In an earlier post National Brands: how to engage and market locally in Vermont, I wrote about the importance of national brands understanding local markets. Marketers' messages are always competing for our attention. We all want to know what is going on in the world today, so much so that it sometimes pulls focus from what is happening in our immediate area. But there is a difference between a national organization’s “national” story versus its local story. Successful campaigns connect universal ideas with the personal.

Lately, whenever I have free moment I’ve been listening to podcasts. Just like any other type of media content, digital audio segments can be funny, sad, interesting and informative, all at the same time. They can be a source of education and of creative inspiration. They can also be a great way for your organization to produce additional content for your community with a quick turnaround.

Going to a Hubpot marketing conference for the first time can be be pretty exciting– the disco lights, the vibe, the 14,000 creative smart people all in one place, and of course the many  presentations by smart creative people. This year, I focused my agenda schedule on content marketing, strategy and storytelling. Here are my top takeaways.

This week my kids went back to school and I started thinking about the importance of writing fundamentals in school and more specifically in business blogs. Nurturing your community by offering them story and content to make you a valued part of their tool kit is something that should be at the very basis of your blogging.

Helping your community emotionally engage with you is a great indicator of marketing success. Building an emotional connection can take many forms. And because of one company’s success in connecting, I recently found myself in a position that would never have occurred to me. I had to explain to my eight-year-old son that the president of his favorite company passed away. My husband and I actually had to sit down and discuss how we were going to handle it before “the talk.”

For national brands and organizations, marketing locally and engaging a target community can be challenging without extensive preparation and research.

When you look at this picture what do you see? Soft serve? Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sprinkles? A creemee with jimmies? There is no wrong answer, but how you answer depends on where you live. And if you were to include this image in a Vermont print ad and call it softserve, many locals would know right away that you weren’t a local company.

When you think of being on camera and getting the word out about your mission, you may think initially of public relations and participating in a media interview. But don't limit yourself. In marketing and outreach today, there are many different ways video can be used in promotion. Preparing for media interviews and messaging can become a core part of your marketing and content strategy. And while preparing for a media interview and preparing for a testimonial video or promotional video are similar, there are a few slight differences. Let's look at both what's the same and what's different about the most common video interview types.

The power of visual storytelling can be compelling and immediately engaging. In today’s marketing world, strong visuals are a necessary element in a successful marketing program. People often say let's take a look at the big picture. In marketing the big picture is like a lot of little pieces that make up a big jigsaw puzzle. And in this puzzle, every little piece is important because it connects to the next one to create the finished whole.