Professional Spotlight: Paige Beal from Point Park University

Paige Beal - Associate Professor, Point Park University

During her childhood, Paige Beal sold local newspapers and taught swimming lessons, never foreseeing the future career she is now able to reference to in her teachings at Point Park University. Beal attended Hood College in Maryland in 1978, graduating as a double major in Sociology and Psychology.

She reflected on this period of her life stating, “I didn’t declare that double major until the end of sophomore year. I think you have to do stuff to figure out whether you like it or not. When getting that degree, and like so many people now, I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do with this.’” This education decision continues to allow Beal to connect what she learned into her marketing/advertising careers when it comes to concepts like consumer behavior. “It was a plan that worked that I didn’t know was happening.”

While in her college years, Beal involved herself in radio by bringing a station to campus. Though she was unsuccessful at doing so at the time, it helped to keep her interest peaked about the radio business. “There was a really small, and I mean SMALL country radio station that was outside Harpers Ferry, West Virgina, in a little place called Brunswick, Maryland. They had advertised for somebody to be working and I was looking for a job too, so I applied. Low and behold, they accepted me and then immediately… say like, in the first couple of months, put me on air.

They taught me how to do everything. Honestly, if I hadn’t taken that opportunity who knows where I would have been or what I would’ve been doing. I just really didn’t have much direction up until then.” From that position at WTRI, she continued working in radio by holding new positions in operations, management and sales.

Now as an Associate Professor at Point Park University in the Rowland School of Business Department, she has helped students for the past 20 years become skilled in marketing through sharing her knowledge and expressing intense passion for her work.


Over your years in the marketing industry, what skill or ability do you think is the most important to embrace in the business?
“I think a combination of things, like to be curious and to like to learn a lot. You have to constantly be curious about what is next and experiment with it. In that same sense, you have to be okay if it doesn’t work out. It can be so frustrating because you’re messing around with all these technologies and platforms and you know, it may look fine then you get into it and it’s not so fine. You have to be able to step back and be like, ‘Okay… now I know that. Now I’ve learned that. Now, I have to move forward.’ Be curious, don’t be frustrated – look for a way out, it all builds together.”

When you were in Sales, what was the hardest part when trying to get people engaged in what you were selling? Did you have any tactics in your advertising that helped make it simpler?
“My philosophy on Sales is that you shouldn’t be trying to sell to someone. The word sale has become synonymous with trying to force something down somebodies throat that they don’t need.

In media, I absolutely believed that my mission was to help businesses understand what is an incredibly complex media world. Think about yourself, if you were a small business owner, let’s say you have some expertise, but not much when it comes to online marketing (building a website, manage your own socials, etc.). How do you begin? Where do you begin? I think its mind boggling for someone who is already trying to start his or her own business.

I always felt like we, as a group wherever I was, were doing a service to businesses to help them understand better what they needed. It was so great when you were able to put together a plan and see businesses succeed and it happened so frequently. That was rewarding.

When you walk into a business, you need to know that stuff so that you can help them. You can’t do it in a vacuum; all marketing exists together. There wasn’t any kind of specifics there. I would try and listen and hear what they needed. I wouldn’t get too deep in the weeds of reach and frequency, cost-per-point and stuff like that. Small businesses don’t have time or the bandwidth to deal with that kind of information. Try to speak plainly, clear and give them information that will help them. Listen and hear what their problems are, respond with things that they can do something about and do not overwhelming them with huge proposals.”

What was the experience of owning Moxie Marketing Media Consultancy like compared to when you owned WPME FM 95.5?
“That was a station in Maine that I owned, built the tower, got the frequency from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). Honestly, I didn’t end up operating this station; I sold it to someone else to run, for a variety of reasons. It had to do with the economy and being a female owner of a station in Maine, which didn’t put me in the best situation. It did pay for my M.B.A. though, so that worked out really well. It helped me a lot for understanding more about engineering. That was very different from Moxie.

My main client there was Comcast and I did a ton of training. It was all about trying to keep their account executives up-to-date on what they needed to know about emerging technologies and platforms, as well as Sales skills and a variety of things. I also worked with KDKA and a couple other entities at the same time. I ended up doing so much work with Comcast that I had a hard time taking on any other clients.”

