WDB Cares and Girls Like Me - 1st Annual Golf Outing was a success!

WDB Marketing Hosts 6th Annual L.E.G.A.C.Y. Awards Weekend honoring leaders in business and invests $30K+ in emerging Young Entrepreneurs

WDB was excited to be the marketing partner for the CUL Job Fair at UIC.

WDB MARKETING, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN OWNED FULL SERVICE PRINTING MANUFACTURER, CELEBRATES ITS 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLACK Hosts fifth annual WDB L.E.G.A.C.Y. Awards Gala, honoring leaders in business, community, and civic service; invests $10K+ in emerging Young Entrepreneurs ECONOMIC IMPACT

In today’s digital age, marketing on social media gives us a plethora of opportunities to showcase and highlight our brands in a way that was not available to our parents. Staying on top of digital marketing trends and resources is critical to your success. Hubspot recently reported that memes are one of the most effective and convenient forms of posting. Using memes is a quick way for your consumers to respond to company news and announcements in a creatively engaging way that tightens the community your brand has and is building. This is a great benefit for your brand because it allows you to quickly take the temperature of your brand’s latest releases and news, by simply reviewing the meme responses from your followers. Engaging in the meme community and connecting your content to trending or popular memes can help engage a much larger portion of this particular community, resulting in encouraged engagement and a more robust digital brand presence. If you are still new to creating memes, start off by sharing user-generated memes on the channels they are most effective on. Forums like Reddit and Twitter, for example, are ideal for this type of content. When posting, be sure to credit the original meme creator. This will help you build a stronger brand connection, while also encouraging others to create their version of the branded content as well. This is the key ingredient to foraging digital relationships with audiences you want to market to. When resharing content, please know that memes are subject to copyright laws. Careful use is essential when using memes for marketing purposes, so be cautious to avoid any legal repercussions.  If you need a little more info on creating memes or other digital media content, reach out to #TeamWDB today at www.wdbmarketing.com or email us at: brands@wdbmarketing.com

Overcoming and recovering from a Global Pandemic has caused a shift in 2021’s Marketing Trends. During times of uncertainty and unrest, consumers more frequently search for ways to connect to happier times when things were simpler. The newer trend of marketing, known as Nostalgic Marketing, is on the rise, acting as an emotional catalyst to raising even the heaviest of hearts. Nostalgic Marketing is an effective strategy marketers use to assist consumers in distracting themselves from negative emotions caused by current circumstances. Historical Analysis First surfacing to the market in the 1920s during the Great Depression, marketers and brands turned to Nostalgic Marketing to connect consumers with positive memories from their past. Linking those positive emotions through your brand will build an emotional relationship between your brand and your consumer. You made them feel good, therefore they associate your brand as a good brand. Know your audience For this marketing method to be successful, you must first identify your audience. Be sure to consider the kind of audience you want to hit when creating nostalgic-centered content. You will most likely be working within a 10 year bracket, so be sure to include content that will capture as many people in your targeted pool as possible. Dig in those Digital Crates Think about what was popular 10 years ago. How about 20 years ago? 30? Even if you were not around 30 + years ago, it shouldn’t hinder your ability to go digging in the digital crates to find that throwback feeling. Be sure to look beyond your brand’s industry and culture.  Your Old is the new new Dig into some crates of your own and look for products/services that you can re-introduce with Nostalgic Marketing techniques. This will also help younger generations familiarize themselves with your brand’s unique offerings. Need a plan to get started in Nostalgic Marketing? We got you covered! Shoot us an email to: brands@wdbmarketing.com to schedule your consultation today.

Last year has clearly shown us how much a socially conscious generation has impacted brands, politics, and society overall. To stay relevant to and conscious of these sensitive topics, brands will need to engage more with topics of mental health, diversity & inclusion, and social justice. Because younger generations like Gen Z and Alpha arising to the occasion of social impact consciousness, brands abroad have been impacted by their heightened awareness of these social issues. To avoid becoming digitally obsolete, brands must respect the great influence harnessed by these younger generations and find ways to effectively engage with them. As we examine the most recently published Conversion Clusters relating to these generations, results show they are very socially aware and freely voice their concerns by driving conversations surrounding: politics, equality, mental health, finance, and changing food trends. Research shows these topics are closest to their hearts and social media is their methodology of bringing awareness to these important issues. Digital Engagement with Gen Z & Alpha Generations Establishing your brand’s position on these critical topics will determine your success in engagement. Before taking your position on the topic, do some internal work of your own and be sure to be thorough in your research prior to posting on these topics. If you talk the talk but don’t actually walk the walk as a company, you will face serious repercussions from them. They are highly skilled in doing their own research and have been known to hold brands accountable on their position. Your Market. Your Mission. Only 1% of Millennials report a compelling ad will build their trust in a brand. However, the majority of Millennials and younger generations prefer less hard-sells and more mission-led marketing efforts, creating an emotive-level approach to engagement. Focus on your mission, not just sales. I Said What I Said When appealing to Generation Z and the Alpha Generation, it’s important to pick a position on topics that are important to them and STAND ON IT. Not only do they expect this, they will do research to see if you are practicing what you preach. To do this requires intensive research and commitment to your brand’s position, tone, and timing of your messaging. Although you can’t please everyone, monitor the response from your followers to keep a tight grip on the trajectory of your marketing campaign efforts.  No Brand is Exempt Just because you haven’t marketed your brand around social issues in the past doesn’t mean your brand is exempt from social impact inclusion. Because younger generations are more savvy than their predecessors, they are most likely to research your brand to learn your position on global issues. If they find something out of line, they are most likely to overlook your brand and find an alternative brand that satisfies their need for social responsibility to grow with and support. Not sure how to get started? Email us at: brands@wdbmarketing.com to connect with a skilled marketing specialist today!

