“Stick to the basics and do it very well.”Did you miss this month’s episode? Or maybe you’re just looking for a short memory refresher? Either way, welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind the scenes moments. This month’s episode featured Colton Jung, a Digital Lead Generator working for Launch Lab, who helped us explore all things search engine optimization and search engine marketing!SEO & SEM – What are they and why do they matter?In a nutshell, SEO (aka search engine optimization) is the act of setting up a website in such a way that Google understands how its content connects with customer search queries. Lots of things play into how Google analyzes the information on your website such as content headers, meta descriptions, and relevant keywords. So understanding how SEO works is critical to the improvement and ranking of your website. SEM, otherwise known as search engine marketing, is a supporting piece in the process of optimization. When you pay for SEM advertisements, you’re also paying to take up space in Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, and other avenues. This can be a great way of ensuring your website gets displayed in front of your target audience. Colton mentions that a rule of thumb is establishing good SEO before moving into paid SEM. Since an optimized website is the baseline (and potential first point of contact for a consumer) you want to make sure that it can be found organically and has all the content that a consumer might be looking for before you start promoting your site. First steps when using SEO?Colton suggested two things everyone should know about when first starting out with SEO. The first is to understand how title tags and meta descriptions work. These are the actual content displayed within a Google search. Since it’s often the first thing people see when a website is displayed, that makes them very important. Title tags let Google and the user know what that website link is all about. The meta description would be the supporting sub-text, a short description outlining what someone can expect to see if they click on your website link. We’ve linked some helpful articles if you want to learn more about title tags and meta descriptions.  The second step is image optimization. In short, this is the process of shrinking the file size of images on your website. This doesn’t affect the look or quality of the image, but it will improve the overall speed of your website. If your website has a slow loading speed, potential customers will return to their Google search results to try again elsewhere. First steps when using SEM?Once you’re confident that your website will answer any questions potential customers might have about your business, it’s time to consider SEM. When creating paid ads, it’s important that they represent your brand, your competitive landscape, and honestly describe the product/service you’d be promoting. There’s different layers to SEM but at the core of it, you should always represent your business in a way that is authentic to the brand. Does SEO give immediate results?No! It’s a common misconception that SEO provides immediate results. SEO is an investment. It’s a long-term strategy that comes to fruition over time and requires habitual input from your end. Colton suggests following the pattern of implementation, analysis, and adjusting. Implementation - Launch your website optimizationsAnalysis - Are these changes having the desired effect? Why or why not?Adjusting - Tweaking areas that need improvement SEO isn’t a short-term strategy. It’s a business investment that requires constant monitoring and optimization to keep afloat in the highly competitive search engine environment. Common SEO/SEM mistakesPart of the learning process is making mistakes. So here’s a list of the top three most common mistakes business owners make when investing in SEO and SEM:Automatically Generated SEO When you use a website like Shopify or Wix, placefiller SEO is generated automatically. While this can be a great starting point, the placefiller isn’t always optimized for your business and won’t have the same result as writing it yourself. Remember that a key part of SEO is authenticity and accurate representation of your brand, and who can create customized content better than the person who knows the business best? Insufficient or Inaccurate ContentIf you don’t write detailed title tags and meta descriptions, then you run the risk of encountering this common mistake. If your website doesn’t have enough content, Google won’t be able to link it with search queries. If the information you do have is inaccurate or misleading, then you risk not being ranked at all for future searches. Image OptimizationAs we mentioned in earlier sections, not optimizing your images can drastically slow the loading speed of your website and send visitors back to the Google page. SEO checklist for first-time usersThroughout our conversation, Colton provided a checklist with four main elements that first-time SEO users should complete before moving on to SEM. The first task is keyword research, which we’ll discuss more in the next section. Since keywords play a massive role in SEO, it deserves an entire section all to itself. Task number two is to organize your on-page SEO. A simplified explanation of on-page SEO is laying out your website in a way that Google can readily understand. Search engines use formatting to categorize on-page information, so the use of headers and prioritizing information is a must. Technical SEO is the next item on the checklist. This includes optimizing image sizes, optimizing overall site performance, and more. To learn more about Technical SEO, consider reading this informative guide written by HubSpot. A large part of Technical SEO is also auditing the performance of your website to see where you’re