Museum Marketing Strategies You Can Use Today
In the world of museums and cultural institutions, marketing to create more significant foot traffic and buzz is becoming more of a necessity.
Some museums, leverage strategies such as after-hours museum programs (one of our favorites is the California Academy of Sciences).
However, most museum staff want to find ways to better leverage digital channels for their museum marketing strategies. Below we’ll describe several museum marketing strategies that you can implement today to increase foot traffic, online visitors, and revenue.
Museum Marketing Strategies
Use Instagram
A lot can be said about different social media marketing strategies, but we’re going to focus on Instagram. Instagram is one of the top ways to market your museum as it focuses on visuals and has high virality.
Here are a couple things you can do.
Create a step-and-repeat that visitors can use to take memorable photos to showcase their visit to their friends. A step and repeat is a wall or photo backdrop that you can create, and are highly popular for photos. Here are a few pictures of some of our favorite step and repeats.
Repost Photos. When your visitors post photos at your museum, make sure to show them some love and repost their photos or share them on your museum’s story. This shows future visitors that you’re open to sharing their content and will incentivize visitors to share photos on their profiles.
Engage with your target audience. Search specific hashtags relative to museum visitors and like/comment/DM the photo sharers. This can help you build an online community of museum aficionados that will showcase your museum on their profiles on future visits.
Build a Partner Network
Depending on the size of the city that you’re located in, you can build a partner network with local businesses. Reach out to restaurants around your area, coffee shops, and even other cultural institutions. Work out a “kickback” program for referrals, or also partner to provide baked goods from local bakeries or coffee from local coffee shops. This helps to provide a more inclusive community-based experience, where visitors not only get to indulge in the experiences of your museum but the local culture as well.
If you’re using a referral kickback program, we recommend implementing a POS system that allows you to create coupon codes that can be tracked back to the various partners. This will make tracking and sending referral “kickbacks” significantly easier.
Sell Products Online / and in-Store
Ticket sales may be a good portion of your revenue, but we also recommend diversifying by offering products for in-store and online purchase. We recommend selling products related to your museum exhibits to increase relevancy and purchase.
Some examples of great products to sell in-store and online are books related to the artists or display exhibits, prints of your exhibits, custom enamel pins, postcards, etc.
Leverage Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is one of the most popular forms of digital marketing for Fortune 1000 businesses. However, SEO is not just for them. Museums can leverage SEO to generate online traffic that converts into actual visitors by leveraging some key strategies. For museums, we recommend building out an SEO strategy related to three factors:
- Museum Subject Matter: Write articles about the subject matter of your museum. For example, if you display Ancient Greek Art, then create articles about Ancient Greece and Artwork from Ancient Greece.
- Artist Content: Write articles about the artist of each of your exhibits and related artists that drew inspiration from them.
- Local Subject Matter: Create articles about things to do local to your museum. If there’s a collection of killer coffee shops, then create articles about the local coffee shops, places to eat nearby, and more.
We refer to SEO as the gift that keeps on giving. Once you create your SEO strategy, then it will continue to grow and drive more traffic to your museum. If you’d like to learn more, then please feel free to contact us.
Simplify the Ticket Sales Process
If you’re not already using museum ticketing software, then you’re a step behind. Modern museum ticketing software allows you to sell tickets online, with mobile devices quickly, create different coupon codes, and track all of your daily and monthly sales. We recommend using ACME ticketing, as they consistently have the highest rated ticketing software, customer support, and value.
If you’d like to learn more about ACME, then click here.
Leverage Your Members
Part of every museum’s marketing strategy should be establishing a membership program. You may only offer monthly incentives, but your membership marketing program is crucial in getting visitors to return and even having them help you promote your museum.
Here are some ideas for getting started:
- Start an email list. Whether you offer free membership or paid, make sure to create an email list of those different members. Depending on the sophistication and budget, you can use something as simple as MailChimp to get started.
- Create weekly emails. Every week you should send emails to your members letting them know of things going on, or asking them to leave reviews of your museum on popular review sites.
- Ask for recommendations. Ask your members what they’d like to see in your museum, or what would get them to return. This is useful information that can help you continuously bring in foot traffic and revenue.
- Reward the most engaged members. Using your various marketing tools, you can track how many times your members click through email links, who leave reviews, and who continue to visit. Make sure to show these highly engaged members some love with different incentives, discounts, and goodies.
Throw Events and Mixers
Don’t be afraid to combine a couple of different marketing strategies. You can leverage a partner network and your members to throw exclusive events and mixers, or just advertise these to the mass market. These can create opportunities to generate more revenue.
We recommend partnering with a popular food truck or two, and throwing an event where you combine some great food with the museum experience. Or, you can try introducing some cocktails to the mix and having a night at the museum event where patrons can have drinks and take in the entire museum experience. The possibilities are endless.
Museum Marketing Strategies You Can Use Today
Still not sure how you can get started? Museum marketing strategies can take careful planning and a team of experts to pull off. If you’re looking for advice to build out your museum marketing strategies, contact us here for more information.
Marketing for Manufacturing Companies
Digital marketing is by far the most effective form of marketing for businesses. But digital marketing strategies differ from industry to industry. For manufacturers, the online marketing efforts you use will have varying degrees of success. In this guide, you’ll learn what strategies we recommend as well as sample campaigns that you can begin to build yourself.
Who is this for:
- Contract Manufacturers
- Electronics
- Heavy Equipment
- Global Manufacturers
- Metals
- OEM's
- Plastics
- Textiles
- Valves
- Liquid Contract Manufacturers
- Building Materials
- CNC Machining
- Small Parts
What digital marketing strategies are best for manufacturers?
Let’s start with the basics. Online marketing is a huge umbrella with several different strategies including:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Search Engine Marketing and Pay-Per-Click Advertising
- Social Media Marketing / Viral Marketing
- Pay Per Click Social Media Advertising
- Content Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing / Influencer Marketing
- Email / Outbound Marketing
- Mobile Phone Advertising
- Channel Marketing
- Partner Marketing
- Video Marketing
- Website Placements
With all of these different options, how do you choose? Of the 13 forms of marketing listed above, I’m going to eliminate the ones that you probably hear a lot about, but don’t provide the most return for your team in terms of revenue.
