Education and Training – The Brand Chef | Branding and Marketing Communications Des Moines, Iowa

Content Marketing: 4 Simple Ways to Feed and Support Your Sales Team

By Andrew Clark on March 30, 2021 / @SpokeCom, AB Clark, Branding, content, customer support, des moines content marketing, des moines digital marketing, Des Moines Marketing Company, Education and Training, Marketing, marketing company, News, newsletter, sales team

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, blog, blogging, brand, content marketing, education, marketing communications, sales, SEO, social media marketing, strategy, thebrandchef

More than blogging, more than newsletter fodder or search engine optimization (SEO) and keyword depth, the content you develop within a strategic content marketing program has the power to truly impact sales. The more you can tell the story of your company, the stronger your team can present itself to your customers. For your sales team, content marketing provides a voice beyond product specifications, statistics and pricing. It offers depth, knowledge and leverage. While many content marketing campaigns focus on external distribution in a public-facing approach, imagine the value of crafting these stories to empower your sales team. The information

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

By The BrandChef on November 5, 2020 / Branding, Case Studies, Education and Training, graphic design des moines, graphic production, Spoke Portfolio, vehicle graphic design, vehicle wrap

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, blog, brand marketing, Client Case Study, design, marketing communications, marketing des moines, Marketing for sales, Spoke Communications, strategic marketing, The Brand Chef

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

By The BrandChef on April 16, 2020 / brand management, brand monitoring in social media, Branding, Communications, dick's last resort, Education and Training, Interactive Media, Marketing, marketing in social media, Social Media, social media best practices, social media mentions, target stores, Twitter

Tags: blog, brand marketing, CreateWOWmarketing, Des Moines, Facebook, Iowa, social media marketing, strategy, thebrandchef

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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Weathering A Crisis Storm – Focus on The Long Game

By The BrandChef on March 17, 2020 / Branding, communication strategies, coronavirus, covid-19, crisis communications des moines, Education and Training, Marketing, Public Relations, public relations des moines, SPOKE News

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, blog, brand marketing, brand strategy, marketing communications, marketing company des moines, strategy, The Brand Chef, thebrandchef, TRUE branding

Weathering a business crisis requires a focus on the long game. When considering your crisis messaging strategy, be firmly focused on transparency, consistency and calm to assure your employees & customers that tomorrow will be a better day with better opportunities.

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Better Security and WordPress Hosting

By The BrandChef on February 11, 2020 / brute force attack, Case Studies, des moines makrketing company, des moines website design, des moines website host, digital marketing, Digital Marketing Case Study, Education and Training, Interactive Media, Marketing, web design, web development, web hosting, web security, web site security, website development, website hacking, website hosting, website security, wesite design, WordPress, wordpress design, wordpress security

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, blog, des moines iowa, Spoke Communications, strategy, technology

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

By The BrandChef on January 3, 2020 / article writing, brand communications, Branding, Case Studies, communications company des moines, Education and Training, News, PR, Public Relations, SPOKE News

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, blog, brand marketing, communications strategy, content marketing, marketing communications, marketing company des moines, marketing des moines, marketing strategy, SEO, Spoke Communications, The Brand Chef, thebrandchef

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

By The BrandChef on October 8, 2019 / Case Studies, Education and Training, Marketing, Print Design

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, blog, Client Case Study, design, digital marketing alternatives, direct marketing, direct marketing strategy, lumpy mail, mail marketing, marketing communications, marketing des moines, Marketing for sales, sales marketing, Spoke Communications, strategic marketing, strategy, targeted audience strategies, The Brand Chef

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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Archive for the Education and Training Category

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

Weathering A Crisis Storm – Focus on The Long Game

Better Security and WordPress Hosting

300 Stories – A New Year, A New Milestone

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

10 Minutes of TRUE Branding from the 2011 #140 Character Conference

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