Evolve Digital Labs (A #PBandJterm field trip)
For #PBandJterm, we got the opportunity to take a field trip to Evolve Digital Labs, a digital agency. (Yay field trip! :D)
The experience yielded some interesting results. Our group was split into three groups: web design, advertising/public relations, and content marketing.
Heading off with the advertising group, we met with Locke George, the Director of Paid Channels. He spoke with us about the infamous “Search Engine Optimization”, which determines where you are put on the Google search pages.
As future advertising and public relations officials, we need to be able to make the companies we represent known on the web.
The easiest way to do this is to optimize the companies’ sites for the Google search algorithms by using things like tags and paid Google search ads to pull the site to the first search page.
Through all of this technical speak, George also asked each of us what we wanted to do in the realm of advertising.
Speaking first, I said that I wanted to move more into print advertising and branding, while designing content to be placed on websites as well. He reminded me that while that is a great choice, I should also not limit myself.
Print design is evolving and is not the same as it use to be.
With the convergence to web, I need to be able to present myself as a web designer as well. He encouraged me to look into creating online web layouts and infographics for the web as a means to broaden my horizons to web in the same capacities that I design for print.
One of my classmates, Taylor, asked a very important question that I have been struggling with myself. Everyone seems to tell communication students that we need to move to big city right away, because of the great experience it provides. She asked if that was true, or should we start small and work our way up?
George’s answer did not seem to confirm or deny that big city life is the way to gain beginner experience, but he did say some key things to remember. Essentially, it is up to us to choose. People that go to the big cities like New York or Los Angeles certainly do get tons of experience, but the competition is also a lot higher. Starting small may not feel like much, but you get some of the same experience, with not as much competition as the thousands of people that are flooding the big cities.
