The Latest Blog…
✨A lifestyle marketing blog✨
THE LATEST
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MARKETING AND PR TRENDS
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THE LATEST ~ MARKETING AND PR TRENDS ~
What’s Happening in April
Tax Day and Easter are the big things that most of us think about in April - but there’s so much more going on. As with trees leaf out, the world’s attention is drawn to eco friendly ideas and stories of all kinds. Much of the media focuses on a range of eco stories. Sustainability within the lifestyle industry is so important, every brand should be embracing this trend.
CozyMaxxing Your Brand Into Spring
One of the top trends on Google search this week is Cozymaxxing! When I first heard about this I thought it was a clever TJ Maxx hashtag - and it may have originally started that way a few years back - lively discussion boards on Reddit focused on the concept in depth more than 2 years ago. As of yesterday it was peaking as a search term across all internet platforms.
Winter is a natural time to snuggle and stay in bed, but what as we head into Spring this trend offers a fresh look at the idea.
Cozymaxxing is not to be confused with the Danish concept of hygge. Hygge emphasizes simplified, comfortable atmospheres and a sense of well-being. It involves creating an uncluttered, inviting environment, often through warm lighting, comfortable textiles, and shared moments with loved ones.
Hygge and cozymaxxing share similarities, but they are not the same.
Trending: Earthy Easter
Easter is late this year, it’s date is determined as the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox* - which is usually around March 21st. This year it’s almost a month later than normal, celebrating on April 20, with Earth Day right on it’s heels on April 22.
While sustainability has been a consumer focus for some time now, this Easter the trend will be enhanced substantially by virtue of the calendar. If you’re a brand in the lifestyle space, this offers a great opportunity to set yourself apart from others in your field through media pitches, company initiatives, social media, and in-store promos.
Saying It With Pastry
Want to get your customers drooling over your products? Try covering it with frosting!
While using a decadent dessert or two as a photo prop isn’t completely new, there’s a fresh crop of over-the-top designs that are bringing new life to the concept.
Why does this work so well? An evocative cake is incredibly eye catching, PLUS you just really want to run your finger through that icing and take a luscious taste. Messy, indulgent frosting - a luxurious color palette, and expressive decorations all unite to provide a rich canvas for a brand.
Here’s What’s Happening in March!
With the approach of Spring, people are emerging from their Winter cocoons and embracing bright colors, cheerful prints, and floral scents. Spring Cleaning and whole house recharging will be on our minds, as will garden planning, seed planting and chicken raising.
More cute Valentine’s Day Windows and Displays
Pretty and impressive Valentine’s Day displays and windows at Guilford, Connecticut.
Recycling: Not Just for Plastic and Cardboard
As a brand manager of a lifestyle company, you probably spend many hours each week carefully creating content. (Or at least you want to.) You do this for your website, perhaps for a blog and as SEO support for product descriptions, for Instagram, Linkedin, BlueSky, Pinterest and more. That’s a ton of content. It can take all day, and at many bigger companies, a team of 10 or more social media experts work on a brand’s social accounts each and every day. That’s not something that’s feasible for a smaller startup working on a shoestring budget - and this fact alone makes it hard to compete on most social media platforms.
4 Free Unsplash accounts to Fuel Your Romantic Art Trend Posts
4 Free Unsplash accounts to Fuel Your Romantic Art Trend Posts. Don’t miss this treasure trove of free downloadable classic art.
Charming Valentine’s Day Retail Displays
I love scouting Valentine’s Day retail displays every year. After Christmas decorations come down there just seems to be a colorless void that happens towards the end of January that cheerful Valentine’s Day displays seem to fill so easily.
January Offers a Wealth of Marketing Opportunities!