Looking back on your experiences of business establishing, is there anything that you would warn those wanting to begin a business about or would you encourage the challenging opportunity?
“I was doing a couple businesses when I was with Moxie. I was doing some adjunct teaching, which I loved. It was the first time I did some teaching while I was doing the consultancy. I was also running the alpaca farm at that time.

In that alpaca farm, I had another business where I worked with other alpaca breeders and farms. I did weekend seminars with them about how to build a business, things that are important to that (particularly an alpaca business) and what they needed to know about marketing to do it well. Yeah, so there was a lot going on at that time, but I think it is helpful to have somewhat of a business background to have an understanding of the general aspects of naming, branding, accounting, website design, content creation, etc. You need to be relatively selfdirected to do that kind of stuff and enjoy that; essentially you have to be a jackof-all-trades.”

Wait- what was the alpaca farm?
“It was ‘Pittsburgh Alpacas’ in Zelienople, up north. It was a small farm. I had 10 alpacas at any given time on my farm. You breed alpacas kind of like show dogs or show horses. So, I bought alpacas. There was one that was exported from Peru to Australia and then to Canada and I bought her there. You have to try and find the right combination to have the progeny that’s a good alpaca.

Alpaca fleece is some of the finest fleece in the world. The Inca used to call it their ‘gold’ because it’s just, amazing. We would shear them every year. Their fleece was a separate part of the business, kind of like merchandise.

It was so much fun and I love animals. I enjoyed being outdoors; I had an orchard and vineyard at the same time.”

How did you get into that?
“You know what, I had just launched the consultancy and I was doing a variety of things. I wanted to have a good balance of home and this work. I always wanted to have a small farm, but I didn’t know what animal I would be able to work with or what kind of crops that I could physically be able to handle as one person. Alpaca’s are about our weight and size, so they’re not too overwhelming. They’re real fun to be around and just bizarre.

I looked into the business and it worked out to be great. When I exited the alpaca business it was because I got my full-time position at Point Park. At that time my parents were alive and I needed to put them into assisted living. I thought to myself, ‘I think there is really a limit to the amount of poop any one person can pick up in one lifetime and maybe it’s time for me to make a move like that as well’. So… I moved into the city.”

Out of all the positions you’ve held, which has been the most uplifting, educational and fulfilling?
“Bar none, teaching.

When I’m working full-time, like when I went back to Spotlight, you know, I learned a lot there, but it is very focused. It’s business and it’s about monetization. I had to meet a budget of 35-36 million dollars a year and so, you have to be really focused on that. The world outside of that bubble where you are becomes less important by necessity because you only have a certain amount of bandwidth.

I love teaching because I get to meet 80 new, fascinating people with a lot to offer, two times a year. I learn a lot from all of you and I can experiment and kind of be curious. Try and fail in a world that has less ramifications. Where else do you that?

A close runner-up would be when I was with Cox Interactive Media because that was a shift from traditional media into a completely online platform. That was like the early 2000s, so it was a great time to do it. It forced me to continue to do more with technology.”

What is your favorite and least favorite part about teaching at Point Park University?
“My favorite is the learning and trying to make class as engaging as possible: it’s very challenging, but a good challenge. My least favorite part is, you know, there are great students, but sometimes there are some people that are so disconnected. There are so few of them, so I don’t want to take a whole lot of time talking about it.

I just get frustrated because I know somebody is paying for that person’s education. I worry about what I don’t know, like what is going on in their life that they don’t have any time for this and there is so little we can do to help when that happens. This is kind of what I say to myself when I think of those issues, is that you know, you might want to help, but honestly, if people don’t want help or if they’re just in that place, there isn’t much you can do. They really have to do it for themselves.

Anyway – that was kind of a downer, sorry.”

Do you favor any companies based on their marketing tactics (like their digital media content, advertising strategies, website design, etc.)?
“That’s a great question – I don’t know if I have a favorite. I more just check out a ton of different ones.

