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MDG Blog

Google Will Change Web Marketing in 2012

Google is gearing up to revolutionize the marketing methodology of websites in 2012. By devising new strategies and structures for accessing information, the search giant will be shaking up the way that websites market to the masses. Harvard Business Review reported on the changes in store for search.

1. More Limitations on Marketers’ Access to Data – For Google, the ownership of information is viewed as giving them a strong advantage over other ad networks and marketers. The search giant slowly started reducing access to this data in 2011 and plans to continue this strategy of curbing access to marketers unless they’re able to pay for the privilege.

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DATE: Jan.25.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

MDG’s New Physician Recruitment Direct Mail for MDVIP Promotes a Bright Future

MDG recently took a direct approach to physician affiliation by developing a new direct mail piece as part of our ongoing physician recruitment advertising campaign for MDVIP. As the national leader in personalized, preventive health care, MDVIP regularly hosts informative weekend events to attract eligible physicians to become affiliated with their healthier approach to practicing medicine. MDG promotes each of these events by creating a compelling invitation package that gets physicians excited about MDVIP’s opportunity for a better, brighter future.

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DATE: Jan.24.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

5 Ways to Transform Your Adwords Account in Under an Hour

An Adwords campaign can be a powerful part of a marketing strategy, but sometimes even the sharpest advertisers may not be realizing its full capabilities and could be wasting money without even knowing it. MarketingProfs.com recently suggested some quick checks that can help identify underperforming areas of your pay-per-click campaigns and result in big savings in little time.

1. Look at Device Segmentation – This new reporting option allows for segmenting traffic for each campaign by device, since viewing and traffic capabilities can frequently differ by device. This can have a positive effect on search, as well as lower your costs on the content network.

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DATE: Jan.24.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

MDG Debuts a Richer Website for Benetrends

MDG recently had the opportunity to develop and implement a multi-faceted rebranding campaign for Benetrends, a company that’s been providing proven and innovative funding solutions for entrepreneurs since 1983. The company is acclaimed for its Rainmaker Plan, which enables small-business owners to finance their companies by accessing their retirement funds.

For this integrated campaign, the MDG team rebranded the company, redesigned the marketing collateral, and has now launched a new search engine-optimized website that features a number of new resources and opportunities for the firm’s entrepreneurial clients. The new site design reflects the company’s position as the leader in small-business funding. The new website succeeds on many levels, from providing clients with ways to easily access company information to serving as a social networking hub for its vast online presence.

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DATE: Jan.23.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

Using Mobile Phones to Capture Customer Experiences

Harvard Business Review regularly focuses on the major issues facing companies today through its interactive resource, The HBR Insight Center. The following information stems from a recent installment of their series on how the rising obsession with customer service excellence is driving managers to turn their companies into customer-focused organizations. This post discusses how the increasing use of mobile phones in the purchasing process makes them extremely valuable gauges of consumer behaviors, reactions, and opinions. By tapping into the popularity and power of mobile communication, businesses can better understand their customers and improve both the retail experience and the effectiveness of their marketing.

Many major brands have already discovered the value of mobile communication in their ongoing quest to really know their customer. Global companies like Coca-Cola and Unilever have started to use a real-time experience tracking approach that recruits a consumer panel that will send a text message whenever they encounter the company or its competitors through mobile communication. Each text message simply states the touchpoint where the consumer has come into contact with the brand, as well as how the consumer feels in response to the touchpoint and their subsequent perceptions of the brand. To capture every reaction, the panel tracks both direct and indirect touchpoint experiences as long as there is some sort of consumer sentiment after the interaction.

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DATE: Jan.22.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

8 Amazing Emerging Technologies from 2011

In 2011, we witnessed many technological breakthroughs that have the potential to change our lives, our businesses, and our world. Mashable.com offered a look at its favorite emerging technologies from the past year and explained why these wonders will define the future.

