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One simple question that can get any business back on track.
Between changes in technology, changes in economic, marketing and business theory, information overload, and this seemingly global simmering anger, the world of work these days can be extremely challenging. Marketing in particular, still often considered by companies as more of an expense than an investment, is plagued by an absolute [...]
How to lead a truly effective meeting
As someone whose job it is to make things, I’m not crazy about meetings. They me away from my primary responsibility and what I really like to do. This makes it difficult when we live in a world where meetings have overtaken the workday. However, recently I attended one of [...]
How to not drown in your content marketing strategy
Content marketing is the biggest thing going in marketing these days. When combined with marketing automation it can be a powerful method to help overwhelmed, over-exposed, information-overloaded people decide they want to buy your product or service. It’s also easy to get lost in KPIs, content types, promotion, distribution, editorial [...]
Proposals and other performance art
As a “creative type” I spent the first years of my career in marketing blessedly unneeded in early meetings focused on sales – convincing strangers that you are actually really good at what you do. I just had to BE really good at what I did, it was up to [...]
Is a designer an artist?
Is a designer an artist? It’s a question that has come up in conversation pretty often over the course of my career – as it did during an outdoor happy hour one warm evening last week. My answer has generally been no, not really, not the kind of designer I [...]
Agency management vs. vendor management – one CD’s perspective
Most days I love my job. But, some of my most frustrating days as a designer and as a creative director have come about primarily because I forgot one simple truth that none of us in the agency world can ever really afford to forget: we are vendors. Agency people, [...]
Stock Photos in Real Life
Ah, stock photography, one of John Paul Getty’s greatest contributions to the lives of designers everywhere. (Ok, it was actually his grandson who started what is now the world’s largest source of quality, licensable photography, Getty Images.) As d.trio is a Minneapolis marketing agency, we work primarily on marketing, meaning [...]
I am a typography snob
I am a typography snob. I judge the reliability and competence of companies almost solely based on what (and how many) fonts they use in their advertising. I don’t use coupons very often because I get distracted when the layout artist forgets to kern the 1. I avoid certain routes [...]
Why I want an Apple Watch.
Like most of my life, it really comes down to one thing. Marketing. Not just the marketing I’ve seen for the Apple Watch itself. All of which makes it look like the cleanest, slickest, biggest (have you noticed how HUGE they make it look. Targeting the folks with bad eyesight [...]
My first day – Beth – microblog
In honor of d.trio's 15th anniversary we've asked all of the current employees to write two microblogs. One about their very first day at d.trio, the other about where they were 15 years ago. My first day at d.trio was 8 years ago today. To the day. I spent the [...]