I watch what’s happening on AdWeek or AdAge or Marketing Grew. I have a number of things I subscribe to see what is going on recently. I don’t know anybody off the top of my head that I’d be like ‘Oh, 360 - I love everything they do.’

Erykah Badu and what she did for exploring and trying to do her own thing: wanting to own her audience, create her own pay wall and stream her own concerts. She seems to have created a reputation solely around that.”

With everything happening with the current pandemic, have you seen any marketing strategies or campaigns that have stood out to you the most? Why do you think they did?
“I think, in this time, a socially responsible approach to things is super important. Like I admire the fact that Dicks Sporting Goods isn’t selling guns. I usually make post to try and remember and recognize these things. I think being thoughtful at this point is a good idea. I really have enjoyed how Nike goes about their business. They do really embrace social issues thoughtfully in a way that can be inspiring, which you don’t see often.

We’ve seen a lot of pivots in the sports teams about social justice, which I think is wonderful and unexpected quite frankly. Honestly, I’m not a huge Taylor Swift music fan, but I am a fan of her approach to things. I think she has really stepped up. From a marketing perspective, I think that her expertise has been outstanding. She really connects with her fans, keeps it real and has learned how to monetize that. When she began speaking out about politics, I thought that was really brave and something she did without people getting irritated. When I was watching about her documentary about how she kind of realize how she needed to say stuff, I realized it was a specific decide she made and had.

I love Michelle Obama. Those aren’t really brand… well, I guess they’re kind of brands in the sense of Marketing.”

Connect with Paige
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paigebeal/

How Aspirant Accelerated in 2020 | Andrew Rupert

Andrew Rupert, Senior Consultant, Marketing and Innovation - Aspirant

As a former brand manager for a who’s who of Pittsburgh companies, Andrew Rupert knows a thing or two about growth. He got his start at Freemarkets (now Ariba) and four years later took on an opportunity at Giant Eagle. In 2012 after acquiring his MBA from CMU, he gained experience at Heinz, Valvoline, and PPG.

So I was all ears when I had the chance to ask him about his new role (as of April 2020) at consultancy firm Aspirant. We talked about how they’ve been fairing during the pandemic, what it’s like to work with a hyper-collaborative team, and what’s fueled the company’s growth.

Can you tell me a little bit Aspirant - what you enjoy about it and what the culture’s like?
One of the best things about working for a consulting firm is that when it comes to solving a client’s problems, you can really move the needle. It’s not like that when you’re working at a very large organization, where you tend to chip away at problems over time. At Aspirant, we can make a larger impact.

“We’re always bouncing ideas off one another, and that helps us find opportunities to specific challenges.”

We take a collaborative approach to every engagement, meaning individuals lend their expertise to find the best solutions. We’re always bouncing ideas off one another, and that helps us find opportunities to specific challenges. We focus on creating sustainable, practical solutions. So internally, the kinds of questions we ask are, “What can be done, what can we take action on?”

Aspirant provides a range of consulting services, but I’d like to hone in on marketing. Can you talk about those services specifically?
Yes, Michele Petruccelli leads our Marketing & Innovation team, leveraging experience from her time at GSK and leading her own marketing firm. She’s one of those people that gets the gears turning. She works with clients on branding, product development, and building out digital design and digital marketing plans. Our design process is customer-centric, and Michele utilizes Aspirant’s collaborative culture to engage all of our SME’s in developing strategies for our clients. She’s very good at what she does!

Let’s talk about Aspirant’s external marketing and outreach. Videos and case studies play a prominent role on your site, can you speak to that?
For context, I should mention that a lot of our business, historically, has come from our network. Our team has some great pre-existing relationships and so in terms of marketing and sales, we’re just beginning to scratch the surface.

The site was originally made as a verfication point, so potential clients could get a feel for who we are and what we do. It was something to legitimize us. But we’re developing it into more of a sales tool, so it will ultimately be playing a larger role in customer acquisition.

Our current digital assets, like the videos and case studies, are doing a good job of removing the “stigma of consulting” and illustrating our unique approach. We want to show that not only to we provide a solution, but we’re in the foxhole with you. We help create strategies as well as help implement them.

