FREQUENTLY ASKED
questions
Working With Me
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I do not currently have a physical location, but I’d love to ‘meet’ you via Zoom!
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Because I work remotely my “office hours” vary depending on the day of the week. That being said, I do my best to respond to emails and phone calls within 24 hours, M-F. Calls and emails received after 3pm PST on Fridays may not be answered until the following Monday.
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I prefer email communication whenever possible. This allows me to keep our communication organized and documented and allows both parties to respond at a time that is convenient for them. Phone calls are best when they are planned ahead at a time that works for both of us. Please use text messages sparingly, as I also use my phones as my personal device and I can’t promise I’ll remember to respond if I receive the text while my kids are running amok :-)
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Whatever way works best for you! I use Dropbox, Google Drive, and good-old fashioned email. The most important thing is that everything is consolidated (i.e. in a zip file vs. 20 email attachments) and labeled well so I know what’s what.
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For brief edits, email is great. Please be specific!
For extensive edits on website or graphic design, I appreciate a well-organized Word document, a PDF using the editing features in Adobe Acrobat, or a video using a program like Loom. In some cases, a printed piece of paper with notes on it will work, but only if your handwriting is legible and your instructions are clear.
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Yes! I’m happy to include a Canva template design for any of my design deliverables for an additional $150.
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By default, Kinroot owns all native files unless otherwise outlined in writing, with the exception of your logo files (.eps files and full usage/editing rights are included with all brand identity packages.) If you would like to discuss purchasing native files from Kinroot, please reach out to sarah@kinrootcreative.com.
General Services
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My go-to platform is Squarespace, but I will occasionally recommend Wordpress or Shopify depending on your specific needs.
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I prefer Mailchimp best (especially since their new templates launched in 2023). It’s super user friendly and customizable. However, I have yet to meet an e-mail platform I couldn’t bend to my will.
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Yes! All the data supports social media as a key factor in people trusting AND discovering new brands. As if that isn’t enough, Google recently made it so Instagram posts can show up in search results. Game changer!
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The primary purpose of blogs is to bolster SEO on your website through the use of keywords and phrases. They also provide excellent content for e-newsletters and social media, and provide an outlet to show your audience that you know what you’re talking about.
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If there’s only one marketing outlet you should invest your time and energy into, this is it. E-newsletters give you direct access to your audience via their phones, and we all know how often we have those glued to our thumbs!
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While I offer some basic SEO research, services and guidance (and our websites are built with SEO best practices in mind), I do not specialize in SEO services. That being said, I know one of the best guys in the biz and am happy to refer you to him for more in depth SEO work.
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While I can definitely help you with visuals for an awesome ad that converts, I don’t currently offer ad management services. I prefer to focus on organic growth for sustained longevity vs. a quick fix. But if you need a referral, I know some people!
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I offer videography and stills taken with a 360 camera, available as an add-on for my social media retainer clients.
If you’re looking for professional brand photography, Kayla Nicole Studio is your girl!
Websites
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My go-to platform is Squarespace, but I will occasionally recommend Wordpress or Shopify depending on your specific needs.
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The primary purpose of blogs is to bolster SEO on your website through the use of keywords and phrases. They also provide excellent content for e-newsletters and social media, and provide an outlet to show your audience that you know what you’re talking about.
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Anywhere from 1-3 months, depending on the size and scope of your project and how quickly you’re able to provide initial content and feedback.
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While I offer some basic SEO research, services and guidance (and our websites are built with SEO best practices in mind), I do not specialize in SEO services. That being said, I know one of the best guys in the biz and am happy to refer you to him for more in depth SEO work.
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We spend as much time on the prep as we do on building the site itself. This ensures that your website says everything you need it to say, does everything you need it to do, and looks exactly the way you want it to.
1. Intake. You fill out our forms. Plan on about an hour of real thought. This is where we learn about you, your audience, and what the site needs to do.
2. Copy outline. Before anything is designed, you'll see what every page will say and in what order.
3. Wireframe. The structure of each page, without the visuals. This is where we settle what goes where.
4. Digital mockup. The visual design applied to key pages so we can nail down look & feel.
5. Live drafts. This is where it all comes together! You’ll be able to review on your desktop and mobile.
6. Launch and training. Your site goes live and you get short Loom videos walking through your actual pages, so you know exactly how to update them.
