Our Take

Nobody likes to hear people squawk about

marketing. So, we wrote it all down for you.

Audience Engagement

Words by Chelsea N. Cummins

Beyond the 2024 eclipse: search trends around the spectacle

The 2024 eclipse sparked people all over the US to travel to the path of totality and then google why their eyes hurt. What else did we search? From eclipse glasses to Twilight Eclipse, the internet had a field day.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

Why you should ignore the prudes who say “NSFW”

Everything can be copy. Especially those hushed, hidden patches of real estate where your reader doesn’t see it coming. Here’s the proof …

Fresh Perspective

Is your sales pitch missing these five essential questions?

As tempting as it may be to lead with your product or service, you have to win your audience over with empathy first. Answering these questions will ensure that the balance between doubt and believability will be in your favor.

Audience Engagement, Lead Generation

Words by Aaron Smith

From chaos to clarity: Strategies for effective web form design

Quality web form design is crucial for efficient data management in marketing. Clean data leads to accurate targeting, increased engagement, and customer trust. It also provides insights into consumer behavior, enabling real-time strategy adjustments. Creating web forms compatible with CRM systems is essential for transforming disorganized data into valuable information

Business Strategy

Words by Chelsea N. Cummins

The final Universal Analytics sunset: 3 data transition tips

All your historical data in Universal Analytics is going away in July 2024. These three tips will help you manage the transition and keep the data you need for future reporting.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

Salty Englishwoman loses her shite on the shatbots

AI may be reshaping the way some people work. But here are three examples that prove real, live copywriters will always be superior to their chatbot rivals.

Business Strategy

Words by Cindy McDonald, Kathy King

Direct Mail: Saving money with USPS promotions

Want to save money on postage and enhance your customers’ mailing experience? Here’s an overview of the six USPS promotions for 2024 with reasons why the more mail you send, the more money you can save on direct mail campaigns.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

This clunky acronym can prevent your sales funnel from springing leaks

Your prospect doesn’t care enough about your product to just grab ‘n’ go. They want to know how your product can benefit them before they commit. The easiest way to do that is by structuring your pitch in this proven framework.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

What a 31-point Scrabble word can teach you about copy editing

What’s the one thing you can use to make your copy infinitely better? Your voice. See how reading your copy out loud can help you make your words sing off the page.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

How I built a career around doing nothing

Why do we get ideas in the shower? Or in the middle of the night? Or when we’re on a walk? It’s because our unconscious mind is wired for it.

Advertising, Business Strategy

Words by Josh Gumulak

The 4 essential ways you should leverage your account executive for success

Gone are the Mad Men days of massive budgets with limited accountability. Clients expect a measurable return on their marketing investment. See how a thoughtful and calculated approach to account strategy can influence strategic media planning and set your agency media team up for success.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

A foolproof way to tap into your customers’ hidden desires

Do you know the conversation going on in your customer’s head? If so, “pathological empathy” will open the doors to forging stronger connections with your audience.

Business Strategy, Lead Generation

Words by Aaron Smith

Unraveling the marketing machine: Scaling marketing operations

Learn the art of scaling marketing operations to amplify reach and revenue without a budget hike. Optimize your marketing machine for efficiency and impact with strategic components and integrated tech. Explore the key steps to adapt, refine, and drive sustained growth.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

The most ownable part of your brand you may be overlooking

Your origin story is arguably the most ownable aspect of your brand. It’s a singular experience spoken from a singular voice. If you haven’t explored the tale of how you came to be, here are some tips to help you get your first draft down.

Business Strategy

Words by Cindy McDonald, Kathy King

Direct mail: Perception versus reality

Direct mail is a great tool when used in conjunction with other marketing campaigns. It can be used to deliver a message, develop a brand, generate short-term return, or gather important customer and prospect information.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

Why a little tension can be great for business

Storytelling is a proven way for you to forge a connection with your audience. So, why do some marketers insist on letting their benefits do the talking instead?

