This year, we saw a one-minute Super Bowl spot from Toyota featuring a Paralympic athlete and the journey she took to increase her chances of winning a gold medal. Heartwarming and inspiring—no cars were featured in the ad, which promoted the phrase, “When we’re free to move, anything is possible.” So what does this say about what we value as consumers? Are features and benefits our main concern? The fact is, in a world with so much variety, availability, and interconnected commerce, we subscribe to the brands we choose to invest loyalty in, not the products we choose to buy.

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As we all know, SXSW is just around the corner, which means expansive opportunities for the exchange of new ideas, the introduction of multiple industry advancements and crowds of the biggest and brightest innovators of our day and age. Keeping up with the constant stream of developing media and technology can be a big task. Fear not. This time around, we’re bringing you the top 5 panels that will aid in staying on the cutting edge of branding and marketing. Learn what makes these some of the most instrumental topics for the future of our industry.

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HMG Creative has a new team member! We would like to introduce Brandon, our newest addition to our web development team, who originally grew up in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky and migrated to Austin for the opportunities in the Tech Industry.

Brandon started in the Tech world fixing computers for friends and family in High School, which eventually turned into running an IT Services and Web Development business in college. He studied Biology while at the University of Cincinnati but decided to switch career paths into becoming a full-time Web Developer. Having ran several teams and worked in a variety of industries, Brandon has a wealth of technical experience that he’s excited to bring to HMG Creative.

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Designing websites is a form of art. No, I’m serious. You probably don’t think of it in that way, but when creating your site you are indulging in a creative practice. And like bad art, bad websites like this one can be truly painful to look at. Designing a good website is certainly hard, but there are also some pretty simple rules. Today, I’m going to take you through the most common mistakes that website designers make.

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2018 has arrived—and with it has come plenty of new and exciting opportunities for the HMG team. We’ve forged new business partnerships, begun building new digital marketing and design projects and have developed big goals for the upcoming year. So what remains the same? Our recognition on Clutch as one of the best digital agencies in Texas

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Hi! My name is Natalie Matthews and I am ecstatic to begin as the new social media and marketing intern at HMG Creative, this semester. Born and raised in Clear Lake, Texas, I have enjoyed dancing competitively for twelve years with my older sister and traveling alongside the rest of our family in our free time. I am an avid cooking show viewer, occasional chef for one and dedicated consumer of all things sweet. You can often find me making my way around Town Lake while listening to some of my favorite artists, ranging from Frank Sinatra to Katy Perry. I am passionate about empowerment, the alleviation of poverty, education and positive living.

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We’ve all been touched by the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales, entranced by superstar endorsers like Britney Spears, and become hooked on brands like Apple through futuristic imagery. The biggest game of the year means the greatest chance to reach millions of viewers between plays. As one of the most important opportunities for marketers to reach large audiences and create buzz about their products, Super Bowl spots have long been an integral institution of the game itself. Super Bowl LII will not disappoint, and we have an early look at some of the most anticipated advertisements to watch out for this Sunday.

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When is the last time you have walked into a store just to try on that shirt and redeem the coupon you received via email last month? The last time you’ve checked the reviews on that electronic you’ve been anticipating for a year, just to wait in line for 6 hours on the day it is released at Best Buy? Is it that we are becoming more impatient and comfortable with a screen controlling our purchases? Or could it be that buying online is the most efficient and economical option for today’s society?

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Throughout history, we have seen a direct correlation between the rise in population and the rise in crime rates. This has held true in the digital space as well with cyber thefts as the fastest growing crime in the U.S. From intruders to hackers, it is imperative now more than ever we as professional marketers secure our websites to protect both our business and our users. Google has recently campaigned for website owners to convert to HTTPS by rewarding secure URLs with a minor SEO boost. Google currently holds 77.43% of the market shares, making SEO vital to the success of your business’ site.  Not only is making the switch the ethical thing to do, it’s quickly becoming a necessity.

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Just when you thought you had SEO all figured out…

We all know Google has cracked down on keyword stuffing, internal linking and much more when it comes to blog content, but it’s time to make some changes—again. Google’s new algorithms penalize you if your internal links don’t directly expand on another topic. I can already see the organization freaks (much like myself) losing it over this new algorithm, but don’t fret. Run with it by integrating pillar pages.

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