Category Archives: Advertising in Toronto
10th Anniversary Part II: Big, Complex Projects
We Can Do Big, Complex Projects Really Well
Every time Lisa here hands me a back-up DVD of completed projects for my home collection, I’m amazed at the variety, volume and quality of work we’ve done. Over the past two-three years we’ve had the honour of doing some much more complex projects, with multiple pieces and deadlines. Continue reading
You Built It, Now What?
Would you build a big, beautiful building in the wilds of the Greater Toronto Area and expect people to just stumble in? There’s a lot of competition out there and visitors want to be engaged. You need to give them a reason to go to your site. Five ways to drive people to your site… Continue reading
When to Outsource Marketing
In the growth cycle of a firm it’s normal to start outsourcing various needs, from bookkeeping to marketing firms, when you cross a certain threshold. The decision as to when to do it usually comes down to capacity and skill. Even in larger companies, the responsibility may fall on an office manager or controller, someone without a marketing head and other important work to do. Continue reading
How Do You Know It’s Good?
You know you need a new brand/ad campaign/website, so you hire a professional to help you. They present two or three concepts for you to choose from, but you can’t really tell the difference. How do you know which is best? How do you know any of them are really good (other than they’re better than what you had)?
You don’t need to be a marketing expert or a designer to appreciate good work, but you do need to feel confident in what you’re creating. Continue reading
The True Value Of Relationships
One of the the things that everyone in the communications industry has to deal with on a fairly regular basis is justifying costs to their clients… even when it builds their business, enhances their corporate identity and provides an excellent ROI. Continue reading
Marketing: How Many Vendors Do You Really Need?
It’s not uncommon to go to different partners for different marketing needs. What’s the harm in that? Well… depending on the circumstances the harm can be wasted time, wasted money, wasted impact and lost opportunities. All the things a successful business does NOT want.
Clearly, large organizations with entire departments that take care of websites, advertising, social media, etc., often need different vendors for each of these services. The key is they have professional Marketing Coordinators to manage it all. But for most organizations, that role doesn’t exist and one vendor is the right approach. The advantage is strategic focus, less time required from you, deep commitment and value and oftentimes, a firm that is as committed to your success as you are. Continue reading
Unarmed & Dangerous
In the business world it’s often very easy to get carried away with an idea and run long and hard with it. And it happens more often than you might think. Why? Because ideas are seductive. They’re attractive. And if … Continue reading
Direct Marketing: Everything Old Is New Again
Some of us here at Rapport are actually old enough to remember a time when electronic communication was considered to be a radio or TV commercial. Direct mail was one of the most powerful forms of advertising outside of television, and relative to television, cost considerably less. With the advent of web advertising and email marketing, traditional direct mail went through a fairly substantial downturn. Mainly because, it was argued, that its computerized counterpart was much more cost effective to produce.
Over the past few years, we’ve begun to notice something of a renaissance in direct mail marketing. Continue reading