Melissa Balkon of Strong Design Studios asked me to help her refine her brand. We started meeting in person, once a week to just chat about things. What unfolded, was a nearly year-long project that entailed examining every single aspect of her business to define processes, workflow, sales funnels, financial analysis, and of course, her entire brand and the visual and verbal elements that this entailed.
The Goal:
Strong Design Studios was looking to refine their processes and get a solidified vision of her brand down so she wasn’t tempted to constantly redesign her own webpage, as this was wasting time and was a signal of a larger problem. Melissa had a very strong idea of what her brand was, but needed someone to help her guide her through the process of fully understanding her market position and what she offered her clients that was different from everyone else.
The Process:
Through guided discussion, I helped Melissa to explore the competitive landscape, her own personal reasons for starting her business, her personal and professional goals, ideal customer analysis, existing customer interviews, positioning statement exercises, and much much more. From these discussions, Melissa was given weekly “homework” assignments where she would research or create on her own time, and I would do the same should we be at a place where content or copywriting was needed, such as in the development of her tagline and final positioning statement verbiage.
Once the foundation was set for her brand, we were able to begin the marketing materials that would ultimately be the customer-facing portion of her brand, and needed as much attention as everything else had received. This process was infinitely smoother given the intimate knowledge we now had of her brand, goals, and customers.
The Big Idea:
The underlying concept behind every part of Melissa’s brand was “craftsman bungalow home”. We came to this brand concept because her use of strong, but simple design aesthetic, her customers’ small businesses that often get wrapped up into their personal lives, and the warmth and comfort associated with being home. This style of home was also the first home ever built that had any sense of style, but was still affordable to the everyman, similar to Strong Design Studios’ offerings. This concept played through in everything from the design of the website, to the verbiage that lives on it, to the materials and customer interactions Melissa has on a regular basis.
The Good Stuff:
Working together, Melissa and I came up with the concept for her tagline based on her desire to always simplify.
Strong Design Studio’s positioning statement also worked as an introductory headline on her website. The subheadline and button microcopy reinforce the primary message.
Her website copy was to come across as approachable, kind, and straight forward, just like what a customer would feel working directly with Melissa.
We developed a process for her projects, giving her some structure and repeatability to her work so she could offer her clients even more expediency without sacrificing quality.
Melissa wanted to add a magazine cover-type of page before visitors landed on her blog to ensure they were seeing the most relevant material possible. These sections were defined and planned out for ongoing content.
So there you have it. If you’re interested in how English Moon can help refine your brand through messaging, get in touch with us!
