Marketing | Brandon Croke

Companies today must BE, not Seem

Before the internet, sounding impressive was more important than being impressive. Today, with consumers having a voice it is much harder for mediocre or false promises to spread. The shift companies today must make is not only of marketing dollars (from traditional mediums to digital mediums), but of their entire marketing mindset. More $ = [...]

4 Things College Presidents Should Know about Social Media

Last week my friend Mallory Wood caught my attention when she shared an article by Michael Stoner asking for feedback from the higher ed community on what a college president should know about social media. After seeing the post (an important topic in my opinion) I started writing a lengthy comment below, but I didn’t [...]

Why Even Bother with Blogging?

I’ve got a confession to make. I haven’t been the best blogger lately. Sure I’ve got excuses (don’t we all) I’ve been traveling, I’ve been reading, I’ve been thinking, and I’ve been working on some awesome new projects more on those later. But it hit me today during a client meeting that I’m not practicing what [...]

Facebook Page Statistics: Seeking Truth in Numbers

Back in 2009 Sysmos did an analysis of over 600,000 Facebook Fan Pages and I had some old thoughts I jotted down that I never got to publish until today. Although the numbers may be a bit old, the principles behind their findings are timeless. So many social media gurus love to tweet new research and statistics that [...]

What’s the future career path for social media consultants?

Extinction This may sound odd coming from a “social media consultant” of sorts, but after spending the past few years working with companies on social media I’ve noticed a pattern that doesn’t look good for your resident Twitter guru. What’s the main reason social media consultants will become extinct? Gen Y. Just in the past [...]

Sam Adams: Better Beer or Better Marketing?

There is no doubt that Sam Adams knows how to brew a great beer. Not surprisingly though, they also know a thing or two about marketing. The beer market is a highly competitive industry and while most “American Beers” sell funny commercials and sexy woman, Sam Adams takes a more well… beer focussed approach. If [...]

The Secret to Success in Social Media

There truly is a secret to how to be successful in social media. Want to know what it is? The secret is seldom talked about. Yet, everyday there are thousands of people talking about social media ROI, social media monitoring, social media policies etc. You can find hundreds of lists of the top 10 brands on [...]

Michigan Marketing Educator’s Presentation 2010

Last week I had the honor of giving a keynote talk to the MME conference in Mount Pleasant Michigan. The event brought together over a 100 High-school and Collegiate marketers educators for a two days of idea sharing and workshops. The conference theme was “Pay it Forward” which fit quite well with my talk on [...]

Attention Marketers

The world has changed. “The car isn’t a faster horse, and the e-mail isn’t a more efficient fax” – Seth Godin Do you find yourself trying to play the new game of “social media” with the old rules of marketing? If so you are setting yourself and your brand up for failure. There is a [...]

Ever Wonder Why I Show Up in Your Facebook News Feed?

If you just saw this message on Facebook, you’re probably not alone in wondering. “Why does this guy (or girl) always show up in my Facebook News Feed?” How come I never see anything from my friend from second grade, but the girl I friended last week keeps showing up? If you’re curious, stick around. [...]