Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Santowski.
Laura, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
After two decades in public libraries, I decided it was time to create a plan to fulfill my dream in starting my own company, that began the inception of Defining Creations. My background and expertise established a great foundation in running a business by being adaptable to the ever-changing needs of the public and location in which we were serving, along with keeping current on technology and devices, creating budgets on the principal that you must be creative with funding, working with Board of Trustees to ensure the mission was fulfilled and developing programming and hosting events that would appeal for diverse audiences. As most entrepreneurs know, planning and running a business can be very different than the business plan we develop. I’ve learned so much on my journey about the psychology of the consumer and business owner, concentrating on industry trends, along with recognizing each business’ unique needs.
I started providing Digital Marketing services over 5 year ago by creating effective social media campaigns for small local business’ in my community. I began by researching businesses locally in my area and using databases from the library. I looked for smaller Mom & Pop operations that did not have a website or any social media presence and I started the old-fashioned way, simply meaning, I personally went to each business, introduced myself to the business owner, told them about my products and services and if interested, I offered to come back at a more convenient time to collaborate and share ideas about increasing traffic, organic or paid to their business or website.
Once I had a few clients, word of mouth spread and my products and services were shared with other businesses and I found this to be the best advertising. It also allows smaller businesses with less staff to outsource this function to Defining Creations so they can focus on running their business.
I am blessed to have just celebrated my first year and believe with hard work, determination and finding great mentors I can only grow.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’ve faced many struggles along the way, but each lesson has taught me something and I can assure you that once a mistake has been made and corrected, it won’t be repeated. Running your own company demands accountability for every detail; you must be quick on your feet when it comes to resolving problems and additionally work with all types of personalities. My tip is to always have a plan B in case A doesn’t work out. That would be the best advice I could give. What makes a company or person successful is their drive, determination, tenacity and ability to come back once they have been rejected. Each experience that I’ve been through has given me an appreciation of other successful entrepreneurs; what sets them apart and the one common element I have found is to always have a grateful attitude. I’ve met many people in my industry and appreciate the people willing to provid advice, give suggestions or offer what has worked for them while being a sounding board for ideas and not feeling threatened by people entering the field. Finding people willing to be a part of your journey is rare but I truly believe giving back is vital in the entire process and eventually comes full circle.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Defining Creations story. Tell us more about the business.
Defining Creations is a full-service design agency specializing in Digital Marketing, Creative Media Services and Web Design and Development. My mission is to provide your business with an effective yet powerful strategy to engage your target audience and inspire action. We offer a powerful approach to marketing, tailored to the specific needs of each client for branding, logo design, promotion and advertising.
In addition, we offer a blend of social media marketing, digital PR, influencer campaigns, content marketing and web design to bring your company to the forefront.
Your social media channels should be helping you achieve your brand’s goals while increasing your brand visibility to stand out against the competition. We collaborate with you to ensure full optimization of your social media platforms, including ad campaigns to reach your demographics using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat and Instagram.
My specialty has been social media psychology, predicting the behaviors of your customer, knowing what’s trending in the industry while using state of the art research tools to target an audience. I develop ad campaigns to share the client’s message on multiple platforms. I’ve worked with many small businesses that want to delegate this responsibility so they may focus on running their business.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Marketing – Rise of video and video sharing. With the rise of mobile, video is in high demand because people love visual storytelling. This includes short form, long form, snippets, streaming, etc.
Owning your audience: In a world filled with incredible new tools to cultivate community, customers, consumers, and fans are more accessible than ever. Look for more direct conversations.
The core idea of marketing channels being accessible via an input like an API is an important concept. Right now, that’s true of the social channels, and increasingly, the rest of the digital marketing channels; but over the next five years, we’ll also see traditional channels like radio and television open themselves up to receive marketing assets programmatically.
Big data will get personal: It will change how brands go to market so they will become personalized and allow individuals to use data to pursue their passions and goals. Products and experiences that help people along on this journey will become a much bigger part of our lives. Marketers who participate in this productively and respectfully will form deeper relationships.
Measurement of campaign success: Metrics are all over the place. We are still yet to settle on a metric that is fit for purpose; one that is easily repeatable, undeniably valuable, demonstrably linked to ultimate effectiveness. Over the next 5-10 years I believe we will find solutions to accurately predict the success of a campaign.
I believe people will continue to care more about culture than products, so brands that operate on a cultural level will be the winners of the future as they are of the present.
Mobile web access will change the lives of billions of people over the next five years. Whole communities, whole regions, previously left without mobile data will gain access to it via projects like Google’s Android One, bringing affordable, capable, up-to-date devices to the developing world. What these new audiences will do with it can only begin to be imagined.
Chat bots and Conversational Interfaces- I think there will be more conversations with computers and technology that emerges to automate even more of our daily processes at work and in life.
Voice Control – Voice is innately suited to interfacing with devices that are embedded into our environment. Advances in machine learning and natural language processing.
Web Design and the short-term outlook:
~ VR and 360 videos
~ Card Design and Grid Layouts
~ AI-powered bots and conversational interfaces
~ Intuitive forms and natural language interfaces
~ Robust web app functionality
~ Micro interactions
Contact Info:
- Website: www.definingcreations.com
- Phone: 847-350-7996
- Email: Laura@definingcreations.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/definingcreations
- Facebook: facebook.com/definingcreations
- Twitter: twitter.com/definingweb
- LinkedIn : linkedin.com/in/laurasantowski
Image Credit:
Emily Gualdoni
Andre Taylor
Rickey Rainbow
Iza Maka Mau
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