Digital advertising is an essential part of the marketing mix and according to eMarketer, will surpass traditional media spending this year. This really isn’t news to anyone. Digital dollars can be tracked and attributed to specific conversions and are much easier to figure ROI for brands.  It’s the dream of any planner to point to a medium and say “X” tactic brought in sales, conversions, enrollments, whatever the objective may be.

Changing behaviors through mass communication and marketing isn't the easiest thing to do. You're attempting to connect with your audience at their core, trying to influence deeply rooted behaviors. At VI, we've got a long history of working on campaigns that focus on behavior change objectives. Often during campaign planning, we use a few different types of creative messaging strategies to impact our target audiences and nudge them toward that change.

Picture this. You’re at a swanky restaurant. Your waitress approaches. She asks how you’re doing. You misinterpret this normal interaction as a cue to unload every graphic detail of your latest squabble with your husband. Next, you walk her through the play-by-play of the nightmarish parent/teacher conference you had last week. When the meal comes, you eat it with your hands…with gusto. And it’s not a sandwich.

When it comes to producing video, it doesn’t matter how skilled your preparation and perfect your execution is if you haven’t cast the right talent. Ensuring your talent selection truly connects with your audience is an art in of itself. One that relies on groundwork early in the campaign planning process in order to be successful. It is a hugely important task and can mean the difference between producing a believable message and missing the mark.

Too often, “social monitoring” is used as a catch-all phrase in the social media sphere. Understanding the difference between listening and monitoring can improve your brand's social intelligence, and maximize your campaigns.

The most important question surrounding Oklahoma’s lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson is not who is at fault. That obviously matters, but we can’t allow finger-pointing to distract us from the most pressing problem. Too many lives are at stake. As marketers, how can we help reduce opioid abuse in Oklahoma and at the national level?

OKLAHOMA CITY (June 25, 2019) – Today VI Marketing and Branding announced an agency-wide completion of the Behavior Change Marketing Certification training developed and deployed by VI's team of Behavior Change Marketing experts. 

Audience segmentation is the process of dividing people into homogeneous subgroups based upon defined criterion such as habits, demographics, psychographics, communication behaviors and media use. This would be the next step you take to learn more about your target audience.

In the world of social and digital advertising, it's important to choose the correct platforms and tactics to reach precise audiences in the B2B space. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter can be challenging to use due to targeting restrictions on professional characteristics like job titles, skills, and industries.

I have great admiration for organizations with well-defined brands. The most successful organizations make decisions based on their desired brand position. The brand drives the entire organization. And frankly, that makes decisions a lot easier. They ask, “If we do this, is it good for our brand?” Their brand support is not just for the marketing campaigns. The leadership lives the brand. It spreads throughout the entire staff, touching their vendors and even their stakeholders. Disney comes to mind for me.  

OKLAHOMA CITY (June 25, 2019) – Last Thursday, VI Marketing and Branding was voted Best Advertising Agency in Oklahoma by the Journal Record Reader Rankings. 

I once worked for the marketing department at a company that had little communication with our sales staff. Upon starting the job, I quickly noticed tension between the two departments. When I asked why our departments didn’t work together more closely, no one could definitively answer my question. Our failure to collaborate was problematic. We were never on the same page, we operated under different objectives, executed different strategies (sometimes in conflict with each other) and never leaned on each other for advisement or expertise. It’s no surprise that the few successes we tallied were often in spite of each other.