Web Design and Marketing Services in Southwest Michigan

DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE

Whether starting from scratch or modifying an existing site; our expertise gives you the experience you’re looking for.

We spend time understanding your brand, your look, your ideas and what your end goal is. We understand your needs aren’t the same as the next person’s and know how to improve or design your site accordingly.

Your website can be built for customer engagement, customer retention, product highlights, portfolios, sales leads, promotion and so much more. Creative Marketing Group gets it.

Learn more: Website Design/Redesign

Email Newsletter Design

So you have your website, marketing pieces and a plan. But, you want to figure out how to communicate with your customers and/or clients. We know how to refine the right tone for your demographic, create appealing imagery and design and optimize your calls to action.

Whether you send once a week or once a month, we can create an appealing design rich with the right content for your audience. Additionally, we can help you analyze and monitor your open rates, unsubscribe percentages and click throughs in order to continue improving engagement.

Learn more: Email Newsletter Design

UX/UI Design

UX and UI are often misunderstood as being the same as web design. But we know they mean so much more. UX (or User Experience design) is about the experience of your user. A rich interaction that is meaningful and relevant to site users. A UX design done right takes into consideration the start to finish process of telling a story to your user while including them in it. If your website is a book, your UX is the plot and it should be created with the idea that your users are characters in the story. Combining usability, psychology, programming, interaction and overall intention is key to quality UX and we know how to help your write your story.

UI (or User Interface) however is the touch and feel of your site for your user. Using our book analogy, think of UI as your book cover, chapter indicators and even the typeface used. It is a combination of content, design and cause and effect of user interaction. Is your content engaging and laid out in a readable manner? Are your buttons easy to find, navigation logical to user flow and menus laid out for ease of use? What happens when your users click those buttons, select navigation options, follow menu paths or type in your forms are all factors of UI when done right.

Quite simply put, UI is about making your site easy to use, aims to increase session time and lessen bounce rates that can sometimes occur out of frustration about poor design.

Learn more: UX/UI Design

Content Management Solutions

A content management system helps to maintain creation and modification of digital content.

In most cases it supports multiple users, with the necessary permissions you request to foster a collaborative, but controlled environment.

We build our sites in easy to manage content systems that give you the freedom to make changes your site, add images and blogs and so much more. Not only that, but we teach you how to maintain it while still being here for support and additional training at all times!

Learn more: Content Management Systems

SEO Services and Consulting

Search Engine Optimization is integral to your site being found and keeping your traffic numbers optimal and increasing. It’s also constantly changing and evolving. Here at CMG, we keep up with those changes and we help to prepare you for what that means for your site.

Our expertise focuses on key words to get you found, optimizing your content to appeal to all search engines, as well as preventing your site from getting penalized for not following parameters and requirements.

Additionally, our SEO services include local search optimization in order for your business to be found by users in your area. An often overlooked step; we prioritize this in the understanding that being found locally is just as important as your site being found in general. The more prominent your placement, the more business you will see.

Learn more: SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Email Hosting

Web Development

More than just web design. Web development is the entire process from discovery of needs to maintenance of the site. It refers to researching, building, programming, database management and more.

Web development is the process that goes into web design and requires a knowledgeable developer who sees the big picture. Our approach to web development involves interaction with you to learn your needs, program accordingly and support you after.

Our web developers are collaborative, knowledgeable and friendly to work with. Not to mention responsive. We never talk down to you about technical specifications; we prefer to help educate you and answer all of your questions.

Learn more: Web Development

eCommerce

eCommerce is Electronic Commerce and most of us know commerce is the sale of goods. Allowing purchases online and the sale of goods and services, transmitting funds and/or data has allowed many companies expanded capabilities as well as expanded coverage for increase in sales.

eCommerce isn’t just about selling tangible goods, it can be used to sell services, subscriptions, knowledge databases and white papers among many other uses. We offer the capabilities to build an eCommerce site for your business and we know what goes into checking everything off the list for a successful site.

We can integrate shipping methods, work with existing POS systems or help you find the ideal payment processing software and implementation to make sales easy. The key factor is that through all of this, we prioritize security. When exchanging data, user information and payment methods, keeping it secure is what keeps your reputation from being affected. Security is always a primary focus when we’re overseeing an eCommerce site, letting you breathe easy.

