More about CLM
	It’s important for you to know exactly how we think, how we work and why we are successful at what we do. We are not just looking to make you a hip new logo or a fancy Super Bowl ad. Instead, we do whatever it takes to grow your business. To start, here are some basic marketing and advertising principles that we believe in and that we encourage any client to embrace.

• Principle 1 – The Development of Brand Preference
  

  

  Based on common sense and simple cause and effect, this chart depicts the process your customers must go through if they are to develop a preference for your brand. There is no skipping any of these steps and it all starts with awareness of your product or service. Many ad agencies would stop at the awareness stage, but at CLM we believe marketing can impact each step in this process.

  
  

• Principle 2 – The Four Ps
  

  
  

  Every ad agency knows about the four Ps of product, price, place and promotion, but few actually touch all of them. Most believe that their role begins and ends with promotion. At CLM, we go beyond the promotion aspect to help our clients with product, price and place, too. This is what makes us a true marketing agency and not just a maker of ads.

  
  

• Principle 3 – Crossing the Chasm
  

  

  Innovators and Early Adopters are the low-hanging fruit for new products. These early-market enthusiasts will buy any new product if the cool factor is high enough. But once this market is tapped, how do we reach the Early Majority and the rest of the market that follows them? There is a difference between the four Ps of early market customers and the four Ps of mainstream market customers. How do we cross this chasm? At CLM we specialize in developing and executing strategies that help clients and products bridge from early market penetration to mainstream market success.

  
  
  

• Principle 4 – It’s All About Brand
  

  We believe that branding does more than just create an identity for a product or service. It gives consumers confidence that the purchasing decision they are making is the right one for their business or for them personally. So for marketing programs to work as efficiently and effectively as possible, branding must be strong.

  
  
  

• Principle 5 – The Effectiveness Formula
  

  
  

  

  Relevancy: making ads that hit home with words that are relevant and believable
  Distinctiveness: making ads that stand out visually
  Frequency: running ads the right amount of times in the right place for the right target audience … without overspending
  Effectiveness: when the consumer buys what you are selling
  
  Thanks to an ever-swelling barrage of ads, fragmentation brought about by new media, and a challenged economy, it’s difficult to break through to consumers. So we use this simple formula to make sure we are reaching them. Ignore one of the three factors and an ad cannot be effective.

  
  

• Principle 6 – A Process, Not a Destination
  

  

  Closing the loop is a continuous process in the life of your product or service. It is not a pre-determined moment in time. It involves honest assessments of the effectiveness of our strategies and creative work and constant analysis of competitive pressures, marketing changes and realistic next steps.

  
  

• Principle 7 – Managing Your Product Portfolio
  

  
  

  Is your product a star performer? A cash cow, a problem child or a dog? Do you know? What’s more, do you know the appropriate strategy for where your product may be? We use product life cycle theory and tools like The BCG Matrix to prioritize and guide decision-making in your product portfolio. This helps you realize long-term value creation through both high-growth and low-growth products.

  
  
  

Not Your Average Ad Agency

Now that we’ve shared our seven guiding principles with you, it’s time to take a look at some of the things that make us CLM.

• Specializing in B2B and B2C
  

  CLM understands how different the business-to-business and business-to-consumer worlds can be. Some ad agencies specialize in one or the other. But at CLM, we know how to approach each, so we serve each. In fact, we even apply principles from one to the other when appropriate, keeping us on the cutting edge of marketing approaches.

  
  

  
  

• Calling It How We See It
  

  

  You are probably familiar with the parable about the emperor who wore no clothes and how it took an uninhibited child to tell the truth about it. Things are really no different in the business world. Sometimes a company gets so entrenched in what it is doing, they need a fresh and honest perspective. That’s where an agency like CLM comes in. We think beyond the creative work we produce to explore whether or not your overall business strategy makes sense. Simply put, we’re not just creative, we’re smart about what we do because we know that advertising alone does not solve your problem.

