Hi! My name is Natalie Matthews and I am ecstatic to begin as the new social media and marketing intern at HMG Creative, this semester. Born and raised in Clear Lake, Texas, I have enjoyed dancing competitively for twelve years with my older sister and traveling alongside the rest of our family in our free time. I am an avid cooking show viewer, occasional chef for one and dedicated consumer of all things sweet. You can often find me making my way around Town Lake while listening to some of my favorite artists, ranging from Frank Sinatra to Katy Perry. I am passionate about empowerment, the alleviation of poverty, education and positive living.

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When is the last time you have walked into a store just to try on that shirt and redeem the coupon you received via email last month? The last time you’ve checked the reviews on that electronic you’ve been anticipating for a year, just to wait in line for 6 hours on the day it is released at Best Buy? Is it that we are becoming more impatient and comfortable with a screen controlling our purchases? Or could it be that buying online is the most efficient and economical option for today’s society?

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This year, we saw a one-minute Super Bowl spot from Toyota featuring a Paralympic athlete and the journey she took to increase her chances of winning a gold medal. Heartwarming and inspiring—no cars were featured in the ad, which promoted the phrase, “When we’re free to move, anything is possible.” So what does this say about what we value as consumers? Are features and benefits our main concern? The fact is, in a world with so much variety, availability, and interconnected commerce, we subscribe to the brands we choose to invest loyalty in, not the products we choose to buy.

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It’s February and love is in the air. The time has come for red and pink to color our worlds and to celebrate those we hold dear.

Whether you’re looking for the perfect romantic spot for you and your significant other, or you’re just ready to treat yourself to a meal that you deserve, there’s a place for everyone in Austin this Valentine’s Day. Known as a destination for culinary invention and gourmet classics alike, Austin continues to bring delicious and delectable food to its people year after year. Here at HMG, we have compiled a list of some of the newest restaurants and dives for a taste of the best that this city has to offer.

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As artificial intelligence continues to advance, we’ve found ourselves new best friends with intelligent personal assistants such as Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google. The way people search the web for information is changing from the traditional search engines. Nearly 60 percent of searches today are performed through mobile devices. Mobile devices are becoming our key source of knowledge and consumers are increasingly using their voice over their fingers to search the web. Asking questions and receiving answers has never been quicker or easier. As voice search continues to gain market share, it is imperative that we as marketers understand how to optimize our websites in order to stay ahead on SEO best practices.

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Social media and messaging apps have led to the evolution of bots. A bot is a computer program that automates certain tasks by chatting with a user through a conversational interface like a messaging app. Interactions with bots can be straightforward such as asking a bot for the location of a restaurant, or more complex, like troubleshooting your internet service. In a world of immediacy and instant demand, simply offering an app won’t cut it anymore. Consumers expect an immediate response when it comes to customer service, and bots offer quality service before the customer even comes across an issue. If you haven’t invested in bots quite yet, here are a few reasons you should consider:

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It has been a decade since Apple released the first generation of iPhones that changed technology forever. This revolutionary product digitized many industries and built a world dedicated to instancy and connection. This September, Apple announced the release of the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X. Since the latest release, in many cases, consumers did not feel the iPhone 8 met their expectations for innovation and the iPhone 7 has been selling more than the iPhone 8. The iPhone X will be released on Friday, November 3, with the intent to give consumers the futuristic phone they’ve been craving. With competitors like Google and Samsung lingering, here are a few capabilities of the iPhone X that set Apple apart:

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Festivities and events are on the rise as the fall and winter seasons approach, and as a full-service marketing agency, we are well aware of the design and print needs of most companies during this time of the year. HMG Creative is offering major savings on high-quality design work and commercial printing throughout the month of November as events and company parties continue to creep closer and closer. Continue…

With the introduction of the new iPhone X, augmented reality has created a significant buzz in the digital world, even being named “the next big thing” in the industry. Researchers and engineers are now pulling graphics off the screen and integrating them into real-world environments. For example, Pokemon Go was one of the first successful applications of AR and has spearheaded the development of many more games and apps utilizing this kind of technology. As technology continues to progress, augmented reality will become prominent in the digital industry.

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Slack is the fastest growing business application in history. Launching in 2014, Slack is a platform that connects teams with the apps, services, and resources they need to get their daily work done. With access to over 1,000 apps and a strategic API, Slack works with partners and developers globally to create apps and integrations that make your work more efficient, automates tasks and brings better content into your conversations in Slack. Not only is it a great tool for communication and project management, it also creates a more social work environment by allowing individuals to send quick emojis and gifs. We love Slack, so we thought we’d compile our favorite Slack hacks.

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