CDMG INC

Answer this question honestly: Are you consistent in all you do? If you sincerely want your company, services, and products to make a difference in the world, be consistent in what you do. 

The daily activities we perform at our businesses to maintain their viability, pursue growth, and achieve more outstanding greatness account for the consistency rate. For instance, when we look at brands, the top brands tend to be consistent across the board regarding their products and internal operations. 

What does consistency entail? 

Your brand is the digital identity of your business. Every time a customer engages with your brand, they gain a deeper understanding of your company's mission, your products, and your brand values. You can ensure that your brand is easily recognized by maintaining brand consistency. The customer should have no trouble remembering or taking note of the brand's promises and ideals.  

Quality: Amazing quality, every single time. Your content's quality changes with time. If this happens, you can lose readers quickly and fail to get the needed leads. 

Quantity: Post content often to your blog and social media sites to stay visible and the people you want to be in contact with. If you are inconsistent in this regard, your potential consumers will perceive you as absent, uninteresting, and not worth their time. 

Message: In this competitive market, views should be conveyed to your audience in the same way, each time to make the same point. 

How to be consistent? 

How can you be reliable? 

To be in sync, one must be consistent. And what causes everything to occur? A vision or a single objective. 

Set a realistic, reachable goal for your company; not something that is almost too real to be accurate. By definition, a goal is a feeling that denotes the conclusion of a journey. 

When such a journey ends, we often slow down and forget the things that initially helped us grow. 

So set a challenging but achievable aim. Let's next take further action by formulating our goals and steps. These actions make it simpler for us to be more consistent every day. Both are beneficial in business. Sometimes taking risks won't stop you from making progress since it expands your field of vision so you can see more chances and ideas. 

So why is consistency important? 

We must first study the purpose of branding to appreciate the value of brand consistency. A marketing strategy called branding tries to increase client awareness and foster trust. Brand consistency is essential to achieving the same. Your brand will remain top-of-mind with your target audience the more consistently you approach brand promotion. 

You should be familiar with your brand guidelines and use each as a reference when creating your annual marketing plan. Make an effort to leave a lasting impact on your customers' minds despite the offline or online marketing alternatives. Any kind of marketing effort must be consistent with being successful. When you achieve consistency, you will: 

Promote loyalty and trust

When it comes to marketing your good or service, trust is crucial. Gaining brand recognition is about more than just getting your name out there; it's also about assisting consumers in developing a personal relationship with your company. Because buying is more of an emotional than a rational decision, trust works well. You may arouse the appropriate emotions by giving your customers a sense of familiarity with your brand. It is simpler to convince them to buy once you have established the required trust. Since customers will know what to expect when they buy your product or utilize your service, brand consistency helps to develop trust and loyalty. 

Inspire favorable feelings about your brand

Positive messaging delivered consistently can also aid in arousing positive feelings in your target audience. The best part is that your audience will eventually start to link these joyful feelings with your business. When done correctly, even the slightest suggestion of your brand will cause those same favorable sentiments in your audience. However, it takes some time and dedication. Imagine the effects on your company if consumers always feel delighted after seeing your brand. Contented people are more inclined to buy anything.

Have a better chance in defeating the opposition

Brand consistency can be crucial for your company's success in highly competitive and crowded markets. Consistency in your messaging might help you differentiate your company from rivals. Brand consistency frequently makes the difference between retaining a customer's business and losing it to the competition when clients must pick between several offers that are nearly identical. Remembering that increasing brand consistency will increase brand awareness, consumer trust, and favorable responses from prospective customers are crucial. And each of these matters dramatically determines whether a buyer picks your brand over your competitors. Your business consistently stands out from the competition thanks to brand consistency. 

Key Takeaways 

Because CDMG recognizes the need to establish trust and maintain brand consistency, our marketing techniques are distinctive. We first create a narrative your customers can relate to, allowing them room to trust us. We do this by upholding your company's values and consistently maintaining your brand. 

This article should be titled “All You Need to Know About Digital Advertising…Today.” There may be a subtle nuance of change tomorrow, the introduction of new online platforms next year, and a paradigm shift in the years to follow.  

For business owners, this might seem like an overwhelming amount of information to decipher but for digital advertising strategists, it is literally a day at the office, a very dynamic, robust office. Digital advertising paired with multichannel marketing changed the way businesses targeted consumers and the way consumers reacted to and paid for products and services.