Video Marketing
You’ve probably heard and seen the stats of the effectiveness of video marketing. The problem, the data that exists does not take into account industry. For your manufacturing business, it may pay off to have a couple of product/process demos.
But the effort to create high quality, entertaining videos will not be worth the return, when you compare it to other forms of marketing.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is a great tool for certain industries to build awareness and generate revenue. Unfortunately for manufacturers, social and viral marketing is most often a bust than a boom. The problem is that your target market is most likely not actively looking to make purchase decisions or even be remotely interested in seeing your brand across networks like Instagram or Twitter.
There is a form of social media marketing that can be effective, but we lump that in to outbound marketing.
Mobile Phone / SMS Marketing
Do you like receiving text messages asking for you to try products or learn more? Didn’t think so. Avoid SMS marketing because it can do more harm to your brand than good.
In certain situations and industries such as fitness, gym, clothing, that offer flash sales or reminders for services and specials SMS can be incredibly valuable. But on a general basis, Mobile and SMS marketing should not be included in your immediate marketing mix if your a manufacturer.
Effective Marketing Strategies for Manufacturing
Ok. Now that we know which strategies to avoid, let’s look at the one’s that will be worthwhile for manufacturing businesses.
Pay Per Click Advertising (SEM) for Manufacturing
When you search for a service, what’s typically your first step? For 90% of people, it’s typing in that query right into Google.
PPC/SEM is a high performing strategy for manufacturing businesses, especially if location plays a part. However, keep in mind that the space can get very competitive for the most relevant terms. And by competition, I mean your costs will increase per click because your competitors will be bidding on those terms.
Here’s what I recommend for a beginner strategy to test the waters.
- Think of all the terms used to describe what you do. These will be your primary keywords that should drive visitors straight to a “contact us” form or conversion point. Note: If you were thinking of starting with your primary term of “Manufacturing”, then try taking it down a level. Be slightly more descriptive by using something like “manufacturing for x,” etc.
- Next, think about terms that your ideal customers are searching that may not be exactly your service but leads to your service. Example: “how to pick a X manufacturer,” “how to prepare your X product for manufacturing,” etc.
- For the keywords in step 2, you can start building checklists or “how to” downloadable PDFs that you can use to generate leads at a lower cost/lead. Example: Create a landing page with an offer for a “Checklist to Prepare Your Product for Manufacturing”, and set up an ad campaign for related keywords. You’ll start generating leads based on this stage of the buyer’s funnel.
- Make sure you set your campaigns up for “broad” keyword match. This will give you a wide umbrella for searches that your ads will show up. Next, use the “Search Terms” tab to see the exact keywords that are showing up, and which are converting. You’ll want to add the ones that are converting, and negative the ones that drive a significant amount of impressions but are irrelevant or do not convert.
As you get more comfortable with paid campaigns, you can keep building out your campaigns using different match types like exact, phrase, etc.
Affiliate / Influencer Marketing
Affiliate marketing and influencer marketing is a popular form of reaching customers through like-minded people. Meaning, using industry people to help promote your brand in return for a percentage of the sale, or cost/opportunity. This can definitely vary by manufacturing speciality, and if there are any thought leaders or people that are regularly followed in your industry, then these are great people to begin an influencer program with.
I recommend finding a few people with a high number of followers. Make sure to look at actual engagement! If your influencer has 10,000 followers and only averages 10-100 likes or no real comments, then they’re not worth it. Send them some messages saying you regularly follow them, and that you’d love to collaborate with them.
Partner / Channel Marketing
This is one of the most effective forms of marketing. If you know of complimentary services that work with your ideal customer, then you have an opportunity to build a partner / channel marketing program.
The goal here, is similar to affiliate networks, but you leverage other professional service providers to cross-promote and cross-sell your manufacturing services to their customer base.
For example, if you have an IT firm that has customers who would be great for your services, you could have them refer business to you as a preferred partner. Additionally, if you manufacturer a specific part for cars, then you could partner with an automotive association, or another company that manufactures a different part for vehicles.
Click here for a complete list of the materials you’ll need for a partner marketing program.
Website Placements
This is similar to PPC and SEM, in that most of these websites that you’ll want to be featured or post ads in will be “pay to play.”
Website placements are an effective way to drive high-quality traffic to your website. Look for websites that your ideal customers frequent. Trade websites, association websites, and knowledge hubs where your ideal customers look for information. Those are all great locations to focus on website placements that will increase your brand awareness and new customer acquisition.
Email / Outbound Marketing
Outbound marketing is one of my favorite forms of marketing. With outbound marketing, you start by making a list of your ideal customers. What are the companies that you want to win? Here’s a step-by-step process of how to successfully run an outbound marketing program:
- Make your list of ideal customers
- Determine who the key decision maker is. Who’s the person who will ultimately decide whether to use your services?
- Identify the decision makers email address. There is a usual format that professional email addresses normally take: (letter of firstname)(lastname)(@)(companywebsite), (firstname)(@)(companywebsite), (firstname)(.)(lastname)(@)(companywebsite). I also recommend google searching the person’s name and (@)(companywebsite). Sometimes it will show up in search. Note: There are also google chrome extensions that you can use that will pull email addresses and contact data from social media sources such as LinkedIn.
- After you’ve generated a list of email addresses for your ideal contacts, you’ll want to craft the messaging you’re going to use to push them to become a customer. I like to start with an introductory sentence, and then talking about the benefits of partnering with us (cost, speed, quality, etc.), and then wrapping up with a call to action (schedule a time to talk, get a free quote, etc.).
With outbound marketing, you can even take this process in to social media platforms and directly message your sales prospects. LinkedIn is a common place to do this but don’t be afraid to experiment with other sources.
