Writings from Force 5 Basecamp

01/25/22

Deb DeFreeuw, President/Certified Brand Strategist Setting a Marketing Budget As we start our new year, I would like to talk briefly about typical percentages of revenue that should go be allocated towards setting your marketing budget. For small businesses (revenues of 5 million or less), a common rule of thumb is that B2B (business-to-business) companies should spend about 5% –

01/14/22

By: Dan Vukmirovich, Director of Creative Strategy Today we’re going talk about effectiveness, and what it means in your marketing. Two “M’s” …and maybe a bonus “M” to give you a little bit of marketing advice.  Effective Messaging in Marketing So the first M is Messaging. Are you being effective in your messaging, whether it’s on your website, in your

01/05/22

By: Jim Ragosta, Jr., Digital Media Specialist I recently watched a live press conference of Stellantis featuring CEO Carlos Tavares discussing the transition of Stellantis to a sustainable mobility tech company. Great things are happening with the company, the presentation left me with two takeaways of how this could impact digital marketing efforts.  Stellantis announced a partnership with Amazon to work on improving the consumer experience

06/01/21

By Jeff Murphy Extraordinary customer service is a value that businesses are constantly aiming to achieve. As new technologies are introduced, new opportunities arrive that enable companies to assist their consumers in ways that were previously unimaginable. One recent breakthrough in online customer service has been the implementation of chatbots on company websites. This breakthrough has prompted many a question

05/12/21

By Deb DeFreeuw, President, Force 5 Recently I happened to shop at two different Martin’s Supermarkets in our area and each provided very different experiences. The different experience at each brought to light the importance of brand enculturation. Brand enculturation is making sure that the people on the team understand, believe and live the brand promise. Understanding the promise to

02/17/21

By Jim Ragosta, Digital Media Specialist 2020 was an interesting year for the social media industry. The COVID-19 pandemic led many businesses and people to turn to social media to stay connected, whether that’s through direct or indirect communications. 2020 also brought light to the questions many have had for years surrounding Big Tech in regards to censorship and privacy. And,

12/30/20

2020, well, what hasn’t been said – a year we didn’t see coming, a year we can’t wait to put in the rearview mirror. Needless to say the pandemic will have a lasting impact on many aspects of our lives and in the year ahead, marketers will need to be especially conscious to approach their messaging with empathy. That empathy begins

12/16/20

By Jim Ragosta, Digital Media Specialist As consumers continue to shift to a more digital driven approach for their product and service needs, SEO continues to be more important than ever. SEO isn’t as easy as some think, it is in constant flux given Google’s random indexing, new algorithms, and competition against others who are also making optimizations. On the

11/12/20

By Jim Ragosta, Digital Media Specialist 2020 has been a whirlwind for retailers globally. COVID-19 has had a dramatic effect on purchase intent and how/where consumers want to buy goods or services. This whirlwind will definitely impact the upcoming holiday shopping season. From government regulations imposed on brick and mortar retailers to individuals following CDC guidelines to keep themselves and

10/26/20

I know. I know. We’re all tired of hearing about the corona virus nowadays and how it’s affected all of us mentally, physically, emotionally. I’d like to take a different perspective, focusing in on E-commerce and how it’s seems to be flourishing. At the end of first quarter 2020, and leading in to the second quarter of 2020, “brick and

08/24/20

For nearly 20 years, an Indiana Trailer Manufacturer (because of an NDA, the company name has been changed to Indiana Trailer Manufacturer, abbreviated as ITM) has been producing premium aluminum trailers as the alternative to steel trailers in the Trailer/RV marketplace. Factors like exceptional design and construction with guidance from industry-leading engineers have catapulted ITM to high levels of growth and

07/21/20

We live in challenging times. COVID-19 has dramatically changed traditional human behavior in a short amount of time, leaving nearly all of us in a trance asking ourselves “where do we go from here?” From a business standpoint, “how is the way I conduct business going to change?” Furthermore, from a marketing standpoint, “how do the side effects of COVID