Marketing – 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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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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Food for Thought: Email Marketing in a Time of Crisis

By The BrandChef on March 26, 2020 / crisis communications, customer support, email strategy, Marketing, Social Media

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, blog, brand marketing, Email, Email marketing, marketing communication, marketing des moines, marketing strategy, social media marketing, Spoke Communications, strategy, The Brand Chef

WHAT IF… and just go with me for a second, here… WHAT IF your current email marketing campaign offered more than a 10% discount on your damn widget? WHAT IF your email marketing, in times of crisis, offered HOPE… offered UNDERSTANDING… offered RELIEF?

Food for thought…

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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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Thinking Outside The Gift Box – Holiday Marketing Ideas That Mean More

By abclark on December 10, 2019 / Branding, Marketing, Miscellaneous Marketing

Tags: #GivingTuesday, Andrew B. Clark, charitable marketing, corporate marketing, customer marketing, different marketing ideas, happy holidays, holiday marketimng ideas, holiday marketing, holiday promotions, marketing ideas, nonprofit marketing, restaraunt marketing, seasonal marketing, special marketing, Spoke Communications, The Brand Chef

’Tis the season – *groan* – for junk mail, needless promotional ads, spammy inboxes, and more! As consumers, the Holidays are a whirlwind of “too good to be true” offers and “hurry before it’s too late” pitches. With that and the absolute inundation of digital media with

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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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Strategy Sparks Joy and So Much More

By abclark on October 7, 2019 / Branding, Communications, Marketing, Miscellaneous Marketing, Public Relations

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, communications strategy, des moines iowa, des moines marketing, Marie Kondo, Marketing, marketing communications, marketing company des moines, Public Relations, Spoke Communications, strategic communications, The Brand Chef

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.”

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Time Has Shrunk. Has Attention to Quality as Well?

By The BrandChef on September 4, 2019 / CMYK Printing, Des Moines Marketing Company, digital printing, Marketing, offset printing, Print Design, quality marketing company, quality print design, RGB Proofing, SPOKE News, the brand chef thebrandchef

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, blog, design, graphic design, marketing communications, marketing strategy, Spoke Communications, technology

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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7 Ways to Stay Top-Of-Mind and Make Marketing Connections

By abclark on September 3, 2019 / Branding, Communications, Marketing, Miscellaneous Marketing, Public Relations

Tags: Andrew B. Clark, content marketing, des moines iowa, marketing company des moines iowa, marketing des moines iowa, marketing strategy, social media marketing, Spoke Communications, top-of-mind awareness

What is your brand doing to maintain relevance to its audience? If your / your company’s brand is dependent on continued exposure in a specific market, what are the steps you’re taking to maintain that contact and staying “top-of-mind?” Back in “the day” it was a combination

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Archive for the Marketing Category

Weathering A Crisis Storm – Focus on The Long Game

Better Security and WordPress Hosting

Thinking Outside The Gift Box – Holiday Marketing Ideas That Mean More

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

Strategy Sparks Joy and So Much More

Time Has Shrunk. Has Attention to Quality as Well?

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

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Contact The Brand Chef