Our Digital Marketing Buyers’ Guide

Buyers’ Guide: 7 Ways to Know You’re Ready to Switch to Lincoln Digital Group

1. Your current agency is not “looking around the corners” of your business. Instead of anticipating 1 or 2 quarters out into time, they’re stuck thinking 1 or 2 weeks into time. Seasonal adjustments aren’t being accounted for.  Tactics aren’t changing with the times. Media buys aren’t being planned accordingly. And they are simply are not seeing the big picture. Anticipation and planning is a core competency of Lincoln Digital Group — when you sense your business can’t continue to grow without it, it’s time to call us.

2. Attribution is non-existent (or worse, irrelevant). When sales reports aren’t accounted for, conversion costs aren’t monitored, and key buying actions on your site are not reported as leading indicators, your risk increases and your digital campaign effectiveness almost always decreases. Your firm is not simply paying to pay, or spending simply to spend. You need to see the proof in the pudding from UTMs to Persona profiles, Conversion Rates and IP tracking — and that’s what LDG 提供.

3. There’s no creative harmony. Either you’re tired, or your creative’s tired. Or both. Either way, that means there’s no harmony in the creative process with your agency. Too much feedback, or too much comfort, rarely creates the conditions for too much growth. When you’re ready to hand over the brief and review a handful of core concepts without needing to get in the weeds — and then let us take it across the finish line in accordance with your brand guide — you’re ready for LDG.

4. You’re tired of not playing to win: You’re budget constrained. Your pigeonholed. Your budget is being eaten away by click fraud. And your current agency isn’t doing a thing to change it. Nor do they truly know how to. You need the paid media tools and platforms, the intuition for navigating the “tough” budget conversations, and the expertise of managing seven figure annual paid media budgets to out-performing ROAS results. When you’re tired of not playing to win, you’re ready for LDG.

5. Pretty pictures aren’t producing you a profit. Branding is essential. Design is critical. But there are limits to where they can take you. They are not substitutes for an agency that can do them well, and then do more with them for your same dollar. When branding and design is not clearly creating more buyers for you— or, the type of buyers you want — you’re ready to think more comprehensively with your go to market approach. It’s time for the strategic, full-funnel, creative-to-campaign 执行 resources of an agency like LDG.

6. You’re thinking long-term. Long term is 3-5 years out in our world. Yes, we help you monetize the here and now. But, using our 10 years of B2C retail agency experience, we also help you against doing so at the expense of tomorrow. Marketing (when done well) is chess. Brands that rob Peter to pay Paul play checkers. When you’re prepared with patience to execute the business plan, and you want advice for the long-term instead of advice desperate to fall the long gap between your sales and your target, you’re ready to switch to LDG.

7. You value priorities, not perfection. In B2C marketing, speed, responsiveness and a contemporary approach to your audience engagement approach wins your business. And the nature of B2C marketing is that there’s always more to do, more needs than time, and often one or two things left undone. You hate it. We hate it. But, our vision is fixed on helping you win exponentially more than you lose. That means unrelenting prioritization and cost-benefit analysis. When you’re ready for a grown up agency with 10 years of expertise in knowing where and how to best spend their time for your business, you’re ready to switch to LDG.

Lincoln Digital Group at 10 Years: A Marathon Made of Milestones

How We Became The Digital Experience Leaders™…and What Happens Next

On May 13th, 2013, “this” all began with a walk in the park. Specifically, Lincoln Park — the Northside Chicago neighborhood.

In many ways, that day feels like a lifetime ago for me. In others, it seems like yesterday.

I recall so many things about spending that Spring day with my parents — mainly the fact that I wouldn’t stop spouting off my best(?) attempts at naming my budding agency — as we strolled the Halstead St. and Armitage Ave. 走廊.

But most pertinent to this story, I remember the eureka moment exceptionally clearly. We were across the street from a Lululemon store, and my father said “I got it!”

Huh? I replied.

“Lincoln Digital Group,” he said.

I paused for a moment, unsure. And then I realized it was a perfect fit.

What’s in a Name? For Lincoln Digital Group, Exactly Three Things

Not only did I live and work in Lincoln Park, in a state nicknamed the Land of Lincoln, but I also happen to share something personally significant in common with our 16th President himself. And so it went: Lincoln Digital Group was it.

Next, we entered the Lululemon store. I sat down on the bench while my mother shopped, and I purchased mujraparty.com on the spot.

That’s how “this” — this Brand, this website you are reading, this agency you hopefully engage — came to be.

Now, for more…

Less Background, More Journey

I believe we’ve done a thorough job documenting our history and agency background. This page won’t repeat that. Those stories exist elsewhere — here and here.

This is about what makes us, us. The most significant things we’ve experienced over 10 years of client service. The key mile-markers in our history. And what defines us going forward.

