Infographics & the people who love them -- Amy Balliett // Killer Visual Strategies
Feb 8, 2021
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Amy Balliett, founder and CEO of Killer Visual Strategies and a trailblazer in visual communication, shares her inspiring journey from film to marketing. She reveals how she successfully combined creativity with business acumen in her work. Amy discusses the evolution of visual storytelling, the significance of infographics, and how COVID-19 has reshaped business dynamics. She offers valuable insights on collaboration between marketers and designers while highlighting the importance of public speaking for personal branding.
Amy Balliett's journey from video production to successful marketing highlights the importance of blending creativity with business acumen.
The evolution of Killer Visual Strategies emphasizes the growing necessity for marketers to incorporate visual storytelling in their strategies for audience engagement.
Deep dives
The Journey into Marketing
Amy Balliet's entry into marketing was influenced significantly by her father's practical advice to pursue a minor in marketing while studying film. Initially focused on video production, she navigated her early career through various roles, blending her artistic passion with the necessity of establishing a stable income. This journey took a turning point when she launched a failed startup aiming to create a social network for artists, which ultimately led her to learn SEO and gain hands-on marketing experience. Through persistence and self-education, she transitioned from a video editor to an SEO manager, leveraging her creativity and analytical skills.
Lessons from Early Marketing Roles
In her early marketing roles, particularly at Sesame Communications, Amy developed a robust understanding of local SEO and coding, which significantly enhanced her capabilities. The collaborative environment of a startup allowed her to learn from a talented team, implementing tactics that drove tangible results for local businesses. She successfully created a new product offering that catered specifically to the dental and orthodontic market, underscoring her innovative approach to marketing. This experience solidified her belief that effective SEO aligns closely with delivering high-quality, audience-centered content.
Transition to Visual Communication
After successfully navigating the SEO landscape, Amy co-founded Killer Visual Strategies, initially focusing on infographics as a core offering. The agency quickly gained traction, particularly after their infographics began to achieve significant online engagement, which highlighted the growing demand for visual content in digital marketing. Amy recognized a gap in the market for putting forth high-quality visual communication strategies, which ultimately led her to transition the agency’s focus beyond infographics to a broader array of visual storytelling mediums. With the changing dynamics of content consumption, Amy emphasized the need for marketers to adapt their strategies to prioritize visual elements for better engagement.
The Evolution of Killer Visual Strategies
Under Amy's leadership, Killer Visual Strategies evolved into a comprehensive visual communication agency, later rebranded as Killer Visual Strategies to reflect its broader mission. Through partnerships and innovative service offerings, the agency experienced significant growth and recognition, including accolades for their business model and book releases. The company partnered with a larger group, Material, to integrate a more expansive range of services, ultimately creating a holistic marketing agency. Throughout this journey, Amy has emphasized the importance of aligning creative work with business objectives to achieve success, advising creatives to maintain customer focus in their endeavors.
For this career day episode, we have Amy Balliett, founder and CEO for Killer Visual Strategies. Amy shares her experience of how she got into marketing blending creativity and the business side in every company she has worked with. She taught herself with the skills necessary to bring her ideas to fruition until very recently she was thrusted into public speaking. She aims to educate both the marketers and designers on how they can communicate more effectively to level the playing field and put out the best practices of the industry. Show Notes