Learn more: eCommerce Website Design

Web Maintenance and Tune-Ups

If you were to ignore the general maintenance of a car, including oil changes, new spark plugs and new tires; you’d soon find you’d need a new car. We look at websites the same way. Our process doesn’t mean just building your site and not checking back in; but continued maintenance and improvements. Even more, just as your mechanic will remind you it’s time to change your oil; we don’t expect you to remember your website might need to be checked under the hood. Our staff monitors your site, suggests upgrades and improvements and continually ensures the engine is running smoothly.

Hosting

Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web page onto the Internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or web page to be viewed in the Internet. Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers. When Internet users want to view your website, all they need to do is type your website address or domain into their browser. Their computer will then connect to your server and your web pages will be delivered to them through the browser. We offer a variety of hosting options depending on your needs, including the amount of space you need for files, daily back-ups and disaster recovery, in addition to software upgrades.

MARKETING

Marketing Plans

A marketing plan is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines business advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame. The key elements of a marketing plan are all topics we know well and can incorporate for you. This includes: market research, identifying your target market, competitive analysis, strategy, metrics and the big one – BUDGET. We work to understand your budget first and foremost before we head down the path of creating a plan for you. Our intention is not to oversell you, but to get you the best bang for your buck. Depending on your business needs, the plan we craft for you could include both print and digital initiatives, all of which we handle implementing for you and guiding you through the process. Learn more: Business Marketing Plans

Campaign Planning and Management

Marketing isn’t a set it and forget it process if you’re seeking true ROI and results. Establishing campaigns with multiple touchpoints utilizing varied channels is what we know to be the ideal path to success for any business. Not to mention the analyzation of resulting engagement and leads as well as review of what’s not working in order to make the necessary changes proactively. Our staff knows how to identify your business needs and plan out the right campaigns to optimize the results you’re seeking. We will work with you to plan out the right options within your budget and then we will either guide you through implementation or manage that aspect as well. Additionally, we will continually monitor the selected campaigns, track and analyze results and feedback and adjust accordingly. Our intention is to get you the best campaigns that lead to an increase in sales and client acquisition.

Social Media Campaigns

Social media isn’t just about family photos, daily updates and memes (though we do love a good meme). Social Media has become a strong player when it comes to promoting your business and marketing your services/products.

A social media plan is essentially crucial to any marketing efforts, no matter the business. It’s important to identify the social media channels applicable to your efforts. Whether it’s building more of a follower base, driving traffic to your website, creating brand awareness or just connecting with current and prospective clients or all of the above.

Primary focus of social media efforts tends to lie with Facebook; however it’s imperative to not overlook Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat (in some situations), LinkedIn and any burgeoning platforms that arrive on the scene.Our staff understand social media and know how to track engagement and ROI on efforts applied to these channels and mediums.

Learn more: Social Media Campaign Development

Email Marketing

We’ve mentioned marketing channels a few times, and email marketing is one of those. Email marketing is one of those many businesses rely heavily on. However, there is an art to understanding this option as well as an approach that requires the understanding that not all email is the same. The key to emails are to not only have your reader open them, but click through. Additionally we work to keep your unsubscribe rate low. Just as a bounce rate can mean you’re losing traffic, a high unsubscribe rate can indicate you’re losing readers. What’s important is to analyze and test to determine what may be causing those losses, whether it’s content, frequency or just simply unengaged contact lists. As with our other services, we can implement and manage all of your email marketing or we can set you up to run it and maintain a plan we start for you.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation works in collaboration, anicallary to, or as a replacement for customer relationship management systems. Marketing automation can transition previously manual processes to automate repetitive tasks undertaken on a regular basis in marketing campaigns. Marketing automation can be a significant asset for areas like lead generation, relationship marketing, cross-selling, customer retention and marketing ROI measurement. CMG can consult with you to find the best system for your needs and your budget. We can also help you manage it and consult with your staff in their use of it.

SEM Planning and Execution

SEM or Search Engine Marketing is in the family of SEO, and is considered the advertising division of search engines. SEM works with paid keywords, paid ad placements, the Google Adwords network and more. One of the integral parts of SEM is monitoring and adjusting. Keywords will fluctuate in the amount of impressions you’re getting and whether or not you’re getting click throughs. If you’re bidding on words that aren’t resulting in ROI, you could potentially be using up money that could be directed to other areas. CMG has extensive background in managing SEM campaigns and returning optimal results, which ultimately means leads and sales. We can run your full campaign, or set one up for an initial testing phase and then turn control over to you for maintenance.

