Z Blog

The idea of associating happiness and work has been portrayed in the past as an almost unattainable goal. We grew up with the notion that work is necessary to provide a sustainable life and that work is not supposed to be your source of happiness. We accept that only the lucky ones find true happiness in their work, and the rest of us must settle. However, this is not the case. To strengthen the bond between happiness and work, we all must play our role. From individual to team members to leadership, we all have an influence on the overall happiness of our workplace. ###Individual...

In the world of marketing and strategic planning, these tried and true rules are easy to comprehend but difficult to follow. Yet, by adhering to their simplicity, you’ll find your marketing team runs more efficiently and effectively. 1. ####Violently resist the urge to overcomplicate We humans are complicated. Especially when we work in groups. Everyone likes to focus on the optimal solution, often without paying attention to considerations like budget, timeframes, resources. Next time you are in a group planning session, try to remind yourself (and your team members) to bring things back to “simple.” Over-complication leads to swirl and fatigue. Always opt for simple....

Email marketing campaigns are everywhere these days. Whether you currently use them or are looking into using them, here are a few quick tips to boost your success: 1. ####Know your market Each market responds differently to email marketing campaigns. Be aware of their day-to-day operations or what issues matter to them most. Set Google Alerts to help curate timely and relevant content. This will better connect you with your market. 2. ####Be wary of sending too many emails No one likes when their inbox is bombarded with hundreds of emails. Sending more than three a month is a sure fire way to guarantee someone...

I’m a bit of a reader. I enjoy books of all kinds, from multiple genres spanning fiction (I once dressed as Dobby the House Elf to go to a Harry Potter premiere party) to nonfiction. Recently, I’ve started reading a fair amount about the marketing communications and brand development industry and was really inspired by the book “The Creative Process Illustrated.” The book’s authors (one of whom, coincidentally enough, happens to have been a former professor of a coworker) interview multiple designers, writers and creative directors in the field and ask them to use one sheet of 8.5” x 11” paper to illustrate their personal...

Today is an exciting day at Intrinzic. It represents the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work by everyone at the agency and a big step toward a vision that started almost 16 years ago. Over the past six months you’ve watched us bring two Greater Cincinnati companies together to create something unique, something that better positions us to serve our clients as a truly integrated marketing and brand development agency. I’m excited to share with you the new Intrinzic. The new Intrinzic brings together two renowned agencies – Intrinzic and Copperfox Marketing – both with a long history and heritage in the key...

On an average workday, a person spends 8.7 hours working. That’s 43.5 hours a week, 174 hours a month and 2,088 hours a year. That’s more time working than sleeping (an average American sleeps 7.7 hours a day)! With a majority of your time being spent at work, being comfortable in your workspace is essential. If you are not comfortable, you will not be productive, which may lead to even more hours spent working. Here are four tips on making your workspace a comfortable and productive area: 1. ####Organization Papers stacked in every corner, multiple to-do lists scattered across the wall, post-it note reminders creating...

I know as busy professionals we all sit around thinking, “Wow, I have so much free time. What else could I get involved in?” Well, maybe not, but one place I’ll always advocate is worth the investment is professional organizations. Here are my three tips on getting involved: 1. ####Participate It’s one thing to say you’re a member of such-and-such organization, but you’ll never see any dividends if you just sit back and watch the action. I’ve been a member of Cincinnati PRSA for 10 years, and I’ve been honored to be involved in several different capacities. It’s given me opportunities to forge friendships, meet...

With so many platforms, it can be hard to tell what type of video content should be posted where. Vimeo and YouTube are the established players on the block, while Vine and Instagram have disrupted the way we consume and share video. Lots of similarities and differences exist within this group. Here we’ll break down some of that list. ###YouTube YouTube (owned by Google) is the most popular video sharing website in the world. It has more than one billion unique visitors each month, and is the second largest search engine used. It’s free to create an account, and has no restrictions on uploads (as...

Presentation success is crucial in the agency world. We are continuously sharing creative concepts and final work products with our clients and colleagues. No matter what your agency role, you will have to present work in some shape or form. Presenting in front of a group can be intimidating. All eyes are on you. You hope you can effectively communicate and find the right words to illustrate your purpose. You hope you don’t stumble over your sentences. You hope you are charismatic and a bit entertaining in order to avoid boring the entire group. Here are four quick tips to remember next time you have...

The PR industry is changing at such a rapid rate that it can be hard to keep up. Newspapers are coughing, sputtering and dying, newsrooms turn inside out, new social media platforms arise daily as do new Google search algorithms (and by the way, when I signed up to study PR, it never had anything to with algorithms, for Pete’s sake!). With all the focus on what’s new and what’s changing, let’s take a look at a few of the tenets of PR that will never change. 1. ####Reading Good PR people need to read everything they can get their hands on. They must have...