Articles by Portent Staff
Portent Staff // 26 Jun, 2015
Three Months at Portent: My Life as an Intern
My internship at Portent is ending, and although I am sad to be leaving, I want to take the time to reflect on my past three months. Here are some thoughts I want to share for anyone out there looking for an internship in social media or something related to digital advertising. To the best of… Read More
Portent Staff // 10 Jun, 2015
Five Killer Tools for the Social Media Intern
Well, it’s been two months into my internship at Portent, and I’m beginning to get a firmer hold on my day-to-day workflow. I get the feeling that my friends still think I spend my entire day surfing Facebook and Twitter… and to be fair, I do spend a good chunk of my time each day on different social… Read More
Portent Staff // 5 May, 2015
A Day in the Life of a Social Media Intern
When I heard that Portent was looking for a full-time social media intern, my first thought was, “What in the world could a social media intern do that could possibly take a whole days’ worth of work?” To be completely honest, and I know this goes for pretty much every other recent college grad and/or… Read More
Portent Staff // 8 Jan, 2015
Starbucks stirs the heart: Strength in the Brand Story
Seth Godin reminds us, “Great stories agree with our worldview. The best stories don’t teach people anything new. Instead the best stories agree with what the audience already believes and makes [them] feel smart and secure when reminded how right they were in the first place.” Back in September, Starbucks rolled out its first global… Read More
Portent Staff // 25 Nov, 2014
Bad Behaviors That Make Me a Better Project Manager
I have learned over the years that there are a few behaviors which are normally considered impolite or taboo, but are extremely helpful when it comes to managing projects and teams and getting things done. Saying NO: For a Libra, saying no is not easy. I like to have balance and harmony, make people happy. So saying no… Read More
Portent Staff // 4 Nov, 2014
The Agile Approach to design and development. It really works!
Back some 15 years ago when I first entered into the creative agency world as a Project Manager, I was taught how to manage and lead projects in a traditional and linear way. Each team member, each discipline, and every contributor had their place along the project path. Once the strategist was done setting the big… Read More
Portent Staff // 23 Oct, 2014
Why HTML5 is, like, REALLY IMPORTANT
If you’ve worked in the world of the internet at any point in the past few years, there is a good chance you’ve heard of the hot new technology that is HTML5, and there is a similarly good chance that what you’ve heard is largely hype and buzzwords. While HTML5 does offer a great deal… Read More
Portent Staff // 16 Oct, 2014
How I Know Which of Your Links Are Bad – Link Profile Review Tips
Link profile maintenance is an unavoidable, recurring task important to the health of your website. Even if you haven’t done anything shady in the past, it is well worth it to pop open the links pointing to your site in Google Webmaster Tools to find out what Google is looking at in regards to your… Read More
Portent Staff // 14 Oct, 2014
The Big Idea (a Camp Counselor’s Guide to Inspiration at Portent)
I am a camp counselor. You know the kind: clipboard in hand, singing loud and off-key, with a huge smile plastered on my (no-makeup) face. I know all of the ways to identify a Cedar tree, how to cook beef stew in aluminum foil on the campfire, and the best bed-time stories for a 12… Read More
Portent Staff // 7 Oct, 2014
How to Test Responsive Web Design
Photo by Jeremy Keith. With the multitude of phones, tablets, phablets, fondleslabs, and other devices on the market, it can be difficult to determine whether or not your new responsive web site is actually responsive. Unless you have a lot of cash to blow on every mobile device that exists, you are probably going to… Read More
Portent Staff // 18 Sep, 2014
Make Your Google Shopping Campaigns Multilingual
Have you ever stumbled onto a new feature without even realizing it? It just happened to me recently when I told my boss Elizabeth that I had gotten a second, French language, PLA feed going for a client. She looked at me sideways and said “how’d you do that?” Considering she’s covered a PLA base… Read More
Portent Staff // 17 Sep, 2014
Announcing Our SERP Preview Tool
Has this ever happened to you? You’re working on your website, updating title tags and meta descriptions, when all of a sudden you’re panicked at the thought of a truncated title tag! Sure, you kept it under 55 characters, but you know that doesn’t always work, because Google truncates to a pixel width, not a… Read More
Portent Staff // 16 Sep, 2014
Create Valuable Marketing Campaigns: Start with Strategy, Build with Imagination
So you have all these great ideas for your business marketing: an app that will take over the world, an e-book that will change the industry as we know it, a banner ad people will actually click on. Ideas and passion are fuel for successful campaigns, but you also need the structure that strategy provides… Read More
Portent Staff // 3 Sep, 2014
Mobilize Your Brand, It Pays Off
A brand is a pulse of a company and customers interact with it every day across print, media, online and social platforms. The ever growing mobile industry is changing the way customers interact with and purchase their favorite brand’s products. In this post I will provide three important suggestions to build your online brand. Let’s… Read More
Portent Staff // 21 Aug, 2014
Social Media Apps That You Don’t Need (or Want), But Should Try Anyway
Sometimes when you’re a social media strategist (or, really, just a human with a smart phone or tablet), you get stuck in a routine that involves the same few social media mobile applications. Whether I’m on the bus or about to go to sleep, I find myself checking my three favorite apps: Facebook (I know,… Read More