SEO Search Engine Optimization / Content Marketing
SEO is a popular term that gets thrown around when it comes to marketing. The problem is that most people who claim to be SEO experts, have no idea what they’re actually doing. SEO is also discussed like it’s a “magic bullet” solution that drives instant business. It’s not. SEO is a foundational marketing element that requires you to get started sooner rather than later. Your business may not experience return within the first 90 days, as it takes time for your modifications to update within search engines, and for you to gain authority.
However, once your website is viewed as an authority in topic areas, you start to rank in the top of search engines. This means when people Google something related to your industry, you turn up first.
SEO is a powerful marketing channel for manufacturing businesses as it’s a gift that keeps on giving. Your website will continue to see traffic and opportunities come in via SEO growth, and as you continue to add content to your site, you’ll see an exponential effect occur across all content.
Here is a list of a few tips for doing SEO properly:
- Do keyword research. Figure out what keywords are being searched by your target customers to find services like yours.
- Include the most relevant keywords in your SEO title, meta description, H1, H2, and content in your website.
- For the keywords that are popularly searched phrases, you’ll want to write articles to support those.
- Post new content frequently. It’s important to post blogs/articles on a weekly schedule to keep your rankings at the top, and to expand your reach of keywords.
By following the above tips, you’ll be doing better than 90% of businesses online. However, there is always more detailed strategy and optimizations that can be made to further boost your online rankings.
Final Thoughts: Marketing for manufacturing businesses
Winning new customers is the goal for every business. While your personal network and word-of-mouth will help keep your business running, it’s essential to leverage different digital channels to further increase business growth. Using the above strategies, you should be able to make some headway. However, if you need any additional help or have questions, then don’t hesitate to reach out by using our contact form on our homepage or emailing me directly at ronny@digital-astronauts.com.
What is Emerging Talent?
With the cost for mid-level and senior talent continuing to increase, emerging talent has become highly sought after. Emerging talent are interns, entry-level, or junior employees that show the motivation, intelligence, and skills to accelerate to management level positions.
Why emerging talent?
Hiring emerging talent can save your business up to 60% in hiring costs. Immediately, they’ll start off with a lower salary, and may stay with your company for a longer period of time as they develop. Emerging talent are also known self-starters who are highly motivated to learn and perform tasks beyond their role.
The challenge with emerging talent?
While some businesses may be able to identify emerging talent depending on their experience, that’s only half of the puzzle. The struggle with emerging talent comes from the time needed to mentor and mold them with the right skills. Emerging talent are also more likely to leave companies if they feel like they are not being properly nurtured down their desired career path.
If you’re trying to recruit or hire emerging talent, then keep in mind the time you’ll need to dedicate to mentor. Despite being self-starters, emerging talent want to care about their work and feel valued. Continuous development will be critical in shaping them to become your unicorn for years to come.
How to recruit emerging talent
There's a lot of hearsay with regards to how you’ll find emerging talent. Several people will say they’re finding them on social media, but the truth is emerging talent is everywhere. I recommend using tried and true methods such as Indeed, Glassdoor or Craigslist. Even student recruiting is a solid play here.
Next, you’ll want to listen to them when you interview them. When recruiting emerging talent, it’s also important to have someone experienced in the role they’ll playing interviewing them. This allows the interviewer to quickly suss out whether they have the necessary skills, thought process, and drive to be successful in future roles.
For example, a digital marketing manager should be interviewing someone who they’re looking to fill a role in content marketing/SEO, but who projects to grow into a DMM or Director role.
Why? Because general recruiters do not have the experience in the role to understand what it truly requires, and what separates emerging talent from someone who just sounds good on the phone.
When interviewing emerging talent, make sure to drill in to questions. Get to the “why” for things they accomplished or did, and uncover their motivations in life and where they aspire to to take their careers.
Getting started with emerging talent
If you want to start finding and developing emerging talent, then follow these steps:
- Build out your requirements for the roles and responsibilities.
- Create an overall goal or milestones for your future talent.
- Create a job ad using best practices in recruitment marketing to attract the right talent.
- Interview them and use questions to dig into their decision-making and fluency in sales/marketing.
- Build an onboarding and development program to help them succeed and learn.
If this is something you'd prefer to look for outside expertise, then learn more about emerging talent here.
How to Start an Executive Recruiting Firm
So you want to start your own executive search firm or recruiting company, or are curious about the steps involved.
Unlike other recruiting service companies, executive search firms focus exclusively on filling high-profile leadership jobs with highly-experienced candidates. While there are generally fewer of these high-profile positions to fill, the salaries drawn by executives and other leaders can mean a big payday for successfully facilitated hires.
That being said, the demands that clients will have for their next executive will be extensive, so prepare to work hard for those successful executive hires. Here are the requirements for starting an executive search firm.
You Need to Define your Recruiting Business
The first step to creating an executive search firm is taking care of the formalities involved with starting a business entity, securing enough funding to survive your first 6-12 months and defining the scale of your business entity.
If you intend to start a larger firm as a Corporation, LLC or Limited Liability Partnership , then you need to apply with your secretary of state’s office. If your search firm is going to be a proprietorship or partnership, you can get a business name from your local county clerk’s office. If you plan to open an office, even if this is a home office in some cases, you will need to apply for a business license with your city’s local government.
You also need a name for your executive search firm and a functional website for potential clients to evaluate. While you are welcome to go with something “safe,” like “LASTNAME and Associates,” it’s worth it to come up with a name that will be more memorable, while still maintaining the professionalism that is paramount in executive recruiting.
You Need Recruiters for Your Recruiting Business
The success of any executive search company will be determined by the recruiters working for that company. Even if you will be shouldering much of the recruiting, sourcing and networking work, you will still need skilled executive recruiters to meet the needs of new clients.
No matter the size of your executive search firm, you need executive recruiters for their expertise, connections and sourcing abilities. The executive recruiters your firm employs can be incredibly valuable for finding potential clients and poaching clients from other search firms.
