Maven Minds: Trailblazers of Modern Business

Creating buzz around something new is always a unique challenge and the results are often unpredictable. Foundational marketing strategies are great for just that – a solid foundation. But the secret sauce comes from thinking outside of the status quo.

Anna Alessi, owner of Cycle of Heart, and Emily Ackart, owner of Emily Ackart Fitness accomplished an incredible feat of creating, marketing, and seamlessly executing a never been done before wellness retreat for women in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Through their tenacity and unwavering persistence, they were able to successfully launch Wellness Within Her, in only 4 months' time.

“What exactly are we creating here? Ok. We need to communicate that .” – Emily Ackart, Wellness Within Her

In this episode, Anna Alessi and Emily Ackart discuss:

• Generating impact by coming together for a massive collaboration
  
  
• Grassroot marketing strategies that lead to finding clarity in their messaging
  
  
• Defining roles for the event and trusting a team with those expectations
  
  
• Playing to each other’s strengths to create a unique experience that perfectly exemplified their mission

Consider and discuss: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• How can you use partnerships to grow your business?
  Can you find partners that complement your product or service and add value for your customers? Could a partner expand your marketing reach and influence? What kinds of partners could help you to achieve critical goals in your business? Maybe you need just one partner – who would that be? Or, if you need many partners – in what areas of your business could they help?
  
• What creative marketing approaches could you add to your strategy?
  Are you relying entirely on grass-roots exposure? Are there partners, colleagues or team members that could help gain traction with new reach? Can you add other tactics to your efforts? PR? Paid advertising? Search optimization? Content? Sponsorship? Events?
  
• Are you prepared to capitalize on moments where growth is available for your business?
  Can you move quickly to make decisions and act? Is your approach nimble and able to pivot if necessary? Is the market asking for your concept, idea or solution? Can you meet the market where there is demand? What is preventing you from growing when and where opportunities are present?

Key themes

• Partnership
• Small business
• Event planning
• Marketing
• Growth

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers
Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

As Kansas City’s first artisanal brigadeiro shop, owners Jessica Harris and mom Regina, are bringing the heart of Brazilian tradition to the midwest. Similar to chocolate truffles, brigadeiro is soft in texture, luxuriously creamy, and can be crafted with a unique mix of flavor combinations.

Jessica and Regina started Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro on the side of their corporate jobs and have since been able to scale to a storefront with a certified kitchen and have landed features in major publications such as Good Morning America and New York Live.

“I’ve learned one thing - that everybody deserves publicity. You just have to do the work. ” – Jessica Harris, Sweet Kiss Brigaderio

In this episode, Jessica discusses:

• Building a brand that embraces cultural traditions
  
  
• Using PR to scale beyond their local area
  
  
• And expanding their focus on a unique customer experience

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• Consider what it takes to take something from concept to execution.
  Where in that process are you at with your business today? If you’re in those earliest stages, what is it going to take to get you to that next step? What is your most immediate goal? What is your long-term goal?
  
• What is the role that PR could play in your company?
  How would additional exposure help you? Is your product accessible online? Are there other opportunities that would additionally be beneficial?
  
• What role does culture play in your business?
  Are you telling that cultural story? Is that culture reflected internally as much as it is externally? Does that culture create a niche? Is there differentiation in how your product is conveyed to customers?
  
• What are you doing to market your business?
  Have you taken an audit of your marketing? Do you know how your marketing efforts are performing? Are you making the most efficient marketing decisions? Are you getting a return on your marketing investments? Are you tracking conversions? Are you aware of what it costs to bring in new customers?

Key themes

• Small business ownership
• Public relations
• Cultural experience
• Marketing
• Scale and visibility

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

As the head of marketing, Nathan Ellering and the rest of the team at CoSchedule have soared to new heights since their inception in 2013. Growing from a plug-in for WordPress to a full-fledged web-based management software for marketers, in just a few short years. CoSchedule is able to cater to businesses of all sizes, helping them to organize and schedule their content marketing in the most efficient way. Nathan and his team are continuously working to break down barriers in the marketplace, making it easier for marketers to optimize their messaging for the best exposure.