There’s a healthy mix of other digital assets on the site too, what else are you using that’s worked well?
Well, it’s important to understand that we use the tools available on our site in practice. The Customer Journey Map that’s available on our site is a good example of that. That tool, in particular, gets people’s minds turning and allows them to think about their business in ways that they haven’t before… it’s a reference point. It informs the value proposition and you can leverage that for your messaging.

Other assets, like [Marketing and Communications Manager] John Conroy’s blog posts, provide a lot of great resources for clients. We’ll select some of the posts and promote those via social channels like LinkedIn.

What does your social media strategy look like?
Being a collaborative team, we have a very coordinated marketing calendar. So at this point, we’re limited to LinkedIn in terms of social, and we’re selective about which posts to promote because we’ll all (personally) amplify the message. And the same goes with customer success stories that we share. It’s all part of a coordinated effort by our team. We also use Hubspot to email a static newsletters to a specific list of customers and prospects.

How do you measure success in terms of social posts?
We don’t necessarily have goals related to individual posts, although we do keep track of engagement in terms of views, shares, likes and comments. We want people to click specifically on the link in the post. That’s our call-to-action. So for instance, the Pittsburgh Technology Council interviewed our president, Mike McClaine, for a piece. We’ll track clicks on posts promoting that content because we know it can generate awareness and illustrate thought leadership.

How has the company been doing amidst the pandemic - has any of your messaging or strategy has changed?
COVID hasn’t really changed things for us. In fact, for us as a business, things have been accelerating. I was brought on in early April when the pandemic was really starting to ramp up and, like most people, we were worried about the immediate future. But we’ve been thriving, and I think that’s a product of the general value we provide - our approach and expertise, utilizing lean teams, offering implementable solutions, and providing immediate value.

Most of the work we’ve been doing recently is from exisitng clients that already knew what value we can provide. The pandemic did, of course, force them to look at how they’re spending money. But that worked in our favor because our value continues to resonate.

One last thing I wanted to ask was about Aspirant’s work in the community. Can you tell me a little about the Connection of Hope campaign?
We have a commitment to providing resources to Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh (WC&S) and began an initiative called “Aspire to Your Full Potential,” which provides WC&S with funds to assist women and children to gain freedom from abuse.

This initiative is part of our larger Connection of Hope campaign, which was started to help raise awareness and prevent domestic violence. We recently launched the RUSafe mobile app here in the US, and a similar app called Bright Sky in the UK with Hestia and The Vodafone Foundation in Europe. These apps provide portals to covertly call-in reports of domestic violence.

We created a video featuring Mike McClaine and WC&S' CEO/President, Nicole Molinaro, discussing the “Aspire to Your Full Potential” initiative and that video is on our site.

That’s fantastic! So what’s on the horizon for Aspirant, anything new that we can expect?
We’re finalizing a co-branded offering that packages an industry-leading sales intelligence platform and our expertise with marketing strategy and process. Details on that partnership haven’t been announced yet but are coming soon, so stay tuned!

Collaborate with Aspirant:
Online: www.aspirant.com
Phone: 724-655-4441
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aspirantllc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aspirantllc
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLirnU_VsWV4YrDWhSJ_jPA
Address: Nova Tower 1, One Allegheny Square, Suite 502, Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Email Marketing with Stephen Fisher

Fisher Email Marketing - Stephen Fisher

Stephen Fisher recieved his first payment as an online writer back in 2009. “I always wanted to write,” he recalls, “and my first gig was to write website copy for an affiliate site, and I was paid 75 cents.” He was happy to get the project, but realized “clearly this isn’t sustainable, so I need to figure out how to do this professionally.”

Soon after, he read Peter Bowerman’s The Well Fed Writer, and that put Stephen on a path to becoming a successful commercial copywriter. His first business was an SEO company in Seattle, but after wrestling with Google’s ever-changing algorithms, he decided to shut it down and began freelancing. That’s when things began to click. I talked with Stephen about how he’s grown his email marketing business, and why email still thrives in the world of “Inbound” and digital content.