It’s also good to remember that these recruiters are a direct reflection on your fledgling company. Always select recruiters who are focused on building and maintaining positive relationships with executives and client companies. Early miss-steps can spell doom for a new company, so be sure that the first few executive recruiters you employ are highly experienced, highly skilled and highly committed to doing right by your company.
You Need Clients
Every company needs clients, but how are you going to start bringing them in?
Hopefully, you’re starting this executive search firm with clients, prospective clients, connections and/or connections through your executive recruiters. No matter how many connections you have, you should begin your client search efforts by reaching out to any and all contacts that you and your recruiters have. These contacts can be former colleagues, former executive search clients and executive candidates who were successfully placed in leadership positions.
When you reach out to these contacts, be sure to communicate a few things:
You’re starting an executive search firm and are looking for clients.
You want to know how the contact is doing and where their career has taken them.
You want your contact to think of your company whenever they or a contact needs executive search services.
In addition to reaching out to contacts, you should also be building your brand with online content and paid advertising. This way, contacts, prospects and people searching for executive search services will have material to look through on your company.
It’s also a good idea to subscribe to job boards and professional groups where potential clients are advertising executive job openings. It also never hurts to research local industry events that present you with networking opportunities and the chance to spread the word about your new company.
In the early days of your executive search firm, finding clients will be of the essence. Reach out to your network, target companies hiring for executives and start spreading the word about your new company.
You Need Candidates and Recruiting Tools
Your executive search firm needs clients, but you also need connections with executives.
Just like when you began searching for clients, the first step in building your search firm’s executive contacts lists, is reaching out to your own executive contacts and the contacts of your recruiters.
When you reach out to your executive contacts, the executive contacts of your recruiters or even executives who have never met you, it’s important to communicate a few things:
You want to find the perfect leadership position for the next step in their career.
Finding the perfect fit may take some time, and you want to keep them updated on positions that could be of interest in the future.
You want to add them as a candidate contact and you want to know a “highly attractive executive role” looks like for them.
Besides investing time into nurturing relationships with executive contacts, it is also wise to invest in executive search tools, applicant tracking tools and/or CRM tools. Most all of the search firms that you compete with will have these tools, so securing your own will be important for securing your position in the market.
As your executive search firm works through its first months, remember that your company’s reputation will be based on the results of your first few client engagements. You and your executive recruiters may have a wealth of experience, but, as a new business entity, you will still need to prove yourself and the quality of your services.
How Much Does it Cost to Start a Recruiting Company
So, you’ve been burning the midnight oil at a large executive recruiting firm, and you finally had that thought — “Maybe I should start my own firm.”
Next thing you know, you start working out all of the details in your head, like:
How will you get clients? How will you market your business? What will you even name your business? And then, of course, the costs. How much does it cost to start a staffing or executive recruiting firm?
Here’s the cost breakdown for starting your own recruiting firm.
Basic operational costs:
Trademark and LLC Filing Fee
Using LegalZoom, pricing starts at $149 for LLC filing fees. If you want to trademark, then you’re looking at a $69 application fee, and an additional $225 application fee for the USPTO depending on the class.
Website Registration and Hosting
So, you’ve come up with the name for your firm. Now you have to register your website domain name. On GoDaddy, you can pay for a domain name for $11.99, but that depends on the popularity of the terms you’re using. Keep in mind, this will only cover your registration for a single year, and you’ll need to pay for hosting. Hosting will cost you $59.98 for one year of economy hosting.
Website Design and Launch
For your website, you have two options: buy a template (we recommend WordPress) or hire a designer. If you’re buying a template, is will cost roughly $59 for a WordPress template, but keep in mind you’ll have to spend hours designing and setting it up yourself. However, a WordPress developer and designer will run you roughly $4k to setup and launch your site.
Custom Email Platform
Most people use Google Apps. Costs run around $5-10 depending on the number of users you have, but it’s well worth it. Custom domain name and the shareable google docs, spreadsheets, and slide decks are well worth the price.
Logo Design
If you don’t have any design chops or any friends with any, then 99 Designs is the way to go. $299 for a competition to design the logo for your new firm.
Business Card Printing
Every executive recruiter will need some great looking business cards. Check out Moo cards for 50 business cards starting at $19.99.
Invoicing
Invoicing software
Some business owners choose to create manual invoices, but that’s ridiculous. WaveApps is a free option that lets you easily invoice your clients. You can automate and track the process, saving you hours in the long run.
eSignature Software
Using eSingature software for contracts is a no brainer. We recommend HelloSign. There’s a free version that’s perfect for your search firm as you start, and will easily scale with your needs as your requirements grow.
Sales and Marketing
CRM and Executive Recruiting Software
For the best bang for your buck, we recommend using Pipedrive. It has all of the features you need for CRM and project management. You’ll need a tool like this to build your sales pipeline.
Marketing Automation
As you’re starting your new recruiting firm, you’ll have a lot of tools thrown your way. Don’t listen to all the noise. Autopilot and MailChimp are the only options you should consider. Autopilot is an incredibly powerful tool starting at $20/month and MailChimp is a serviceable backup for creating email campaigns at $15/month.
Web Conferencing
As a startup, you shouldn’t have to spend a dime here. Join.me has a free version which should cover your needs, or try Uberconference.
Lead Lists
Unless you have a list of clients ready to jump when you leave your executive recruiting firm, then you’ll most likely look for a lead list to help you build your business from scratch. These lists can be purchased from a number of providers starting at $500 and going up into the thousands.
Recruiting Tools
LinkedIn Recruiter
Last time I checked, Recruiter Lite ran at around $119/month. If you’re doing your own candidate search, then you’ll probably need a seat for this tool.
Contract Sourcers
If you want to keep your costs really scaled down, then you can do without your own contract sourcers. Depending on the number of projects and scope of work, these can cost over $1,000/project.
