ndg companies » NDG Communications, Inc.

Quintin Parrish,
NDG Creative Director

Finally had enough of working too late, making too little, and going nowhere?

If you’ve worked in advertising before, you may have worked at one of those agencies—you know, the kind where everybody is miserable, overworked, underpaid, and nobody stays for very long.

Well, we don’t roll that way. NDG Communications is an advertising and digital marketing agency located just outside Washington, D.C. in La Plata, Maryland. NDG offers a work environment where creatives are truly respected and appreciated, where schedules are reasonable, where compensation is competitive, where the office is usually empty after 6pm, and where your career can grow as fast and far as you can.

COMPETITIVE COMPENSATION
GENEROUS BENEFITS PACKAGES
WORK WITH A TEAM YOU’LL LOVE
WORK WHERE YOU’LL TRULY BE APPRECIATED
FAMILY ATMOSPHERE & LIFE-WORK BALANCE
TAKE YOUR CAREER TO THE NEXT LEVEL

What’s it like to work at NDG? Click here for some insights.

NOW HIRING: Full-time position

ART DIRECTOR

We’re looking for someone with strong and tested skills who wants to take their career even further, learn more, achieve more, and create truly great work with a great team.

Lead designer for all assigned projects
Collaborate with creative director, art directors, copywriters, designers, and programmers
Mentor junior designers and help ensure quality and consistency
Strong Adobe Creative Suite skills / Mac OS platform
Portfolio of advertising agency or similar work
Minimum 5 years professional design work experience
Mastery of communication, conceptualization, and visualization skills
Focus on the details, efficient time management

TO APPLY PLEASE INCLUDE cover letter, resume, required salary range, and URL link to samples or include a brief PDF portfolio in order to be considered.

LEARN MORE and apply online at our website:

www.NDGCommunications.com

No calls or recruiters, thank you.

From all of us at NDG Communications, we wish you a happy and safe 4^th of July holiday. We hope you can spend it with friends and family celebrating this wonderful country we live in, and the freedom we all enjoy. Thank you to the brave patriots of our military who are standing watch in harm’s way across the world, so we can enjoy our freedom and celebrate with those we hold dear. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

Abby See,
NDG Senior Marketing Manager

Many of NDG’s marketing managers (often called “account executives” at other agencies) recently attended a seminar presented by BDX Internet Marketing entitled “BDX Roadshow: Internet Marketing Beyond the Basics” where the most frequent question asked by homebuilders was “Do I need a mobile website or a mobile application to reach homebuyers?”

The seminar leaders discussed many topics, but most impressive were the trends and statistics that demonstrate the growing value of mobile marketing to homebuilders:

83% of the U.S. population now connects to the web via a mobile device—a phone, tablet, or e-reader—so having a user-friendly mobile website is imperative in order to reach these shoppers.

30% of the U.S. population owns a smart phone and this number is expected to reach 50% by the end of 2011, which means mobile shopping will exponentially increase over the next year.

As for developing mobile applications, the branded standalone programs that run on mobile devices independent of a web browser, a homebuilder’s first question should be “What is the exact purpose of this application and exactly how will it help our customers?”

You must have a solid answer to this question based on facts or your application will be an expensive and ineffective endeavor, unlikely to be used by your customers and prospects. A mobile application must have a clear purpose and should be a useful tool for homebuyers in the home shopping process, not just advertising.

Homebuilders should be prepared to use this opportunity to capture mobile homebuyer traffic while their competition is still a few steps behind. Most builders will require a mobile-optimized website sooner than later, but your goals for a mobile application must be clearly defined from the beginning of the process before embarking on any development.

According to a recent article on Mashable, Facebook has reached the top volume ranking in the United States. Hitwise, the data analytics service from Experian, has found that social networks in general are more popular than search engines in some parts of the world, and that Facebook has now surpassed Google to become the most visited website:

“Facebook recently reached the #1 ranking on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day as well as the weekend of March 6th and 7th. The market share of visits to Facebook increased 185% last week as compared to the same week in 2009, while visits to Google increased 9% during the same time frame. Together Facebook and Google accounted for 14% of all US Internet visits last week [the week ending March 7th, 2010].”

In fact, according to Mashable, networks such as Facebook been pushing hard against the biggest names in web search including Google for several months: “Now, we’ve learned that in the UK, people are visiting social networks more than they’re visiting search engines. Facebook dominates the current crop of social networks, accounting for the majority (55%) of all social site visits. When compared to the wider web, Google gets around 9.3% of all web traffic, while Facebook now captures over 7%.”

And, global page view trends for Facebook and Google show that “while social networks such as Facebook don’t pose an immediate threat to search engines for their core functionality, they do pose a large threat to search engines’ largest revenue source, advertising.”

Click Here to read the entire article on Mashable.

