Richard Pochylko - Red Deer Realty Guy: New Project!
Written by Nicole Braseth Thursday, 09 October 2008 13:49
Richard approached us with some lofty goals: he wants his website to register in the top 5 results in search engines when people look for homes for sale in Red Deer.
Lofty, yes. Unattainable? Certainly not. We'll work on a facelift for the site (bye-bye splash page), and obviously: search engine optimization. Part of that will include re-writing content from Richard's marketing materials to be better suited for the web. We love that Richard understands that this is an important step in SEO, and how the content is written will affect how Google (and the other powers that be) rates his website, not to mention how people will interact with the text (they don't read, they scan).
As always, I'll update when the site goes live and later when the search results speak for themselves.
Red Deer's Vital Signs 08: Project Completed
Written by Nicole Braseth Tuesday, 07 October 2008 12:37
Today, October 7, marks the launch of Vital Signs reports across Canada from Community Foundations in Montreal to Waterloo to Vancouver to Red Deer. The Vital Signs report allows each participating community to produce a report compiled from information that is both quantitative (statistics and research from local and national sources) and qualitative (Vital Signs graders respond with their own opinions in addition to "grading" the topics of interest), and can be used throughout the community as a "report card" to determine what areas the community needs to improve on, and what we can pat ourselves on the back for.
You can download the pdf version of the report here. Or check out the expanded report on the Vitals Signs homepage.
Fierce Competition: ALTO's Part Two.
Written by Nicole Braseth Tuesday, 07 October 2008 09:49
I meant to mention this earlier (like when we found out..), but turns out that Central Alberta Tourism (with the Alberta Sweet 16) is not our only client up for an ALTO award.. so is the Wetaskiwin Air Show! (We designed their souvenir book) And to top it off, they're a finalist in the same category (Marketing Partnership) as the Alberta Sweet 16 is! So as long as the Calgary Stampede doesn't take the award, Idea Market can go home knowing we contributed to the winning campaign!
Congratulations to the team at the City of Wetaskiwin and the Reynolds-Alberta Museum for becoming finalists, and we'll see you in Banff!
Idea Market is going to the ALTO Awards!
Written by Nicole Braseth Tuesday, 30 September 2008 11:48
Every year Travel Alberta celebrates Alberta's 4th largest industry with the Alberta Tourism Awards (aka the Altos). This year, Idea Market is proud to announce that with our help, our client Central Alberta Tourism has been selected as a finalist in the Marketing Partnership category.
This particular category recognizes the marketing achievements of two or more organizations coming together to work towards a common goal in the the tourism industry. In CAT's case it was 9 communities working together (no small feat!) to create the Alberta Sweet 16.
We've talked before about this project (creating the website and branding), so let's talk results...
• In addition to the 16 main events there were 931 secondary events posted to the website
• 7,643 unique visits to the site
• 9,480 total visits (the set goal was to receive 5000 visits in the April-August time period)
• Our target markets (Edmonton and Calgary and their surrounding areas) were effectively reached through Google AdWords; Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer were the top 3 locations from which the most visits came from.
But above all, we believe that the success of the partnership was really determined by how much was accomplished in such a short amount of time (CAT will be only a year old in November), and with so many partners. Typically you can count on alot of bureaucracy where each partner has to report back to their communities before making decisions, but in the case of the Alberta Sweet 16, all of the partnering communities did their best to curb the red tape and just get the ball rolling, which is an attitude that will continue to serve them well in the future.
The Alto winners for 2008 will be announced on Oct. 27 in Banff at the Travel Alberta Industry Conference.. we'll let you know how Central Alberta Tourism fares! All of the finalists for the ALTO awards can be found here.
Click on the images below to see the application package that got us in the door!
{gallery}sweet16{/gallery}
New client - Jasper Tramway
Written by Carson Pierce Saturday, 27 September 2008 00:00
We are excited (and perhaps a bit dizzy) to welcome the Jasper Tramway to the Idea Market roster of clients. Steve originally met the Jasper Tramway general manager, Alex Rayner at the 2007 Travel Alberta conferencea and obviously impressed on him that we knew our stuff when it came to tourism marketing. When their marketing plan expired and they needed both an update and a fresh perspective, they remembered us and gave us a call.
As part of our research into developing the the Jasper Tramway's marketing plan, Steve and Carson drove up to Jasper this past weekend to meet with their marketing manager, Todd Noble. At 7472 feet above sea level and overlooking one of the most spectacular views on the planet, it was definitely not an ordinary meeting setting. We also managed to sneak in an interview for the Point B podcast.
Armed with fresh statistics and excited about working with such a prominent tourist attraction, we've already been in contact with Travel Alberta and Parks Canada to get the inside scoop on the marketing challenges and opportunities facing the tramway.
Since they're already doing a great job with things like partnerships and advertising, our focus will be on less traditional elements such as facility upgrades and staff training. We also plan on getting quite in-depth on what the tramway should be doing online, both on its own website and on user-generated review sites like TripAdvisor.
24-7 Video Tours Website Redesign: New Project!
Written by Nicole Braseth Thursday, 25 September 2008 11:59
24-7 Video Tours has asked us to update their website.. both in look and functionality. They've reassessed their website and decided that their needs have changed and therefore, so must the website. There have been some major advances in the online video world (hello, youtube) and we want to take advantage of that in the redesign, showcasing 24-7's client video pages (which used to be separate) and integrating those with the original function of the old site: to market the company. And while we're at it, we might as well update the look of the site.
Stay tuned for the site launch!
Only Women's Fitness Website - New Project!
Written by Erin Bourne Wednesday, 24 September 2008 15:28
Only Women's Fitness is a gym that specializes in providing a fun, comfortable, safe, supportive atmosphere for its members. With cutting edge equipment, bright modern surroundings, friendly staff, a ton of different classes to try, tanning beds and even a child care room there's a lot of things going on; we want to make an fresh new site for them to showcase everything they have to offer and inspire new clients to check them out and get fit!
Our Clients Are #1...Part 2
Written by Carson Pierce Tuesday, 09 September 2008 00:00
Not to be outdone by a bunch of asses, another of our clients - country singer Gord Bamford - showed the nation just how good he is. He not only performed on the CBC-televised Canadian Country Music Awards Show, he also scored the Top Male Talent of the Year. Congrats, Gord!
I guess we should also mention that our design of Gord's CD, Honky Tonks and Heartaches, was nominated for Album Design of the Year. The big prize (along with almost all the other awards) went to Doc Walker, but it was an honour just to be nominated. No, seriously - it was!
Page 4 of 7