Originally Posted by Traci Newell of Gold County Media: view original article.
Auburn business owner honored for marketing assistance during pandemic
Since starting his business, Josh Hanosh has not had the time to market his company, but that hasn’t stopped him from giving others a hand.
Hanosh, owner of Dedicated Designs, is being honored as Business of the Year for the State of the Community Awards this month.
Dedicated Designs is a web design and marketing agency that aims to put its clients first and offer affordable services. When Hanosh started Dedicated Designs, he saw a need for an honest and affordable marketing company.
After partnering with the Auburn Chamber of Commerce in 2020, Hanosh stepped up to help small businesses who were struggling during the pandemic.
“Josh is phenomenal,” said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jackie Weston. “He helped us not only come up with ideas to offer our small businesses during the Shares III grant process but he organized and facilitated all the technology and marketing side of the grant services section that we were offering. Without him, we would not have been able to help as many businesses as we did.”
Hanosh said he focused on giving several small businesses a web presence.
“We tried to meet the businesses where they were at,” Hanosh said. “Some of the businesses had no web presence. A website is an investment, and it was cool to give these companies something that can continue to help their businesses for years to come.”
Weston also said Hanosh discounted his web and marketing services to be able to give to more businesses and services for each business.
“We as a community are in a better spot because of Josh and Dedicated Designs,” Weston said.
Hanosh said he was very grateful for the award.
“I feel really humbled that people saw what we were doing and recognized that,” he said.
Hanosh said he has been fortunate to hire great employees, who have helped the company handle their increased workload during the pandemic.
Before founding Dedicated Designs, Hanosh was a math and computer science teacher. One day, a student asked why he wasn’t working in computer science, and he thought, “Why not?”
Hanosh taught himself all the front-end programming languages and started building websites for friends and families. When people he didn’t know started reaching out for his services, he decided to start Dedicated Designs.
“I started it because so many people were telling me they had a negative experience working with a web designer or marketing agency,” he said.
Now, thanks in part to a boom of business during the pandemic, Dedicated Designs has grown to eight employees with clients all over the state, including 26 businesses in Auburn.
“My goal is to be a dedicated partner with all my clients,” Hanosh said. “That is how we started out. We don’t charge up-front fees and we’ve grown 100 percent by referral.”
Transparency with results is Hanosh’s number one goal, and Dedicated Designs has built its reputation on that mission.
