Caitlin Vlastakis Smith

Design thinking is a catalyst for creating more effective leaders, stronger teams and a collaborative culture, all of which impact revenue. Here are three ways leaders can apply design thinking:

1. Empty Your Cup
2. Distribute Control
3. Envision the Ecosystem

Most companies celebrate accomplishments. It's common-sense morale building in the agency world: employee anniversaries, launches, promotions, project completions and more. We celebrate because we put in a lot of time and sweat. We pulled together, busted our butts, challenged our thinking and delivered an exceptional final product -- a celebration is in order.

But what if the "final product" was winning a new business prospect? And what if they chose the other guy?

This presentation given at the Digital Marketing for Business Conference in Raleigh, NC. Throughout the presentation, we explored:

1) How the brain is structured to process information

2) Key questions to ask ourselves during content and design planning to help us think more like our audience

3) User experience (UX) research methods to apply throughout content marketing efforts, such as interviews and contextual inquiries

4) How to synthesize varying depths of… Show more

This presentation given at the Digital Marketing for Business Conference in Raleigh, NC. Throughout the presentation, we explored:

1) How the brain is structured to process information

2) Key questions to ask ourselves during content and design planning to help us think more like our audience

3) User experience (UX) research methods to apply throughout content marketing efforts, such as interviews and contextual inquiries

4) How to synthesize varying depths of customer insights into strategic outputs to guide content creation, and

5) A step-by-step "audience first" content planning guide that serves as a jumpstart tool for building content marketing programs around humans Show less

Understanding how people think and what makes them tick is the common building block behind both creating content and designing experiences that matter to people. But before you dive in, you have to understand what your audience finds meaningful.

There are many different methods for conducting research, depending on the project — and just as many outputs you can create to synthesize that research. But what’s most important is the ultimate goal: Uncover what motivates people, surface… Show more

Understanding how people think and what makes them tick is the common building block behind both creating content and designing experiences that matter to people. But before you dive in, you have to understand what your audience finds meaningful.

There are many different methods for conducting research, depending on the project — and just as many outputs you can create to synthesize that research. But what’s most important is the ultimate goal: Uncover what motivates people, surface unknown needs, gather insights, and then ultimately figure out how you can serve them. Listen. Observe. Dig. Learn. Always push yourself to ask, “why?” with a willingness to chase down an answer. Show less

On neuroplasticity and the tools, habits and behaviors that shape the way we think.

This content marketing tool is designed to help you develop a content strategy in support of your marketing goals with the necessary planning to get the most out of your investment. It’s both a jumpstart guide and a reminder to answer the right questions before investing in content creation.

The guide will help you:

+ Define your audience
+ Craft a message that resonates
+ Identify the most appropriate medium to carry your message
+ Stategically place your content across… Show more

This content marketing tool is designed to help you develop a content strategy in support of your marketing goals with the necessary planning to get the most out of your investment. It’s both a jumpstart guide and a reminder to answer the right questions before investing in content creation.

The guide will help you:

+ Define your audience
+ Craft a message that resonates
+ Identify the most appropriate medium to carry your message
+ Stategically place your content across the right channels
+ Determine clear metrics of success Show less

"...I’m interested in exploring how a widespread yet uniquely individual experience—like a recession—can shape people; how it can change the way we think, work and interact with each other; how we develop trust and build relationships.

What did we learn from 2008? Are there more shared patterns of learning across age groups, industries or psychographics?"

The terms UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) are often used interchangeably. While both are equally important, they're strategically different. In this presentation, we've outlined the differences between UX and UI, and specific UX activities that can help organizations deliver greater value to customers.

When we direct all our effort toward identifying patterns in data that only explain what people did, I wonder how many opportunities we miss—left on the table because we often don’t think outside the parameters of our own biases and assumptions.

There’s much we can learn about user behavior by looking at voids in data.