Misc. Costs
Coffee (for the sleepless nights)
Run of the mill stuff or small batch beans? I prefer small batches myself. This will cost $12.99/bag.
Amazon Prime
This may seem silly, but after you launch your business you’ll find yourself needing to order miscellaneous supplies. The free net day shipping alone is worth it. $99 for the year, but I guarantee you’ll get your money’s worth within a couple of months.
Dedicated Office
I think office costs are unnecessary especially for a startup executive search firm. If you are looking for a dedicated workspace, then WeWork’s start at around $220/month for a Hot Desk. Choosing a WeWork will benefit you because you’ll be able to connect with other startup companies which can be great opportunities to build a business.
Total Costs:
One Time Fees: Minimum of $600 (some fees reoccur on a yearly basis)
Monthly Recurring: Approx. a minimum of $362/month or $4,344 per year (at least). But costs can go up exponentially if you require a dedicated office, contract employees, or lead lists.
Former Mentee, Current Mentor
Wise’s company FuzeU connects STEM students with invaluable mentors in their fields.
While studying at the University of Arkansas, Shambrekia Wise was a Gates Millennium Scholar, a Fulbright Scholarship recipient, and an Inaugural Silas Hunt Scholar. Committed to becoming a pediatric pulmonologist, Wise still found herself feeling like a small fish in a big pond.
“It was a really huge change going from growing up in a town with 800 people to relocating to a city of 20,000 people then attending college with 20,000 people. It was definitely an adjustment, but my mentors Andy Mauk, Gigi Secuban, Cedric Kenner, Charles Robinson, Mary Williams, Christina Wong-Poy & Dr. Johnetta Cross-Brazzell were all absolutely amazing in my transition and supported me along the way in obtaining my degree. Not only did I complete my studies in Biology and African American Studies with an Organic Chemistry thesis, but most importantly, I finished with a purpose: Because of my path, I realized that I could help other students achieve their dreams as my mentors did for me by providing them with support along their academic journey. Being low-income, first-gen and especially undertaking a STEM major was a challenge, but I proved to myself my dreams were achievable. As someone who believed in paying it forward, I wanted to convey this same message by mentoring students who identified with my path.”
Foundation of FuzeU
Because of these connections during her undergraduate years, Wise started FuzeU, a new company dedicated to supporting the diverse next generation of STEM students through mentorship.
“Ideally, I’m setting up a peer-to-peer-to-professional mentorship pipeline for those students that hit campus and have no idea where to turn for a network. This definitely helps them with career development skills so they’re prepared once they graduate and become young professionals”
After pitching FuzeU at SXSW this year, Wise and her FuzeU team are currently developing the company’s mentor strategies and solutions through a pilot series, in which companies can try out FuzeU’s mentorship network.
“We are in a pilot stage right now, where we have over thirteen companies represented and over twenty mentors that are on the scene with our students, so I’m really thankful for that,” Wise said. “It’s my hope that, at the end of this pilot, we knock it out the park, it’s an amazing experience for all and we’re able to take that information to our volunteer mentors’ leadership within their companies so that they will engage with us and actually become a client.”
Wise’s Own Mentors: Guiding Forces and Insightful Support Systems
An entrepreneur today, Wise’s mentors as a student were spread across fields, allowing her to develop nuanced leadership skills that draw from a variety of disciplines.
“Two of the first peer-mentors I had as a Silas Hunt Scholarship recipient were Justin Grimes and C.J. Mathis. They were some of best people and later on, friends in the world” Wise said. “We had great conversations, and they were amazing in helping me get acclimated to campus life and making the most out of my experience. Dr. Johnetta Cross-Brazzell, at the time, was the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. While she always had a million things going on, she always made time for her students and it was because of her and our relationship that I understood a lot of the intricacies of what it took to be a leader that were not taught in the classroom.”
One of Wise’s most fervent cheerleaders today, however? Her four-year-old daughter.
“I think one of the best moments I’ve had, on top of pitching at SXSW, as an early entrepreneur was when I came home after that competition and I was able to hug my little girl. This precious moment was short-lived when she found out I didn’t win. I then had to explain to her why I only didn’t come home with a check, but why I didn’t think of the idea that did win! We discount a lot of what little people see and understand, but she’s definitely one that sees it and gets it” Wise said. “Having her be my biggest cheerleader is just a blessing and absolutely humbling.”
Entrepreneur, Writer, Mother
Outside of her business, Wise enjoys spending time with her daughter—the two like cooking, playing soccer, and are currently getting ready for kindergarten. Wise is also a published author, and her first book, Last Stop…Dupont Circle, was released in January 2018.
“All proceeds from my self-published novel go towards the platform and I’ve raised about three hundred dollars right now, so that’s been cool to see those profits go towards my dream,” Wise said. “I’m looking forward to starting the second novel this Spring. I love to write and I’m really looking forward to the messages I get to convey in my second novel.”
Wise’s Keys to Success
Wise’s myriad accomplishments have served her well in her entrepreneurial experiences. When seeking out guidance, however, she’s come across opportunities that can do more harm than help. Her biggest advice in avoiding these situations?
“Protect your time. Not everybody deserves to have your time. And as a young, budding CEO, and to be completely honest, a woman in tech, it’s often hard when you see certain people you think can help you, and they pass that card off to you like they want to be a resource, but, really the acquaintance is for self-serving purposes. It’s not for you at all. Learning to vet intentionally and ask questions early has made all the difference in time management for me,” Wise said.
In establishing FuzeU, Wise has found her passion—helping others achieve their academic and professional goals.
“I would say to anyone that is second guessing or waiting on that perfect moment to make their dream come true: there’s not ever going to be a perfect moment. You have to make your moments perfect,” Wise said. “And, you have to know that if this is something that you’re passionate about, you will figure it out and you will absolutely make it happen.”
Dog Parker: Smart Technology to Keep Pups Safer and Happier
Founded by Chelsea Brownridge, the Brooklyn-based startup Dog Parker installs community doghouses outside storefronts—it’s a secure, easy way to bring your dog with you wherever you go.