You went from SEO to email. Why the change?
I wanted to use my copywriting skills, and I knew I didn’t want to write for consumers. In B2B I genuinely felt like I was helping people. There were so many businesses offering great services, they just didn’t know how to say it. I help them tell their story in a way that gets customers to act.

How did you get your first customer?
Somehow I ended up arguing politics on Facebook. It ended in a stalemate of course, but right before we both got offline, the guy writes “That’s it. I’m done. I’m going to go walk the dog,” and I said, “I’m done too, I’m going to write cold emails.” Oddly, he wrote back and asked if I did lead generation. He happened to be looking for help with his business. Thirty minutes later we were on the phone discussing a project. You never know where a relationship is going to start!

Do you work with a certain type of company or a particular industry?
Ideally, I want to work with people I can learn from. When you write for someone else, you really need to understand them, their company, their short and long term goals. That’s how I build solid working relationships.

Do you do much email marketing for yourself?
I do. I also write a lot of LinkedIn messages, and as an owner I receive a lot of LinkedIn requests. So I do get projects from my own campaigns. Although two-thirds of the messages I receive are sales pitches disguised as project requests. That happens, but I’m looking for that third that are interested in a working relationship, something that will benefit us both. I have a bias towards founder-sellers, because they don’t like to sell, and that’s where I can help. But generally speaking, in terms of the software, I’m always experimenting with different email platforms.

Are there any platforms that you recommend?
One of the best is Outreach.io, they have good data management and workflow management features. Some of the others I’ve tried recently are MailShake and Woodpecker. All of these platforms have pros and cons. Some have great features and some, which I won’t name, have features that are inexplicably missing!

Email marketing is a broad topic, but I did want to ask if you help your clients with customer and prospect lists.
I can help clean lists, but there are places that specialize in that, so a lot of times it depends on quantity - the number of names they have. I used to just trust the data I was given but learned quickly that I need to ask the right questions before deciding what to do with a client’s list.

I want to know where the data came from - is this an opt-in, was it purchased - these things make a big difference. A lot of people just want a ton of names, and often I have to tell clients that they need to make sure the list and the message match. That’s the strategy part of things that I like. And that strategy comes from the initial conversations about their business and about their business goals.

What have you seen in terms of response rates? I see different benchmarks online.
It depends on a lot of variables, even the platform. I’ve seen LinkedIn drip campaigns with response rates in the mid-30% range for initial connections, with replies anywhere from 5% to 10%. Average (non-social) email open rates tend to be around 15%. Conversion rates will vary by campaign, that’s a whole other conversation. But I’ve done email blasts for enterprise sales where they need to send over 30 thousand cold emails to close one deal.

The best results will come from a small list of homogeneous people, job-title based, where you have a clearly identified pain point.

So what’s the most important thing to remember when creating an email campaign?
There are a lot of important aspects to a campaign, but the most important thing is your Offer. There will be different rules for selling ‘marketing consulting services’ versus selling ‘software.’ There’s a different psychology, and there’s a different number of stakeholders. The best results will come from a small list of homogeneous people, job-title based, where you have a clearly identified pain point.

I mentioned my bias for founder-sellers, how they don’t like to sell. People have a tendency to sell with their personality but they’re not focused on their niche or they haven’t properly constructed a value proposition. That’s why you need to optimize, split test, iterate, measure. Nothing can guarantee results, but you can put yourself in the best position to succeed by focusing on your offer.

That’s good advice. Do you have any other tips or suggestions?
(Laughs). I have a lot of them, but some may just be superstition! I don’t like to send emails on Fridays. I try to have most messages hit inboxes around 9:30, except when I’m emailing tech-people, then nothing goes out prior to 10 in the morning! On a more serious note, make sure you always have a call-to-action but just ONE and only one call-to-action. Your goal for an email is get someone to act - get them on the phone, get a meeting.

Another thing is to not over-rely on one channel. In general, people with different titles tend to prefer different channels. So if you want to use LinkedIn, do an advanced search for “people who have posted on LinkedIn in the past 30 days” to see who is active there. That type of research is invaluable.

Last question - why should someone choose email as a marketing tactic?
Look… email is the most boring marketing tactic right now. It’s not free, it’s not perfect, but it works. It’s not dependent on things outside your control, it helps with complex sales because you can have real discussions and talk about serious things. You can use it to build real-world reltionships.

The average professional gets something like 120 emails every day. That’s a lot of emails, but your odds are still good. The bottom line is that it’s the most cost-effective way to get customers.

Make Contact
Fisher Email Marketing on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fisheremail/

Printerviews: Stewart Design

Blake Stewart - Stewart Design

Blake Stewart’s interest in art prompted him to apply to WVU’s graphic design program, where he chose web design as a discipline. After a senior year internship, he found that there was little actual design involved, but “a lot of tedious coding!”

Knowing that he wanted to do something different, he founded Stewart Design in 2006, as a print design company with a focus on logo creation and brand identity. “I saw opportunity in that space, because there were a lot of great companies but their logos and other visuals weren’t great. I knew I could help them.”

Today, Stewart Design is one of the most highly awarded small design firms in the country. I asked Blake about how he grew his company and about the creation process they use to produce some incredible logos…

You told me your business started growing through word-of-mouth. What were things like in the beginning?
I called a few business owners that I knew and offered to help them, and I’d make suggestions on how to improve their logo or print piece. Once a few people started taking my suggestions - and seeing the results - they’d tell their friends and then more and more people starting calling us. That’s really how we built the business. Logo design and branding our now our main services, about 70% of our overall business. We really have a passion for great design.

Do you have niche, any certain industries you try to work with?
We don’t focus on a specific industry, but we do have customers from almost every U.S. state and we do some work internationally. I also get speaking gigs from time to time at conferences and symposiums, so we’ve seen spikes in certain industries. For instance, I’ve spoken at legal symposiums and because of that, we’ve done a lot of work for law firms.

We’ve also seen business increases from certain sectors after we produce a logo for someone in that industry, especially if it’s a competitive industry or an industry with a community. So if we do a logo for a chiropractor, we’ll get more calls from chiropractic offices, or if we do a logo for a reptile breeder, we’ll see more breeders reaching out to us.

Is it ever difficult to design for one industry then another? How does that fit in to your creative process?
Well, we do a lot of research once we get a request. We do our homework. We research the industry, the company, their service, their differentiators, and their competitors. We want to get the full picture of what’s going on with them. But our first step before working with any client is a free consultation. The purpose of that meeting is to find out if we’re a good fit for them, and vice versa.

And once that’s established, what happens?
We create from the ground up, so typically we don’t take an old design or something that’s given to us. We have a specific process, an overall strategy, and we stick to that to build a customer avatar.

So the second step in our process is a brand strategy session where we do a deep dive into their business goals. This helps our clients think about their business in new ways and gives us a direction to head towards. The answers to those questions will influence the next step, which is the concept stage, where we produce and narrow down ideas to two or three concepts that we build out into full presentations.

That’s when they can literally see what the visuals will look like on paper, in print, on t-shirts, or on different objects. But most importantly, we explain why we chose the particular look, color, or design elements. We explain what it can do for them.

After a decision is made on the design, the next steps are setting up files and putting together branding guidelines. And after that, we help with any other branding decisions, printing, etc.

How long does that process take?
It varies of course, but I’d say generally speaking it takes 8 to 12 weeks.

So a lot more goes into the process than sketching up a logo, which may be how some people envision it.
Yeah, that’s why that first consultation is so important. You can get a logo made for five bucks on Fiverr, you can pay big agencies hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then there’s everything inbetween. We say it on our site, “your logo is the single most visible and memorable aspect of your company. A professionally designed, meaningful logo enhances your company’s credibility, making you more likely to gain people’s trust, and ultimately their business.” Our clients have big problems to solve and that’s why they hire us.

We’ve talked about branding for clients - but how do you attract new customers?
Generally, we don’t do a lot of marketing. But we are launching our new web site soon and we post on Facebook and Instagram fairly often. We’ve been fortunate enough not to need a ton of marketing ourselves. One of the reasons is that we’re selective about our clients and who we work with.

“Our clients have
big problems to solve
and that’s why
they hire us.”

Maybe that’s a marketing strategy in and of itself?
Maybe, but I will say that referrals are almost our sole way of getting business right now.

