Mudflower Creative

Category: Marketing

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Print Marketing: Dead or Alive?

Revive your marketing plan through printed materials alongside your digital efforts to benefit your business.

In today’s digital age, where online advertising and social media dominate the marketing industry, it may seem counterintuitive to turn to traditional printed materials for your marketing efforts.

However, the power of print should not be underestimated.

Incorporating well-designed and targeted printed materials into your marketing strategy can provide a unique and effective way to engage with your audience and elevate your overall marketing efforts.

In fact, 82% of consumers trust print advertising the most when it comes to making a purchase decision according to Harvard Business Review “Why Marketers Are Returning to Traditional Advertising”.

In this article, we will explore how reviving your marketing plan through printed materials can yield substantial benefits for your business.

With almost everything being digital, it is easy to become “numb” or overlook digital advertisements. Printed materials, physically existing, provide the touch, feeling, and display that a digital asset cannot. Whether it’s a brochure, flyer, or business card, printed materials create a lasting impression and have the potential to leave a more significant impact on recipients by influencing their purchase decisions. Lucky for you, Mudflower Creative specializes in the production of custom-printed solutions. Call us old-fashioned but nothing beats a high-quality business card to build your brand.

Printed materials provide an excellent opportunity to reinforce your brand identity and establish credibility. By incorporating consistent branding elements such as logos, colors, and typography, you can create a cohesive visual experience across all marketing channels. High-quality printed materials also convey professionalism and attention to detail, signaling to your target audience that you take your business seriously. Anyone can create a social media account and mark it as a “business” but investing in professional services to put your brand down on paper legitimizes it for you, and the consumer.

With all that being said, don’t throw your digital marketing strategy completely out the window.

Print advertising should not be seen as a replacement for digital marketing but rather to complement one another. Integrating print with digital outlets will create a powerful multi-channel marketing approach that maximizes impact. Mudflower specializes in packaging marketing services into one while keeping the cost low but the ROI high.

If you read this and are ready to amplify your brand by combining the efforts of both digital and print but don’t know where to start, don’t sweat it – we have you covered. Mudflower will leverage the unique benefits of printed materials alongside your existing digital strategies. Don’t have a digital strategy? We can do that, too! Our localized approach will leave a lasting impression on your consumers by reinforcing your brand identity, creating tangible assets, and making it a seamless integration to create a well-rounded marketing strategy.

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Digital Marketing In 2023: The Rise Of AI And What It Means For Your Strategy

Discover how AI is reshaping digital marketing and influencing marketers’ strategies.

The latest buzzword in marketing is ChatGPT. Will this emerging technology transform online marketing to the point of being unrecognizable? We doubt it. Can companies leverage AI as a positive and fruitful source of disruption? ABSOLUTELY!

AI can be a valuable ally to content creators, generating outlines based on audience characteristics, keywords, and search intent. Tools like ChatGPT help streamline the creative process, allowing content teams to fine-tune pieces and ensure they align with strategic intent.

AI’s impact on digital marketing is significant, offering streamlined processes, personalized strategies, and engaging experiences. By embracing AI, businesses can tap into its abilities to enhance their reach, optimize campaigns, and foster meaningful connections with their target audiences.

Digital Marketing In 2023: The Rise Of AI And What It Means For Your Strategy

FROM FORBES: Technology is digital marketers’ gateway to lead gen and relationship building. So it’s no surprise that the rise of AI is reshaping their approaches. But because AI itself is evolving, some skepticism and hesitation are natural.

Will this emerging technology’s capabilities transform online marketing to the point where it’s unrecognizable? Or can companies leverage it so it’s a positive and fruitful source of disruption? Here’s how AI stands to impact the digital marketing world and influence marketers’ strategies.

Laser-Focused Content Creation

Without online content, digital marketers can’t reach their target audiences. But the content creative teams spend precious time crafting doesn’t always make a splash. You can carefully map out a content strategy with every single detail, including desired outcomes for each piece. Yet you’ve got to have the talent to produce those pieces at a high level of quality and a breathtaking pace.

Constantly brainstorming and executing content ideas to perfection is unrealistic, even for teams at the top of their game. Inevitably, human brains come to a standstill. Call it writer’s block, a rut or a creative slump. It happens to content creators all the time. And the pressure to produce something can mean pieces that don’t match a strategy’s ambitions.

While the debate rages as to whether AI will replace human content creators, it can be a good ally. AI can generate outlines based on inputs, such as audience characteristics, keywords and search intent. The technology is able to build structures for entire blog posts or articles, helping writers focus on the points they need to drive home to specific audience segments.