Winston is a terrier mix rescue with perky ears and plenty of energy. When his owner Chelsea Brownridge picked up coffee, stopped in the grocery store, or ran daily errands around her Brooklyn neighborhood, Winston was either stuck at home or tied up outside.
“It’s the city. It’s the busy streets of New York and Brooklyn, so when I’m out with my dog, there’s a problem that I’ve learned about here: in about 60% of stores, either because of food prep or other hygiene rules that they have on them, they can’t let dogs inside,” Brownridge said. “So, if you’re out with your dog in a city context, there’s a lot of places that you can’t go together.”
While Winston was inside a small New York City apartment, Chelsea still wished that he was by her side and worried about him being cooped up all day. He was alone, and, even in the bustling city, her neighborhood’s sense of community suffered.
“Dogs are more responsible for social communities than church,” Brownridge said. “That’s because when you have your dog out, people talk to the dogs and want to meet one another. There are community gathering places like dog parks, so it’s a way that people are meeting one another when a lot of the time, in this day and age, our faces are in our phones.”
Building Winston’s home away from home
Enter Chelsea’s solution to this dilemma: the Dog Parker, a smart house for dogs designed for quick stops, allowing pet owners to seamlessly include their dogs in their daily routines. One dog can stay in a Dog Parker for up to ninety minutes at a time, with owners paying twenty-cents per minute. Dog Parkers are located throughout Brooklyn, and, like so many other tech startups, this one began in a garage.
“It was a very classic startup situation … As you can imagine, there are all these things we have to reconsider to make this a safe, clean, comfortable environment for dogs. We’re dealing with family members—their loved ones—so we have to make sure that our options are top-notch … What if the power gets cut? What if someone forgets their dog, which has never happened? But all the what ifs and things you could think of—we’ve taken our time to consider very deeply,” Brownridge said.
The dog days of ordinances and regulations
Dog Parker is a one-of-a-kind service, and with that innovation came a series of obstacles and regulations before installing the Dog Parkers on the Brooklyn streets and, in the future, sidewalks in new cities.
“Doghouses are not something that’s explicitly in any city’s rules,” Brownridge said. “So, what we’re doing, in some cases, is launching pilot programs … In other cases, it takes about four weeks in most cities to introduce a new ordinance to allow for some new law … Cities are really excited by what we’re doing, because it increases walkability. Cities want to have smart city infrastructure. It improves the everyday lives of dog owners, and it drives the economic development.”
Dog houses are a brick-and-mortar’s best friend
Dog Parker specifically helps small businesses by allowing dog owners to fit local supermarket stops and coffee runs in to morning dog walks.
“Brick-and-mortars are struggling more and more, with online shopping, and mom and pop shops, grocery stores—they’re all trying to figure out ways to better attract customers … So, we are drawing business, more walk-ins, more foot traffic, and so that’s what’s really exciting for our store partners.” – Chelsea Brownridge, Founder @ Dog Parker
From nonprofits to smart technology
Both Brownridge and her cofounder, Todd Schechter, came from nonprofit backgrounds. When the pair was developing the sophisticated technology that would help remotely monitor and control Dog Parkers across the city, their mentor through New York City’s Next Top Makers program, Chris Quintero, was vital in leading the team through the startup’s early stages. Quintero helped the Dog Parker founders conceptualize the Dog Parker’s unit economics—a model that considered costs, profits and margins.
“We were passionate about solving a personal problem, but we didn’t have, on paper, the things that would make us an obvious choice to do this … [Unit economics] was language in a way of talking about our business so we could attract investments … I don’t think, without him, we would have been on such a path to raise the money we raised, to talk about our business in a sophisticated way, to be able to even understand what we should be able learning and thinking about,” Brownridge said.
What’s next for Chelsea, Winston, and Dog Parker?
Three years after Dog Parker’s establishment, the excitement has not worn off for Brownridge and her co-founders.
“Every time a session starts, we get an email that says so and so has started a session at [this] location … We started with … maybe just once, twice a day, we would get this email, and it was so exciting—someone is using one of the houses,” Brownridge said.
“Then it became like eight to ten a day. Then it became twenty and thirty and forty, and it just kept growing every day … It’s been amazing to look back and remember how excited we were to just get one of those a day.”
Today, with those emails flooding the Dog Parker inboxes, the company has plans to expand to more cities, though they can’t release specifics yet. By moving beyond traditional fundraising strategies, Brownridge and her co-founders are able to gauge the public interest in bringing Dog Parker’s community doghouses to cities across the country.
“We’re doing a crowd-sourced equity deal on WeFunder [wefunder.com/dog.parker] … We’ve had a lot of success raising money in traditional ways, and with how much this has resonated with people, we’ve made it publicly available for people to invest at our current terms,” Brownridge said. “What we partially hope to get from that is people’s enthusiasm to help bring us to their community.”
Even with Dog Parker’s success in Brooklyn neighborhoods, Brownridge admits that the journey has not been easy; her story has instead been filled with entrepreneurial highs and lows that make the rewards well worth the risk.
“It’s scary for everyone, and I’m not alone in that,” Brownridge said. “Every entrepreneur has their stories of sacrifice—financially, personally, whatever it is. I guess [knowing] that we would be here today … would have given me some peace of mind back then, but I’m proud to look back and know we took that risk and that it worked out.”
Adaptability. Determination. Grit. A Startup Journey.
An entrepreneur’s journey to success isn’t something that can be taught through a book or taught in a classroom.
There’s no set path. There’s no script. You fight through problems. You shed blood, sweat and tears. And you succeed because you never gave up and because you had the skill to make it.
For Dossey Richards, CEO of Lotus Technologies, fighting was the easy part. A former amateur Muay Thai kickboxer, Dossey knew that he could overcome anything if he could overcome the fear of stepping into the ring with a 250-pound heavyweight.
