Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brooke Latham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brooke, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

At Social Canvas, we love the creative side of marketing, but what really gets us going is seeing the results. We are constantly striving to help our clients’ brands go above and beyond their competitors.

One of the most recent examples of this is our partnership with the Dallas based House of Dear Hair Salon, and their sister company/product line, House of Dear.

When House of Dear came to Social Canvas, they had just completely relaunched their salon brand and product line with a new name and formula. We were so excited to help them start from scratch in building their sister brands and establishing a strong digital presence. We also knew this would be a challenge given the current climate at the time. The world was still in the thick of the pandemic and the salon industry had been hit hard.

Working with House of dear was a unique case because they were essentially two clients in one. We developed a comprehensive strategy to create two effective sales funnels: one for their e-commerce store selling their hair product and one for salon bookings.

Our sales funnel relied heavily on email marketing automations, noteworthy press features, SEO optimized blogs, and educational social media content. In just 6 months, Social Canvas had increased sales by an average of 30% per month. Social media engagement was growing by more than 100% month over month, and we saw a 50% overall increase in followers. Email marketing data also came in well above industry standards. House of Dear is on the trajectory of sustaining two lucrative, well-established brands in the haircare space, while standing out from the competition from a design and messaging standpoint.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Just a few years ago, I was working in the NYC art world. I had moved to New York from Dallas to study at the School of Visual Arts, and eventually found myself 8 years later working in a cutting-edge gallery. I liked my job, but something was missing. I got to a point where I felt so out of balance that I had to leave my job. I turned down a raise and left the security of my paycheck with no other offer, no plan, and no idea what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I had some soul-searching to do if I wanted to get out of this funk and find happiness.

After my last day at work, I flew to Japan on a one-way ticket. Two-days later, I arrived at Mt. Fuji, exhausted. I had been put in touch with a friend of a friend, whom I was told I “just had to meet”, and she happened to be in Fuji too. So I quickly dropped off my bags, and set out into the night to meet her at the base of the mountain. We began our 12,388 foot hike, and I began pouring out my life’s story to a girl I’d just met.

We summited the mountain just as the sun rose, and enjoyed surreal bliss looking down on the world we’d left behind, delirious from lack of oxygen and sleep. I knew that the mountain was a metaphor for the challenges I needed to overcome, physically and mentally, in order to climb out of the rut I was in. After all this, my new friend, who understood that I was at a crossroads in my life, told me about ikigai.

This is a Japanese concept that essentially means your ‘reason for being’. It’s all about finding the overlap between what you love, what you’re good at, what you can be paid for, and what the world needs. I found this concept to be eye-opening in a very striking way. I realized that while I’d been working at the intersection of my passion and my profession, I was missing two crucial components: my mission and my vocation. It became clear that I needed to find a way to make an impact by leveraging my natural skills in (verbal and visual) communication. I finally acknowledged my deeply rooted desire to create my dream job as an entrepreneur. This discovery allowed me to create a business that motivates me every day, and brings me a sense of fulfillment.

Social Canvas is a boutique Digital Marketing Agency specializing in lifestyle brands. Our goal is to help our clients strengthen their presence online and attract their ideal customers. Depending on our clients unique needs, we develop a customized marketing strategy to meet their goals. We offer a huge variety of services including (but not limited to) email marketing, social media, graphic design, copywriting, paid advertising, web design, and thought leadership. All of our strategies are data-driven, and rely heavily on analytics and the insights that can be gleaned. Plus, we offer complimentary consultations for anyone looking to assess their current situation and explore how an expert digital marketing strategy could benefit their business.

How did you build your audience on social media?

As a digital marketing agency, Social Canvas was literally born to build audiences on social media. Creating our own social presence was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities.

When it comes to marketing, the first step is always establishing a memorable brand. Without a strong, cohesive image, your marketing efforts won’t be as effective as you’d hope. I spent a lot of time deliberating how I wanted the Social Canvas brand to feel, and who I wanted it to appeal to. A huge part of building your brand is defining your target audience, which is something that a lot of people tend to skip.

Another thing we had to consider was the varied best practices for different social channels. What works on Instagram is almost always different from what works on LinkedIn.

Once we determined the overarching social strategy, it was time to start posting. I started Social Canvas with the goal of making a difference, and contributing genuinely valuable content to a world that is often filled with anything but.

With all of that in mind, I employed the help of my incredibly talented team to create graphics and draft copy that would embody our newly defined brand. Sure enough, our audience began to grow and our strategy proved to be a success. In addition to strong content, we also leveraged strategic hashtags and authentic engagement.

The most common mistake I see when trying to grow one’s social media following is overlooking the importance of authenticity. Having 1,000 followers who are genuinely interested in your content is quantifiably more valuable than having 10,000 who don’t really give a hoot. The goal is to gain real followers, who really care.

At the end of the day, social media is just the mouth of your marketing funnel. It’s a great place to attract the attention of a wider audience, but what value does that audience have if you’re not directing them further down your sales funnel? This is why it’s critical to take a holistic approach to marketing, so that you can anticipate the customers’ experience with your brand from first impression all the way through to a sales conversion, and beyond to customer loyalty and referrals.

One great way to build awareness for your brand is SEO optimized blogs. We release a new blog each month with digital marketing tips and tricks, for those interested to learn more! We have guides to grow your following, build your community, develop a comprehensive strategy and many other resources, all at socialcanvasny.com

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

While our clients come from all over, I’ve come to find that the best source of new clients has been referrals from existing clients.

Without a doubt, the most effective way to bring in new deals is by delivering compelling results. At Social Canvas, it’s our utmost priority to keep our clients happy through positive interactions and data-driven success. The goal is always to exceed expectations by going above and beyond.

It’s one thing to talk the talk, but in order to sustain continued growth you have to walk the walk. Not only do our case studies help demonstrate our expertise, but they also show a trail of satisfied clients.

When our team develops eye-catching graphics and eloquent copy, people notice. We’ve had many clients tell us that they often get compliments on their digital presence and inquiries on how they achieved it. We are of course thrilled that our name comes up so naturally, and we’re so grateful to our clients for speaking highly of us!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.socialcanvasny.com/
• Instagram: https://www.linkedin.com/company/social-canvas-ny
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/socialcanvasco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/social-canvas-ny
• Other: Complimentary Consultation Link: https://hello.dubsado.com/public/appointment-scheduler/60d51563663573787d8404d8/schedule

Image Credits
Lorenzo Marez & Diego Rios