Design thinking is the human centered approach to innovation. Half a dozen of our team members here at Zion & Zion have extensive training at the Stanford d.school in the process of Design Thinking which consists of five phases: Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Once you have empathized with your target market and defined a real problem and/or opportunity, you are ready to start ideation.

Instead of trying to solve for the entire problem, often it is much easier and more manageable to break the problem up—a method called problem decomposition. Imagine you’ve been tasked to improve customer… Read More

Your company has identified that it needs assistance with marketing and advertising, but now the big decision is—do you expand your own marketing department or seek out an agency? You could spend days, weeks, or even months searching for the people you think you may need to have a fully-staffed marketing department, or you could choose an agency that has everyone you need in their arsenal already.

One of the greatest benefits of working with an agency is gaining access to different types of individuals and their expertise. A sole person cannot single-handedly and properly… Read More

This year, I attended a two-day, Digital Marketing Bootcamp hosted by the American Marketing Association. Hosted in Seattle Washington, the bootcamp ran through multiple aspects of digital marketing and how it all works together in marketing strategies.

As an Account Executive, I felt it was important for me to attend this bootcamp so I could continuously improve my knowledge of digital media and the ever-evolving ways it can work for my clients. Also, Zion & Zion is a big proponent of cross training their employees in different areas to make our jobs more holistic.

The different aspects of digital… Read More

In the marketing industry, we’ve been told over and over again to listen to users. Articles and industry experts boast the benefits of putting your customer first. They know best. Mindful listening is the most crucial resource for ideation. You don’t know if your product/solution is successful until effectively listening to the end-user. The list could go on.

Don’t get me wrong, paying attention to your users is an invaluable tool. It is absolutely crucial to your design process. However, where I think most have gotten it wrong is that we rely too heavily on the listening aspect of user… Read More

Back in 2018, Zion & Zion published an article called, “What Does TV Mean in 2018?” where I discussed the changing landscape of consumer video consumption and how advertisers should approach the use of screen-agnostic video as part of their media campaigns. A year has gone by, and in this quickly-changing sector, some things are clearer, and some are more complicated. What’s clearer is that video is here to stay, and consumers are rapidly adopting Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) and Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD). What’s more complicated is the technology itself and the number of options for… Read More

Influencer marketing is no longer just a buzzword. It’s a growing industry and is becoming a marketing tactic that more and more companies are turning to. In fact, according to a study by Mediakix, $1.6 billion was spent on Instagram influencer marketing alone in 2018, and influencer marketing will become a $5-10 billion market by 2020.

What exactly is influencer marketing, and how do you know if it will be beneficial for your business? Read on for a 101 lesson in influencer marketing.… Read More