This week our feature is an entrepreneur of Hazel Coffee Co., Hailey Polidori. Her coffee shop is an all mobile coffee bar in Austin, TX. Their mission is to bring creatives and community together. They serve locally roasted beans and offer bookings for events. You can request a quote by clicking the link on their website. Not only does she own this cutting-edge coffee shop, she is a content creator, a photographer and YouTuber. We’ve had the pleasure of working with Hailey and hope to do it again in the future.
Feel Good Friday: Types of Creativity
We work with so many creative people in our industry and each one is unique in their very own way. Content creators, creative directors. You name it, we’ve worked alongside them to help make the best UGC campaigns possible. We’ve always been under the impression that you are either creative or you’re just not but apparently, and surprising, this is not the case. There are four different types of creativity, according to neuroscienctists. Did you know this? That means we’re all creatives in one way or another. The four ways of creativity are deliberate & cognitive, deliberate & emotional, spontaneous & cognitive and spontaneous & emotional. Let’s dive in to each type.
Feel Good Friday: Sparking Creative Inspiration
It’s time to spice things up again here at Locomotive. Every Friday for the next few weeks (maybe months) we will be focusing on topics that will inspire you. Today, our first topic will be ways to spark inspiration for all our creatives out there. Let’s face it, we all suffer from lack of inspiration here and there so it’s always nice to have something you can fall back on when these creative blocks hit and the deadlines are creeping in. What in the world is inspiration anyhow? Let’s define it. It has been defined by psychologists as a motivation from external sources that cause someone to have an idea and/or creatively produce something. We’ve done some digging on ways to spark creativity when you’re in a rut.
Friday Feature
This week we turn to one of our furry friends. Our feature this week is of Max the dog from Vancouver, Canada. This fun-loving pup goes on all types of adventures and is absolutely adorable. We previously worked with his owners to license a piece of content during the COVID pandemic where his owner used him for leg presses while the gyms were closed. Captioned with “Only got to do 2 reps of my 40lb leg presses before my makeshift weight gave up.” What a fun way to get creative with your workouts! Big shout out to them for helping make one of our campaigns fun and exciting!
Friday Feature 10/7/22
We’re taking you to the sunny beaches of your living room. Wait what? That’s right! You heard us. This surf video went viral back in March of 2020 of Sailah Nicol and her brother surfing on the rug in their living room. Their father is pro surfer, Yadin Nicol who is also featured in this video pulling the rug up into a wave. This video is probably up there with one our favorites that we’ve licensed over our years here at Locomotive. Head over to Instagram and show her page some love and support with a follow.
Friday Feature
This week we turn to a producer and director, Christin Baker. She is co-founder of tellofilms.com and proud creator of lesbian content. We worked with her on a Rapinoe spot many moons ago now. It’s our pleasure to showcase her talent. She was great to work with. To read more on the amazing work she produces, visit her IMDb page.
Friday Feature
This week’s content feature goes out to talented movie character, Nick Darnell. We loved working with him to license his dancing video of the #sugechallenge. Not only can he act, he can definitely dance too! As we are watching this video shot in front of a Circle K gas station with the caption, “They kept tryna gas us up all weekend,” you see the gas prices on the sign behind them. WOW! This may give you an idea of how long ago we sourced this video. Give him a follow for fun content.
Friday Feature
This week our spotlight goes out to a fitness trainer, Kari who specializes in women’s weight lifting. Also known as @thedonuttrainer, this Canadian woman is a certified personal trainer and gym owner in Sarnia, ON. It was a pleasure working with this creator on one of our previous campaigns. Her social media account focuses on fitness, nutrition and weight lifting. She posts often about nutrition information, workouts and fitness tips. Give her a follow for healthy lifestyle info and proper workout techniques.
Content Creation
We’re a content agency. We love good, quality content. This is a given. We’ve written about content creation in the past but directed it toward the creators. This article will focus on why quality content is important for brands. First, if the content is helpful and insightful, customers will trust you and begin to view you as an expert in your field, according to Forbes. Second, ROI is very high for quality content. 88% of marketers are happy with their return on investment of content. Third, SEO will increase with the right key words to promote your brands website. Lastly, it helps your brand get new leads, especially if the content has a CTA placement. We could go on with a million reasons why good content marketing helps your business grow but we know you get the point by now. Let’s look at how your brand can go about having a good content marketing strategy.
All the same rules for creators apply for brands, except now you have a specific audience to keep in mind. This is where creating a buyer persona comes in handy. A buyer persona is created through research to make a clear picture of the person you want to market to. Think of them as a created character for a story that represents your whole group of target market audience. Here’s a handy tool to help you get started from HubSpot if you’re unsure of where to start with this. Second, your strategy should include goal setting. Use the SMART method to determine them. Now, you have to keep the buyer’s journey in mind. Where are they in their buying process? Is it awareness of the problem? Are they considering a solution (the consideration stage)? Or… are they in the decision-making stage where they’re aware of the solution and ready to solve? You want to make sure that you have content for each stage of your buyer’s journey. The format of the content must also be considered. Is it easy for your audience to view, read, etc.? This brings us to the last topic: the different types of content.
There are many different types of content to consider when creating. There’s content just like the one you are reading: a blog. There are social media posts and stories. Infographics with short bursts of information or GIF’s. Video content is king in today’s world but podcasts are also on the rise. Lastly, there are webinars/seminars for your viewers as well. Which type of content you choose will be brand specific. While all brands will benefit from social media posts and stories, it may not make sense for them to conduct webinars. The type of content that your brand chooses will also determine the style. Blogs and podcasts tend to be conversational whereas webinars and seminars are in more formal setting.
Whatever way you shake it, a quality content creation marketing strategy is key for your brand. Honestly, creating content is super fun, so with the right creative minds behind the work you cannot fail. Collaboration within your company when creating content will ensure its success. Having multiple sets of creative eyes and minds on each piece will make sure that what your team comes up with will be the absolute best through great communication and teamwork.
