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  • Turning the XWELL Brand Into a Celebration of Self

    Turning the XWELL Brand Into a Celebration of Self

    The wellness industry has been unwell. It sells perfection. Implies feeling good is reserved for the elite few. Makes self-care seem possible only if you have endless time or money…

  • Mike Spakowski and Jesse McGowan review branding inside Atomicdust branding and marketing agency

    Why Your Brand Sounds Like Everyone Else’s (And How Brand Voice Development Can Save You)

    You know that sinking feeling: You’re reading your competitor’s website, and the messaging sounds… familiar. Too familiar. You realize you could swap logos and no one would notice the difference.…

  • Atomicdust team members reviewing brand positioning statements

    Want to Build Brand Trust? Start With a Strong Brand Positioning Statement

    Trust. It’s the very heart of marketing—and it’s the hardest thing to get right. That might sound like a gross oversimplification, but it’s true. Particularly with the longer sales cycles…

  • Illustration representing business competition, showing people pushing squares up a hill behind a person pushing a circle at front

    Learning From (and Then Beating) the Competition

    “We’re looking to gain more market share.” It’s one of the most common sentences we hear from prospective clients. Sometimes it’s a small business looking to stand out in a…

  • Ice cream, coffee, sugar and a paper umbrella represent the Benihana family's brand differentiators

    The Benihana Approach to Brand Differentiators

    I was listening to a podcast the other day when I heard a great example of brand differentiators: “Like any good story, the history of Benihana begins with the descendent…

  • Branding and Design for Coastal Business

    Branding Gets Personal With Coastal Business Supplies

    What’s the power of a logo against the allure of a cheaper price? In a commoditized industry, what good is a rebrand? As Atomicdust worked with Coastal Business Supplies to…

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    Ideas on branding, marketing and web design.

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    • We Rewrote Our Healthcare Marketing Guide for the AI Era

      We Rewrote Our Healthcare Marketing Guide for the AI Era

      Back in 2016, we published a guide called Content Marketing: A Guide for Healthcare Marketing Managers. It told…

    • Rebranding versus Brand Strategy: Knowing Which One Your Business Actually Needs

      Rebranding versus Brand Strategy: Knowing Which One Your Business Actually Needs

      A client call last week reminded me of a question I hear all the time: rebranding versus brand…

    • Brand Due Diligence: The Risk You’re Not Measuring

      Brand Due Diligence: The Risk You’re Not Measuring

      This is for my friends in private equity. From my experience, private equity firms stress-test everything. Cap tables.…

    • Three Ingredients for M&A Brand Systems

      Three Ingredients for M&A Brand Systems

      I love watching that Netflix show, “Chef’s Table”. In a Michelin-starred restaurant’s kitchen, every person has a station.…

    • Branding by Committee: You Don’t Ask Everyone Where the Couch Goes

      Branding by Committee: You Don’t Ask Everyone Where the Couch Goes

      I was scrolling the other day and read that a medical device business got carved out of its…

    • Sleep Scores and Search Rankings: Over-Optimized and Under-Felt

      Sleep Scores and Search Rankings: Over-Optimized and Under-Felt

      As a society, we’ve started letting the metric make the decision instead of informing it. I’m a recovering…

    • How We Built Our Website With AI (Oh Yeah, and People)

      How We Built Our Website With AI (Oh Yeah, and People)

      Fifteen years is a long time to have the same website. Our old website did the job. It…

    • A Repeatable Marketing Strategy Framework

      A Repeatable Marketing Strategy Framework

      Originally published in February 2015. Rewritten in July 2026, because AI changes marketing execution. When I first became…

    • We Rewrote Our Healthcare Marketing Guide for the AI Era

      We Rewrote Our Healthcare Marketing Guide for the AI Era

      Back in 2016, we published a guide called Content Marketing: A Guide for Healthcare Marketing Managers. It told…

    • Rebranding versus Brand Strategy: Knowing Which One Your Business Actually Needs

      Rebranding versus Brand Strategy: Knowing Which One Your Business Actually Needs

      A client call last week reminded me of a question I hear all the time: rebranding versus brand…

    • Brand Due Diligence: The Risk You’re Not Measuring

      Brand Due Diligence: The Risk You’re Not Measuring

      This is for my friends in private equity. From my experience, private equity firms stress-test everything. Cap tables.…

    • Three Ingredients for M&A Brand Systems

      Three Ingredients for M&A Brand Systems

      I love watching that Netflix show, “Chef’s Table”. In a Michelin-starred restaurant’s kitchen, every person has a station.…

    • Branding by Committee: You Don’t Ask Everyone Where the Couch Goes

      Branding by Committee: You Don’t Ask Everyone Where the Couch Goes

      I was scrolling the other day and read that a medical device business got carved out of its…

    • Sleep Scores and Search Rankings: Over-Optimized and Under-Felt

      Sleep Scores and Search Rankings: Over-Optimized and Under-Felt

      As a society, we’ve started letting the metric make the decision instead of informing it. I’m a recovering…

  • Eample of how to make your marketing messaging more effective

    How to Reframe Your Messaging to Make Marketing More Effective

    Let’s talk about how you can make your marketing more powerful by rethinking how you communicate with your customers, and the best part is it’s super simple. But first, a…

  • Permobil Website Blog Header

    Putting Real People First in New Positioning and Website for Permobil

    It might seem strange to start this blog post about our work for Permobil with the brand narrative we crafted for them. But it captures so much about the spirit…

  • The Original Apple iPod

    What B2B Brands Can Learn about Brand Love from an MP3 Player

    I grew up with an Apple IIc. Green LCD monitor and all. You see, my mom brought it home for us when UMSL was upgrading and was going to throw it…

  • Marketing to your competitors

    Are You Marketing to Your Competitors?

    Let me take you back. Back to 1999. Back to a movie called Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore. In case you missed this classic, the plot is simple –…

  • The One Page You Should Never Have on a Website

    The One Page You Should Never Have on a Website

    I’m going to ruffle some feathers here. And yes, it’s possible someday soon I’ll break my own rule. I certainly have in the past. But if you have a, “Why…

  • Marketing - how to get your business out of second place

    How to Get Out of Second Place and Become the Market Leader

    There’s an old adage that no one remembers who came in second place. It’s the very nature of competition. No one strives to be second-best in their market, right? If…