iDEA JOURNAL

Diversity in the workplace is no longer simply encouraged—it's mandatory. This includes, but is not limited to: “race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more.” This is, of course, a great thing! There are so many benefits to workplace diversity—success rates, adaptability potential, and broader service ranges, just to name a few, have all been proven to go up significantly when diversity exists within an office—big or small, marketing, finance, or anything in-between. And while this is all well and good (and, as we said, necessary!) there's more to a diverse office space than just diversity. The notion of inclusion plays a large role in the success of a business, and it’s important that this concept stops getting over-looked. So, here are 3 tips to keeping your workplace diverse, inclusive, and ultimately, wildly successful.

In the early days of your agency, you were probably working overtime to close new clients, and still making time to work on your own marketing. But over time, if you’re a growing digital or Inbound marketing agency, you might be so involved and focused on client work that it’s not hard to lose focus on your own marketing, and it is both a strategic and tactical mistake. It is just as important to apply your marketing methodology to your own company as it is for clients. Below are three little reminders of why taking the time to properly market yourself is just as, if not more, important for your company’s growth and future success.

Most recently, Instagram changed its logo... and everyone's complaining about it. It's normal for people not to love change. We get that. But come on, guys, it's just a logo! Cole Rise (does that last name sound familiar? Hint: it’s the name of an Instagram filter!), a legendary Instagram user, designer, photographer, and creator of the old logo made in 2011 chalked up people's reaction to the "standard hand-writing whenever a major product or service changes." We think he's right. And now, because there’s always something to talk about in technology, onto the next big news with Instagram.

The visual album Beyoncé released last week has gone totally viral. Lemonade is, for all intents and purposes, a beautifully written, filmed, choreographed, and of course sung series of heartfelt songs, all strung together to make something none of us expected (I mean, sort of... it is Beyoncé, after all. Expect the unexpected). But behind the album itself is a whole slew of interesting decisions that the Queen Bey and her cohorts had to have made before releasing this album… Here we go.

Millennials are the future of every company. With over 80 million Millennials in the United States, they monopolize the market. Therefore, it is essential for a business to focus on this generation. Previously, we described the differences between outbound and inbound marketing – but in this article we will highlight why the inbound marketing methodology might be attractive, especially to Millennials.

At start up, founders define their brand based on their vision. Most of the time they don’t get it quite right. Great brands are revealed one customer interaction at a time. They follow an evolutionary tract that is difficult to predict. Great entrepreneurs do not resist the evolution. They embrace the fact that their business plan will improve with time.  If you have not read it yet, get a copy of The Startup Owner’s Manual. Steve Blank and Bob Dorfhave worked and advised hundreds of startups, and they recommend founders embrace the evolution of their business plan. In fact, they recommend against writing a traditional business plan and encourage founders to pivot their business model to follow the path of solving pressing problems and delighting customers. Their advice is well founded and seems like common sense. I am astounded when founders get hung up clinging to their original vision.