A Growing Business

Several months ago, we were approached by a potential client (recommended to us by another client, but that’s another story…) seeking assistance in launching and presenting her new business. Jen Kirkpatrick had decided to tap into her passion and years of experience in gardening and horticulture, an entrepreneurial drive, and a love of working with people, and create Green Thumb Gardening Coach – offering gardening and landscaping assistance, education, direction and motivation to others.

Tilling, Planting and Fertilizing

Jen had a great business idea and great skills and knowledge with which to work, but she was looking for a (literal) ground-up approach to get her business started and promoted. We worked with her to come up with a logo and overall branding and image style that reflected her business, and provided our custom photography services to visually capture Jen, her business and her passion.

From there we created her initial marketing pieces to allow her to approach potential clients, including a custom, easily-updated dynamic website, business cards and magnetic vehicle signage.

Finally, we helped Jen “fertilize” her marketing and promotional growth efforts by implementing an initial social media marketing strategy (including blogging, Twitter and an RSS feed) to help her publicize and grow her business.

Growth and Propagation

Properly prepared, planted and nurtured, Jen’s business has really started to grow. Her vehicle signage gets her name, number and message in front of hundreds (if not thousands) of potential customers each day. Through incidental contacts and networking during her normal daily activities, she’s promoting her business via word-of-mouth and with distribution of her business cards, and her website continues to enjoy increasing traffic. Most recently, one of our primary online sources for Web tools and technology selected GreenThumbGardeningCoach.com as one of their feature Showcase websites, putting Jen and her business in front of thousands of additional sets of eyes.

Congratulations, Jen! You’re off and running, and we’re thrilled and honored to be your partner in the process.

Sean Ory, owner/founder of Bridge Fitness, was referred to us by one of our wonderful clients from the Chicago area. Sean just recently relocated from there to Arizona and was looking for some visual marketing help for his in-home personal training business. We went to work to help create a look that reflected Sean’s business image and message – strong, effective and sporty, but also warm and friendly. The result was a logo, business cards and web site that, we’re proud to say, blew him away.

We think Sean is one of the nicest people we’ve met. And, he really knows his stuff. If you’ve ever considered hiring a personal trainer – or even if you haven’t, you’ll definitely want to check him out.

For many of our clients, Visage Creative is a regular part of their creative team. MC Companies, a management and investment company handling multi-family properties,  is one of those clients. Since 2006, we’ve worked closely with Kim, MC’s Director of Marketing & Public Relations, to help supply her company and their many communities with a variety of smart, effective and attractive visual marketing aids. From business cards to mouse pads to ads and invitations, Kim has called on us just as she would have called on an in-house marketing/media/collateral department.  For businesses like MC Companies, expenses are managed and reduced by not having to incur all of the carrying costs of a full-time marketing team, and for us, we have the efficiencies of working with an established client with established practices… truly a win-win situation!

Read what our client Kim has to say about working with us.

Property Info Folder Inserts

Mouse pad, t-shirt and journal

Door hanger and visit card

Grand Opening ad and invitation

Juanderful Work Enterprises hails from Austin, Texas and this client came to us for help in getting his new business up and running. Hard work, honesty, integrity and quality is the name of the game for them and they wanted their marketing materials to help get that message across. So we created a logo that “certified” them as the four-star business they are – and along with the logo came business cards, letterhead, a splash web page, truck magnets, and yard signs. We loved helping get this business off to a “Juanderful” start!

client: Desert “Cool” Foods, Inc., a manufacturer of soft serve and beverage mixes for the restaurant industry
need: an updated, more robust website
result: a “cool” new look that better reflects the company’s branding, message and image and that better supports easy updating, social media marketing and SEO

Walter Barker, President and CEO of Desert “Cool” Foods, Inc. has been a long-time client of Visage – and a super cool one at that. See what he has to say about working with us.

Selling your brand means more than simply selling products or services. It’s selling customers on who you are. Getting them to buy into your image greatly increases the chances they will return.

Let’s say you sell office supplies. This may seem straightforward, but, like in any industry, there’s always a way to differentiate yourself. If you have set yourself apart by selling higher quality merchandise than your competitors, your marketing materials should have a more elegant look. Your brochure might resemble monogrammed stationery. If, on the other hand, you want to market yourself through your low prices, then your materials will emphasize price and bargains. Marketing material should be nice, but “no frills.”

Of course, price isn’t the only way to differentiate yourself – there are a million more strategies. For every strategy, there is at least one great marketing approach. The secret is to give potential clients a sample of your company’s style, a taste of what they can expect, and current clients a reminder of why doing business with you is so great.

the client: Patrick Ritchie, Success Road Map Press founder and author of The Credit Road Map
the need: a business image for a new publishing company and coordinating branding for its signature Road Map series; a logo and cover art for the first book in the series – The Credit Road Map.
the result: for Success Road Map Press, a simple, elegant logo, business card and web site; a color scheme and visuals that connect the Press to its products; for The Credit Road Map a logo that seamlessly merges the credit and navigational metaphors and is used throughout the book’s marketing, a cover with a clean look that sets it apart from the rest of the overly-busy business section, as well as a web site, DVD cover and marketing poster. 

the client: Northstar Manufacturing, maker of innovative insulated panels for construction
the need: a new visual image to complement their existing logo; a more structured approach to branding; all new identity pieces.
the result: a cohesive system for using their logo and supporting elements; brand new branding that ties together their business cards, letterhead, labels, employee handbooks and even promotional products such as carpenter pencils and notepads.

There’s a time to do it yourself and there’s a time to call in the professionals. For those who lack the ability or desire to do their own landscaping, take heart. The subject of our current client spotlight, Sharper Image Landscaping Services, LLC, just might be the cure for your landscape woes. The Chandler, Arizona-based company handles residential and commercial landscape maintenance and installation. They are Desert Botanical certified, meaning they have had extensive training in desert plants and their care, but their services extend to all types of plants and other outdoor amenities such as irrigation, hardscapes (BBQs, firepits, pillars), and lighting – just to name a few.

The Challenge
SI had a growing business even before calling Visage. They also had a logo and a few scattered marketing pieces. But, in order to take their business to the next level, they needed a cohesive look that measured up to the visual attractiveness suggested by their name and the professionalism inherent in their philosophy.

As far as marketing collateral to go with their new image, SI had a tall order to fill. The two sides of their business meant they had both a commercial and a residential audience to reach – two different groups with different needs and questions. For each target group, they would not only require something to give potential clients they met with in person, but also something that could be mailed out. Like any savvy business, they were looking for maximum cost effectiveness. Also high on the list was a flexible piece – they wanted the ability to offer coupons or seasonal promotions and other time-sensitive material without their entire marketing collateral becoming dated and unusable.

All this meant that it was SI’s turn to call in the experts. A friend of the owners recommended they call Visage.

Cost Effectiveness Meets Creativity
Sharper Image presented Visage with their wish list, and we rose to the challenge. First, we integrated their existing logo into a more professional level of branding. We then found a creative solution to meet their needs for attractive, informational, flexible and cost-effective marketing collateral. The answer came in the form of a 6×9 inch presentation folder. Smaller and sleeker than a standard folder, this is the perfect size for mailing in a standard #10 envelope or simply handing to an interested party. The folder is filled with a cover letter and pages on different topics – reasons for choosing SI, services offered, the partnership that began the company, etc. SI can easily tailor the piece to any audience, whether residential or commercial. As the business grows, they can add or replace pages without having to reprint an entire brochure. Finally, Visage created a promotional postcard and a mailing label (which fits both envelopes and packages) that reflects SI’s new business identity.