AI: What It Is and Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid
I heard about a tool called ChatGPT, played with it a bit, and was mystified by its magic-like qualities. There’s a famous quote from Arthur C. Clarke that I remember hearing in a college lecture, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Generative AI felt like this to me—and, frankly, to most of the […]
Navigating the Constantly Changing Landscape as a Controller at CLM
In today’s fast-paced world, the role of a controller, especially in a small business like CLM, is more challenging than ever. Having been in this field for 30 years, with 18 of those years spent at CLM, I’ve seen firsthand how the job has evolved. With laws, technology, and procedures constantly changing, it’s a never-ending […]
Good Branding is More Than What Meets the Eye
When we think about branding, the first things that come to mind are logos, color schemes, and catchy taglines. While these elements are certainly important, good branding goes far beyond the visual aspects. Here’s why branding is a multifaceted strategy that impacts every aspect of a business: Building Trust and Credibility At its core, branding […]
20 Years at CLM: A Case for Stickiness in an Era of Job Hopping
A lot happens over twenty years. Twenty years ago this past spring saw my baby-face packing up the car and heading out West watching my Midwest home shrink in the rearview mirror while a new horizon unfolded ahead of me. A new adventure toward a dot on a map labeled “Boise” with no job on […]
Leading With Innovation: Strategies for Brand Evolution
Eric Baumgartner, one of the industry’s most forward-thinking leaders and creatives is the Executive Technology Growth Lead for VML. He set the stage for CLM’s Flint and Steel event. Eric led participants on a journey through the cutting-edge innovations of the fourth wave of disruption in technology and media. We were reminded of humanity’s ever-shifting […]
The Four BEs of Business Development
In the fast-paced world of sales and marketing, the pursuit of an effective development process is never-ending. My journey began at Hewlett Packard and Extended Systems, where I first built a sales development strategy that I have used ever since. The process is ever evolving and adapting, and I have continued to use it in […]
Redefining Influencer Marketing: Hyper-Local Audience Authority Over Viral Flashiness
In today’s digital world, influencer marketing reigns supreme. But with countless brands vying for the attention of mega-influencers with millions of followers, local businesses often find themselves priced out or left behind. Enter the realm of hyper-local influencers: individuals with significant influence within a specific geographical area, often overlooked by traditional influencer marketing strategies. But […]
A Dynamic Duo: Organic Social Media and SEO
Navigating the digital landscape can be a complex task, but two powerful tools can help you reach your target audience: SEO and social media. While they may seem like different strategies, they actually complement each other perfectly. SEO: Your Guide and Map Think of SEO as your compass and map in the digital world. […]
Lost in Translation: Why Clear Communication Matters (and How to Get It Right)
The Case of the Missing Daycare Pickup Let’s rewind to yesterday morning. I’m sipping my coffee, scrolling through emails, and the kids happily giggling through their cartoons. Then, like a rogue plot twist in a sitcom, my husband strolled in, nonchalantly dropping a seemingly harmless bomb: ‘I have that meeting out of town today, I’ll […]
The Anticipatory Organization
As seen from the perspective of a 24-year-old MBA graduate. When I was 7, I heard the quote “The day I stop learning, bury me.” To this day, that quote has stuck, and I always remember the importance of continued education, both for personal development, and for simply keeping life interesting. Recently, I finished reading […]
A Glimpse of 2023 & What’s To Come in 2024
As we start the new year, it’s a time of reflection and celebration for CLM. 2023 was a year marked by transformation, memorable highlights, and noteworthy anniversaries. Here are some of the most notable moments of the year for CLM and our work with clients. Our journey with clients saw many milestones. Some of […]
Surfing the 4th Wave: The Laws of Innovation and the Impact of Generative AI
On June 14th, Dr. John Sviokla delivered a thought-provoking presentation titled “The Laws of Innovation: Surfing the 4th Wave” as part of CLM’s Flint & Steel series. As a leading authority in AI, digital technology, and business transformation, Dr. Sviokla discussed the future of AI and its potential impact on various aspects of our lives. […]
Thinking Like Your Customers
By Bob Hiebeler Businesses that want to thrive in today’s hyper-connected world need to think like their customers. In the past, it was common for businesses to focus primarily on maximizing profits, and in some cases, this was done at the expense of customers. However, in light of the widespread availability of information thanks in […]
Flint & Steel Presents: “Calling your Shot: Secrets of the World’s Greatest Sales Teams.”
