Insights & Interviews
During her childhood, Paige Beal sold local newspapers and taught swimming lessons, never foreseeing the future career she is now able to refer to in her teachings at Point Park University. Beal attended Hood College in Maryland in 1978, graduating with a double major in Sociology and Psychology. She reflected on this period of her life stating, “I didn’t declare that double major until…
As a former brand manager for a who’s who of Pittsburgh companies, Andrew Rupert knows a thing or two about growth. He got his start at Freemarkets (now Ariba) and four years later took on an opportunity at Giant Eagle. In 2012 after acquiring his MBA from CMU, he gained experience at Heinz, Valvoline, and PPG. So I was all ears when I had the chance to ask him…
Stephen Fisher recieved his first payment as an online writer back in 2009. “I always wanted to write,” he recalls, “and my first gig was to write website copy for an affiliate site, and I was paid 75 cents.” He was happy to get the project, but realized “clearly this isn’t sustainable, so I need to figure out how to do this professionally.” Soon after, he read Peter Bowerman’s The Well Fed Writer, and that put…
Blake Stewart - Stewart Design
Blake Stewart’s interest in art prompted him to apply to WVU’s graphic design program, where he chose web design as a discipline. After a senior year internship, he found that there was little actual design involved, but “a lot of tedious coding!”
Knowing that he wanted to do something different, he founded Stewart Design in 2006, as a print design company with a focus on logo creation and brand identity. “I saw opportunity in that space, because there were a lot of great companies but their logos and other visuals weren’t great. I knew I could help them.”
Today, Stewart Design is one of the most highly awarded small design firms in the country. I asked Blake about how he grew his company and about the creation process they use to produce some incredible logos…
You told me your business started growing through word-of-mouth. What were things like in the beginning?
I called a few business owners that I knew and offered to help them, and I’d make suggestions on how to improve their logo or print piece. Once a few people started taking my suggestions - and seeing the results - they’d tell their friends and then more and more people starting calling us. That’s really how we built the business. Logo design and branding our now our main services, about 70% of our overall business. We really have a passion for great design.
Do you have niche, any certain industries you try to work with?
We don’t focus on a specific industry, but we do have customers from almost every U.S. state and we do some work internationally. I also get speaking gigs from time to time at conferences and symposiums, so we’ve seen spikes in certain industries. For instance, I’ve spoken at legal symposiums and because of that, we’ve done a lot of work for law firms.
We’ve also seen business increases from certain sectors after we produce a logo for someone in that industry, especially if it’s a competitive industry or an industry with a community. So if we do a logo for a chiropractor, we’ll get more calls from chiropractic offices, or if we do a logo for a reptile breeder, we’ll see more breeders reaching out to us.
Is it ever difficult to design for one industry then another? How does that fit in to your creative process?
Well, we do a lot of research once we get a request. We do our homework. We research the industry, the company, their service, their differentiators, and their competitors. We want to get the full picture of what’s going on with them. But our first step before working with any client is a free consultation. The purpose of that meeting is to find out if we’re a good fit for them, and vice versa.
And once that’s established, what happens?
We create from the ground up, so typically we don’t take an old design or something that’s given to us. We have a specific process, an overall strategy, and we stick to that to build a customer avatar.
So the second step in our process is a brand strategy session where we do a deep dive into their business goals. This helps our clients think about their business in new ways and gives us a direction to head towards. The answers to those questions will influence the next step, which is the concept stage, where we produce and narrow down ideas to two or three concepts that we build out into full presentations.
That’s when they can literally see what the visuals will look like on paper, in print, on t-shirts, or on different objects. But most importantly, we explain why we chose the particular look, color, or design elements. We explain what it can do for them.
After a decision is made on the design, the next steps are setting up files and putting together branding guidelines. And after that, we help with any other branding decisions, printing, etc.
How long does that process take?
It varies of course, but I’d say generally speaking it takes 8 to 12 weeks.
So a lot more goes into the process than sketching up a logo, which may be how some people envision it.
