BALDWINSVILLE — For the first few months of operation, Brian Heffron handled his new business from his home in Baldwinsville. But now, Heffron Media, LLC has a new home, located in a small office in the Titcomb Center at 52 Oswego St. in Baldwinsville. The office opened on May 1. The firm specializes in graphic […]
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Central New York business news and analysis updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Get a year's worth of the Print Edition of The Central New York Business Journal.
- Special Feature Publications such as the Book of Lists and Revitalize Greater Binghamton, Mohawk Valley, and Syracuse Magazines
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
BALDWINSVILLE — For the first few months of operation, Brian Heffron handled his new business from his home in Baldwinsville.
But now, Heffron Media, LLC has a new home, located in a small office in the Titcomb Center at 52 Oswego St. in Baldwinsville. The office opened on May 1.
The firm specializes in graphic design, web development, and marketing for businesses, according to the Heffron Media website.
Heffron, who launched the business in April 2012, is the president and sole owner of the marketing and advertising agency.
When asked about the square footage of his operating space, Heffron wasn’t sure, but the office has a copier and a desk with a computer and keyboard sitting on top. The computer has the Heffron Media logo as the screen saver.
Its website describes the agency as “a studio with big city ideas, right here in Central New York.”
The idea is to bring the ideas of larger agencies to small-business owners whose marketing efforts have to be handled “piecemeal,” Heffron says.
“They would go one place for the website, talk to somebody else for their logo, somebody would do their business cards,” he says.
Heffron wanted to bring those services into “one all-encompassing company” that would provide them service on a more “personal” level.
He started the company while still working as a senior web developer for Mindshare, LLC of Syracuse. He called Mindshare a “great company,” but says he’s always had an “entrepreneurial mindset” and decided to branch out on his own.
“I always had that urge and that desire to build something on my own from the ground up,” he says.
As of now, Heffron is his company’s only full-time employee. Another part-time employee, Corey Heffron, Brian’s brother, handles sales for Heffron Media.
He would eventually like to add two or three additional employees, he says.
Heffron Media also works with three “regular” contractors on projects, but Heffron declined to disclose their names.
Besides operating his firm, Heffron also focuses on web-development work, believing he became a “very capable” developer through “self-education.”
He also believes that some of the contractors with whom he works have more talent in graphic-design creation, so he leaves that part of the job to them.
“I think … an important part of running the business is understanding when somebody else can do something better than you — then you should just let them do it,” Heffron says.
Heffron rents the space from Dennis Sick of J.D. Sick, Inc. Heffron declined to disclose his monthly lease payment.
Dennis Sick is also the owner of the nearby Mohegan Manor, a restaurant and banquet facility, which also includes Club Sushi.
Sick’s restaurant business is among the six regular clients that Heffron Media currently services, Heffron says.
The firm is working with Mohegan Manor, its banquet facility, and Club Sushi to improve its web presence.
Brian Heffron notes he started working with restaurant-owner Dennis Sick before becoming a tenant in the building that Sick owns.
Besides Mohegan Manor, Heffron Media has also been handling a website project for artist Patience Brewster, who operates a small, boutique art company in Skaneateles. The project, intended to improve its web presence, has been under way for about a year, Heffron says.
The agency also produces display pieces and flyers for Philadelphia–based Aramark Corp. in its work servicing dining halls at colleges and universities, Heffron comments.
In addition, Heffron is also working to redevelop the website for Strategic Communications, LLC of Syracuse in an effort to improve its search-engine optimization results, he adds.
Heffron declined to disclose how much revenue his agency generated in 2012, but noted he would like to “triple” that revenue figure during 2013.
Heffron is a 2001 graduate of Charles W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville. He then studied graphic design at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill and then technology education at SUNY Oswego, but didn’t graduate from either institution, he says.
He started working as a marketing coordinator for Installations Unlimited in Cicero while still attending SUNY Oswego.
He eventually decided to focus all his energy on the job, believing he had the necessary expertise to be successful in his work.
“There’s more concentration on the talent than there is having the diploma on the wall. A lot of industries aren’t like that, but [in] this one specifically, your works speaks more than your education does,” he says.
Heffron then worked as marketing associate for JADAK Technologies, Inc. in Cicero between December 2008 and December 2010.
From there, he went on to join Mindshare, LLC of Syracuse as a senior web developer and eventually decided to pursue his own venture.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com