OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – In a move to bolster its emphasis on fully integrated marketing services, as well as expand its national footprint, VI Marketing and Branding has acquired Kansas City-based advertising and public relations firm Pearcy Dunning, it was announced today.

Every week on Wednesday, our agency gathers in the "Jigsaw" (pictured above) for lunch and a training session…in the great words of the Culps, we “roll up a fatty of fellowship and fun” in the spirit of learning! I would like to share a few tidbits from our agency training last week...

People in the media business know that research gathered from local stations, regardless of medium, are without a doubt skewed to show that particular station or group of stations in the best light possible.

First, let me state the obvious. If you don't have any customers, you don't have a company. That means you don't need your operations people, your managers, your cashiers or anybody else. So, that makes your customers the absolute most important thing in your business, no matter what it is.

Okay, let’s get this out of the way right up front. I’m no social butterfly, and I’m certainly no social media expert. Indeed, I’m one of a dying breed – those curmudgeonly misanthropes who view social media with skepticism and a healthy tinge of paranoia.

Recently I was at a family function where I ran into my stepbrother who I hadn’t seen in a couple years. We are both huge 80’s Action movie fans and just like old times, we started hypothesizing about things like:

We've been super busy the last few weeks with little time to venture out of the office, so we've been eating a lot of takeout. Breakfast, lunch, dinner – no matter what it tastes like, we devour it. That said, all of this eating out has made us quite the connoisseurs and we have a growing list of favorites who are receiving hundreds of dollars in repeat business.

Take out a red pen and cut your paid media budget by 10 percent right now. But don't put that money back in the general fund. You need it to compete for customers and to keep the ones that you have. In the modern marketing era, you need to engage your prospects and customers where they live, work, play, etc.

A few years ago I wrote in our newsletter that the news industry could not survive in its current form if it did not begin to charge for online content. What is now called a paywall, would allow the news organization to keep its reporters employed, which results in original content.

The back porch light in my new house is broken. Or the light switch, which is more of a square button, is broken. Sometimes I can’t get the porch light to come on. And, more often, I can’t get it to turn off. (The electricians say it’s not that easy to fix — different story). 

There’s a saying in the construction business: Measure twice. Cut once. But apparently that never made it to the signage industry. VI Marketing Strategist Deana Paulson noticed that two men across the street were adhering signage to a window ‑ backwards. We watched for about five minutes waiting for their reactions when they would realize that the sign was placed incorrectly. 

One of the most difficult things to understand is change. It’s just hard for humans. Whether it is moving to a new home, getting a new job, or even losing a family pet. Change is hard to deal with.