Salt Blog

Prince George has always been where our history—and our heart—is. So, it’s with great excitement that we are announcing the expansion of Saltmedia into Prince George. When Alex and I (Angie) moved to Grande Prairie from Prince George over 20 years ago, it was for the massive opportunities we saw. My first computer tech job was at the London Drugs in Grande Prairie, and I’ll always be grateful that the manager there was willing to hire a woman for a tech job (and I was really good at my job!). The city’s been good to us! While our offices and many of our fantastic staff will remain in Grande Prairie, Alex, myself, and our little one are setting up location #2 in Prince George. We are excited about bringing you all of our Saltmedia services: Web Design, SEO, Graphic Design, Digital Marketing, Content Writing, Data Centre, and Hosting. Some of...

Given the dramatic increase in connectivity around the world, the option for thriving businesses to miss out on having an established online presence is a thing of the past. Be they at home, at work, or out and about, many people would rather obtain their information via the internet rather than coming to visit your business in person, or even using the phone. Having a website is a must to keep up with the ever-busy lifestyle of the average person, and so it’s important to represent yourself in a clean, professional way online in order to appeal to your customer. You might be thinking to yourself “How does one go about creating a website?” Well there are two answers, both quite simple: you can set yourself up on a DIY website creator such as Squarespace, Wix, or Weebly, OR you can have your website custom built by professional web designers...

Ever wondered how seeing a large yellow “M” redirects your brain directly to think of McDonald's? Or how a partially bit apple makes you think of “Apple Inc.”? That is exactly how powerful professionally made logos can be. They are the first thing customers notice about you. They become an integral part of your brand image, and every time a customer sees something vaguely related to your logo, the first thing they will think of is your brand. They are your brand’s identity and make sure your identity is powerful enough that people associate nothing but your brand to anything even vaguely related to it. And to have something this powerful created you should be ready to spend money. The money spent on a logo is not to be considered an expense that you might have avoided, instead consider it an investment that will bring in returns in the future....

For businesses of every size and in every industry, branding is vital to success on and offline. I know, you're probably sick to death of hearing about branding. We all are, but I'm going to flog this dead horse one more time because branding does matter. Scratch that, it doesn't just matter, the quality of a brand is what gives you an edge over the competition and allows you to continue to be the company people turn to when they need or want whatever it is that you're offering. The catch is that you can't just create a brand and call it a day. Branding consistency is key and, today, I'm going to tell you why. Branding, at a Glance A business' brand is made up of a combination of many different factors: Logo People all over the world, from young children to seniors, know the Coke logo, for example...

"I don't like to save money" -- said by no one, nowhere. It's true, everyone loves a deal because the thought of getting more for your money is pretty gratifying. That said, there are instances where an opportunity to save isn't always the sweet deal you thought it was. When it comes to graphic design, and especially logos, it always pays to spend a little more upfront and to have it done right. I know you're probably thinking, 'of course a graphic designer would say a graphic design company is best,' but it's the truth. You see, like most things in life, when you pay rock bottom prices for a logo, you're going to get, well, the rock bottom in terms of design quality and service. Today, there are loads of companies advertising cut rate logo design services, but what companies like Vistaprint, Fiverr or Squarespace can't offer is the...

You wouldn't be the first person to admit that they have absolutely no idea what it is that a graphic designer does beyond creating business logos. The graphic design field is actually pretty vast, and while the quality of your logo and its overall design are really important, there are so many other ways a graphic designer can help further your brand's reach through graphics. The Power of Graphic Design Think of a graphic designer as a visual communicator. You know the saying, 'a picture is worth a 1000 words?' Well, graphic designers know how to say the right things about your business through images. Believe it or not, the font, colour, layout, imagery and other components used in a logo or a piece of marketing material can all work together to communicate specific ideas to customers. While the right graphic designer can help you create materials that evoke particular...

During the holidays, when everyone is checking off their Christmas lists, it's a great time to step up your marketing efforts and to reel in as much business as possible before the year's end. Whether a successful holiday season is crucial to your business' bottom line, or your company could use a little boost during the weeks and months after Christmas, when things tend to quiet down, promotional graphics are awesome ways to attract the attention of new customers, to remind existing customers of your brand and to convert more leads into sales. What better way to drive home your message than with quality graphics created by a graphic design company that also knows a thing or two about branding and how to build powerful web presences? Taking Your Promos to New Heights with Graphic Design Like the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but when...

Continuing with the ownership theme that was discussed in my last post, this week I'm going to be talking about website design ownership. Like discovering that you aren't, in fact, the owner of your website's domain name, many business owners are surprised to discover that they don't actually own any part of their website design. What?! You paid to have a website built so you should have control over what happens with the site's content, images and other property, right? Well, depending on the website design company or service you choose, this isn't always the case. In fact, some companies intentionally work their contracts so that if a client no longer wishes to use their services but wants to task someone else with updating or managing the site, the site won't be released.  It's true. We've heard of businesses paying significant fees to service providers to build them a site,...

When you open a business, any business, creating a branding strategy should be among the very first items on your to-do list. Contacting website designers, a graphic design company, or better yet one company that can do it all, is a good place to start. But to really give branding the attention it deserves, you've got to understand the power that a brand can have over a business - good branding sets the stage for long-term business success and bad branding sinks ships faster than  Burger King when that creepy plastic-faced king started appearing in their advertisements.      Now, lots of people will try to claim that they are in no way affected by branding. Ah, right, as you stand there holding your Starbucks coffee in one hand and iPhone in the other, wearing your Nike sneakers! Despite our best efforts to resist, everything from our preferences in clothing, cars...

Bad logos stick out like sore thumbs. I know you've seen them. All too often, logos are designed without any thought given to how they portray a business' image, or the concept behind the logo is so complicated that only the graphic design company or business owner knows what the heck they were thinking when they created them. Then, there are logos that are so poorly designed or such poor quality that they're quickly forgotten, the business card tossed out or the ad skipped over. Worst yet, there are logos that make people stop and stare (or point and laugh) for all the wrong reasons. This is often the case when graphic designers get a little too 'creative' or nobody stops to consider how the general public might perceive or interpret the logo. For a good laugh, just do a quick search in Google for examples of bad logos. Grab...

"A brand is the most valuable fixed asset of a corporation" according to Wikipedia , and I agree!  Who do you know who isn’t happy with their visual trademark or logo.  Perhaps their graphics, colours, shapes, and online identity do not represent their goods or services as well as they would like them to.  Saltmedia will help build brand awareness with a logo or logo facelift, matching print media designs, signage designs, vehicle decals, online media and most importantly website design.  We help ensure online and offline media exclusively identifies the brand owner. 

  Saltmedia is very proud to be a sponsor for Canadian Mental Health Association Masquerade Ball Event.  If you are local, and want to have a fantastic night out please come and show your support!  Check out Masquerade Ball GP for more info.

This week we are sharing a bit of our community spirit.  We volunteered (errr wait.. maybe we were volen-told) to create a logo for the Rotary Club of Grande Prairie After Five!   We did a little more then a logo.  Nearly the every club member voted this banner as the winner.  It took five rounds of concepts to get it just right...what a perfect number.  It was a fun project.  Interested in joining our Rotary?  Check out our clubs website [CLICK HERE]