On Wednesday, March 8th, as part of our Flint & Steel series, CLM hosted award-winning Revenue Performance Coach Rob Jeppsen as he presented “Calling your Shot: Secrets of the World’s Greatest Sales Teams.” Owning or running any business is learning to create predictability in the midst of uncertainty and perhaps the most challenging place to […]
Anticipating Your Customers Needs – Make it Easy
By Bob Hiebeler Since the latter half of 2020, everything has migrated online. Mundane tasks that we had to do over and over again pre-2020 have ended up online with stores able to track our purchases and remember our preferences. Repeat orders were easier to fill out as our lists could be set to automatic […]
The Power of Good Customer Service, Happy Employees, and Tooting Your Own Horn
By Bob Hiebeler When it comes to building a business that lasts, reputation is everything. Being number one in your vertical is certainly nice, but to continue to grow and push your business forward, people need to know you’re incredible…and the fastest way to achieve this is by providing unparalleled customer service. It’s one thing […]
Flint & Steel Presents: Generation “Them” – Navigating a Multi-Generational Work Force
Part 3: Recruitment and Retention Welcome back to part 3 of our three-part series wrapping up our recent Flint & Steel live discussion with Kristin Scroggin looking at how generational diversity affects employee behavior within the workspace, and what managers and business owners need to know in order to support employee cohesiveness and maximize each […]
Flint & Steel Presents: Generation “Them” – Part 2: Bridging the gaps in a Multi-Generational Workforce
Welcome back to part 2 of our recap of the November 2nd Flint & Steel speaking opportunity we hosted with speaker Kristin Scroggin on generational diversity within the workforce. In part one we looked at the demographic breakdown of the different groups and what key characteristics defined each section. Now, in part two we will […]
Flint & Steel Presents: Generation “Them” – Navigating a Multi-Generational Work Force
Part 1: Identifying the Generational Demographics On Wednesday, November 2nd, we hosted another incredible speaker in our Flint & Steel series. We brought in Kristin Scroggin for a look at how generational diversity affects employee behavior within the workspace, and what managers need to know in order to support employee cohesiveness and maximize each group’s […]
Standing Out In A Moving World
With so many brands competing for attention on every channel, companies are under more pressure than ever to stand out. In a world where consumers are hit from every angle with options on how to spend their money and time, successful companies need to create unique value in order to find success. A quick study […]
Marshall McLuhan: Electric Age Prophet in a Post-Gutenberg Galaxy
“He was a pyromaniac of the imagination, starting prairie fires over our intellectual landscape.” — Patrick Wilson, Knowledge Organization Theorist The late 1960s saw mass media coming into its own. Radio waves had been transmitting for decades. Film had become an established entertainment source. Television had grown well beyond its gawky, teenager phase. And […]
Before There Was Rock and Roll, There Was Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Imagine an alternate universe without the frenetic fretwork of the late Eddie Van Halen, without Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page. How about a world without the King of Rock and Roll replete with his unruly pelvis and whiplash grin? Sure, other musical greats like Bo Didley and Muddy Waters played a part in […]
Star Wars and Staying Indy—From a Certain Point of View
The release of Star Wars Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker in late 2019 marked the end of an era. That first film in 1977 was a panacea for the times, and the pioneering innovations in special effects and CGI spawned spinoff companies that changed the aesthetic of science fiction films for generations. We […]
The Quest for Fire and Food for Thought
Some modern-day diet trends might have you believe that early man sustained itself on an endless buffet of fire-roasted animal flesh. In reality, our nomadic forbears were more likely omnivores of the opportunistic type than they were mammoth-herding ranchers. They hunted. They gathered. They ate whatever they could find—the majority of which was lacking any […]
How B-Team Superheroes Saved the Box Office Day
For more than a decade, the holidays and summer have been the season of the superhero with Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe consistently knocking it out of the galaxy. Before we arrived at this new golden age of superhero films, there was an endless run of really lame films and TV shows. If you’ve seen the […]
How to Ride Ahead of the Pack (Without Selling Your Soul)
In January 2019, Harley-Davidson marked an infamous anniversary, that of its 1969 sale to “leisure time and industrial products” giant AMF. Six months after the sale, on July 1969, “Easy Rider” debuted in movie theaters. The timing could not have been better for the H-D brand. The true stars of the counterculture classic are motorcycles […]
Smells Like Analog Spirit
“In this age of technology where you can simulate or manipulate anything, how do we retain that human element?” – Dave Grohl in “Sound City” There’s no understating Kurt Cobain’s role in the musical paradigm shift that Nirvana initiated with “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” but sonically speaking, it’s Dave Grohl’s monstrous four-beat drum intro […]
Wash. Rinse. Save Lives. Repeat.