Branding Services

So you have your logo, whether it was designed by CMG or pre-existing. You’ve got a great website that’s seeing increases in traffic. But do you have your branding plan? Is there an existing set of brand guidelines and assets library with all version of your logo? You and your staff should understand what your intended impact is. What unique story you’re telling and how you convey it. Your core values should be identified, a mission statement established and the right content to support your brand. You may even find your logo as it exists isn’t telling the right story. We can consult on all of these details by working together to understand your story and helping you tell it.

Targeted List Procurement

Sometimes you want to reach out to a specific group or demographic to create further engagement with a new or existing audience. These lists can be used for direct mail pieces, expanding event attendance, social media outreach and more. Working with a knowledgeable partner like CMG will ensure the lists you purchase are qualified and targeted to the purposes for which you’re looking to use it. We can also stay well within your budget and help you utilize your list optimally for the best return engagement.

CREATIVE

Photography

Whether creating a brochure or a website, visual components are what will keep your reader’s attention. Quality photography is key to that. We understand imagery, and we have skilled photographers available for many types of styles, best suited to your needs. We understand what one business’ needs will be the polar opposite of whatever another might need. Whether sweeping landscape images or food close-ups, we understand the gamut photography runs and we can narrow down the focus and find the best photographer for your purposes. We also can assist with selecting the right images and maintaining a bank of images for future use.

Videography/Drone Service

Video is becoming such an important part of interacting that even social media channels have modified their algorithm to “reward” video with more prominent placement.

Video also engages your viewer/reader at an interactive level that helps them see and feel your brand. Photographs can fill in the pieces, but video will tell you the whole story.

We understand the importance of video, and high quality video at that. Our resources allow us to consult on videography, write video scripts, create drone footage for that top of the line aerial imagery and also incorporate your video into emails and your website. We know what tells the right story and we can handle that for you with ease.

Learn more: Drone Video/Videography

Virtual Tours

Nothing drives home the production capabilities of our print division like taking customers on a tour of our press rooms. There they can see digital and offset presses run, booklets being bound, envelopes being produced and so much more. Adding this type of tour of your business to your digital channels can let you give anyone a tour, any time of day. We understand how important it is to show all the moving parts so it’s clearly conveyed what your abilities are and what services you provide to them. Utilizing our aforementioned videography resources, we can get you an ideal virtual tour from concept to the final video and help you utilize it as many places as possible.

Copy-Writing

Words are an art. Conveying your message properly in email, site content, social posts, letters, blogs and so much more can be tricky and daunting.

Luckily our staff has word artists who can craft any type of copy you need, whether technical and straightforward or quippy and fun.

We research your existing or intended demographic and create written pieces that speak exactly the way you’d like them to.

Learn more: Copy-writing

Press Release Creation

Press releases require correct formatting, the right amount of detail and a specifically formulaic structure.

When the intention is to get the right exposure, the correct message and concise understanding by all readers, it’s important to have the right expertise handling those projects.

Our knowledgeable staff has the right background and understanding to help you plan, write and distribute press releases and follow through to ensure you get the right exposure and visibility. Whether we simply help you plan them, train your staff in the right skills or handle all press release projects for you; we make it easy for you.

Learn more: Press release creation

Web Content Production

Web content creation is a key piece to UI, UX, web development and content creation.

What’s a site without words! Web content has to be written for the purpose of SEO, ease of reading and the ability to tell your story quickly and richly. Since we know websites like the back of our hand, we know the right content you need.

We utilize keywords without compromising the message and we listen to what you want to say. Our ability to adjust tone, compose eloquent statements and craft professional, understandable content is how we make your content perfect. We can write all of your content on an ongoing basis, we can consult with you to train you and your staff to draft the right wording or we can give you a foundation to start from and let you run free with words!

Learn more: Web Content Production

Print Marketing Production

Let’s take a break from talking about digital. Because print still matters! The great thing about CMG is that we have a full service print production facility, plus the capability to plan out each and every piece. Quite literally a one stop shop for you. If we design a logo for you, and you need business cards, not only can we put your logo on business cards we design, but we can produce them as well! Our marketing pieces are polished, cohesive and our designers can work directly with our press department to ensure every single piece is produced with quality and the high impact. In house production not only means quick turnaround, but even better is that it keeps costs down for you. This gives you high quality print pieces at a competitive price allowing your budget to stretch farther.

Logo Design

Every brand has an anchor. The piece that says what your brand is and what it stands for.

