marketing communications des moines iowa

Here, you’re going to find a large collection of industry news, updates and information on marketing communications. You’ll be able to find everything from Web video insights and marketing tips and tricks to some of our past rants, raves and reviews on the marketing industry.

This information is accumulated from our past CreateWOWmarketing blog as well as current posts from the Spoke Communications team. Categories and post dates can be found to he right.

If you have questions or need to contact us, please feel free to reach out to us using the contact page within this website.  OR feel free to comment on the blogs here! No one seems to do that these days, so it would be a great surprise and pleasure to welcome you to the wheelhouse!


The BIG 3 of BIG DESIGN: Graphic Design Tips for Vehicles and More

graphic design for vehicle graphics

There’s a certain level of excitement when we get to design vehicle graphics for clients. I mean, who doesn’t love to see their work THAT BIG!?! But every time we’re asked to scale graphics to these extremes, we stop and consider the BIG 3 challenges of BIG DESIGN. Design for resolution Design for movement Design for brand consistency So, when Capital City Fruit out of Norwalk, Iowa brought their latest delivery van concept to us for a brand wrap, before we even opened the vehicle CAD schematics and our design software, we started thinking. What could trip us up on

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Good Social Media Engagement While Social Distancing

social media distancing des moines iowa

Engaging brands on Twitter and Facebook and other various social media channels have a unique challenge when it comes to truly building community and support behind their brands.  Do brand managers monitoring their social media experience engage every tweet and post that mentions their name, product, service or industry? How appropriate is it to “chime in” on conversation streams with advice and “promotions?” And when is the line crossed from Good Social Media Practice to Something Dangerous? Below, we’ve put together four helpful tips to remember when it comes to being a good steward of your social media brand. While

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Better Security and WordPress Hosting

des moines wordpress host

We were notified shortly after 3AM that brute force attacks and complex access attacks were increasing exponentially on a few of our client sites. With properly protected sites, we only had to go in and block a few (dozen) IP addresses, but with attacks jumping by MILLIONS, we’re happy to have had the protections in place to begin with.  We were able to make quick work of locking down all of our sites and fending off the attacks.

What do YOU do when your WordPress Web site is attacked?

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300 Stories – A New Year, A New Milestone

des moines communications agency

Today, I hit 300 stories… This is a special milestone for me and SPOKE Communications. Not only from a content marketing and P.R. aspect, but because from the day I started this career I wanted to do nothing but help people tell their stories. Whatever the application – graphic design, photography, videography, copywriting, illustration, public relations, education and training, I live to tell stories. Today, I hit 300 stories (for one client).

Can I help you tell your story?

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Old is New Again in Direct Marketing Strategy: “Lumpy Mail” Wins

direct mail marketing des moines iowa

Direct mail marketing programs are not dead. They should be an integral part of your Direct Marketing Strategy. Contrary to every social media super star’s testimony to the contrary, when you use “Snail Mail” to send something of value to a customer or a prospect, it’s going to get noticed. I don’t care who you are or what your thoughts are when it comes to checking the mailbox, if there’s something in there with weight, or girth – better yet, if it makes noise – you’re going to open it. And for a marketer, that’s 90% of the battle. We

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Time Has Shrunk. Has Attention to Quality as Well?

quality print design spoke communications

We made a couple text edits and sent the client a new proof of the mailer. Through the beauty of technology, we watched as they opened the email, clicked on the proof, glanced over the last round of edit requests, and snap – off to press! But something was bothering me. It was negligible, almost like a shadow that I could see out of the corner of my eye but never quite catch. Deadlines. Because of deadlines, I sent the approved art off to press anyway. That was Friday. Today, only a few days later, we’re re-ordering the print run.

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Business Vampires… or “Fresh AB-Negative – FREE for the Taking?”

business vampires

In a recent feature I saw on LinkedIn, the author talked about purging your life from those that make it miserable. “Buzzkills” she called them. Well, in the business world, I call them “Vampires.”  I wrote this feature about 12 years ago when I was pretty new at this blogging and social media thing, so I thought “What the hell, let’s see if I actually knew what I was talking about.”  Surprisingly, “Vampires” are always relevant. I hope you enjoy. 😉  (This post was originally published at TheBrandChef.com.) *** This morning, while still sound asleep (where I do my best

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Strategy Sparks Joy and So Much More

strategic communications

Sometimes I get so laser-focused on the “day-to-day” that I forget the joy in what I do. Outside graphic design, outside web development and maintenance, outside content writing, outside video, outside all of the “tasks,” I love (pronounced “luuuuuuuv”) strategy. As Marie Kondo says, “It sparks Joy.” I love the why. I especially love the how. There’s little more exciting to me than a blank slate laid out in front of me with a goal on one end and a deadline on the other. So, Andy, how do we make the two connect? Today I set aside the “day-to-day” and

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