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On February 20, 2016 Kalamazoo, Michigan experienced one of the worst tragedies to ever occur in the city. Residents were terrified as the news began to spread that there was a killer on the loose. The authorities finally detained the gunman and details started to leak out through the media that the gunman was an Uber driver, and he committed 6 murders in between picking up people who had arranged for a rides through the Uber app. Which probably sent Uber reeling.more

In our 15 years as a digital marketing agency we’ve been asked almost every question a client could possibly ask. Everything from, “Shouldn’t my logo be bigger?” to “Can I have an animated frog hopping around the bottom of each page?”. Although some questions are asked more frequently than others, there are some consistently asked by our clients. Here are just a few of them…more

Originally published on August 5, 2011 and continues to be relevant. Enjoy! As a service provider, we often have clients ask us to help them “increase awareness.” As one of the people responsible for wrapping this often undefined goal in some metrics, I’ve had to figure out what this really means. Often clients aren’t able to distill this goal down into something measurable. But, to gauge our effectiveness, it’s critical that we work together to do so. I’ll attempt to reveal some of the measures that CAN be used. However, as with all things like this, before adopting them for your awareness metrics, make sure these are really measuring what your specific goals are. When speaking of “awareness” what we usually mean is brand awareness. We want people to think of us when doing something related to our cause, our company, or our product. When defined in this way, it becomes a little clearer what things are important to measure.more

With everyone looking back on the past year, we thought it would be a good time to take a trip down memory lane and look back on our blog posts of 2015. Here are our 5 most popular blog posts of 2015:more

As each year winds down, it’s always nice to take note of the memorable events, express gratitude for the people in our lives who have made a difference, and even take some time to look at those things that didn’t go so well so we can learn and help steer clear of any avoidable issues going forward. This post is from the perspective of MINDSCAPE.more

Unlike the neglected sneakers I keep under my desk for the day I will begin to take brisk walks after my lunch of kale and quinoa, the shoes of real runners are treated with respect. They know that their choices in footwear are a critical part of their success to prevent injury and to improve performance and enjoyment. A recent conversation about using data at the office brought up an idea we recommended to a running shoe retailer. After discussing how to create a valuable customer experience, we realized that the best approach was to foster a relationship that extended well past the sale.more

At MINDSCAPE, we have been advising clients to build mobile-optimized sites for years, mainly because of the dramatic improvements to the user experience when using a mobilemore

Can a company brand a feeling? Because AirBNB has just announced their new logo includes the Bélo, a symbol that represents “belonging.” “Belonging has always been a fundamental driver of humankind. So to represent that feeling, we’ve created a symbol for us as a community. It’s an iconic mark for our windows, our doors, and our shared values. It’s a symbol that, like us, can belong wherever it happens to be.” Founded in 2007 by two guys who wanted to share their idea of seeing the world via coach surfing, now valued at $10 million, AirBNB is a company that helps you rent your home or find one to rent when you travel. Beyond online travel booking, it offers a non-touristy option for travelers who want an authentic “like the locals” experience.more

Online marketing success has an ever increasing importance to your business’ success. For a lot of businesses this is known, but it’s hard to be effective since the web is evolving at an exponential rate. As online marketers, we have found digital data to be one of the primary keys to grow such success. Due to these benefits of data, more data is being created and analyzed every day. Now we are in an era where the term “big data” is a common term in everyday business. With the vast amount of available data points, we have realized that watching all of them is inefficient and can cause more harm than good when just one of these data points experiences significant change. To combat this fear, we have developed computed aggregates of metrics that represent one, more complete metric. It’s easier to watch and tells a broader story. This may seem like a new approach or that we’re masking the details unnecessarily however, let’s remember that this is not a new method. The stock market has done it forever and at such a success level that the DIJA, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 have continuous coverage on every news outlet.more

In Part 1 of this series, the understanding and reasoning behind unique context and intent was discussed. Through some feedback, it became apparent that the most intriguing parts of the article happened closer to the end where I started to hint at the applied use of this theory. I thought there would no better way to help others than to show an example of this taking place. So for this part of the series, we will breakdown Google's site structure for its own product – the Nexus.more

Think about your day. How much of it looks like the day before or two weeks ago? We truly are creatures of habit, often more than we’d like to admit. Now think about a change you’ve tried lately. If you love change, maybe it was something major like a new relationship or a new place to live. If change isn’t really your game, maybe it was a new restaurant for dinner or a new way home because of road construction. Sometimes change is forced upon us and we must react. This often causes us the most stress, especially for those of us that like to be in control. Other times, we get to make the change ourselves. We see a new opportunity and we seek it out. This often causes adventure or new experience which may lead to something else we never thought would result.more

There are two things we do a lot of here at MINDSCAPE. One is user experience (UX) design. The other is order Jimmy John’s. JJ’s is easily a team favorite, often with JJ branded cyclists making the trip to our office several times a day. After many years, they finally revamped their site. Along with their new look, they also created a new online ordering process. I love their new design. Actually, I love all their marketing. But there’s a minor issue with their “Repeat This Order” feature that would be super simple to correct, and here it is:more

Think of the scenarios in which you begin the dialogue with a question (just like this post). Maybe it’s an interview with a potential candidate for a critical role at your organization. Or maybe it’s an initial phone call with a potential candidate describing the services your team can offer. Or maybe it’s a question you ask yourself as you complete a project. The majority of our effective interactions with people involve meaningful questions. Listen for this in your next few discussions. Then listen for the questions people use to get to the heart of the needed conversation. Are they the right ones?more

One of the most common "strategies" we're asked to develop is based around increasing traffic to a client's site.more

Confidence! If you’re truly confident, you follow it with an exclamation point, not a question mark.more

Today, in my email, I noticed the following ad:more

Is your business using Vine, yet? Did you know businesses are using Vine? Click to watch the MindscapeTV episode about Vine! Vine is a video app that allows you to record a six-second clip. The short clip will loop, creating a gif, which can then be shared on Facebook and Twitter. Your video clips can either be six consecutive seconds, or you can stop and start as much as you please until you’ve reached your six-second limit (which is a fantastic invitation to create videos reminiscent of stop motion).In case you’re not familiar, Vine is considered to be an app from Twitter, but it actually started out as a three-man company before Twitter acquired it in October of 2012, before it even went live. Twitter officially launched Vine in January of 2013 and it quickly climbed the ranks to become the #1 free app on Apple’s App Store within six months of its acquisition. Should you be using Vine? Twitter seems to care greatly about Vine, and its users are constantly on the rise. So, where does that leave businesses? Is Vine beneficial for everyone, or just pet owners, parents of small children, and amateur video enthusiasts?more

If you haven’t heard, Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch is currently embroiled in yet another major PR gaffe for his 2006 quote: “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.” Alas, this isn’t yet another blog about how his company is contributing to bullying and eating disorders.more

I’m not sure I ever realized the value of “team-building” until I came to Mindscape. As our company has continued to grow from 12 people when I started to nearly 30 now, it’s more important than ever that we like each other. I don’t just mean as colleagues, but as people too. Mindscape has created a culture where this is possible. Each year, we go on a company trip that brings us together as an entire group. What I wanted to do was take that to a smaller level just for the people on my specific team. So we headed out to a Project Management conference in Chicago. Considering that my group is made up of 3 men and me, it was a little daunting for me as a new, female manager. I am definitely happy with how well the trip went and how much everyone seemed to get out of the seminar. Here are some of the things I took away from it both as a new manager and as a PM.more