 In the past, only well-established businesses and large corporations were able to allocate a portion of their budgets for advertising on television, radio, and in print. It was expensive, exclusive, and financially and creatively out of reach for the average business. Most were fortunate just to be able to advertise seasonally or during sales events. Really small businesses often languished because they had neither the funds nor the expertise to create any kind of effective advertising campaign. Relying on word of mouth was effective to an extent but was never enough to make a significant dent in the marketplace, especially when popular brands and big-box stores flooded the competition.

Enter digital advertising. The onset of this technology leveled the playing field and made room for any business to reap the benefits of a targeted digital marketing strategy augmented by multichannel marketing fueled by strategic analysis of the marketplace.

Where the Story Begins 

The mighty triumvirate of TV, radio, and print took a big hit when digital advertising hit the ground running and never looked back. As technology advanced, most specifically with the use of personal computers, and then with tablets and smartphones, the advertising capabilities exploded. At first, consumers were inundated with the randomness of pop-up ads, but then as the internet became more refined, so did its ability to target a specific audience with relevant ads laden with appealing content.  

 Once social media platforms like Facebook became rooted in daily consumer behavior digital advertising was elevated to the data analysis precision business owners enjoy today as they can get their well-crafted message to whom they want to target.  

Digital Marketing Strategy for the Savvy Business Owner 

Your marketing approach should include enlisting the expertise of those digital strategists whose skills lie in analyzing the data produced by the online behavior and digital channels used by your target audience. Without this ads might as well still be random and useless. CDMG does not want that for you or your customers. We strive to employ the latest in strategic analysis, sifting through the vital information revealed by algorithms across multiple channels and pinpointing where your message will elicit the most impact.  

A multichannel marketing approach will allow your business to reach exactly who you want to target because you will know what they plan to buy and when. A diverse yet consistent message will appear in the form of text, images, audio, and video. These formats are the foundation of your content, and we are experts in knowing how to use each for your selected digital platforms.  

We know you have a certain familiarity with many of the platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. In addition to those regular players, CDMG will also include in this online strategy the use of email, search engines, mobile apps, and your business’s website. The possibilities of content and configurations may appear endless, but we only utilize what will effectively build awareness of your brand and drive sales.  

Additional trends to consider in your marketing strategy include sponsored content and native ads to allow consumers to engage with content but without feeling like their online experience includes the intrusion of perceived advertising. The power of Google and YouTube continue to lead the charge as premier search engines.  

Relatively new players in the often-instant gratification online world include newcomers like TikTok, a short-form video site that boasts significant popularity but may be a data risk for users. This brings up the element of cybersecurity and should be part of the conversation as you map out a digital advertising strategy.   

Where Do We Go from Here? 

Online. We go online and take advantage of the enormity of the internet and its ability to build brand awareness, drive consumers to purchase products and services as well as share their behaviors within their social networks. 

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the future of digital advertising, while always evolving with the latest technology, is still a rock-solid source of marketing that we know can markedly influence the success of your business. 

For those of us who have been in sales, we are aware of the highs and lows associated with securing a sale or losing a customer. Emotions can run rampant with happiness with soaring success or plummet to the depths of despair causing even the most stalwart business owners and salespeople to question their expertise.

The lows though can take hold and a market correction cannot always shift the tide toward success. It can be disappointing at best and costly at worst. But these missed opportunities don’t have to be lost opportunities. Fortunately, digital marketing strategists are skilled at assessing these misses and using them to their advantage to add an essential component to any marketing approach.

Retarget marketing has gained traction as an effective piece in the implementation of successful marketing campaigns.

What is Retarget Marketing?

Sorry, but we have one more term for you to learn and it is incredibly important. In essence, it focuses on going after those potential customers you already missed. You might have thought they were lost forever when they passed you by. There is a more practical way of thinking when considering the use of retargeting.

Today’s customers are savvy. They don’t mind taking the time to do their research about a business and what products and services it offers. Of course, any business would love to have the impulsive shopper who clicks add to cart and enters a credit card, but while the instant gratification is enjoyable it is not a sustainable practice for a business that wants long-term customers and an increase in profits. Many knowledgeable consumers take their time and weigh their options which is why retargeting or going after them again is a practical, cost-effective marketing approach to translate their acquired information into sales.

These customers are perusing the marketplace. They are engaged and can be swayed to make a purchase even in a sea of competitors as long as your business stays in front of them as they consider their purchases. But isn’t this like stalking you may ask rather tongue-in-cheek? We like to think of it as giving your customers a digital “nudge.”

How Does Retargeting Work?

You’ve probably experienced retargeting without being aware of its existence and intent. For example, many consumers look for beauty products containing only natural ingredients and devoid of nasty chemicals. That’s an easy Google search, right? Then you discover several interesting websites with the very products you want to purchase. You may even go as far as placing items in their shopping cart, but do not take the next step to buy.