lacking or succeeding in SEO. The guide linked to the previous sentence also talks about auditing your website for Technical SEO. Keyword research for SEOIf you aren’t sure where to start with researching keywords, there are free tools available to help. Colton suggests starting with Ubersuggest and Google Keyword Planner, both of which can be used without cost. To use these tools, all you need to do is input a keyword or phrase, and they will auto-generate long-tail keywords. You can use these suggestions to find new and unique ways of implementing keywords that authentically represent your business. A general rule of thumb for keywords is to use them at least once in the copy of your website content. Keywords should relate to what people are searching for and connect honestly back to your website. The finer art of using keywords is finding ways to use them naturally instead of forcing them into your content. Keywords should be relevant but it’s equally important to find opportunities that don’t compete against massive companies who are already dominating certain keywords. Keywords play a huge role in search query results, so sprinkling them into title tags and meta descriptions is a great way to link them back to your website content. Just make sure that if you’re promising certain information in your meta descriptions, that information should also be available on your website. After you’ve implemented your keywords, monitor their performance. Audit their results and keep an eye out for opportunities in adding additional, more effective keywords to the mix. Summarizing SEO into three points or lessWhen asked to summarize SEO into three key points or less, here’s what Colton had to say:Build an organic connection between your website and google search queriesSEO isn’t a short-term strategy, it needs to be implemented, analyzed, and adjustedDon’t get into the weeds, stay focused on title tags, meta descriptions, and keywordsFinal words of adviceAs for final words of advice, Colton had two additional points to add for anyone approaching SEO for the very first time. Building blogs is a great way of answering customer questions while also satisfying SEO criteria. Blog posts lead to customers organically finding their business instead of using paid ads to force it to their attention. The second bit of advice is to spend as much time as you can learning, auditing your competitors, and remembering that SEO is a long game that requires ongoing assessment, input, and modifications.  We’re Spark!Thanks for tuning into yet another episode of Spark Compass!Are you curious about what search engine optimization can do for your business?Sign up to start a project customized to the needs of your business today!

“Digital advertising is a toolkit with all these exciting possibilities.”Did you miss this month’s episode? Or maybe you’re just looking for a short memory refresher? Either way, welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind the scenes moments. This month’s episode featured Laura Kittner, a professor in Digital Marketing Communications and Advertising Marketing Communications programs here at St. Lawrence College. She also runs her own agency and is very passionate about her field of work. In this month’s episode, Laura helped us explore all things digital advertising. What is digital advertising?Initial impressions of digital advertising is that it’s a wild, crazy, and harried world. Despite that (or maybe because of it) digital advertising is also incredibly exciting and rewarding to participate in. When asked to describe digital advertising, Laura called it a “pay to play” experience. In short, digital advertising typically involves paying to have your message put in front of a particular audience. What sets digital advertising apart from traditional marketing is that it occurs entirely on screen. Websites, social media, email, podcasting, and more all fall into the category of digital advertising. It’s an accessible and iterative platform that allows you to experiment, pivot, and mold your approach however you’d please. Everyone has an opportunity to participate in digital advertising and see varying forms of success, regardless of budget or experience. Most digital advertising platforms have removed the learning curve by adding intuitive step-by-step guides for its users. By identifying your goals or objectives, these platforms can auto-generate and suggest what your next steps should be.  Digital advertising can be intimidating for people running a small business or who aren’t technologically savvy. Hiring someone in the industry can help make the experience seamless but it isn’t necessary. Fortunately, digital advertising campaigns can always be modified and changed, so you’re never locked into a single decision or approach. First steps when starting a digital advertising campaignThis is a common theme we’ve been seeing among our guest speakers but once again, a key aspect of starting a digital advertising campaign is knowing about your customers. If you missed it, one of our earliest episodes covers meeting your ideal customer. You can access that episode by clicking here. If you’re in a rush, here’s a summary of the things you should know about your customers to create a successful digital advertising campaign. Who are your customers?Where are they spending their time online? What social media platforms are they using?What are they doing while using these platforms?Understanding your customers, their habits, and their behaviours will also allow you to target which platforms you should be using. One of the worst things you can do is to stretch your efforts across all social media platforms using the same generic content. This isn’t an efficient strategy and it’s also a waste of precious resources, including your time. So, get to know your audience and you