WA Fisher

What WA Fisher does

W.A. Fisher Co is a privately held, full-service advertising and marketing agency headquartered on historic Chestnut Street in Virginia, Minnesota. Founded in 1922 as a map business producing the Fisher Maps product line for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Quetico Provincial Park, and northern Minnesota lakes and waterways, the company has evolved over more than a century into an integrated agency offering five core service lines: strategic marketing, advertising and media placement, offset printing and bindery, custom website development, and the heritage Fisher Maps product. Today it operates with a team of 13 employees under President/Owner Jeff Leese, who was promoted in June 2017 after joining the firm in 2010.

The agency's service mix combines in-house offset printing and bindery capabilities with digital production, primarily built on WordPress CMS with custom themes coded from scratch, responsive design, and SEO best practices. Technology infrastructure is conventional — WordPress, HTML5/CSS, Google Analytics, Dropbox for file transfer — with no proprietary platform, no SaaS product, and no AI/ML components disclosed. The Fisher Maps sub-brand remains an active product line, with maps updated annually in coordination with the U.S. Forest Service and sold online and at wholesale through the company's Map Division.

W.A. Fisher generates revenue through project-based professional services contracts with custom quotes tied to scope, complexity, and deliverables. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. Customer segments skew to small and medium businesses, tourism bureaus and CVBs, chambers of commerce, resorts and hospitality operators, and select regional accounts (e.g., the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota statewide 'imagine LiFe without iron' campaign). The company markets itself primarily through content (an active blog covering web design, SEO, and marketing strategy), SEO on its own website, and direct outreach via phone, email, and a website inquiry form. Geographic focus is northern Minnesota and the Iron Range, though the firm notes it serves clients 'from all over.' It is bootstrapped with no institutional investors or parent company.

Name

WA Fisher

Legal name

W.A. Fisher Co

Website

https://wafishermn.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1922

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

W.A. Fisher Co is a full-service advertising, marketing, printing, and web development agency in Virginia, Minnesota, serving small and medium businesses, tourism bureaus, resorts, and regional organizations across northern Minnesota with project-based professional services and heritage Fisher Maps products.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Virginia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Services - Web Development: Custom website design and development services including responsive programming, WordPress CMS implementation, SEO optimization, and ongoing website maintenance. Project-based pricing with quotes tailored to site size, features, and complexity.
2. Printing Services: Offset printing and color copying services with bindery capabilities in-house. Includes brochures, business cards, signage, banners, displays, and marketing materials. Pricing varies by job scope and quantity.
3. Marketing & Advertising Services: Strategic marketing planning, advertising campaign development, media planning and placement, branding services, and creative direction. Offered as project-based or ongoing retainer arrangements.
4. Fisher Maps: Map products featuring Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Quetico Provincial Park, and northern Minnesota lakes, waterways and wilderness. Includes online and wholesale map orders.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

W.A. Fisher Co is a full-service advertising agency that delivers integrated marketing strategy, advertising and media planning/placement, in-house offset printing and bindery, custom WordPress-based responsive website development, and proprietary cartographic map products under the Fisher Maps brand for northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters and Quetico wilderness regions. The firm serves small to mid-sized businesses, tourism bureaus, resorts, healthcare organizations, and other regional clients from its Virginia, Minnesota office.

Product overview

WA Fisher Co is a full-service advertising agency offering integrated marketing, advertising, printing, web development, and display services. Their core offerings include Marketing Services (market assessment, research, and planning), Advertising & Media (strategic placement and planning), Printing & Displays (offset printing and bindery services), Website Development (custom WordPress-based websites), and Fisher Maps (outdoor recreation maps for the Boundary Waters and northern Minnesota). The company operates as a traditional service-based agency rather than a software product platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fisher Maps: Outdoor recreation maps featuring Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Quetico Provincial Park, and other northern Minnesota lakes, waterways and wilderness areas. This is the company's original product line dating back to 1922.

Products and services

• Marketing Services Strategic marketing services including market assessment, research, and full marketing planning that connects clients and their products with targeted consumers. Offered to SMBs, tourism bureaus, and regional organizations in northern Minnesota.
• Advertising & Media Strategic advertising with media research, planning, and placement services ensuring clients secure optimal rates and positioning for their advertising investments across radio, TV, digital, and print.
• Printing & Displays In-house offset printing and bindery services including color copies, brochures, business cards, signage, banners, displays, and other marketing materials produced at the Virginia, MN office.
• Website Development Custom website design and development on WordPress CMS with responsive layouts, SEO optimization, custom-built themes, and state-of-the-art programming for SMB and tourism clients seeking expertly-crafted user experiences.
• Fisher Maps Proprietary cartographic map products featuring Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Quetico Provincial Park, and northern Minnesota lakes, waterways, and wilderness areas. Available via online and wholesale orders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Website projects can be completed in 12 business days for standard redesigns
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Iron Mining Association of Minnesota (IMA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014W.A. Fisher teamed up with the Iron Mining Association to develop and execute the 'imagine LiFe without iron' statewide marketing campaign in 2014. The campaign showcased the impact of Minnesota's iron mining industry on everyday life, featuring focused market research, strategic planning, and full-scale marketing and media implementation. Campaign included website development (MinnesotaIron.org), statewide radio, banner & eblast advertising, social media, video content, and regional television.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Olive & Company: Minneapolis-area digital marketing agency offering web design, SEO, and content marketing to SMBs. Comparable in being a smaller, full-service Midwest agency competing for the same regional SMB and tourism accounts as W.A. Fisher.
• Allegra Network: Franchise network of independent marketing and printing service centers offering print, design, and direct mail to local SMBs. Most directly comparable peer by combination of in-house print production and full marketing services serving small-town clients.
• MMGY Global: Tourism and hospitality marketing agency whose primary client base overlaps W.A. Fisher's destination marketing, resort, and CVB accounts like Twin Cities Gateway and Visit Little Falls MN. Comparable for tourism vertical specialization and bundled digital/print campaign execution.
• TopRank Marketing: Mid-size B2B digital marketing agency offering SEO, content, and web development. Comparable as a similarly sized full-service agency positioned to compete with W.A. Fisher for higher-end website and SEO engagements in the Midwest.

Broad incumbents

• Carmichael Lynch: Established Minneapolis creative/advertising agency with broader national brand work. Comparable for overlapping services and Minnesota heritage but operates at significantly larger scale, serving enterprise clients W.A. Fisher cannot.
• Fallon: Long-standing Minneapolis-based full-service advertising agency. Comparable for integrated advertising, brand strategy, and media planning offerings but competes across enterprise accounts rather than regional SMBs.
• Colle+McVoy: Minneapolis full-service agency with strengths in brand, digital, and content marketing. Comparable in regional Minneapolis/Twin Cities positioning and full-service model but at significantly larger scale and broader portfolio.
• Cimpress / Vistaprint: Mass-market online printing and marketing services platform. Comparable as a printer and marketing materials provider for SMBs, competing with W.A. Fisher's offset printing and print services line, but operates at vastly larger scale and as a self-serve digital platform.
• 4imprint: Large promotional products and marketing distributor serving SMBs and enterprises. Comparable for the branded merchandise and promotional products category that competes with W.A. Fisher's displays/banners and marketing material offerings.

Emerging players

• Range (Twin Cities agency): Smaller Minnesota-based creative and digital marketing agency. Comparable for regional Midwest positioning and SMB/mid-market client focus, but with a more digital-led service mix versus W.A. Fisher's bundled print + web + marketing approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wa_fisher
• Facebookfacebook.com/WAFisher

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WA Fisher