Braman Motorcars (2013-2014) was the springboard for our first years. We graduated from specialized vendor — bringing to life the first of its kind in the industry iOS and Android app — to digital agency of record. There, we launched the Audi A3, the BMW i3 and the Porsche Macan into the South Florida market, and gained so many invaluable experiences along the way. In retrospect, it was very early for us. Maybe too early for that particular (massive) responsibility. But it prepared us for what was to come (much sooner than later).

Provident Jewelry was our first well-known non-auto account. And our biggest website design and development project up til that time. We did some very cool video work there for both the retailer and co-op campaigns with their brands. In the end, I took my lumps on that account. But it also taught me the virtues of choosing the right growth (ie. Customer fit).

Adding Reeves in 2016 was a game-changer for us. And for me. It was like Braman 2.0, except I actually knew what I was doing. From sales, to service and e-commerce support, Reeves is
where we really came into our own as an agency, serving 21 business divisions at once. That forced us to plan, prioritize and perform more than any other client had. We were fortunate to achieve countless all-time sales records for the group during our more than six years of service. Before they were acquired in 2021, our service for Reeves was punctuated by one of our biggest milestones yet — a “Big Game” activation and 50 Birthday campaign, video and website work.

Stiebel Eltron was the first multi-national and Spanish-language business we supported. They are the world leader in electric water heaters and operate on all 6 continents. We hired and trained a native Spanish-speaking team, quickly on-boarded the first 2-3 markets, then rapidly added another 6 within a few years. The brand / wholesaler / retailer relationships — as well as the product launches and unique social media activations with an established, nearly 100 year old brand like this — are a privilege to be apart of.

From there, it’s been a whirlwind of invaluable new milestones. We began working with our first surgical client, Morrison Clinic. Our first DTC brand, Instabeauty. Our first professional fighter, Asa Ten Pow. And our first real estate developer, NDT Development. In between were coaches, chiros, plus countless keynote presentations and video shoots. The perspective gained and processes refined during these most recent few years have been irreplaceable and eye-opening in what they’ve enabled us to experience and observe.

And after all of this thus far — delivering our creative, executing the plan, and assessing the outcomes — it’s become clear to me. We simply deliver measurably superior results.

What a Strong Marketing Agent Really Does

To me, a full-service agency has always been about more than simply the overall strategy and 执行. There are countless agencies that can think and perform. But what I’ve come to understand is that there’s so much more to being a great agent than campaign performance alone. When I think about how a full service agency best serves is clients, “to advocate” and “to be accountable” are the descriptions that come to mind. That’s not something that anyone taught me and told me I needed to know when I founded LDG. So I’ll share what it means here.

This means we’re always pressing media partners for more value add, better placements, and pushing back wherever, and whenever, their decisions stand to negatively impact our clients. Most importantly, it means we’re committed. Committed to their best interests. Committed to doing what it takes for the best chance to win. Committed to having their back. And, when necessary, committed to telling them unpleasant truths about the outcomes their decisions are likely to make.

I like to think this is a large part of what separates us from others and has contributed to the 10 years we’ve enjoyed thus far.

感激之情

When I think about our marathon journey, it’s been a continuous accumulation of experiences, skills, successes, failures (and more failures), in development of expertise.

There are a number of very special people that have helped make Lincoln Digital Group what it is over the years. Without them, we may not be here at all. 开始九五至尊vi手机版的创始团队 Christina, Charles, Nick and Kaeli.

Next came Cara, Diogo, Karina, Luis, John and Wil. Then Kayla, Rene, Diego, Lilliam, Patty and Sam.

And I can’t forget longtime valued clients such as Frank, Gerard, Jeff, Red, Jonathan, Mrs. R, Kim, Kelly, Josh, John and Elyssa. Nor critical professional services providers like Lesley and Jeff.

I’m sincerely grateful for all your support and contributions to helping make Lincoln Digital Group what it is today.

The Next Ten Years

A business milestone such as turning 10 years old forces you to consider many things as a Founder and CEO. One day, your eyes are simply thrown open to where you’ve been, where you are, and what needs to change to get where you want to go.

As we began working on the next decade earlier this year, it became painfully obvious to me that there is still so much work left to do to achieve my vision. I am now almost always working on how to better understand and serve our customers. How to better track our effectiveness for them. How to truly understand what business we are in for them. And most importantly, how to develop and get the most out of our team to continue helping them achieve their work and life goals while delivering measurably superior results to our clients. In fact, Lincoln Digital Group now has a business coach to help us bring these goals to fruition.

I won’t bore you with the details. But I will say that you’ve already begin to see some of what we’re working on in terms of how we operate. And you will continue to see many more changes as 2023 progresses.

Because for the next decade, we are working on getting more of what’s rightfully ours: More of the clients and experiences representative of a premier digital marketing agency that measurably improves the perception and opportunities on behalf of the most notable brands in the world with superior results.

-Justin Cerone, Founder and CEO

Lincoln Digital Group