This week was a big one for most, starting out with Valentine’s Day and ending with National Random Acts of Kindness Day. That’s why the themes in the following articles include a mix of inspiration and a little bit of tough love (a.k.a reality checks).

Take a look and let us know your thoughts.

 

24 Quotes About Kindness That Will Inspire You to Make a Difference and Be Happy

The Takeaway: We’re sharing this one in honor of National Random Acts of Kindness Day, but also because we really believe in the message: That kindness isn’t just beneficial for the person on the receiving end, but also has a positive impact on the giver. Author Peter Economy cites a study by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky at University of California, Riverside, which found that after performing five acts of kindness per week for six weeks, students’ happiness levels increased by 41.66 percent. And if you need more motivation than that, Economy has 24 seriously inspiring quotes from a variety of sources to get you thinking about the effects your own kindness can have.

 

How To Tell When To Cut Your Losses In A Marketing Campaign

The Takeaway: Even more difficult than knowing what to try in your marketing campaign is knowing how (and when) to decide that something isn’t working. Lucky for us, Forbes contributor Jason DeMers has the answer for all of us: That there is no one answer…

Instead, DeMers explains a few keys to knowing whether a tactic is a no-go. It starts with understanding that lifecycle and investment requirements vary significantly for different types of tactics. Second, we need to realize that standard ROI indicators don’t necessarily account for factors like awareness and reputation – and that ROI works on a curve, like acceleration. Finally, DeMers emphasizes the importance of experimentation, realizing that even within the same industry, different businesses may find success with entirely different marketing mixes. As you create your marketing plan and choose tactics, think clearly about what it will take to measure their success, and set realistic boundaries for each one. How will you define failure?

 

Marketing Experts Slam ‘Monumentally Stupid’ Fake News Promos for ‘A Cure for Wellness’

The Takeaway: There are some marketing moves that make you want to jump for joy, and there are others that make you want to put your head in your hands and ask, “Who thought this was a good idea?!?”. This move by the marketing team for “A Cure for Wellness” was certainly the latter.

To create publicity for the film, 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises went the fake news route, an approach that has been done successfully in the past (e.g. the viral campaign for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”). However, the “Cure for Wellness” news stories had little to do with the content of the film and more to do with current affairs – which, you may have noticed, are a little tense. The result: untrue news stories that were shared thousands of time on social media before most people realized that they were tied to the movie, and a generally negative reaction to the film once people figured it out.

So how does this apply to the rest of us? Really, it’s as simple as thinking through the consequences of your marketing campaigns. True, if we consider every possible scenario that could potentially happen, we’ll never actually do anything; but, before you pull the trigger on your next campaign, think logically about how it will be perceived. What (intended or unintended) consequences will it have? Could those consequences cause irreparable damage to your audience or your brand? If the answer is yes, maybe reconsider.

 

Six Email Worst-Practices: How to Send Your Emails to Your Customer’s Trash

The Takeaway: These six tips build on the article we shared last week, about the “stone age of email marketing.” As more and more marketers adopt email marketing, our inboxes are becoming less and less manageable – and email marketing is becoming less effective. To combat this, we need to think more clearly about how our organizations can use email to provide our audience with true value. These tips from Dan Hanrahan are a great start.

 

What articles did you find particularly interesting or relevant? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter!

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