can take things from there. Types of digital advertisingThere are dozens of different ways a business can use digital advertising. The ones mentioned during our podcast episode include:Email MarketingThis method has a low barrier to entry, lets you cultivate your audience, and build brand loyalty with existing customers over time. Retargeting AdsLaura used Patagonia as an example to explain how this type of digital advertising works. Let's say you were on the Patagonia website to look at a fleece jacket. You might have even added it to your cart but never finished making a purchase. Patagonia could launch a retargeting campaign by using digital cookies to have ads for that particular jacket pop up every time you visit a new site or platform. Retargeting ads allow you to subtly nudge your customers into taking a specific action, which is most often making a sale on a product or service. Video AdvertisingVideo is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of advertising available. They can be run on virtually any device, across nearly every platform, and tend to outperform advertisements that are strictly image or text-based. Search Engine MarketingThis type relies on search engine queries. Organic search results are free and based on your SEO ranking to display your business in front of a searching customer. There’s also sponsored results which are displayed at the very top of search results. These are paid ads but are reliably shown above organic search results each time. Choosing the right platform for digital advertisingWhen asking Laura to describe how businesses can choose the right platforms, her immediate response was to be selfish. Consider yourself first to set a base-level understanding of how you can better position your business. For this step, consider things like:Your product or serviceHow do they help?Why do they matter to your customer?It’s a noisy, crowded, and competitive landscape so you need to be clear about what you’re offering and how it will benefit your customer. This circles back to the importance of knowing your customers, and knowing them well. Again, things to consider include:Knowing who your customers areKnowing where they spend their time onlineKnowing what they do while onlineWhat do they value?What motivates them? Fortunately, most platforms are predictive and can generate expected results for your digital advertising campaign but the more information you have about your customers, the more accurate those predictions should be. A/B TestingThis was a quick topic that came up in conversation with Laura, but we think it’s important to anyone’s understanding of digital advertising and will be covering it in a bit more detail. A/B Testing is the process of creating an advertisement based on interpretations of what your customers want to see. Then you make small tweaks to the original advertisement to make a second, nearly identical version. Common tweaks for the second ad include:ColourImageryWordingCall to actionThen you run them both and see which performs the best. If they both perform the same, consider taking the best parts of both to create an entirely new ad! If one clearly outperforms the other, then keep the best one running and shut down the other. The possibilities are endless and the results usually speak for themselves. How to implement digital advertising into marketingThis is broken down into a few key components. They are largely revolved around knowing why your business does what it does, and also knowing who your customers are:As a business, what are your goals and objectives?What do you want to accomplish with your digital advertising?Who are your customers and what do they expect from you?Digital advertising can be a viable part of any marketing strategy. Depending on how you answered the above questions, digital advertising could play a big or small role in that strategy. Consider what makes the most sense for your business and whether a digital advertising approach will allow you to engage with your audience. At the end of the day, everything a business does is focused on its consumers. Digital advertising is no different, it just has a clearer focus on the behaviour, activities, and interactions of your customers than other aspects of your business. Echo ChambersThis was another quick but interesting topic that came up in conversation. Echo Chambers occur when platforms analyze your online behaviour and start showing content that’s similar to what you’ve previously interacted with. They’ll also start showing you paid content based on these analyzed behaviours to increase the odds of you interacting with an ad. Echo Chambers are aptly named for their tendency to echo back whatever you interact with on social platforms. This creates a content feedback loop intentionally designed to make you stay and use their platform for longer periods of time. To summarize digital advertising into three points or lessAccessibility Digital advertising has a low barrier to entry and can also be low cost to operate.Noisy Anyone can use digital advertising, so it can be a crowded and competitive landscape that makes landing in front of your ideal customer challenging. Exciting It’s a creative, forgiving, and viable tool to advertise your brand in a more humanized fashion.Final words of wisdom on digital advertisingAs we wrapped up our conversation, Laura left us with three final words of advice for anyone who wants to start implementing digital advertising into their marketing strategy.Just start and don’t overthink itStart small and expand from thereRemember why you believed in your product/service in the first place We’re Spark!Thanks for tuning into yet another episode of Spark Compass!Are you curious about what digital advertising can do for your business?Sign up to start a project customized to the needs of your business today!

