Barry Edwards, Principal/Creative Director/Teacher
Creatively speaking, I started out drawing on my closet doors with crayons early on. I followed my artistic interests through all phases of school, eventually settling on design and illustration at Kent State University. Today, my work is my main creative outlet – consisting of designing of various marketing communications and endless writing of website/social media content and related materials. See my case studies and portfolio at EdwardsCom.net
Graphic design and branding are my hallmarks
I've always prided myself on bringing out the best in a brand, whether it's a company or its product or service. It doesn't actually start with the visual. It begins with getting below the surface and finding the inner passion behind the subject and revealing the special qualities to the audience. When these are identified, all future marketing efforts increase exponentially in value.
I take a great deal of pride in visually developing a brand in its best light (design), whether it's a logo/slogan, brochure, website or just a business card. Once we identify the unique qualities being offered, I really enjoy translating them into their best visual representations.
I've not been one to enter my work into contests, but a couple of my clients have done so, and we've won some awards for best design over the years.
Teaching design and marketing is my passion
I taught various classes at Lakeland College dating back to 1995. They included 2D and 3D drawing programs and QuarkXpress, before finally settling down on Photoshop, which I enjoyed teaching from 1997 through 2014.
I really enjoy making complex procedures simple for people and pride myself on taking the anxiety out of the technology. I found this was the biggest hurdle for students... especially the older students. Breaking assignments down into small, simplified steps and providing positive feedback during these small victories is the secret to successful training.
By 2014 I found upcoming students to be innately more advanced than past years, and my online marketing services required more of my attention, so I moved on from teaching college classes.
Now I apply my teaching experience and "No Geek-Speak" policy to training my occasional seminars, mastermind groups, teaching my clients and podcast interviews .
In 2019, my lifelong friend, Merle Garrison and I began our Over Fifty Starting Over podcast
I feel that all the roads I've taken and experience that I've obtained have led to this podcast. Our O5O podcast is based upon our passionate phone calls of really interesting subjects from metaphysical to political, and ALWAYS about trying to better ourselves. It's a true passion for both of us and it feels like the purest thing I've ever embarked on - because the goal is simply to help and inspired people in a world that thirsts for just that.
Marketing knowledge is a lifelong endeavor
I developed most of my marketing knowledge after college. Corporate ID became a "thing" for me. But, when people asked me to design a logo for them, I found the need to ask probing questions about what their company truly stood for. This quickly evolved into full branding campaigns – developing Mission/Vision Statements, logos, slogans... along with the stationary, brochures and later, websites and social media. The most notable influence on the advertising end of my work is David Ogilvy -- known as the Father of Advertising.
My girlfriend says I’m continuously “wired up”.
I apply the same tried and true principals to my work today that Ogilvy's research found so effective throughout advertising's maturation of the 70s. The importance of establishing hierarchy and organization is perhaps more important today as our fast-paced world inundates us with information. The importance of our headlines, subheads, bulleted items and captions cannot be overlooked in capturing our target audience's eye (and SEO). The need for our copy to speak directly to our target audiences' desires clearly and concisely is nearly a lost art.
While Ogilvy's influence provides a foundation for my content, I'm also a huge online marketing podcast fan! I'm always looking for latest trends in content marketing and, in particular, social media marketing. Learning how to better tell our stories on these platforms is an extremely important part of prospect building and converting those prospects into clients. I average at least an hour/day of online marketing podcasts (during bike rides, walks, drive time...) as its refreshing to get my colleagues' fresh takes on content marketing techniques.
Organizations
I'm a proud member of Cleveland's ToastMasters and served as Vice President of Public Relations. I'm also a former associate board member of SME Cleveland, and former lead of the east side Business Connections group, AKA, BizCon East. I invite you to explore the samples of my case studies. Please feel free to drop me an email or phone call to discuss you and your company's needs and goals.