We’ve talked about the design aspect of the business, but you guys do more.
Yes, logo design and branding is definitely are focus area, but we also work on the design and production of printed materials. Typically that means three things - mass-produced materials (like business cards, brochures, and stationery), apparel (screen printing or embroidery), and non-permanent signage (moveable or temporary signage for events and trade shows). We don’t do much digital stuff, but we do quite a bit of printed material.

So what should people look for when hiring a professional designer?
There’s a Jim Rohn quote that says something along the lines of “you don’t want to invest too much time and money into a small problem or too little into a big problem.”

It depends on your needs of course, but you want someone that understands what makes an effective brand. You want a professional - not someone who will take a piece of clip art and add your logo. You want someone that is willing to take time to understand your goals and come up with ways to achieve them. And you also want to take a good look at their portfolio - look at their clients, their cases studies, and testimonials. That should tell you all you need to know.

Make an Impression with Stewart Design:
Email: Blake@stewartdesignllc.com
Phone: 855-SD-LOGOS (855-735-6467)
Website: https://stewartdesignllc.com
Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/stewartdesignllc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stewartdesignllc

Dog Days of Summer: Paw & Order Dog Training

Paw & Order Dog Training - Steve Sentner

“We want to work with people that are willing to put in the effort.”

Steve Sentner, co-owner and one half of the husband and wife team that owns Paw & Order Dog Training, was talking to me about their ideal client. But in speaking with him about how they’ve built their company from a one-person dog training business to a multi-faceted franchising operation, I realized that “putting in the effort” is more like a mantra for the couple.

He and his wife Elissa Weimer-Sentner live on 14 acres of land on the outskirts of Imperial (near Clinton, PA), and now have a new facility being built on the property by the Rocky Bleier Construction Group. The couple has big plans for this 5,000 square-foot facility - scheduled to open early summer of next year - that include a grooming service, vet clinic, retail and office space, group training space, and plenty of room for events, classes, and seminars. It will have space to host conferences for their new franchisees as well.

Because of this explosive growth (plus winning Best of the Best Community Choice Award and The Best of the Burgh), I wanted to know what new tricks Steve could teach me about how to stand out from the crowd.

You say you do “everything but train dogs.” Tell me about your role in the business.
I’m in charge of all the marketing and some of the operations. I maintain the website, manage the marketing campaigns, manage our online presence, do the graphic design work, coordinate our events, and maintain our CRM and other online tools. Elissa, along with our other trainers, works with the dogs and their owners. I still think I have the fun part.

Yeah, me too! How did you get into the business of dog training?
In 2014, before we met, I was looking for a dog trainer in the area and found Elissa online. She had a different company name back then. I reached out via email, got a price, and went elsewhere. I thought she was too expensive! Big mistake - I ended up calling her after the trainer I picked didn’t work out. So I started working with Elissa, and three months later we were dating!

In November of 2016, we rebranded as “Paw & Order” and I quit my corporate gig, which I do not miss! I quickly built pawandorder.com from scratch and put the pedal to the floor in terms of marketing, because now we were ‘new’ again. We thought business may take a temporary hit, but it was quite the opposite.

What did you do to get things moving?
The first thing we did was reach out to our current and former clients, as well as our Veterinarian contacts, to let them know about our rebranding. Word of mouth is an important lead generator for us. Next, I had to get our website ranked high on Google, so I used Google AdWords (now Google Ads) for three or four months. By early summer of 2017 our site was either above-the-fold or first position for “dog trainer” in our area. Leads were coming in through the website and people were calling us. In fact, by summer 2017 we were starting to attract attention from franchising companies, although at that time we were telling them “not yet, but soon.”

“we began to streamline our marketing, but we wanted to manage the growth.”

So you anticipated the growth?
We did. And we began to streamline our marketing, but we wanted to manage the growth. Most of our new leads were - and still are - coming in from Google and our website. But our highest converting leads come from client referrals and vets. So just doing a great job training dogs and having good word-of-mouth marketing has been crucial.