Did you miss this month’s episode? Or maybe you’re just looking for a short memory refresher? Either way, welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind the scenes moments. This month’s episode featured Catherine Colasimone, the Director of Digital Marketing at The Small Social Company, who helped us explore the importance of quality visuals on social media. The Small Social Company works with businesses of all sizes to keep their marketing and media communications in tip top shape. Through her time working with local businesses, Catherine developed an eye for best practices and common challenges when creating social media visuals. Why do good social media visuals matter?Effective visuals play the leading role when it comes to using social media platforms. It’s a crucial step in establishing your brand, one that quickly allows your audience to consume information about your business. That being said, it’s equally important to understand when and how this information should be shared with your audiences. In a post-pandemic society, affiliating a face with your business is an easy step towards humanizing your brand. For individuals who can’t visit you directly, or especially if your brand is focused solely on e-commerce, then building that connection early can be critical for your business. Social media provides a convenient platform for highlighting the face behind the brand and connecting with your audience, which is just one of the reasons why good visuals matter. How do you get started with social media visuals?Photography setups and preferences vary from person to person. For the absolute beginner, Catherine recommends starting with three simple items, one of which is already found in most of our pockets:CellphoneTripodRinglightMobile tripods and an array of ringlights can be found online at affordable prices. You don’t need to start with break-the-bank levels of expensive gear since the key to this stage is simply getting started. Tripods keep your phone steady and the frame consistent while taking photos or videos. A good ringlight provides even lighting to help product shots look their best with minimal edits. An alternative to buying ringlights is using natural light sources, such as spaces near windows, to take well lit photos. When it comes to graphics, platforms like Canva make it easy to take and modify templates. That being said, it can also be difficult to stay consistent when there’s so many attractive options available for use. To stay faithful to your branding, Catherine recommends keeping these three things in mind when designing your graphics:Start with brand colours and fontsKeep your style consistent and authenticCreate something that resonates with your brandStarting with brand colours and fonts means you can quickly tell if a template will work for your business. If it doesn’t work then don’t try to force it. It’s okay to not use every template out there. In fact, curating a collection of similar-looking templates is a great way to keep your graphics consistent. Have you branded yourself as a handmade artisanal business? Then using templates focused heavily on technological themes probably isn’t right for you. No matter how cool a template might look, be sure to stay authentic to your business. What are the no-no’s of social media visuals?There’s no one-size fits all approach to posting on social media. Each platform is distinct from the next in caption length, graphic ratios, audiences, and more. Creating a visual in a single size and expecting it to look great across all platforms isn’t a recipe for success. When creating your visuals, be sure to review the size requirements of each platform and plan accordingly. You should also consider auditing your audiences on each platform to understand what they’re interested in and why they follow your account. Depending on the answer, your visuals might need to change. So don’t be afraid to ask your audience what they’d like to see from you! Any final words of wisdom?As we wrapped up our filming session, Catherine offered three tidbits of advice for business owners focused on creating visuals for their social media accounts.Start with your end goal and work backwards from thereStay true to your brand by producing authentic contentBe honest about how frequently you can post online Keeping all of these things in mind will create a more enjoyable experience that stays true to the nature of your business.  We’re Spark!Have questions about social media visuals? Or maybe you’re curious about photography and videography? We’d love to have a chat with you so don’t be afraid to reach out and ask!