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Yes! It’s very important to us that you’re able to have as much autonomy over your website as you desire. Every website we build comes complete with a Loom tutorial suite where Sarah walks you through everything you need to know to keep your website up to date.
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Your annual costs include your web host subscription and your domain host subscription, which vary depending on your hosts.
Squarespace, which is what I use 90% of the time, costs about $300/yr for web hosting and most domain hosts charge between $20-50/year.
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I do not currently offer web hosting or domain hosting services, but I can help you set up both of those things on your own accounts. It’s even included in your scope of work!
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We build our websites with both UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) design in mind. Which basically means that we focus equally on how it feels to use the website, as well as what it looks like.
We also focus on creating intuitive navigation, a clear path for users to get the information they need and take the action/s you want, and a look & feel that reflects the awesomeness of your brand.
E-mail Marketing
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I prefer Mailchimp best (especially since their new templates launched in 2023). It’s super user friendly and customizable. However, I have yet to meet an e-mail platform I couldn’t bend to my will.
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If there’s only one marketing outlet you should invest your time and energy into, this is it. E-newsletters give you direct access to your audience via their phones, and we all know how often we have those glued to our thumbs!
Retainers
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CONTENT RETAINER:
✓ Monthly E-newsletter
✓ Monthly SEO-backed Blog
✓ Website Management & Updates
✓ Monthly Strategy Sessions & Quarterly Analytics Reports
✓ 12-month Content Planning
SOCIAL MEDIA RETAINER:
✓ Monthly content planning for Instagram & Facebook (number of posts varies by retainer level)
✓ Branded posts, reels & stories
✓ Caption writing
✓ Scheduling
✓ Quarterly analytics review
✓ Organic profile growth strategy
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Content: $800/month
Social Media Lite: $750/month
Social Media Pro: $1,000/month
Combo of Content & Social: Save $200/month
And yes! All retainer services cost less than if you purchased everything from me separately, plus retainer clients can enjoy 15% off all the rest of my services.
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Marketing ROI isn’t as straightforward as plugging numbers into a spreadsheet, especially when you’re investing in long-term channels like social media, email, blogs, and website management. These aren’t direct-response ads designed to convert someone in a single click. They’re visibility, trust, and credibility channels.
Here’s what can be measured:
Website traffic
Email list growth, open rates, and click-throughs
Social reach, engagement, saves, shares, and profile visits
Inquiries, bookings, and leads that reference “finding you online”
Here’s what’s harder to quantify, but just as real:
People feeling confident enough to contact you
Repeat exposure that builds familiarity and trust
Referrals that happen because someone “kept seeing you everywhere”
A stronger first impression when someone lands on your site or social pages
Most people don’t turn into customers the first time they encounter a brand. They follow, they watch, they read, they open emails, and then they reach out when the timing is right. Retainer work supports that entire journey.
So while I can’t promise a specific dollar-for-dollar return in a set timeframe, I can promise consistent visibility, stronger positioning, and marketing systems that make it easier for the right people to find you, trust you, and take the next step.
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Short answer: Yes, but not in the way you might expect!
Long Answer: Like most everyone else, I’ve experimented with ways to use AI to help make things easier/faster/better in my business.
But here’s the conclusion I’ve come to: Now that everyone is exposed to it on a regular basis, AI content can be spotted from a mile away. Familiar rhythms, common buzzwords and themes, the once-beloved-but-now-dreaded em dash. Just like I don’t want to be grouped together with everyone else who’s using AI to slam out content, I don’t want my clients to either.
So, I’m very selective in the ways I utilize AI in my retainer work, and it’s usually to help with organizing ideas or auditing myself.
You will never receive content from me that you could have had ChatGPT spit out for you.
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I’m looking to partner with businesses/orgs who are ready to commit to 12 consecutive months of services. It takes about 3 months to get into a good groove, and then the benefits of a long-term partnership really start to show.
That being said, things do happen (life be life-in’) and for that reason, I have a very straightforward early cancellation policy that simply asks for one additional month of payment.
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My retainer contracts are designed to take several time-consuming marketing tasks off your plate so you can focus on your actual business, but that doesn’t mean I take your logo files and never hear from you again (and yes, that has happened to me before.)
After our initial onboarding, I will communicate with you throughout the month to gather content and feedback as needed. I will also occasionally need you to send me those pesky six-digit login codes or answer a question every once in awhile, but once we get in a groove our communication will mostly be predictable.
You get the final approval on everything, so I’ll need you (or your point person) to be available to do that in a timely manner to keep us on schedule.