Continuing our Step-By-Step Process to Staying Focused and On Track in Today’s Market, this week, we’ll discuss how Social Media can help you distribute your content online to help achieve your search engine marketing and optimization goals, as well as help you achieve real authentic customer engagement.

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter—there’s a growing number of social media channels and platforms out there. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and off course trying to be everywhere, so we’re going to set the record straight about what you should, and shouldn’t, expect from your social media marketing efforts.

Make sure to review NDG’s online integration map for flowing data (content) throughout the fundamental online marketing components for Homebuilders, Developers, and Real Estate Brokerages.

NDG recommends that our clients have a living strategic plan for implementing, engaging, and monitoring your social media outreach. While social media can help build brands and maximize publicity efforts, do not expect these marketing components to instantly drive traffic or sales. Social media platforms are recommended because of their word-of-mouth generation capabilities and because of their wide-ranging reach across many varied demographic audiences. Do NOT abandon all other forms of marketing; rather, integrate social media into your current marketing strategy and, most importantly, your corporate website.

As a first, fundamental step, develop a blog to serve as the “content repository” to feed timely, relevant content to your corporate website. This same content can be distributed via a Facebook fan page. Then, you can add other platforms such as Twitter and YouTube to your mix as you develop more content appropriate for these digital meeting places. Your website is the hub of all your marketing and advertising, and from this hub are distributed communications, each tailored to the channel you’re using.

Finally, remember that Content is Queen, and especially so for the social media. If you’re just shouting the same stuff down these channels, you’re wasting your time and money, and potentially damaging your brand and reputation. The ROI on your social media outreach will be directly influenced by your investment in generating good content, because this is what will help your Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) rankings grow higher and higher, and create more authentic engagement with your prospects—not repeating the same weak content over and over, which will just get you ignored by both your prospects and the search engines.

As new home sales expert Myers Barnes often says, “It’s Online or the Breadline.” According to the National Association of Realtors, more than 90% of new homebuyers are starting their research and selection process online, shopping by elimination to determine which communities they will visit in person.

Your goal is to have your website appear on the very first page of search engine results pages (or “SERPs”) when your prospects search under the keywords associated with your website and its content, and have it appear there “organically” — that is, without resorting to paid advertising to help maintain this first-page ranking. This is no easy and simple task, nor does it happen overnight, but with testing, vigilance, and perseverance, you can achieve this goal.

Search Engine Optimization (or “SEO”) refers to improving your search engine ranking via non-paid methods. This is different from Search Engine Marketing (or “SEM”), paid search engine advertising that can help you eventually achieve your search engine placement goals without any financial investment. The most prominent example of search engine advertising is Google AdWords.

Keyword research will help guide the ongoing development of your paid search engine advertising, so that you can allocate minimal funds to test your advertising first. Once you have positive results, roll out your complete, tested & proven paid advertising. Remember, your goal is to have your website appear on the first page of search engine results. With a combination of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing, you can achieve this goal, and then eliminate the expense of paid search advertising once you achieve sustainable “organic” first-page ranking.

Next week, we’ll discuss the facts and myths of how “Social Media” such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter can help you distribute your content online to help achieve your search engine goals.

While Content is Queen, Tracking is King. Here’s why: Advertisers and Marketers today have the most concrete, reliable, and ample data to help analyze and understand the results of your labors.

Now you really can see what is working, and deduce why or why not with your online efforts (including e-mail, advertising, and websites)—giving you the power to refine and adjust over time to maintain and increase positive results. Your content will generate the results, and tracking will ensure that your content is as well crafted and targeted as possible to create the most response over time as situations evolve.

Remember: Advertising is what brings you the first contact with the prospect; marketing is what happens when you respond. Analytics help measure both your advertising and marketing results. Now you can have true ROI metrics that spell out the who, why, where, when, and how.

Of course, it takes time to analyze. And of course it’s not black and white; there will be shades of gray, but this is what gives you the most clarity. There are also industry benchmarks available to help evaluate your performance against other competitors in your selected arena. For example, here are some recent real estate industry e-mail averages, courtesy mailchimp.com:

Open Rate: 22.84%
Click-through Rate: 4.24%
Soft Bounces: 2.02%
Hard Bounces: 4.31%
Unsubscribe Requests: 0.30%

And since almost all online advertising and marketing can be tracked if the proper steps are taken, there’s no reason to blindly assume or guess about what is working and what isn’t anymore. So, never forget that the key to your online success is the formula of CONTENT + TRACKING.

Continuing our discussion from our previous post, 2010 Online Marketing Fundamentals, we now turn to the importance of content.

For the real estate industry (and practically every other industry), the key to online success is the formula of CONTENT + TRACKING. Today we’ll talk about why CONTENT is the fuel of your online engine.

