Lately during meetings and inquiries for new work, I’ve noticed that smaller organizations really shy away from the idea of working with a “firm.” This isn’t something I was expecting when I became a partner with Kelle Kitchel at RockFish. Often people will be referred directly to me (Danny McEnerney) through my freelance relationships created as an 8 year freelancer, and when they find I’m not a solo guy, they become gun-shy.

“Hi Danny,
Thanks for getting back. For now, I think I’m going to go with someone else who isn’t working with a firm”

I’ve thought about this a lot lately, because though we enjoy very much our work with larger organizations, we spend a lot of our time working with a loyal set of of small businesses & organizations. I think you’ll find that the case for many marketing & design firms. My guess is that the idea of a higher cost, or getting lost in the mix is of the most concern – but I really don’t know yet (I plan to begin inquiring).

We believe our fees are extremely reasonable, a good value, and we can prove it. Regarding getting lost in the mix, simply put, we care about every job we have and are committed to keeping projects moving forward. We use an excellent project management software, communicate, but most importantly, care.

Often we’ve been told, “don’t go for those smaller clients, they can’t pay much and take a lot of time.” Well…we want to help organizations grow and to have fun in the process, we can scale to any size, and ultimately we know that working relationships are generally fruitful all-around, even if it’s in goodwill.

My goal for this short post is simply to set the record straight, and list a few of the different services small and larger organizations use RockFish for, so you can get an idea of how we might be able to help you.

A sampling of a smaller client’s work might include:

• Basic WordPress website design & creation
• Website administration (making changes, edits, updates)
• Creating postcards, rackcards, or smaller graphic design projects
• Eblast template design

A little larger of a client’s work:

• Deeper web maintenance, including customization of websites
• Designing & creating all graphic design for a business
• Facilitating printing via our wholesale printing service (which saves you boo koo bucks)
• Eblast design & management
• Logo design
• Signage
• Advertising design
• Media analysis & placement proposals
• Social media management

Then some businesses are ready for a little more work:

• All of the above, and…
• Branding strategy (as in, really working to know who you are so you can connect to your target audience)
• Marketing strategic plans
• Copywriting
• Public relations & reputation management
• Digital marketing, including SEO & SEM
• Business & sales development (what will work internally to make you grow?)
• Custom web development using Drupal
• Market analysis
• Really looking closely for that thing that will truly make a difference, and we promise, we’re good at this one!

Ideally we like to partner with you, understanding your goals and helping you to achieve them through at a minimum above solutions. But we’d be nowhere without simply helping smaller businesses with creative services.

So, if you think we’re a fancy firm, just imagine us in underpants.

(360) 930-9892

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This email goes to Danny & Kelle, RockFish Group partners