New Member Profile – ShineDesign Creative Marketing

Design Firm Opens at Generation Sustain

(3/12/09) Joie Watson has returned to her roots. As a child, she remembers escaping from the Boston area to summer with her cousins in Heath on her Uncle’s farm.

Perhaps some of those early experiences also shaped her career – her Uncle, Richard “Steiny” Steinbeck, was a noted Heath graphic artist and illustrator whose work still graces many of the maple sugar jugs used today.

Now an accomplished graphic designer and marketing professional, Johanna ‘Joie’ Watson has again escaped from urban life to return to the 1815 farmhouse at the Pike’s Peak trailhead and open her firm ShineDesign in the Generation Sustain space above McCusker’s Market.

Watson brings 20 years of corporate communications design and marketing experience to her practice of strategic marketing and design. “My goal is to fill the need for heart-centered marketing that guides like-minded small business owners and entrepreneurs in articulating and promoting what is ‘good and different’ about their endeavors,” she says.

Her marketing philosophy is simple: to get people to know who you are as a business, to like you, and to trust you. “I see marketing as a filter to reveal what a business is all about,” she says, “it’s a way to define why you are in business.” She sees herself in part as a coach, helping small businesses reassess and clarify where they are and where they want to be.

Watson’s target market is small business clients, solo practitioners and entrepreneurs who find it hard to justify a marketing staff. “Many small businesses have a vision, but implementing that vision consistently is a huge challenge,” she says.

Watson’s experience in urban and community development projects is relevant to her goal of working on marketing efforts that complement community life. “I joined the SFABA to get to know people and to share resources and connections,” she says. “It’s about building a strong community.” She has already proven that by sharing her marketing expertise with the Memorial Hall Association, and she is assisting the SFABA with rebranding the area to draw in more business.

About leaving the city for rural life, Watson has no regrets. ‘I love it here – the creativity and entrepreneurship, combined with the tranquility and beauty of the area, make it a perfect location for this type of business. It’s very exciting to see how the area is evolving, and see how my firm is developing here,” she says.

ShineDesign Creative Marketing, 5 State Street, Third Floor, Shelburne Falls

413-337-8701 or 617-320-6340

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.shinedesignmarketing.com