Business Strategy

Words by Chelsea N. Cummins

4 options for your Universal Analytics historical data

One final step remains before the migration to GA4 is complete: handling your Universal Analytics historical data. Knowing it’s leaving at the end of 2023, you need to decide what you need to keep and how you’re going to store it before it’s gone.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

How to mop the floor with your brand’s worst enemy

Every great story has tension—including your brand’s. See how picking a fight with an opposing force uses the power of contrast to convey your product’s superiority.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

The simple, eight-word motto that keeps prospects on the hook

You wouldn’t expect a salesperson to cut his pitch short to beat the traffic home. But so many marketers favor brevity over doing a complete selling job. Here are the steps you need to take before putting your offer on the table.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

Birthdays, buffoonery, and behavioral science

The Von Restorff Effect (also known as the “isolation effect”) is the human tendency to notice and recall things that stand out. And if you’re not using it in your marketing, you risk blending in with everything surrounding your message.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Aaron Smith

Customer journey mapping: Unlock business opportunities by understanding customer behavior

Uncover the power of customer journey mapping and understand how it shapes successful strategies. Explore the significance of customer interviews, data automation, and tailoring maps for different segments. Discover the benefits of mapping different stages and personas, fostering loyalty, and gaining a competitive advantage. Get practical tips and a template

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

Is this weak opening line polluting your inbox, too?

Your first sentence’s job is to make someone read the next one. So, why do legions of sales and marketing professionals insist on beginning their emails with this manipulative greeting? (Let’s hope you’re not one of them.)

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

How the lost art of window dressing can keep you out of the poor house

Just because you’ve identified a viable candidate for your product or service doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy. First, you need to figure out their current mindset and let that drive where you begin the conversation. Let these five stages of audience awareness guide you.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Dave Gardner

Find your customers online, digitally

Regain power from digital vendors, their fancy words, and stock imagery with data. Data is the great equalizer if you know how to read the tea leaves. In this article, we’ll explore a few ways you can source and utilize some of the best data out there—your own.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

Why prospects will beat a tear-stained path to your door

We’re twice as motivated to run from pain than to run toward pleasure. Check out three ways to position your product or service as relief from any pain or loss your prospect is feeling (or trying to avoid).

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

The simple “color test” that instantly helps you grab your reader’s attention

The more focus you can place—and keep—on your reader, the more likely they’ll do what you ask. Put the focus on yourself, and the more likely they won’t. Here’s how to get the balance right between you and your audience.

Branding, Business Strategy

Words by Chelsea N. Cummins

Improve performance with data visualization

Data visualization is a key way to improve performance. But what does it actually entail? Keep reading to learn more about what it is and the benefits it can bring to your team (as well as some ideas for getting started).

Branding, Business Strategy

Words by Brady McFadden

6 Tips to get great work from your agency

Through firsthand experience, I know that an agency-client relationship can be woefully flawed or a whopping success. I have boiled down my experiences, victories, and failures into six tips that can help steer your partnership from good to great, so you can maximize what you get from your agency partners.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

How to keep courting your customers long after the sale

The closer you are to your customers, the longer they’ll stick around. Maybe even spread the word. This isn’t about building brand loyalty. It’s about the smaller steps you can take to continually remind your customer that they were right to choose you.

Audience Engagement, Branding

Words by Chelsea N. Cummins

5 GA4 metric changes you should know

Google Analytics is more engagement-focused, which means how things are measured is changing. Keep reading to learn about the new GA4 metrics and what they mean for you.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

Why It pays to create less

Repurposing your content isn’t just convenient—it’s smart marketing. Do it right and you can juice every drop of value from the assets you spent hours, weeks, or even longer building.

Branding, Business Strategy

Words by Brady McFadden

3 Proven tips for marketers to foster a growth mindset

Marketing is complex, and it takes serious dedication to be a savvy marketer. Think about anyone you admire in the field. It can be a peer, boss, or industry expert. They all carry the same common trait at the heart of their approach, a growth mindset.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

A dead-simple way to make your copy sing off the screen

Good writing has a musical quality. And just like you can hear a wonky note in a song, it’s not hard to detect where something may be a little off in your copy. Here are three things to listen for when you review your next draft.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

8 Surefire ways to persuade even your biggest skeptics

Your audience makes emotional decisions faster than rational ones. That’s why you should always set the hook with feelings. These eight inborn desires can help you connect your product or service to what your customers want at their most primal human level.

