CGR Creative Offering Innovative Marketing Solutions As A Leading Charlotte Marketing Company

Nestled in the historic South End, CGR Creative is quickly becoming the preferred Charlotte marketing company for SEO, graphic design, and web development.  Led by President and COO, Julio Colemenares, and CCO, Jason Ramsey, CGR Creative has been in business for over a decade, bringing lasting marketing concepts to the city’s most elite organizations.  The company consists of a core team of marketing professionals with a variety of specialties, which allows their strategies to cross all visibility spectrums, from Branding to PR.

The Charlotte marketing company takes great pride in not only their concepts, but also their culture.  The diverse group of individuals, handpicked from a variety of industries, provides a dynamic powerhouse of innovative, and above all, applicable ideas.  Sure, many companies can come up with off-the-wall marketing techniques, applying the spaghetti technique for implementation (throw it to the wall and pray that it sticks), but CGR believes that the true value of an idea lies in the creative implementation.  

Utilizing both “old-school” and “new-school” techniques, CGR Creative has formed the perfect mix of innovation, and implementation the grasp any modern audience.  Accepting any challenge, and rejecting all impossibility, the Charlotte marketing company has tackled an array of extraordinary concepts, bringing their clients to the forefront of the consumer mindset.  From successful rebranding, to strategic media buys and online optimization techniques, CGR Creative has been a valuable partner for all of the organizations it represents.

For more information regarding CGR Creative, contact the Charlotte marketing company today, by visiting their website, or calling one of their business development representatives today at (704) 334-3322. 

Review Sites Creating A Problem

The good news is that review websites have provided a forum for customers and businesses to exchange and discuss their sales history working together. The bad news is that the intended use for review websites has completely failed. Review websites, like Google reviews, Yahoo, Yelp, YP, Mechantcircle, Superpages, YP, and others, may have had good intentions but have created a mess for small business.

I am certain the true intention of these review pages was the bottom lines of the sites that host them. If you can create an excuse to have a separate page for every single business on earth, you have just justified 1 billion new ads displaying revenue-generating pages for the review sites.

It may be argued that this is a win-win situation, since the reviews sites, like Yelp.com and YP, get to make huge gains in pages to display ads while businesses get free publicity. This would be nice if it was true.

The review sites have turned into a free for all of fake positive reviews and malicious competition targeting bad reviews. Here in Charlotte, we can easily point out examples of local businesses and services that spend hours every week attacking their competition with negative reviews. These review sites require nothing other than an email account to allow you to post high-ranking, anonymous attacks on your competition. The review sites themselves have no vested interest or financial connection to the validity of the reviews. Ad-displaying pages make the same revenue for these sites with accurate or fake reviews; there is no motivation for these sites to try and insure integrity.

The down side is that the only way this sort of phenomenon resolves itself is through becoming obsolete. Until these sites see less users counting on them and the revenue impacted, they will not change policies to protect businesses. Until that time comes, many of these have become an easily accessible medium for slandering competition and misleading customers. ME

Types of SEO Agencies and Approaches

Had an interesting discussion today with Jason Ramsey of CGR over lunch. We were discussing a long list of experienced Charlotte SEO ’s we have come into contact, with a few varying philosophies of how SEO for your website gets done. I am the Online Marketing Director for CGR Creative in Charlotte with a decade of experience in SEO, affiliate marketing, and Adwords PPC management and have met many SEO's and their company's models as well.

We were not coming to any conclusion about what is right or wrong for everyone. Clearly every project has different demands and ratios of on-page and off-page needs, depending on where it is in the SEO life-cycle, so no right or wrong fits all. We did agree the situation of being a complete marketing firm and design agency with it's own SEO and PR team provides unmatched flexibility to the clients of CGR.

For those starting at square one on this article, SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the art or skill of designing, structuring, and interlinking a website on the web so that it best represents the keywords you covet in the eyes of search engines. An easier way to say this same thing is that SEO is everything that goes behind making your company show up first in Google searches (no offense Y and B).

Basically, Google has about 200 factors they observe when judging which sites to rank first and establishing the order of results. This is beyond important to businesses that exist from web traffic because it decides who grows and excels and who goes out of business.

So, with the 101 stuff out of the way, the discussion was about the best way for a company to approach this need in business. If you are at the point of knowing what it is, why it is important, and choosing how to go forward, here are a few observations from two experienced experts in Search Marketing and Web design respectively.

