thirty9
See how we helped a photography wall art company set focus and gain exposure.
thirty9 & LimeLight Marketing
In the spring of 2018, a successful national business approached LimeLight with an idea. With their roots firmly planted in the photography industry as owners of Miller’s Professional Imaging, they wanted to develop a new company to sell photography wall art across the U.S. The capabilities were already there; photos could be printed in their lab, and they had an established network of talented photographers to tap into.
A few months later, thirty9 launched as a premium photography brand selling professionally-curated, high-quality wall art from best-in-class photographers. Here’s how it happened…
The Challenge
The challenge presented an exciting opportunity for LimeLight. We were given this early concept and a completely blank slate to take the idea and define, create, and build an entirely new brand without a paradigm connected to the existing company. It was an agency growth opportunity we fully embraced.
At this stage, even the company name had not been determined.
Our work included:
- Marketing research and audience profiling
- Competitor analysis
- Personas
- Logo design
- Brand development
- Naming the company
- Website design and development
- Content development
- Video
- Photography
- Marketing and PR strategy and execution
- Paid search
- Social media
Brand Development
The decision to position the brand in the premium home decor space was a driver for the overarching marketing strategy. The first task was to name the company. By looking to the rich history of both the parent company and of photography, we concepted a name that would facilitate ecommerce and truly establish a brand. The name thirty9 nods to the year photography was invented, 1839, and the year the founder opened his first business, 1939.
Development of core brand elements, including target personas, logo, visual style, messaging tone, followed.
Marketing Strategy
Strategic marketing goals were defined, dashboards were developed, and we began building relationships, initiating customer and influencer conversations, and of course, driving website traffic. These goals guided content tactics, such as social media, video, blogs and artist bios, all designed to inform, connect, inspire, and engage across channels. This brand video was one of the content assets in the launch campaign.
A Website that Looks Great - and Works Even Better.
Website design was crucial, requiring a complex ecommerce function. We analyzed the purchase process and conducted UI and UX competitive research before overlaying it with audience profiling. The site is built around high-quality graphics, so we gave extra attention to ensure site speed was optimal for user experience and search engine optimization.
The real detail of the work was in setting up product categorization and filtering elements to make the search functionality of the site user-friendly for consumers.
The products integrate into an ERP system in a way that provides low-maintenance as new products are added. Photography, video, and creative copywriting help the artists tell their story and connect to consumers in a way that sells their wall art photography as high-quality home decor.
The result is a simple and clear way to locate and purchase photography, coupled with a storytelling element.
Stay on Brand
Every tactic we implement – whether on social channels, in email, video, blog posts, paid ads, or product photography – consistently aligns to the thirty9 personas and brand voice, and focuses on brand awareness, conversion, or advocacy.
thirty9.com launched in February 2019 – but of course, we have more to do. As an extension of the thirty9 team, LimeLight continues to drive and execute the marketing strategy, and we look forward to celebrating and sharing in their success.
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