Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony De Feria.
Tony, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started my effort in 2007 after a successful career as a newspaper executive. I started my career as a board artist in Washington D.C., at the Washington Times and later became The Baltimore Sun’s first Graphics Editor at the age of 24. Six years later I came to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as Art Director and enjoyed a 17-year career that put me in diverse management roles that spanned creative, marketing and business development. It’s with this knowledge I was able to start my own effort at first part-time, then full time beginning in 2010.
I have to give a lot of credit to my managers at all of the newspapers I worked at. Each one allowed me to explore new areas and gave me the opportunity to learn. I was able to develop a fairly well-rounded skill set that I use every day as I work with different companies. The AJC, as the Atlanta paper is more commonly known, put me through numerous executive leadership classes and taught me all about the importance of diversity in the workplace. This approach and philosophy allows my group to offer turn-key marketing and creative consulting to a wide variety of private sector businesses as well as state and local governments. We also work hard to involve and espouse staff development. I’ve found that branding initiatives motivates people to get to know and present an organization’s offerings more effectively and that helps the entire business branch out more effectively.
I never set out to create a massive agency. I preferred to instead focus on working with a manageable number of clients which has allowed us to offer quality service reasonably priced and that continues to this day. I can honestly say that I enjoy what I do and I’m fortunate to have a group of professionals that I can call on readily for just about any size project.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I left my job at the AJC since I could sense the newspaper industry was shrinking dramatically due to the internet. Print publishers to this day have not quite figured out how to leverage the web. So it was scary at first, since I went from a nice paying job to a solo effort with no guarantees. I also had a family to consider so the pressure was on to make it work.
Then the recession hit, but I found that my consulting services were becoming more in demand so I decided to stay the course and was fortunate to find some regular clients that also allowed me time to find new ones.
I also had to conquer some personal challenges such as the ability to network. I’d never had to do much of that during my career but very quickly saw that this was an area that I needed to improve. So I got some training, joined some groups and that gave me the self-confidence to move outside of my comfort zone effectively.
Now, ten years later, the challenges sometimes remain. Clients can be temperamental and I find that I have to read and understand a potential client’s corporate culture quickly so that we can fit in. We work very hard to make sure we are seen as part of the team and not a threat.
Please tell us about tdeferiamedia.
This has been a hard one to pin down. At first, we did anything for anybody and so we had a lot of small clients with very limited budgets. Through some coaching, it was suggested I reduce the number of clients and stay focused on 5-7 larger ones and that worked a lot better. You have to be able to invest in marketing and more established companies understand that a lot better. We look for companies and organizations that don’t have internal marketing or communications so we become a “marketing, management and creative general contractor.” We offer every service needed to craft and distribute messaging and we use a journalistic approach for each project. We research, interview and then suggest a strategy to the client with the ability to manage all pieces. This in turn, motivates and prepares the staff to better represent the brand.
As companies do more outsourcing, it makes good business sense to hire my company. Over the last ten years I’ve been able to vet multiple consultants and vendors that handle all aspects of messaging. We even serve as a print broker so oftentimes a client may need a publication and then is pleased to find out we can also handle the printing. The same is true for any other disciplines a client may need, such as video. With today’s short attention spans, video is quite effective capturing people’s interest and we offer multiple templates for filming that are cost efficient.
And I think the other thing that sets us apart is that I bring deadline management. There is no way you can survive in journalism without deadline management. So as part of any engagement, we create a timeline of deliverables which clients find quite useful.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have started my effort sooner. I would have networked more effectively while still at my corporate job. This would have given me a head start and I believe, accelerated my approach on how to best find clients and I would have established owning my own business more efficiently.
In terms of my newspaper career, I would have relaxed more and had more fun with the great people I worked with. That approach came rather late as I always expected people to work the way I work and I was way too intense. I instead found there are many different styles that can achieve good results and once I clicked in to that approach, my relationships with my peers dramatically improved, along with my results. Don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of friends and people respecting what I brought to the table. But me and those I a managed, could have had more fun!
I do that today, and it consistently provides a client and the people that work with me with a more satisfying work experience.
Pricing:
- Hourly rates begin at $65 for web, production, administrative support.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tdeferiamedia.com
- Phone: 4046300639
- Email: contact@tdeferiamedia.com
- Facebook: tdeferiamedia, inc.
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