An In-House SEO Position refers to a company hiring a skilled internet marketer to work from their office with the single goal of working on their behalf. This type of SEO position is considered by many to be the “holy grail” of SEO jobs from the search marketer’s position. This type is very appealing to experienced, independent SEOs like me. My experience being from many affiliate programs and generating traffic for income or referral income means a lot of changing markets. This is a great way to learn every niche and all things that work but the comfort of a single focus and single project is appealing to many SEO’s. The in-house jobs are often the best pay and benefits as well since the company covets your skills as the only person tasked with a lot of jobs related to the website.

When I say Agency SEO, I mean an SEO who is also you web designer. This sounds like a bad idea to those who know SEO, but there are more coming. 

Any SEO’s worth their weight know that a person who does web design then sells you SEO as a way to get residual income and an afterthought may not be the best choice, but that’s not the person I refer to here. In agency, I mean the design agency that has an in-house SEO staff. This is what I would see as an ideal situation for both the SEO who is job-seeking and ideal for the clients and web designers as well. Here you get the smaller number of clients, which the SEO likes; you also get the chance for more complete SEO.

An in-house SEO has the advantage of working directly with designers which makes it possible to be part of the site, structure, and construction process. A large part of the battle later on will be the way you decide to map out a site, the folder structure, and the URL structure. An in-house with the agency SEO works alongside the designers. This situation makes on-site changes, pre-design brainstorming, and creative updates or changes much easier to implement.

The last type of SEO is what I have heard referred to as “the grinder”. The pure SEO agency is often the lowest paying and highest volume workplace for the SEO looking for work. This situation generally has about 6-8 project managers perhaps, based off the Charlotte SEO grinder agency I am thinking of. Each of these account managers may have 8-10 accounts they are responsible for and doing SEO is all they do. This will encompass PPC, social, and both on and off page work. Now, let’s look at the problems with working with a pure SEO agency as opposed to a design firm that has its own SEO department, like CGR Creative. 

#1 problem with SEO only companies : Competing clients

Bet you didn’t know there are SEO agencies that only do a single field of SEO? Check out Surgeons Adviser. This is a Miami area SEO firm that does SEO only for surgeons and plastic surgeons. Now if you read through their client list, you will see overlapping areas of coverage. Also, a Charlotte Plastic surgeon of worth, like Dr. Hunsted, draws in clients from 2000 miles around. If your SEO agency has clients in the same field as you (which they do), then how can they be doing the absolute best on both of your behalf? This also happens a lot with Real Estate specialists in SEO. Real estate does require a skilled SEO with real estate experience, as it means a lot of smart IDX Integration. Perhaps David Kyle in Charlotte for that kind of specific background. But if you choose an industry specific SEO agency, ask to see their client list and decide for yourself if you are comfortable with the amount or lack of overlapping markets.

#2 problem with SEO only companies : No access to the original design of the site

I covered this above when pointing out the strengths of choosing a firm like CGR Creative that has a department for SEO and is a web design agency first. If you bring a site that is complete to a SEO only agency there will be limitations to what on page SEO they can perform.

Now there are people who will deny this and say they have plenty of design experience to implement any changes they may need. This assertion is generally true, but they also work on hours per month schedules and the changes they make will come out of your time. Also, no matter what kind of remodeling you do there are always limitations to what can be change after the fact.

#3 problem with SEO only companies: Lack of desire to build more

Now here is another up for opinion. An SEO only may also be thinking SEO only. Part of SEO is growing the presence and not just streamlining the presence you already have. A firm that has a design relationship with you has the ability to pitch new site ideas and new websites you may want to build to compliment what you have.

If you have an informative website that isn’t designed with clear call to actions or to convert leads well, you may need a separate one with that separate goal in mind.

A design agency that has daily conferences with the SEO department like we do at CGR has a place where one person can dream up what is best in theory and one department that can put that plan in action from scratch.

All your eggs in one basket is finally good advice when you need to make sure the eggs are done correctly from start to finish. Changing who is handling the development of your online strategy midstream is not worth the risk. CGR has attacked this problem by offering a full service web design and marketing agency with it’s own in house department dedicated solely to SEO and internet marketing like social media management and PPC.

Todd Kron

Online Marketing Director

CGR Creative, LLC

Spring Cleaning

In case you didn't realize, Mother Nature has decided to skip winter this year and jump right into spring. While I begin to put my sweaters up and take out my shorts from where I buried them months ago, it is time to start thinking about some spring-cleaning. Sure you can clean out the house, garage, or your closet, but it might also be time for your website to have a good cleaning as well.  Out with the old, in with the new, and all that jazz. Below is a quick list of some things you can do this spring to give your website a boost. 

Simple is Usually Better

The days of slamming as much content, images, and gifs onto one page as possible are dead (and should never have occurred). When a webpage is too cluttered with small text and moving images you burden your viewers with an information overload. This won’t lead to a better spread of information but will increase the likelihood that viewers of your site will miss what it is you are actually trying to get across. So go check out your website. If you are still using gifs, huge blocks of small text, or if you are still using a black background and white text, it might be time to give your website a good cleaning.

Embrace Social Media

The best way to reach potential clients or customers now lies in the ability to spread your message via social media outlets. Yes, your site might currently take advantage of Facebook and Twitter (and if not I highly recommend you change this), but there are now so many more options that you can use to draw people to your website.  Flikr, Tumblr, Google+, Pinterest, Yelp, Foursquare, and LinkedIn all have advantages in drawing attention to both your website and product you are offering. If you do not take advantage of social media, you are going to be left behind, if you haven’t been already.

Content is Important

No matter how pretty your site is, or how important the information is that you are offering, if no one can find your site, all of that information is just sitting there, collecting theoretical internet dust.  Making sure your copy is Search Engine Optimized is a must if you want people to be able to find you on Google. The trick is to start local. You are not going to be able to capture the Google search “Pizza”, not after a couple months, not after a couple years. It is better to first try to capture searches such as “Denver Pizza” or “Asian Style Deep Dish Pizza”. Once you start to build up rank on more specific key words, then you can start to go bold and go for more targeted keywords.

So it is time to freshen up your website for the long spring ahead of us, and if you need help, give us a call, we would love to help. (Sorry, CGR Creative only does website and advertising work; we won't come clean up your garage).  

Charlotte Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Meeting

Julio Colmenares will be attending the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Meeting today at 3:45 at the CPCC Central Campus. He will be a part of a panel discussing business in these tough economic times. We are proud of the role we play with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and with the Community Building Initiative. With the strength we give to these organizations, we help to improve the quality of life in Charlotte and the surrounding area. 


By Embra King

THE (yes "THE") CGR Creative Web Marketing Checklist: Introduction

Did you get an A in Web Marketing?

We are going to drop the knowledge on you beginning today in our new online series (no charge for awesomeness).

THE ( yes, "THE") CGR Creative Web Marketing Checklist.

This is the last check list you will need.  Why?  Because it is the most awesome checklist in the world.  We're talking about 20 pages long and two columns wide of little golden checkboxes to help you become the shining star of your little internet slice of heaven.

What about Cross browser functionality?  Navigation? Buttons? Privacy Policy?

Man.  We're with you!

And when we say, "We're with you" we don't mean, "We're with you."   We mean, "Put us on your payroll after you knock it out of the park!"   

You may want to get a biscuit to sop this up.  Definitely a napkin because this is going to be GOOD.

Don't worry, as long as you pay your electric bill, we'll wait...  Got it?  OK.

Part 1.   -  How to Pick a Kick-A...Awesome Domain Name and URL

What do you call yourself.  What do you do?  This is all huge.  Like, invent-a-time-machine huge.  Google "Credit Cards" and see what the first natural #1 result is after the paid and news items.  #2 is Visa and  #1 is not Mastercard.   That ranking is natural and the traffic is free.  You can see, even at $12 per click, there are more ads on this page than stormtroopers at the original Death Star opening (before the remix).   

Step 1

Figure out your #1 keyword.  What would you type into Google to find that so sweet special thing you have to offer.  Youtube and Facebook are one in a million.  Domains that exactly match (exact match) your keyword or have the keyword in them (phrase match) is the fastest way possible (period!) to get to the top of Google.  www.creditcards.com is not as powerful of a website as Visa.com nor do they have the same budget I can assure you.  This is so powerful that if ninjas would have known this fact they probably would have gone into web marketing instead of becoming ninjas. 

Check us out at The Hottest Advertising Agency in Charlotte NC for more information about web marketing!

Hit the Digg button (bottom right)!!  Fun things will happen.

Pictures From Julio's Presentation

Pictures From Julio's Presentation

CGR Creative of Charlotte Takes you on a Tour of their new TrackIt Advertising Software

CGR Creative of Charlotte Takes you on a Tour of their new TrackIt Advertising Software

CGR's new TrackIt software allows advertisers like you to track every aspect of marketing efforts. Now you can measure and optimize the performance of your marketing and advertising efforts.  By placing unique call measurement numbers on each of your marketing mediums, (i.e. website, print, direct-mail, radio) you can discover which ads deliver the most, and best, leads.

You know marketing goes beyond placing a few ads and hoping for the best. Our platform makes your company smarter and more efficient.

TrackIt Targeting

• Ensure callers and web visitors reach the right agent at the right time.  Our communication software uses intelligent routing rules, ensuring you will no longer miss important leads or communication.

TrackIt Analytics

• Take the guesswork out of advertising Track phone calls, chats, and clicks that result from print and web campaigns
• Show which ads are working and give you the most bang for your buck

TrackIt Awareness

• Deliver the right message everytime Incoming conversations are preceded by a quick audible announcement about the referring source that generated the lead
• Calls and chats from your website will be associated with the  exact keywords that led the visitor to the website and then every page that was viewed prior to the conversation

TrackIt Knowledge

• Gain insight into how well you communicate with your customers and salespeople

TrackIt Website Tracking

• Fast implementation - simply load our script on all of your web pages 
• Track referring websites and keywords that lead to a website visit 
• Add value by assigning specific conversion goal pages 
• A retailer’s directions page 
• Service appointment form confirmation at a car dealership
• Listen to actual phone calls and see the visitor’s click path that led him/her to pick up the phone
• Email reports - schedule or send personalized e-mails containing the exact information you want to share

   

TrackIt Live Website Chat

• The online chat tool offers immediate online assistance to your website’s users. Chat provides great scalability for your staff, as a single agent can handle numerous simultaneous conversations
• Provide quick responses to visitors on your website 
• Convert “just looking” visitors into viable leads 
• Chat icon only appears when someone is present to field questions 
• Analyze referring sites and keywords that led to a chat  
• Reduce operating costs and increase productivity 
• Instantly engage website visitors 
• View a visitor’s click path leading to and after a chat
• Take web analytics to the next level by measuring the phone calls that your site produces.  Now you can relate phone calls to the specific referring sites and keywords that lead to an offline conversion

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

Hidden Marlboro Advertising in Formula 1?

 As with almost all other forms of racing, Formula 1 took a huge hit when cigarette companies were no longer allowed to advertise on the cars, tracks, broadcasts, etc. Well, recently it seems like Marlboro may be blurring the lines... LITERALLY.

These are images of the new Ferrari Formula 1 race car sponsored in part by Phillip Morris makers of Marlboro cigarettes. We'll let you be the judge.

Here is the top view of the 2010 Ferrari Scuderia (Marlboro) F1 car which does not seem to be controversial at all.

 The side view begins to illustrate our point. If you are familiar with the Marlboro brand the "bar code" looking section should at least remind you of the cigarette brand's logo.

This angled view was the clincher for us. Look at it and imagine the car passing you at race speed. What impression will you be left with?

Here is the Marlboro sponsored Ferrari from 2005 before the tobacco companies were forced out. It illustrates both how much of a role tobacco played in the sport and it goes to show how closely the new graphics resemble the Marlboro logo.

The branding goes beyond just the car and can be found on everything associated with the team including uniforms, equipment, advertising, promotional items, etc.

At this point it should be pretty clear that Marlboro is back in Formula 1.



About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

CGR Creative goes to the Movies: Iron Man 2 Review

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film based on the legendary Marvel Super Hero “Iron Man,” reuniting director Jon Favreau and... CGR Creative goes to the Movies: Iron Man 2 Review

Iron Man 2 is Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment  highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film “Iron Man,” based on the successful Marvel comic franchise of the same name.

Iron Man 2 reunites director Jon Favreau and Oscar® nominee Robert Downey Jr. The basic plot rundown has the world aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored super hero Iron Man, and he is under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military. However, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor. The film also features Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) as Stark's #1 employee and best friend respectively.

The main plot follows Tony Stark's quest to keep the Iron Man armor a corporate secret, while a competing weapons firm, with pentagon contracts, tries to undermine Stark's credibility and to gain access to the Iron Man technology. Mickey Rourke plays the son of a former Russian Stark Industries Associate, who was disgruntled, to say the least, at the way Howard Stark, Tony's father, handled the termination of that relationship.
  