Yeah, that’s why that first consultation is so important. You can get a logo made for five bucks on Fiverr, you can pay big agencies hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then there’s everything inbetween. We say it on our site, “your logo is the single most visible and memorable aspect of your company. A professionally designed, meaningful logo enhances your company’s credibility, making you more likely to gain people’s trust, and ultimately their business.” Our clients have big problems to solve and that’s why they hire us.
We’ve talked about branding for clients - but how do you attract new customers?
Generally, we don’t do a lot of marketing. But we are launching our new web site soon and we post on Facebook and Instagram fairly often. We’ve been fortunate enough not to need a ton of marketing ourselves. One of the reasons is that we’re selective about our clients and who we work with.
Maybe that’s a marketing strategy in and of itself?
Maybe, but I will say that referrals are almost our sole way of getting business right now.
We’ve talked about the design aspect of the business, but you guys do more.
Yes, logo design and branding is definitely are focus area, but we also work on the design and production of printed materials. Typically that means three things - mass-produced materials (like business cards, brochures, and stationery), apparel (screen printing or embroidery), and non-permanent signage (moveable or temporary signage for events and trade shows). We don’t do much digital stuff, but we do quite a bit of printed material.
So what should people look for when hiring a professional designer?
There’s a Jim Rohn quote that says something along the lines of “you don’t want to invest too much time and money into a small problem or too little into a big problem.”
It depends on your needs of course, but you want someone that understands what makes an effective brand. You want a professional - not someone who will take a piece of clip art and add your logo. You want someone that is willing to take time to understand your goals and come up with ways to achieve them. And you also want to take a good look at their portfolio - look at their clients, their cases studies, and testimonials. That should tell you all you need to know.
Make an Impression with Stewart Design:
Email: Blake@stewartdesignllc.com
Phone: 855-SD-LOGOS (855-735-6467)
Website: https://stewartdesignllc.com
Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/stewartdesignllc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stewartdesignllc
Paw & Order Dog Training - Steve Sentner
“We want to work with people that are willing to put in the effort.”
Steve Sentner, co-owner and one half of the husband and wife team that owns Paw & Order Dog Training, was talking to me about their ideal client. But in speaking with him about how they’ve built their company from a one-person dog training business to a multi-faceted franchising operation, I realized that “putting in the effort” is more like a mantra for the couple.
He and his wife Elissa Weimer-Sentner live on 14 acres of land on the outskirts of Imperial (near Clinton, PA), and now have a new facility being built on the property by the Rocky Bleier Construction Group. The couple has big plans for this 5,000 square-foot facility - scheduled to open early summer of next year - that include a grooming service, vet clinic, retail and office space, group training space, and plenty of room for events, classes, and seminars. It will have space to host conferences for their new franchisees as well.
Because of this explosive growth (plus winning Best of the Best Community Choice Award and The Best of the Burgh), I wanted to know what new tricks Steve could teach me about how to stand out from the crowd.
You say you do “everything but train dogs.” Tell me about your role in the business.
I’m in charge of all the marketing and some of the operations. I maintain the website, manage the marketing campaigns, manage our online presence, do the graphic design work, coordinate our events, and maintain our CRM and other online tools. Elissa, along with our other trainers, works with the dogs and their owners. I still think I have the fun part.
Yeah, me too! How did you get into the business of dog training?
In 2014, before we met, I was looking for a dog trainer in the area and found Elissa online. She had a different company name back then. I reached out via email, got a price, and went elsewhere. I thought she was too expensive! Big mistake - I ended up calling her after the trainer I picked didn’t work out. So I started working with Elissa, and three months later we were dating!
In November of 2016, we rebranded as “Paw & Order” and I quit my corporate gig, which I do not miss! I quickly built pawandorder.com from scratch and put the pedal to the floor in terms of marketing, because now we were ‘new’ again. We thought business may take a temporary hit, but it was quite the opposite.
What did you do to get things moving?
