Box Turtle Design: online marketing • e-commerce • web • social media • print • advertising • strategic marketing

— Eric Shalit, creative director, designer, & content strategist

I develop powerful marketing tools for e-commerce, print, e-mail, and social media. My clients include business-to-business and direct-to-consumer companies. Expert at developing marketing strategies for major brands and implementing those strategies across multiple channels. I write and design in tandem.

• Websites & business blogs: I build magazine-style blogs that deliver meaningful engaging content integrated with social media. If building relationships with customers is important to your business, and your marketing efforts don’t include social media, you’re not in the game.
• As a professional blogger I offer first-hand expertise to clients: You can find designers who will build you a blog or a website, but from that point you’re on your own. One thing that differentiates me is that I provide ongoing counsel, content development, and editing. I started TUBULOCITY, an online magazine & blog dedicated to bicycle culture, as a laboratory for developing my social media skills. It currently gets 8,000+ views each month and is growing.
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Having a website and having a website that brings in customers & makes money are two different things. Are your Google rankings what they should be? Is your current search engine optimization working for you?
• Consumer & wholesale catalogs: I’ve designed and produced sales catalogs for nationally recognized business-to-business & direct-to-consumer brands. I’ve also designed and produced books for museums.
• Print & web advertising: I’ve created powerful ad concepts for a wide range of companies — and even made reinsurance funny & compelling.
• e-commerce: I’ve designed, written, and coded nearly 300 direct-to-consumer emails; 75 home pages; and numerous online e-commerce features for brands like Eddie Bauer and Filson Outdoor Clothing & Gear.
• Point-of-sale: I’ve created multi-faceted campaigns for nationally recognized brands like Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest.

Seeing the world from the consumer’s point of view:

• Benefit-oriented storytelling: Consumers want to know how products & services will benefit them — make their lives better, simpler, healthier, cheaper, more appealing to the opposite sex. I find compelling and memorable ways to tell stories with words and images.
• Making complex ideas easy to understand: Crafting words and images in tandem, I’m able to make the most mundane products and services seem important and desirable, and make complex ideas easy to understand.
• Communicate a clear simple value proposition: Differentiating your products and services from competitor’s is an essential part of my process. Working with information about your company, products, customers, markets, and competitors, I create a simple narrative that conveys a clear value proposition. When customers have a clear understanding of the benefits, even premium products and services look like a solid value.
• Use customer testimonials: When you say how great you are it’s bragging. When someone else does it, it’s a powerful and credible recommendation. I believe in using testimonials to reinforce the customer experience.

What’s creative? Ideas that capitalize on business opportunities.

I dislike the word ‘creative’ and cringe at the word ‘talented’. Talent is for tap dancing. I develop ideas that capitalize on business opportunities. If you’re an entrepreneur, I’m a great partner to have on your team. Experience means I’m able to evaluate problems and devise solutions quickly. Once we’ve laid out a solid strategic plan, I’m able to roll out a consistent focused message across multiple channels including online, print, advertising, and social media.

My bread & butter is in using design and language as tools to reach out to customers and communicate a clear simple value proposition. Is that creative? Chief Financial Officers think so.