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Solar has reached a tipping point
Here in Minnesota, obscured by a mix of industry changes and hard-to-kill misinformation, is a thriving solar industry—a community—working to amplify the truth. Solar is a great source of clean energy and, with proper battery storage and end-of-life solar panel recycling, it’s getting better every year. Consumer roof-top solar [...]
Musings from Sag Harbor: How we found inspiration by helping others
As a marketing agency, sometimes we are asked to do things that don’t directly impact our bottom line. We consider all these requests carefully because we know there’s a need in the world for compassion and helping others. Several years ago, when a client reached out with an “opportunity”, [...]
5 Ways to Rethink Marketing
Marketing has become a dirty word for some people, and there’s good reason for it. There is a lot of what we’d call “junk marketing” happening out in the world. Junk marketing is done without any real strategy. It’s lazy and over-used, over the top click-bait. It’s the lowest [...]
10 Takeaways from 2023
We had quite the year here at cat&tonic. We learned a lot, pushed ourselves to do new things, got out of our comfort zones, and worked to nudge the status quo out the door. With all that behind us, we thought we’d share some of the wisdom we gained [...]
How six “failures” created business success
Over the course of running a business for 23 years, a funny thing happens. One day you look back in time and there’s clarity. Clarity about successes but also about what some might call failures. Much has been written about “failing fast” in business. I agree you need to [...]
5 things I learned from changing my company’s name
We recently changed our name from d.trio marketing group to cat&tonic. As you can imagine, it’s a major ordeal. This is our story of going through the process and the lessons I learned along the way. Perhaps they’ll help those of you who might be considering a big change. Our [...]
Tearing off the Roof
For 22 years, d.trio has been a smart, nimble, and forward-thinking agency. Over those years, we have reinvented our brand several times as we shifted our business focus to embrace new channels, technologies, information, and strategies. Running a small business is much like owning a home—you do the maintenance to [...]
Interesting marketing approach. Questionable execution.
Our team regularly discusses marketing and advertising we’ve seen out in the wild that works or doesn’t work (and why). Recently someone brought in a letter they received around Valentine’s Day with what most of us initially thought was an interesting approach. The letter (with pink hearts on it) from [...]
Wisdom from the MarketingProfs B2B conference
Earlier this fall we attended the virtual MarketingProfs B2B conference and as usual, Ann Handley et al were entertaining and informative. Also, as usual, we had a number of “we could teach this” moments and a few “ah-ha” moments. It’s always worthwhile, either way. Here are some highlights. Master your [...]
Why Your Brand Positioning Matters
Things have changed for everyone over the past 15 months. For my business, Covid was the second wave of major shifts that came over a two-year period. All this change left me reexamining many things, including our identity. This is the story of why and how we — a branding [...]
