“Empowering others to take charge of things they don't think they can do, such as website performance, SEO, and marketing, is a top priority and a profound joy.”
As a creative professional and small business owner, I understand the challenges of promoting oneself. My journey has been varied and illuminating—illustrating and writing for educational exhibits, illustrating books, selling art prints, and pursuing children's publishing. These experiences have given me firsthand insight into the hurdles faced by creative entrepreneurs.
Working in advertising and SEO, I developed a strong understanding of marketing, and my creativity and empathy have amplified its impact and significance. This blend of experiences led me to create a streamlined, user-friendly approach to enhancing my clients' online presence, ultimately saving them valuable time, money, and frustration.
Communication in Business Can Be Challenging
Early in my career, I struggled to effectively communicate my business ideas in a way that truly reflected who I am. Organizing and prioritizing my thoughts to create impactful messaging was challenging. Finding the right words and strategies seemed impossible. It took me a long time to figure it out alone. In hindsight, I wish I had guidance, as it would have saved me a lot of time and frustration.
Marketing Formulas Make Everyone Sound Alike
Initially, I attempted marketing techniques I had learned in college, but they didn’t always align with my style and made me uncomfortable. They felt like predictable, insincere formulas that made everyone sound the same. Through trial and error, I realized I needed to find my style and pursue what resonated with me. This led me to focus on creating heartfelt communication that connected people with what they were looking for—empathetic marketing.
Finding My Voice Was the Solution
After much time, I realized that my love of storytelling was integral to my communication style. My natural traits, such as empathy, compassion, and noticing subtleties, were precisely the skills I needed to get my ideas across and help people. (It's interesting how solutions can simultaneously be right under our noses and somehow out of reach.) These traits have been essential to my 35-year visual communication career, which has focused on web design, SEO, and empathetic marketing for the last 20 years. My approach made me stand out and enabled me to help small business owners and creative professionals in a unique way.
Finding Your Voice is Critical
I understand firsthand how challenging it can be to communicate the fundamental principles crucial to your business or identity. But I also know that it feels fantastic to be true to yourself while doing so—and it's ultimately more effective.
You don't have to use awkward jargon or strategies that don't resonate with you. Whether marketing a business or product or doing good in the world, all you need to do is get to the heart of what you do, discover your communication style, and engage with your audience. Finding your true voice makes getting the word out more effortless and ensures you keep it up. I’ve seen too many people give up too soon because they weren't comfortable with their marketing, didn't wait for results, or were unsure what was working.
Helping Others Save Time, Money & Frustration
I built my reputation as a web designer on my SEO skills, results, and ability to help small business owners market and do SEO impactfully. Over time, I saw that essential SEO had the most significant long-lasting benefits in connecting with the right people, reducing bounce rate, and increasing sales. You can always implement more SEO, but it saves a lot of time to focus attention where it is most important.
More and more people are attempting to do this work themselves. This is why I have more recently pivoted away from done-for-you jobs to help more people save time and frustration by sharing my years of experience. It’s a joy for me to help folks grow their businesses and watch them soar as the unique humans they are.
My Clients
I worked with casinos, universities, ski resorts, hospitals, golf courses, hotels, and other large businesses and corporations early in my career. It was good experience, but I quickly learned that wasn’t the direction I wanted to go in. I most enjoyed working with people who were solo small business owners and creative professionals. So, among my clients, you'll find photographers, videographers, massage therapists, various small shops & businesses, estheticians, a health food store, acupuncturists, creative groups, authors, illustrators, fine artists, a Taiji Master, Reiki practitioners, artisans, entrepreneurs, small publishers, and non-profits.
What do my clients have in common? Apart from being solo business owners, they share similarities in how they move through the world: they are empathetic, intuitive, creative, ambitious, determined, down-to-earth, community-centered, care for the environment, want to make a difference, aim to genuinely connect with their clients or customers, and pursue their passions—often in creative or health fields, or ways connected to nature. They are truly an inspiring group! (Go to my Web Presence Case Studies page for more details about their businesses.)
What Else Matters to Me?
After I’m done helping clients, I continue using storytelling to help protect the natural world around us by creating stories about how humans affect nature. I specialize in making environmental topics accessible, relatable, and specific to what my audiences hold dear—whether kids or adults. My work has been featured in educational exhibits and books for all ages. You can learn more on the following pages: Public Interest Stories, Illustration, Nature Illustration, Children's Illustration, and With Love, From Tahoe.
©2007-2024 KRISTEN SCHWARTZ 