January Offers a Wealth of Marketing Opportunities! The Age of Aquarius, The Year of the Snake, and Pie vs Pi
3 Key Reasons Media Outreach During the Holidays is So Crucial.
We’re heading into the holidays, and the warm shades of Autumn will soon be replaced by vivid evergreens, twinkling lights and jewel tones. It’s a transformative period that offers heightened marketing opportunities for growth, customer engagement, and brand recognition not available most of the rest of the marketing year. Here are 3 reasons media outreach during the holiday and Winter months delivers an improved return on investment:
Seven Steps to Consider When Getting Your Website Ready for the Holiday Rush
Whether you’re actively recruiting press placements for your products or just want to make the most of your website, here are some simple elements you should consider.
Gift Guides 2024: Here are 5 Essential Elements to Make Sure Your Products are Front and Center
Gift Guides 2024: Here are 5 Essential Elements to Make Sure Your Products are Front and Center
Here are some interesting dates coming up to mark on your marketing calendar.
It’s the beginning of August and heatwaves and beach days are most likely your reality.
Here are some great internet holidays coming up to post about over the next few weeks:
August 8: International Cat Day
August 9: Book Lovers Day
August 15: 55th Anniversary of Woodstock
August 17: National Bee Day
August 17: National Thrift Shop Day
August 19: Full Moon (Sturgeon Moon) is a Blue Moon: occurs when there are four full moons in a single astronomical season, instead of the usual three. There will not be another Blue Moon until May 31, 2026
August 19: Coco Chanel’s Birthday
August 30: National Beach Day
The Second Half is Here! Here’s What’s Trending in June and Beyond.
Brand owners who sell wholesale know that June is the month that kicks off a frenzy of activity.
The big media players like Oprah, The New York Times, Glamour, Goop, Vogue ect are researching trends and investigating the popularity of specific brands for inclusion in their exhaustive holiday gift guides. They’ll roll out their recommendations to readers in late September through mid October, which means that if you have special designs, gift sets, price breaks or new products you’d like to sell a lot of at Christmastime, June is the month that you must start pitching.
The reason for this long lead time is the colossal importance of the season for media players who rely on the ad sales that these gift guides bring. Digital versions of these guides bring commissions earned from click throughs. Holiday gift guides also go a long way in the promotion of media brands - they can demonstrate their influence on the consumer product market by generating great sales, thereby attracting year round advertising revenue. Key editors from these guides appear on numerous morning shows and entertainment programs to promote their choices, further strengthening their brand and generating traffic and circulation to their pages.
Happy Spring! Here’s What’s Trending in the Weeks Ahead.
With or without big editorial boards, the world is moving ahead like a bullet train speeding through the fog. Here’s what’s on our radar:
As with trees leaf out, the world’s attention is being drawn to eco friendly ideas and stories of all kinds. Sustainability is a keyword that’s getting lots of searches on Google this year. Thrifting from charity shops and reselling on platforms like Ebay, The Real Real, and Vestiaire is gaining in popularity with influencers. They can sell their own clothing, and earn the same commissions on items listed on those sites as they would with other types of online stores.
Here are some of the cutest decorations for your Easter celebrations.
Hop hop goes the calendar and we’re already almost to the Spring Equinox. Daylight Saving Time starts in just 4 days. With that in mind I can’t help but be inspired by all the beautiful (and some downright tacky) Easter decorations that I see in the stores.
Here’s What’s Happening in March (2024).
March spells the end of Winter and there’s a palpable sense of relief from frost weary souls throughout North America:
Create a sense of regeneration through social and blog posts and include your products that fit this vibe. For media outreach, editors are looking for products and ideas that evoke a sense of renewal.
Why you should be shooting products with natural light
Studio v. Natural Light in product photography: Shooting products with natural light offers a lot of advantages - especially to amateur photographers, and those who need to produce loads of material in a short amount of time.
The differences between natural daylight and artificial light for a photographer lie mostly in the spectrum of the light as it falls on your subject.
Here's Why We Love Using Lightroom Presets For All Our Client's Social Media and Brand Photos
I’m a big fan of Lightroom from Adobe for lots of reasons. I’ve been using it to create scroll stopping images for my clients for years.