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Let’s get visual! In this episode, Jeff Randolph, EAG’s chief marketing officer talks about interactions and images with EAG’s senior art director, Ashley Tebbe, and architect, Chris Gillam of Jones Gillam Renz, a Kansas City architecture firm. Find out where these two creative minds get inspired and what brands they love.
Transcript
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles Podcast. My name is Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing. We’re going to talk about marketing, and we’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs. We have marketing news and advice business owners can use to keep moving forward, plus a featured interview you’re not going to want to miss. I’m excited to get to that interview. But first, news.
One more time, here with Ashley Tebbe, Senior Art Director at EAG Advertising and Marketing. Ashley, welcome to the show.
Ashley Tebbe:
Hey, Jeff. Thanks for having me.
Jeff Randolph:
You’re just going to be a regular fixture at this point, I think. We’ll just have you back as many times as I see you walking around and trying to get to somewhere else or to a different meeting. I’ll just snag you, we’ll talk about whatever. In this case, hit the trends. What’s going on with the… When you are keeping your ear to the ground on design trends and just any kind of visual communication, what trends are you seeing? What do you notice? What’s out there?
Ashley Tebbe:
Yeah, it’s really, really exciting. Trends usually focus on what social or different kind of movements that are happening around the world, and they extend from that. So, when we look at trends, we look at what is important to people. I think post-pandemic, everyone could use a little bit of joy, so that is a huge part of where trends for 2023 are headed.
Jeff Randolph:
Really?
Ashley Tebbe:
Yeah. You’re looking at brighter color palettes that are more dopamine induced.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, nice.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes. Things that “spark joy”. Even though I hate that phrase. So, we’re also looking at experiences. People are done being inside. They want to go outside. They want to see things, touch things, smell things. They want to find something that gives them just that extra bit of smile in their day to day. And they’re ready to catch up from, like I said, being inside for a couple years.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
Ashley Tebbe:
Even though it’s 2023, they still have a little bit of a pandemic hangover, and they’re ready to have some fun.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, it hit pretty hard. It was a big shift. So yeah, it’s good to see the brighter colors out there, especially if that fits with your brand persona, and you can kind of flex that way and test out some good creative headlines and some brighter looks.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes. Another thing that’s really important is, in terms of website design, different ways to use motion to get some kind of reaction from folks. There’s a popular phrase now called scrollytelling.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay. Scrollytelling.
Ashley Tebbe:
Scrollytelling. That’s where you use the mouse’s scroll to interact with a webpage. So when you scroll, pictures maybe move apart revealing more of the message. Maybe something else pops up as you scroll, or more of a picture in the background reveals itself.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s what that’s called. Okay.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes, yes.
Jeff Randolph:
I like it.
Ashley Tebbe:
It’s a very, it’s challenging for developers, but it’s a very beautiful tool to use if you’re trying to communicate a wonderful message. micro-interactions is another term. So, micro-interactions relates to the idea that there’s a little bit of interaction or a little bit of motion animation after your user has filled out a form or clicked through something or highlighted a word, which you’ve wanted them to do to let them know that they’re doing things right. You’re giving people that affirmation and feel good vibes when you’re giving them a green check mark after they’ve filled something out.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay.
Ashley Tebbe:
So, that’s another thing that’s on an upward trend. Hyper-personalization.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes. This is a fun term.
Jeff Randolph:
And we know that personalization works in marketing, that that helps consumers know that this brand is for them, and everything is geared toward the very personalized, we care about you. You’re not just a number, you’re a real person. That sort of thing.
Ashley Tebbe:
Jeff, what are your favorite apps to use?
Jeff Randolph:
I enjoy the usual socials. I like, Reddit is a fun one for all my news, everything that I need. The Apple News app is also a fun one.
Ashley Tebbe:
What do you like about those apps?
Jeff Randolph:
Easy to look through. They’re addictive, almost.
Ashley Tebbe:
Could it be that you’re able to self-select the content that you want to look at?
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, for sure. 100%.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s exactly that. On both of those platforms, and even in all of the socials it’s like that.
Ashley Tebbe:
That alludes to hyper-personalization. Personally, I am a new Orangetheory cult member.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay.
Ashley Tebbe:
And one of the reasons I like Orangetheory so much is I like their app. They have a beautiful app that sends you a workout report after every workout that includes beautiful bar graphs, that show where your heart rate is.