Then you do a little more surfing- a little more “window-shopping” and we do a bit of lead targeting and lo and behold that company that you looked at three websites ago has ads appearing in your feeds. Hello, retargeting! Nice to meet you!

Staying in Front of the Customer

Top-of-mind awareness is the name of the game. You sell swimwear. Your potential customer needs a new bikini. Who do they think of first when embarking on their shopping journey? Well, hopefully, you of course, but just as a little extra impact in your advertising toolbox you have incorporated the strategy of retargeting. Your customers’ behavior, maybe combined with a little indecision, is the one-two punch of effectively using retargeting to eliminate missed sales and gain an increased number of loyal buyers. These reminders have a positive effect on consumers because they are already engaged with a product or service. Retargeting is just a gentle reminder that your specific product or service is the correct one to choose.

Conveying Urgency

You’ve got the ball rolling on retarget marketing by reminding those customers who browsed specific products. One method to employ in order to convert lookers into buyers is communicating a sense of urgency. You can inform your customers about sales, special offers, limited editions, and limited availability. Customers are detail-oriented and want to be smart about a purchase, but they also do not want to miss out on something they need or want. Once they make their purchases, you have them in a place where future purchases develop with more ease because you are well on your way to building brand loyalty.

Numerous companies are adept at building urgency into their digital advertising strategy. Amazon supplements its marketing with emails aligned with customers’ wish lists. Consumers are consistently reminded that those items adding up on their wish lists can easily be shifted to the shopping cart. And World Market expertly times their mobile texts with emails announcing seasonal sales and limited-time products. It may feel random to a customer, but to a business, this approach is part of the foundation that connects customers to brands thus leading to increased profits.

Starting a business or building one that is already established requires highly detailed planning. There are so many factors to consider that it would take more than a few paragraphs to get a comprehensive picture of what your result will look like.  

Businesses are essentially dreams, right? They are the culmination of ideas, decision-making, demanding work, setbacks, successes, and finally and hopefully long-term rewards that sustain our lives and prepare our futures. That is just a short list for long years, but the effort is worth it because it is your dream.  

Amid all those sticky notes, notepads, and spreadsheets are your tangible, professional baby- the creation of your vision. But without special attention to every detail that moves the cogs and gears of that entrepreneurial machine, businesses can founder before even getting off the ground which is why establishing your marketing approach early in your business’s planning stages is critical for long-term success. 

Successful Marketing Campaigns for Your Business 

That tiny seed of an idea now has a name, products or services, and maybe even a logo. Your new venture might be brick and mortar, or a totally online business powered by an official website. Or your business might be well-established, offering something well-known and easily recognized, but still one that needs a breath of fresh air to give it new life.  

Utilizing integrated digital marketing to gain the attention of a wide audience can be a vital component of your overall marketing strategy, but it must be specifically tailored to meet your unique needs.  

The vast array of products and services that flood the global marketplace can have the effect of making your business seem like one tiny drop in a huge ocean, but with an approach that includes strategic analysis and creative concepting especially suited to your brand and your story can set you apart from the competition.  

What Do We Mean by Strategic Analysis? 

It is important to identify your goals because this will directly influence what marketing approach to take. When you are starting from the ground up everything might seem like a goal but narrowing your focus about what you want to achieve with your marketing lends itself to your choices including options for both traditional and digital advertising. This segment of your planning is time-intensive but well worth the effort when you see where the results can lead you. 

And with these goals are your current numbers. Marketing strategists will help you decipher where you stand with website clicks, conversions, and online customer engagement. And do not forget about your social media traffic which provides a wealth of information you can leverage in a successful campaign. This data will help you steer toward advertising options that will be targeted, cost-effective, and propel your business toward greater revenue. In addition, you will learn more about your audience as well as your competitors.  

What Do We Mean by Creative Concepting?     

This is the natural next step and truthfully you are getting into the fun part. This is where you as the storyteller weave a tale of magic about your business that ensnares your audience and motivates them to purchase your products or services. You and your digital marketing team will develop the “big picture”- your overall story and then break it down into pieces that attract people to your brand with precise messaging and consistent, high-quality content.    

Does Every Business Need a Unique Marketing Approach? 