“Know as much as you can about your customers and don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. Your customers will tell you what they want but you need to ask and listen.” - Jennifer BakerDid you miss this month’s episode? Or maybe you’re just looking for a short memory refresher? Either way, welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind the scenes moments. This month’s episode featured Jennifer Baker, a part-time professor at St. Lawrence College who also runs her own business surrounding social media strategies and content creation. Jennifer helped us navigate the tricky subject of content creation, it’s importance in marketing, and it’s impact on small businesses. So, what is content creation?In a nutshell, content creation is a process centered around helping customers through their buyer journey. Unlike traditional marketing, content creation focuses on the fine balance between education, entertainment, and a hard sell. Content creation belongs to digital marketing, which is heavily reliant on social media platforms to host and deliver their messaging. Most businesses utilize something known as a content mix to diversify their posts and consistently engage their audience. The industry standard ratio for this mix is creating content that provides value to the audience (80%) or that helps sell your product (20%). There are four main types of content that can be used in a content mix and they are:VideosPhotosBlogsUser-generated contentWhen struggling to create meaningful content, Jennifer suggested a three step process to help guide the creative process. These steps are:Problem: What are the pain points of your audience?Solution: How does your product solve that pain point?Content: Combine those two answers to create meaningful content!In the end, how you develop your content mix depends on the analytics and preferences of your audience. If something performs well or fails to perform at all, feel free to adjust and modify your content mix until you find the ratio that works best for your business. How do trends impact content creation?The answer to this question is that it depends. It depends on whether the trend can provide value to your business and your audience. It depends on whether you have time to participate in every single trend that pops across your social media feeds. Successfully recreating a trend may boost that specific post while it’s still popular. Ultimately, choosing to follow trends is completely up to you. Developing a process that works best for your businessWhen it comes to planning out your social media content, there are a four helpful tips to keep in mind. Number one is to start simple. Try not to overwhelm yourself by being everywhere at once. Choose the platforms you feel most comfortable with and where you know your audience frequents. Number two, understand what message you want to convey. Marketers often use content pillars to guide this decision and to keep their content focused on the topics that matter. Sendible has a great article surrounding content pillars for anyone who wants to learn more about them. Number three is to know that done is better than perfect. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the details but failing to post gives your competitors an advantage and your audience a reason to turn their attention elsewhere. Finally, tip number four is to be honest. Being vulnerable with strangers is a scary idea but your audience will appreciate the honesty if you provide it. Fell ill and couldn’t package your products for delivery? Let your audience know instead of leaving them to wonder why their order hasn’t shipped yet. That’s just one example of honesty but it happens more often than you might think. My content isn’t working, what should I do now?The most common reason why content fails is because it doesn’t engage the audience. Wondering why nobody is commenting or liking your posts? Start asking your audience simple, easily answered questions to catch their attention. Putting your customer first can focus these questions and help to build a relationship with your audience. Another reason why your content is failing could be your choice of language. It’s easy to use industry-specific jargon and even easier to forget that not everyone knows what they mean. Start your content with plain and simple language. Once you’ve established your audience enough to know their preferences, then you can begin to evolve the language you use for your content.Is there a rule about reusing content?Yes! The unspoken rule of thumb is to repurpose your content by presenting it in a new and interesting way. Reused content should differ from the original in both style and delivery. Do not copy and paste your content. Never ever. Especially when managing different platforms, be mindful to modify reused content to fit the demands of each particular platform. Media platforms can be compared to different countries with each one more unique than the last. It’s important to understand these differences so you can readily adapt your content and increase your odds of success. Speaking the language of each platform will help algorithms to better understand your content and align it with an interested audience. To summarize in three points or lessContent creation is all about the customer. Keeping them at the center of your marketing efforts is a key aspect of creating content that your audience will enjoy. If a piece of content won’t educate, entertain, or inspire your audience then it should be deleted. Think quality over quantity.  WE ARE SPARK!Are you curious about how you can meet your best customers? We’re here to help!Our Ignite Strategy Sessions are a great way for us to analyze your business and offer customized audience personas for all of your marketing needs. Sounds interesting? Then consider reaching out to start a conversation!

