• Spark Compass - Navigating Marketing

  • By: Spark SLC
  • Podcast

Spark Compass - Navigating Marketing

By: Spark SLC
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  • Summary

  • Join us on our journey as we navigate marketing through conversations with local experts.
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Economics Management Marketing
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Episodes
  • Search Engines with Colton Jung

    Search Engines with Colton Jung
    Apr 6 2023
    “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 ...
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  • Digital Advertising with Laura Kittner

    Digital Advertising with Laura Kittner
    Mar 22 2023
    “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 ...
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  • Photography and Videography with Catherine Colasimone

    Photography and Videography with Catherine Colasimone
    Feb 6 2023
    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!
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