Branding, Business Strategy

Words by Amy Klein

3 Social media updates to shake up your strategy

Just when you thought you figured out the algorithm on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter, they turn around and make another update. And if you don’t keep up, your posts have less chance to be seen—and engaged with. Here, we share some of the latest changes and

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

3 Simple ways you can say more with less

When you’re working within the confined space of a landing page or the character limitations of a paid social ad, you need to make every word count. Discover how you can use fewer words to keep your message tight without sacrificing its pulling power.

Branding, Business Strategy, Research

Words by Steve Czajkowski

How to know your customer’s top priorities before they buy

Analyzing the importance of scores relative to one another allows me to prioritize and understand the strength of each priority relative to each other.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

Why your best ideas may never see daylight

Are you needlessly killing ideas before they have a chance to mature? See how the creative process really works, how you should approach it, and why it’s kinda like washing a pig.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

How trying to sound smart can backfire on you

There’s never a good reason to make your copy feel like an SAT prep test. The simpler the message, the greater the chance your reader will be drawn in, follow along, and do what you ask. Here’s some 90-year-old copy advice that still works to help you connect with your

Branding, Business Strategy

Words by Chelsea N. Cummins

What’s going on with GA4 data retention?

The migration to GA4 poses a question for all marketers: what do we do with our data? Updated data retention policies mean you can’t keep it forever. So, what options do you have left? Fortunately, we have answers.

Branding, Business Strategy

Words by Chelsea N. Cummins

Making the transition to GA4

It’s time to make the transition to GA4, but where should you start? This guide will review the upcoming changes and the steps you need to take as you migrate to your new Google Analytics property.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

How to make your audience dread life without you

Have you ever thought about what your customers’ lives would be like without your product or service? Madness, right? Discover how you can create desire for your product or service by having someone imagine their life without it.

Audience Engagement, Branding

Words by Jillian Cascarino

3 Content planning blunders you should avoid

Even the savviest marketers can find content planning overwhelming. There are various content types to choose from and even more ways to share. And how do you know what’s best for your audience? What about performance? How should you determine those goals? Downloads? Shares? Comments? Yes, there’s a lot to

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

What my father’s drug habit can teach you about persuasion

We’re in the emotions business, you and me. And if you want someone to do something, you need to tap into feelings—not squawk about features. Here are three emotional triggers proven to help you reel in your audience.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

The quickest way to murder your reader’s interest

These are the words that stand between you and the only thing your audience cares about—themselves. Even the smartest marketers can unknowingly make this avoidable blunder. Could you be one of them?

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

You should hear what your customers are saying about you

If you haven’t checked in on your audience’s buying behaviors in a while, you’re missing opportunities to sell them. Keep your communications relevant with these three easy ways to capture authentic voice-of-the-customer data.

Fresh Perspective

Words by Matt Cascarino

3 Words that will strangle your sales

Your sales message should shepherd your prospect through every reason why they should buy your product, while draining every objection along the way. Follow this advice and you’ll fail every time.

Lead Generation, Research

Words by Jillian Cascarino

Propelling past the competition

Grants provide a critical source of funding for utility providers. And with program funding typically allocated to only one utility, our client, PECO, turned to FARM for support.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy, Research

Words by Brady McFadden

4 Tips for B2B companies

All successful companies are customer-obsessed. They know their customers and work hard to serve the needs they have today and those of tomorrow. The best companies have the humility to know that customers choose what products they buy or how to spend their time. They also know that customer loyalty

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Aaron Smith

Email technical requirements

We’ve reviewed best practices for approaching your audience and creative specific to email marketing (if you haven’t read them yet, I would 11/10 recommend). However, email marketing is only as successful as its foundation—the technical requirements behind the campaign.

Audience Engagement

Words by Aaron Smith

Getting the best out of your email design

social media and passed by something that caught your eye? No, of course not. Because the creative was written and designed to get your attention. And it worked. When a brand’s creative doesn’t connect with its target audiences, it results in unrealized ROI.

Audience Engagement, Lead Generation

Words by Aaron Smith

3 Tips for knowing your email audience

Digital marketing is comprised of many different tactics, offering a great advantage to your marketing strategy to keep your brand relevant, fresh, and directly in your audiences’ face. A great way to stay at the forefront of consumers’ minds is email marketing. But in the last decade, email marketing has

Audience Engagement

Words by Aaron Smith

Using data to analyze and optimize the customer journey

Your customers have multiple touchpoints with your brand. Knowing where those points of contact are and if your customers are having a positive experience are critical to growing a successful business. Every touchpoint creates some form of data and knowing how to collect and aggregate that data is vital to

Business Strategy

Words by Aaron Smith

Benefits of data and reporting in modern-day marketing

Data-driven decision-making is key when it comes to marketing. Good data leads to good questions, which ultimately leads to good solutions. Learn more on our blog!