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Yes, happy to help with anything you need! Retainer clients get 15% off all the rest of my services, as well as priority communication and turnaround times.
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Yes! For every client you refer to me who signs up for an annual retainer contract, I’ll deduct $500 from your next bill. There’s no limit!
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Yes, I offer a quarterly videography add-on for social media retainer clients.
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Yes! Since you always have access to the upcoming months post schedule, you can see where to fit in additional posts and make sure were not duplicating content. I also encourage my clients to post in their stories since I can’t film those fun behind-the-scenes moments.
Pricing/Billing/Discounts
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All billing questions should be directed to Jesse at kinrootcreative@gmail.com
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Yes! Feel free to peruse all available brand design packages here.
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I design logos that are original, human-made and ready to stand the test of time with your business or organization. Not only do I set you up with all the versions, colors and formats you could ever need, but you also have complete ownership over the logo and full usage rights -- meaning it’s yours to use and alter however you please. The price also includes any font purchases, a 1-page style guide with fonts and hand-selected Pantone/hex colors, and profile graphics optimized for Facebook and Instagram.
Yes, I know you can get a logo on Canva, Etsy or any AI tool of your choosing for the price of a venti iced latte. While AI can generate designs quickly, it may lack the depth of creative insight that we humans possess. AI algorithms are trained on existing data and patterns, which often limit their ability to create truly unique and innovative designs.
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I bill at the beginning of the month for the following month’s services.
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The full amount is due at the time of service.
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I accept checks via mail or online payment from all major credit cards and bank transfers.
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I prefer to bill flat rates as much as possible, and am happy to create a custom quote for you if you don’t see what you need on my pricing pages. On the occasion that billing hourly makes more sense, I bill at $150/hr with a minimum of 1.5 hours.
Still have questions?
Please don’t hesitate to reach out! I’m here to help.
Social Media
Yes! All the data supports social media as a key factor in people trusting AND discovering new brands. As if that isn’t enough, Google recently made it so Instagram posts can show up in search results. Game changer!
Social Media - Lite
4 posts per week (between FB & IG)
2 Reels per month
Branded graphics and edited photos
Caption writing
Scheduling
Strategy & planning
Organic audience growth
Monthly content calendar
Monthly check-ins via Zoom
Bi-annual analytics review
Social Media - Pro
6 posts per week (between FB & IG)
4 Reels per month
Branded graphics and edited photos
Caption writing
Scheduling
Strategy & planning
Organic audience growth
Monthly content calendar
Monthly check-ins via Zoom
Quarterly analytics review
Strategy & planning
The number of posts and Reels you get each month. On the Lite Plan you get 2 posts/week on IG and FB and 2 reels/month. On the Pro plan you get 3 posts/week and 4 reels/month.
Our standard plans do not include on-site content filming, but we do offer a “Quarterly Content Add-On” where we shoot 3 months worth of video/photo content at two different locations of your choice using our Insta360 camera and iPhone. This option keeps your content fresh and seasonal, all year long!
The first month of your retainer will be spent gathering all of your available media (photo, video, templates, etc.) and getting to know your brand and goals. We’ll create a comprehensive Annual Plan along with a strategic “Social Media Blueprint” that will provide the foundation for building your calendar each month. You’re involved every step of the way, so by the time we put together your first month of content, we’re solidly on the same page about what your feeds will look and sound like.
I use a combination of tactics, but rely heavily on:
Using SEO-friendly topics that help you show up in search engine results
A balanced combination of content that A) reaches new people, B) nurtures the audience you already have, and C) invites people to take action.
Posting consistently on predictable days and times
Copy that sounds like an actual human wrote it
We’re not against using AI as a tool, but we are very against content that looks or sounds AI-generated. While we do use Claude on occasion to help us get organized or get out of a creative rut, we rely primarily on our own creative abilities to generate content.
All social media plans include monthly strategic account following, which is the quickest and most reliable way to grow an engaged following. We also focus on creating engaging, highly-shareable content like Reels and carousels that help bring new people in.
We encourage all of our clients to engage with their audience and build community by liking and commenting on others’ posts regularly.
We get this question a lot because Sarah is our primary designer/creative and the “face” of our brand, so most people assume she’s doing everything by herself. But rest assured that we have a team in place working behind the scenes to make sure we can keep up with the workload as we grow. That being said, Sarah will always be the one you work directly with.