From a corporate marketing executive to a small business owner with an MBA from the University of Michigan, Chamber member Marla Booth has a very diverse and successful business portfolio.

 

Booth said goodbye to the corporate world in 1999 when she went to work for Joan Blough at FOURSIGHT Creative Group, having been a previous client. There she had an “undefined” position and quickly started managing projects and employees. Within three years Booth was asked to buy the company, and did so after completing her MBA. She took over as President Jan. 1, 2004 and the rest is history.

 

Becoming a small-business owner was a goal Booth never set for herself. Growing up she didn't know any small business owners – everyone she knew was in the automotive industry or working for large corporations. In graduate school, Booth said she was the only person she knew who was going to buy a business upon graduation. She said her classmates were amazed and thought it was great, even though they didn't know what it meant (but neither did she!).

 

So when it comes to the day to day business of running FOURSIGHT, she often turns to her father-in-law, who had a successful private practice for 35 years. “While they are two completely different businesses, there are a lot of similarities,” Booth said. She strives to communicate with her employees and make FOURSIGHT a place where people want to come to work, and also where clients enjoy visiting, while creating an environment they can do well in. While owning a business is hard work and different than any other job, Booth said, “I don't know what else I would do now.”

 

Since joining the company in ‘99, Booth has helped the company grow and expand by providing clients with not only creative things to look at, but creative business plans and marketing tactics to deliver messages to their client's intended audience. With Booth's marketing and sales experience, business background and actually running an effective business, she pries into her client's businesses in order to achieve better results.

 

A lot of problems businesses have stem from becoming too close to their product or service, working with it everyday for years on end. They lose touch with why their product is better or different than the competition. After a strategic meeting, FOURSIGHT talks to their client's customers in order to understand what they are looking for, and then they come up with a plan and outline the vehicles they will use to deliver the plan. E-mail, video, print and radio are just a few of the ways FOURSIGHT delivers messages. “We understand our client's goals and objectives and then put our brains to work to make it happen,” Booth says of the FOURSIGHT group.

 

Employees at FOURSIGHT Creative Group are led by Booth's example. Be it creative executions, timelines or budgets, she strives to not only achieve but exceed expectations of clients. “We're intense. We're fun, but we're also rooted in reality,” she said.

Speaking of fun, Booth said the group's most enjoyable project was for the University of Michigan Medical School. FOURSIGHT was commissioned to create a video that would be sent to more than 100 students who had been accepted for admission.

 

While most Ivy League schools keep students waiting until February or sometimes later, U of M wants to accept their most promising students the second they can: in this case it's at midnight on October 15 – the start date for universities to accept students for the next year. Because of their reputation to admit so early, students hoping to get in are awake in anticipation of receiving an e-mail. Last year, Michigan hired FOURSIGHT to make a video to generate excitement in prospective students.

 

The video was a presentation of the decision university employees have to make before the accepted applicants are chosen, which often runs down to the wire at midnight. The video includes footage of the hospital survival flight crew and helicopter. Booth said they were very lucky to not only have good weather while they were filming, but no emergencies came in or out, which would have made the crew leave.

 

Booth and her group greatly exceeded their own and Michigan's expectations. All viewings of the video were tracked, and the average was viewed at least eight times. Students sent it to their parents and friends to see.

 

Needless to say, the video was not only exciting for the applicants to receive, but for the FOURSIGHT Group to make! The video received rave reviews on all of the “after” research done by FOURSIGHT and will definitely be used again.

 

When it comes to being creative, FOURSIGHT has no problem. “Our great level of trust allows us to inspire one another and get creative,” Booth said. She even referred to one of her employees as having “more creativity in his pinkie than most people have total.” Many of the FOURSIGHT employees are talented in and out of work, living creative lives. Another way they inspire creativity is by regularly gaining insight from their clients to put into their results.

 

Regarding the struggles most businesses face in Michigan right now, Booth said, “We're finding ways to do well.” She said a lot of companies in Michigan have done well without trying in the past, as a result of good times and good places. Now they are turning to FOURSIGHT in order to gain business and customers with strategic marketing plans and solid tactics. In order to continue to be successful in the economy today, a clear strategy is needed.

 

A Day in the Life

Booth starts most days with some quiet time in the office before everyone else comes in. She uses this time to organize her day and answer e-mail. Then there are usually two to three client meetings with current or prospective clients. She follows with an internal meeting about current projects with her team. Heading back to her desk, she looks over some proposals for potential clients. In the afternoon and evening she often has meetings or events to attend for professional organizations. At the end of her day she usually heads back to the office to follow-up on some e-mail she has not answered on her Blackberry throughout the day.

 

Outside of FOURSIGHT

When she is not busy with work, Booth said she likes to go to the lake to ski, wakeboard or lay out on a raft. She also enjoys golfing and cross-training. She loves to workout, noting that she gains lots of energy and it's a great mental release. Clearly she enjoys the warm weather, but Booth said in the winter she and her husband of 12 years enjoy the occasional walk on a snowy night but also like to escape the cold and go someplace warm. When it's cold she prefers to cuddle up with a cup of hot chocolate.

 

About the Building

FOURSIGHT Creative Group is located in an old train station in Plymouth on Starkweather Street. They moved to the space more than six years ago. While the group spent months renovating the station before they could work in the space, the building is still full of antique charm, complete with old creaky doors and little steps to trip over everywhere!

 

The Plymouth Historical Society helped Booth and her team date the building back to the early 1880s. They found all kinds of articles about the station in old newspapers and during the renovations people would visit the old station and tell the group stories. Booth said someone came and said they used to ride the train downtown with their grandparents to go to Hudson's.

 

Just a few weeks ago, after occupying the building for more than six years, someone came in and asked if it was an Amtrak station. The person obviously didn't see the large signs reading FOURSIGHT Creative Group!

 

The Plymouth location is perfect for the business, Booth said. Its central location make Detroit, Ann Arbor and Rochester easily accessible - areas where a lot of their clients are located. It is also near all highways, easy to jump on to get to their clients in the west side of the state.