A couple of weeks ago, we wrapped the first part of an ongoing project with eBay, a well-known powerhouse in the global marketplace and possibly a recent line in your browser history. The online auction giant launched an economic initiative called the “Retail Revival” program, designed to empower local retailers with the tools and technology to compete in our digital economy.
As part of the Baton Rouge small business community, we were pretty excited when eBay approached us to make a video for them to highlight event coverage and promote their new economic initiative across Baton Rouge markets. We often hear of local businesses succumbing to the competition of online marketing, pricing, and convenience, and that’s not what eBay’s program works to do. The #RetailRevival program seeks to energize local retailers with an expanded online market while still maintaining the ways in which small businesses uniquely contribute to their local economy.
Baton Rouge fosters such a diverse network of energetic, dynamic voices, and we wanted to capture this announcement with something just as flavorful. Our “Retail-Revival” video celebrates the distinctive spirit of Baton Rouge and its small business community, portraying the striking sounds, people, and colors. We had so much fun meeting and learning about the awesome local retailers we worked with on this project. Time Warp Boutique. Wooly Threads. Red Stick Social Co. Atomic Pop Shop. You can check it out here.
We’ve been around Baton Rouge for nearly 15 years now, evolving from a video company into a full-service media production company, and it’s been quite the ride. As a small business ourselves, this project got us thinking about what we’ve learned along the way and what it’s like to be a small business in Baton Rouge.
Close-knit community means fierce competition
If you’ve lived in Baton Rouge a week or your whole life, someone has asked you, “Where did you go to high school?” It’s a vibrant old city, full of tight-knit connections. People ask you where you went to high school because they ~probably~ know someone you know. But just because it’s a close-knit community doesn’t mean competition isn’t fierce. We’ve got no shortage of talented folks in Baton Rouge and the Gulf South, and we love a good challenge. It’s energizing to be surrounded by other creative professionals because they make us better. They challenge us. When you’re in good company, you always remember the importance of staying at the top of your game.
How to make your name where everyone knows everyone
We built a company from the ground up 14 years ago, and we’d attribute part of our success to the dynamic professional environment of Baton Rouge and the Gulf South. When everyone knows everyone, it’s a special challenge to craft a reputation of excellence and efficiency when you’re a young company. We can’t rely on decades of work because we simply haven’t been around that long, but working in such an established community has propelled us forward to build a reputation that clients know and trust. We may be young, but that means we’re energetic, fresh, and forward-thinking. With more than fifty percent of our client base as repeat customers, we must be doing something right.
How office comradery generates shared expertise
When you’re a small business, everyone on staff is constantly involved in various projects. We’re a small team designed to provide you with a comprehensive, quality experience. We believe projects should be on time and on budget, and that means having all hands on deck. With each project, we don’t hesitate to pop over to another staff member’s office to ask a question or get a second opinion. Many minds are better than one, and we know that this kind of high-energy, all-encompassing staff structure encourages a level of efficiency that sharpens us as professionals and provides you with smarter visual solutions.
A client-centric culture means you’re the sun, and we orbit you
We believe that our comradery in the office translates to your experience as our client, and that means we prioritize our relationship with you. Because we’re a small business, we all know each other. And, we actually know you. You’re never emailing someone who isn’t going to be involved in your project. We get to know you because that’s what we do with our fellow staff. We listen because we want to treat you like part of our team. Our approach is integrative, centered around your needs. Just because we’re the experts doesn’t mean you’re not an integral part of the process. Our mission is to empower you with the tools and package to share your visual narrative in a compelling way, and there’s no better way to do that than through intimate relationship building.
You need some think-on-your-toes-outside-the-box kind of energy
We believe that success means always learning, always evolving. In a dynamic environment like Baton Rouge, we know that it’s vital to our growth to keep up to date with the latest industry trends, both for ourselves and for our clients. When we realized that our clients needed and wanted more than we were offering as a video company, we made the transition to a full-fledged visual production company. We built the packages for your visual communication solutions and extended our capabilities to fit your company structure. We love a challenge, and it takes a combination of adaptability, efficiency, and think on-your-toes-outside-the-box kind of energy to stand out in an established field of creative communication professionals. The ability to adapt to new client needs and industry hurdles enables stronger, smarter business.
