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The Oscars have been a marvelous celebration of Hollywood's cinematic successes since 1929. With each year, the awards ceremony seems to be a bigger deal than the last and more brands are stepping forward to get a piece of the action. In the same way that the Super Bowl is as much about the commercials as it is the game, the Oscars are as much about the marketing opportunities it presents as it is about celebrating great achievements in film.

The Oscars: one giant commercial

Just when you thought you were up to date on everything now that your website is mobile friendly, think again! Enter wearable tech: the next big thing that marketers are going to be wrapping their heads around in the near future. Don't worry if you're overwhelmed at the thought. Everyone panics a little when some disruptive new technology starts smashing things up, but this is actually a really exciting time. Let's dig in and see what potentially lies ahead. 

The influence traditional marketing has on consumers these days is changing, but this does not mean that all hope for traditional marketing methods is lost. You absolutely should not abandon them, but they need to be augmented with content marketing. It's a great way of communicating with your audience without overtly selling anything. Instead, it delivers information that makes your potential customers more informed and establishes you as an expert with the highest quality products or services.

In the weeks and days ramping up to Election Day yesterday, many people have been feeling inundated with postcards from every politician imaginable. Lots of those postcards never even got a glance and went straight into the recycling bin. Sadly, this is the fate of so many postcards. After all the expense and design time and planning that goes into them, it's really a shame. Postcards are very cost effective and they do work very well, but they have to be done right or it's into the bin they go.

Here's how you can make postcard marketing work for you!

So the Ice Bucket Challenge has lasted WAY longer than anyone could have ever predicted, yes?  Just when you think it's over, there's two, three, four more popping up in your newsfeed on the daily. Some people are all over it, but some are annoyed by it. Whatever side of the fence you may fall on, there's no denying that for marketers, it's a bit of a phenomenon and something we can all learn from. As a result of the campaign, ALSA has experienced an 800% rise in donations. We need to listen to what this thing is telling us because,whoa.

1) Make it easy and fun

You've been hearing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) this and SEO that for ages. It used to be that you could just have a popular website by having good content and keywords that would get you some good search engine results. But that's not good enough anymore. Those things are still absolutely important, but you've got to start taking a look at how social media sites can help you. It's a whole new bag now, GLAD WORKS friends.

The good ol' days

As business owners, we know you spend a lot of time and resources planning marketing campaigns. It can be exhausting—especially if you're trying to actually run a business at the same time. But it's necessary because if you don't have a steady stream of leads coming in, your ship will sink. Today, we thought we'd give you a little inspiration to help keep some wind in your sails.

Make a video

Last week we introduced you to Google Grants, the nonprofit edition of AdWords, which are the text ads that appear on the right of your Google search page results. If you've read last week's post, then you have already determined if your nonprofit will qualify for Google Grants or not. If you do, congrats!  That is awesome news!  Now, you just need to know how to make good use of it.

Whether you are managing your campaign yourself or are working with an agency (like GLAD WORKS, shameless plug there, sorry) there are a few tips we can share with you to make sure you get everything you can out of your account.

Yes, Google is taking over the world, but that doesn’t mean they don't have a heart. They have programs out there that are meant to help struggling nonprofits get their word out without having to spend any of their precious donations to do it. Today we will explain those programs, and their requirements, Hope you qualify and get to take advantage!  We'll talk about what to do with it next week. Let's just get you qualified first!

YouTube for non-profits

We have done posts in the past listing traditional marketing methods that still get great results. Direct mail is one of those things, and it’s a surprisingly effective way to reach customers. Today, we’re going to talk about a few tricks of the trade that you can use when writing your copy that will make for an effective piece that gets attention. Let’s make it rain all day!

 Make it easy for the reader