Understand Your Business: JillianMaddie Paperie

You need to understand your business in order to create a brand that will reach your target customer and support your unique selling proposition. Last week we talked about the importance of differentiating your brand, and shared some tips and resources. We recently worked with one of our clients to help her better define her target customer and unique selling proposition. JillianMaddie Paperie is a new paper, packaging and party supply business. When we began working with the shop owner, Holly, she told us:

Unique Selling Proposition: We are a complete paper, packaging, and party boutique.  We love ALL beautiful, whimsical, and fun paper products. We will carry not only amazing party products, but also a HUGE variety of wrapping papers, gift bags, and all the embellishments that go along with having a beautiful package (bows, ribbon, and twine).  We will also carry several gift cards, notebooks and cardstocks. We want to be a one stop shop for all your paper needs.

Target Customer: We believe that women between the ages of 18-50 would be our biggest demographic. JillianMaddie has a wide variety of products and price points, all our shoppers and customers will be able to find something amazing that piques their interest. Our party products will most likely pique the interest of moms and dads, but our large gift wrap inventory will be intriguing to every shopper!

This information is fine, but isn’t specific or distinct, so we asked Holly to dig deeper. We worked with Holly to think about what sets her shop apart from her closest competitors and asked her to describe her target customer, her perfect customer. After working with our marketing consultant, Holly was able to give us the solid, targeted information we needed to create a strong logo and identity for her business which will reach her target customer, and allow her business to stand out from the crowd. After digging deeper, she told us:

Unique Selling Proposition: JillianMaddie Paper offers a hand-picked selection of high quality paper products for crafting, packaging and parties. A one stop shop where customers can find everything they need to make cards, wrap beautiful gifts and put the extra special touch on their celebrations.

It’s a creative business for creatives, serving crafters, card-makers, event planners and DIYers who are looking for a more stylish selection and better quality of materials than they can find at JoAnn or Michael’s or another big box store. Our customers value shopping at specialty retailers like JillianMaddie, where they know they’ll be able to find just what they’re looking for.

Target customer: Ashley, is a hip, fashionable and creative mom of two young kids who loves to DIY and will go out of her way to make her kids’ parties as special as possible. Spending quality time and creating lasting memories with her family is ultimately what matters most to her; that’s why she values the convenience of being to shop online at JillianMaddie for all the best, highest quality paper products she’s looking for, all in one spot. She’s brand loyal and loves that all her favorites, plus new ones she hadn’t discovered yet, are all here in our shop.

Her style is an eclectic mix of high and low (wearing a Vuitton bag with a Gap tee) and of classic meets modern. She appreciates vintage and classic styles, things that are always on trend, and finds beauty in the smallest little details. She loves and appreciates all the details and attention that the JillianMaddie brand puts into product selection, packaging and service- it’s all just impeccable and thoughtful, and that resonates with her.

JillianMaddie Paper is a stylishly curated paper boutique for crafts, parties and gifts.

Christine on our team was then able to design a logo and identity for JillianMaddie Paperie that will help the business reach its goals. When sharing the initial design, she told Holly:

This logo mark is simple, but charming. The typography is vintage inspired but unfussy. The brand mark, a paper flag, represents both celebration and DIY. I imagine Ashley has strung her fair share of paper bunting or topped many a cupcake with darling little flags!

The alternate marks feature a more compact version of the logo, along with a circular badge version. You can also see the brand mark, which is the flag with a JM monogram.  These marks are perfect for those spots where you do not need the entire brand name, such as a sticker or in the footer of your website.

Together these elements read fresh but timeless, fun but not fussy, positioning JillianMaddie as the go-to paper boutique for stylishly curated crafts, parties and gifts.

We are working now on creating the website design for Jillian Maddie, and we know that “Ashley” is going to love it!

See more examples of our work in our portfolio.

If you understand your business (or want to dig deeper!) and are ready to create an identity or new site design that will better reach your target customers, come talk to us!