Frequently Asked Questions
We realize that there are a lot of questions out there, so here is our best attempt to quickly address the ones we get asked the most. If you don’t see your question here, or don’t get the answer you are looking for, then please contact us directly and we will happily go over any questions you have.
Graphic Design
Graphic design is a design process that combines text and graphics in a way that is intended to communicate a specific message.
With so much software out there, it may seem like a graphic designer isn’t needed. A graphic designer does more than just put their creative skills to work. Though most graphic designers are intuitively creative already, they have generally spent time studying numerous design principles. It’s vital to understand how to use design elements to transmit the required messages and values as well as evoke a certain feeling in the viewer. As a visual communicator, we leverage these design elements and use concepts such as color, typography, space, balance, form and lines to create their visual message.
There are many ways to work with a graphic designer. However, you will want to be prepared to communicate clearly and often about what you want from the graphic designer. The more specific you can be the more likely the final product will reflect your vision. Communicating clearly and minimizing revisions will hold down your expenses. We offer 2 rounds of revisions with most of our graphic design projects.
Anytime you are wanting to communicate visually with your team, customers, etc, you want to use a graphic designer. You will find graphic design in company logos, printed materials like brochures, posters, signs, greeting cards, postcards, business cards, billboards and ads. Advances in technology have brought us the digital environment complete with websites, online ads, virtual brochures and presentations, and so very much more.
Besides turning their client’s vision, brand image and value proposition into a graphic display, a designer will undertake many specialty tasks as part of a graphic design project. The specialty tasks include collaborating on the concept (usually with a team), attending meetings about the project, paying attention to what customers are clicking on, doing presentations that explain the various potential designs, revising designs, and preparing asset files for others on the team and for client use.
Marketing
Without proper marketing and ensuring your business can be found when someone searches, no one will know about you. Implementing simple, online marketing activities puts your business in front of more potential customers. Your marketing can educate them about the products or services you offer.
The answer to that question is “all the time”.
Marketing is not something you can turn on and off. Marketing also needs to be viewed as an investment, not an expense. Turning on marketing only when business gets slow puts you in a viscous cycle. Although you could spend money on paid advertising to hasten your visibility, it is better to build visibility organically.
Effective small business marketing is not an activity to be done only when things get quiet, but is a process that should be constantly and consistently happening in your business, making your business more visible to those looking for your products and services.
- You build awareness and brand differentiation for your business by being visible to your prospects and clients;
- You establish a solid reputation for your business by marketing your expertise through articles and blogging;
- You distinguish your business from the “competition” by staying visible and promoting your expertise;
- You can evaluate your marketing efforts by the results you are seeing in your business. If they work, keep doing them; if they don’t work try something else.
Content marketing is the creation and distribution of educational and/or entertaining information assets for the purpose of generating brand awareness, traffic, leads and sales. Marketing content is generally free to the consumer and does not explicitly promote your brand as an ad would.
“Inbound marketing is focused on attracting customers through relevant and helpful content and adding value at every stage in your customer’s buying journey. Potential customers find you through channels like blogs, search engines, and social media.”
Unlike outbound marketing, inbound marketing does not need to fight for potential customers’ attention. By creating content designed to address the problems and needs of your ideal customers, you attract qualified prospects and build trust and credibility for your business.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the practice of ranking a website on the search engines to increase its visibility when users search for relevant keywords and queries.
As you can increase the ranking of a site across a range of keywords, you will begin to see an increase in the organic traffic that it receives. Organic traffic is that which comes from Google’s natural listings, rather than paid ads.
Keywords are the words and phrases searchers use—usually with search engines—to find relevant pages, images, videos, or any kind of information when looking for answers, knowledge, products, or services. SEO professionals consider keywords and the topics they suggest when optimizing content for search.
This question is the source of endless speculation and debate because search engine companies such as Google will not answer it. Experts generally agree rankings are based on relevance and authority, but the factors that determine them are many—and inconsistent. The best way to achieve a high search engine ranking is to create one of the most thorough web pages possible for a specific keyword or topic.
Yes, your business should be investing in SEO. Search engine optimization offers a way to increase traffic without paying for each and every click.
If you’re able to rank your website at the top of the search engines, you’ll benefit from a stream of traffic without using any PPC campaign. Rank organically, and you’ll enjoy 24/7 visibility.
A question that’s always asked is whether a business should invest in SEO, PPC, or both. It’s the age-old SEO vs. PPC debate.
In an ideal world, a business should balance multiple marketing channels to avoid a reliance on any single source of traffic (and conversions). But, especially for smaller businesses, budget is often a challenge, and resources must be allocated efficiently. Funds aren’t endless.
Even in this instance, it’s essential to balance a long-term SEO strategy with a small but targeted PPC campaign.
Business Development
When it comes to organizational growth, business development acts as the thread that ties together all of a company’s functions or departments, helping a business expand and improve its sales, revenues, product offerings, talent, customer service and brand awareness.
A common misconception is that sales and business development are terms that can be used interchangeably. In actuality, the sales process is a combination of the business development team and sales team working together.
Business development representatives are focused on identifying new opportunities for accomplishing long term value.
Positive business development is invaluable for both company improvements and increased sales. Especially in an ever changing and competitive global market, business development allows a company to avoid the business decline stage for as long as possible.
Considering how crucial business development is for overall profitability and success, it is wise for enterprises to understand how to improve their own business development strategy and plans.
The purpose of a business development plan (or strategy) is to set realistic goals and targets that allow your reps to grow the business, close more deals, identify prospects, align members of the sales team (and other teams, company-wide), and convert more leads. So yes, a plan is needed at every level of business growth.
Data Analytics
How your business uses data analytics, and of course, which tools you choose, will vary, but here are a few big questions you can answer using the power of data analytics.
How Do I Grow My Business?
How Do I Maximize Employee Productivity?
How Do I Know if My Marketing is Working?
How Do I Understand My Customers Better?
Data-driven marketing refers to having strategies and processes to leverage data to gain deeper insight into what customers want. When you understand the who, what, where, when and why of how consumers respond to your marketing efforts, you’re empowered to make better decisions and further enhance and personalize the customer experience.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of increasing the percentage of conversions from your digital property, typically a web page. CRO involves executing tactics to improve the elements on your site (or app) through testing. Relative to your marketing funnel, CRO focuses on moving prospects to the next stage.
The difference between analytics and analysis is scalability. Data analytics is a generalized term and is the umbrella over data analysis. Data analysis is the examination of data. Data analysis includes data collection, organization, storage, and strategies and tools used for analysis.
Let’s face it, most traffic runs through Google. With Google Analytics, you can track ROI for your online marketing and review important metrics to make informed decisions. The bulk of Google Analytics categorizes data into acquisition, behavior and conversions.
Social Media
Chances are your audience is active on one or more of the major social networks where billions of people spend time daily. Brands that understand the power of social media marketing and commit resources to it can boost awareness, drive traffic, interact with customers, drive sales, build loyalty, and win advocates.
Consider first the top social channels in terms of active users: Facebook, Tik-tok, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Determine where your audience spends their time. Research the demographics and behavioral patterns of the users and consider the type of content you’ll share.
The best time to post on social media depends on several factors. While your choice of platform and your industry both matter, your audience activity plays the biggest role. So ideally, you should look at your post performance to get valuable data about the perfect post timing for your business.
This depends on your industry and what appeals to your target audience, although visuals typically take the cake on social media. Try out some of our social media post ideas and see which ones perform the best to find out what type of content your audience likes.
Social media managers work to represent their companies across social media channels. They control the official accounts for the businesses they work for, run social media marketing campaigns, and interact with customers online.