Latest Posts

Transport remote event planners to a tropical paradise with a 360° virtual tour

Starmark designed an online 360° experience for the El Conquistador Resort with the meeting professional, wedding planner and bride in mind. This initiative gave the resort’s relationship with these target audiences a boost. Since most planners could also select more accessible resorts, this cutting-edge 360° tool eliminated the need for them to travel all the way to the rainforest to choose a venue. An immersive virtual tour of the Puerto Rican paradise empowered El Conquistador’s sales team, differentiating them from their stateside competitors.




HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Strengthened resort’s remote team productivity
  • Faster remote sales process
  • Meetings app optimized for handheld devices
  • Property map within proximity to tropical rainforest
  • Floor-to-ceiling panoramic photography view of:
    • Main hotel
    • Dining amenities
    • Golf course
    • Water Park

LXR_ElCon_BodyImage_MeetingApp_Ipad_Menu

Gmail Enables Images by Default

Gmail, like many email providers, had disabled email images by default. Images can be used maliciously — to load viruses to your computer or to expose details of your mailbox to spammers and hackers. In a major change, Gmail has decided to enable images by default. To protect users, Google will serve the images from Gmail servers.
(more…)

Three megatrends to help your business compete in 2014

Reprinted from the South Florida Business Journal

Three megatrends in marketing and communications will be growing at lightning speed in 2014. Taking part in these growing waves of opportunity can reap big rewards for early adopters. (more…)

Facebook family and friends influence purchase decisions the most

A December 2013 survey of nearly 10,000 women found that when it comes to making purchase decisions, Facebook recommendations from friends and family have the highest impact. The influence of friends and family was followed, in descending order, by professionals, website reviews, acquaintances, and bloggers, bottoming out with celebrities, who had the greatest impact on only 11 percent of purchasing decisions. (more…)

Client Spotlight: Nova Southeastern University Promotional Video

Starmark was tasked by Nova Southeastern University (NSU) to create a short but compelling video to promote the university’s campus and achievements to three key audiences: prospective students, parents and Fort Lauderdale businesses. The video presents NSU’s impact on the community, and generates well-deserved feelings of NSU pride. Starmark deployed cutting edge aerial technology to capture breathtaking views ordinarily shot by helicopter.

eTip Turns Five

Five years ago today, Starmark began posting eTips, our research and recommendations for today’s marketer. Three books and 153 eTips later, we wanted to look back at our original five posts and see how our ideas have held up over time. (more…)

Press releases with optimized anchor text: No longer optimal

Google’s war on links intended to manipulate site rankings has now spread to paid press release distribution. In the company’s updated guidelines, Google describes unnatural links as “ … links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites.” Since Google considers these links to be paid links, their use could expose you to penalties including a huge drop in ranking or complete removal of your site from Google’s index.
(more…)

Starmark celebrates the season with clients and friends

On December 5, Starmark celebrated the warmth of the season at its downtown Fort Lauderdale headquarters. The evening provided an opportunity for Starmark to thank all its clients and reflect on the year’s achievements.

.

In her remarks, Starmark President Jacqui Hartnett said, “We are grateful for the success of Starmark and our client partners over the past year, and we’re excited about the year to come.”

Twitter packs more business-building power into every tweet

Reprinted from the South Florida Business Journal.

The majority of C-suite executives may not have embraced tweeting themselves, but they cannot ignore what is becoming one of the web’s most powerful business tools. (more…)

Bitcoin: MCommerce catalyst or investment vehicle?

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer decentralized cryptocurrency launched in 2008. It has excellent mcommerce potential because this currency was born in the digital world.

With most mcommerce efforts – PayPal, Square, Venmo and Dwolla, to name a few – you need an online “account.” With Bitcoin, you have a digital wallet instead, and the actual currency is stored in your wallet on your computer or phone. (more…)

Showcasing the best of the beach, and beyond.

One of the many components of our Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau “Hello Sunny” campaign, these :30 TV spots were designed for both winter and summer audiences. The spots capture Greater Fort Lauderdale’s unique vibe, favorable climate and breezy lifestyle — while communicating the ease of Fort Lauderdale in a welcoming, fun way.

(more…)

Using Twitter for Lead Generation

Did you know you can use Twitter to drive lead generation? Twitter has created Lead Generation Cards that gather a user’s email address, name and Twitter handle directly through the social media platform.

Growing your email list should be a key component of your marketing program. With a solid email list, you can market your brand in myriad ways, offering discounts, promoting content, and announcing new products. The ability to convert your Twitter followers into email subscribers is particularly interesting. The people who care to follow you on Twitter are surely great email prospects too.

How does this work on Twitter? (more…)