“I think of marketing as an experience. No matter what stage you are in the customer journey, marketers are there trying to influence profitable customer action by delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.” – Nathan Ellering

In this episode, Nathan Ellering of CoSchedule discusses:

• Widespread adoption of content marketing
• Utilizing team collaboration and customer feedback for product development
• Positioning and staying ahead of the market
• Realigning vision and mission with product evolution

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• What are you doing in your business to gather feedback?
  Do you have a form, a survey, an email address that can be used to collect information? Are you just asking people directly? Do you have a way to document and share that information within your organization? Do you have a way of bringing that feedback back to the people that are developing your product? Do you have a way of making that feedback impactful to your business?
  
• What are you doing in your business to get content out there in front of people?
  Are you marketing in other ways? Would content be able to make your strategy a bit more well-rounded? Would it get you in front of more people? Do you need a blog or a podcast? Do you need scheduled posts, interactions and engagements with your customers?
  
• How are you championing collaboration in your own organization?
  How are you breaking down silos and barriers between teams? Are you allowing for that communication to happen in multiple avenues? How are you making sure that what the customer says to your customer success team or what the product engineering team thinks is indeed the right next move? How do you pull all of that together and move your product forward? Are you offering avenues for collaboration in your organization? Are there meetings scheduled intent on creating collaboration? Are there spaces in your organization that allow for multiple groups to gather together?

Key themes

• Customer Feedback
• Content Marketing
• Team Collaboration
• Artificial Intelligence
• Software as a Service

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

To stand out among competitors you have to create a memorable brand which is exactly what Garmin International is doing through the Women of Adventure campaign. Associate Creative Director Rebecca Sommers shares some insight on the mission behind this incredible campaign and why they feel so passionately about the stories their sharing. Through this campaign, Garmin has focused on sharing and celebrating the amazing athletic adventures and unbelievable feats that women are experiencing, to motivate and inspire others to do the same.

“It’s not really about our product. They’re using our product, but it’s not our story, it’s yours.” – Rebecca Sommers

In this episode, Rebecca discusses:

• Creating meaningful connections with their audience through authentic storytelling
• Key components that make an authentic story so captivating
• The impactful life lessons behind these stories and the challenges they’ve faced to capture them
• Embracing new creative opportunities with the development of a children’s book

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• What are you doing to tell authentic stories about your brand?
  What are those stories? Do they come from the customer? Do they come from work the brand is doing? How do they reflect your product or service? What kind of tone do they set? What does the customer receive from them? What do they feel? How are they impacted?
  
• What are the creative opportunities ahead for your business?
  What are the unique situations in which you could find yourself creating a children’s book, going on a trip, or hosting an event? What is something out of the box that you haven’t tried that just might work?
  
• What are the challenges that your business is facing?
  What are you doing to take the next step to overcoming them? What’s the next small step you can take today that will get you close to overcoming that hurdle?

Key themes

• Authentic Storytelling
• Brand Affinity
• Customer Connection
• Overcoming Adversity

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

The rapid growth of AllTrails has required them to explore what it means to hire and build a team of individuals who all share a common purpose; connecting people with the outdoors. CEO, Ron Schneidermann, shares how they’re making hiking trails all around the world accessible for everyone while also handling the demand for improvements due to the app’s rise in popularity. He shares more about how their focus on the foundation within is what makes all the difference.

“You start with the stuff that doesn’t scale. Sometimes you need to do that. And then from there, you can build up momentum and build off of it.” – Ron Schneidermann

In this episode, Ron discusses:

• Hiring candidates that are the right cultural fit for the business
• Staying true to the mission and values of the company
• Embracing change, empowering team members, and communicating with proactive intentionality

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• What are you doing to establish the culture in your business?
  Do you have guideposts in place to make sure that you are staying true to the spirit of your company and what you’re trying to do? Are you building a place that is a magnet for the people that you want to have employed there?
  
• How you are improving communication within your own walls?
  How are you helping your team to be proactive about red flags that they might see, or problems that they perceive, or sharing new ideas? Do they feel empowered to share those? Is there a space to share those?
  
• How are you setting an intention for that communication?
  Are you scheduling meetings without any purpose? How do you set that intention in advance? How do you make sure that everyone is on the same page coming in and is ready to act, ready to talk, and ready to collaborate? How do you creat those spaces for more natural collaboration?
  
• Is your business in a stage of rapid growth?
  What things are fueling that? What outside influences are fueling that? What inside things are fueling that growth? Is there something that you can be doing to any of those spaces to impact what is fueling that growth? Can you make it more efficient? More effective? Are you just standing back and watching it happen? Can you be learning from the process or documenting anything related?

Key themes

• Rapid Growth
• Company Culture
• Internal Communication
• Empowering Team

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready