A culture of accountability and a unique compelling brand are what drive change today

Marketing

Mark Deo is a partner with DOD Marketing (Dogs of Design) and over the last 20 years they and the SBA Network team have together led branding and marketing campaigns for clients ranging from automotive, aerospace, biotechnology, commercial, health services, industrial, professional practices, service and retail outlets.

With his team of specialists Mark assists organizations in creating distinctive branding, record response and unquestionable market leadership. Branding and response occurs when marketing initiatives are integrated, targeted and flawlessly executed:

Overview
Planning and Testing
Authentic Branding
Internet Marketing, SEO, Pay-per-click
Web Presence and Re-development
Social Media and Word-of-mouth
Beyond Designers and Geeks
Sales and Marketing Integration

Overview

Creating an on-line marketing initiative requires a focus on a variety of skill-sets: branding, marketing, web design, social media, search engine optimization, copy writing, art direction and html technical abilities. Finding a resource with all these skills is a difficult challenge for marketers. Often compromises are made which impact the success of the on-line campaign. It is for this reason that the SBA Network has established a new paradigms for web development and online-marketing.

Planning and Testing

The first step in creating an on-line strategy is to fully analyze the current brand and customer perceptions: defining the customer's decision drivers, core values and consideration set in making a brand selection. We plan every element of the on-line strategy from first visit to loyalist engagement. We test the market solution and build-in metrics to ensure our on-line strategies are relevant, effective and dovetail with all off-line initiatives.

Offer on-demand reporting and metrics for every initiative
Use content management systems for easy edits and updates
Highly experienced in securing sensitive or confidential data
Every element of the site is tested to ensure optimum functionality

Authentic Branding

Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers. It is a reflection of your reputation. Communicating your brand so it inspires response is the challenge of every marketer. Yet when planning an on-line strategy many retain designers and Internet gurus who just copy the leading competitors. Successful branding must differentiate your solution and clearly identify the "market gap" which you satisfy. It demands marketing expertise. We offer end-to-end capabilities including market analysis, planning, touchpoint strategies and a bevy of interactive on-line branding tools.

Internet Marketing, SEO, Pay-per-click

When most people think of Internet marketing they think of search engine optimization or pay-per-click advertising. While these are important tools in creating response, they are by no means the only tools. In addition to SEO and PPC, our Internet marketing team is well-versed in establishing some of the Internet platforms necessary to leverage the existing search dominance. Often vertically oriented portals, aggregators and content-rich sites can be utilized. The following is our focus for most campaigns:

Integration of Blogs, Vlogs, and RSS feeds into organic indexing
Interactive, multi-stage, segmented email marketing campaigns
The latest tools for gathering inbound links and index relevancy
Highly experienced in using multi-variant testing for Adwords

Web Presence and Re-development

This contractor had to find a niche fast. Our research revealed that seismic retrofitting was a gap in the market. We created the first on-line seismic institute and they became the market leader in just months. Having a pretty website is not enough. How will you build presence and create attraction in a unique and compelling way. Our web development programs include:

Sites created by marketing experts not just geeks and designers
Optimized for SEO, Web 2.0, Wireless and all new protocols
Development focused on a branding and response outcome
Relevant content, visitor interactivity and service efficiency
Configuration of databases, on-line stores and payment processing

Social Media and Word-of-mouth

At the height of the real estate crash, Sante Village, a series of highrise lofts in downtown LA was spending over $20,000/week advertising in the newspapers and on TV. We were retained to implement a social media and Internet advertising campaign which resulted in selling-out all their units in less than 9 months. We create relevant campaigns by:

Systems to update Twitter, Linked-in, Facebook Fan pages from one source
Establishing valuable content aggregation and implementing drip campaigns
Engaging and interacting with the population to change long-held perceptions
Training and coaching clients to be self-reliant and integrate all activities

Beyond Designers and Geeks

Most web sites today are developed by either graphic designers or web language programmers. This is why many sites fail to generate the kind of response or branding results needed to impact the client's business. While design and technical capabilities are necessary for web initiatives, they should not be driven by these disciplines. The SBA Network is a marketing firm, first and foremost! The illustration at the right and bullet points below demonstrate the steps we take in a typical web development or marketing project:

Purpose and Outcomes
Competitive Analysis
Client Interviews
Mission/Vision of Site
Site Map Creation
Development Criteria
Thematic Design
Content Creation
Perform Aggregation
Copy writing, Editing
Design Visual Elements
Create Templates
SEO and Indexing Elements
Programming and Coding
Create Multimedia Elements
E-commerce, database, shopping cart
Testing, Hosting and Diagnostics
Evaluation and Refinement
Deployment and Proliferation

Sales and Marketing Integration

Even the most well-planned website or carefully orchestrated marketing campaign will fail if not integrated into the current selling culture. It is a proven fact that when a company places high priority on creating synergies between departments these initiatives create the greatest impact to the bottom-line. The entire staff at the SBA Network is extremely sensitive to this because as a marketing-management consulting firm we work with senior leaders to bring about holistic change. Web development and Internet marketing is only one component of the company's objectives. When sales and marketing cooperate and collaborate the result is that more viable, expedient change can be accomplished thereby maximizing profitability, client service and a positive workflow for all departments.