The first thing we did was reach out to our current and former clients, as well as our Veterinarian contacts, to let them know about our rebranding. Word of mouth is an important lead generator for us. Next, I had to get our website ranked high on Google, so I used Google AdWords (now Google Ads) for three or four months. By early summer of 2017 our site was either above-the-fold or first position for “dog trainer” in our area. Leads were coming in through the website and people were calling us. In fact, by summer 2017 we were starting to attract attention from franchising companies, although at that time we were telling them “not yet, but soon.”
So you anticipated the growth?
We did. And we began to streamline our marketing, but we wanted to manage the growth. Most of our new leads were - and still are - coming in from Google and our website. But our highest converting leads come from client referrals and vets. So just doing a great job training dogs and having good word-of-mouth marketing has been crucial.
We also see leads from Facebook. We have around 2,500 followers right now. If I post something and it gets some organic traffic, Likes and Comments, then on occasion I might promote it. But our private Facebook group has been great, because we’re building a community there. We started our Adventures for our clients in the group, which really differentiates us.
River Hounds
I saw that on the website - how did that start?
Elissa would text some of her clients, “I’m going on a trail with my dogs if you want to join us…” She realized how much her clients loved socializing with other dogs and their owners, so she created a private Facebook group to coordinate each outing. Now all of our trainers host “pack walks” on the weekends. But it’s not just walks, we’ll go meet up at dog-friendly pubs, we went kayaking last summer, and last year (pre-COVID), we hosted a Halloween party at our house. We had 50 dogs at our place, and around 70 people!
That’s great! So what types of training programs do you offer?
We have an in-home training program, where we come to the dog owner’s home five or six times and work with them in their own environment. And we have a Board & Train program where they can come to us. Dogs typically stay two to four weeks on average. They stay in our house, and our trainers work and play with the dogs, and socialize them with other dogs. We also offer group classes.
That sounds like a lot of dogs.
Yeah, and we have seven dogs of our own. They keep us busy, but of course they’re well-behaved, because we trained them!
But after the dogs stay with us, we’ll follow up a couple of weeks later to make sure things are going well, and often we’ll go to their house to check in. Training is a continuous process, a lot of effort goes into it, and we’ll ask clients to join our walks, and we really try stay in touch.
In addition to these programs, you’ve begun to franchise…
Yes! We announced that franchises were available right before COVID hit. We got our second franchisee about a month ago. He’s a former client and is opening up soon in Greensburg. But right now he comes to our place five days a week for in-person, hands-on training. It’s a big commitment and we want our franchisees to be great trainers with successful businesses.
So potential franchisees are calling, the facility is going up… what’s on the horizon?
Besides the facility, which is huge for us, internally we’re implementing a new CRM called Soffront that I’m pretty excited about, because I couldn’t find a tool that checked all of the boxes I needed. But this is a customizable piece of software that will help not only manage the franchises, but it has a platform that our franchisees can use and share.
We’re also putting together a client portal where we can upload videos of the dogs in the Board & Train program. Right now we communicate with clients by text - lots of texts - and it’s not efficient. Pet parents, when they drop off their dogs, can get very emotional and they want to make sure their baby is OK. We needed to address that, so in the near future, our clients can see how their dog is doing and stay updated more consistently.
As if all of that isn't enough, Elissa is also working with AHN and their therapy dog program. She's going to be their official Therapy Dogs United liaison for training in the Pittsburgh market. Basically that means all therapy teams for AHN will have to go through Elissa to be certified.
The Paw & Order Pack
You have a lot exciting things going on right now! So for you, what’s the best thing about owning the business?
I’m living the dream. I wanted to get out of Corporate America and do something that I enjoyed. Owning a business can be stressful, but it’s well worth it. And it’s great when you can help people. I mean, after all, we’re really in the business of training people, and helping them build better relationships with their pets.
Meet the Paw & Order Pack:
Paw & Order on the web: https://www.pawandorder.com
Paw & Order on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pawandorderpgh
Paw & Order on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paw_and_order_dog_training
Acrospire Brewing - Eric Truscott
”He understands how things react together.” That’s the quote that’s sticking with me after speaking with Eric Truscott, co-owner of Acrospire Brewing Co., one of Pittsburgh’s newest breweries, located in Glenshaw.
