Digital Marketing Portfolio

JASON
MERKEL

Digital Marketing Specialist

SEOGoogle AdsMeta AdsSocial Media ManagementWeb DesignAnalyticsEmail Marketing

More reach. More engagement. More sales.
I grew a Facebook page to 41,000 followers at a 5.9% engagement rate — roughly 40× the industry average.

SEORankings & organic growth
Google AdsSearch & display
Meta AdsFacebook & Instagram
Web DesignModern & conversion-first
AnalyticsInsight & reporting
Email MarketingAutomation & campaigns
Content CreationVideo, audio & posts
Social MediaCommunity & growth
Post DesignFeed graphics & layouts
Story TemplatesInstagram & TikTok stories
Ad CreativesFacebook & Meta ads
ThumbnailsYouTube & video thumbnails
TypographyCustom text & overlays
Brand DesignVisual identity & assets
Canva & FigmaDesign tools & workflows
Carousel PostsMulti-slide graphics
01 // About me

My Story & expertise

I grew a Facebook page to 41,000 followers with a 5.9% engagement rate — about 40× the industry average.

Honours Diploma · triOS 3 yrs charitable volunteering Content · SEO · Campaigns

I graduated with distinction from triOS College with a 90% average in Digital Marketing, receiving modern, hands on training in today's most effective marketing strategies. I stay current with the latest trends, AI powered marketing tools, and the technologies businesses use to grow online.

For more than four years, I've volunteered with a charitable organization, where I learned how to build trust, engage communities, and create content that drives real results.

Over the past eight years, I've helped grow an online community entirely through organic content, generating millions of views without paid advertising or purchased followers. Since 2022, I've also managed the digital marketing for Fountain of Hope in Kitchener, creating daily content, designing graphics, optimizing YouTube, and improving SEO.

I combine modern education, proven experience, and the latest marketing tools to help organizations grow with strategies that deliver measurable results. I don't use AI to replace creativity. I wield it to work faster, think bigger, and deliver better results.

02 // Skills

Skills & services

Comprehensive digital marketing to grow your reach, community, and impact.

01

SEO Optimization

Help people find you first. Higher rankings, more organic traffic, more visitors through your digital front door.

02

Social Media Management

Eight years building engaged communities across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.

03

Graphic Design

Posts, stories, reels, ads, and thumbnails designed to stop the scroll — visuals that convert attention into engagement and action.

04

Email Marketing

Mailchimp automation and campaigns your audience actually opens, reads, and acts on — every time.

05

Paid Advertising (PPC)

Google and Meta campaigns with every dollar accountable — targeted, tested, and tuned to maximize return.

06

Analytics & Reporting

Performance tracking and social insights that turn raw data into clear next steps — no guesswork.

03 // Impact

Proven results

Data doesn't lie. Here's the quantifiable impact of strategic marketing.

0
Facebook engagement rate
The small-business benchmark is 0.09%–0.15%. That's roughly 40× above typical — about 1 in 17 people who see a post interact with it, versus 1 in 800.
Jason
0%
Industry avg
0%
Sources: Meta Business Suite insights vs. published small-business benchmarks
0

Followers Grown

Built organically over 8 years — no ad spend, no bought followers.

0

Organic Views

Millions of views across social, video, and written content.

0

Years Experience

Hands-on social media management and content creation.

0

Client Since

Social Media Manager at Fountain of Hope, Kitchener.

04 // Featured case study

Fountain of Hope

Transforming a local ministry into a modern digital brand — through strategy, design, search optimization, content marketing, AI-assisted workflows, and measurable growth.

Strategy delivered · Execution live — running every 14 days
The strategy
Deliverables shipped
4+ Years
Digital Content Creation

Consistent content creation and publishing that supports the mission every day.

JANFEBMARAPRMAYJUN
Daily
Content Production

Daily creation of graphics, posts and promotional materials to keep the message active and engaging.

2,000+
Creative Assets

Thousands of social graphics, CTA & hook variants and promotional content designed to inform, inspire and drive impact.

Facebook
Community Presence

Established and maintained an active online presence that strengthens the community.

The system
14-day calendar — executed
14 DAY CYCLE
  • Teaching & devotionals6
  • Community & outreach4
  • Invitations & events2
  • Volunteer & giving2

Designed, launched, and repeating every 14 days — a publishing system the ministry runs on, not a one-off campaign.

