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Back in June we told you about Birchbox, a company that offers a subscription to customized beauty product samples for $10 a month. It’s an interesting model, and it seems to be working out extremely well for them. BeachMint is a “social commerce” startup with a similar subscription model, but a very different approach. They’re a Santa Monica, CA based company with four brands: JewelMint.com, BeautyMint.com, StyleMint.com, and ShoeMint.com. I think you can guess what each offers a subscription to. When you sign up they give you a quiz to get a sense of what you like and what you don’t like, and then they start making new recommendations for you every month. It’s a little weird in that it’s structured like a subscription, but you don’t have to buy every month (but it sounds like it’s more of a monthly opt-out than opt-in). I kind of wish they stayed true to their name and would send me to a different beach every month.
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administrative,
all employers,
beauty,
California,
customer service,
design,
e-commerce,
events,
fashion,
jewelry,
marketing,
merchandising,
mobile,
promotions,
sales,
shoes,
software development,
style,
web development

If you’re going to plan an effective attack, you often need boots on the ground. This is obviously true in military endeavors, but it can also be true in marketing. Believe it or not, having actual people doing face to face marketing can still be remarkably effective–I’m sure you’ve even seen it on your college’s campus. When companies need temporary staff for event based or experiential marketing, they often go to San Francisco, CA based Attack! (which also has offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York). They’re yet another Inc. 5000 company, and they’ve seen 180% three-year growth to $7.9 million in annual revenue. If you’re wondering how it all works, you’ll see that it’s mostly based on skydiving sumos.
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account management,
all employers,
California,
events,
experiential marketing,
human resources,
Illinois,
marketing,
New York,
project management,
promotions,
recruiting,
sales,
staffing,
talent agency

Marketing is all about targeting. Marketers want to reach specific audiences, and media companies try to develop audiences that marketers want to reach. Typically, the more specific an audience is, the more valuable it is—at least as long as there’s something that you can sell to that audience. Alloy Media + Marketing, which is headquartered in New York City is a company that operates on both the marketing and media sides. They specialize in targeted youth media and promotional programs, and they operate a number of businesses in those areas. Youth marketing is a big deal—not only do young people spend a large portion of their income (even if it’s relatively small) on discretionary purchases, but they also are impressionable. If you can gain an 18 year old’s loyalty, you’ll have a long time to extract value from them as a customer. Alloy leverages “a diverse array of assets and services in interactive, display, direct mail, content production and educational programming” to build relationships with and market to teens and college students.
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account management,
all employers,
California,
editing,
editorial,
entertainment,
experiential marketing,
information technology,
interactive media,
Iowa,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
media,
media planner,
Minnesota,
negotiation,
New York,
online marketing,
project management,
promotions,
public relations,
publishing,
sales,
social media,
software development,
web development

Very few brands can truly claim that they have loyal customers. And if you think about the ones that can (Apple for example), they usually don’t offer “loyalty programs.” If someone is loyal because you constantly reward them, then it’s not really loyalty, right? But that’s ok! Loyalty programs are an extremely effective marketing technique, and results are what matter—regardless of whether customer loyalty is genuine or synthetic. Loyaltyworks is an Atlanta, GA based company that “creates and manages full-service incentive, loyalty and reward solutions” for other businesses. Because running these types of programs can be complex for companies who want to stay focused on their core business, there’s a lot of room for Loyaltyworks to offer a full suite of of incentive, loyalty, and reward solutions.
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account management,
all employers,
Georgia,
marketing,
online marketing,
promotions,
sales,
seo

Now that we’re entering the holiday season, it’s time for all kinds of promotions, sales, and contests. The holidays can be financially stressful for a lot of people, which is why so many companies offer promotions that try to ease that burden a little bit. Black Friday sales are probably the most visible way that retailers do this, but you also see plenty of interactive promotions this time of year. If one of your favorite brands is doing a holiday promotion, there’s a decent chance that ePrize is behind it. They’re a Detroit, MI based company that offers a wide range of solutions—from sweepstakes to collect & win to loyalty programs. I’ve run contests on this site before, and it’s not easy to do effectively—especially if you don’t have experience. ePrize brings more of a decade of experience to the table, so they can ensure that their clients get a serious return on all of the free stuff that they’re giving away.
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account management,
all employers,
business development,
design,
flash,
human resources,
marketing,
Michigan,
New York,
project management,
promotions,
sales,
software development,
training,
user experience,
web development

This morning I sent out the following tweet: “I entered the Bonobos/Tucker Blair Wardrobe Giveaway! for a chance to win 5 pants/5 belts/5 polos: http://wfi.re/1sy9s.” (By the way, you can follow me @willyf.)I usually get annoyed when I see tweets like that, but every person who enters through my link gives me another entry, and I want to win. I also wanted to take it as an opportunity to learn a little bit more about Wildfire Interactive. They are a Palo Alto, CA based company that has built an amazing web-based software platform to enable “interactive promotions for brand marketing.” For a very affordable price, you can use Wildfire to run sweepstakes, contests, give-aways, incentive-based surveys, and more. I’ve struggled putting together online contests in the past, and Wildfire is exactly the kind of app that would have made my life a lot easier. They’re like a self-service, web 2.0 Don Jagoda Associates (and they shouldn’t be confused with WeTheCitizens which renamed itself to Wildfire Platform).
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account management,
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California,
customer service,
design,
engineering,
marketing,
product management,
promotions,
sales,
social media,
social networking,
software development,
user experience,
web development

These days the entry level job search is a lot like a sweepstakes. You send out hundreds of applications (entries), and assume that you’ll never get a response either way. Still, you hold out hope that you’ll win an all expenses paid trip to… a job interview. It’s not a reassuring feeling, which is why you should change your approach (that’s what we teach you here and especially in our course, Found Your Career). Just like there’s a group of people who have figured out the tricks to winning sweepstakes, there’s also a group of people who have figured out the tricks to landing jobs. Today, I’m hoping that you’ll figure out both by pursuing a job with Don Jagoda Associates. They are a Melville, NY based marketing-services agency that specializes in areas that include: Promotion Development; Sweepstakes, Contests & Games; Online Services; Incentive & Loyalty Programs; Creative & Production; Fulfillment; Travel Services; Refunds & Rebates; Premiums; Tie-Ins & Strategic Alliances; Event Promotions; and Hispanic Promotions.
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account management,
all employers,
California,
events,
marketing,
New York,
promotions