Yes- absolutely. There is no one-size-fits-all when formulating a marketing plan for your business. What works for the hospitality industry probably won’t work for healthcare. What is effective for manufacturers can be quite different than what produces results for a high-end retailer. The entertainment, retail, and real estate industries historically see excellent results from using social media. Paid advertising such as pay-per-click, Google ads, and retargeting are all effective across a wide range of businesses. And video advertising is certainly a worthy contender for advertising and marketing agencies, educational organizations, and the travel industry.  

Enlisting the services of an agency experienced in creating successful marketing campaigns is a collaborative effort based on data, creativity, and your desire to achieve your goals as a business owner.  

We know it can be difficult to commit to something that is conceptual AND requires a significant amount of your budget, but the results are tangible. These results are the numbers that indicate increased traffic, growing brand awareness, and profits that take you as an entrepreneur to the next level.  

Step by detailed step, our digital marketing experts know the value of your business. What they want for you is to take your idea and your vision and tell your story in an imaginative, compelling way that drives your audience to say, “Yes. I want that.” 

Sometimes it’s fun to look back at the good old days during the infancy of video. Do you remember when we “taped” our favorite things- music videos, soap operas, a tv show’s season finale? Back in those dark ages we often hoped there was enough tape left, that you did not forget to set the timer, and that there wouldn’t be a power outage. Video was almost purely for the value of entertainment. But its marketing edge was just around the corner. It is fun to reminisce about those times especially when we both personally and professionally utilize the practicality and power of video today.  

Video marketing is a key component in any successful strategic marketing campaign. In today’s advertising world, with its seemingly endless variety of marketing options, video is front and center reeling in targeted customers, facilitating engagement, and building the all-important brand awareness in a highly competitive marketplace no matter your product or service.  Enlisting the expertise of experts skilled in video content creation is a vital first step in your overall marketing strategy.  

It is obvious we live in a world of short attention spans and myriad distractions. How many times have you clicked on a video but swiftly moved on because you weren’t hooked? How often have you been captured by a video and then shared it with others? We know the easy answer to these questions- many, many times. The popularity of video is a marketing powerhouse that is a necessary tool for businesses to build and maintain engaged audiences.  

Your Video’s Purpose  

Who are you? You are a storyteller. The very reason you are creating a video is to tell the story of your business. This is your stage to target and thus engage your audience with compelling, often emotional content. Learn who your viewers are and what do they want. Collaborating with marketing strategists, highly skilled in analyzing the algorithms of each platform, will provide you with a targeted approach that brings your story to life with viewers.  

What to Include  

Hook and headline = bread and butter. If you don’t have a compelling headline followed by content with an immediate hook, you have already lost your viewer. Your audience is bombarded with options and distracted in every direction. Secure their engagement with a headline that includes specific words that establish your powerful presence.   

Then give viewers what they want. From your videos, they expect to learn who you are, what your products or services are, and why they should be engaged with your content.  What they see and hear will first grab their attention. It is then up to you to connect and interact with your audience in a way that increases traffic and potentially increases sales. Remember- you are a storyteller.     

And something that can often be ignored during the creation process is your call to action. It is essential that you make the ask. Give your audience a directive- call, contact, email, visit- whatever the method, make sure you tell them you want to connect.   

 Video Creation across Multimarketing Channels  

Google may take the gold as the premier search engine in the world, but YouTube takes a very close silver as a platform where consumers conduct searches and learn about products and services. Other platforms are not far behind. You want your brand to establish a foothold on the platforms that see the greatest levels of traffic. YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram offer powerful tools for video presence. Your business can also capitalize on the exceptional engagement aspect of Facebook and Instagram by directly interacting with your audience and forming bonds that lead to brand loyalty.   

It is also important to align with the influencers. They are named this for quite an effective reason- they drive popularity, increase traffic, and motivate an audience to purchase. Favorite musicians, actors, athletes, and other people of notoriety make a huge impact on the actions of their followers. If your favorite tennis star is Serena Williams, why wouldn’t you want to use the same racket? Or if your celebrity eats at a particular restaurant, of course you will be making reservations there. Their clout is undeniable when they endorse or merely mention something that has merited their attention or engagement.   

Nut and Bolts  

Now that you have your content established, do not cut corners with the basics because savvy consumers will notice. Whether you are opting for slick production or an authentic, homespun feel, you must ensure that you use the correct tools to achieve the visual and sound results you want. Camera quality and lighting are essential components for making a video that grabs viewers. Grainy images or distorted sound will immediately turn off viewers who are used to the very latest in high definition. Keep this in mind as you want your videos to be accessible and appealing across numerous platforms.  

They must be mobile-friendly as phones are often the source of viewers scrolling for the most recent or popular find.   