If 9 out of 10 startups fail, then what separates Dossey from the other 9 founders?
The answer can be found in 3 distinct qualities: adaptability, determination, and grit.
Like so many other founders, Dossey started with a grand vision. At 18, he wanted to create a social network where he could showcase his passion for art — a social network for artists. With no knowledge of technology, he saved up cash, raised capital from friends and family, and outsourced the project.
After “weeks” of development, he found that he was only left with a couple of final pages, and barely a skeleton for the rest of the platform.
He could have given up. But, he didn’t.
Adaptability
Dossey spent countless nights learning — teaching himself HTML, CSS, and every language he needed to learn to finish his social network.
But, something else happened as he finished up his project. He discovered that he had a hunger for more. Dossey found a medium that allowed him to both earn a living and showcase his “art,” and this newfound appetite for expression and entrepreneurship had to be satisfied.
As he put it:
“I wanted to keep technology as horizontal and powerful as art. Trying to not just create beautiful architectural patterns, but things that could be appreciated as creative as canvas art.”
But, there was one problem. No would hire him.
As ambitious as Dossey was, he quickly learned that a self-taught developer without a portfolio is about as desirable to employers as a two-week-old pizza.
Determination
He could have given up. But, he didn’t. He was determined to follow his newfound passion.
Even though he went on to found Lotus Technologies, Dossey cites an early success as his proudest moment as an entrepreneur:
“The proudest moment that I can remember is actually before I started Lotus Technologies. I had taught myself HTML and CSS, and was building very simple websites. I was told I needed a portfolio to be hired, but I couldn’t build a portfolio without working. So, I went on craigslist and after being shot down for several opportunities, I ended up posting ads in the labor section.
I very honestly said I’ll make any website for $300. I was pouring my heart out, telling people that I didn’t have a portfolio, and I was doing this to build my personal portfolio. Within 2 hours, I received my first client call. He gave me a deposit for the website $150. It seems so small now but at the time, it was such a symbol. The first time I had ever made money doing something by my own accord. I remember every second of that day. It seemed so small then, but it was a life-changing moment.”
Fast forward, and this first website has sent Dossey down a path from a self-taught developer, to senior developer, to CTO, to founder of Lotus Technologies.
Grit
No matter what challenges came his way as an entrepreneur, Dossey knocked them out left and right. Nothing could stop him.
As he put it:
“If I can walk into a ring and fight a heavyweight fighter, then I can go through anything. “
Even as Lotus Technologies continued to grow, and solidified itself as one of the top dev-shops for mobile technology and fast-growing startups, Dossey kept pushing limits to grow his company.
For budding entrepreneurs and early-stage founders, he has this piece of advice:
“Don’t aim for a glossy finish. As entrepreneurs, we spend a lot of time trying to build a business on our presumptions of what that looks like. I thought the next phase was to hire a large sales team. After all, that’s what everyone said was the next phase. But they were wrong. The sales team had such a hard time communicating the skills and confidence of a true engineer, so we refocused. The media showcases startups in a certain light and only highlight success stories, and the ridiculous budgets they spend on marketing fads and ads. Most of the stuff we see about how business is done is a lie. How we grow is actually what we learn and our experience, and taking advantage of the opportunities you have in front of you.”
“So what’s next for Dossey and Lotus Technologies?”
“Good Software is going to be as necessary as clean water.”
There were challenges, but Dossey remained his adaptive, determined and gritty self to achieve the company growth goals he aimed to reach.
The path for growth can’t be taught through a book. This path can only be followed through its walking, through adapting to obstacles and through never giving up when solutions are elusive.
Dossey credits a number of people who have mentored him throughout his journey. Some of these people are Chauncey Thorne, a Sr. Developer who gave him much needed direction early on in his development career, and Vincent Barr, marketing executive of MongoDB, and Lucas Seyhun, owner of FarmSoho.
Dossey and Lotus Technologies are going to fill a major need in the market — building software and mobile technology for early stage companies such as: Thrive Global, Plugg, and Convey. You can see some of their work here.
Building Your Business with Freelance Talent
Freelance experts can be valuable partners with your company, but getting optimal results from this partnership isn’t as easy as telling them to “fix it,” “figure it out,” or “build a better mousetrap.”
Talk to any startup. I guarantee that they'll have at least one story of a freelance hiring that went wrong. We've worked with dozens of startups that thought they could get by with the help of freelancers to build out their tech products.
The end result?
A "Jenga-like" platform with pieces stacked on pieces ready to collapse. And what ends up happening, is the company puts off an entire redesign to continue to push for customer acquisition goals. Delaying the inevitable complete product rebuild.
Sometimes these scenarios are inevitable for inexperienced entrepreneurs. It's a learning experience.
But hiring freelance talent should be done with a plan in place.
Drawing on the skills of freelancers can be very beneficial for businesses of all kinds, especially for projects that are out of the ordinary for the internal team working on them. That being said, it is important to prepare for the arrival of your freelance talent and prepare the team or teams they will be working with.
Asses/Project Your Project Needs
The first step in finding a freelancer is assessing your needs in a systematic way.
The worst possible use of an expensive freelancer is hiring them for needs that you don’t fully understand. You want them to hit the ground running, so assess the extent of your needs in advance. Freelancers will also be curious about the length of their engagement with your company, and vague answers will discourage freelancers with other clients to serve.
What will the freelancer(s) do?
- What work is currently beyond the skills of or time constraints on your employees?
- Is there too much work for your employees or is it too complicated?
- Which skills are demanded by this work?
- What projects/products/accounts depend on the work being done?
- When are the pertinent deadlines?
- Are you on schedule?
- What kind of work-load will your freelancer be under?
- How much work for how long?
- Will a single freelancer be enough to meet deadlines?
- Which skills will be most used by the freelancer?
- Which specific technical skills (eg. Coding with Ruby on Rails)?
- Which “soft skills” (eg. Communicating, collaborating)?
- What kind of experience will be most valuable for a freelancer to have?