Logos are what stay with your customers at the end of the day. You either grab them or lose them with your visual identity. A logo should speak volumes, but exist quietly. This is how we treat our branding and logo identities for our clients. We understand color theory, font usage, where and when logos will be used (including factoring in smaller placements like embroidery or promotional items such as pens with small spaces.)

We want your logos to proclaim your place in your industry and be memorable and unique. Our staff will work with you to understand your voice and what you want to project and use in all future collateral. We’re consultative in our approach and we present you with a professional, eye-catching representative of who you are.

Learn more: Logo Design

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS

Data Analysis

Data is great, but sometimes it can be particularly overwhelming. Understanding the meaning and implications as well as applying to future efforts can be like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube while you’re blindfolded. At CMG, we not only love data, but we love to paint a picture with it that’s easy to understand and exciting to review. We can take numbers and turn them into ideas and formulate plans from in-depth deductions of our analysis. We’ll happily review all of your data sources and reports, as well as create dashboards for ease of use and set you up on a monthly, quarterly or yearly review and synopsis of what your data is trying to tell you. Let us help you turn your data into results!

Business Review

Business reviews are ideally done on a quarterly basis. Typically referred to as QBRs; these ideally work with your financial structure and fiscal year quarters. This allows a business to not only look back, but look ahead to optimize return on initiatives as well as identify what’s not working. When done right, there is a significant amount of work, data analysis and projections that go into a successful business review as typically these are the foundations upon which you determine your company’s short-term and long-term goals. Our staff has extensive background in not only creating quarterly business reviews for Fortune 500 companies and well-known non-profits, but small businesses as well. We understand the components that go into them and what is intended to result from their compilation. We can consult on best practices, help you compile them on a quarterly basis or meet with you to discuss ideal ways to review with staff.

Content Strategy

We’ve talked about a variety of content types; but the core to content is the strategy behind it. Identifying your demographic, setting an ideal tone and keeping it consistent across your channels. It takes thorough planning to establish your content strategy and ensure your staff understands it’s intentions and uses. CMG can help you review all of your content needs and the requirements driving it. We understand speaking to one demographic isn’t always the same as speaking to another and we can help to decide if your content needs a plan for accommodating accordingly. Your content plan may even determine that writing styles and tones are varied depending on use and channel. We’ll help you decide all of these details and can continually consult on implementation but also any tweaks that need to be made along the way.

Analytics Consultation and Training

As we discussed in our Data Analysis section, data is daunting. Our Analytics consultation and training focuses primarily on Google Analytics. Google is quite the wonderland of numbers and information, but it can definitely be a lot to take on. We have extensive expertise in creating dashboards, custom reports and just simply deciding what aspects the best to focus on during analysis. We can train you to review and analyze your data (which will often be used in quarterly business reviews) or we can monitor it for you and provide you with easy to understand reports on a regular basis. Either way, we’ll help you learn much more about your website and your business with the plethora of information that can be gleaned from Google Analytics.

UX/UI Analysis

Given what goes into proper UX and UI, analyzing your efforts is integral to ensuring you’ve made the right choices as well as what you may want to evaluate changing. Letting poor user experience go on too long can create a steady decline in site traffic as well as increasing bounce rates, which ultimately will lead to fewer leads and inquiries from potential customers. Your website is often the first place people will go and if they’re deterred this can reflect on your company. We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen. We will review your data, and the behind the scenes of your site to create reporting that helps to understand user flow and where drop off is coming from. This will allow us to work together towards continuous improvement and keep your customers coming back!

Prospect Analysis

A lot of our services focus on acquiring new customers and retaining them. However, for true engagement, you should identify who you’re reaching out to before crafting your communications and outreach initiatives. Some demographics, and customer types may not be what your business is seeking so a blanket approach will only dry up your budget and lead to high bounce rates, which can then impact your SEO ratings. We’ll help you identify your target market, explain the best ways to reach them and work with you to craft the right pieces and digital communications to really focus on these key prospects. Whether we create customer profiles for you, or execute all of your prospect analysis we can get your message to the right people in the right way.

Training/Consulting

The key to Creative Marketing Group’s client interaction is our responsiveness and our preference to educate collaboratively. No matter the service or services you’ve chosen with us, you can be sure that you’ll receive education and training at levels beyond what you may be expecting. We make sure to explain and train you to a point where even if we’re managing all of your initiatives, you know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. And if you’ve chosen to manage all of your campaigns and services, we’re always available to keep it running smoothly and optimally, getting the most satisfaction for your money.

A/B Testing

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