Trying to store a custom tag in a database field

I have a simple custom tag that displays an image.  We'll call it <cf_checkmark>.  All it does is display a nice little checkmark.  Saves me from having to rewrite the <img src="...."> tag over and over and over.  I want to store this tag in a database field, so it is returned as a value in my query results.  (I'm not storing the code in the database, just the text "<cf_checkmark>").  Only problem is coldfusion doesn't render the custom tag when I output the result.  The tag is there, it's just not rendering or executing.  If I do a View Source I can see <cf_checkmark> in the source.  It just doesn't execute or render.

My guess is that ColdFusion executes all the cf code before it outputs the query results.  Therefore it doesn't recognize the text in the query result as a custom tag.  Is there any way to get this to work?