October Bucket List Series: Films and Frights

It’s finally Fall! It’s that time of the year when we take our sweaters out of boxes (even though it’s still 100 degrees in Austin, TX) and consume pumpkin-spice flavored everything, despite what the haters say. As October 31st approaches, we could all use a fun night out to get us in the Halloween spirit! We have entertainment options for everyone, on the big screen AND the small screen, in-person, and even up close and personal!

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October Bucket List Series: Flea and Farmers Markets

October is the perfect month to stroll around and shop for fresh food and vintage finds- the weather is cooling down, everyone is in a cheery Autumn mood, cravings for pumpkin pie are peaking. Luckily, Austin is a hot spot for flea markets and farmers markets. No matter your schedule or budget, you can find the occasion to shop around every week this month. Plus, most are completely free to enter!

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Typography Series 3: Hierarchy Tips That’ll Put You On Top

There’s absolutely nothing worse than having to search through hundreds of words just to find the answer that you’re looking for. Much like us, readers will quickly turn away from your page if the answer they’re looking for is not readily available. For this exact reason, paying attention to the typographic hierarchy of your paper is super important to keeping readers engaged. Continue…

Out With The Old & In With The New: An Intern’s Farewell

As this chapter comes to a close and I move into my senior year at The University of Texas, I have come to appreciate so many of the valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way. Professionally, I have gained numerous skills and knowledge in the marketing and communications sphere. Personally, I have been pushed to challenge my boundaries and turn opportunities into accomplishments.

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Apps On The Rise: Keeping Up in The 21st Century

With the rise of the iPhone, our society has quickly shifted in many respects. The ways we interact, the ways we find information, the ways we work and the ways we occupy our time have all been impacted by not only the advancement of mobile technology but the introduction of apps into our everyday routines. Now entire businesses revolve around the model of customer interaction via phone applications. Mobile traffic has given the opportunity for hundreds of thousands of companies to reach their audiences with more ease and efficiency, making transactions, and communication in general much more streamlined. By 2020, the predicted number of apps to exist will be 5 million (Perez, 2017), and the possibilities don’t stop there.

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The Gift of Giving: Corporate Social Responsibility’s Effect on Branding Strategy

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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Meet Natalie, The New Kid on The Block

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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Basics of Inbound Marketing

Optimizing your website’s keywords, call-to-actions, and landing pages are fundamental in search engine optimization and getting started with inbound marketing. It takes time to rank higher through organic SEO methods, but inbound marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways of capturing the attention of high-quality prospects. The second most important contributor to organic search engine optimization is producing blog content that is knowledgeable on topics within your industry and valuable to your ideal customer. Optimizing your website for conversion and creating content that that resonates with your readers will set you up for continuously bringing in high-quality leads.

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Which Blogs Generate the Most Traffic?

As part of your inbound marketing strategy, the goal of publishing blogs is to generate traffic; however, generating traffic through a blog channel can be quite challenging if your blogs are not catching your readers’ attention. It is crucial to understand your target audience and what interests them in order to give them a blog worth reading. Here are six types of blogs that give you the best chance at generating traffic:

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