Lifehacks, they’re definitely a thing in our culture. But the word seems to have lost a bit of its luster through overuse. The minutiae of everyday life appear to have become one big lifehack leaving a truly awe-inspiring life hack to become a footnote in a sea of shoelace hacks and moustache hacks. Not to […]
How Women Are Providing Healing and Promoting Hope
Happy March and Merry Women’s History Month! Since this year’s theme is “Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope”, we wanted to shine a light on women who have been providing healing and promoting hope through health care and education while the world is still spinning on an uneven axis. In the last two years, healthcare and […]
3 Disruption-Time Trends That Became Future Facts
In March of 2020, as the pandemic was just beginning, my banker recommended a book to me: The Anticipatory Organization: Turn Disruption and Change into Opportunity and Advantage by Daniel Burrus. I read, highlighted, and took notes in the columns of this incredibly timely information. We were entering a time that felt like it would […]
As the Wheel Turns: 4 Key Insights from a Serial Entrepreneur with Consistent Success
To begin the 2021 Fall edition of Dog Eat Hog, Geoff Surkamer reminisced about his first job out of college with a startup company and how his boss and founder of the company, Scott Wald, impressed upon him the values of running a successful business. Geoff’s job was as a salesman for Scott’s burgeoning software […]
3 Tips to Break the News from BoiseDev’s Don Day
Of the 14 commercial news outlets serving this city and valley, BoiseDev is the only one that’s locally owned. Dedicated to growth, business, and general local news, BoiseDev is the brainchild of Don Day, a Stanford University John S. Knight Fellow who’s now often first to get the behind-the-scenes scoop on breaking local news. He […]
Creativity in Captivity: Tips for Staying Sharp While Staying at Home
It’s no secret that the era of COVID-19 has been rough on content creators. Gigs are way down. Patrons and clients are tightening their belts, making it hard to find work. Plus, the mental and emotional impact of social isolation in the midst of a devastating pandemic is enough to weigh down even the most […]
4 Tips to Innovate and Grow – BIG
“You’re three times more likely to make an NFL roster than to go from zero to a billion in value,” Chris Elmore, AvidXchange & startup evangelist, noted at Dog Eat Hog: Unleashed, the first virtual event in CLM’s speaker series from challenger brands who crush it. “And about 50% of these zero-to-a-billions are located in […]
5 Tips to Be a Status Quo-Busting Solutioneer
On June 17th, Dog Eat Hog touched down at the “first of its kind” Autovol pre-fab building factory in Nampa to hear tips on how to crush it from the visionary CEO and cofounder, Rick Murdock. Rick gave us a field guide to being a game-changing solutioneer—as seen through the lens of his work in […]
Real-World Insight: 19 Disruptive Trends From COVID-19
I spent the first week of March in New York City at Adweek’s Challenger Brands summit, held right across the street from the World Trade Center. Before I left, my wife encouraged me not to go. The novel coronavirus had landed in the US by then, and the news was growing more alarming. But there […]
March Madness: Media Trends During the Pandemic
The pandemic is sparking significant change in more ways than one. At CLM, we’ve been closely monitoring trends in the media landscape, and what they mean for our clients. Viewership and activity across mediums—from network TV to streaming to social media—spiked significantly in March. In our currently self-isolated world, this demonstrates the human need to […]
5 Tips on How to Power Up People with Gravity
People. They make up the beating heart and lifeblood of any business. Their drive to stay productive, motivated, and inspired turns into bottom lines and future ROIs in big, almost indefinable ways. When Bobby Powers—the Head of Learning & Development and People Analytics at the legendary Gravity Payments—stepped into the Dog Eat Hog spotlight on […]
Firebrands to Fireballs
This past year, we rebranded our company in an effort to capture the essence of who we are. We thought that a great finale for a great year was to live our brand in a literal fashion. We used fire to create not only art but to fuse different ingredients together to make an entirely […]
10 Ways to Rise up from out of Nowhere
Daren Nordhagen, co-founder of Foundant Technologies, is from the middle of nowhere. Well, a small suburb of the middle of nowhere, a designation once mathematically granted to Glasgow, Montana by the Washington Post. On November 14th, Daren demonstrated the power of coming from out of nowhere during Dog Eat Hog IV, our quarterly speaker series […]
5 Breakthrough Tips from Cradlepoint’s CMO
From humble origins in Idaho, Cradlepoint is now the global leader in cloud-based 4G LTE network solutions. So how did they get there? At our last Dog Eat Hog—part III in the CLM speaker series on how to compete and win—Todd Krautkremer, the Chief Marketing Officer at Cradlepoint, took us behind the scenes and let […]
Surviving the Apocalypse with D&B Supply
Over the past 60 years, a lot has changed in the west. And one of our clients, D&B Supply, should know. Established in 1959, D&B Supply is celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. What started as a tire shop for farmers in Caldwell, Idaho has grown to 15 locations in southwest Idaho and eastern Oregon […]
Flying High by Winning at The Rockies
The Rockies—Idaho’s annual advertising awards ceremony—always make you want to crank up that DJ Khaled song. “All I do is win, win, win.” (Repeat “win” 8 times, in CLM’s case.) Put your hands in the air, and call us the jet set. This year, we were flying high at a 1960’s airline travel-themed party pulled […]
4 Components of an Effective Landing Page
Digital advertising has become more and more sophisticated and effective over the years. From a digital marketing perspective, a campaign should be looked at from the top down. This means everything from the strategic planning, targeting, and copy needs to be examined and reexamined to ensure the right mix and delivery. But a digital advertising […]
Is Your Company Brandfishing?