- What are the specifics (eg. testing the security of financial services software) that will make a freelancer highly qualified for the work you need done?
- How soon after the completion of this project will you require the skills of the freelancer again?
-Will you require a different freelancer for upcoming projects?
Answering these questions should give you a clear picture of the work that a freelancer will be charged with, which is crucial in finding the right person for your needs.
Find the Right Freelancer or Freelancers
After you’ve assessed the demands and extent of the work, the next step is finding the right freelancer (or freelancers) to do that work.
Besides finding someone with the right skills and experience, any freelancer you hire should be given a decent understanding of the job they are supposed to do for you.
As you talk with freelancers, walk them through the project or projects they will be working using the information you gathered in the assessment step. Then, ask questions to gauge their interest level and the relevance of their first-hand experience.
- Have you ever worked on a project like this before?
- Was it smaller or larger in scale?
- How did this project go?
- What was your role in this project?
- Can I contact the manager you worked with most closely?
- Does any aspect of your work on this project strikes you as challenging?
- Does the target release date seem feasible?
- What will be the most difficult and/or time consuming part of this project?
- What tools do you usually use for work like this and what resources do you need?
- What programs/tools are essential for completing your work?
- How many supporting staff members do you need and what do you need from them?
Have potential freelances walk you through their solutions to the work you need done. Ask them to talk about their direct experience with projects like yours and how they have supported the completion of these projects. It is also good to pay attention to the questions that freelancers ask in return, as people focused on specifics are already thinking of the job at hand.
Prepare Freelance Talent
After you’ve found the right freelancer for your needs, it’s time to put your feet up and watch the work take care of itself, right?
While this would be nice, investing in a freelancer and then failing to orient or prepare this professional is just sloppy.
You want freelance talent to get off to a great start, so clear the path for them and collect all the information that they’re likely to want before they ever make it to your office.
- What will the freelancer(s) be working on day one?
- What are the first deliverables that the freelancer will work on?
- In the first week?
- In the first month?
- What information will they need to start their work and do this work optimally?
- What are the first questions that an expert will likely ask?
- Which specifics will make this project different from projects they’ve done at other companies?
- Who will be key in supporting their work?
- Which employees will work closely with the freelancer?
- Which employees will the freelancer report to on a regular basis?
- Are there any details that are outside of a “best case scenario” for their project?
- Where have you hit snags?
- Where is the product now and where does it need to be?
- What are the problems that will require the most of their attention?
No matter what they’re working on, it’s always a good idea to have freelance talent sign Non-Disclosure Agreements prior to starting work for your company. They may be a valuable asset today, but they could be working for a competitor tomorrow and this policy is fairly standard.
Freelance talent can support your internal team on an as-needed basis, but getting your preferred contractors for every project cannot be 100% guaranteed. As free agents, they may be engaged on another project when you’re in crunch time, so it’s important to anticipate these needs and try to coordinate in advance.
“Always nontoxic. Always cruelty-free” – For Justine Lassoff it’s Personal
In 2015 Justine Lassoff launched Love Goodly with her co-founder Katie Bogue Miller.
The guiding principles behind the business—which offers both a bi-monthly beauty box subscription service and an online store—can be summed up as: carefully curated beauty and skincare products, always cruelty-free, always non-toxic.
“Many people may not realize that the skin is the largest organ. Every day women use over 160 chemicals in their personal and beauty care. Several of these,” Justine explains, “have been linked to health problems.”
Women who want to make informed and health-conscious choices face a challenge in the US, where many substances that are banned in Europe for their effects on human health are still unregulated.
For Justine, promoting the use of safe beauty products isn’t just business, it’s personal.
“As a breast cancer survivor, you are aware of the toxins in everyday life that affect us. So, I want to help other women switch to healthier beauty and skincare products.”
A proven track-record
Using her background in marketing and a passion for healthy and green beauty products, Justine co-founded and served as the CEO of LovingEco in 2010. The flash-sales site for eco-friendly fashion and beauty products featured curated selections by fashion editors and environmental experts.
“We also started offering beauty samples in a bag, which became immensely popular and we soon sold out,” she says, adding that no one at the time realized just how explosive beauty samples would become.
LovingEco soon caught the attention of a company backed by entrepreneur and Paul Mitchell co-founder John Paul DeJoria. “We ended up selling and folding it into their brand.”
Starting and running your own company is challenging, especially when it comes to creating brand awareness and spreading the word. Justine’s solution is to tap into things that drive community, such as the power and solidarity of female networking.
Justine and Katie officially launched Love Goodly in 2015 during an event with a women’s networking group: TuesdayNights. “It was our coming out party when we first started taking orders. The incredible support from the women in this community was our first step.”
But, while Justine is not one to gloss over the challenges, (“there will be hard days!”) the rewards are well worth it.
“You are doing something you love, and the feedback we get from customers fuels us. Every day we get emails and reviews on social media from people who love the box. We are making an impact one woman at a time.”
Follow your passion
If you are truly passionate about your startup, chances are that investors will be too. Justine gives a shout-out to Allen DeBevoise—the angel investor who was the sole seed funder of Love Goodly. “His confidence and support of companies with female founders has been incredibly impactful.”
What kind of advice would Justine give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
“Follow your passion. It should be something that drives you. Start with your ideas and flesh them out. Talk to people, consumers, focus groups. Create a landing page and test. You want to grow your audience first to make sure that there is a good market fit for your ideas.”
Poised for success
Justine’s entrepreneurial experience, passion for healthy and eco-friendly products, and knack for capitalizing on emerging trends are paying off. Last year Love Goodly doubled its revenue and saw a 200 percent increase in its gross margins.
The business caught the eye of SeedInvest, which reached out to Love Goodly for an equity crowdfunding campaign that will be live until the end of April. “They only accept one percent of applicants, but in this case they actually reached out to us. They have obviously done their due diligence, which is also great for investors to know.”
If you’d like to invest or learn about Love Goodly, then click here.