  
  
  

• Marketing 101
  

  
  

  

  Marketing has to start with a goal or purpose, such as protecting market share or growing market share. From there, a marketing communications plan must be developed. And it must contain, at minimum, the following elements:

  • Clear definitions of the overall goal, your strengths and weaknesses, and the competitive environment
  • Understanding of the target audience attitudes, geographics and demographics
  • A clearly conveyed message and secondary message

  If you do not have a clear marketing communications plan already in place, CLM can help you create one.

  Don’t believe anyone who tells you that advertising alone is going to increase your business. All communications can do is set up the sales opportunities. Once this is done, it takes a strong sales strategy to close the deal. And CLM is positioned to help you with that, too.

  
  

• Save Your Money
  

  

  CLM takes a different approach to how you spend money on marketing and advertising. Most ad agencies are only too happy to let you throw money at a problem because they believe that advertising alone can solve your problem. CLM knows better. So it’s not uncommon for us to recommend less costly or more strategic ways to spend your advertising dollar. Visit our case studies to learn more.

  
  
  

• Media Strategies
  

  

  CLM invests heavily in market analysis tools such as Nielson, Arbitron, Eastlan, The Media Audit, SRDS, SQUAD and others to plan optimal media strategies.

  Once a media plan is developed and has client approval, CLM proceeds to the buying stage where we exercise our strong media vendor relationships, getting our clients as much bang for the buck as possible. Media buying doesn’t always mean buying. We use a combination of placement techniques to meet the needs of our clients. These techniques include traditional spot/placement buying, barter negotiation and placement, trade negotiation and placement, and promotional negotiation and placement to name a few.

  We then “close the loop” by conducting a thorough audit of all placement schedules to ensure that all media vendors fulfilled their schedules correctly.

  
  

• The Professor and the Guerrilla
  

  

  Performing market research comes down to gathering and analyzing information and using what you learn to make good business decisions. At CLM, we gather and analyze information by taking two different approaches. The first approach is “professor research”. It uses everything from customer satisfaction surveys to focus group planning and facilitation. Data is collected and analyzed on both a quantitative and qualitative basis and used to make the best decisions for our clients. The second approach is “guerrilla research”. Guerrilla research uses techniques such as secret shopping and is adept at providing much needed clarity when addressing business problems and opportunities. And, while it is not statistically significant, it is designed to help gain insights that can be used to create a competitive advantage in a relatively short period of time.

  
  

• Creativity Makes the Difference
  

  

  While strategy and evaluation bookend every marketing program we develop, it’s the creative concept and execution that’s truly the face of the campaign. But as we tell our clients, our creative team understands that its role is to help build your business and not their portfolios. CLM’s creative team blends innovative concepts, designs and messages into a cohesive execution across traditional and non-traditional media. And all of this is done with one purpose in mind: to help our clients achieve their goals. Because even if the strategy is on target and the media is just right, it’s the creative execution that makes the difference. Want proof? Simply check out our portfolio and see for yourself.

  
  

• Our Ideal Client
  

  
  
  

  Business is the ultimate two-way street. By now you have a pretty good idea what CLM has to offer you – and here's what we hope you are willing to bring to the table as our client.

  We ask that you understand that the work we do for you – not just the designs – is vital to your business. We provide the best results for our clients when they view us as part of their team, not as a separate entity. This level of partnership helps to ensure free and open discussion, a clear picture of your market challenges and opportunities, and a shared understanding of the time and cost required to meet your objectives.

  While we always endeavor to be flexible and understanding of your budget, the work we do has to be profitable for us and successful for you. We appreciate it when our clients value our efforts as an investment in their business.

  In order to succeed on your behalf, it is important that your level of openness is as high as your expectations for our work. We need to know about your culture, your products, your customers and potential customers, your market environment, and your competitive challenges. An open and honest dialogue with you helps us move the needle on meeting your objectives.

  Here is a final tip you should know about people who decide to work at marketing and advertising agencies: the good ones only feel like they win when their customers do. So, if you appreciate and can support our point of view, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work on making your company successful.