“You can’t be all things to all people.” - Jackie St. PierreDid you miss this month’s episode? Or maybe you’re just looking for a short memory refresher? Either way, welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind the scenes moments. This month’s episode featured Jackie St. Pierre, a professor at St. Lawrence College with over 20 years of experience in post-secondary education. With previous experience in economic development, fundraising, and business development, she helped us navigate the tricky topic of finding the best fitting social media channels for your business. Should you be everywhere at once?The short answer is absolutely not! The first thing you need to do is understand where your audience can be found. Are they joining communities on Facebook? Or sharing quick thoughts on Twitter?  Maybe they’re curating a colourful feed on Instagram? Figuring out which platforms your audience are using and why are the best first steps you can take when deciding where to establish your brand. Don’t be afraid to ask your audience where you can find them, either. Strike up casual conversations with your clients or consider sending out a poll to gather their responses.What’s segmentation got to do with it?If you aren’t familiar with segmentation, consider listening to or reading all about Episode 2: Meeting Your Best Customers with Bill Crowe, where we talk about the best way to segment your audience. If you’re in a rush, segmentation is the process of grouping your audience together based on similarities in demographic or psychographic information. Ethnicity, religion, age, opinions and attitudes are just some examples of how you can group your audiences into targeted segments. Jackie suggests also using geographics to segment your audience. If you have a store with no e-commerce channels or delivery options, then you wouldn’t want to target consumers in a whole other country. If, however, you know that tourists who visit your shop come from certain cities then you would include them in your geographic segmentation strategy. That’s how segmentation plays into things! Once again, it ultimately circles back to understanding your audience and where they are coming from. How do you maintain authentic representation?It’s easy to think of branding and strategy as separate entities. Successfully incorporating both can introduce unity and cohesion across your media channels. You don’t need to include the entirety of a strategy into your branding, but it is important to include key elements that are foundational to your business. It’s also important to remember that not everything you do on social media needs to pitch a sale. Include the consumer journey into your posts and messaging. Connection and recognition can go a long way in building brand awareness and loyalty. Consider whether the content you create will hold any meaning for your consumers and if it doesn’t, tweak what you have until it does!Is there a strategy to establishing your media presence?Build your brand into something that your audience will want to talk about. Create a presence that provides value and engages with its followers. Remember that branding and social media aren’t all about you, it’ll always be the customer who determines success or failure in your efforts. Using segmentation, demographics, and psychographics to create a persona document (essentially a fictional character based off real data) can help you better understand your audience and what interests them. The best strategy for any brand is the willingness to change ideas and plans. The current social media landscape is never consistent for long and is prone to sudden changes. Making sure your brand can pivot to keep up with these changes can mean the difference between staying current or out of date. Is there a difference between targeting B2B and B2C?Yes, there is definitely a difference when targeting B2B versus B2C! Social media is a great place to develop your brand and audience but the end goals are liable to change depending on who you target. B2B targeting usually drives traffic to a website to conduct business or prompt a conversation, while B2C can now conduct sales on the social media platforms themselves. In terms of marketing on social media, you can still tell stories but they’ll differ slightly. For B2B, sharing success stories and numbers can be a great way of catching people's attention. Then for B2C, creating stories based around the journey of your consumers can be an effective means of gaining their attention and trust. To summarize in three points or less!Start with a planDevelop a marketing planIntegrate across all media platforms WE ARE SPARK!Are you curious about how good branding can benefit your business? We’re here to help!Our Ignite Strategy Sessions are a great way for us to analyze your business and offer customized branding recommendations for all of your marketing needs. Sound interesting? Then consider reaching out to start a conversation!

