8 Great Years of Power Digital Marketing

It’s hard to believe Power Digital Marketing is turning 8 this week. Each year has brought its own unique moments of challenge and growth—2020 certainly more than most.

But we reach this anniversary with some of the same things we started with.

• Outstanding clients, new and old
• An amazing team of data and digital marketing experts (and their pets)
• A whole lot of moxie

Let’s rewind the tape, shall we?

How We Got Started

In 2012, Power Digital Marketing put down roots in an office that was barely spacious enough for our 12-person team (and the ping pong table we set up). Back then, PDM was focused on the bare bones of digital marketing and SEO.

We were scrappy, creative, and passionate about our future.

Truth is, we still are.

How Far We’ve Come

In the last eight years, PDM has risen into a full service digital marketing agency. We’ve expanded into data analysis, web development, content marketing, SEO, paid advertising, organic social media, and public relations. We’ve seamlessly integrated data and creativity into every one of our marketing strategies.

The results speak for themselves. We say this humbly, of course.

New Faces

Our first office had enough room for not much else than a dozen people, a couple of dogs—yup, we’ve been dog-friendly since day one—and a coffee pot. Since then, we’ve had to expand our office three times to accommodate our growing team.

As of this year, we’re thrilled to say PDM is almost 200 team members (plus a few furry friends) strong.

New Service Offerings

Digital marketing is like the many iterations of San Diego’s quintessential California burrito—constantly evolving. And so we’ve kept our service offerings and products on the bleeding edge of data and digital marketing development.

That includes:

• Amazon Marketing
• Paid Media
• PR & Outreach
• Influencer Marketing
• B2B Marketing
• And so much more

But our shiniest, sparkliest edition to our menu of services this year?

Reader, we’d like you to meet Nova.

Nova

Multiple real-time data sources integral to your marketing campaigns. One platform to streamline them all.

nova.

nova is our proprietary data platform, an adaptive tool that utilizes machine learning to transform raw information into actionable insights specific to individual businesses.

Since we first opened our doors, we’ve believed in making data-informed, holistically curated marketing decisions. And now, we can offer an entirely new world of data-powered strategy to our clients with Nova.

New Partnerships and Acquisitions

Some things—like taking the world of digital marketing by storm—are just more enjoyable with friends. And this year was a monumental one for expanding the PDM ranks with new acquisitions across the US.

Periscope Partnership

Collaboration is a key component to our company’s identity. And we couldn’t have been happier to work with Periscope Equity this year. Periscope Equity is a private firm based in Chicago that helped open new doors for acquisitions.

Periscope Equity gave us the power to make even more new friends: Covet and Factorial.

Covet

In August 2020, we acquired Covet PR, a renowned public relations firm, to fortify our Consumer Business Unit. Sara Brooks, Covet PR founder and CEO stated “today, the traditional PR landscape has significantly shifted and I wholeheartedly believe that a full-funnel approach is the future of PR, having all elements of your strategy – PR, SEO, paid social and digital marketing – working together symbiotically.” Their expertise and reputation has already elevated our PR service offerings and we are all so stoked to work with them.

Factorial

We’ve joined forces with Factorial Digital, a leading performance marketing and consulting firm based in New York, NY. Our CEO, Grayson, has said that Factorial and Power Digital were made from the same DNA. “Factorial is a partner we have known for years and what excites me most is the reputation that Factorial has established for itself, which can be largely attributed to its leaders’ and team’s ability to drive results. I know this partnership will be a huge win for us all, and most importantly for our teams and clients.” We’re thrilled to have Factorial Digital’s stellar reputation for brand growth on the PDM team.

New (and Old) Awards and Accolades

We’ve grown a lot—in the quality of our services, in our team members, and in our expertise. And that growth got noticed.

Quick detour to the trophy case:

• This year, we were listed on Inc500 California’s Top Companies
• We were a Platinum Winner at the AVA Digital Awards
• We won Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work (for the third consecutive year)
• In this trophy case, we don’t mind being redundant—PDM was included on San Diego Business Journal’s list of Best Places to Work.

What Hasn’t Changed? Our Culture and Core Values

Over the last eight years, our brand has seen plenty of changes. But some of the best things don’t change, like our culture and core values. Even before our numbers swelled to the digital digits, we valued creativity, hard work, integrity, and trust. And our team members are the pillars that uphold those values every single day.

Which is why we love showing our appreciation for all they do with a few PDM company culture staples:

• Company bonding – PDM started out as a tight-knit family of marketers. Eight years later, the only thing that’s changed on that front is new additions to the fam! We prioritize time spent strengthening our team bonds with:
  • Ski trips to Big Bear
  • Beach cleanups
  • Volunteering at the San Diego Food Bank
  • And happy hours of course
• PDMEmmies – Nope, not quite an Emmy Award—better. PDMEmmies are our version of The Office’s Dundies, a friendly office roast that’s a favorite for its hilarity and inside jokes. This event embodies one of our company’s most important rules: Have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Staying connected through COVID-19 – In March of 2020, our company went digital—and so did our warm and zany culture. We embraced the telecommuting change and kept in touch with company-wide virtual cooking classes, Guess Who games, and a “Ask Almost Anything” questions game.
• The President’s Club – We love our team’s overachieving attitude—so we decided to reward it with The President’s Club, a goals-incentive program. If you hit your “prez club goals” for the year, you were eligible to go on the trip. President Club members have enjoyed all-expenses paid trips to Costa Rica, Hawaii, and the Caribbean.

Yeah, we love our team members—and judging by our 95% retention rate, we think the feeling’s mutual.

What’s Next for Year 9?

This year we set new records, started new partnerships, and overcame the unique obstacles that 2020 threw at us. We can’t foresee what surprises our ninth year will have in store, but there’s one thing we do know about the future without looking into a crystal ball or hopping into a time-traveling DeLorean: the scrappy, passionate, and creative spirit of PDM will bring our brand and our clients to new heights.

Cheers, everyone, to another great year.