We knew heading into it, that it was going to be a busy week. The sun, the moon, and the clients had aligned to have our team heading in three very different directions.

The 2023 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas was an exciting and enlightening event for Charcoal Marketing. With the most influential tech companies showcasing their latest and greatest innovations, it was an opportunity to gather valuable insights and stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of technology. The new advancements and solutions that were on display this year will have a significant impact on how marketers and their clients can become more competitive and successful in the future.

The holiday season is a time for true marketers to ‘consume media’ once again—whether it’s binge watching, catching live sports (like hockey/ football), and just getting out and about. In no particular order, here’s a few brands that caught our eyes.

As a small business owner, you know that having a strong presence on social media is essential for growing your business. With so many platforms available, it can be overwhelming trying to decide which ones to use for your business.

Stock images don’t always capture the essence of your business, and it can be super time consuming to search through pages and pages of photos that you only ‘sort of’ resonate with. Building a photo bank to tell the story of your business has many benefits and can be utilized over and over again.

As a small business owner, you know that marketing is a key part of your success. Unfortunately, the cost of marketing can be prohibitive for smaller businesses, which can make it difficult to get the most out of your efforts. That’s why fractional marketing is such a valuable asset for small businesses.

What do you do when you’ve been locked down, restricted in your movements, and told to ‘stay the blazes home’ for a full two years?

You got it - we knee jerk, we yearn for experiences, and we start booking.

You don't need to start with the premise that the consumer is a moron. You begin by believing that they are reasonably smart and can be persuaded to your point of view if given the facts, or a compelling story. Make no mistake - we are all capable of spotting hype and disbelieving it.

Fractional Marketing is a relatively new term that applies to companies that do not have the resources or workforce to handle everything themselves. It’s a lot like outsourcing parts of your marketing function, on a short-term or on-demand basis.

I was recently tasked with writing a blog. Many of you may remember me from the Shut Up and Blog webinar I hosted with Mike Hayes, CMO of Charcoal Marketing. That was a great opportunity for me to learn about the importance of blogging, and the key tips for writing a successful blog. So, what did I learn?

Five years ago today, a bunch of ‘April Fools’ picked up their belongings and started a new chapter at Charcoal Marketing. It was a Monday, when Brian, Ben and Riley wandered into our new digs at Oxford & Cork (I missed the weekend move in the rain, as I was out of town at a conference, and boy did I hear about it!).

When you work in the marketing, branding and design business, you tend to take notice of signage. Lately, due to COVID-19, there’s been an increased reliance on signs for open hours, way-finding, new rules and new services.

I was recently able to sit in on an interesting webinar, hosted by Family Business Association Atlantic, about getting your business online (quickly) during the Coronavirus pandemic. As you might imagine, some of the lessons learned can be transposed across different times and scenarios (not only COVID-19) and shall still offer a benefit to you and your business. Going online didn’t start with the pandemic - it simply became vital to the existence of a whole lot of businesses during it.

What a week that was! Everyday, we are reacting to the plethora of changes that COVID-19 brings in the environment, and recalibrating our business posture to meet the challenges. We’re still more than busy with work, and still coming up with new ideas every day.

With the important caveat that we are staying safe, observing best practices recommended by the government health authorities and trying to forge ahead, this is what we’ve been up to…

Five reasons why COVID-19 shouldn’t affect our business

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, our blog draft said, "why COVID-19 won't affect our business"! And, who wants to atone for that someday. We're pretty busy working this week, but no one can predict the future. So for the present time, here we go…

We’ve all heard the rationale about the economic impact of startups. They create jobs. They employ new grads. They create exports. They distribute wealth (all of this assumes, of course, that they are successful startups!).

The Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) had long been an extension of Dalhousie’s website. There, the scope of the organization’s fascinating research and formidable branding was, at the time, competing with one of Atlantic Canada’s foremost universities by sharing the (digital) space. Naturally, approaching the topic of transitioning OFI to a site of their own meant considering a new portfolio of web design, photography, and inbound marketing!

Once upon a time…

Great stories are told all around us. A story can find you just about anywhere, because storytellers have been using everything from word of mouth and cave walls, to books, billboards, and airwaves for over 35 millennia.

In April 2016 Charcoal landed on the corner of Oxford and Cork, and had a chance to burn brightly in an open-space concept, with rentable work stations, that was quite unlike the Hydrostone offices we had stepped away from.