The win
Google Ad Grant secured
$10K PER MONTH
  • In-kind search ads$10K/mo
  • Cost to the ministry$0
$120K/yr valueGoogle AdsLocal search

A full technical audit, competitive analysis, and end-to-end digital strategy — built from real Lighthouse, Ahrefs and Ubersuggest data. I'm now executing it as the ministry's Digital Marketing Manager.

Read the full strategy

Every organization has a mission. The challenge is making sure the people who need that mission can actually find it.

Fountain of Hope Ministries & Healing Centre was doing meaningful community work — with a dated website, minimal search visibility, and inconsistent branding. I treated it not as a redesign but as a complete digital transformation: UX, SEO, branding, analytics, content, and social built as one connected ecosystem.

The goal was never just a better website. It was a digital foundation capable of carrying the ministry's outreach for years.

ClientFountain of Hope Ministries & Healing Centre
RoleDigital Marketing Manager
ServicesStrategy · Web Design · UX/UI · Local SEO · Branding · Analytics · Social · AI Content
Timeline2022 — Present
01

Discovery & Digital Audit

Every successful project begins with understanding the current landscape. I audited every digital touchpoint — website, search, analytics, social, Google Business Profile, branding, and competitors — not to catalogue problems, but to find the fastest ways to help more people find the ministry. Every finding below is paired with the improvement it unlocks.

What the Lighthouse audit returned
Mobile
62Performance
91Accessibility
96Best Practices
85SEO
Desktop
88Performance
90Accessibility
100Best Practices
85SEO

Mobile performance of 62 with a 9.9s largest-contentful-paint — and most of their community searches for help on a phone. That made mobile speed improvement #1: the fix that helps the most people, first.

Technical Performance
4,940ms of render-blocking scriptsDefer & trim scripts — target 62 → 88+
Oversized, uncompressed mediaCompress & resize every image
397 KiB re-downloaded each visitProper caching for repeat visitors
104 KiB unused CSS + 52 KiB JSStrip dead theme & plugin code
Inconsistent mobile layoutsOne responsive system, phone-first
Search Visibility
Domain rating of 0Local partnerships & earned links
Only 26% of backlinks dofollowQualify links, build real authority
No keyword targeting or metadata8 keyword clusters, page-by-page titles
No structured content or schema5 schema types spec’d for Google
Core services undiscoverableA page for every service people search
User Experience
Visitors couldn’t tell where to beginHomepage answers 5 questions in seconds
Key info buried under clicksFlat, obvious navigation
No route to volunteer, give, or prayClear CTAs on every page
No conversion pathwaysGet Help · Attend · Donate · Volunteer
Branding & Analytics
Different look on every platformOne visual identity everywhere
Inconsistent messagingA single voice that builds trust
No analytics in placeGA4 + Search Console + GBP tracking
Improvements could only be guessedEvery change measured against baseline
02

Strategy

Rather than treating each channel independently, I built a unified strategy where every component reinforced the others — with the website as the central hub, supported by search, content, branding, analytics, and social.

Nobody was searching for "hope" or "faith."

They were searching for help near them.

That single realisation reframed the entire strategy around local, service-based intent — "free food support Kitchener," "prayer ministry Kitchener," "Sunday service Kitchener."

Six pillars
01
Website Experience

A modern, responsive, accessible site that communicates the mission clearly and invites engagement.

02
Search Optimization

Technical SEO, local SEO, structured content, optimized metadata, keyword-focused architecture.

03
Branding

One consistent visual identity across web, social, print, and campaigns — building trust everywhere.

04
Content Marketing

Content that educates, encourages, and deepens the relationship with the community.

05
Social Media

A repeatable publishing framework that sustains consistency and long-term audience growth.

06
Analytics

Every improvement measured — GA4, Search Console, conversion tracking, ongoing reporting.

03

Social Media Strategy

Consistency is the most overlooked part of digital marketing. Instead of sporadic posting, I built a repeatable 14-day content cycle — structured enough to sustain, flexible enough to absorb seasonal campaigns, sermon series, holidays, and outreach events.

Day 1
Scripture Reflection

A designed verse with a devotional caption built to encourage reflection and sharing.