Adding a video marketing component to your overall strategic marketing campaign is easier than you might think. The options are practically endless- be serious, be funny, but most importantly be engaging and educational. Ensure your audience learns about you and that they become part of your story.   

Contact CDMG today to create and schedule your video marketing campaign as part of your marketing strategy.  

Over the last few decades, the word silo has evolved from conjuring images of vast farms with tall, cylindrical structures holding grain to a rather negatively perceived designation in the business world. Often when the word silo is associated with the inner workings of a company it is not used in the best light and companies are working hard to steer away from this unproductive way of thinking.  

Businesses, from the small-town mom and pop to Fortune 500 corporations know that working in silos is generally a negative construct and when this is applied to the marketing world time, customers, and eventually, money are at risk of being lost. The strength of a successful marketing campaign conceived with integrated marketing solutions in mind will divest a business from the silo mentality and create a consistent and cohesive approach that will ultimately lead to achieving your company’s goals.   

What are Integrated Marketing Solutions? 

It’s not as complex as it might sound. Every business should have a marketing plan because- here comes that word silo again- no one can do it on their own. You might have the most fabulous product or service in the known universe, but if you are not getting your message out in the most consistent, cost-effective way, then you are missing out on customers and revenue. And to add another layer to understanding the marketing of your business, if you haven’t chosen wisely about how you market then will get the same results, but this time with a price tag.  

Integrated marketing solutions are not just basic marketing. It is a finely-tuned advertising plan focusing on projecting a unified message that will maximize its impact across multiple marketing channels, especially when incorporating a digital marketing strategy combined with some traditional platforms. You might ask “why solutions?” The easy answer is that marketing strategists are problem-solvers when the task is to help clients achieve goals through a well-crafted, targeted message. Advertising and marketing campaigns are as complex and diverse as no other time in the industry and with the advent of highly effective digital advertising, businesses are well-positioned to land their message on a wider and engaged audience.  

 Best Practices to Get Started with Integrated Marketing  

Taking that first step might feel a little uncertain when trying to assess the enormous advertising resources at your disposal. Think of that first step as an investment into guiding the narrative of who you are as a business and what you want to achieve. Defining your goals is a great place to start. Are you an established company but want to increase your brand awareness? Or maybe you have new products or services to launch and want to blanket your audience with this latest info? And quite possibly your business might just need to have some new life breathed into it so rebranding may be the strategy you require. Whatever goals you may have integrated marketing can be successfully used to achieve your intended outcomes.  

An integrated marketing strategist will assist you in selecting the correct channels to disseminate your message and build your brand. The available options are more numerous than ever, thus enlisting the expertise of a specialist knowledgeable in both inbound and outbound channels will provide you with platforms that perform well and deliver results. 

Depending on your goals, a variety of inbound marketing platforms will most likely include blog posts and other kinds of articles, website content, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), as well as the vast and influential landscape of social media. Outbound marketing options include traditional forms of advertising like TV, radio, billboards, and print. While some may seem out of date when utilized in combination with digital advertising their power can translate to new customers and increased sales. The most important thing to consider is no matter what channels you use, your integrated marketing campaigns will be not only matched to your audience but will also have the ability to tailor a consistent message for each.       

Next Steps with Your Integrated Marketing 

You now have an advertising strategist by your side who has analyzed and defined your audience demographics to align with the advertising channels that will attract your established customers as well as newcomers to your business. The next pieces of your integrated marketing plan include content creation and pinpointing a schedule conducive to the individual nuances of each platform while conveying your consistent message. What works for one might not work for the other, but fortunately, a precisely honed campaign consistent with photos, images, videos, and written content built across multiple channels will achieve the desired effect- a diverse approach with a powerful message that drives customers to your actual and virtual door.      

What are the Risks of Not Taking the Integrated Marketing Solutions Approach? 

The risks could be costly. Think about how your business is recognized and defined in the marketplace. You’ve worked hard to create your visual message – logo, colors, slogans, and content. If any of these veer off the path, that is, appear differently on different channels, then your message becomes muddled and customers can become confused, or worse- disinterested.  You don’t want customers gravitating toward your competitors because you appear disorganized and no longer identifiable.  

Integrated marketing solutions took the word silo and kicked it to the curb. In today’s marketplace, advertising can’t possibly work within a silo. Business owners must look at the possibilities holistically and then choose wisely across the available advertising channels to solidify their message, engage customers, and drive those hard-earned sales.    

Creative Direct Marketing Group: Our advertising campaigns generate better results from scientifically proven direct response strategies that are highly targeted, creating greater lifetime value from your customers.