Trust is a huge component of any relationship. Many would argue that mutual trust and understanding is what makes the relationship. Here at Cox Media Group, we pride ourselves on being trusted digital marketing partners to the advertisers we serve. But don't take it from us (because we get it, you may not trust us yet); hear it from one of our local clients in Miami. 

You've likely read about the role of emotions in marketing before, but what does it mean for your overall strategy? Business 2 Community explains their impact in great detail. However, an article in Annual Review of Psychology went even further, finding that "emotions constitute potent, pervasive ... drivers of decision making," which means that customers will assess how they feel before debating the pros and cons of doing business with you.

Let's face it: In today's hypercompetitive market, you need to connect with your customers and make them fall in love with your product or service. This prevents them from leaving you for a competitor. So how can you add a wow factor to your website that's sure to affect customers' emotionally driven buying decisions? Here are a few ways.

It can be an exhilarating experience to get that first real breakthrough on a marketing campaign. Whether a piece of content goes viral or a social networking channel passes a certain milestone, it feels great when you can demonstrate a proven success and count it as a reliable stream of revenue. However, just because you've found one marketing strategy that works, you shouldn't put all of your eggs in one basket.

Integrated marketing campaigns can help you grow your brand's presence even further. Though it can be tempting to devote all of your energy to a singular effort that has brought your business demonstrated success, investing your time to create an integrated plan will ultimately set the stage for long-term growth. Here are three key characteristics of any strong integrated marketing campaign.

We try not to toot our horn too often, but when a client thanks us for opening their eyes to digital marketing strategies they never considered or understood before - digital marketing strategies that produced real results for their business - we can't help but share. 

In our first installment of the Digital Success Series, take a look at what Dan Earle, the Marketing Director at Career Point College had to say about the expertise of our CMG Local Solutions team in San Antonio. 

In August 2014, Facebook launched its cross-device targeting tool for digital ads, as reported by AdExchanger, which sent a clear signal that the social media giant is becoming accepted by marketers as a way to measure and reach Internet users across smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. Cross-device targeting occurs when a brand identifies a visitor to its website and subsequently serves an ad to that consumer when they are browsing elsewhere on another device. If a person is perusing Kate Spade handbags from her work desktop on the Nordstrom website, for instance, she may see a Kate Spade banner ad for a sale on her mobile Pandora app.

The goal of cross-device targeting is to more closely follow the new customer journey, requiring multiple touches to influence purchasing decisions. Here are three ways the tool will change your digital advertising strategy:

A few years ago, Google introduced the world to a new marketing concept: the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT). An understanding of this marketing moment can be quite useful to both new businesses looking to break into the world of online marketing and established companies looking to grow their online presence. Here's a quick breakdown of the ZMOT and how you can use it to your advantage.

Identifying the Moment a Need Is Created

Google defines the ZMOT as the exact moment when a consumer has a need, intent or question that he or she would like to address through an online search. These questions can be anything from "What cleaners are most effective on hard water stains?" to "What pizza chains deliver in my area?" Brands that step up to answer these questions can gain a competitive advantage over brands that don't.

In 2015, it's reasonable to expect that most small and medium-sized businesses will have a social networking presence and make regular posts about promotions, new products and more. But while getting the word out about your business is a big piece of the social media puzzle, there's an even bigger component you may be missing: online reputation management.

You might be tempted to ignore online reviews and focus your efforts elsewhere, but research from New York Times best-selling author Bill Tancer suggests this could be a serious mistake. Speaking with Marketing Land, Tancer reveals that 80 percent of consumers check online reviews before making purchasing decisions — and what's in those reviews matters more than you might think.

Here are three best practices for developing a good online reputation:

If your business isn't using Google Analytics to examine its digital marketing practices, you're probably behind the curve on optimizing for the online market. Analytics has become a major tool for brands trying to expand their reach, spur engagement and increase revenue through online outlets, and Google Analytics is the foundational application that most other analytics programs are designed to complement.

For brands new to this tool, though, figuring out how to use Google Analytics can be daunting. While the initial draw of Google Analytics is that it's free, it's also an easy-to-navigate introduction into the world of analytics, making it a great starting tool for companies.

With this platform, you can evaluate your campaign success according to simple metrics that offer digestible insights into what's going well and what needs improvement. Here's a quick rundown of its benefits and best practices.

Tracking campaign effectiveness would be easier if marketing campaigns drove traffic and referrals back through a single channel, but this is rarely the case. Consumers can do any number of things when marketing influences them into action, and this makes tracking complicated. This is especially true when referrals take the form of phone calls, which can only be accurately measured by analytics through a call-tracking solution.

What is call tracking? In the simplest terms, it's a way of seeing which ad campaigns are driving calls to your business. As smartphones create a seamless experience that melds phone capabilities with online search and mobile browsers, call tracking lets you get more reliable data from your campaigns. Without it, your company could be saddled with distorted readouts of how your digital campaigns are performing. But this simple functionality also provides valuable insights into the behaviors of your consumer base, helping you tweak your marketing style in the future.

When you're trying to build conversions, one of the most important aspects of your digital marketing strategy may be the smallest: your call-to-action. You've brought your customers all the way down the funnel, and now they only have to push the button. But what message should your button send? Here's a call-to-action checklist to make sure your CTA helps your customers across the finish line.