If you’re single, you’ve probably waded into the pool of online dating. Popular apps like Tinder and Bumble have changed the way people meet each other. With this change comes the realization that individuals are constantly marketing themselves. They are analyzing what they look like and asking themselves if their current profile pictures are good […]
Finding the Why in Marketing
Maybe it’s my maternity leave quickly approaching that’s setting my mind on thoughts about what’s important and the reasons why I do what I do. Or maybe it’s the months I’ve been spending in the trenches with some of our clients thinking through tough strategic decisions ranging anywhere from messaging, to audiences, to internal operations. […]
Social Media Marketing World Recap
Social Media Marketing World takes place every year in beautiful San Diego, California. Started by Michael Stelzner, the CEO and founder of Social Media Examiner, as the worldwide hub for thought leadership concerning the future of social media marketing. I’ve had the privilege of attending for the past two years and would like to share […]
The Word Around the CLM Watercooler
Aw, mid-March – that special time of year when Q1 deliverables race to the finish line. Here’s a watercooler view on some of the latest and greatest news within 588 West Idaho. First off, thanks again to all of you who attended our Dog Eat Hog challenger event on Feb 22nd at Beside Bardenay. As […]
4 Necessary Elements of Content Marketing
When we think of digital marketing, there are numerous tactics, strategies, and applications that businesses of all sizes can employ to become more successful. The bare minimum digital marketing actions include having a website or a Facebook page. But since the digital industry has evolved, the bare minimum is no longer a viable way for […]
Going Hog Wild in Event Branding
Branding an event—like CLM did recently with our first speaker in a series on challenger companies—means putting a distinctive stamp on every aspect of a real-life experience. Weaving consistency and excitement into each detail along the way turned out to be quite an experience in itself. We started with the name, Dog Eat Hog. It’s […]
5 Benefits of Marketing Automation
Businesses are always looking for ways to become smarter, faster, and more precise in their actions. Figuring out the right cadence and steps to take regarding certain processes is challenging. How often should certain actions be performed? Are the actions being performed actually affecting the company’s bottom line? Which actions are actually contributing a net […]
Super Bowl LIII Commercial Round-Up – One Random Guy’s Take
Being in the ad business, there’s one question I can count on fielding each February from friends and family. “So what did you think of the Super Bowl ads this year?” As the presumed “expert” on the subject, I dutifully deliver my reply that is, in reality, just one random guy’s take. So in […]
Is Traditional Media Dead?
In advertising there are several mediums to reach an intended audience; now more than ever. As technology has evolved, so has the way we consume media. The days where the only options to reach the masses were through print or broadcast are long gone. Even though print and broadcast are tools of the past, they […]
Retrospective Design: Great, or Gimmicky?
Original Designs “Everything old is new again” is a mantra I relate to, but I’ve been recently asking myself why. According to the 2018 / 2019 graphic design trend reports, I’m not alone. “Analog everything” now has a place in current culture—vinyl LPs, heritage sneakers, paper and pencils, and of course beards and mustaches. Phrases […]
Digital Marketing in 2019
Entering a new year is always exciting. There must be something about new beginnings, resolutions, and a renewed sense of doing things that brings out the best in us. Speaking of new beginnings, a change in the year can also be a great opportunity to analyze how well different marketing tactics are performing. It can […]
Reflecting on Client Wins in 2018
As we start 2019, we reflect on 2018. It was jammed packed full of client activity that helped our clients, staff and company grow. 2018 kicked off with Brad buying back the company from the Ivie family. Our time with Ivie was good in providing new experiences and perspectives, but we are thankful for Brad’s […]