AI tools developed by content marketing firms such as MarketMuse elevate those capabilities. With the help of ChatGPT, the tool makes outlines infused with topic modeling data that can then be turned into blog posts ready for a human touch. Content teams can fine-tune those pieces, ensuring they match strategic intent.

AI saves time by streamlining the creative process. It also helps raise the bar on quality, so published pieces produce better outcomes and content strategies come to fruition.

Marketing strategies develop from data about human behavior. However, digital marketers may discover what they thought they knew about an audience isn’t quite right. Or the information they have is too generalized. It doesn’t provide enough fine-grained insights to develop a goal-crushing campaign.

Digital marketers also see market data through a subjective lens. They may miss patterns because of biases and assumptions. Even the culture of the companies marketers work for can influence the interpretation of data such as customer surveys. Executives looking for a quick fix may unknowingly promote a “be everything to everyone” approach. Consequently, digital marketing messages become too generic.

But AI can sort through large volumes of market data without ego. The tools pick up on patterns across multiple sources, including chatbot conversations and social platforms.

While AI can inform digital marketers of aggregate audience insights, it also shows what’s happening at the individual level. A customer’s past Starbucks coffee purchases can predict if they’ll engage with promo messages in an app. AI helps personalize strategies so they feel more conversational.

Augmented Reality Experiences

Augmented reality is expanding the definition of content marketing. Customers are looking for more than words and videos to engage them. A NielsenIQ survey of shoppers shows 56% say augmented reality increases their confidence in a product’s quality. And around 61% of consumers prefer to shop with brands that offer AR experiences.

When digital marketers use augmented reality, it can influence customer behavior, engagement and sales. The technology encourages shoppers to linger longer. They’re more likely to try more products in online environments. AR experiences can also boost sales. That said, research shows the technology is more effective with brand-new buyers.

Digital marketers targeting new audiences may want to incorporate augmented reality into their strategies. Retailers such as Crate & Barrel already offer this capability to shoppers who may have concerns about buying items like furniture online. Exploring AR environments helps overcome objections to the sale by showing how purchases will look and feel in people’s homes.

These experiences can also extend to behind-the-scenes content about a brand and its locations. People unfamiliar with a company and its products are able to interact in a low-risk environment. They can learn about a brand’s values, gain knowledge about its offerings and “visit” locations they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Interactive content with built-in augmented reality builds trust and interest without coming across as intrusive.

AI’s Impact on Digital Marketing

AI promises to change how the world works, including the ways digital marketers reach audiences. While relying on technology to drum up interest and sales is part of a digital marketer’s playbook, AI expands it. With the tech’s abilities, your strategies can become more streamlined, personalized and engagement-oriented.

Meghan Holder

Director of Operations

Meghan is our Director of Operations, and has a degree in marine & environmental sciences, visual arts with a background in financial services as well. She currently serves as Chair of the Agriculture and Environmental Council for the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce and has been recently named the “Most Charitable Young Professional under 40” in St. Johns County for 2021. She has a passion to help her community through volunteering, educational programs, and philanthropic efforts such as Clean Sweep STA. Wherever she may roam, you won’t find her too far from her pups or the ocean.

Megan Robinson

Illustrator

Megan, a mom of two and a fisherwoman of all, has always been a passionate artist. That creative influence has been cultivated in myriad forms, including freelance graphic design, painting and photography. She came to Mudflower as an Illustrator, but she works designing a multitude of other styles, mediums and projects as well. In Megan’s free time, she enjoys anything outdoorsy or adventurous, dabbling in her entrepreneurial ventures and spending time with family and friends.
Maranda Heykens

GRAPHIC ARTIST

Maranda is a graphic designer that specializes in hand-lettering, typography, illustration, and publication, with her bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and Digital Media from the University of North Florida and has experience in visual art, creative problem solving, event coordination, and management. When she is not working, she can be found playing sudoku, watching the latest new show, or relaxing somewhere by the beach.

Dara S.

CLIENT SERVICES

Dara is an experienced Marketing Specialist with a demonstrated history working in the marketing and advertising industry, specializing in promotions via Social Media. She received her Bachelor’s degree focused in Broadcast Journalism from University of Florida and has experience in radio production and sales, event coordination, graphic and web design, and social media programming. Dara loves Jesus, real country music, the ocean, and her pup Bella.
Geoffrey Grider

FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR

I started with the beginning of the Internet in 1994, and never quit. I have been blessed to work with some of the largest companies in the world, and on some of the coolest projects you could ever imagine. Mudflower is my child, and I wouldn’t want to be anyplace else.

 

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJV)

SPECIALTIES:

CREATIVE | DESIGN | BRANDING

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