Villing
Points of View
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but our ideas are on the house.
- The Risk You Take By Failing to Collaborate
Make sure you have a team and a plan in place to deliver the best work possible for your clients.Read More - What PR Professionals Can Learn from the Fyre Festival and Its Influencer Marketing
The Fyre Festival is an example of how putting a PR campaign ahead of planning the actual event, product or service will catch up with one in the end.Read More - Press releases are still important…so how do you write a great one?
The ability to write and send actionable press releases remains one of the core components of any PR professional’s toolbox.Read More - Social Media Marketing: Get To The Point
Marketing on social media forces you to distill your message down to its essence.Read More - Transparency in Digital Marketing
As marketers, it is becoming increasingly vital that we consider our own role in how consumer data is used online.Read More - Review Responses: An Untapped Branding Resource
Make sure you have a plan in place for responding to customer reviews online.Read More - Marketing with Conviction: Should You Take a Public Stand for Your Brand Values?
You want people to connect with your brand. They cannot do that if they feel your brand does not align with their values.Read More - Go for the Moon: What Tesla’s Futuristic Stunt Can Teach Us about Marketing Strategy
The goal in marketing is always to get the maximum return on the dollars you spend. To do that, it’s okay to get a little creative – in fact, that’s encouraged.Read More - More Than a "Fee"ling: The Power of the Client/Agency Relationship
What exactly is the value of an idea?Read More - The Catch-22 of Video Marketing
All signs are pointing towards social platforms positioning themselves almost like new TV channels. But here’s the problem: that’s simply not how we use social media.Read More - Is Digital Marketing Really the Way of the Future?
The world's largest advertiser - Procter & Gamble - saw a sales boost after slashing their digital budget. What, if anything, should marketers take away from this?Read More - Marketing Magic: Getting in the Mind of Your Customer
If you are able to wow your customer, you can create a long-lasting relationship.Read More - Quick Guide to LinkedIn Advertising
With so many brands creating content, cutting through the clutter is more difficult than ever before. To enhance your impact, LinkedIn advertising is worth considering.Read More - 'Data' Doesn’t Have to Be a Bad Word
It’s time to shed the fear of data and, instead, begin to find ways to incorporate it into your marketing strategy.Read More - Walking on Thin Ice: Politics and Marketing
It may be tempting as a brand in the current cultural climate to enter into political discussion. Not so fast.Read More - Wake Up and Smell the Mobile Advertising
If you advertise in a way or on a medium that doesn’t fit with your customer’s habits, it will come across as annoying or ineffective.Read More - Branding’s Big Game: Are Super Bowl Ads Bigger than the Game Itself?
Brands are throwing more resources at Super Bowl advertising than ever before. But are they using the right strategy?Read More - Social Media Marketing: There Are Real People Behind Those Screens
You need to have an understanding of the people you are trying to reach.Read More - Facebook and Fake News
Facebook users have always had the ability to report inappropriate content. But now, there is a separate option to flag a post or article as fake news.Read More - Is Facebook Advertising in Your 2017 Marketing Plan?
Even for a budget of $150 or less, you can have a significant impact with Facebook ads.Read More - Interested in Virtual Reality? Get a Strategy First.
In the end, it all comes down to being strategic with your marketing. Don’t be swayed by all the latest tech and gadgets.Read More - Stop Looking for Marketing Shortcuts. Create Value Instead.
Your audience is YOUR audience. Make sure your content is uniquely crafted with them in mind.Read More - Unlocking the Power of Your First 10 Minutes in the Office
This practice won’t take up much of your time, but it might have a huge impact.Read More - The Genius Branding Strategy That Sounds Too Simple
This genius branding strategy may have gone overlooked by your organization because it’s so obvious. It’s not new and shiny. It just works. Want to know the secret? Here you go…Read More - The One Key Skill for PR Success
Public relations has undergone many changes in the digital era. So how can you navigate such a shifting landscape? It all comes down to one word...Read More - 5 Keys to Content Marketing for Professional Service Firms
Few buzzwords are “buzzier” in marketing circles these days than content marketing. But as with any buzzword, there’s a reason for all the attention.Read More - The Social Media Metrics that Matter
There are many statistics available, but not all of them tell you what you want to know. Especially in the realm of social media, marketers can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of metrics at their disposal.Read More - Learning from Instagram's New Logo
Don’t be lured into making a change just to make a change.Read More - 5 Ingredients for the Facebook Ads Secret Sauce
Even though it’s been around for a while in internet years, paid Facebook advertising is still a relatively new marketing channel. Here are five proven strategies for success that can help you as you wade into the waters of paid Facebook advertising.Read More - Employees: The New (and Old) Media Platform
You want to make sure you’re engaging your brand ambassadors, because that positive word of mouth can have a big impact on your business.Read More - Have We Just Witnessed a Watershed Moment in Online Streaming?
