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How taking a sabbatical made me a better employee (and person)
Last spring I had a crazy idea. I wanted to take an extended period of time away from my everyday life and see the world. Why? Partially because I wanted to, well, see the world. But also because I thought it would make me a better person—both personally and professionally. [...]
A fun (and cheap) way of showing your customers you care
We all expect (and receive) confirmation emails from companies after we’ve placed orders from them online. What we don’t expect, usually, is anything but basic “thanks for your order” or “your order has been shipped” messages. That’s always been good enough for me. But occasionally, they come with a little [...]
Should You Outsource Your Marketing Efforts?
As a marketing agency, you might think d.trio’s default answer to this question is a resounding “yes!” But, that’s not how we roll. We are much more interested in partnering with organizations who really need us, rather than pushing our services on anyone and everyone who has a marketing budget. [...]
Drinks anyone?
Most agencies have a tendency to follow the mantra “Work Hard, Play Hard.” And we are no different. We hunker down and work hard every day to meet the challenges and deadlines that come with taking on marketing projects for our clients. What does make us different, though, is that [...]
A Rant: Marketers, please clean your lists!
I’m a fan of marketing automation. It’s a great way to stay in front of your customers and prospects and it gives you a ton of control over a lot of your marketing aspects. Like, who to market to, how often to market to them, and which offers and content [...]
Guerrilla Marketing in the Cornfields of Iowa
I recently participated in my first-ever RAGBRAI. Anyone who rides bicycles or is from the state of Iowa is familiar with this event. Now in its 46th year, the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa is a gathering of around 10,000 cyclists who ride their bikes for 7 days [...]
A marketer’s dilemma – curmudgeon or free spirit
I occasionally see a bumper sticker that says “Question Everything”. It usually appears on cars with other bumper stickers that say things like “Coexist” and “Be the Change You Want to See” and “Bernie Sanders 2016”. I love those cars, by the way. My takeaway on this somewhat ambiguous, yet [...]
Google’s PPC algorithms are messing with our brand
I have recently been tasked with managing a project for a very important client. The project: Create new SEM landing pages. The client: d.trio marketing group. After a few good internal meetings and a plan in hand, I set out to get the work done. Lucky for me, we have [...]
What happened to memorable taglines?
There is no question that marketing and advertising play a big role in our everyday lives—especially big brands that seem to be everywhere. And one key component to a successful brand is a good tagline. I was recently reminded of this when, halfway through April, Minneapolis got a huge weekend [...]
Confessions of a reluctant marketer
I recently read Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of clothing and gear company Patagonia. (Full disclosure: I can’t take full credit for my brilliant article title—I was inspired by the subtitle of Chouinard’s book: Confessions of a Reluctant Businessman). Chouinard is an outdoor enthusiast and [...]