Iron Man 2 is not a groundbreaking original look at the super hero film, the first film filled that role, the sequel is an extension of the first movie and a very successful one. It is funnier, more relevant, and if possible visually more impressive than the first film. In fact, the only possible drawback is that the first film was so good at getting audiences to suspend their disbelief that no sequel can ratchet that up more than just a few notches. Iron Man 2 is a blast, and we give it four thumbs up! 

To add your feedback visit us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CGRCreative and click on Discussions.

Charlotte Ad Agency CGR Creative Launches New ROI Tracking System

Charlotte Ad Agency CGR Creative Launches New ROI Tracking System

April 30, 2010 - Charlotte, NC Charlotte Ad Agency CGR Creative has developed a new method of tracking the performance of your advertising dollars. Now, advertising clients can track exactly how effective all of their advertising elements are. CGR's new TrackIt System can measure online and offline advertising components. From business cards and billboards to email blasts and web promotions, CGR can now pin down exactly how many clicks, calls, and orders are being generated and by which particular advertising element. For example, if a company advertised the same product on three different websites, five billboards, a postcard, two flyers, and four magazine ads, CGR Creative can now track how many website visits, telephone calls, and orders were generated by each of those fifteen different campaign components. Then the customer can make an educated decision regarding which efforts to maintain and which to discontinue. If one of the magazine ads isn't generating results, the client can put those funds toward an area of the campaign that is working.

This level of detailed information used to exist only for online advertising elements, but CGR's TrackIt System provides return on investment information for every type of marketing or advertising effort. The applications are limitless. If a company wants to compare three similar advertising ideas, they can simply measure which of the three provides the best results. In the past, many companies have relied on their staff to ask clients, "Where did you hear about us?", or, worse, they asked their clients to fill out annoying little comment cards. Neither of those methods have ever provided accurate information; the forgetful employee or the less than enthused client are hard challenges to overcome. CGR's TrackIt System is totally seamless so the user never sees a survey, interacts with a username, or enters a password. The system is invisible to your clients and to your staff.

For more information on CGR's TrackIt System visit: http://www.cgrcreative.com

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

Julio Colmenares of CGR Creative to Speak About New Media in Charlotte

Julio Colmenares of CGR Creative to Speak About New Media in Charlotte

Thursday, May 20, 2010 Julio Colmenares, Chief Creative Officer of CGR Creative, will be speaking at Working Charlotte Magazine's Lunch and Learn Series. Join us on May 20, 2010 and learn how to leverage technology to build awareness of your company.

What 'new media' means changes rapidly so the question becomes, "how can I keep current without going crazy or bankrupt?" The answer is simple, "Jump In!" Learning to swim requires that you get in the pool. You can research, compare, look to your competitor, etc. but eventually you must get wet. Julio Colmenares teaches you how to take control of new media and promote your business! Join us for a Business-to-Business Lunch & Learn designed specifically with you in mind, Charlotte's small and medium sized business owners. Let's grow your business! Attending this event only costs $19.50!

The event will be held from 11:30 to 1:00 at Vivace Italian Restaurant in Charlotte. Vivace offers five star quality at 3 star prices with excellent presentation and service.

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

For more info on CGR Creative visit http://www.cgrcreative.com

Vervé Beauty, Charlotte Spa and Salon announces CGR Creative as 'Advertising Agency of Record'

Charlotte, NC, April 22, 2010 - Vervé Beauty, Charlotte's most luxurious Spa and Salon, formally announces the renewal of CGR Creative as their 'Advertising Agency of Record' to manage the Vervé brand image. CGR Creative has worked with Vervé in the past, developing their brand, collateral, and web presence.

Vervé Beauty offers the highest level of spa services, from massages and facials to their signature Therapeutic Manicures and Pedicures. Verbena Wilson owns and operates Vervé Beauty, with an eye toward merging the relaxation of hair care and spa services under one roof. Verbena has been a Licensed Cosmetologist for over 20 years and she and her team of highly qualified stylists and technicians truly offer a complete experience of beauty and therapy.

"We are proud to have been named 'Advertising Agency of Record' for Vervé Beauty," affirms CGR Creative's, Jason Ramsey. "We look forward to further developments including a possible product launch in 2010." CGR Creative has already partnered with Vervé on several magazine advertisements and email campaigns, so this is just the next logical step for a great business relationship to take.

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

For more info on CGR Creative visit http://www.cgrcreative.com