Eric was talking about chemist and brewmaster Greg Long, one of his partners at Acrospire. Eric, Greg and Ron D’Alessandro are friends that met through their church choir. With Eric’s IT skills and penchant for serving customers, Ron’s business acumen, and Greg’s brewing skills, there was definitely a positive reaction when these three guys got together.
The result was a small, unassuming “buildng within a building” where the guys are… well, building… their brewing empire. Albeit, kinda quietly and methodically. I asked Eric about how they got started, how they market their new brewery, and what the future holds.
Your website says you started in 2017. Let’s start there.
Well. Greg had been homebrewing for like, 25 years or so, and Ron and I knew his beer was really good. I was homebrewing too, as a hobby, and Ron was interested in brewing as well. We had been talking at church and knew we had this common interest. We decided to give it a go. But it took about 18 months to renovate the building and get it ready. We didn’t borrow money, we wanted to do this ourselves. So we framed the warehouse, jackhammered floors, did whatever we had to do to get it to come together. We made a building within a building.
Making some adjustments to Acrospire’s beer lines
What made you pick Glenshaw?
That was a result of practicality and necessity. First off, Ron owned the building, so that was a big part of course. But when we looked at a map of breweries in the area - at least at that time - there was a void in the North Hills area. Plus, we all lived here! So the combination of those things made it an easy choice.
How do you choose which beers to brew?
You brew what you like. Some places brew sours, some focus on IPAs. We’re more traditional, so we like brewing beers like porters and Hefeweizens. That’s actually our niche. We’re adding our own spin to traditional recipes.
So how long does it take to come up with a new beer?
Once we know the flavors we want to pull out and come up with the ingredients, it’s a 2 to 3 week process. The brewing itself only takes about a day, then 10 to 14 days to ferment, and maybe a day or so to carbonate.
And what's been the most popular?
Our Caramel Porter is really popular. Porters aren’t typically summer beers and we weren’t planning on keeping it on, but it’s done really well all summer long. We also make a Honeycomb Oat Honey Ale that does very well, it’s made with honey and orange peel. It goes great with an ornage slice! And our No Evil Hefeweizen is a strong seller.
Those sound delicious. So how did you start getting the word about them?
Mostly word-of-mouth, at least in the beginning. We talked it up to our friends and family and they spread the word. I guess people liked that they “knew someone” starting a brewery! But on opening day, we still weren’t sure what to expect. We didn’t want to make too much and have all of this extra beer on hand, but we ended up selling out. That opening day blew us away!
What happened next? I mean, have you had to do much outreach since then?
[Post-Gazette writer] Bob Batz happened. He had been following our progress from the very beginning, when we were still framing walls. He’d check in with us occassionally to see how we were doing. His article came out in February and that was the springboard.
We also joined the Brewer’s Guild. We were hesitant to join at first, we were still concerned about incurring extra costs. But that turned out to be a fantastic decision. They were so supportive, we connected with other brewers and we had other Pittsburgh brewers stopping in all the time. They’ve been great.
The Pittsburgh beer community is very welcoming. And I saw you have a Facebook page. Has social media helped at all?
Definitely. Recently it’s been all social media and our website. We’re on Facebook and Instagram.
That’s been the best. We get new followers every week and so we get new customers every week.
I also send some email blasts, but need to be more consistent.
Sounds like you’re doing a lot of things right!
We’re doing OK. We have a physical sign going up, so now people can find us!
So what’s next for Acrospire Brewing?
Our 2020 goal was to open, get some growlers out, and see what it takes to scale. We’ll brew what we can. We all still have our day jobs. It was growing a lot faster than we had anticpated, but then COVID hit. But we’re weathering this OK, we still have plans for a taproom. That’s our short term plan. The long term plan is to be in a league with the big boys, with a brewery that can house hundreds of people, host events, and distribute and circulate a bunch of beers.