Audience Engagement

Words by Amy Klein

B2B Instagram marketing

Thinking about creating an Instagram for your business? Before you start posting, make sure you’re set up for success. Read our latest blog to learn how.

Advertising

Words by Brady McFadden

The importance and purpose of ad testing

If you want to make sure your message resonates with your intended audience, ad testing is an essential step. Here’s how we use ad testing to craft stronger messages.

Business Strategy

Words by Jeff Schaefer

From cautious to aggressive: Post-pandemic marketing strategy

Staying in your comfort zone isn’t always best for your marketing strategy. Neither is jumping into a plan that’s overly ambitious. Sometimes planning your marketing strategy can be like selecting the right wave.

Audience Engagement, Branding

Words by Matt Cascarino

Give the people what they want

Getting customers to flock to your brand is about more than employing some new marketing tactics. You need to create desire. Learn how in our latest blog.

Agency News

Good for Good: Keeping the Magic Alive at the Theatre of Youth

FARM provides marketing support to a local children’s theatre company, Theatre of Youth, as they rebuild after the pandemic. Learn more on our blog.

Audience Engagement, Branding

Words by Amy Klein

Increase brand awareness with branded GIFs

Using branded GIFs on social media can help your company stand out, engage followers, and increase brand awareness. Learn more on our blog.

Business Strategy

Words by Jeff Schaefer

Building client partnerships through trust, not transactions

Enduring client-agency relationships have become fewer and farther between. Learn why your relationship with your agency should feel more like a connection, and less like a transaction.

Branding

Words by Matt Cascarino

Brand Appreciation Day

Learn more on our blog about FARM’s recent brand refresh, and how investing in your brand can make it your company’s most valuable asset.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Amy Klein

Should you be using social media scraping?

Part two of FARM’s Buzzword Breakdown series. We examine social media data scraping, its pros and cons, and if you should incorporate it into your marketing strategy.

Audience Engagement, Lead Generation

Words by Jillian Cascarino

The rise of user-generated content

Learn about the growth of user-generated content, its benefits, and why you should consider adding this cost-effective strategy to your marketing toolbox. 3 minute read

Advertising

Words by Jeff Schaefer

The case for increasing your connected TV spend

Visit our blog to learn more about the benefits of connected TV for advertising, and why you should consider increasing your connected TV spend in 2021.

Business Strategy, Research

Words by Jeff Schaefer

Forecast consumer behavior in 2021 using past data

Like many, you may be wondering if your data from 2020 has any value. Learn more about how you can use data to predict shifting consumer behavior in 2021.

Agency News

FARM’s Top 5 Resolutions for 2021

As we gladly say goodbye to 2020, we polled our Cultivators to ask what they resolve this new year.

Audience Engagement, Branding

Words by Kaity Kulezsa

Mastering your online reputation during a pandemic

It’s never been more vital for businesses to maintain a positive brand identity. See our blog for three online reputation management tips to expand your reach during a pandemic.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Jillian Cascarino

How to meet your customers’ holiday shopping needs in 2020

Holiday shopping trends look a bit different in 2020. See how our client provided the convenient shopping experience their customers needed this year.

Research

Words by Amanda Lechowicz

How COVID-19 is redefining target audiences

Research shows that marketers may need to consider how COVID-19 is redefining their target audience and pivot their marketing strategy. Learn more here.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Jeff Schaefer

How retailers can respond to shifting holiday shopping behavior

Check out best practices for the shift in shopping behavior from in-store to e-commerce purchasing.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Jillian Cascarino

How the alcohol industry can take the on-premise experience online

Learn more about why alcohol brands should take the on-premise experience online to maintain customer engagement during the pandemic.

Advertising, Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Jillian Cascarino

Gen X: The overlooked audience

Financial services institutions still need to be marketing to Gen X. Learn more about the opportunities of this overlooked audience and how to reach them.

