We talked about the pivots that these marketers had to make once COVID-19 rocked the sports and overall world and how they worked through those difficult early days. We also covered ... Continue reading ...
In late 2007, I was hired as VP of Business Development and Marketing by a small digital agency called Spunlogic that would soon be acquired by Engauge. I got called into a meeting with my boss and three of my peers (VP of Client Services, VP of Strategy, and VP of Research and Innovation). They told me to learn how to do my job or GET OUT! Here is the story recounted by four of the people who were in the room:
Posted by Joe K on Tuesday, October 16, 2018,
In :
Marketing
I was asked to speak at the Georgia Marketing Education Association (GMEA) Conference to 100+ high school marketing teachers about my career path and the more general marketing career path.
For many years I have enjoyed connecting job seekers with their dream jobs. We even added recruiting as a nice little side business for Setup. In fact, I wrote a series of content designed to equip job seekers with knowledge that will help them find their dream gig:
Posted by Joe on Sunday, October 11, 2015,
In :
Events
When my friend, former boss, mentor, and now client, Jeff Hilimiretold me about his idea many months ago to build 48 websites for 48 non-profits in 48 hours, my immediate response was "I am in". Most non-profits are more focused on doing good, than looking good, so the strong digital marketing community here in Atlanta could pitch in our talents to help them attract, convert, and retain donors and volunteers.
So much planning and preparation went into the 48in48 weekend. Over the course of th... Continue reading ...
Note: This post is the seventh in a (#JobSeeker) series that I am publishing to help those who are seeking their dream job. There are several tips that I feel incrementally increase your chance of being hired. These tips require hard work to implement, but the "sweat equity" will pay dividends when you land the job you have been coveting.
I thought it would be good for me to highlight candidates here in Atlanta that have approached me because they are interested in finding their next challenge...
Wednesday morning I had the pleasure of serving on a panel discussion moderated by the infinitely talented UGA Digital Marketing professor and fellow AIMA board member - Jennifer Osbon. Joining us were long time friends Teresa Caro, Brian Rudolph, and Adam Naide. It was a lively discussion about the power of personal brand as it applies to both the physical and digital worlds.
Here is a picture of the entire panel:
Here is the Storify that I put together to capture many of the Tweets that happ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Joe on Tuesday, November 18, 2014,
In :
Setup
There are so many exciting things happening for AgencySparks! I will not bore you with all of the details, but here is a quick list:
1. Several of our agencies have closed deals from the introductions we made to potential clients. This is the most important of any of the points on this list.
2. We got a new logo/brand and are working on a new website and marketing materials:
Posted by Joe on Tuesday, June 24, 2014,
In :
Marketing
I have been spending a lot of time talking both to both clients and agencies about Insight, Objective, Strategy, and Tactic. It seems that a lot of people confuse them, so I have suggested the Trojan War as an excellent analogy to explain the differences:
By the way, if you want to see a hilarious rendition of the Trojan War story, check out this video.
Posted by Joe on Wednesday, June 11, 2014,
In :
Setup
We are so pleased to welcome Katia Herrera to AgencySparks!
Katia joins Stephanie Peterman and me as our third employee and a valuable member of our team. We were thrilled to have Katia join us due to her enthusiasm, stellar intellect, and strong work ethic.
Katia will be graduating from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia in August 2014. She will be receiving her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing with a Digital Marketing area of interest.
Posted by Joe on Wednesday, June 4, 2014,
In :
Setup
Jason Swenk has built a nice business advising marketing agencies on how to be more successful. His experience comes from running a digital agency for 12 years before selling it in 2011.
Posted by Joe on Friday, May 30, 2014,
In :
Events
I had the good fortune to moderate an EXCELLENT Atlanta Ad Club event entitled New Business in the Modern Age. There were over 100 people in attendance and they were delighted by the all-star panel:
Posted by Joe on Sunday, February 2, 2014,
In :
Setup
I could not be any more excited to announce that I have launched a new company - AgencySparks!
AgencySparks provides business development and communications consulting services to marketing agencies.
I want to share the story of how the company was born:
Very soon after I left my agency of the last six years, in early January of 2014, I felt VERY fortunate to have several excellent opportunities. Most of them were with small-medium sized agencies looking for me to help them grow, like I ha... Continue reading ...
Posted by Joe on Tuesday, December 17, 2013,
In :
Marketing
Improving my own empathy is something that I have been working on for some years. It does not come naturally to me, like for others that I care about and respect. I recently came across this very brief video (by RSA Short and narrated by Dr. Brené Brown) that does an excellent job of explaining empathy and gives some guidelines for people like me trying to improve out empathetic responses and connections with people:
Posted by Joe on Wednesday, December 4, 2013,
In :
BtoB vs BtoC
I am often asked about the differences between business-to-business marketing and business-to-consumer marketing. While BtoB has its nuances: nurturing leads along a pipeline, buying teams vs. individuals, slower sale cycle, and more expensive products there are many more similarities than differences.
At the end of the day, you are trying to move a person to take action... The context of the engagement is different. Getting a consumer to buy a candy bar (often an impulse purchase) is dif... Continue reading ...
