Written by Spot MarketingSeptember 14, 2015

Making Strides To Fight Breast Cancer

Spot color marketing is making strides to fight breast cancer in Portland!!

As most of you know, we have a “Soft Spot” for non profits and giving back. We are super excited to announce that The Spot Team will be participating in “Making Strides of Portland” October 10th.

Making Strides of Portland, a noncompetitive 3.1-mile walk, begins promptly at 10 am, Oct 10th.  The more money we raise to fight breast cancer, the more survivors there will be!

The American Cancer Society helps people understand what screening tests they need and the steps they need to take to protect themselves from breast cancer by developing prevention and early detection guidelines that are the industry standard.

Our goal for Spot Color Marketing is to help raise $2500 for The American Cancer Society and with your help we know we can reach it.

Why do you walk? Maybe you walk in honor of a breast cancer survivor – the memory of their journey still fresh in your mind. Maybe you lost a loved one to breast cancer and you are walking in their memory. Maybe the memories of your own breast cancer experience motivate your efforts. Or maybe you walk to make sure no one ever has to hear the words “you have breast cancer.”

Whatever your motivation, when you join our family of supporters, you help the American Cancer Society finish the fight against breast cancer. Because of the dollars you raise and the steps you take, the American Cancer Society is able to help those touched by breast cancer in every community today and work to find cures to end the disease tomorrow.

Please join Spot by donating here and/or walking with us on the 10th! Please email us here, or give us a call at 503-477-4355 to RSVP…everyone walking gets a pink Spot Color shirt!

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Written by Spot MarketingJune 9, 2015

Internships in Marketing

Is it time to find an intern?

If you are a small business owner, at one time or another you may have thought “I have no time for marketing or social media, maybe I will hire a marketing intern to do it for me!” How did that go? I laugh because I have had that same thought. Over the 14 years that I have owned Spot Color Marketing, we have brought on several interns. While none of them took over our marketing, they did help.

We have had design interns, marketing interns, and even development interns. Some of them lasted for a couple of days, others did their 3 month internship and became full time employees that stayed for a couple of years. A few have even turned into our top employees.

A couple of things to think about when hiring an intern:

Don’t think of an intern as “free labor”. The internship isn’t really supposed to help the company as much as it helps the intern. Internships are best if there is someone in your office who will take the time to teach and train. Some interns can be very time consuming and will ask 20 times a day how to do something, while some just ask my favorite question, “What’s next?”

The best marketing internships we have had are the ones where we took the time to create a detailed plan for them before they started. For example, if you want someone to write Facebook and twitter posts, write up the content calendar for them ahead of time and have the topics decided upon. Definitely review all their work before anything is posted. Jeff Selin, agency owner and friend, says an intern could easily ruin your business and reputation in 5 minutes by posting something inappropriate. OYE! That might be the worst case, but it could happen! Do not let your intern run your marketing.

  1. Be prepared for your intern
  2. Be available to teach and train your intern
  3. Don’t expect them to be a social media genius just because they are young!
  4. Pay them if you can. We pay a daily stipend for parking and lunch.

There are a lot of ways to attract marketing interns. Reach out to local colleges or Barefoot Student, I put ads in the “gigs” section of Craigslist. The best interns we have had are smart, eager to learn, show up and do what they say they will. They are go-getters. Sort of like your best employees, right? Entrepreneur has more tips on the qualities to look for in a great intern.

For some of our favorite clients we have set up marketing plans and then helped our clients find interns or junior marketers to implement the work, when done correctly, it can be a win/win for everyone! Who doesn’t want to help a young person start their career, or help a person get into a new career? One of our favorite interns was 45! She was an awesome intern and we have hired her several times since to write marketing copy.

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Written by Spot MarketingJune 20, 2014

Can Clean Web Design Increase Conversions?

Paired with content, we think so.

The hottest trend in web design these days is clean, flat design. Crisp interfaces and smooth modern lines are catching readers’ eyes and expanding businesses’ audiences.

Who knew that simplicity could be so compelling? We’re convinced that this pleasant, minimalistic style is here to stay, and here’s why.

Content is King.

We’ve all heard this phrase before, but it has never held more meaning than right now. A simple web design means that your readers can focus solely on your message, without being distracted by cluttered images, gradient backgrounds or fancy JavaScript effects. A simple design means that content can be the king of your marketing budget, too. Simple designs are easier to create, which means more of your resources can go towards creating fantastic content for your audience.

Content is Everywhere.

Your readers encounter information everywhere they turn. There is so much information out there that it can be a little overwhelming at times! Thankfully, there are plenty of tools out there to help us sift through all that content. Whether your readers are encountering your messages on Twitter, Facebook, Feedly or even iTunes, odds are they’re not reading it on your website. Using a clean web design helps you make sure your message is the most powerful thing you communicate. You can’t fall back on a fancy design or cool effects to pretty up your words. Your message stands on its own.

Content Makes a Difference

Nothing propels people into action like an inspiring message, and while it may be true that a picture is worth a thousand words, an inspiring photo is nothing without a call to action. Your words are going to be what make the difference between a passing viewer and a converted customer. Those potential customers want to know what you have to say. Don’t make it harder for them by obscuring your message with a complex design.
Today’s marketing world is ruled by content and it’s more important than ever that your site allows your meaningful messages to come through. Making use of a clean web design is one important way savvy businesses build and keep loyal customers.

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