Day 2
Ministry Spotlight

Community outreach, food drives, volunteers — the people behind the ministry.

Day 3
Testimony Tuesday

Stories of hope, answered prayer, and healing — the mission shown, not claimed.

Day 4
Biblical Teaching

Scripture explained, common questions answered, practical encouragement.

Day 5
Community Engagement

Polls, prayer requests, comment prompts — content designed to start conversations.

Day 6
Event Promotion

Services, conferences, outreach, prayer meetings, volunteer opportunities.

Day 7
Weekend Invitation

Countdowns, short video, welcoming messaging — the ask to come on Sunday.

Week two repeats the framework with fresh topics, new creative, and seasonal campaigns — consistency without repetition, and a system the ministry can keep running long after launch.

04

AI-Assisted Creative Production

One of the most significant parts of this project was building an AI-enhanced creative workflow — one that dramatically accelerated production without sacrificing quality, originality, or brand voice. Rather than relying on a single tool, I combined several, each chosen for what it does best.

ChatGPT

Strategic planning, campaign development, copywriting, SEO content, website messaging, social captions, content calendars, CTAs, audience research.

Claude

Refining long-form writing, sharpening message clarity, structuring website copy, strategic documentation, and holding a consistent brand voice across every platform.

Grok

Creative ideation, trend research, alternative campaign concepts, and rapid brainstorming for fresh marketing angles.

AI Image Generation

Custom promotional artwork, sermon-series graphics, quote cards, social visuals, event branding — built for the ministry, not pulled from generic stock.

Canva Pro & Design Tools

Every AI concept refined through professional design — typography, accessibility, and platform-specific sizing for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and web.

Prompt engineering

Generic AI output was never good enough. I developed detailed, iteratively-tested prompts that reliably produced work aligned to the ministry's brand and voice — cutting production time sharply while holding a professional standard.

Website copySEO contentLanding pagesSocial campaigns Promotional graphicsEvent brandingDonation campaignsVolunteer recruitment Sermon graphicsEmail marketingOutreach campaignsPresentation materials
05

Website Rebuild — Owned, Not Rented

The ministry's site lived on a platform they didn't control — locked to a builder, its speed problems baked into theme code nobody could touch. So I rebuilt it. Using an AI-assisted development workflow (the same "vibe coding" approach behind this portfolio), I recreated the site page-for-page as clean, hand-owned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — every page, every image, every word of copy, faithfully carried over and then improved.

The result is a one-to-one working rebuild the ministry fully owns: no platform lock-in, no theme licences, no monthly builder fees — handed over with complete files and permissions, ready to host anywhere. It's also where the audit's technical fixes get implemented directly: compressed media, no render-blocking bloat, and clean semantic markup built for the schema and SEO strategy from day one.

AI-assisted buildHTML · CSS · JSFull ownershipNo lock-inHost anywhere
06

Analytics & Continuous Improvement

Digital marketing is never finished. I stood up the measurement infrastructure so every future decision could be guided by data rather than assumption — and defined exactly which numbers matter, from a Google click through to someone showing up on Sunday.

Google Search ConsoleQueries, clicks, impressions, indexing
Google Analytics 4Traffic sources, engagement, conversions
Google Business ProfileCalls, directions, website clicks, reviews
Google Tag ManagerDonate, contact, phone & form tracking
Visibility

Google clicks · impressions · top queries · GBP views

Engagement

Top pages · time on page · video views · reach · email opens

Actions

Donate clicks · volunteer forms · contact & phone clicks

Ministry Outcomes

Sunday attendance · volunteers · donations · testimonies

07

Where it stands

The strategy is delivered and the ministry now has a documented, prioritized plan it can actually run on. I'm executing it against the 90-day roadmap.

Delivered
  • Full technical & competitive audit
  • 12-section growth strategy
  • 10-page keyword-mapped architecture
  • 8 keyword clusters & page titles
  • 6 audience personas
  • 14-day / 42-post content calendar
  • Technical SEO fix list & schema spec
  • KPI framework & measurement plan
In progress
  • Month 1 — fixing links, hours & core pages
  • Securing GA4 / Search Console / GBP access
  • Rebuilding the homepage around the five questions
  • Running the 14-day Facebook calendar — repeating every cycle
  • Recording the first devotional content

The ministry now has something it never had: a digital foundation, a measurable baseline, and a plan — instead of guesswork.

