Look through a kaleidoscope, and you will discover it creates something incredible. Many pieces come together to create the kaleidoscope’s image. All alone, they are not special. Put them together, and they make something extraordinary.
Extraordinary is one-word clients use to describe the creative work produced by the talented duo team of Kaleidoscope Marketing. In 2014, Sarah La Fleur Casey and Joe Kelly teamed up to merge their individual talents to create Kaleidoscope Marketing, a full-service creative agency that provides a wide array of marketing and design services, including digital and social campaigns, marketing strategy and planning, branding, creative and design, data and analytics, media, and more.
Sarah La Fleur Casey of Algona is the talent behind the visuals. Initially planning to pursue a career as an English teacher, Sarah’s career path took a different turn when an advisor discouraged her from pursuing the teaching profession due to job availability. Instead, she found herself taking some graphic design courses and quickly realized she had found both her passion and talent! Following college graduation, Sarah worked in corporate graphic design for several years but always had a desire to work freelance, particularly someday when she had a family. The birth of her second daughter was the impetus to pull the trigger! She left her corporate job, and La Fleur Design was created. Sarah set up shop in her home, working several mornings a week, balancing the roles of business owner and designer with mom and wife, with the goal to gradually build up to working full time by the time her children were in school. It was the outreach from a long-time friend and professional colleague, Joe
Kelly, in 2014 that took her career to the next twist. Joe and Sarah were both independent freelancers who had collaborated on projects throughout the years. With Joe’s copyrighting forte and Sarah’s design skills, they discovered their combined talents complimented each other and provided unique solutions for clients searching for a marketing firm, so they created Kaleidoscope Marketing. Sarah revels in transforming Joe’s copy and concepts into vibrant, attention-grabbing, results-performing designs. Together, they deliver high-caliber, creative marketing solutions that can compete with fully-staffed marketing agencies but at a freelance rate.
The partnership has enabled Sarah and Joe to capitalize on their individual talents while serving a diversified and growing number of clients. A few of the industries they serve include healthcare, retail, and higher education. The coronavirus pandemic struck a hard blow to each of these industries in 2020, forcing them to pivot and evolve to stay in business; Kaleidoscope Marketing also had to evolve and change alongside their customers. When companies were laying off or letting staff go, Kaleidoscope brought on a producer with expertise in video creation/animation and graphics, enabling their clientele to concentrate their communication and marketing messaging through social media. This was critical in reaching their audiences due to the pandemic. The additional video production service has significantly diversified and expanded Kaleidoscope’s business opportunities and is now a mainstay of its offerings.
Sarah attributes Kaleidoscope Marketing’s success to their flexibility, listening to clients’ needs and their ability to grow and adapt to new technology and new business initiatives. They have earned accolades from clients, including Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals of Greater Kansas City. “With Sarah’s support, we have been able to steward more than 29 major corporate partners over the past several years. Sarah’s work has allowed us to have more than 17,000 touchpoints with our partners through newsletters as well as informational and recognition materials. During this time, we have seen an increase of $765,000 raised. Ultimately, we see a positive correlation between the quality of her work and our ability to continually improve our fundraising relationships.”
Kaleidoscope’s words of wisdom for others who may be interested in freelancing and/or starting their own business is, “Don’t be afraid! If you have a passion, drive and talent, anything is possible.” As a guest speaker for the Tietz Entrepreneurial Center, Sarah has shared that philosophy with local high school student groups.
Learn more about Kaleidoscope Marketing and see examples of their creative work online at www.k-scopemarketing.com.
https://iowalakes.edu/with-passion-drive-and-talent-anything-is-possible/
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