For a 21st century marketer and entrepreneur, Andi Pratt of Bentonville relies on the oldest advertising medium to promote her new business.
Word of mouth.
Pratt and partner Patrick Marbury formed Kapture Marketing in northwest Arkansas late last year. Through a few whirlwind months, they quickly discovered a niche serving the real estate industry.
“A lot of folks have sold Realtors signs for a long, long time, but no one has helped them with individual agent branding,” said Pratt, Kapture’s CEO, who spent much of her previous career marketing to Walmart and Sam’s Club.
“Real estate is a close-knit industry, so one Realtor talks to another and says, ‘Hey, you should give Kapture a call; they’ve really helped me with this or that part of my business.’ So every day, we have four or six more Realtors calling, saying they’ve heard great things. It’s been fantastic, and we’ve yet to market ourselves actually.”
The firm, which began doing business in early January, mixes the creative services of an advertising agency with the capabilities of print production, including branding, design, digital marketing, direct mail and printed signage.
Pratt, a University of Arkansas communications graduate and Berryville native, said in an interview that Kapture’s unique and differentiated signage packages are doing just what signs were designed for — attracting attention.
“Just since January we’ve worked with real estate agents and offices all across the country,” she said. “We’re providing services as simple as coordinating listings all the way to completely rebranding agents and teams, creating online stores and really servicing the needs of the real estate industry that’s been missed for a long, long time.”
Creating the agency was a midcareer shift for a woman who once worked as director of sales for Coca-Cola in Rogers, was a shopper marketing director for Alarcon, a Novartis company, and a national account manager for NestleÃ. Pratt and her husband, Jeremy, are also proprietors of The Orchard, a wedding and events venue in Bentonville.
“I spent most of my career selling to Walmart and Sam’s Club and other companies, and I did some time in the traditional advertising agency world,” Pratt said. “Then I kind of accepted an opportunity to become an entrepreneur, if you will, and partnered with a real print expert. He and I kind of put our heads together, and it has been a three-month whirlwind.”
She and Marbury, who ran a Springdale print shop franchise for 23 years, head a six-member unit including Tessa Velez, director of marketing and sales, and Creative Director Mary Herrera. “We’re a small but mighty team.”
Kapture offers services big and small, all with affordable prices and verifiable results, Pratt said. “If a Realtor just needs business cards, we can offer 100 cards for $15,” she said. “Or if you need complete branding services and want us to work on your behalf for hours each week or month, we have retainer services available. We’re attuned to the individual needs of the client, because we know that as they grow, we’ll grow. We’re able to flex so that anybody will be able to afford our services.”
Marbury will manage the print and operational components of Kapture while Pratt focuses on marketing. They describe the agency as “a print firm at heart with an eye for design and a knack for digital.”
The firm has offices under construction in the Keller-Williams building near the East Central Avenue exit on Interstate 49. For now they’re on Pleasant Street in Springdale, near the Walmart.
One tool that’s helped Kapture seize market share is the Quick Print Suite of production workflow software from Electronics for Imaging Inc. of Fremont, California. The result, Pratt said, is a well-managed, integrated marketing and production services operation.
“At one month in, we already secured real estate clients from California, New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina, New York,” Pratt said, giving much credit to EFI’s suite, which she said allowed the firm to handle “the entire structure of our business in one software package, from estimation and invoices to print fulfillment. It allows humans and machines to speak the same language.”
It also aids efficiency by automating many print processes, helping Kapture offer services at bargain rates.
“No matter the need, we probably have a cost-efficient solution,” Pratt said. “For any print services, we’d love to compete for your business. And when it comes to design or branding or traditional marketing agency work, we’d love a shot at that as well.”
