We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dina Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dina, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

I remember my first client vividly. She walked into an Apple store to make a purchase and met my friend Patrick that happened to work there. She had mentioned sitting on a board for a non-profit and needed a designer to brand a fundraising event she would be hosting. My friend Patrick thought of me, provided my contact info, and impressed on her that she HAD to call me. That was in 2012.

11 years later and that same client and I have a wonderful relationship. Over the years she’s been a client several times over, became a personal friend, and has provided support, mentorship, and business guidance. She was a critical component in my confidence to leave my corporate job of 10 years and launch my first freelance business. With time, my little freelance business has developed into a comprehensive brand strategy and design firm and I owe so much of my success to that first client that walked into an Apple store to buy a new laptop.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I studied Photography at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. After 3 years at a private art college and acquiring a tremendous amount of student loan debt, I decided to leave school and refocus my talents and skills in an attempt to develop a career path for myself. Having already had experience working in an office, I was fortunate to secure a role as an office manager for a new satellite office of a very large Point of Purchase Display company based out of New York. At this role, I began applying my fine art training to commercial design and eventually was transferred to their design department.

Eventually, this role led to another and another until I took a job as the Creative Director for a division of a multi-billion dollar, global media company. Ten years and two promotions later with that company, I decided to move on and create my first freelance business.

11 years and several clients and projects later, I now own and operate a brand strategy and design firm primarily serving brands in the cannabis industry.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Hands down, the most effective strategy has been teaming up and collaborating with other professionals that work in the same space but have little to no overlap with the services my company provides. More specifically, as a designer and brand strategist, I work closely with a variety of professionals like copywriters, PR professionals, business consultants, etc. As a result, we share clients and contribute to each other’s projects which ultimately leads to more business and higher quality work for our clients.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

Just prior to the global pandemic, my firm was hired to develop the name, face, and voice for a luxury glamping resort in Montana. When we got to the 3rd phase of the brand strategy, marketing campaigns were supposed to begin, however, the country was in the middle of a mandatory federal lockdown. Just about daily we were listening to news reports to assess and pivot our strategy.

Ultimately we developed a campaign about enjoying a staycation after isolation and specifically targeted travelers within a 100-mile radius of the resort. In doing so, despite the lockdown orders, we successfully secured over $60k in bookings as of their opening day with just a modest $2k spend on Facebook and Google ads.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brandnewmood.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dina106/

Image Credits
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