Advertising, Branding

Words by Jeff Schaefer

How political advertising affects us as marketers

Do you think politics affects your marketing campaigns? Check out our blog to find out what to do next.

Agency News

Graycliff Honors FARM with Diamond Award

FARM receives prestigious Diamond Award for serving as marketing partner to Graycliff, Darwin and Isabelle Martin’s Frank Lloyd Wright designed summer home.

Lead Generation

Words by Kaity Kulezsa

Lead nurturing for high-value prospects

The most effective way to convert your leads to sales is by building relationships. Learn more about lead nurturing for high-value prospects on our blog.

Business Strategy

Words by Kaity Kulezsa

How to succeed at your next virtual event

Marketers are challenged to generate leads from fully virtual events. Learn how to create a comparable experience and engage your prospects in a new way.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Amanda Lechowicz

Millennials are older than you think

Millennials are changing and your marketing strategy for them should be too. Learn how to evolve your financial services marketing so it still resonates.

Agency News

Georgia-Pacific Building Products Selects FARM as Marketing Partner

We at FARM were named market partner with Georgia-Pacific Building Products; the largest producer of structural wood panels in North America.

Agency News

Larry Robb Named Buffalo District Small Business Person of the Year

Join us in congratulating Larry Robb after being named the Buffalo District Small Business Person of the Year.

Advertising

Words by Jillian Cascarino

The power of visualization

Learn how the different learning types can help you tailor your marketing strategy.

Advertising, Lead Generation

Words by Kaity Kulezsa

4 Ideas to energize your insurance marketing strategy

Here are four effective ideas to bring life to your insurance multi-channel marketing strategy. Learn more on our blog!

Business Strategy

Words by Ashley Lewis

Strengthening strategic partnerships to help our clients thrive

Understand the value of strategic partnerships during the pandemic.

Advertising

Words by Aaron Smith

Digital advertising in election season

Learn how to choose the right path for your media dollars during this election season.

Business Strategy

Words by Matt Cascarino

Embracing your can’t do attitude

Learn how the fear of failure can fuel your next idea.

Business Strategy

Words by Jeff Schaefer

Repair and rebuild: Turning past experience into future opportunity

How past experience can help you turn your goals into a future opportunity.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy, Research

Words by Kaity Kulezsa

Why buyer personas are a critical first step for your marketing strategy

Understand how buyer personas can help your business succeed.

Agency News

Good for Good: Aiding Our Community in Times of Crisis

How we approached working from home with our partners and community.

Audience Engagement

Words by Jillian Cascarino

Streaming our way through a pandemic

Are you interested in an audio streaming campaign but don't know where to star? Check out this blog to get started!

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Jeff Schaefer

Using omnichannel marketing to fuel engagement

If you’ve ever received an email opening with “Dear [first name]” that got your name wrong, or even worse, didn’t include your name at all, then you know how frustrating it is.

Business Strategy

Words by Aaron Smith

Choosing the right video conferencing tools

Let us help choose the best video conferencing tools to help your team work from home.

Business Strategy, Research

Words by Beth Czajkowski

The Impact of COVID-19 on schools

Prepare for the best, and worst, case scenario for back to school during COVID-19.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Jeff Schaefer

3 Ideas to shift consumer sentiment toward marketing

How can your campaign voice impact your customers and your clients? Check out our blog to find out!

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Cindy McDonald

Should you be leveraging direct mail to reach consumers?

Is direct mail the best choice or a thing of the past? Check out our blog to find out!

Research

Words by Steve Czajkowski

10 Tips for writing survey questions for market research

Learn 10 best practices on writing your market research survey questions.

Audience Engagement

Words by Jeff Schaefer

3 Ways to execute your marketing plan as the country reopens

With the changes over the past year, check out some best practices to update your campaigns as the country reopens.

Audience Engagement, Business Strategy

Words by Jeff Schaefer

Customer communications post-COVID

Check out some technologies to assist with your customer communication.

Agency News

Honoring Our Frontline Workers in Buffalo’s Latest Mural

The Baird Foundation partnered with Buffalo Delaware District Council Member Joel Feroleto and acclaimed local artist Chuck Tingley to add a new mural to Buffalo’s burgeoning public art scene. We jumped at the chance to provide public relations support.