Conversations with Sarah Strasser

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Strasser.

Hi Sarah, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Since 2016 I have worked for the State of Colorado. I began working for the government in an administrative capacity. It has been a beautiful journey. I worked for the DMV with the Dept. of Revenue for about three years, was promoted to a position within the Dept. of Human Services for a year, and was promoted again to a Public Information Officer position within the Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Securities in March of 2020. Communications is my passion and I found myself wanting to grow at a faster rate than I felt that I was in my current position so I began to freelance on the side, assisting small businesses with their marketing. I fell in love with small businesses in Colorado. The blood, sweat, and tears that business owners invest into their businesses, the fast rate of innovation that is required to survive the competitive landscape, and all of the free-thinkers in our community are indeed inspiring. I began writing a blog that features one small business in the community for free as a service to small business owners. I built up my following from no viewers up to over a thousand blog views at this point, not to mention the exposure they also receive on social media! I partner with Heath Soderstrom, owner of the Denver Small Business Network and a friend of mine. We promote the small business community within Denver. Starting in August, we will begin charging $50 per Denver Spotlight feature because it does require a lot of time on our part to interview the businesses, draft the 1, 5000-word blogs, edit/finalize, create social media posts, and then promote the blogs and as our own business grows, we find that time is the most valuable commodity we each have. Strasser Writing and Marketing grew out of a passion for communications and marketing through storytelling. We use various marketing channels to tell businesses inspiring stories to the community to humanize them, and to build brand loyalty within the Colorado community. We also build websites, offer writing services, social media management, newsletters, email campaigns, design ads, logos, business cards, brochures, pricing sheets, and other marketing materials. We can also assist small businesses with their business plans, branding guides, and whatever marketing materials they need. Our final service is branding. We will assist a business with establishing its branding foundation, creating a brand identity, and executing a branding strategy. Our favorite things to do are websites (we are proficient with Drupal 8, Wix, WordPress, and other platforms and have ten years of experience managing and building websites), social media management, and blogs!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It waxes and wanes. Sometimes we are so busy we can’t see straight, other times there is a drought and we scramble for new leads. That is the nature of the beast. Regardless, we have learned more in the seven months we have been in business than we have in the past five years! Continual improvement is something we believe in. Government is big on lean process improvement, ADKAR change management, and SMART goals. We try to utilize these tools within our own business. Our tagline is “Evolve or Remain the Same” and what this means to us, is all small businesses are in the process of an evolutionary process and every business has within it the capacity to grow. You just need to find the right fit for a marketing company that understands your business goals, sets you up with the foundational basics that are needed to be successful (we recommend all small businesses have a business plan, SMART goals set up that are checked on a monthly basis, and a branding guide to ensure a cohesive consistent branding message.) You constantly have to adjust your trajectory to the market, technology, and the economy. Adjust, reset, and move forward, repeatedly. We do this with our own business and encourage this with our clients as well. Research is so important. We have learned that mentorship programs are so important as well as networking. Get a mentor who has done all of this successfully in the past that you can learn from. Network early, not when you need it. Network all of the time. Connect other people to each other as well. We are all in this together! Refer others to others when appropriate! They will do the same for you. And research, research, research current trends (though we hate trends, they are necessary), your competition (follow them on social media, study their websites and branding), and new technologies. Our greatest struggle is time management, which I think all small businesses struggle with. Like I mentioned before, time is our greatest asset.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Strasser Writing and Marketing empowers small business owners to grow and evolve. Our greatest success would be assisting a small business to grow to the point where they have to hire a larger marketing firm to assist them with their marketing campaigns because the business has outgrown us! That would be a success and win for everyone. We are known for our web design, social media management, and writing services (blogs, press releases, white papers, business plans, website content.) We also assist with branding, newsletters, email campaigns, and design marketing materials such as logos (we do not create vector art, we are not graphic designers and do not pretend to be, but for small businesses who cannot afford $800 for a logo we can create visually appealing logos as PNG or JPEG files), brochures, infographics, door hangers, loyalty cards, pricing sheets, invoices, postcards, etc. We are known for valuing the community, affordability (so you can invest back into your business), profitability (you must make money to stay in business!), innovation, relationships, and growth. Strasser Writing and Marketing is not your typical vanilla marketing company. Full of imagination and inspiration, our services will grab your potential customer’s attention through savvy, empowering, and always original marketing. Marketing through storytelling is our forte. Our mission is to empower your small business to dominate the market with inspiring, imaginative, and innovative marketing. Our affordable marketing is effective and professional. Taking your company to the next level is our mission. Our Denver Spotlight feature is known within the business community, it is a weekly blog we write that features one small business per week and tells their story to the community in an inspiring way. The Denver Small Business Network promotes our blogs and weekly feature so the business gets the maximum amount of exposure. Starting in August we will charge $50 to be featured in the Denver Spotlight which is a killer deal for a small business looking to grow its’ exposure. We used to do it for free, but have found ourselves strapped for time between our regular job and running a small business and we feel $50 is worth the coverage we bring for the small business. The blog goes out to thousands of followers on social media and we have had over a thousand people read our blogs, mostly based in Colorado.

What’s next?
We are not looking to leave our primary job within the government at this time. We want to keep this as a part-time gig and continue to work for the government. Happiness for us is to have several ideal clients per month that we can focus all of our attention on and give them the value they deserve. We spend a lot of time on training. We listen to podcasts, read articles, stay up on the latest trends, and research constantly. Professional development is so important to us as we want to live by our tagline “Evolve or Remain the Same.” We want to continually evolve our own brand, our own job skills, and become the best professional we are capable of being. Meeting like-minded individuals and business owners and building a strong network of people is also important to us. We love making new connections within the community and connecting others to each other for business purposes. If you are in need of writing services, websites, branding strategy, business plans, branding guides, newsletters, email campaigns, or need someone to design marketing materials for an affordable price, set up a free consultation with us and we can determine if it is a good fit.

Pricing:

• $50 Denver Spotlight Feature
• $100 Monthly Newsletter Campaign
• $50 blogs (up to 1,500 words)
• $1,200 starting price for websites
• $375 starting price for monthly social media management

Contact Info:

• Email: sarah@strasserwriting.com
• Website: www.strasserwriting.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strasserwriting/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrasserWriting/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndStrasser
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/strasser-writing-and-marketing-denver
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/strasserwriting/_created/

Image Credits
Pexels
Donny with Denver Designs for the cover photo