A year ago, two St. Augustine locals had an idea to utilize their marketing skills and start their own company called Dream Dedicated; A full-service marketing package for businesses in all types of industries.
Describe your business
Dream Dedicated is our main brand that we funnel all of our marketing ideas through. The heart of the company is the media part of our business. The Media company is set up in three different departments, website design, online marketing, and video production. Within those departments, there are different pillars where we focus on various industries.
How did you two meet?
We knew of each other through our girlfriends but officially met at Shelton’s wedding in May 2017. I mentioned the idea of a building a team and a marketing business to Shelton in October 2017 when we were at another friends wedding and by February 2018 we were officially in business together.
How are you spreading the word about Dream Dedicated?
Our media department lends itself to some fun projects, such as the “Elf Shuffle” and the Police Department lip sync video. These videos show the expertise and production value we offer and allow us to show what we can do for other businesses.
A great example would be a music video we did earlier this year. We started getting leads through that video because we marketed to over 35,000 views on Facebook. We had people wanting to learn more and to see if we could do the same thing for their companies.
Tell me about the video contest for the Ellen show?
The first year Ellen had the contest, I had submitted a video but didn’t win. This year when the contest came up, we decided to go for it and Jay came up with the rap. We sat down, wrote the music, choreographed it, shot it and uploaded it to enter the contest within ten hours. We won and got to go on the Ellen show. We decided to take the Elf Shuffle to St. Augustine and contacted the Police Department to be a part of it.
What other fun videos have you done?
The first video we did was the police lip sync battle. There was a viral challenge on Facebook and all these videos were going out across the country of different Police Departments. When our Police Department got challenged, I saw it on facebook and immediately messaged them because I knew this could be something really good for the city and the local Police Department. We got the entire city involved in it and they ended up getting over 200,000 views on their facebook page.
Another contest we did was for Chick-Fil-A where we had to write a jingle and film a video. We shot it at the local Chick-Fil-A here in St. Augustine, had a blast and ended up winning Chick-Fil-A for a year.
Have you found that your videos are bringing in business?
Yes, the majority are local businesses. These projects started catching attention and gaining traction so we realized this was something we needed to be doing to show people what we can do for them.
What are some of the industries you are working in?
We offer our marketing services to all industries; For example with Real Estate we create an entire package which includes a website that offers an experience for their customers, landing pages to generate leads through social media and will run various campaigns based on what the Realtor wants. We do it all; video, photography, and drone work in a full-service package or we can provide services a la carte.
We create a streamlined lead generation platform that belongs to the Agent, so the leads belong to them. We then draw from the analytics to see how the ads are performing. This sort of package transfers to all industries; Landscaping, Event Planning, Hospitality, etc.
We do events as well, one that is very big here in St. Augustine are weddings. We do photography and videography. Weddings are great because they can be stressful and exhilarating at the same time. To be able to catch these moments and put them on a video to create a memory and tell a story for the couple is very rewarding.
What do you feel is the strongest service you offer your customers?
Google Adwords and social media marketing. Not only do we grow your pages organically, but we manage the advertisements and convert leads. If we didn’t build the website we can build landing pages for a company to bring leads in. We also monitor the leads coming in and follow up with our clients to make sure the leads coming in are good and are converting. We want to be on top of our performance and this helps us improve our services for our customer.
We also do branding and logos, it’s very important to brand yourself and have that logo on all of your marketing.
How has the company grown since February?
We are bringing on more employees that are all creative and round out the team well. We brought in Carlos who graduated in May and he’s doing all the client account management for social media. We have Winston doing video and graphic design. He’s also a musician and can produce music. We have an office space now, before we were working out of our bedrooms so we are now able to expand and fully train our employees and utilize all of their skill sets.
What’s your goal for the business in 2019?
Our goal is to focus mainly on sales and pitch the company and to get Shelton on Full-time. We'd also like to be a recognized brand in St. Augustine. We want to be integrated into the community and create opportunities locally.
What do you do in your spare time, Jay?
Music is definitely one of my passions and I’m releasing my first album this month.
What about you Shelton?
I’m training to be an Ironman for November 2019. I ran my first half Ironman in April and it was amazing.
What inspired you to do the Ironman?
I went with a friend who was doing an Ironman to shoot a documentary for him and his friends. I’m competitive at heart and saw this as an opportunity to be competitive again.
I started Oct. 1 and did my first triathlon which is a 1/2 mile swim, 13-mile bike, and a 5k. It was incredible and my goal was to finish in under 2 hours and I finished in 1:55.
Is there anything else you’d like the community to know about your business?
One thing we are really proud of is that we are always ready. It doesn’t matter what someone needs, we have a team that is ready to go and a work ethic to get the job done.
and on YouTube @SheltonWalker | @JayCarterMartin
Comments