
meet your designated creative officer.


you might be here if…
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you looked at your company website and realized it’s all old copy - and the last published blog was written six months ago by someone who doesn’t work with you anymore
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you’re not sure where to start reinventing those one-pagers your sales team needed last week
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you cringe when you read your organization’s social media captions because they’re different than your website and off from your company culture
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you know you need a content or communications strategy, but you don’t know where to start (and you don’t have a free minute to even think about it)


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you’ve ever thought to yourself: ‘this content stuff is painful’
you don’t have the time, energy, attention, or internal resources to deal with any of that.

your organization needs consistent, creative help
every growing organization needs a chief creative officer to manage the look, feel and story of your brand, so you show up just as consistently as the big brands.
your founder/ceo is waking up on saturday morning to write the weekly newsletter
without someone in that seat:
your sales & marketing teams are cobbling together branded assets using platforms they’re learning on the fly
your brand is showing up inconsistently across customer-facing platforms like social media, email communication, or content storytelling
the quality and the footprint of your brand - or the potential to connect with future customers - suffers
your solution: meet designated creative officer (dco) by toth shop
when you ‘designate’ toth shop as your creative officer, you’re not gaining just one person - you’re gaining a team.

as a dco client, you gain:
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your go-to creative officer responsible for deliverables across marketing, branding, pr, communications, copywriting, and storytelling support
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an outsourced team of experts that provides tactical and strategic support - we get in the daily weeds and operate from a big-picture and holistic perspective
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a champion of your creativity across communications and branding - you won't see content as a template or worry that A.I. has produced something similar for a competitor
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a resource that helps you show up for the world - and your potential customers - consistently, and in a sustainable, economical way that grows with your brand
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the quarterback who finds and manages collaborative partnerships to uplevel your brand across your website, design, pr, photography, or events

what the dco team takes off your plate
some of the biggest pain points dco currently takes off clients' plates and minds:
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website, sales/marketing, and business development copywriting
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thought leadership
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internal and external communications strategy
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management for creative projects
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creative direction, graphic design and branded assets for print or digital needs
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content strategy
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website and brand storytelling
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light pr strategy and press release writing
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blog writing
our frequently asked questions.
we wrote a blog to address this question! read it here.
for all intents and purposes, fractional and designated are very similar - BUT we think the magic is in why we’ve chosen to call it designated. in baseball, the designated hitter is a player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. in that sense, you’ve designated us to take YOUR role as chief creative on the team. we think creativity makes and breaks organizations, so designating us with that role and responsibility means a lot to us. we also prefer designated because we’re here holistically for you - fractionally feels so part-time - and that’s not how we roll.
nine times out of ten, you’re going to have something random in communications, copywriting, marketing, etc. come up that doesn’t fall into the other buckets like editorial, graphics, or social. we think it’s important to add in extra time for those projects, so you don’t feel helpless or overwhelmed. so, think of your special projects budget as your ‘catch-all drawer’ to help get needs off your to-do list. special projects are different client to client, but some of our work has included website copy editing and refinement, marketing one-pagers, and crisis communications.
we wrote a blog for this question, too! read it here.
we are committed to you and because of that, we ask you to commit to us. our first dco contract with you is six months because the work of brand awareness is a marathon. by six months, you’ll feel the difference. at that point, we’ll talk through your dco package and figure out if you’re at the appropriate level for growing your presence, or if you think you’re ready for an upgrade.
we invoice on the first of each month for work to be completed during the month to come. example: we invoice you on september 1 for work to be completed in september.
roi is a tough thing to measure in any business. (does anyone like this question?) in the case of the dco, we have to factor in things we don’t have control over, like: the internet, algorithms, paid ads by competitors, whether your sales and business development teams are using the materials, etc. what we deliver quarterly is what we’ve accomplished along with key metrics in your lane, which means - did you post more content this quarter versus last quarter, did you grow followers, are your team members feeling more confident or comfortable sharing posts or new brand assets. during our brand discovery process, we’ll talk with you about the why behind all of this effort and what metrics are important to you over time. special note: if you’re here just to boost followers to 50k or generate $100,000 in sales in less than a month, we’re not your partner.
this will be a conversation between all of us (your team and ours) before we even send you a proposal; we tend to work well with people and brands who want to do things differently, who are ready to reimagine and refresh, who want to stand out; personality-wise, you’re most like a mover and shaker, a go-getter, and someone who is bored by any writer who wants to fit you into a box.
getting started is a fun and easy process with our team. if you’re new to toth shop, we’ll need several deep-dive sessions with you to get to know you, your team, and your brand. if we’ve worked with you on previous projects, the time from start to go is less intense because we know you. regardless, each new DCO client will be charged a start up fee to make sure all getting started processes are covered.
shop talk
$3,500 / month
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one monthly strategy call
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1-2 blog articles / month
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one newsletter
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one hour of graphic design support
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social media support for 1-2 posts/week
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3-5 hours for special projects
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dco options customized for your business and budget
we work with you to customize each dco package to match your organization’s needs.
five things are non-negotiables in every package, regardless of size or scope:
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less than 24-hour response time to all emails and communication
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monthly strategy calls so the DCO aligns with your business strategy
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quarterly consistency check-ins and a review of the metrics that matter to you
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monthly production calendars, so you know where everything is, at any given time
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access to toth shop trends, so you’re up to speed on trending comms and messaging news
tothing
$6,500 / month
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one monthly strategy call
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2-3 blog articles / month
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one email newsletter communication to clients
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social media support for 3-4 posts/week
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2-3 hour of graphic design support
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7-10 hours for special projects
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toth so hard
$8,500 / month
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weekly 30-minute calls to touch base
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monthly strategy call
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coaching for your marketing manager
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quarterly strategy sessions
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monthly content strategy and production
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5-6 blog articles / month
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weekly or bi-weeky newsletter communication to clients
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social media captions for five posts/week
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4-5 hours of graphic design support
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12-15 hours for special projects
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website support and management (we’ll post the blogs for you)
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SEO quarterly check-in
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“with limited time and resources, I rely on toth shop as an extension of our team - helping find and shape stories from across the driven family. I value that the toth team is always brainstorming ideas and writing content based on those ideas. I'm thankful for their ability to take content execution off my plate so that I am able to focus my efforts in other areas. I never have to worry because I know they have it under control.”
- taylor blanchard, senior director of communications, driven brands