The first session of the Finch and Flocksy Webinar series, Creativity Meets eCommerce Strategy, is complete! With over 90 registrants, we had attendees from across multiple industries and more than ten countries! 

Expert panelists teamed up on August 22nd to tackle one of the most critical aspects of eCommerce growth: collaboration. Speakers like Flocksy CMO, George Ryan and Fireside Founder, Drew Himel discussed how a well-coordinated team effort can create a seamless, positive customer experience from start to finish.

“Understanding the emotional triggers at each touchpoint can significantly impact consumer behavior,” George said. “We focus on identifying these triggers and tailoring our messaging and design to connect with the customer on a deeper level, driving more meaningful engagement.”

Mike Mardis, a marketing consultant with Finch, moderated the webinar. Discussing various stops on the customer journey, he emphasized the importance of ensuring equal effort in every area. 

“Any one of these touchpoints could be the one that’s kicking people out,” Mardis said. “All of these are very important. In order to make them work, you have to get input from all over your organization.”

Scott Brandley, founder and CEO of Shopper Approved, shared his insights into crafting your company’s customer journey. He said customer retention and loyalty can be the most cost-effective steps, especially compared to acquiring new customers.

Reviews and social proof, when properly levied by businesses, can be powerful tools to inspire this loyalty. He recommended ensuring that reviews and testimonials are consistent across a business’s web presence. 

“Show your social proof on the website,” he said. “They say, ‘I saw it on their review pages, and I’m seeing it again on the website. I’m in the right place.’”

Himel said his company uses several apps to reward its loyal customers with incentives and bonuses, which leads to customers ultimately spending more money with them.

“It’s so expensive to get customers, so taking care of them is a ‘two birds, one stone’ type of thing. 

Himel recommended eCommerce businesses’ first steps should be to lay a solid foundation across all aspects of their customer journey and in all departments, including sales. The next step, he said, was to find a couple of critical areas to focus on and look for improvements in those areas. 

Sarah Fitzgerald, head of marketing at Flocksy, said customers no longer want a strictly transactional experience with brands. They prefer to know they’re spending their money with real people who care about them. 

In response, she has crafted Flocksy’s social media to feature more personalized content, including how-to videos from creatives, free resources, and best practices for Flocksy clients, from Flocksy clients. 

“We’re fostering more of a relationship among those we call our Flock,” she said. “It’s a community of creatives who want to grow together and learn from each other.” 

Key Takeaways:

• Collaboration is Key: When marketing, sales, and customer service work together, the customer journey can be dramatically enhanced. By aligning goals and communication, teams can ensure that every touchpoint with the customer adds value.

• Optimizing Critical Touchpoints: Identifying and smoothing out friction points in the customer journey is essential for boosting satisfaction and reducing churn. A healthy journey is proactive, addressing potential issues before they become barriers.

• Actionable Strategies: Attendees walked away with practical tips on improving customer acquisition and retention through better teamwork. From streamlining processes to focusing on retargeting, these strategies are designed to make every step of the journey count.

Ready to turn your customer journey into a winning strategy? Stay tuned for more insights in our upcoming webinars! To register for the next webinar on August 29, click here: https://flocksy.com/webinar/?blog1. 

About Finch and Flocksy: 

Finch specializes in crafting killer marketing strategies that remove friction from the customer journey, using the right people, processes, and technology. Since 2016, Flocksy has been the most affordable unlimited marketing materials platform, helping brands create high-quality, on-brand content that captivates audiences and drives real results. Together, we empower businesses and agencies to achieve growth by blending expertise, creativity, and seamless collaboration.

Today, we’ll be getting to know one of our amazing custom illustrators, Sofia Sanchez.

If you’re looking for brand illustrations for your growing business, Sofia is one of the best at Flocksy. Let’s get to know how she started with us, her favorite aspects of working here, and more.

Sofia Sanchez- Custom Illustrations

Getting Started with Flocksy

Sofia is one of Flocksy’s amazing illustrators and can work on various assets your brand might need, including portraits, book covers, comic vignettes, mascots, and more. Sofia mentions that one of the primary differences between illustrations and graphic design is “we are not just doing what we feel looks beautiful and will transmit a feeling. We can also achieve that, but we must consider what will achieve the [client’s] needs.”

Sofia previously worked at an animation studio as a storyboard and background artist. She was looking for a change of scenery to allow her more free time and create a better work-life balance.

“[Flocksy] provided a better space to achieve my goals. They offer the stability I was looking for and are very respectful of our free time. I love working at Flocksy.”

Her Beginnings in Illustration

Sofia has loved to draw since she was a little girl. While her sister may have started as the family artist, it quickly became evident that Sofia was the true “La Chica de Los Plumones” or marker girl. She was always a favorite when it came to group projects for her creative talents, and even though she may have tried pursuing something else, illustration and art called her back.

“I was scared my hobby would become something I hated because of the pressure. So, I tried studying Engineering. I realized I was doing it to make my father and grandpa happy. In the end, I convinced my grandpa it was a serious career.” 

Sofia is thrilled that she gets to do what she loves for her career, and nothing touches her like receiving positive feedback from our amazing clients. One kind comment can make her entire day.

Working Her Magic on a Spot the Difference Illustration

One of Sofia’s favorite projects was the Magical Forest at Sunset project. As a spot-the-difference illustration, it was a unique challenge. She said that the kindness and freedom the client gave her on the project allowed her to create something great. 

She said, “I enjoy working with her, and with her guidance and the freedom she provided, I really love the final outcome. I think what we achieved was very interesting, and when I see it again, it evokes the magical feel [the client] was trying to achieve.”

Illustrating the Escape

Sofia also really enjoyed working on another unique project, background art for an escape room! The client’s openness to suggestions was so valuable. As a result, Sofia could use Photoshop instead of Illustrator to create a dynamic piece that showcased very effectual lighting and textures.

“As I said before joining Flocksy, I was a background illustrator. This background project provided freedom, and Mary was willing to listen to my suggestions. This is my greatest background to date.”

The Challenge of Horses

As many an illustrator will tell you, horses are very challenging to draw. Their intricate musculature and proportions are unique to their species. In fact, it’s a bit of an inside joke in the industry that horses are a no-go. Sofia, however, loves them and knocked this project out of the park.

“Horses are very hard, but this horse was very fun. And I liked this project because [the client] is always looking for variety. She’s looking for diversity in the styles to keep it interesting. She embraced my art style.”

The challenge of drawing this particular animal and the client’s unique color palette also made this project a favorite of Sofia’s because it tested her skills and kept her on her toes.

Artist Inspiration

Sofia finds inspiration all around her, but one of the most interesting places she says she pulled inspiration from are the client project briefs. By connecting with the brand’s message and story, she’s able to see the personality and heart behind a company. She also mentioned that Pinterest is invaluable.

“I use Pinterest when I need a different color palette. If I need a different art style that comes closest to the brand guidelines.”

She also takes inspiration from real life and has her own library she’s created of poses and scenes from everyday experiences.

“I have this great client that gives you freedom but also is clear. She asked me for a lot of poses for different characters, and she loved how I captured natural poses. I use a lot of references from real life. I heard once from another more accomplished storyboard artist that the best advice he got was to draw everyday life. To go to a park, to go to a coffee shop, and just draw people, so you can have references of real-life poses. I also use my own library as inspiration.”

A Blank Slate or A Plethora of References?

When it comes to having complete free reign or being provided with several reference materials, Sofia says it all comes down to the client’s unique needs. Having creative freedom, she mentioned, allows you to challenge yourself and grow. However, Sofia also believes that references are invaluable when you have specific needs or tastes or if the client has particular brand guidelines.

Sofia’s Role Models & Resources

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Sofia’s heart runs through everything she does. Between her long-time love of drawing and connection to her family, one of her role models is her boyfriend.

“This might be cheesy. I met my boyfriend in college, and we started at the same time. He’s also a very accomplished artist and helps me when I don’t know how to get the right perspective. When you have the camera on top or when you have the camera on the bottom. He has this amazing understanding of depth, perspective, and movement. He’s a big inspiration and a teacher for me.”

She also recommended checking out the work of Dave Pimentel, the storyboard artist for Moana, who shares her Mexican ancestry. 

“I love how he captures natural poses. He’s always drawing quick sketches, but he can embody the essence of a person, their personality, in just one quick sketch.”

Sofia also mentioned the great work of Sophie MacPike, an illustrator from Australia. 

“She does digital work, and also she does a lot of watercolor painting. Her style is very unique.”

Working to Comedy

Sofia admits that working from home, like many of us started doing during the pandemic, can get a little lonely. She realized that finding laughter throughout her day was crucial to keeping her spirits up and not feeling so isolated.

“Work can be stressful, but just having something or someone to make you laugh is huge. I have my dog here, and I live with my boyfriend, so I have him with me. I enjoy having fun with them while we work, and we listen to a podcast named Leyendas Legendarias or watch a comedy show. I’m currently watching Modern Family. It’s hilarious.”

Her Favorite Things About Flocksy

Sofia’s favorite things about Flocksy showcase what makes the company different. She stressed that the communication between the staff and clients was far and above the best she’s worked with. The community that communication creates makes her feel like she has someone, or several people, who have her back on each project. 

She also mentioned that Flocksy recognizes her hard work by saying, “I also like that you feel seen- like I’m not just one more employee. They want to listen to what you have to say, to your feedback and suggestions. They trust your skills and value what you do.”

Building relationships with the clients was another significant benefit. It creates a sense of trust between her and the people she’s working with, which gives her room to be creative. When they keep requesting her on projects, she knows she’s honoring her commitment to quality and delivering great results.

Illustrator Resources

Sofia was a cornucopia of resources when asked, and her suggestions were great. Sofia recommended checking out Adobe Colors. The free program is great for color palettes and visualizing how colors will look together. She also sang the praises of Pinterest again and about creating a library of reference poses and the like.

She also recommended reading three resource books. The first was Directing the Story by Francis Glebas. 

“There is one that’s more related to Storyboard artists, but it’s very helpful. He used to work at Disney. He started in Aladdin and talks a lot of perspectives on how the shots make you feel, the directions of the camera, the poses, the body language, and how it’s useful to transmit a story. So even if you’re not a storyboard artist, it’s something we really need to know as illustrators if you’re trying to achieve a story for our client.” 

Sofia also suggested Perspectives by Mateu-Mestre. It discusses how the correct use of different perspectives can change an illustration’s feel, making it more dynamic, complex, and real. The technical manual gives constructive ways to employ his suggestions, including options for lighting and mood.

Outside of Flocksy

Sofia is a homebody who loves spending time with her family and friends. She loves even simple times when you don’t do anything but talk about how your day’s going. Sofia is also very into fitness and loves her Fit Pass. She says the variety keeps things interesting.

“Like just being in the gym with weights or on the treadmill is so boring. So I love that. It’s my new hobby.”

When she’s not at work, Sofia enjoys her free time, staying fit, walking her dog, and enjoying the latest in movies and TV, especially animated features.

We love having Sofia on the team here at Flocksy, and we know you’ll love having her on your team for all your future illustration projects. You can check out her full portfolio of work here.

Starting up a business requires two things: a lot of work and a lot of money. It’s tempting to try to save some money by doing your own graphic design, ask a tech-savvy friend to help with web development, or do your own copywriting. However, just because it’s tempting, it doesn’t make it smart.

The growth of your company depends heavily on your marketing success, and if you want to succeed at marketing, you are going to need a skilled creative team.

Your creative team should be made up by web developers, graphic designers, and copywriters. Together they will do things like produce ads, design newsletters, logos, or t-shirts, write emails or social media posts, or develop websites.

Unfortunately, high-quality graphic design, web development, and copywriting costs money. Having access to your own creative team will save you both time and money.

For instance, you’ll save money on hybrid projects like ads that require both copywriting and design work. An outside agency might charge you hourly for both the graphic designer and copywriter, but if you have your own team this cost disappears.

Another benefit is that your own creative team will pay better attention to your brand than a randomly outsourced designer would, making it easier to maintain consistent branding and style.

Hiring your own creative team, however, takes time and effort. Creative candidates have to be vetted and tested, you need to make sure they have real world experience, can adapt to change, are flexible, etc.

If you own a small business, you might not need enough graphic design, copywriting, or web development work to justify having a full time creative team on your payroll. This is why many small businesses decide to outsource this work to a creative agency.

However, there’s an even better solution. A subscription service offering unlimited graphic design, web development, or copywriting will give you all the perks of having your own creative team, minus the hassle of finding, vetting, and hiring the creatives yourself.

The best way to get an unlimited graphic design team, unlimited web development team, and unlimited copywriting team is to hire a business that offers all three.

In fact, a subscription service is a lot like having your own in-house team. Your creative team is on standby at all times, meaning they can step in quickly to work on urgent projects.

For small businesses, finding a subscription service that offers affordable, unlimited graphic design, copywriting, and web development is much better than trying to hire individual teams. The best way is to work with a business that can give you all three at an affordable price

Video content is the current hot topic in the digital marketing world. You may be wondering how you can access this opportunity. Your videos may not be as aesthetically pleasing or as professional as your competitors’ videos, and you need to stay ahead of the game. You’re not sure what step to take next, but you know that step involves elevating your videos’ quality.

Video editing may be the solution for your marketing needs. Here are reasons why you need unlimited video editing in your toolkit:

Looks More Cohesive

If your footage and audio are not aligned properly without video editing, your marketing campaign will not look as though you’ve invested effort into it. This can give the wrong impression to potentially warm leads and even current customers. Additionally, video editing will allow you to cut out any unnecessary content to ensure that it is concise and captures the viewers’ attention.

Builds Your Brand Reputation

Quality video editing should speak volumes of your business. It shows that you care about how your customers perceive your business and builds credibility. A poorly edited or unedited video will give off the impression that you are just seeking to sell a product or service quickly with no regard for the customer experience. Edited videos are clearly added value to the customers, making them more likely to interact and share.

Supports Better Marketing Outcomes

If you are trying to find quality leads and are specifically targeting viewers who have watched a significant portion of your video, you will find greater success in video editing. Edited videos are not only highly engaging for consumers, but they eliminate any unnecessary distractions in the footage or audio quality that may otherwise cause a user to abandon the video (and sales funnel) early. Higher quality videos may even convince a user to take action immediately without the need for lead nurturing.

Video editing has the capability of transforming your target audience’s experiences from the moment they first learn about your business to the moment when they make the executive decision to support you financially. By investing in higher quality videos through editing, you can ensure a greater return on investment for your marketing campaigns.

However, it is important to take advantage of unlimited video editing; you do not want to be restricted in the power capability of your campaigns. Unlimited video editing will allow you to put your best foot forward.

If you’re unsure as to whether or not hiring an unlimited copyrighting team for your business is really necessary, then keep reading because below we have collected three reasons of why it’s absolutely essential for you to hire an unlimited copyrighting team.

Three Reasons Why You Need an UnlimitedCopywriting Team:

One: Let’s be serious. You can’t write your own website. It just isn’t possible, and it’s certainly isn’t realistic. There’s going to be many different pages and sections that you’ll have to write copy for, and it’s probably going to take you quite a while. This is where an unlimited copywriting team can come in. Not only will they be able to do it much faster, but the copy will be only the highest quality.

Two: Perhaps the worst fear of any business owner is having a spelling or grammar error found on their website or in any of their company’s copy overall.  When you have an unlimited copywriting team, you can have those worries vanish. You don’t even have to worry about proofreading. The copywriting team can take care of it all for you, and you’ll instantly feel stress vanish.

Three: Let’s be honest. We all want to be better than our competitors when it comes to our business. This means that you need to have the best of everything, especially copy. An unlimited copywriting team will give you precisely that. When you hire a team to write your copy, you’ll receive only the best copy and nothing less.

Overall, it’s essential that you hire a copywriting team to write the copy for your business. We recommend you use one that will give you unlimited copywriting so that you’ll be able to utilize it fully. However, no matter how often you use them, you certainly need an on-demand unlimited copywriting team to write the copy for your business. Trust me, it’ll be more than worth it.

If you’ve read anything about copywriting, whether it was on why you should hire a copywriter or what copywriting is, then it probably goes without saying that you need a copywriting team for your business. And that is true. But more than just a team, you need an excellent team that can help your business with every bit of content your website or blog might need. You’ll even need one for social posts, brochures, etc.

 That’s a lot for one team to handle. How do you find the right people to work on your content, and how can you be sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck?

 In this post, I’d like to talk about what a copywriting team is, what you should expect from a great team, including four examples of good marketing material writing, and how to manage a successful team. I’m sure if you’re still on the fence, they’ll convince you that you need a great team for your business.

What is a Copywriting Team?

A copywriting team is a group of individuals who can all work together and with you to create content for your website, blog, social media, ads, banners, and more. They possess the skills and experience to create SEO content that not only attracts readers but also converts, engages, and keeps people browsing your site.

Importance of Copywriting in Digital Marketing

You know that copywriting is important, but why is it crucial for marketing, and why can’t you just do it yourself? Here’s why you should strongly consider one for your content.

Increase Your SEO

Long-form, original, and high-quality content is a standard among top-ranking websites. When you work with a good team of copywriters, they’ll meet SEO requirements and look at ranking trends to ensure your page reaches the top of the listings.

Help Visitors Recognize Your Brand

Professional-looking website design isn’t complete without the content to fill it up. When you look at a page that barely has any copy, it almost looks like spam, and it certainly doesn’t look like the company put much time and effort into it.

 You want your site to teach visitors about your brand, give them a sense of your personality, and connect with you personally. Whether your visitors are shopping, looking for helpful information, or looking to establish trust with your brand, high-quality content is how you help them.

Make & Save Money

Evergreen content is a huge aid to your long-term marketing strategy. Potential customer traffic will still be directed to the page long after you’ve posted it, especially if you keep it up to date. What’s more, if that content is truly high-quality, it’ll compel action like sales. Quality content is great for your ROI and pays for itself, often double and triple.

 So, what makes good marketing content? Let’s take a peek.

Four Examples of Good Marketing Material:

One: Newsletters and emails are a foundation of marketing for any business, but they can be a challenge to write. Do you make them fun and have plenty of calls to action? Or do you prefer to have them more business-like and allow them to speak for themselves? Well, copywriters can take the load off your shoulders because they can write it for you and communicate your message to your target audience.

Two: Writing a blog post can be even more difficult. You need to consider so many different aspects, such as how to format it or what tone to use. They’re time-consuming, and it’s more than likely that you don’t have the time to put together a blog post with all the necessary research and editing. That’s where a content team becomes your marketing BFF because they can take your links and what you want to say and create a well-written and engaging post. Then all you have to do is add some images and hit publish.

Three: Every business uses ads, but how do you write the perfect campaign? An advertisement should make people want to stop and read it, then follow through with the call-to-action. An excellent content team can help you do that! They have the experience and knowledge necessary to get those link clicks and convert text into a sale.

Four: Of all the things we talked about above, this is perhaps the most important because it’s where everything begins- web pages. Your marketing efforts won’t pay off if you have good copy everywhere but on your site. That’s why you need someone who can not only write good but fantastic copy, and a good copywriting team can do just that. They can build content for your site that communicates your message, educates customers about a product or service, and engage your visitors.

Outsourcing to a Copywriting Service

Copywriting, as you can likely now see, is a full-time, ongoing process that your business will need indefinitely. Hiring a professional copywriting service can help you create quality content without going through the long, stressful hiring process. Your copywriting team can handle your copywriting workflow without disrupting your business flow.

The copywriters at Flocksy have a great track record for delivering quality content that you can rely on to deliver your message and promote action. Your dedicated project manager oversees each project, and you’ll be able to chat directly with the writer assigned to your project if you have any questions or concerns.

Moreover, the brand buckets mean you can attach a style and brand guide once, and our writers will have access to it with every project. Our writers are professional, vetted, and have experience with SEO content marketing, emails, blogs, ads, and everything in between. They’ll send you the files once the project is finished, and if you want to change anything, you’ll have unlimited revisions to get it just right.

A quality, comprehensive copywriting service is the most effective way to boost your content output while you continue handling all the other important parts of running a business.

But what about hiring a freelance copywriter? There are several pros and cons to each. Let’s discuss those now.

Is Hiring a Freelance Copywriter Worth It?

You’ll have a lot to consider when you’re looking to delegate your content work. As the business owner of a smaller company, the content creation may have fallen on you, and taking up that task is commendable. However, it’s typically best to have a professional writer do the writing. But who do you choose?

Should you reach out to a freelancer or contact a copywriting service? There can be pros and cons to either approach. With freelancers, you’ll find them on platforms like Upwork, LinkedIn, and more. There will be writers for every type of content piece, and you’ll be able to see if a person has experience with the content you need.

