DB: Where are you?
DM: In Miami. I spend a lot of time traveling between our three markets — Southfield, Miami, and Austin, Texas. I like to keep an eye on business development in each of these regions. We specialize in brand development and advanced technology website development, along with digital marketing and social media.
DB: What’s your client base?
DM: We help professional service and advanced manufacturing companies like Lear Corp. with what can be a complicated process of branding. When they’re communicating to their related audiences, things can be very complex, and it can be hard to communicate something like (what) an electrical harness system is and why one is better than the other.
DB: What about a Silicon Valley office?
DM: I started in Silicon Valley 22 years ago. I was connected to a venture capital firm (there) and if (a startup business) got funding, we were the creative design team that helped get them off the ground. I came back to Michigan 15 years ago, and we kept an office in California until 10 years ago. We continually send our key people there.
DB: Why did you leave the Valley?
DM: The economic climate was really shifting, and the startups were becoming mature companies, so we began to look for startups in Austin and Miami. I actually grew up in Ann Arbor, and we’ve had a lot of success by moving our base to metro Detroit.
DB: What trends are you seeing?
DM: Our industry reinvents itself every six months, and right now it seems everyone is looking to use social media to stoke business development. Some (companies) have never done it, so there’s a learning curve. We work with our clients to use social media to drive (their) sales. The other big thing is mobile development. Google just said if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, (they) could drop you from their search index — so that’s driving a lot of work for us.
— R.J. King