With any real relationship, communication should be a two-way street. The same is true in business. Without communication, there are no connections. If there is no connection, there are no conversations, let alone conversions. What’s important to customers now? Information, engagement and social issues. Connecting with customers through these avenues will be key to staying relevant all 2021. Believe it or not, most ideas, businesses and success started with just one conversation. Just one. That’s why we’re seeing a trend rise in the area of Conversational Marketing techniques. What is it you ask? Conversational Marketing, simply put, is the method of building customer relationships via personalized, one-to-one content and communication. Method Approach Although Conversational Marketing is a relatively new methodology, it may be older than you think. Technology is catching up to accommodate this method in various ways. AI-powered applications like chatbots, using highly-skilled emotional intelligence built into the programming, makes it much easier for businesses to connect with users. To integrate more human-like characteristics to your AI systems, we suggest it has the traits of empathy, is knowledgeable, and has personality that aligns with your brand’s overall tone of voice to create a more natural engagement style. AI systems to integrate this technique should include your company’s website chatbots, social media messaging, and texting (SMS) systems, providing you with more opportunities to speak with your audience. Bring the Convo Give customers a reason to start a conversation with your brand. Take into account the current position of your brand with consumers, and start strategizing on the best ways to converse with your customers. Examine your content and strategize on the best ways to lead your audience into direct connection to your brand and its mission. It’s Not What You Say, But How You Say It Nowadays, consumers are not looking for your company’s elevator pitch nor chatting with an artificial character. Change your chabot’s tone and approach. Don’t be afraid to personalize your approach to the conversation. The key is for the customer to feel like a real person is chatting back to them, even if they know it’s not. Show your brand’s personality and sense of humor. Be transparent and quirky. It’s all up to you. Be different and stand out here. Switch Up Your Customer Service Game Traditionally in business, conversations between us and our customers start in the customer service department. Find ways to incorporate personable AI methods into your customer service methods and journey. This will help to reveal new marketing opportunities that lie under your nose while creating workable solutions for your customers. This also helps you to take a more client-centered approach to customer service, helping to mitigate the complaints of disgruntled customers and diffusing a potentially damaging Google Review in the long run.  Streamline the Data If you have not already, find a system that can capture, house, and communicate your data in one place. From customer service data, to chats, emails, calls, and text messages, use a system that can plug the above mentioned data points into one system, making it easy to manage and monitor. This pathway can also provide you with additional new insights into various aspects of your customer’s journey, helping you understand which key messages engage customers the most, reveal barriers in the sales process, and help you manage your reputation by staying on top of post-sales customer complaints that could negatively impact your brand’s image. CRM’s are the most effective way to do this.

Nowadays, virtually no one can get by without having some kind of digital imprint. Between digital media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, and other video platforms like TikTok, it becomes virtually impossible to hide and still market your business. The visual facets you share, tell a definitive story about you and your brand, even if you didn’t mean to. Here is a quick guide on Visual Marketing, how it works and what you need to know to brand yourself and your business the right way the first time. Visual Marketing Defined The art of curating images, video and other multimedia content to tell your story online and offline. What do people SEE when they think about your brand? What is their perception? 3 Keys to Visual Marketing Assets Brand Identity Story & Content Development Digital Imagery Brand Identity Brand Identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its customer. These brand elements include your brand’s color, logo, font choice, language tone, and imagery to activate your brand’s overall image. Content Development Without actual content like videos, photos and digital collateral, your brand is a ​Digital Ghost. ​ The content you create for your brand tells the story of why your brand is the right solution for your target client. Digital Imagery If you hit the first 2 pain points and miss this step of executing proper digital images of you and/or your products, your visual marketing journey has been cut short of its success before ever beginning. Use your brand’s identity and content to express outward with your digital images. Hire a photographer with a proven track record of producing high quality images for your business. Plan for and stage your photos before the shoot to ensure you capture the true essence of your brand’s expression to the world. Full Service Visual Marketing Finding the right marketing professional can be tough. #TeamWDB has a team equipped to build your brand the right way and make your visions come to life! Contact us today at: brands@wdbmarketing.com to get started!