08

Creative Work

The design library behind the growth — original creative designed for the ministry, from brand campaigns to flyers and social graphics. Drag to spin the gallery. Hover the centre piece to enlarge it — click for full screen.

09

Skills demonstrated

Digital StrategyWebsite DesignUX/UILocal SEO Technical SEOKeyword ResearchSchema MarkupCore Web Vitals Google Analytics 4Search ConsoleGoogle Business ProfileTag Manager Conversion OptimizationBrandingGraphic DesignCreative Direction Social Media MarketingContent StrategyCopywritingCampaign Planning Performance OptimizationAI-Assisted ContentPrompt EngineeringMarketing Automation
The deliverable

Everything above was documented in a 12-section growth report the ministry can actually run on — audit, strategy, personas, keyword map, content plan, 14-day calendar, technical fixes, 90-day roadmap, and a KPI dashboard.

Read the full report
05 // More work

More work

The pages and communities I build and manage.

Non-Profit VolunteerFountain of Hope
2022 — Present

Fountain of Hope

Digital Marketing Manager. Full audit, 12-section growth strategy, 10-page site architecture, 14-day content calendar, and a 90-day execution roadmap.

Read the full report →
41KFollowers · 5.9% engagement
8 Years

Facebook Page

Built and managed a 41,000-follower community from scratch. Millions of organic views, with a 5.9% engagement rate — far above the 0.09–0.15% industry average.

XContent & growth
Ongoing

X (Twitter) Presence

Short-form content, audience growth, and engagement strategy — building reach on the platform where conversation moves fastest.

04 // Experience

Experience & education

2022 — Present

Social Media Manager

Fountain of Hope · Kitchener, ON

Managing professional Facebook pages — daily posts, content creation, and audience engagement. Designing graphics in Canva Pro, optimizing YouTube content for discoverability, and implementing SEO improvements across the online presence.

8 Years

Facebook Page Manager / Content Creator

Self-Managed

Built a 41,000-follower community from scratch through consistent, trend-aware posting. Generated millions of organic views with attention-grabbing content, engaging captions, and hooks that convert scrollers into followers.

Education

Digital Marketing Diploma (Honours)

TriOS College

Also: Theology Certificate and Bachelor of Religious Education (in progress) — Emmanuel Bible College. A rare mix: marketing expertise with a genuine understanding of faith-based organizations.

Certifications

  • SEO Foundations LinkedIn Learning
  • Social Media Marketing Foundations LinkedIn Learning
  • Research & Writing with Generative AI LinkedIn Learning
  • Elite Grip Athlete

Core Toolkit

  • Canva Pro · Meta Business Suite
  • Mailchimp · Hootsuite · CapCut
  • SEMrush · Screaming Frog · Wix
  • ChatGPT · Gemini · Canva AI
07 // Voices

See for yourself

Real experiences say more than any promise.

"

Jason’s work completely changed the way Fountain of Hope reaches people. He built our online presence from the ground up and helped us reach thousands of people every month through Facebook and digital content. His marketing efforts expanded our reach, increased awareness of our ministry, brought more visitors to our services, and helped position us for opportunities that resulted in a $10,000-per-month grant.

What makes Jason different is that he understands the heart behind the marketing. He doesn’t simply chase clicks and followers — he knows how to turn digital attention into real community impact. His work has helped more people discover Fountain of Hope, connect with our ministry, and find the support they need. He has been an invaluable part of our growth.

Pastor HelenFountain of Hope Healing Ministries
Portrait of Jason Merkel
06 // About

Hi, I'm Jason.

I build websites and digital marketing campaigns that help organizations reach more people online. Digital Marketing graduate with Honours from TriOS College, with 8 years of hands-on experience growing real communities.

"More reach. More engagement. More sales. Everything I build is designed to grow your brand — and increase your revenue."
8 years of experience
Honours diploma, TriOS
Faith-organization specialist
Data-driven & transparent
07 // Contact

Let’s grow

Whether you're ready to start or just exploring what's possible — every message gets a personal reply.

jasonmerkel378@gmail.com (519) 465-8919 Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario