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February 7, 2025 • 13 mins
CEO of Fierce Creative Agency - Kate Manfull
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cape man Full, CEO creative director of Fierce Creative Agency
in Saint Charles, was very nice to meet you.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Nice to meet you. I'm excited to have a conversation today.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
The first thing you see of a beautiful website is
to be fierce, is to show up as our authentic
cells each and every day. Who came up with that.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Oh my goodness. Unapologetically is the way we like to
think about it. Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's something that
I felt like as soon as Fierce kind of came
to be, I was like, this is how we need
to show up. You know, people ask you when you
walk in the room like, oh Fierce, what does that mean?
And what does that feel? And I want people to
know like, this is how we show up authentically, unapologetically,
Like we're going to give our absolute best every single
day and you're going to know that this second we

(00:36):
walk in the door.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Is that your mission statement?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I mean that's pretty close.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'd say anytime that we can do make a positive
impact with our work, that's what we want to do.
I mean, it's a talented group of people. We're in
the creative field. It's kind of the sky is the limit,
like in a limitless way rather than capabilities, because we
want to make sure we're offering the absolute best for
our clients.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
So what exactly is Fierce Creative Agency?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
We are a boutique agency that offers all sorts of
different services, but really primarily focused on creative assets for people,
so taking your brand visuals and just giving content strategy
to that, so helping businesses essentially get more leads, drive
their sales, expand their brand. So we're visual communicators and
that's kind of where all of this sits.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
I think it's brilliant. And actually, if I was a
client or a business, I would want fierceness.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Oh yes, the fierce energy. We usually say that, we're like, hey,
we add a dash of fierce energy into your brand.
We're here.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
What's your beginnings, Kate? How did you get into this field?

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I have always been kind of a dreamer, a visionary
kind of person. I knew I had like an entrepreneurial
spirit in me. And when you know, I'd already get
in corporate advertising. I'd done at a PR agency, work,
I had done you know, video production work. So I'd
done all of these things, and then when the opportunity
came up. I was like, you know what, I think
I can do this on my own, and so I

(01:55):
really did freelance for a little bit. I did this
play all day, work all night build of the business.
So in the early days I raised my little ones
during the day, I would work all night doing graphic
design because I didn't need to talk to anybody at
the time to do that kind of work. And then
when the opportunity came that, you know, the kids are
going to school, I had this pivot moment, can I
do something with us or what are we going to do?
And Fierce Creative was where we landed.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
And how many years ago did you start this?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Ten years? We're about ten years old.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Wow. I love the fact that you're your own boss, yes,
but you're also the boss of others. How do you
do all that? Because I think that would be hard.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Oh my gosh, it's so fun. Honestly, I wouldn't change
anything about it. Like the creative collaborative is kind of
how we think and how our approach to the work.
So we're always bringing basically the diversity of thought, the
different backgrounds we have, the different perspectives. I find that
to be our biggest asset honestly is getting all of
those voices in the room and challenging each other until

(02:51):
we have the absolute best idea bubbling to the top.
So that's what our clients get when they start working
with us.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Congratulations on being awarded the Small Business of the Year
twenty twenty four. What, in your opinion does Fearce Creative
do to get such an honor?

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Oh, my goodness, we have amazing people around us. You know,
we were nominated for that, so we were completely surprised,
but also like, what an honor and what a joy
it was to share that with the team. But we
serve our community anyway we can, for small businesses and
and mid sized businesses, and so we're you know, connected
in that way. But yeah, I think just to be

(03:26):
able to spotlight again the team that comes together and
shows up for each other and for our clients a
day in and day out in the way that they
do was just that was awesome for me to be
able to be a part of that and to share
that with them.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
How was that putting the team together?

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Oh, it's been it's been a process like we had
in the you know, again, we're about ten years old,
so in the first few years. We went from two
of us to three of us to almost seven of
us in the around the three or four year mark,
and then it just was like, Okay, got to about
ten and now we're feeling good. So I like to
keep it nice and small. Honestly, I think that just

(04:04):
leaves us a little more flexibility. And we're pretty scrappy
in that way too, so we can kind of move
to what we need to do. And each team member
is not just doing one thing. We're very versatile in
terms of like you know, my account people are writing copy,
they're also managing web projects. They're also you know, in
the email marketing. They're doing a lot of different things.

(04:25):
My designers are not just designing, they're also helping with
the web work. So we're doing a lot of crossover.
And I think that part of versatility and willing to
do that is what makes the team. You know, able
to show up in new ways all the time and
not really be held back by anything.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
And understanding what each other does and what each other's
strong points is. I think that is exactly what makes
the team.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
They make it happen, and they're the ones when they
show up you can tell like, we've got the energy
and we know who's strong at this point, who's not.
You know, who do we need to pull in for
this and nothing goes out the door?

Speaker 1 (04:57):
What kind of challenges do you feel you're currently experiencing now.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Marketing can be overwhelming. Okay, so it's just moving so fast.
You've got ai involved constantly. What you did yesterday might
not work tomorrow kind of thing. And so for us,
it fuels us. We get excited about that, and I
think that's obviously why we do the work that we do.
But for our clients it can be kind of paralyzing
at times for their business. So we have made it

(05:22):
a very big part of our conversation to make sure
they feel educated, comfortable, and we're communicating with them so
that they have all the information, they can make data
informed decisions and they can really start to trust the
process of what we're looking to do. But educating them
and making sure that they're comfortable, because again, it's just
so fast, and you know, that's the part that excites us,

(05:45):
but it definitely worries and scares other people when it's
moving so quickly.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
There's a reason why you're doing what you're doing, and
they hire you for that reason, and I think one
of the great things about a boutique agency is that
you can give more of a one on one kind
of commit meant to them.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Oh absolutely, so.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
I know there are a lot of challenges in this
industry in marketing, and a lot of confusion for small
businesses too.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Oh for sure. We get a lot of questions and
I think oftentimes even people coming in not knowing exactly
what they need and helping them figure that out is
part of the process. I always am open to conversation.
I don't care what size business or where you're coming from.
I think it's important to feel that you are educated
and comfortable with the information in front of you, and
marketing can just be simply overwhelming. And as an agency,

(06:32):
we made it our prime commitment to make sure that
we are communicating to our clients so that they do
feel comfortable, they understand what the process is and what
we're doing, because again, it's moving so quickly. What we
did yesterday might not work tomorrow or even in a
few months, So kind of being upfront with them in
that way eases that stress, gives that little pressure release,

(06:55):
which I think is a good thing, and that quick
pace of what marketing is doing and the challenges that
are in front of us. That's what fuels us. That's
what gets us excited. We want to learn more, we
want to try more, We want to continually be you know,
looking at the data and seeing how we can make
better or different creative to perform differently in the field.
And that's where we get excited. So I think having

(07:16):
that balance of educating and being comfortable for your client
and making sure that our team is fired up and
able to deliver is just a really fun combination.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
There's something to be said about living in the uncomfort zone. Yes,
make yourself a little uncomfortable can get you to your
client's comfort.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
That's absolutely true. Yeah, we feel that again, Fearless thinking
is kind of a part of our DNA, and I
think pushing the limits on what the ideas could be
and sometimes you know it might even be it's usually me,
honestly pushing us into a space where like, oh my gosh,
I don't know what are we doing here? This is
this really going to work? And then you've got my
team members who are like punching the holes in it

(07:54):
to make sure you know, what can we do and
then you've got this client that you're able to kind
of bring a lot for this exciting journey and to
see what we can do together. I mean that's the
sweet spot.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
I love that. And let's talk about just some of
your favorite success stories. Maybe you got one or two.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Oh yeah, so too many to count. Actually, over the years,
we've just worked with so many different people and so
many different brands. We've supported other agencies, which has given
us an outlet to nationally recognized brands. And then we
also have, of course our own host of clients that
we service. A couple that bubble to the top. We
just work recently launching the Family Forward Missouri website, So

(08:35):
just a really exciting project with them, just to be
able to support and create like a completely new user
journey for them online getting people to get to the
resources faster. You know, that's very simply. We have another brand,
Yoder Built Greenhouses and outdoor Living, which we have seen
great success with. They had not been doing online sales.
We added an online form that basically offers that opportunity

(08:59):
and we've seen a twenty five percent increase in sales
just straight from that experience online. So that's been exciting
to celebrate and building performance. Association is a wonderful association
we work with just in the energy efficiency space, and
to support them, we've really done a lot of email
marketing that has just kind of been transformational in terms

(09:19):
of how they've communicated with their various audiences and learning
from each you know, step that we've made with them
and offering them resources in the correct way has been
an awesome opportunity to to speak to those members and
bring non members into the fold.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
I would think it would be difficult too, if you've
got somebody who, let's say they've always done something a
certain way and you're going in and out. You know,
you got different ways to do this, There's different movements, visuals.
How do you deal with kind of working with somebody
and easing them into change.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yes, I think when it comes to our approach to
marketing and how people come into the conversation with us
is we think holistically. We're visual communicators. So what that
means is if you come to me and start telling
me about your challenge, your problem, your concern, I start
seeing the pieces come together and that might mean, you know,

(10:09):
just the website, or that might mean one flyer that
you need, but most of the time it means something
a little bit bigger, and so we're looking holistically, like, Okay, well,
how is your website performing, how is your brand being presented?
How is this messaging working? Are we looking at your
email communications? You know, what's your social media doing? How
are we supporting all of that together in one And

(10:29):
I think that holistic approach is just a necessity. You
can't do a one off piece and expect it to
perform well for you. So getting into that zone is
really for us what we have to do to make
it work.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Do you have a favorite charity you guys gotta work with.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
We are very focused on empowering and inspiring young creatives
that are coming into the field, so that's a really
important part for us. So we open our doors for
kids to come in and basically do job shadows, internships,
that kind of work. But at the same time, we
have a very pointed opportunity with Media Now, which is
a summer camp and for high school journalism students, So

(11:08):
we do that in the summer, but then we also
have year round support for them and education. So through
Media Now, we are essentially doing all of the registration
we're doing all of the website work, the branding, the
ongoing promotions, but we're also on site leading the camp
and working with the kids on their writing, their storytelling,
their design, their video, the works, So that that's probably

(11:29):
where we pour most of our energy into that.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
I absolutely love that. A huge, huge proponent of bringing
young up. Oh yes, it's so important.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, empowering the next generation to like find their voice
and be able to show up authentically, right and unapologetically.
And you know, our whole mantras be you, be fierce,
and I think that goes for anybody, like wherever you are,
just honestly, just be who you are and show up
and find your voice and see what you can do
with it. And I think that's where you know, again,
this next generation, with everything moving so quickly, there's so

(12:01):
many opportunities and most of them haven't even been exposed
to what those are. So if we can be a
catalyst in that and spark new ideas, that's what we
want to do.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
I notice that on your website that there are job
opportunities you're always looking.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, I'm always open to conversations, whether it's a business partnership.
We want to talk about or a new person coming
into the team. Fresh talent is always inspiring. I think
to talk to Fierce Creative Dot Agency.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
And you need to hire someone. It can be you
can be just a self person that is your own artist.
Maybe you need marketing or a big company. You do
it all.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
We do. Yeah, we do everything from brand and identity
work to website design and development, through social media, content marketing,
email marketing, and then on into digital strategy which is
the paid approach as well.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
And again the website is.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Fierce Creative Dot Agency.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Kate, It's been a pleasure talking to you. I love
what you're doing with the business.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Right Simply, we want to do good work for good people.
So if we can help you and take your brand
and make a consistent and cohesive visual representation of that,
that's what we want to do. We want to help
you grow your business in any way that we can
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