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CASE STUDY: CRANK Digital Marketing Authority

SUMMARY

You’ve heard the expression, “the shoemaker’s children have no shoes.” Well, we realized WE WERE THE SHOEMAKERS!

At CRANK Digital Marketing Authority, formerly known as Lowcountry Media Solutions, we were building and marketing beautiful, effective brands for every one of our clients, but we had neglected to give our own brand the same passion, care, and attention.

So, we changed that.

We knew we had outgrown our Lowcountry Media Solutions brand on all levels. Sure, we’re based in Charleston (Lowcountry!), but we serve clients nationally and internationally. Yes, we offer social media solutions, but our 15-plus years of expertise really encompasses much more than that with our digital and branding capabilities.

That meant it was time for a total re-brand, and we completed our shift to CRANK Digital Marketing Authority in January 2019.

OUR GOAL

To create a new, elevated (AND FUN!) brand to better reflect the evolution of our company’s mission, vision, and expertise. We are a women-owned small business with personality — and we’re proud of it! We wanted our brand to reflect that.

SERVICES PROVIDED

We underwent a full rebranding effort, including:

  • Name and Logo Redesign
  • Website Design
  • Blog content
  • Internal and External Collateral, including:
    • Capabilities Statement
    • Onboarding Documents
    • Proposal Templates
    • Contracts
    • Presentations, and more.

Logo.

Challenge

It’s not always easy to create an exciting brand for any company, much less one like us that works in the digital marketing space. There’s a lot of ubiquity out there — and “talking digital” is not always the most colorful subject matter. But, we really wanted to stand out while humanizing our brand and making our content approachable.

Solution

The whole idea behind the name CRANK was (a) it offered something memorable; (b) the word conveys energy and action; a sense of cranking up our clients’ business; and (c) it lets us have fun! We added a byline of “Digital Marketing Authority” so it’s what we do — and that we’re experts at it, too.  We even echo our brand in every single email we send with the line “CRANK up your day!”

CRANK Digital Marketing Authority

“We’re a fierce and fun women-owned small business, and we wanted our new brand to reflect that — superhero capes and all!”

-Cynthia Newman

CRANK Digital Marketing Authority

Website

Challenge

If you know, you know… website projects are ALWAYS a challenge. There are a lot of layers involved in creating or rebranding a website. But, the payoff is so worth every step of the hard work. Our former Lowcountry site was no longer serving our needs. It didn’t properly reflect our full range of expertise and services; it wasn’t mobile optimized; it was the wrong brand for us. We offer website design and internet marketing services, so we knew our brand needs to be a model citizen for those things, too!

 

Solution

We all want our websites to be pretty. Check. We get it. But, there’s a lot more that goes into an effective site that meets your goals. At CRANK, we completely customized our new site to not only be aesthetically elevated, but to also have the content and functionality to back it up. We’ve integrated our full range of services.We have blog content. Our case study pages showcase our work. Every page is SEO optimized. We have a fully managed security maintenance program. And, our site can grow with us because we work in an ever-changing field that requires constant updates and additions.

CRANK Digital Marketing Authority
CRANK Digital Marketing Authority
CRANK Digital Marketing Authority

“Dedication to quality is an upfront investment that pays off in spades over the long term — especially when it comes to your brand.”

-Cynthia Newman

CASE STUDY: Pivot To Excellence

SUMMARY

The PIVOT TO EXCELLENCE Executive Symposia and Summit Series was a collaborative effort between CRANK Digital Marketing Authority and the Suncoast Chapter of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), which supports the entire US Army Family in the Tampa Bay Area and West Central Florida.

In partnership with AUSA, we produced six virtual events in the first two quarters of 2021, including:

  • Black Veteran Entrepreneurs Business Summit
  • Women Entrepreneurs & Executive Leadership
  • Southeastern Army Medical Symposium
  • Yom Kippur War History & Perspectives Pt 1
  • Yom Kippur War History & Perspectives Pt 2
  • Pan-Caribbean American Military Heritage Summit

Cynthia Newman, CRANK founder and CEO, was a featured panelist on two of these events: Women Entrepreneurs & Executive Leadership and the Southeastern Army Medical Symposium.

OUR GOAL

To create a dynamic webinar brand and webinar activation strategy that accommodates a wide range of partner goals, launching with the AUSA Suncoast Chapter.

SERVICES PROVIDED

  • Webinar Strategy, Management & Implementation
  • Branding – Name & Logo Design
  • Marketing Collateral including Web Pages, Social Media Channels & Email Templates
  • Panelist Communications Management
  • Participant Acquisition
  • YouTube Channel Branding
  • Video Postproduction
  • Post-Webinar Followup including slide decks, handouts, links and final video

Logo.

Challenge

We wanted to create a naming convention and visual brand identity for our new webinar initiative that represented the brand essence of CRANK while serving the current needs of AUSA — along with a diverse range of business categories in the future. No easy task!

Solution

We selected PIVOT TO EXCELLENCE as the brand name; it is broad enough to fit a range of webinar categories in the future while offering a high-impact identity. As for the design, we used the same font implemented in our CRANK brand logo and integrated additional visual consistency with a similar arrow treatment. The logo colorways and tagline are designed to be customized to the webinar partner or sponsor, so we implemented an army green and gold for AUSA to resonate with their brand.

… thank you for making our chapter and events like this look great. Thank you and your staff for all of the work, talent, knowledge, and skill that are put into creating an attractive and sharp invitation, links, etc like this.

-Member AUSA

Crank Marketing Group Pivot to Excellence Executive Symposia & Summit Series

Website

Challenge

We needed an evergreen hub to house webinar descriptions and registration details as well as post-webinar replay links.

Solution

Rather than build a separate microsite for PIVOT TO EXCELLENCE, we opted to house the information within our CRANK website for brand consistency and efficiency. (No need to reinvent the wheel in this case!) Our new Webinars page features graphics and descriptive text for each webinar along with the registration link — and YouTube link to the replay.

Famous Last Words

“On behalf of The Patton Foundation, I would like to personally commend you on your fine contribution to our PIVOT TO EXCELLENCE Women’s Entrepreneur & Executive Leadership Summit.  Your amazing qualifications and experience not only inspired our viewers, but will undoubtably activate generations to come of potential leaders who emulate and apply your wisdom and verve to challenging times such as the ones we now face.”

-The Patton Foundation

“Thank you for including me in this very important series. As I have mentioned several times, the Yom Kippur War of October 1973 had a profound effect on the U.S. Army – the Army I spent my entire career in. The lessons learned by both the IDF and the U.S. Army during and after 1973 made both armies the best in the world and have kept our nations safe.  Frankly, we are still learning important lessons from this conflict. Hopefully, I will be able to join you next year in Israel to return to the sites of these historic events.”

-General Guy Swan, AUSA National