Malik Sharp founded Sage Creative in 2019. He’s also the founder of Feather Stone Weddings, which served as a starting point for Sage.
Sharp said he had always wanted to be a photographer. Through his church, he started doing wedding photography. Eventually, he added video to the line-up. He estimates he’s done 800 weddings to date, and recently shot a wedding in Italy.
Sharp’s work with weddings opened up possibilities. He was hired to do headshots and recruitment and brand videos for businesses. Sharp saw the path to building Sage Creative.
“I definitely understand and know the trials and tribulations of owning a small business and a local business, at that,” he said. “So, we hit the ground running.”
Sage offers video and photo production, brand strategy, content creation, and social media management.
The focus, Sharp said, was to stand out among all the many agencies out there. While allowing that traditional approaches, such as SEO and email campaigns, are important, Sharp said that he and his young staff of about 13 like to take a production-heavy tack to branding. That means heavy video and images, lots of social media.
The idea is to highlight what makes a company unique — to offer testimony on that company’s values, its strengths and mission.
Sharp said, “We understand that small businesses value all of their coins.” So, Sage offers a trial period. This allows the business to see if they fit with Sage and it lets Sage put their best foot forward.
Currently, Sage is working on a big documentary project with a government agency. It has the potential to link them up with larger agencies, all the way up to the White House.
Sage has also been working on carving a niche of supporting hospitality businesses. They work with SOB Hospitality. Sharp said he finds the work fun and challenging. He’d like to do more of it.
Sage’s Nashville office, which opened in January 2023, has signed on to work with Layer Cake, a four-story, immersive restaurant in that city.
Sharp said they have no plans to open up other offices in the near future, though ultimately, he’s got his sights on Dallas and Chicago.
“What’s next is scaling the business and gaining trust throughout the community,” he said.
This article was originally published at “bizjournals.com“