But for now, well, if you’re a Seinfeld fan you might remember George saying, “it eased into the water like an old man into a nice warm bath.” That’s what we’re doing, easing into it.
Get Your Fill:
Acrospire website: https://www.acrospirebrewingco.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acrospirebrewing
Instagram: @acrospirebrewing
Email: info@acrospirebrewingco.com
Phone: 412-453-6266
Direct Mail Service (DMS) - Darci Saunders
Prior to becoming “Direct Mail Darci,” Darci Saunders, the Marketing and Business Development Director at Direct Mail Service, worked on the client side of the business. She was an assistant editor of the publications journal at St. Francis Medical Center and was also a PR assistant at Communications Ink (which has since evolved into Brunner). So she knows a lot about what her direct mail clients are looking for, what they need to know, and the pitfalls they should avoid.
I talked to Darci about these needs and how direct mail marketing is evolving, the effects of COVID on the industry, and how to market a direct mail company in a digital world…
How has the direct mail industry changed since you started?
I was recruited by DMS about 17 years ago, after St. Francis Medical Center closed. At that time, of course, we only did direct mail. Now we offer data management and data manipulation solutions, email deployment, mailing services, and a range of digital marketing servies. We used to have one list vendor, one guy in Minnesota, to help us with lists. Now we have 8 - 10 vendors that we work with for list rental. But one of the biggest changes is that postal services and email are coinciding.
For many of our clients, mailing lists are just a starting point. You can use those addresses to mail, but add emails to geo-fence, re-target, find IP addresses - you name it. It’s a whole different world from when we started.
Right now I have to do a lot of educating. Teaching clients not only about the new digital services, but also about the ever-changing postal regulations!
Are you seeing changes to the industry as a result of COVID pandemic? Is there a mailing resurgence?
People have been touting a mailing resurgence for years! We’ve always been busy. From what we’ve seen, it’s not a resurgence - it plateaued and has remained steady. Not a lot of growth, but it’s been steady.
With regards to changes and COVID, the answer is yes, but things level out. Since most face-to-face meetings have stopped, a lot of companies are relying on direct mail to get their message in front of customers. Companies that haven’t used mail in the past are now using it. But the flip side of that is that some organizations have had to cease operations entirely, and so that mail isn’t going out any more.
And there’s of course a ripple effect. For instance, the CLO and Benedum might stop shows, and so the playbills and mailers for those shows don’t go to the printer, and the printer doesn’t mail the pieces.
That’s happening in a lot of industries, I suppose. So let's talk marketing. First off, your moniker - "Direct Mail Darci"…
I started using that name in a BNI group about 15 years ago. It helped me stand out and differentiate myself - it still does. When I respond to an information request or RFP, I put “Info from Direct Mail Darci” in the subject line, which helps reinforce the brand and the name. It’s in my LinkedIn profile and my correspondence.
Although, I do get asked if I own the company, and I’m like, “sorry, no.” But it really does help me get noticed!
So aside from direct mail, how does a direct mail company market themselves?
Most of the marketing I’m doing is via our new website, which I manage. It was just redesigned. I’m able to make updates and do editing. I had a graphic designer and a web designer construct it, but I knew that I wanted a clean, simple look. Kind of expansive. And I wasn’t interested in driving traffic for traffic’s sake, I knew that I wanted organic traffic - if someone was visiting the site, they’d most likely need what we offer. So I’ve seen an uptick in inbound leads. I’ve also always done a lot of networking and have gotten most of my business from referrals. Just doing a good job and doing right by my clients.
One thing that has been veryimportant, though, is maintaining our Google Business Profile. By that I mean doing audits - checking it for accuracy, checking and responding to reviews. It’s important for reputation management. I’ve definitely asked clients to leave reviews. Whether you know it or not - and whether you like it or not - people are out there talking about you. And they can be quick to criticize if they feel they’re wronged, but not always quick to talk about a job well done. So it never hurts to ask if they’ll give a testimonial or a review when they’re happy!