Jeff Randolph:
Right.
Ashley Tebbe:
It includes how long you were on the treadmill. Those things, when I’m working out at 5:00 AM, I am definitely not paying attention to or remembering after 5:00 AM. I want to forget 5:00 AM wakes up.
Jeff Randolph:
I’m with you, I’m with you.
Ashley Tebbe:
But I want to remember or know that I did something at 5:00 AM because I did it. So, yeah, hyper-personalization.
Jeff Randolph:
Hyper-Personalization, good stuff.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yeah. Things like being able to create your own profile and stuff. Tailoring content to what you want and your needs. If you’re a scatter mind person like myself, you want something maybe a little more minimal and you want to just kind of get rid of all those things.
Jeff Randolph:
Distractions.
Ashley Tebbe:
Distractions that are just going to clutter up your feed.
Jeff Randolph:
Other bells and whistles.
Ashley Tebbe:
Yes. So again, I send motion design. That’s a big part. They’re finding different ways to incorporate motion design. Like I said, scrollytelling or micro-interactions, you can find a plethora of different options there. So again, I think the big things from this conversation is motion and joy. What can we find? How can we incorporate happy into your work? But also, people have a higher standard of business and business ethics these days. So, part of design and marketing is, it’s also really important to make sure that we have sustainability and focus, sustainable design. That’s a huge topic for a lot of people these days, and they want to know that the companies they’re buying from have that in mind when they’re buying from these companies.
Social issues are also really big. So, how do you communicate sustainability and social issues in your design? That is something that graphic artists and design and copywriting as a whole have been talking about. It’s about how do we communicate that information in pie charts? How do we tell that story about your design? How do we make sure that we’re telling the right story?
Jeff Randolph:
Right, right.
Ashley Tebbe:
So, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Is it appropriate to include some of those components on just a regular standard ad, or does that need to be less of a focus so that the focus is on the action of what we want them to do with that ad? Is it brand awareness where we’re trying to communicate our good works in the community, or is it action oriented as an ad? So, yeah. What a struggle that you have to do all the time. Oh sorry, what I meant was, what an exciting opportunity for you as a designer to work all of those elements in. Not a struggle, not a challenge.
Ashley Tebbe:
I love the purpose behind it, so I think it’s really cool challenge to have. When you bring more meaning into your work, it’s just better for everyone involved.
Jeff Randolph:
We’ll wish everyone a happy, personalized, joyous, bright future in the next year, and you’ll be on trend. All right. Ashley, thanks for being here.
Ashley Tebbe:
Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
All right. Welcome to our featured interview. I’m here with Chris Gillam. Chris Gillam is the Architect and Principal at Jones Gillam Renz. Chris, welcome to the show.
Chris Gillam:
Hey, thank you so much, Jeff.
Jeff Randolph:
All right. We’re happy to have you here. You were here for our open house with the KC Chamber. Why don’t you tell me just a little bit about the business? Tell me about what you guys are doing and how you got there.
Chris Gillam:
Sure. So, we have been in business a very long time, about 80 years coming up next year.
Jeff Randolph:
Wow.
Chris Gillam:
I have not been with the business for that long, obviously.
Jeff Randolph:
You’re looking good.
Chris Gillam:
Yes, thank you. Thank you. I have been there about five years now. So, I have been in Kansas City for my full career so far, but I founded the Kansas City office of this firm back in 2017. We have slowly made some growth since then. We’re looking to the future to continue doing that. We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve got a lot of great development clients in the Midwest, so part of the reason for growing this new office in Kansas City is so that we can better handle those relationships and get to the states where we’re doing this new work. A lot of stuff in Texas and Colorado and Arizona and coming up on Wyoming and stuff like that, as well as the Kansas and Missouri and states right in the neighborhood here. So, this is a venture for us that we think is going to foster our future.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, outstanding. And any types of projects in particular that you guys do? Or is it really the whole everything anyone could ever want?
Chris Gillam:
A little bit of that. I will say, our bread and butter projects is housing. We do a lot of multifamily right now. I’d say that’s probably 60 to 70% of our workload. We are specialists and have a lot of experience in affordable housing, so we do affordable housing projects with one large developer in particular that does these projects all around the Midwest, in those states that I mentioned.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, outstanding. As the principal, you’re in charge of all kinds of aspects of the business, so you’ve got the marketing as well and business development kind of stuff. Is there something that keeps you up at night in that marketing aspect?
