VIA Studio signs seven clients, nearly doubles office space

Here’s a great article from the Jaunary 2 Business First:

At a time when many business are struggling to hold steady, Louisville firm VIA Studio has seen its pace of business increase.

The Louisville marketing and technology firm signed seven new contracts in the past two months, said Kelly McKnight, marketing director and a partner in the business.

The new clients are: Cundiff Steel Fabricators and Erectors Inc., Bunton Seed Co., Oz Galleries LLC, The Patron restaurant, Mikato Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar, Louisville Equestrian Center and Kevco Construction LLC.

VIA Studio also is adding 1,200 square feet to its 1,400-square-foot office in Butchertown Market. And it has plans to boost its eight-person staff with the addition of a designer and two interns in the first quarter of 2009.

“Our time has come,” McKnight said. “It’s like we’ve been rehearsing for 10 years and the curtain has come up.”

Applying marketing principles to technology

That’s not to say that VIA Studio has been in a holding pattern since its inception in 1996.

The company weathered the dot.com bust, which took it from 15 employees down to two.

McKnight and his business partner, Jason Clark, then rebuilt VIA Studio — this time focusing on slow but sustainable growth.

One of the biggest challenges along the way has been educating customers about the mix of technology and traditional marketing services the firm provides.

McKnight and Clark both have marketing backgrounds, and that marketing focus is a key driver behind the design and functionality of any Web site the company develops.

At the same time, traditional marketing campaigns are used to drive traffic to the Web site.

The online component of a marketing campaign enables VIA Studio to track the campaign’s success through the number of unique visitors, page views, length of time on the site and other measures.

That approach makes VIA Studio accountable for the advertising dollars its customers have spent, Clark said.

One service area that is driving new business is search engine optimization, or SEO.

The ability for a Web site to rank high in a search engine, such as Google, Yahoo or MSN, is critical.

When Via Studio develops Web sites for clients, it can use key words, phrases and programming to help the client gain those top positions.

Via Studio’s track record in the SEO sector was a key factor when Oz Galleries hired the firm to develop its new Web site, said John Gold, Oz president.

Oz Galleries, which sells custom art and home accessories at two Louisville locations, planned to revamp the look and functionality of its online presence as part of an overall branding campaign.

But company officials also were concerned about the positioning of the new site because the adage, “build it and they will come,” does not apply to the Web world.

“What makes (VIA) unique is they don’t just build a great product,” Gold said. “They make sure it can be found on the Web.”

VIA Studio
Location: 1201 Story Ave.
Services include: Web-site development, maintenance and hosting; search engine optimization; direct-mail campaigns; print, radio and television advertisements; brochures; and public relations
Customer base: Hosts sites for about 100 clients; active projects for about 30 clients at any given time; 80 percent of the clients are local companies