“A website is a tool.” - Katie RossDid you miss this month’s episode? Or maybe you’re just looking for a short memory refresher? Either way, welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind the scenes moments. This month’s episode featured Katie Ross, the Director of Business Development currently working for Mellow Brew Marketing, who helped us explore all things website.Impact of Websites on Marketing You might be wondering what the connection is between a website and your marketing plan. The simple answer is that they often work hand in hand with one another. A website acts as the foundation for how your business is positioned and also serves as an information hub for potential consumers. Creating an efficient website can positively impact your marketing in the areas of:Brand awarenessClear messagingStrong first impressionsAnd much, much more! Benefits of Having a WebsiteNo matter what stage your business is in, it’s almost guaranteed that you can benefit from having a website. If you feel like your marketing has been inconsistent or you aren’t sure where to go with your branding, websites can be a great way of refocusing your attention. Often serving as a first point of contact with potential clients, websites can help define who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Having this information clearly listed on your website can be helpful for clients and for your own marketing purposes. While on set, Katie mentioned how we “do business with people we like”. Websites can be a hub for authenticity, consistency, and quality that potential customers look for in a business, boosting you along their qualifying process. What Style of Website Do You Need?This is a question only you can answer but a good place to start is by understanding what you need your website to do for your business. When considering the style of website you’ll need, ask yourself some functional questions:Does your website need to accept payments?Will you be scheduling through your website? Do you plan on selling products on your website?By asking yourself what your website needs to do and how it will support your business, finding your ideal website style becomes much easier!Checklists and ModificationsWhen something isn’t going according to plan, it’s easy to make uninformed changes. The same can be said for an underperforming website. That’s why it’s important to set a strong foundation for your website before publishing it. A quick checklist you can use to guide you during the creation process is:Why are you doing what you’re doing?How are you doing it?Why are you doing it?If these foundational questions are being answered somewhere on your website, then you’re off to a good start. But let’s say things aren’t going the way you’d hoped and some changes are needed. Everything starts with strategy so it’s important to audit your website before making any modifications. Review elements such as:Missing keywordsUnnecessary textComplicated navigationLacking answers to potential search queriesOnce you’ve established any areas of change, give yourself time to review any modifications before publishing them. Katie advises stepping away for 60 days to give yourself time to live with the changes before making them permanent. And remember that when it comes to website content, less is more. Are There Standardized Web Pages?Yes and no! There’s no set standard to the world of website creation but there are certain pages that most customers have come to expect. These pages often contain valuable information about your business so they’re good to have on your website. These pages are:Home pageAbout Us pageContact UsSome nice to have but not always necessary pages include:Blank QR pageBusiness Process pageProduct/Services pageAgain, it’s important to consider what your business does and what you need your website to do for you when deciding which pages to include. To SummarizeKnow your audienceKnow the purpose of your websiteResearch website tools to create seamless interactions We are Spark!Are you curious about how a website can benefit your business? We’re here to help!Our Ignite Strategy Sessions are a great way for us to analyze your business and offer customized recommendations for all of your website needs. Sound interesting? Consider reaching out to start a conversation!

On the 5th episode of Spark Compass, we present Storytelling, with Cory Firth. Storytelling is one of the most primitive forms of communication and it’s certainly a way you can make your business stand out and connect with your audience on a deeper level. Cory Firth, a psychedelic storyteller, explains the power of the narrative when creating stories about your brand.

