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

Alison, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

In order to create successful custom brands for our clients, it’s important for us to build relationships with them throughout our processes. And to do this, it takes an honest interest and appreciation in their ventures and dreams to make this happen. Our clients are the lifeline of our business, and we are lucky to work with so many inspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses that truly care about what they are doing – so we reciprocate and appreciate. Showing our appreciation starts with listening. We host creative meetings for all of our projects, a time solely focused on our clients where we dive deep to understand their project needs and what success looks like to them. From here we create, and throughout the design process, we ensure that our communication is clear, fast, respectful. Our empathy allows us to truly connect with our clients, and the way we lead them throughout the design process shows appreciation in itself. In addition, we love to shout our clients out on social media to help them gain an audience with their ventures – we truly believe in the collaborative community that is social media. The clients that work with us on creating custom brands also get a thank you package at the end of their process, with curated goodies we know they’ll enjoy, including discounts on future projects. After investing in their brand, it’s important for them to have a trusted team to go back to for matching collateral – so offering a pricing discount is a really simple way to show them we care about them and their ventures. As CEO I am always thinking of new ways to show customers we appreciate them, but it starts with creating successful designs and helping them achieve their dreams. Then we can add sprinkles.

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

My name is Alison and I am the Founder and CEO of Perspektiiv Design Co. I am (at the time of this article) 30 years old, a new mom to my 4-month-old son Atlas, a wife to our Digital Marketing Director Greg (yes my husband and I work together, and we actually love it), a creative, entrepreneur, lover of plants, and dog mom. We currently reside in Portland, Oregon but founded the business in Denver, Colorado back in 2014. I attended Fort Lewis College where I earned a double major in business art and graphic design while I skied and hiked my way through Southwest Colorado. During my time in Durango for college, I interned for a small local graphic design studio that created brands and matching collateral like websites, signage, print materials, and more for local businesses. I saw firsthand the transformation and growth that quality design can bring small businesses and was truly inspired. From there, I began my journey as a professional designer – attending art school at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and working at some well-known companies before taking a leap of faith to start my own studio in 2014.

Although the business has grown so much since then, our core values and services still remain true. Here at Perspektiiv, we pride ourselves on personable communication, high-quality deliverables, and longevity in the items we create. Immersed in the world of start-ups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses, our work reflects a balance of art, marketing, and design psychology. We believe that strong design starts with mindful strategy, and begin all of our services by immersing ourselves in our client’s ventures. We develop a strategy that dives deeply into what they truly want out of their business and create successful design from there. From building a strong foundation with a successful brand identity to building matching assets like websites, packaging, marketing materials, social media design, and more, we’re here for the growth of our client’s businesses and are so excited to watch them thrive.

I am so proud of my team for holding true to the original business I built and for not losing sight of the passion and love that started the whole thing. We are excited to continue working with small businesses all over the U.S. to help them achieve their wildest dreams through quality design.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

We joined social media in 2014 and have built a strong following of clients, friends, family, designers, and small business owners. We post regularly and cycle through creating different types of content (we call them content categories) to ensure we’re marketing with variety.

Here is my advice for those just starting to build their social media presence…

1. Brand your social media pages: Adding your brand elements (logos, colors, fonts, and overall styling) to your social media pages creates a visual and impactful experience for those that visit your page. Using a brand guide (like the one we provide in our Essential Brand Kit) will help you use your brand elements consistently so all of your social media pages have the same brand aesthetic. Not feeling confident about doing this yourself? Let us do it for you! We offer social media branding packages.

2. Get on ALL the social media platforms: Having an online presence can do wonders for your business, including boosting your SEO on your website. We suggest Instagram, Facebook, Google My Business, and even Tick Tock. Be sure that you keep the platforms active by posting at least once a week. Feeling overwhelmed with keeping up with social media? We can also help with that!

3. Post quality content: The photos, graphics, and captions of your posts should be of high quality in order to keep the social media algorithms happy. It’s truly worth hiring a professional photographer, designer, or copywriter to help you create content if you are unable to yourself. Your social media pages are a great resource for potential clients and customers to find you – so you want to make a great first impression with quality content.

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

Doing the best work we can with every opportunity that arises.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://perspektiiv.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perspektiivdesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/perspektiivdesignco/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10889824/admin/