In general, here are the pros and cons of working directly with a freelancer:

Pros

• More affordable. Because you’re just paying for one service and one job, it’ll typically be cheaper to pay a freelancer for a single project. You won’t be paying for an ongoing service that may or may not include other services in addition to copywriting. That said, an experienced copywriter can be more costly. They may even charge upwards of $75 per 1000 words.
• Fast results. Assuming you find a writer quickly, they’ll typically be able to produce your content in 24-72 hours. They’ll receive instructions from you, your approximate or firm deadline, and get to work. 
• Flexible adaptation to your requirements. You’ll be able to teach the freelancer what you need, and if you establish a connection with them, you’ll essentially have your own copywriter without the in-house hiring.

Cons

• It’s hard to find a good writer. There are thousands of writers to choose from on those freelance platforms, so you’re bound to find a good one quickly. Right? Well, that may not always be the case. To be a good writer for your company, they’ll need to: a) understand your field, b) adhere to deadlines, c) often excellent communication, and d) submit objectively well-written articles. They do exist, but you’ll certainly pay for top talent because they know how valuable they are, which can translate into higher costs and a lot of time spent looking for someone.
• The quality of articles without an editor is unreliable. Editors and proofreading are a must. No matter how talented the writer is, they’re bound to miss something in their writing because the writer will have an inherent blind spot since they know what they’re trying to say. Adding an editor to the process can cost more. Still, it’s necessary if your freelancer doesn’t already work with one, particularly if you’ll be delivering several projects to them with tight deadlines.
• A lot of effort. Looking for the right author and communicating your needs can be almost as time-consuming as looking for an in-house employee. The whole reason you’re looking for a freelancer is to save time, not spend even more of it focused on only one task.
• Freelancers can overlook technical tasks. In some cases, technical requirements such as reference sheets or formatting can be forgotten by the freelancer. What’s more, if you have a specific program or tool you use for your content, and they don’t have it, you might spend a lot of time translating their documents into the format you need.

Is a Copywriting Service Better Than Freelancers?

Working with a copywriting service or company can provide other benefits that working with an individual copywriter or freelancer can’t.

A copywriting service team will typically consist of writers, experts, a quality assurance manager, and a project manager. Because of the included checks and balances, many prefer working with a service for the following reasons.

5 Factors That May Make You Want to Work With a Copywriting Service

• There’s a delegated process. The copywriting service will choose professionals to hire and control the ones who get to work on projects with them. They’ll vet their creatives and typically choose only those that show dedication to their work. As you can guess, subsequent content creation is of high quality. That’s what we stand by at Flocksy.
• Consistent quality. By the end of every project you submit with Flocksy, you’ll have excellent content that meets SEO requirements as well as any specific needs you assign. You get this because the writers that come to work for us every day always put quality first. That’s why we hired them.
• Ease of communication. Writers and clients think about and speak about content differently. You might not be able to explain what you’re looking for using their copywriting terms. Thanks to the regular communication between you and the project manager and writer, you’ll enjoy a stress-free project process. You’ll be able to use Loom video messaging to describe your project if that’s easier for you, and you can always go back and forth with the writer through chat. Our Zapier integration also makes it easy to get updates on the apps you use most.
• You won’t need to explain technical requirements. Thanks to our writers’ experience, you won’t have to explain your formatting needs more than once. They’ll understand SEO requirements, what social posts need, how to create compelling landing page copy, etc.
• There are guarantees. Flocksy strives to develop long-term relationships with our clients and values our clients greatly. Should any disputed situations arise, we’ll always work hard to resolve them. Moreover, we only work with qualified professionals, and if quality ever becomes an issue, you know we’ll deal with it internally.

An additional note about edits: Freelancers may not offer revisions as readily as a content team. While it may be doable, it’s not always clear how many revisions you can request. With a copywriting service, revisions will often be considered part of the process. Here at Flocksy, you’ll get unlimited revisions to ensure your content is just how you want it.

Conclusion

A copywriting team can make your words come to life. They understand how to write the best copy for any situation that will help make your company or brand look amazing while making it eye-catching for website visitors. Whether you have a big company or run a startup, a good content team can help you by writing engaging and informative content.

When you’re looking for a copywriting team to help your business, look to Flocksy for great content from highly-qualified professional copywriters. You’ll get unlimited projects and revisions. Allow us to help you get your content just “write.”