Marketing to Millennials in the Age of Social Media

Marketing to Millennials in the Age of Social Media

Marketing, Social Media
Attracting the millennial market is becoming increasingly important for the success of products, brands, and services. As millennials, currently in their mid-teens to mid-thirties, gain spending power in the consumer marketplace, their influence will progressively extend to influence other generations, making the emerging marketing techniques associated with the millennial generation increasingly important to a company’s success. The marketing and advertising strategies that thrived among past generations of consumers do not have the same influence among millennials, as millennial consumers are more likely to respond to campaigns that align with the channels they gravitate towards, social media and other online platforms, rather than the traditional marketing methods of television and print. This online approach is essential to the successful marketing of a company’s product, brand, or service to millennials, who find…
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What Business Owners Can Learn from Country Music

What Business Owners Can Learn from Country Music

Marketing
[et_pb_section admin_label="section"][et_pb_row admin_label="row"][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" background_layout="light" text_orientation="left" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"] Go to any country music concert and you’ll hear at least one reference to God, several to our men and women in uniform and an encouragement to have a drink. The reasons are simple. Country music stars know who their customer is. Any mention of the U.S.A. and our military brings the crowd it its feet. Giving glory to God leads to cheers erupting throughout the stands and the suggestion to drink will lead to droves of people heading to the concession stand. The bands not only play music but they play to their audience. Recently at Country USA (a five-day country concert in Oshkosh, Wisconsin) the band LoCash showed up two days early and held a seemingly impromptu concert…
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