THEIR LIFE'S WORK
Designing Smart Brand Management
Entrepreneur Maureen Ballatori 鈥08 blends intentional, efficient, and quirky approaches
by Robin L. Flanigan
As a junior at Nazareth College, hoping to be self-employed someday, Maureen Ballatori 鈥08 started a freelancing side project called 29 Design Studio 鈥 a boutique agency specializing in branding, strategic marketing, and creative graphic design.
The business grew steadily, and she got her wish. Today the agency has two locations, in Rochester and Geneva; works with roughly 50 ongoing clients; and employs a digital marketing strategist and an art director.
鈥淎 lot of our work focuses on smart brand management,鈥 says Ballatori. 鈥淲e talk to our clients about what it is they want to do and where they want to grow their business. What is it about what they鈥檙e trying to accomplish that makes them different from the next guy who鈥檚 trying to do the same thing? It鈥檚 about the big picture of how to get them there.鈥
29 Design Studio works mainly with clients in the food, beverage, and agricultural industries. Ballatori grew up on a dairy farm, and her husband works for a meal delivery service in the Finger Lakes, so the niche seemed a natural fit. The couple lives with their two young children in Clifton Springs, a short drive to Geneva, where Ballatori helps run Port 100, a coworking community in which her studio is a shared space. She has frequent meetings in Rochester, so she opened a second location for convenience.
Ballatori has always had an eye for what makes a design appealing to the buyer: 鈥淓ven thinking back to the first job I had when I was 15, in a grocery store as a cashier, I was always fluffing the merchandise and decorating displays for Christmas. That significantly relates to the work I do now in terms of packaging, or website design. It鈥檚 all about wanting the consumer to buy something, or take action.鈥
She studied studio art, graphic design, and illustration at Nazareth.
To keep and draw the agency鈥檚 own clients, 29 Design Studio distributes a monthly newsletter summarizing recent highlights and offering advice. The December 2018 edition included a link to a 鈥渕ust-have tool鈥 for starting off the New Year right 鈥 a calendar showing alpacas living in hotels and other luxurious locales.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fun blending the professional and the quirky,鈥 says Ballatori, 鈥渁nd it speaks a lot to what it鈥檚 like working with us.鈥
For Ballatori, being comfortable articulating her own brand started with her senior capstone project at Nazareth.
鈥淭hat was the first opportunity I had to talk intelligently about what I created and why,鈥 she says. 鈥淚n order to be successful in running your own agency, that鈥檚 something you have to do incredibly well every single day, off the cuff.鈥
Despite her company鈥檚 success, Ballatori is quick to reach out to current and former owners of bigger agencies for advice when she鈥檚 debating a decision, such as whether to focus her agency on a certain niche. (She鈥檚 still weighing that choice.)
Exploring options from every angle is how 29 Design Studio helps clients compete using meaningful messaging.
鈥淲e pride ourselves on not just doing something that鈥檚 going to pass, but doing something that鈥檚 intentional and smart and efficient,鈥 Ballatori says. 鈥淭hose things, coming into the work we鈥檙e creating, take our clients to the next level.鈥
Robin L. Flanigan is a writer in Rochester, New York. Photo by Katie Finnerty.
Maureen's Advice
Though it sounds clich茅, students who want to make a living using their creative talents should never stop learning: 鈥淚n a lot of ways, I鈥檝e been able to power through challenges I鈥檝e faced by asking for help when I needed it. That forever pursuit of learning and growing has served me well.鈥