What about social media and content marketing?
Well, I manage our blog and I’m on LinkedIn. So I post content, but not as consistently as I should. Because I’m responsible for sales, account management, and marketing, I tend to do more marketing when business slows. I'll usually have to manage projects when I’m busy. So it really becomes an issue of time. I need to take care of my current clients first before trying to get new ones!
Well said. So what’s coming up in Q4?
This is our busy time, so I’ll be working on client projects - things like end-of-year appeals, newsletters, that sort of thing. It will be interesting to see how COVID affects the holiday season, it’s hard to tell if there will be any surge in holiday mail, but I expect so.
That would make sense. Ok last question - what's the weirdest thing you've seen sent through the mail?
One time we mailed a box of edible bugs for a computer service with a message saying, “Contact us to get rid of your bugs!” That was clever and unique. My clients have been creative in what they send - tube mailers and 3D (dimensional) mailers, and whatnot. There’s really no limit on what can be sent through the mail!
Go Directly to Darci:
Website: https://www.dirmailserv.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/directmaildarci/
Amanda Bronowski, Sales Executive at Heeter
In addition to her degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Print Management, Amanda Bronowski has over 20 years’ operational experience in the printing industry. That’s why it was a bit of a surprise for her to end up in print sales. As she puts it, “the last thing that I sold was Girl Scout cookies.”
But at the recommendation of Heeter’s VP of Sales, she started a new career trajectory. She watched other industry salespeople - mostly older men - taking clients on golf outings and schmoozing at lunches. “That just wasn’t my style,” she says, adding “I didn’t really see a lot of reps utilizing social media.” As a mother of 5 boys, she’s had plenty of experience keeping an eye on social media trends. And as a former model, she had some level of comfort in front of a camera. So she started posting pictures, and that evolved into videos.
Heeter Printing offers a variety of printing services, from conventional “offset” printing to digital printing, inkjet/web, software, procurement, and more. I talked to Amanda about her role and how she’s helping Heeter reach new customers through somewhat unconventional methods.
It looks like your videos are getting a lot of traction on LinkedIn and YouTube. How did you start?
Last fall, I was posting pictures on social media - mostly LinkedIn - about my company and the services we offer. They were getting a little bit of attention, but I finally got the confidence to put out my first video in December, which was a “Happy Holidays” kind of thing. That got way more engagement. That’s when I thought, “Can people sell this way?”
I decided to try it, and focus on the educational aspect - teaching people how to effectively use print and incorporate direct mail into their overall marketing campaigns. My first video, done with the help of our internal marketing team, was me in front of a camera, pitching. It was fine, but it wasn’t me. I decided to take a more personal approach and shoot and edit the videos myself.
From modeling, I was comfortable in front of a camera but it was actually intimidating putting myself out there as a professional. I mean, there are always going to be people quick to criticize your looks or whatever. But I didn’t want people questioning me as a professional. At first, if people had negative comments, I’d get upset. But you get passed it. And once I saw the positive reactions - and once I started getting clients - it got much easier.
So how do you make them? Do you have any special equipment, lighting, or things like that?
[Laughs]. Not exactly. I shoot them with my phone. Sometimes I hold it. Other times I attach it to a lamp, using a pop socket and [laughs again] putting it on a knobby-turny thingy on the lamp. Very professional. I do have a small, inexpensive tripod so I can get different angles. Lighting is very important, though. I have like 15 different lights in the room I use and I’m always adjusting them to get rid of shadows. I also film a lot outside, to bring in more warm light.
And how do you edit?
I started using the InShot app, then invested a few dollars for InShot Pro. I only shoot maybe 25 seconds at a time, and generally do 5 to 15 different takes for a single 1-minute video. I also show the videos to my youngest boys (7 & 8) to make sure the videos aren’t boring - if I see the boys drift off for even a few seconds, I know I need to make it more entertaining!
Once they make it passed your advisory board, where do you post them?