I wonder if it’s possible to know when you’ve just witnessed a groundbreaking moment. Because I have a sneaking suspicion the media world might be in the middle of one.Read More - Use the Force: Why Content Amplification is Your Biggest PR Asset
If there is any “PR trend” for your brand to focus on in 2016, it should definitely be the importance of quality content. In all reality, that trend is as old as time – because it works. Read More - Reacting to the New "Reactions" on Facebook: 5 Key Takeaways
How do you navigate a world where people can “love” or be “sad” about your posts on Facebook? Here are 5 key takeaways to keep in mind:Read More - Panic at the Timeline! What Twitter’s New Algorithm Means for You
When news broke that the social media network was planning on introducing an algorithmic timeline, many users started to lament that Twitter as we know it would never be the same.Read More - Not Ready for a Close-Up: How to Avoid Your Own Red Lobster-Beyonce Debacle
You should at least have a hierarchy of communication in the event that your brand is mentioned online by an influencer.Read More - Finance and Social Media: How Facebook Wants to Turn Messenger into a Payment Platform
Undoubtedly, you think of photos or videos posted by family and friends. Soon, many may think of it as a way to send money.Read More - Cultural Awareness in Marketing Revisited
It’s one thing to try to create messages that are sensitive to the cultures that immediately surround you, it’s something entirely different to attempt to create messages that are sensitive to a culture in another hemisphere. So how does one navigate that?Read More - How 'The Revenant' Used Virtual Reality as a Marketing Tool
As marketers begin to warm up to virtual reality as a tool in the marketing mix, this is the type of campaign that makes sense. I’ll give you two reasons why – storytelling and visuals.Read More - Blogging: A Christmas Present and New Year’s Resolution All Wrapped Up into One
The dust has settled from the holiday season, and we’re getting back into our work routines. Christmas and New Year’s bring with them a few cultural traditions. I want to focus on two in particular – gifts and resolutions – and how they relate to blogging.Read More - Star Wars Marketing: Genius or Over the Top?
Over the last few weeks, it has been hard to avoid the Star Wars hysteria. Villing & Company assistant account executive, Aaron Charles, discusses what lessons can be learned from the marketing for the blockbuster film.Read More - The Misunderstood Millennials
If you automatically associate Millennials with social media obsession, you may be driven to adopt every social media channel you can find. However, that might just be a mistake.Read More - Gillette Needs to Sharpen Up Their Advertising
Gillette used to brand themselves as "the best a man can get." Some of their recent advertising tells a different story, though.Read More - Why an Expert on YouTube is a Better Endorser than Your Favorite Celebrity
Trust is such a key factor in making a purchasing decision. In the past, people often trusted celebrities and their opinions very highly. Now, that may be dwindling.Read More - Swiping Left on Tinder's Twitter Meltdown
Does a firestorm of snarky tweets seem like good marketing strategy? It did to Tinder. Here's why they were wrong... Read More - Challenge Accepted: How One Facebook Comment Pushed VW to Create a Self-Stopping Stroller
Volkswagen thought they had simply posted their latest TV spot online. Thanks to one Facebook comment, it became much more.Read More - The Big, The Bad and The Beautiful: Facebook's Potential for Business
Is Facebook a good tool for businesses? Yes, and here's why...Read More - Hashtags: #Overused or #Undervalued?
Hashtags have become a major part of the social media culture. For marketers especially, hashtags can be a powerful tool in social media strategy - if used correctly.Read More - Amazon Echo Doesn't Need to Be the "Star Trek Computer" to Be Successful
There is a great deal of hype surrounding the new Amazon Echo, with some even calling it a "Star Trek computer." But does it need to live up to the hype for Amazon's marketing strategy to be successful?Read More - 10 Tips for Creating 'Wow-Factor' Content
How do you create content that will engage your audience on social media? Here are ten useful tips that will help you in your content strategy online.Read More - Why You NEED to Pay Attention to Streaming Media
A new study predicts subscriptions to streaming video services will grow exponentially in the coming years. What does that mean for the TV industry?Read More - Periscope, the Chicago Cubs and Finding a Balance with Social Media
Social media is an amazing tool. It can help you engage your audience and create business solutions. However, those gains should never come at the expense of personal interactions and "home run" type moments.Read More - Is Facebook Marketing Dead?
In the ever-changing world of social media marketing, questions like this are commonplace. Everyone is always looking for the next big thing, and if old techniques aren’t bringing results then they must be dead.Read More - Selling Sad: We Analyze the Reaction to the Nationwide Commercial
Did you see the Nationwide ad with the little boy in it? Of course you did! We take a look at whether their strategy worked.Read More - Why the Indianapolis Colts Paid Me to Attend the Super Bowl
My name is Aaron Charles, and recently I won a contest from the Indianapolis Colts that sent me to Arizona on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Super Bowl with my brand new fiancée.Read More