Joe Gardener
Challenge
When Joe Lamp’l from the PBS Show Growing A Greener World contacted me, he was looking to build a personal brand and website where he could leverage the fans and followers he built from years of hosting the show and generate a side income and business for himself. Because here’s the thing: If after 9 seasons of hosting the show, PBS decides to cancel it, Joe doesn’t have a way to create an income stream on his own. And who wants to be in that kind of situation?!
Solution
Since we were starting Joe’s entire brand from scratch, the first thing we did was create a logo that would begin the design scheme for the rest of his materials. Immediately we knew we wanted to explore distressed, grungey themes in the design because when you’re in the garden, it’s anything but clean and we wanted the audience to feel like this was a safe place to get dirty. We played with imagery around muddy boots prints, vegetable silhouettes, and garden tools until we settled on a garden trowel with a “J/G” monogram inside of it. From the fonts used to the illustration style, we wanted the brand to feel accessible and friendly to all, verses too clean or too perfect. Next, we worked on a “Coming Soon” page for his website, complete with a simple opt-in incentive to help grow his email list so by the time the full branding and website design and development was complete, he’d already have an audience for it, as well as advertisers ready to be sponsors. Now that that piece was in place, we could begin the website design and development process. We started with Mood Boards that would set the stage for the rest of the website build. It was important for the project to maintain some branding elements from Living Homegrown since Joe and Theresa work together on Growing A Greener World, and planned on cross-promoting each other, creating online courses together, etc. However, they both needed their own distinct brands so they could forge their own ways, too. To accommodate this, they share one font, and some of the red, tan, and brown colors, but that’s where the similarities end. The two sites have their own custom photography, their own unique layouts and more to solidify that the two are very different brands. Here, we’re using brighter, more saturated colors, repeating vegetable silhouette patterns, and distressed “dirty-looking” fonts to make the site feel warm, engaging, dynamic, and fun. With color blocks and photos keeping text and information organized, the design quickly became a friendly place to hang out. Once the Mood Board was settled, we set out to design the actual website. We started with the site’s main value proposition: “Grow like a pro – no experience required” to immediately put new and existing gardeners at ease when using the site. No garden-shaming here! We paired that with a call-to-action to get a free ebook to help grow Joes’ email list right out of the gate. Next, we show all the social proof Joe has gotten over the years thanks to the Today Show, PBS, HGTV, DIY Network and more so if people don’t watch his television show, they still know Joe is the real deal and not a hobbyist. At this point, since Joe doesn’t have anything to sell except for advertising on his site, we’re serving up his best content right away, complete with categories and search functionality that his audience needs at all phases in the garden process to get the information they need so their garden thrives. Then we have a section to introduce Joe to his readers, a spot for a featured ad that rotates out upon browser refresh, and a giant call-to-action at the bottom of the page to join Joe’s email list. What’s more, we installed an Instagram feed at the bottom of Joe’s site so anyone who tags their photo with #iamajoegardener, their photo will show up on his site to build more audience engagement. So fun!
Results
Since launching Joe’s site one year ago, Joe has been able to secure more than 6-figures in advertising sponsorships on the site, has more than 10,000 people on his email list, over 300 people filling out his contact form in the last year, and almost 21,000 visiting his website per month. Next, we’ll be launching an online store, courses, and more for even greater impact and scale!
Want fresh marketing stories in your inbox?
Get the weekly email that makes you a marketing genius.
Stay informed and inspired, for free.