Mainly on LinkedIn because that’s where my customers are. I also post on my YouTube channel. Ocassionally I’ll add them to my personal Facebook page and Heeter’s Facebook page, if I think people might enjoy them.
So I guess the big question is, have they made an impact on sales?
Yes. The number of viewers has been steadily increasing. In the beginning I’d get maybe 500 views, now it’s more like 9,000. With those viewer numbers increasing, I’ve had many more people reaching out to me for printing quotes and questions about specific printing projects. I’ve also been asked to appear on panels and online sessions, which has helped as well. When COVID hit, more people went online, so that gave me a bump in views. But my customers and prospects also realized it was an opportunity to use omnichannel marketing.
You’ve talked about that in your videos. I suppose to some people it may seem ironic that someone selling print uses video to sell. Can you address that and elaborate on “omnichannel marketing” and what that means to your customers?
Absolutely! Nothing is ever “just” print. It’s always print-plus-something. The industry has evolved. Omnichannel marketing creates cohesive marketing campaigns. Heeter does this well. For instance, we’ll tie a video into a direct mail piece that points to a web page - and there’s consistent imagery and copy across each channel. We practice what we preach - we do it for ourselves and we do it for clients.
Last question - your husband has made a cameo or two - how does he feel about you making him Internet famous?
That was actually his idea! He’s a professional MMA fighter and he loves the spotlight! But he’s a great help. He’s also a personal trainer and markets himself, so we work together. Although, I do get a tad bossy as a Director [laughs again}.
Connect with Amanda:
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/datjyex
Heeter Printing: https://www.heeter.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-bronowski-37385016/
Pittsburgh Pet Cremation - Jason Wilt
Pittsburgh Pet Cremation is a mobile pet cremation service owned and operated by Jason Wilt. His service is particularly relevant in a time of social distancing, but it’s also a great service for those who have accessibility issues or for those who don’t have access to transportation.
Jason learned about the funeral industry at a young age. His father was a funeral director, and so he’s been around the industry all of his life. He implemented that knowldege and his love for animals and started Pittsburgh Pet Cremation about 5 years ago. His business serves the Greater Pittsburgh area, and over the past couple of years he’s seen a steady increase in PPC’s business. We asked him for the secret to his success…
How do you typically market your services, and what does your typical customer look like?
We market our services on the web and social media. We focus on individuals, especially those who don't have access to transportation. We also have a few partnerships with various veterinarian offices and humane societies.
How do those partnerships work?
The partnerships we have with veterinary hospitals are mainly agreements that say when a person's pet may be euthanized, the vet will tell them about our services so we can assist them during this difficult time.
Do you have any marketing resources that you can share?
We don't have any secret weapons for marketing, just web and social media! We do send materials to various veterinary offices in the form of postcards that their clients can take home with them.
Has the pandemic changed your outreach efforts or caused any change in customer requests?
The pandemic hasn't really changed anything with us, our business hasn't been any slower or busier than usual. As far as customer requests, some now require that we wear a mask. But we have been following social distancing and CDC guidelines when we are in a home or office.
Do you have any special plans for your business in the second half of the year?
Our plan for the second half of the year is to get our services more well-known in the veterinary community and animal foundations!
Your work in a difficult industry. What do you like most about owning your own business?
I enjoy assisting people and providing a service that is a hard topic to deal with for some. It’s the reason I started Pittsburgh Pet Cremation.
So I’ve asked everybody this… if you had to be a dog breed, what would it be and why?
If I had to be a dog breed, I would be a pitbull. I have had three pitbulls and they are fun, energetic, outgoing, and friendly, despite the bad reputation they get. They are some of the sweetest dogs who just need a little love and understanding. They’re just big babies!
Contact Pittsburgh Pet Cremation
Web: https://www.pittsburghpetcremation.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pittsburghpetcremation
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pittsburghpetcremation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pghcremation
Phone: 412-206-9266
Churn - Kelley Costa
Good luck keeping up with Churn owner Kelley Costa. With three retail stores, over 60 employees, a growing wholesale business and an eye on franchising next year, you’ll need some caffeine to maintain her pace. She’s a bit of a whirlwind. We caught up with her during a store build-out (she’s also her own general contractor) and we talked about Churn’s success, growth trajectory, and how her passion for creating ice cream flavors brought this professional accountant into the entrepreneurial fold.
