Obscure Ink Magazine -- The Story

At the time, we were actively pitching startups across various industries to expand our network of like-minded entrepreneurs and companies. After seeing the editorial background of our team, the founder of Obscure Ink Magazine reached out to request a meeting. He admired our design work and was impressed with the growth many of our clients had experienced by implementing our marketing strategies. Unfortunately, while he had a vision for the potential of the magazine, he was unsure of how to go about staffing, creative direction, messaging, and ultimately marketing the finished product. Our team had a hefty task on our hands with this one.

When our team got together to outline the specific needs of the project, we had to create a plan to staff the editorial division of the magazine, as well as the overall direction for the brand. For the staffing, we relied heavily on Heather’s journalism background, detailing the specific requirements for writers and writing processes. For the brand direction, our design team poured over the research and findings from our competitive analysis, pinpointing areas the magazine could excel in a crowded market. 

When all was said and done, we hired eager journalists with an affinity for thinking beyond the scope of a standard story idea. With Heather’s guidance, the editorial and marketing teams collaborated to create the magazine’s tone of voice and unique stories. Our design team then paired the work of editorial and marketing with their own illustrated visuals to polish off the Obscure Ink’s brand identity.

Since our emphasis was on building a community of both tattoo artists and also enthusiasts, we knew that we needed to utilize communal elements throughout the website. For this, we enabled and encouraged comments on articles. We also encouraged artists to submit via the website and enthusiasts to share stories that they’d like to see featured.

One key to the growth of the magazine was the engagement we received across social channels, but particularly on Instagram. We found that artists were hungry to get recognition for their work and so we made promotional magazine layouts for social, which the artists often shared, leading to increased awareness about our magazine. We also found enthusiasts who were excited to nominate artists to be featured in the magazine or share their own experiences within the industry. For this particular project, there wasn’t an advertising budget so we had to get creative about how to leverage social media to spread the word.