Kristie Lohmann is a real estate agent with RE/MAX First. We were introduced through the Anchor Bay Chamber of Commerce and met in person at a Fender Show at MacRay Harbor earlier in 2026.

Shortly after, a sponsored advertising slot opened up in the chamber's email newsletter. She wanted it. What she didn't have was artwork, or the tools to make it.

That situation is more common than it looks, and how you handle it determines whether opportunities like it are worth taking at all.

The Real Constraint Is Time

Advertising opportunities in local networks — chamber newsletters, event programs, sponsor placements, community publications — tend to appear with short notice and limited slots. Someone announces availability, and the businesses that can move fastest take them.

The businesses that can't produce artwork quickly simply don't participate. Not because they don't want the exposure, and not because they can't afford the placement. Because by the time they've figured out how to make something, the slot is gone.

That's a quiet, recurring cost most small businesses never account for.

Local advertising slots — chamber newsletters, event programs, sponsorship placements — typically appear with short notice and go to whoever can produce artwork fastest. Businesses without ready design capacity miss these opportunities for logistical reasons rather than budget ones.

The Franchise Brand Problem

There's a second constraint that applies to any agent, franchisee, or affiliate operating under a national brand.

The artwork has to read as RE/MAX, because that brand carries recognition and credibility she benefits from. It also has to read as Kristie, because the client is hiring a person, not a logo.

Lean too far toward the corporate template and the agent disappears into a sea of identical listings that all look the same to a scrolling reader. Lean too far the other way and you lose the recognition that makes someone stop in the first place.

Getting that balance right is most of the work in franchise marketing, and it's why generic template tools tend to produce material that technically complies and doesn't perform.

What We Produced

An email banner sized for the chamber newsletter placement, plus several pieces of social media content she could use to promote her business independently.

The brief was simple and worth stating plainly: make the message clear, make it fresh, and make it grab attention. In a newsletter where a reader is scanning past a dozen items, clarity beats cleverness every time. Someone should understand who she is and what she does without slowing down.

One Project Is a Legitimate Engagement

This was a one-and-done, and that's fine.

Not every client needs ongoing support, and pushing someone toward a retainer they don't need is a good way to lose them permanently. Kristie needed artwork for a specific opportunity. She got it. The door stays open for whenever the next thing comes up.

We'd rather be the person someone calls comfortably in two years than the person who tried to sell them something they didn't need in month one.

A single project is a complete engagement, not a failed retainer conversion. Clients who are never pressured into ongoing commitments they don't need are more likely to return when they genuinely have work.

How to Be Ready for the Next Opportunity

If you keep missing short-notice placements, a small amount of preparation solves most of it:

Know your specs before you need them. Common ad sizes for the publications and newsletters in your network. Ask once, keep the list.

Have your brand assets organized and accessible. Logo in usable formats, colors, fonts, approved photography. If someone asks for your logo and it takes you two days to find a usable file, that's the bottleneck.

Have a headshot you actually like. For any personal-brand business, this comes up constantly and a bad one undercuts everything around it.

Know who you'd call. The businesses that take these opportunities aren't the ones with in-house designers. They're the ones who already know who to text.

Questions People Ask

How fast can a designer turn around an email banner or ad?
For a single well-defined piece where brand assets already exist, often a few business days. The variable is usually how quickly the specs, content, and feedback come back rather than production time.

What do I need to give a designer to get artwork made quickly?
The exact dimensions required by the publication, your logo in a usable format, any brand colors or fonts, the copy you want included, and a deadline. Missing specs are the most common source of delay.

How do franchise agents market themselves without breaking brand guidelines?
Follow the franchise's requirements on logo, color, and required disclosures, then differentiate through photography, messaging, and personality. The corporate brand provides credibility; the individual provides the reason to call this agent specifically.

Is it worth hiring a designer for one small project?
Frequently yes, if the placement matters. The cost of a single piece of artwork is usually small next to the cost of missing an advertising opportunity or running something that looks improvised.

What makes an email banner effective?
Immediate clarity. Readers scan newsletters quickly, so a banner needs to communicate who you are and what you offer without requiring careful reading. Clean type, strong contrast, one clear message.

Do I need an ongoing agreement to work with a designer?
Not necessarily. Plenty of good working relationships are project-based. Retainers make sense when you have steady recurring work; below that, paying by project is usually better value.

Have an opportunity with a deadline and no artwork? Schedule a free consultation at jpetrous.com | contact@jpetrous.com | 586-563-6634.