Tassie designer Sophie Murfitt wins clicks for rural businesses
Tasmanian web designer Sophie Murfitt knows her Merinos from her crossbreds, and uses her ag knowledge to help hundreds of rural businesses connect with national audiences.
SHE may not have grown up on a farm, but 25-year-old Sophie Murfitt knows what makes agriculture businesses tick.
Working as a web-design and branding guru who specialises in rural businesses, the young woman from Tassie puts her passion for agriculture and eye for design into helping isolated farm and rural enterprises reach national audiences.
“It’s just about understanding them and giving them the level of service they deserve,” says Sophie, who has built more than 100 websites for clients in Australia and overseas including gourmet producers, agritourism ventures, rural health services and the government.
Fresh out of school, the determined young woman from Hobart left city life to move to rural NSW, where she worked on a sheep stud.
Realising the ag industry was her perfect fit, she returned to Tassie to work on a mixed enterprise, gaining certificates in everything from animal handling to wool classing while also completing a double degree in ag and business from The University of New England, studying remotely.
Her real career turning point came in 2018. Sophie was living in Hamilton clocking up kilometres as a rep for a livestock equipment company.
“I was travelling a lot, all over Victoria, NSW and South Australia, meeting a lot of farmers and learning about their businesses,” says Sophie, who is living back in Hobart while she and her partner, Will, build a house on his family’s farm near Triabunna.
“I just feel like rural businesses are naturally more isolated. They have really had to reinvent themselves in the past few years. When the bushfires came, Buy from the Bush was launched and the whole of Australia got behind rural businesses. Now we have COVID and it has happened again.”
After designing and launching a website in 2018 for her friend, Hayley Dawson, who runs The Rural Naturopath near Hamilton, Sophie’s profile has skyrocketed and work has flooded in.
Hayley says Sophie has a talent for helping rural businesses overcome the tyranny of distance and deliver their messages to the audiences they want to reach.
“I told her a few things about my business, and she just blew my mind with what she created,” Hayley says. “Now I am helping people in rural and remote areas all over Australia with their health … rather than only in my little pocket.
“She is just so approachable and driven and wants to help others.”
Sophie is a nominee in The Weekly Times Shine Awards, presented in partnership with Harvey Norman.
The Shine Awards celebrates rural women who make a real difference to their communities, businesses and industries. Winners in six categories will receive a $2500 Harvey Norman voucher, and an overall winner will receive a further $5000, announced on November 18.
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