So how does an accountant end up owning an ice cream shop?
My parents actually had a soft-serve shop when I was 16, so I knew the business. While I was still doing tax work, I opened Kelley’s Dari-Delite on Babcock Blvd. I had that shop for over six years.
Then, when I was on a trip to New York with my dad, we stopped by an old-style gelato shop (that’s how we bonded). I was there with him and we were looking around, really enjoying the look and feel of the place. We liked the visuals. And we thought, “why doesn’t someone open a place like this near us?”
At the time, Kelley’s Dari-Delite was a seasonal business that had a walk-up window. I figured that we could create a year-round ice cream place that served hot drinks, like coffee, in the winter. Churn opened in Gibsonia in 2015 - a little later than I had anticpated in October - just in time for winter!
Your Gibsonia location opened first, then the Cranberry location in 2017 and the Fox Chapel location in 2019. What’s been working for you in terms of marketing?
Social media is the number one thing we use, although we do start with word-of-mouth. But we invest money into Facebook and we invest resources into Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. We have lots of internal promotions, then blast pictures and posts on social media. Our target demographic is 16 to 24 year-old’s. They tend to come in after 8:30pm. We also get a lot of young families that stop in right after dinnertime.
And we’re constantly showing new products to these groups. Right now we’re working on a fall campaign to mimic drinks for “all of the stuff you missed this summer.” So we have concert-themed drinks and lots of fun stuff launching each week, and we’ve made Tik Tok videos to help promote them.
In terms of traditional media, we use that to a lesser extent because our online marketing - things like posting in Facebook groups - has worked very well for us. But we’ve run ads and coupons in publications like the Hampton News and InCommunity. And the other thing that’s been good for us is giving back to the community and participating in events. We show up at tradeshows. We’ll donate free ice cream or coffee or giftcards to things like community races, fundraisers, and other events. For instance, we donated to a drive-in movie night at the park, we went to Yelp’s Ice Cream Fest, and we gave out free samples at a Macy’s Grand Opening party. We’ve been successful in booking catering events directly from those types of events.
Are you always on the lookout for new events?
We’re to the point that we don’t go out to find events, they seem to find us!
Has the pandemic changed that?
Well, the events have changed. But as far as our marketing goes, things have stayed pretty much the same. In terms of the business, though, one of the biggest changes was our online ordering, and using services like DoorDash and GrubHub. I don’t know that we wold have tried them. But once the pandemic hit, we decided to try it and there was a two month period where DoorDash accounted for 75% of the business at our Cranberry location.
Has that fundamentally changed the way you do business?
DoorDash is here to stay. The younger people that we target really like it. It’s maybe 25% of our business right now. I don’t see it going away. Mobile ordering has dropped off, but it’ll come back. What I realized was that we need to grow to cover the additional costs of those delivery services so that we can achieve economies of scale. I think that a lot of businesses that are struggling are going to have to embrace the “DoorDash 25%’ and try to make it work.
So what’s next for Churn?
A few things. We’re going to continue to make new flavors of ice cream - that’s my passion! We recently added wedding catering, and that was doing very well pre-COVID. We still have weddings booked. We have brides asking if we can match the cake, or a specific flavor that they like, and as long as I can get a sample of the flavor I can usually turn it into an ice cream. So custom-made flavors will continue to be a large part of our business - we’ve made over 1,000 flavors to date!
We’re getting innovative on social media and we’ll continue to spend resources there, and we’re looking into franchising and seeing how that will work. But we’re taking our time, I want to vet potential franchisees and find people who are truly passionate about the business.
Get Your Dairy On:
Website: https://churngetsme.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homemadeicecreamandcoffee
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/churn_homemade/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/churn_homemade
Interview by: Eric Pursh