So, an engine will not run with fuel. As you know, the gas in your car won’t last forever—you’ll use it up and will need to fuel up again to get further down the road. The same is exactly true of your online content. You’ll need to put new content into the system continually to keep your company moving toward your online goals.

Since consumers start their buying process online, your website must be the hub of all your activities. Even with the numerous social media platforms and channels available, your website must be the central core that radiates content outward, and receives, processes, and interacts with inbound communications.

Content is everything. Content is what brings consumers to you. But once they’ve seen it—unless it is complex or incredibly compelling—they won’t be back. Thus, ensuring that your content is changing, fresh, and answers the needs of your potential audiences is absolutely critical to the success of all your online efforts.

But what does “fresh content” really mean? It means that you’re telling your story continually; and not just your story, but also the story of how you can fulfill your clients’ needs. It means that your representation of your product must stay fresh as well, even if the product or service itself has not substantially changed. And it means that you are getting your content in front of as many targeted faces as possible—adapting for each new segment’s unique needs.

So commit to regular fresh fuel-ups of your website and outbound channels with fresh content, tailored to the wants and needs of your audiences. Otherwise, you’ll always be going nowhere.

Next Week: Why Tracking is King

Sarah Yaussi of Hanley Wood, publishers of Builder magazine and many other publications that serve the residential and commercial construction industry, recently attended the IBS 2010 show in Las Vegas where she saw NDG Companies President Tom Nelson’s presentation on online marketing for homebuilders, developers, and realtors.

“I ran across this factoid on page 15: Google and YouTube are serving 10 billion videos a month. The take-away was that people online would rather watch than read. So, I’ve been taking this insight to heart of late, even purchasing a FlipCam pocket video recorder and shooting some video on my own with the intent to integrate more of it into my news stories and blogs.”

Sarah then shares “lessons learned” from her experience with video, which are good recommendations for everyone beginning with online video production. Click here to continue reading Sarah’s blog and see her new video experiment results.

Connect the Dot.com’s in Your Online Marketing

for Homebuilders, Developers, and Real Estate Brokerages

A Step-By-Step Process to Staying Focused and On-Track in Today’s Market

NDG is sharing a roadmap with our clients and friends this year. It’s a roadmap to achieving online advertising and marketing results in 2010. In seven steps—steps, which we admit, are complex, and which take time and dedication to achieve—NDG will show you how to lay the groundwork for online real estate marketing and sales success this year. We’ll share one step per post, starting this week with:

Follow the Content Path: The Fundamental Components Required for Integrating and Flowing Your Data

What to do, where to do it, and how to make it all work together: Revealed below is NDG’s online integration map for flowing data (content) throughout the fundamental online marketing components for Homebuilders, Developers, and Real Estate Brokerages.

dataflow3

1. Utilize a Branded, Adminable, and Content-Driven Website

What does “Adminable” mean?

This term simply means that your website is easily updated with new content by non-programmers via a Content Management System (CMS) that allows you to modify the content on your website without the help of a programmer.

What does “Content-Driven” mean?

We mean that fresh content is critical to your success, just as gasoline is required to make your car’s engine go: Community Listings, Inventory Homes List, Customizable Interactive Floorplans, Product Photography, Customizable Driving Directions to Sales Centers, Homeowner Testimonials, etc.

2. Utilize a Customer Relations Management System (CRM)

What is a Customer Relations Management System?

Software that helps organize, manage, automate, and ensure the quality of your company’s interactions with both sales prospects and buyers. Utilizing a CRM system will help you convert browsers into buyers.

3. Export XML Data Feeds from your CRM to 3rd-Party Referral Websites

What is an XML Feed?

This is the programming code that feeds YOUR HOME LISTINGS into third-party referral websites such as NewHomeSource.com, Trulia.com, or Move.com, etc., automatically, ensuring your listings on these websites are current and accurate—without having to manage the data manually.

4. Connect with Social Media Platforms

What are Social Media?

These are the online communities, websites, and platforms (such as Blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc) that allow people from any location on the planet to come together to share common interests. Social Media are today’s public relations.

5. Acquire and Analyze Website Analytic Performance Data

What are Website Analytics?

The hard numbers from your website and other online components that tell you who is interacting with you, or not, and why, where, when, and how. The proof is in the numbers, and the more you know and understand, the more you’ll be able to refine your approach and modify your outreach to create the greatest results.

By utilizing each of these fundamental components, and by properly flowing your content and data through them in the correct order, you can ensure that your online resources are structured for maximum efficiency, that no (or at least few) opportunities for exposure and connection with the right prospects are being missed, and that you are poised for the most return on your investment.

Next week we’ll discuss the fuel that makes this online engine run: CONTENT!

NDG Communications, Inc.

Tag Archives: ndg companies

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