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

Kirsten, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

At Crinkle Cut Creative we specialize in strategic social media marketing. There is such a stigma for businesses to be on social media, yet such a negative response by business owners – “I hate social media but I am on there for my business,” they say. Our approach is so different because we want you to be excited about social media! And we do that through strategic efforts so you will actually begin to see a positive return on your investment in social media (in terms of time and finances).

The hard truth is also that strategic social media marketing is an investment for your business. You have to have a strategic partner beside you to see a positive return. Otherwise, you will have your niece running your social media accounts because she is young and “knows social media” with little to no return on your social media presence because you aren’t taking the time to create a strategic plan for those efforts.

We have seen huge returns for clients when they begin investing in their social media marketing. After 30 days of onboarding, we took over an e-commerce brand’s social media channels and they saw Total online sales up 114%, Total online orders up 47%, Sales driven from Instagram up 95%, Online store visits from Instagram up 57%, and more.

We get so excited about these stories because we know it can be possible!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My journey began focused on Journalism way back when to explore my love for storytelling. After receiving a Journalism degree I dove into the agency world focused on public relationships for big brands. That role made me realize the world of marketing would allow me to marry my passion for content and strategic thinking, so I ventured into an in-house marketing role where I operated as a one-woman marketing team. There, I establish my knack for using data to strategize and utilize content to reach the right audience and before long, grew to lead both the marketing and sales teams for the company. I then was recruited into a role with a Jimmy John’s franchise owner operating as the holding company’s first-ever Marketing Director before I was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and dove into my own business. Today, I operate as a content strategist working with businesses to bring strategic thinking to their social media marketing efforts to see a positive return on investment.

Often times we will work with a business owner who is doing all the things for their business today. In working, together the Crinkle Cut Creative team is able to take the strategic marketing planning and implementation off of the business owner’s hands so they can operate as that true visionary for their business.

For other clients we work with their internal marketing team – say an internal team of 1-2 – to offer strategic guidance and planning. In those clients, we are able to be a sounding board and resource to help provide thoughtful marketing initiatives tied to company goals. We help them move from posting on social media just because to creating intentional marketing moves that yield results.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My business partner is also my husband! My experience lies in strategic marketing in a director, CMO-type of role so I am always on the hunt for partners who can fulfill the creative side of things – graphic design, photography, etc. Luckily, my husband is a graphic designer so it made perfect sense! Jorden serves as the artist on our team, at the ready with the next social media graphic, promo piece, or any other design piece our clients dream up. A seasoned chef turned designer, Jorden held a degree in culinary arts serving as a chef before he adjusted his creative path towards graphic design. I love having his artistic vision on the team!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think with the marketing industry there is something new to learn just about every 30 seconds, so keeping up can be tough! Over my career I have had to realize there is no one-size-fits-all marketing solution – and there never will be. Each business is unique and each audience is different. Different platforms and strategies work for different businesses and a lot of it is experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t work. I’m now proud to take that approach with my clients because they know they are getting a unique and custom experience that will produce positive results for their business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://crinklecutcreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crinklecutcreative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/crinkle-cut-creative/about/