We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tanya Gagnon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tanya below.
Tanya, appreciate you joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
I first started my design business at the same time my husband went back to school to get his law degree. He had moved out of state to allow him to do this, so I knew I needed a predictable income—which is how I ended up building my business while working full time as a bartender. This obviously made for much slower going than I would have liked; however, the hours were flexible enough that I was able to gradually taper back my bartending job while gradually growing the business I was passionate about. I paid for this safe transition with my time and energy—I was definitely burning the candle at both ends, and got far too little sleep for far too many nights!
Fast forward a few years: I’d grown my design business to the point where I had up to 6 team members working with me out of my house. I was living the “work from home” lifestyle long before it was trendy—although I’d argue it was less like working from home and more like living in an office. All the bedrooms in my house were set up with desks and workstations, and my kitchen served as the break room. At that point in time we were focused pretty much exclusively on graphic and print design. Website development and digital marketing required a whole separate skill set that I hadn’t yet learned, and besides that, we’d already made a name for ourselves in Arizona for our branding and design expertise.
Eventually I was approached by a digital marketing firm whose owner felt they lacked that branding expertise. We decided to merge our two companies into one powerhouse full-service marketing agency, offering inbound marketing for large enterprise clients. It was a huge change—suddenly I was the Principal and Creative Director, and my team had grown from 5 people to 15. I learned so much about partnerships and business growth strategies, and learned the hard way how being out of alignment could hinder my success. Up until then, I’d mostly played it safe, believing that slow and steady would win the race. And while that philosophy held true in some instances, I quickly benefited from learning to push myself and take more risks.
In the years that followed, my partner and I grew our office and invested in enterprise-level marketing strategies. I had the opportunity to learn digital marketing from the best of the best. Just as importantly, I discovered that my team’s extensive skill set in strategic brand design wasn’t the norm in our industry—in fact, it was rare. I had always assumed that all marketing agencies were able to do what we did, and learning that it was actually a unique and desirable asset was nothing short of a revelation.
After several years, a lot of hard work, and a few truly challenging decisions, my partner and I decided to split our companies. It was at that moment when I was able to confidently articulate the unique differentiator that makes up Miss Details: we focus on brand-driven design and marketing for small businesses. We believe that a strong brand is the root of successful marketing, and we focus on amplifying the unique qualitative aspects of a brand in order to help them stand out. We stopped offering PPC and SEO services, and stopped targeting Fortune 100 clients. Instead, we returned to our roots and zeroed in on meaningful, heart-centered brand design.
Since then, I’ve taken all the valuable experiences and lessons I’ve gained and used them to grow our strategic design firm into a completely virtual office with a team located all over the Phoenix area, the United States, and even the world. It’s been quite the journey, and I’m so proud of what my team and I have built together.
Tanya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I actually wanted to be an architect when I was growing up. I remember reading Architectural Digest in the waiting room at the doctor’s office while the other kids were playing with toys. Once I got to college, I pivoted to studying interior design instead, because I found that it took the human experience into account far more than architecture did. I learned more about the science behind human senses and memory, and how designers can use this science to create multidimensional pieces that pack an emotional punch. I ended up writing my thesis on sensory design—how to incorporate all the senses to create a memorable, immersive, and life-enhancing experience.
I worked in the interior design space for a while, and always pushed myself to create full sensory experiences. I had the opportunity to design new concepts for big-name brands like Starbucks, Disney, and Universal, which was really exciting, but wasn’t quite what I was looking for. That came in 2004, when I took on the project of planning my own wedding. I approached it just like one of my larger interior design projects, designing each tiny detail: the lighting, the theme, the ambience, and everything that came before and after the big event. It was the first time I’d had the opportunity to design and brand a full, memorable experience; to get guests excited months before and to have them leave talking about the feeling they had. And I loved every minute of it.
