Experience Guide

for Projects at Stratos

Welcome to Stratos Creative Marketing.

We’re beyond thrilled to have you as a client. We know it can be intimidating to work with a marketing agency, which is why we’re so honored you’ve chosen to work with us. Take a deep breath; your marketing is about to become a lot less intimidating.

This guide will help you know what to expect when you work with us. We’ll walk you through the entire process step-by-step so you feel completely equipped to accomplish your marketing goals.

Onboarding

Our onboarding process helps us get to know you and the scope of your project. Some onboarding tasks will happen even before your kick-off call, like filling out your Discovery Guide and Client Intake Form and reviewing your contract in Honeybook.

Kick-Off Call

This is when our team will gather all the information we need from you in order to create excellent content for your business. On this call we’ll review your Discovery Guide, get to know you and your business, set timeline and deliverable expectations, and set up any account access we will need. This call typically takes an hour.

StoryBrand Messaging

StoryBrand is a framework that helps clarify your messaging so you can create marketing that compels your audience to take action. If you do not already have a StoryBrand script, we will take you through a messaging session during onboarding. This typically happens during your kick-off call. We will ask you questions about your ideal customer, the problem they face, the solution you provide, and more. We will apply your answers to the StoryBrand framework so our writing team has everything they need to write copy for your business.

Style Onboarding

If you don’t already have branding guidelines or preferred fonts and colors for us to use, we will need to determine your style before we can start on your design project. Our team will put together 3 examples of font, color, and imagery pairings for you to review and choose between. This will help us understand your brand’s style and create better designs for you in the future.

During Your Project

Copywriting

If we are writing copy for your website or project, we will gather all the information we need in our kick-off call.

If you are providing your own copy, please have that ready for us at your kick-off call so we can get started designing right away. Our proofreader will review and edit your copy before we start designing.

Design + Development

Once we have the copy, we begin laying out the website on a development site. We will start with the homepage and have you review and approve it before we move on to internal pages. If you don’t hear from us between your kick-off call and review meeting, it’s because our design team is working on your site!

Review Meeting

Once we have a design ready for you to review, you will meet with your account manager to go over the design, request revisions, and give it your stamp of approval. After this meeting, our team will make the changes you requested and return an updated draft to you.

Most of our design projects include up to 3 rounds of revisions. We find that the back-and-forth of endless revisions is frustrating for both our team and yours, so we streamline the process as much as possible. If you would like to request revisions, please collect all your feedback in one place so we can make the changes all at once.

Timeline

The timeline of your project depends on the scope. We will confirm your timeline in your kick-off call. Typically a website built from scratch takes 4-6 weeks to write, design, and develop. We will meet weekly during your project to review milestones together. 

Weekly Status Updates

Each week our team meets to go over the status of every project for every client, and we want to share that status with you. We will send semi-automated weekly emails to let you know our status (and yours) on your content or project, including accomplishments, what we’re working on, what we’re waiting on, and what’s coming up. You can expect to receive this status email in your inbox from your account manager every Monday or Tuesday for the duration of your project.

Billing

Hourly design projects are billed at the end of each month for work completed.

Larger projects like websites or lead generators are billed based on your project schedule. You will receive these invoices from our billing software, Bonsai.

If you have questions about your billing, you can email billing@stratoscreativemarketing.com.

Website Launch

Once we get the final stamp of approval on your website, we will push it live. This process takes 24-72 hours to complete. Our team will add all the finishing touches, test forms and email opt-ins, and double-check all hyperlinks on the site.

Your account manager will let you know when this process is complete and your site is ready to share with the world.

Design Project Completion

When your branding + logo or other project is complete, we will send you all the files you need to implement your design. We will send these files via WeTransfer; please download them to your device within 7 days so you do not lose access. 

Communication

Your account manager is your main point of contact. You can email them any time with questions or ideas for your marketing strategy.
 
While we will set up a standing monthly meeting, you are welcome to schedule other meetings as needed to discuss strategy, ideas, or changes. You can email your account manager or our assistant to set up a meeting.
 
We appreciate simple and straightforward feedback. When we send you content to review, please follow these guidelines to help us understand and move forward to create content you’re proud of:
  • Collect all of your feedback all in one place. Back and forth emails can get tiring, and we don’t want to miss anything you say. Use bullet points to break up your thoughts & ideas, and use headers to organize your feedback.
  • Be honest!
  • Be specific. Instead of saying “I don’t like this image,” let us know why you dislike it and what you would like to see instead. For example, “This image does not match my understanding of my ideal customer. Instead, I would like to use an image of someone younger and more relatable.”
  • Think about your project goals, your audience, and your customers. Base your feedback on their preferences and not yours. It’s more important to make sure your brand appeals to your target client/customer and audience. Ask yourself: Do you feel this content will attract your target market?
  • Tell us how you feel about the presentation. How do the colors, fonts, images, graphics, and messaging make you feel?
  • Think about your main goals, refer back to your brand strategy, and ask yourself: Do you feel this design will or won’t help you reach your goal?

Whew, that was a lot!

You’re probably feeling a bit of information overload right now; that’s ok! Take a deep breath and give yourself a pat on the back. You did it! You’re one step closer to reaching your marketing goals without the overwhelm of doing it yourself. We’re committed to helping you get leads through your marketing so you can focus on what you do best in your business.