Blog Archives | Spoke Communications, LLC

The Basics: A Content Marketing Strategy Checklist

By Andrew Clark on October 30, 2018 / Blog, Education and Training, Interactive Media, Marketing, Strategy

Would you expect to walk into an interview without prepared questions? What about teaching a class – wouldn’t you expect the instructor to have a lesson plan? Then why do so many companies embark on content marketing without a strategy? We see it all the time. “We have a newsletter. We send it out every quarter.” Nothing more… No targeted information… No actionable items… No measurement… No strategy? And generally, that’s the extent of it. How do people do business like that?!? Your content marketing HAS to come with a strategy. If there isn’t thought behind the effort what is

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The Value of Email Marketing

By Andrew Clark on October 23, 2018 / Blog, Brand Marketing, Case Studies, Education and Training, Interactive Media, Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, SPOKE News, Strategy

Email marketing, for some, remains a mystery. From list procurement to communications strategies to drop schedules and more, the intricacies that go into an effective email marketing campaign make the channel somewhat difficult to grasp, let alone manage. But if done properly, and with purpose, an email campaign can not only raise brand awareness within your target audience, but increase actions that benefit your bottom line – whether that means taking action on a goal or mission, or clicking through to purchase a product or schedule a service. We recently sat in with a local marketing communications class where the

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Your Product Photography Deserves More Than The Instagram Treatment

By Andrew Clark on October 16, 2018 / Blog, Brand Marketing, Branding, Education and Training, Social Media, Spoke Portfolio, Strategy

We get it. An iPhone and Instagram is a heck of a lot quicker and cheaper than hiring a professional photographer and studio to handle your product shots. With today’s digital devices, resolutions are reaching and, in some cases, surpassing traditional print demands. On more advanced devices, internal photo settings can simulate depth of field effects or even stacked focus. Heck, pop a shot, open Instagram, and add a funky frame or over saturate it a bit and “Voila!” ART! Why pay for “professional” photography when the intern or office manager can zip out 20 to 30 new product shots

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Content Marketing Drives More Than Your Blog

By Andrew Clark on July 31, 2018 / Blog, Brand Marketing, Branding, Education and Training, Marketing, Strategy

Content Marketing? Blogging? Digital PR? Journaling? E-News? We’ve heard a number of terms for it, but whatever you call it, it’s important. Content Marketing (what we call it here at SPOKE) is a strategy that should be present in every aspect of your marketing plan. It builds brand narrative and reinforces market knowledge and authority all while being infinitely packageable and a valuable source of sales support. Bring Clients Closer By Building Your Brand Narrative: Brands need to communicate. It should be core to their nature. By telling stories (Content Marketing) Brands increase the ability to connect to their target audience

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Do You Have Clear Video Marketing Strategies?

By Andrew Clark on April 12, 2018 / Blog, Education and Training, Interactive Media, Marketing, Strategy, Video Marketing

Video Marketing is becoming more prevalent every day. Whether it’s streaming Facebook live videos or higher-end produced pieces, it’s become such a valuable tool that companies looking for better engagement, better brand representation and clear, concise messaging are jumping into the video marketing game. For over a decade, the SPOKE team has been producing videos for our clients. Added to an effective content marketing plan, video offers the end users, the client’s target audience, a strong connection with imagery, messaging, and branding in a sweet, entertaining, encapsulated package. Here are a couple samples from recent projects SPOKE produced for client video

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Infiniti Challenge – ISU’s Coach Steve Prohm Needs Your Vote!

By Andrew B. Clark on March 6, 2018 / Blog, Education and Training, SPOKE News

infinitichallenge timeout coach steve prohm

The Foundation and Steve Prohm, Iowa State’s Head Basket ball Coach are currently in the throws of the Ininiti Coaches Challenge. In an effort to help Coach Prohm win this round of the challenge – resulting in $100,000 for his chosen charity, The Lupus Foundation of America, Iowa Chapter – they’re asking for your vote!

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How Leaders Can Mitigate “That’s Not My Job”

By Andrew Clark on March 1, 2018 / Blog, Brand Marketing, Marketing

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“That’s not my job” Where did that phrase even come from? Now, I may be a “man of a certain age,” but when a company is building a customer-centric workforce, the words “That’s not my job” should NEVER cross a team member’s lips. Is this a by-product of downsizing? Corporate America has lost its sense of loyalty to its employees, forcing a loss of loyalty and pride of job from its employees. Workers are carried along on the wave of “each man for himself”, afraid to extend a hand for fear of having it bitten. Whatever happened to the “One

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Diving Into SEO – A Visual Guide

By Andrew B. Clark on January 16, 2018 / Blog, Education and Training, Marketing, SEO, Strategy

Our clients love this SEO visual guide. We think you will too! SEO guides are abundant and ever-changing. Some are useful while others tend to create more confusion than help. With our clients, we’ve created a simple SEO visual guide to help them in Web site development and management. The guide offers a unique perspective to working with your Website as a “Landing Zone” for those jumping into Google (or other search engines) to search for your products or services. At the 10,000 foot view, you have the basics: Do your keyword research Creating a sitemap.xml for your site Submit

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VIDEO: Local Search Optimization and What to Do About “Hawk”

By Andrew Clark on October 13, 2017 / Blog, Education and Training, Industry News, SEO, Strategy

The recent release of Google’s Algorithm update, “Hawk,” has raised some questions about the best practices for local search optimization. Businesses need to make sure they are properly optimizing their web sites for local search. With Hawk, a basic correction for 2016’s Possum changes, business can take advantage of local search optimization strategies. The video below goes through some of the high-points of the recent update as well as offers a handful of local search optimization and organic search optimization tips and best practices. If you’re properly maintaining your Web site with good, on-site content, utilization of best practices for

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The Most Important Digital Marketing Question You Need to Answer

By Andrew B. Clark on September 22, 2017 / Blog, Interactive Media, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Strategy, Technology

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Do you want to understand digital marketing, or do you want someone to handle it for you? It’s an important and honest question. It can help you decide where your time is best spent and what’s most important to you. We have clients that know they need digital marketing, but don’t understand what it is, where to use it, and how they’ll find value. It’s important for us to educate our customers on what digital marketing is and how to measure its value. We should note that not every business will use digital marketing the same way, nor will they

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