ghostwriting
Homemade Sausage
Recipes and techniques to grind, stuff and twist artisanal sausage at home
website refresh
Native Pilates
When Native Pilates opened in 2019, they knew exactly what they wanted to do — open a Pilates studio for women that offered more than just Pilates — but they didn’t really know how to say it or market it. They came to Smudgepot wanting a refresh on the website they’d built themselves, and ultimately came away with the website they’d dreamed of and the language necessary to clearly market their studio. Smudgepot created a tagline for the brand (A Modern Wellness Studio), wrote copy for each page of the website, and helped rearrange the content and redesign the site so customers could more easily find the information they wanted. With “Book a Class” prioritized in the primary navigation, and an “Our Offerings” page to promote the wide array of services they offer (more than just Pilates!), the studio got a website that felt like them and told their whole story.
“If you need someone to help you get clear on your intention, your brand, and the overall feel for your website, Maddie is your gal. I cannot recommend her enough!”
website design
Bare Bones Butcher
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Bare Bones Butcher to completely shift their business model, which had previously depended on walk-in business in their brick-and-mortar butcher shop: they decided to sell their products online. The challenge however, was building a site that would allow for strict inventory management and price adjustments for each customer’s custom orders after they’d been filled. Although Smudgepot had designed the shop’s initial website, this opportunity presented Smudgepot with the chance to execute a redesign in tandem with the online store to create an entirely new online experience for the brand. With rewritten language, easy-to-navigate interface, and custom-ordering for local meats and eats, Smudgepot delivered a website that both encouraged viewers to visit the store in person and to explore the shop’s online ordering capabilities.
“Maddie came up with the visual identity and branding for our whole animal butcher shop, and has also created a real voice for Bare Bones. Through the copy she wrote on our website, our Instagram captions, and our email marketing, BBB is represented as friendly, smart, knowledgeable and likable. We never could have done that on our own”
Jason Arnold Interiors
In 2022, Nashville interior designer Jason Arnold decided he wanted a website that could better represent and grow his business, so he reached out to Smudgepot to take on the job. Smudgepot wrote streamlined language that better described his interior design style, laid out his services, and also improved the site’s SEO. From there, Smudgepot utilized fonts and colors representative of his classic yet modern interior style and relied heavily on photographs of his work to speak volumes. The result is a clean, masculine, timeless online portfolio that showcases the designer’s work and entices new clients to inquire about hiring Jason Arnold to bring their own space to life
blogs + case studies
Built
Smudgepot and Built were introduced in February of 2020 at a time when Built was preparing for substantial growth. Their marketing team in particular was readying itself to sell a suite of new products, and they needed more brainpower to properly prepare. Smudgepot worked as a contractor on the marketing team from February 2020 until October of 2021. New to financial technology and only marginally familiar with the construction industry, Smudgepot took on the learning curve in stride, and soon was regularly composing blog posts, case studies, email copy, and social captions with aplomb. Before going on maternity leave in October of 2021, Smudgepot also took the lead on creating new copy for the company’s website redesign, including all pages on the construction-focused side of the business.
social content
Bare Bones Butcher
Smudgepot began working with Bare Bones Butcher before the business had even completed their brick-and-mortar shop; the business opened in January of 2018, but Smudgepot began working with the co-owners in the Fall of 2017 to create content for their Instagram account as a means of promoting their whole animal butcher shop in the Nations neighborhood. For more than five years now, Smudgepot has worked closely with the brand to create original content (photo, video, graphics, and captions) that draws in customers, sells products, and consistently educates their audience about the business, its meats, sustainable farming and eating, cooking techniques, and more
“Coming up with ideas for social content is my least favorite part of my job, but Maddie always comes with ideas so it’s not all on me — that’s a huge help. We actually get a ton of customers telling us how much they love our Instagram account, or about how this or that post made them come in and see us. So, it’s definitely working.”
brand naming
Maistro Mentor
When Anna-Vija McClain, founder and CEO of Piccolo Marketing, came up with an idea for a new company she wanted to build, she knew her idea was strong, but had no clue what to name it. That’s where Smudgepot came in. The purpose of the company was to improve the internship experience for both college-age students and the businesses with whom they worked, making both parties feel invested in and genuinely appreciative of the internship. It took an intensive discovery process, weeks of researching and “noodling,” and plenty of playing around with words, but eventually — and to the client’s delight — Smudgepot delivered Maistro Mentor and it stuck. From there, Smudgepot went on to create brand messaging guidelines, write website copy, and design the company’s website as well.
“Smudgepot has been a Strategic Partner with Piccolo for the last two years. During that time, we have seen a dramatic increase in client satisfaction around our website development projects, as well as a reduction in project completion time. Maddie has a unique ability to find clarity at the heart of a client’s strategy, and transition it into eloquent and engaging brand messaging. Her work sets the tone for our content creation, ultimately making all of our work more efficient, and connecting better with customers”
email copy
Story Brand
A business that built its success by helping other businesses clarify their messaging, Story Brand contracted Smudgepot to write emails for their own marketing campaigns. The business was pushing their newest endeavor, Business Made Simple University, and had too much work to manage internally; they lacked the time and manpower necessary to market their new product, so they turned to Smudgepot for help. Although it initially took some trial and error to nail the brand’s distinct and direct voice, Smudgepot ultimately delivered email copy that turned leads into paying customers. Win!
“The copy [for these emails] is really strong. I know you made some shifts to try and nail our voice, and it really comes through! No edits from me.”
website copy
Desolation Hotel
The brand messaging guidelines Smudgepot created for Desolation Hotel leant a substantial assist in composing website copy, since they identified the target audience, clarified the brand’s tone, and illuminated the key brand touchstones. But original copy was still needed to fill out a robust website representative of this elevated brand. A hotel that prides itself on being owned and operated by locals, on knowing the area intimately, and on prioritizing sustainability in both their build and operations, Smudgepot blended the messaging guidelines with anecdotes from the owners and extensive Tahoe research to create website copy that felt professional yet familiar — and particularly enticing to those eager to explore Tahoe’s natural playground.
“Thank you for your terrific work. We would not have wanted to do this without you, and we wouldn’t be in as good a place.”
brand messaging
WithCo
WithCo was a nearly 5-year-old business when they reached out seeking help with their brand language in the Spring of 2022. The company, which sells fresh ingredient cocktail mixes, was in the midst of a redesign — for both their product packaging and their website — and also had a massive opportunity for growth in the works. The stakeholders knew it was time for tight, consistent, on-brand language that would help bring their various endeavors to life. Over the course of three months, Smudgepot created brand messaging guidelines for the company as a whole, and also created product messaging guidelines for the brand’s eight distinct cocktail mixes. The resulting language can then be easily plugged into WithCo’s [forthcoming] website, onto the new product packaging, or used in any other marketing application: social media captions, one-sheeters, shelf-talkers, and more.
“Just want to say thank you again for putting [these brand messaging guidelines and product messaging guidelines] together for us. It’s already proving to be super helpful, and feels like a big load off our shoulders.”