Written by Madyson Kiepprien-FraserReading time 3:16 minutes “What will make your branding sharp and pointed?” - Rob HowardDid you miss this month’s episode? Or maybe you’re just looking for a short memory refresher? Either way, welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind the scenes moments. This week’s episode features Rob Howard, a Brand Rehabilitation Therapist who helped us learn what it takes to make a lasting impression with your branding. What Is Branding?Before we can talk about what branding is, it’s important to understand what it’s not. Branding is not a jingle. It is not the packaging your product comes in or the logo of your business. Most often, branding is intangible - it’s something that cannot readily be held in the palm of your hand. Successful branding can be defined as the sum total of all emotions and feelings associated with your business. It’s how your employees feel about their work. It’s the feeling consumers get when interacting with your business. When asking yourself about branding, consider how you approach and engage with people. The Importance of Good BrandingMispositioning is one of the most common mistakes businesses make with their branding. It’s easy to make assumptions about how your business is being perceived, but it’s harder to validate those assumptions with research. When a consumer identifies a problem, such as being hungry and looking for a place to eat, there are usually 2-3 businesses that immediately come to mind. This is known as an evoked set and, if you’re able to position your business correctly, can be a very powerful marketing tool. Good branding can secure your place in a consumer's evoked set, effectively setting you apart from the competition. But what does it take to make this list?Building A Successful FoundationThere are four essential elements to consider when developing your brand.Brand Purpose - In time, this will become the core of your brand. A good brand purpose allows your consumers to buy into what your brand stands for and can turn customers into believers. Brand Promise - This should be greater than a value proposition. It doesn’t need to be tangible but it’s important to know what your brand promise can be so you can articulate it properly. In Rob’s experience, a successful brand promise is like a relationship. It implies a reward for the consumer. From recognition to a good feeling, knowing what influences your consumer to act is crucial for this step. Brand Personality - This is where the tangible elements of your branding come into play. Things like tone of voice, social media presence, visual identity, etc are all considerations for brand personality. The key to this step is integrating purpose and promise into your personality. Brand Positioning - There are three aspects to this final step. Consider what you do, who your audience is, and what makes you different from similar businesses. Include some supporting evidence to support your claim to uniqueness and boom, you’ve got the initial research needed for brand positioning. Competitive Research & BrandingYou might be wondering what your competitors have to do with developing a successful brand. If you can understand how other businesses are fulfilling the needs of their consumers, it introduces the opportunity to understand what you do differently than them. Competitive research can also create a roadmap for your business. If you’re here today but want to be somewhere else tomorrow, what does your branding need to accomplish to help get you there? If your company has a “best kept secret” that should be known by everyone, then share it! Implement that secret element into your brand to better connect with your consumers. Implementing Your Branding The first fans of your brand should be the people already associated with your business. Advocacy works best when your employees are onboard too. Consider running your purpose, promise, and personality through an internal review to gain support from the people who work hard to keep the business running. A key part of implementing your brand into your marketing is maintaining consistency. Creating brand guidelines and artifacts is a great way of informing your employees about how your brand should behave both on and offline. Start internally, be authentic, and stay consistent. To Summarize It’s important to establish the foundation of your brand before you promote it. The three key aspects of a brand foundation are: Brand PurposeBrand Promise Brand Personality We are Spark!Are you curious about how good branding can benefit your business? We’re here to help!Our Ignite Strategy Sessions are a great way for us to analyze your business and offer customized branding recommendations for all of your marketing needs. Sound interesting? Then consider reaching out to start a conversation!

On our 3rd episode of Spark Compass, Veronica Dogbegah, a User Experience Design Specialist, explains in a casual conversation what UX is. According to Veronica, User Experience is the future! Understanding your customers’ needs, values, and abilities is the key for success. Join us to find out how the user experience will help your company grow even more!

Who is your best customer? Should you have a best customer? In Spark Compass’s second episode, Bill Crowe explains the importance of knowing whom you’re selling to. Join us and meet your ideal customer!

What is your secret sauce?