Chris Gillam:
Yeah. Marketing is definitely a challenge. It’s multifaceted, obviously. There’s so many things to look at and understand who your audience is, if you’re doing the right thing. Are you trying to grow the business by hiring people? Are you trying to grow by increasing revenue? It’s not just so simple as reaching an audience with your brand.
Jeff Randolph:
Right, right.
Chris Gillam:
So, I guess, the thing that keeps me up is, you don’t know what you don’t know a lot of times, and I’m not a marketing expert, I didn’t go to school for that. I don’t have any kind of degrees in marketing. It’s something that I’m kind of just learning as I go a little bit, doing these networking events, podcasts like this, trying to get our name out there. But it’s really just about getting new connections and building relationships, and that’s how I’ve been doing it so far.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, and that is a secret to success. I mean, it is definitely a way to go. When you’re doing that marketing work and you’re comparing yourself against the other architectural firms that are out there, because there are a lot and they all go by some set of initials, how do you stand out among that? How do you set yourself apart?
Chris Gillam:
Yeah. That is something that does keep me up at nights every once in a while. Kansas City is a mega hotbed for architecture firms. There’s a lot of acronyms out there. Comparisons happen naturally. I will be honest, I try not to do that because I feel like our benefit to the industry as Jones Gillam Renz is that it’s our relationships that we build with partners. And a lot of times, our clients are repeat clients, if not all the time. So, I’d say most of the work we do are with partners who have used us for over a decade now. So, trying to compete against other firms in Kansas City in competitions and stuff like that, we don’t really get into that too much because not really our area focus.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. Being able to set yourself apart and tell your own story and say, “Look, I’m not going to compare myself to someone else as a way to position us.” It’s not the, “We’re Avis Rent-a-Car and we’re number two, and so we’re comparing ourself to Hertz.” It doesn’t have to be that way. You can have a set of unique selling proposition, your thing that sets you apart from everybody else and just stick to that. And as long as you’re consistent with the way that is messaged, that’s going to bake in to everybody’s mind over time.
Chris Gillam:
Yeah, yeah.I agree with that. I think you can put a product out there that’s great, and it doesn’t have to compete. If you’re saying the right things to your potential clients and they trust you, and they feel good about what you’re putting out there, they don’t really need to shop around. If you’re doing what they need, I really feel like you can make a great relationship there without having to compare yourself.
Jeff Randolph:
Right, right. And relationships are key to the business, especially if you’ve got people who are… If your audience base doesn’t turn over all the time so that it’s a brand new audience every time you go to the market, you can develop those relationships and keep that as a good direction to go for your marketing.
Chris Gillam:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s a good tactic to be doing.
Chris Gillam:
Absolutely. I agree.
Jeff Randolph:
If we take a step back and just kind of think about business ownership in general and the kinds of struggles that small business owners face day in and day out, what piece of advice would you give to other small business owners out there?
Chris Gillam:
Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s something I ask myself a lot. What advice would I give myself? I think there’s a lot of articles out there that people read. I’m on LinkedIn daily, reading different entrepreneurship articles, things like that, Fast Company, and everything tries to give you different advice on, this is what you should do, read these six tips, these seven tips, that kind of stuff. I really think it just boils down to knowing what you want to do or what your goal is, and then having tenacity, really going after it and not giving up. I can’t tell you how many articles, I’m sure most people have read about, getting turned down 100 times and then getting the yes that last time and your goal becomes reality. So, that would really be my advice is don’t give up when you get a no. If you really want what you’re going after to grow this business, to get that client, whatever it is, you have tenacity.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s also that one good shot in golf that brings you back-
Chris Gillam:
Sure.
Jeff Randolph:
… again and again. You hit the ball well and knock it right up close.
Chris Gillam:
I’m still looking for that shot.
Jeff Randolph:
Eventually you’ll have that shot, and it’s good. No, wonderful advice. I think that advice brings us right into, let’s call it the lightning round, and here’s how the lightning round works. Very simple. There are no wrong answers first-
Chris Gillam:
Okay.
Jeff Randolph:
… so you can just throw it out there. Now, if your answer inspires some kind of follow-up question, obviously we’re going to go there. But no wrong answers. Quick soundbite, one word, one sentence, whatever kind of answers, and let’s just light this candle. You ready? What is your favorite social media platform?