So, I decided to start working in event design. I focused on designing invitations and experiences: I helped my clients develop an overall concept or theme, and then designed all the details to make it memorable. Eventually the scope widened beyond events—I started being asked to help create “wow” experiences for those same clients’ businesses. I gained a reputation for being hyper-focused on details, and that’s how I got the name for my business—it got to the point where, when I walked into a room, someone would say, “Here comes Miss Details!” One of my clients actually introduced me to another future client as Miss Details, and when that client wrote me their first check, they made it out to “Tanya Details.”
For the last 15 years my focus has been on helping businesses understand where they should spend their time and money on their marketing and branding, and then providing them with the strategic design to make it happen. I use the same principle of sensory design that I wrote my thesis on, but now I use it as a branding strategy. My team and I believe that a successful brand isn’t just a business—it’s a full-on experience complete with associated memories, emotions, and tons of sensory details. We work with our clients to gain a deep understanding of their histories, personalities, and goals, and then we distill those details into cohesive, memorable, and emotionally impactful brand designs.
It’s also really important to me, and to the Miss Details brand, that I balance out that creativity with a business owner’s practicality. I know how hard it is to run your own business—I learned that at a young age by watching my dad, who was an entrepreneur himself. I know how easy it is to get overwhelmed by all the little details, and to feel like you have to take care of all of them by yourself. When I work with my clients, I bring all my years of creative branding and marketing knowledge and balance it with a business owner mindset. Having someone on your team who’s been where you are, and can help bring clarity and direction to your brand, can make all the difference in the world. I really love being that person for my clients.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I lost 60% of my business. That’s not an exaggeration. I had clients who canceled their contracts, I had clients who told me they couldn’t move forward or pay for the work we’d already completed, and I had some clients who gave me total radio silence.
After getting over the initial shock and coming to terms with what was happening, I took inventory and cut costs wherever I could. My team and I realized pretty quickly the upside of the situation: we finally had the time to start doing the things we’d never been able to get around to in the past. We created a brand-new content marketing strategy that included articles, downloads, worksheets, a monthly email newsletter, and more. We updated our website to better reflect our brand and services—we were essentially doing for ourselves what we’d been doing for our clients. This time ended up being an opportunity for me to evaluate what I wanted to do and who I wanted to work with. I knew that organic content marketing would take time to gain momentum, and all of a sudden I had nothing but time.
At this point it’s been almost 2 years since we started being able to consistently work on our business. I’m overjoyed to say that we’ve bounced back and are beating our old numbers from 2019. I love all the clients we’re attracting, and I can truly say that I feel like we’re doing our best work and are most aligned with our brand identity and values.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Three things: uniqueness, focus, and consistency.
Uniqueness: When I was first starting out with my business I went to a lot of in-person trade shows, conferences, and networking events. Luckily, my company name, Miss Details, and my unique logo of a woman’s silhouette really stood out in the sea of technology and B2B businesses that I was marketing to. If I had zero budget, I’d trade my services for sponsorships in order to get my name out there and start building brand awareness. For instance, I ended up being the largest sponsor for the Arizona Technology Council, and I rebranded them as part of a trade. This got my name and my work in front of everyone.
Focus: Maintaining a core focus for our services really made Miss Details synonymous with the terms “branding and design.” It’s at the point now where when someone in my network hears “branding”, they say “Miss Details.” That never would have happened if I’d lost my focus and tried to maintain a full-service marketing agency.
Consistency: It sounds overly simplistic, but the act of repeatedly just showing up, doing what we say we will, and meeting or exceeding client expectations with both the small things and the large things increases the overall value of the Miss Details brand. Every word-of-mouth referral, online review, or helpful resource contributes to building both a local and online reputation as a dedicated team of creative and strategic professionals who deliver on their promises. I can’t think of a better reputation to have.
Contact Info:
- Website: missdetails.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/missdetails/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Miss.Details.Design
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyagagnon/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/missdetails/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/missdetails