1. Better Batteries – 2011 brought a number of battery advances, from the debut of a new polymer that allows for a 30% longer charge than current lithium ion batteries, to a technique that may enable batteries to completely charge and discharge in seconds.

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DATE: Jan.21.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

Understand Your Customers with Colored Pencils and Cartoons

Harvard Business Review regularly highlights the major issues facing companies today through its interactive resource, The HBR Insight Center. The following insight comes from a recent installment of their series on how the rising obsession with customer service excellence is encouraging managers to turn their companies into customer-focused organizations. In this post, the focus is on how company executives can gain a greater understanding of their customers by using “psychological drawings” to elicit direct feedback. These sketches can provide executives with valuable insight into the minds and motivations of consumers and help spawn new thinking about marketing strategy.

Many executives are surprised to hear that the most effective targeting tools are often colored pencils, crayons and pads of paper. These provide the means to unlocking consumers’ true feelings and expectations about the particular brands they choose to purchase.

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DATE: Jan.20.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

Best and Worst Ads of 2011

In 2011, Madison Avenue got even more creative with their commercials by extending their lengths beyond the usual 15- and 30-second spots, as well as expanding their formats to go from TV to digital. These savvy strategies were used to help gain greater viewer attention and maximize online sharing in an effort to stretch dwindling ad dollars. The Wall Street Journal recently compiled a year-end list of their favorites and failures, and below we’ve featured some of their highlights and low points.

1. Volkswagen: “May the Force Be with You” – This Star Wars-themed commercial featuring a boy using “the Force” on the new VW Passat received over 45 million views to become this year’s most-viewed ad on YouTube. It also generated more than $100 million in free publicity and helped sell more cars in two months than the 2010 model sold all last year.

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DATE: Jan.19.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

MDG Develops New Collateral for Benetrends to Complement Its New Brand

MDG recently embarked on a multi-faceted rebranding campaign for Benetrends, the nation’s leader in retirement-plan solutions and funding for small businesses. For nearly 30 years, the company has provided proven and innovative funding solutions through plans that enable entrepreneurs to access their retirement funds without penalty, to launch their business dreams.

As part of the rebranding process that resulted in a new collateral system, MDG created specialized brochures that target franchisors, business brokers, and potential entrepreneurs. The new collateral system positions Benetrends as the ideal partner for this market’s entrepreneurial clients by outlining the company’s proven experience, solid funding opportunities, acclaimed Rainmaker Plan, additional financial solutions, and commitment to partnership.

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DATE: Jan.19.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

Luxury Marketing: Top 8 Luxury Travel and Marketing Trends for 2012

In 2012, the luxury consumer is looking to be entertained, engaged, and to experience exciting new things. To help marketers appeal to this discriminating clientele, KWE Partners compiled a list of leading trends in the luxury lifestyle and travel market for 2012.

1. A New Luxury Language – While terms such as “authentic,” “heirloom,” and “artisanal” defined 2011, the new year will bring new terminology that will resonate with luxury consumers. These new words will include “rare” and “precious,” which are more evocative and provide more precise descriptions of their offerings. If possible, marketers should try to tell their brand story with images and avoid flowery adjectives altogether.

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DATE: Jan.18.2012 • POSTED BY: Joanne Del Gigante

Two Exciting Exhibitions Debut This Week at the Boca Raton Museum of Art

The new year brings two new exhibitions to the Boca Raton Museum of Art, which display the phenomenal power of photographs. From January 18 through March 18, 2012, discover the detail and depth of photographic images ranging from famous faces to shocking scenes.

In Martin Schoeller: Close Up, the camera gets up close and personal with Hollywood idols and powerful icons to capture their true expressions and reflections in a large-scale format. Actors, politicians, sports stars, comedians, socialites, politicians, and more put their real faces forward in a photographic display that addresses the concepts of fame, notoriety, personality, and presence. In this unique collection, Mr. Schoeller uses the same lighting from the same angle to achieve a consistency of expression for each of his subjects, revealing their essence below the surface and offering a glimpse of their real selves.

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