Chris Gillam:
Oh, Instagram.
Jeff Randolph:
Instagram. Interesting, because you just talked about LinkedIn with your small business owner tip too. So, Instagram. If we look at your Instagram, what’s on your Instagram? What kind of things do you post?
Chris Gillam:
Oh, man. Honestly, it’s a lot of my dog.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay, okay.
Chris Gillam:
But I also run our business Instagram, and it’s the imagery for me.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay.
Chris Gillam:
They say an image or a photograph, whatever, paints a thousand words-
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
Chris Gillam:
… kind of thing. I get inspired by looking at other designs and architecture and-
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah.
Chris Gillam:
… adventure videos. If there’s a place I want to go visit or travel to, when somebody does a video or a image well, you can really put yourself there. And I feel like that’s what architecture is for me. It’s really designing the framework for an experience. It’s not just about the aesthetics. And so, LinkedIn’s great. There’s a lot of great stuff on there. I’m not a journalist, so a lot of the words sometimes are too much. I’m simple. I like my pictures.
Jeff Randolph:
Sure, sure. And let me go back to the LinkedIn thing for a minute. Before we got into lightning round, when you’re reading those top 5, top 7, top 10, top whatever kind of things, are you also commenting, also posting? Are you also resharing it? Or are you kind of like a, I’m going to just take all of that information, I’m going to consume it and not put it back out there or participate?
Chris Gillam:
Sure. I do participate, not in everything. There’s, God, thousands of articles out there saying about the same thing in different ways. So you could post till you’re blue in the face. I comment on particular things of connections of mine, of somebody I know if they’re trying to build a business and I’ve got something to input or help them with. I’ve written one or two articles myself.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay.
Chris Gillam:
So yeah, I do a little bit of participation, but not always.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, no.
Chris Gillam:
I don’t want to flood the market.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. As we’re talking about the kind of outreach you can do with your business, even just being forward facing on LinkedIn where you’re sharing, you’re liking, you’re commenting, that can go a long way for building those relationships.
Chris Gillam:
Yeah, absolutely.
Jeff Randolph:
Outstanding. But Instagram, on the personal side, for your favorite social media platform.
Chris Gillam:
Sure.
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s go next lightning round question with the kinds of businesses or brands that inspire you. Is there a brand that you’re like, “Yeah, that’s my go-to. I believe in them and they inspire me.”
Chris Gillam:
That’s interesting. I think most of the brands that inspire me are travel based. I consider myself a traveler, an avid adventurist. One of the brands recently that really made me kind of rethink marketing and strategies is Patagonia.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah.
Chris Gillam:
How they, or I guess their owner and CEO just gave the company to the earth, basically. And kind of, it was all about sustainability. And I think that’s just so cool. And I haven’t talked to a single person since that came out that has not said, “Oh, I want to go buy Patagonia equipment now.”
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. A simple way that they live the brand, and by doing that, an appeal to everybody who follows that brand. Excellent example. Yeah. Let’s say, if you’re finishing a project or if you’re trying to win a project and you have some kind of great success, something celebration worthy, how do you celebrate that success?
Chris Gillam:
Well, usually we will hire our architecture photographer, have them go take pictures and post it everywhere.
Jeff Randolph:
Immediate promotion.
Chris Gillam:
We want to show that off.
Jeff Randolph:
Immediate promotion of that project. Let me go about this last one. It’s the… Real simple. What would you want your future customers to know about you?
Chris Gillam:
Just about how much we care about what we’re designing, the relationship we have, and the pride we have in our company and our brand. We have four principles, four partners, and we all work directly for the clients. We’re doing production work, we’re doing the designs ourselves. We have a lot of staff and other architects backing us up, but we take pride in the relationships we have and our history shows that, I think.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, high touch, good customer service from the very top. It’s a long-term recipe for success. Well done. Let’s see. So Chris Gillam with Jones Gillam Renz, thanks for being with us today.
Chris Gillam:
Hey, thank you so much Jeff.
Jeff Randolph:
And that is it for the Small Business Miracles Podcast this week. I’d like to thank my guests, Chris Gillam. Thanks for being here. Remember to subscribe. Leave us a five star rating and review. Drop us a line at eagadv.com if you have some thoughts. Until then, we’re just going to be out here helping entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.