Latest Posts

Starmark gives boost to Broward Center’s fundraising with Encore!

Since 2011, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts has been promoting its capital expansion project, ENCORE!Building Community through the Arts, and Starmark has been working in tandem with the downtown venue every step of the way. (more…)

How to navigate today’s social media landscape

The bright lines separating owned, earned and paid media have disappeared. For example, a company can write content (owned) that looks like a news article (earned), and pay to have that article posted as syndicated content on the web (paid). A brand’s Facebook post (owned) can receive more views by turning it into a Promoted Post (paid). And the trifecta: Vending machines outfitted with Starmark’s FanWise™ social reward technology provide instant rewards to visitors for posting specific, brand-crafted social status updates from their mobile devices (earned/owned/paid). (more…)

All Paid Media Deserves a Benchmark

How well is my paid media campaign supposed to perform? What kind of ROI am I expecting from this effort? Am I reaching new consumers? These are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself prior to launching your next paid media campaign.
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Let’s get visual

Images are becoming increasingly important to social media success. Facebook and Twitter have both completed recent upgrades that make images and video more prominent in their streams. Furthermore, Instagram, owned by Facebook, and Vine, owned by Twitter, are surging in popularity and swelling with new features.
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Twitter: A Picture’s Worth 140 Characters!

Twitter is looking a lot more like Facebook – beyond just a much-hyped IPO. Twitter has added photo and video previews to users’ timelines, both on the web and on mobile. Tweets that contain photos or Vine links will automatically preview those images. The change helps Twitter catch up to Facebook’s expanded emphasis on images.
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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

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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.
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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…)