Blog

Expertise from LMD communications gurus to help you market smarter.

Making a Meeting Agenda (the LMD way)

We have all been in a meeting that went off the rails–we go off-topic, forget a topic, or frantically search through emails to find documents and last week’s discussions. We joke about meetings stretching over their allotted time and accomplishing little. Not mine! A timely, straight-to-the-point meeting is a point... Read more →

Training: The Unsung Hero of Branding

As marketers, we understand that brand drives everything we do, from logo design and website development to producing marketing collateral and advertisements. But as we venture outside the marketing function of an organization, the perceived importance of a brand can start to dwindle. And it’s a very realistic assumption to... Read more →

Brand Refresh TEAchings

Every time I buy my favorite iced tea, I go through the same ritual: rigorously shake the glass bottle, pound the bottom to remove any unsettled contents, then unscrew the bottle cap. Ignoring the urge to take my first sip, I read the fun fact printed inside the cap, such... Read more →

How Effective Leaders Approach Communication

Timeless Techniques At the start of my career I was trained to facilitate a leadership development program called “Frontline Leadership” (FLL). A few of my co-facilitators from this era recently reminisced with me about the timelessness of this training program. Three decades later, the basic principles of communication ring true—for... Read more →

5 Steps to Successfully Present Your Concepts

There is an art to presenting art—or, in LMD’s case, presenting branding and marketing design ideas to our clients. Whether we’re sharing logos, ads, videos, websites, brochures, or annual reports, LMD uses a tried and tested process to present our concepts. We follow these steps so that our presentations are... Read more →

When it Comes to Research, Go Backward, Not Forward

Here’s a typical scenario when a client wants to conduct a market research study: A client comes to LMD with a [marketing, branding, messaging, etc.] problem, and they want to do some research to understand what’s going on. We tell them that as a research-driven agency, they’ve come to the... Read more →

Energy Management is the New Time Management

In a recent ZipRecruiter report, 93% of employers want to hire candidates with soft skills . But there is nothing soft about these skills. These essential skills—like communication, collaboration, and leadership—are essential for career success. A large body of research suggests essential skills can make a huge difference in an... Read more →

Sharing is Caring in Creative Mentorship

Life as a creative professional is kind of strange these days. Working from home means not seeing your work buddies walk by your office or running over to another designer’s office to share some logo designs. Face-to-face meetings and creative brainstorming sessions are now done via Google Meet, Zoom, or... Read more →

Stop Taking Advantage of Online Survey Respondents

Time is money. If you waste your money you can always try to earn it back. However, once time is lost, it can never be regained. Think about that when conducting your next survey. Survey data is instrumental in understanding and evaluating your brand, advancing strategic business decisions, and identifying... Read more →

Accessibility for All

You may have heard the term “508 compliant.” But what exactly does that mean? Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that requires government agencies to make their digital materials accessible to people with disabilities, such as the hearing and visually impaired. Some states also enforce their... Read more →

What Is Rainbow-Washing?

It sounds cute, but it’s anything but. Rainbow-washing is a form of performative activism that is designed to pander to the LGBTQ+ audience and allies, while not actually engaging in meaningful dialogue and in some cases, even hiding harmful behavior . For example, during Pride Month, many businesses change their... Read more →

The Do’s & Don’ts of Marketing to the Transgender Audience

Did you know that approximately 1 million people in the United States identify as transgender? “Approximately” is an important qualifier: the population size of transgender people is not well known, at least in part because the U.S. Census does not include data on gender identity. There’s no doubt that transgender... Read more →