“Finding what makes your business unique gives people a way to connect, to relate, and interact, and it can make all the difference in making your company memorable.”

Faith Amon is the founder of Frecklefoot Creative, a graphic design house and creative agency based in Orlando, Florida. Faith has a Master’s Degree in Communications from the University of Florida, and over 20 years of experience in design, photography and marketing. Over the last 10 years she has worked in 6 different countries consulting with CARE International to create collateral pieces, and shoot photographs that help to explain CARE’s complex humanitarian work. Faith was named among the Orlando Business Journal’s 40 under 40 in 2011, appeared in USA Today and on the Today show in 2012 and was recently awarded top honors in the Women in the Arts Show of Central Florida.

Frecklefoot Creative is a creative agency that focuses on brand storytelling. The Frecklefoot team utilizes an arsenal of creative inspiration and product leverage to bring brands to life. Over the past 9 years they have helped to build company brands to give them a unique voice in the marketplace. Where is YOUR freckle? Make your Mark.

MO: What inspired you to launch your own company instead of working for an established firm?

Faith: After I received my graduate degree, I started looking for jobs all over the state and the country. I found that most advertising agencies wanted people with experience in agencies (which I didn’t have) and that I was terribly over educated for an agency to take a risk on me. So I just kept taking care of the few clients I had started working with during grad school and it slowly grew from there. I had also built great contacts in CARE international and the work I have been fortunate enough to do for them is so exciting and fulfilling, I was determined to create a work life that offered the flexibility to be able to be out of the country for a couple of months at a time. I knew I would have to make something work on my own as opposed to working for a company full-time.

MO: What tips would you give to a young company looking to create brand awareness?

Faith: It all starts with the story. Frecklefoot Creative got its name because I wanted to name my company something that made me smile. I named a little boy I used to babysit, Frecklefoot when I saw the freckle on the bottom of his foot and every time I think about how he would giggle when I called him that, well, it makes me smile. The idea of finding freckles of course has relevancy in what I do. It speaks to uncovering uniqueness and that is the crux of creating the story of a brand. Finding what makes your business unique gives people a way to connect, to relate, and interact, and it can make all the difference in making your company memorable.

MO: Can you expand on the inspiration and the process behind developing a unique social media program for one of your clients?

Faith: As we assist our clients into the social media realm, we have tried to make it fun and engaging. We found that some industries are not all that sexy for social media and it was difficult to build those all important “likes”. So we created a visual campaign showing close-up images from jobsites where its difficult to discern what happened. Offering it up as a trivia question now brings in significant engagement from the online community and its fun!

MO: What’s one marketing strategy that’s really worked for you?

Faith: All of our business is from word of mouth. And anyone who knows me would say that a lot of words come out of my mouth. The only marketing I have ever done is by being involved in my community, volunteering and participating in local events. I make an effort to get to know others, who in turn get to know me and then before you know it we are talking about a project that they need or a friend of theirs who is looking for graphic design or marketing help. Getting out there, meeting people and often offering services pro-bono leads to big and exciting opportunities.

Frecklefoot Creative also engages the local and international art community every year in the creation of our Frecklefoot Art Calendar. Artists are asked to create their interpretation of our logo in the various media of their personal work. There are no rules except for the direction of the foot and the inclusion of a freckle on the heel. 2014 will be our 5th year creating the calendar and we are endlessly impressed, surprised and humbled by the submissions!

Working with my Mom is my secret weapon. I have one of those moms who will go out of her way to help anyone, but especially me – And my clients are an extension of me. So, my clients get the benefit of a mother who will be out at 8 o’clock at night shopping for just the right table cloth for their tradeshow booth or who will be scanning every possible location for their newest ad to get better visibility. She works day and night (just ask my dad) and she inspires me to go that extra mile for my clients, as I know she would, and does!

MO: Can you talk about the inspiration behind a development of a Frecklefoot product line?

Faith: The Frecklefoot product line is still in development, however it stems from the incredible reaction that we have received from the Frecklefoot Art Calendar. Every year people are increasingly antsy to see the newest calendar. We are hoping to get items out there that will promote the creativity that we see in the Frecklefoot Art. Hopefully it will be inspirational to others!