We also see leads from Facebook. We have around 2,500 followers right now. If I post something and it gets some organic traffic, Likes and Comments, then on occasion I might promote it. But our private Facebook group has been great, because we’re building a community there. We started our Adventures for our clients in the group, which really differentiates us.

River Hounds

I saw that on the website - how did that start?
Elissa would text some of her clients, “I’m going on a trail with my dogs if you want to join us…” She realized how much her clients loved socializing with other dogs and their owners, so she created a private Facebook group to coordinate each outing. Now all of our trainers host “pack walks” on the weekends. But it’s not just walks, we’ll go meet up at dog-friendly pubs, we went kayaking last summer, and last year (pre-COVID), we hosted a Halloween party at our house. We had 50 dogs at our place, and around 70 people!

That’s great! So what types of training programs do you offer?
We have an in-home training program, where we come to the dog owner’s home five or six times and work with them in their own environment. And we have a Board & Train program where they can come to us. Dogs typically stay two to four weeks on average. They stay in our house, and our trainers work and play with the dogs, and socialize them with other dogs. We also offer group classes.

That sounds like a lot of dogs.
Yeah, and we have seven dogs of our own. They keep us busy, but of course they’re well-behaved, because we trained them!

But after the dogs stay with us, we’ll follow up a couple of weeks later to make sure things are going well, and often we’ll go to their house to check in. Training is a continuous process, a lot of effort goes into it, and we’ll ask clients to join our walks, and we really try stay in touch.

In addition to these programs, you’ve begun to franchise…
Yes! We announced that franchises were available right before COVID hit. We got our second franchisee about a month ago. He’s a former client and is opening up soon in Greensburg. But right now he comes to our place five days a week for in-person, hands-on training. It’s a big commitment and we want our franchisees to be great trainers with successful businesses.

So potential franchisees are calling, the facility is going up… what’s on the horizon?
Besides the facility, which is huge for us, internally we’re implementing a new CRM called Soffront that I’m pretty excited about, because I couldn’t find a tool that checked all of the boxes I needed. But this is a customizable piece of software that will help not only manage the franchises, but it has a platform that our franchisees can use and share.

We’re also putting together a client portal where we can upload videos of the dogs in the Board & Train program. Right now we communicate with clients by text - lots of texts - and it’s not efficient. Pet parents, when they drop off their dogs, can get very emotional and they want to make sure their baby is OK. We needed to address that, so in the near future, our clients can see how their dog is doing and stay updated more consistently.

As if all of that isn't enough, Elissa is also working with AHN and their therapy dog program. She's going to be their official Therapy Dogs United liaison for training in the Pittsburgh market. Basically that means all therapy teams for AHN will have to go through Elissa to be certified. 

The Paw & Order Pack

You have a lot exciting things going on right now! So for you, what’s the best thing about owning the business?
I’m living the dream. I wanted to get out of Corporate America and do something that I enjoyed. Owning a business can be stressful, but it’s well worth it. And it’s great when you can help people. I mean, after all, we’re really in the business of training people, and helping them build better relationships with their pets.

Meet the Paw & Order Pack:
Paw & Order on the web: https://www.pawandorder.com
Paw & Order on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pawandorderpgh
Paw & Order on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paw_and_order_dog_training

Acrospire - How Pittsburgh's Newest Brewery Creates Winning Combinations

Acrospire Brewing - Eric Truscott
”He understands how things react together.” That’s the quote that’s sticking with me after speaking with Eric Truscott, co-owner of Acrospire Brewing Co., one of Pittsburgh’s newest breweries, located in Glenshaw.

Eric was talking about chemist and brewmaster Greg Long, one of his partners at Acrospire. Eric, Greg and Ron D’Alessandro are friends that met through their church choir. With Eric’s IT skills and penchant for serving customers, Ron’s business acumen, and Greg’s brewing skills, there was definitely a positive reaction when these three guys got together.

The result was a small, unassuming “buildng within a building” where the guys are… well, building… their brewing empire. Albeit, kinda quietly and methodically. I asked Eric about how they got started, how they market their new brewery, and what the future holds.

Your website says you started in 2017. Let’s start there.
Well. Greg had been homebrewing for like, 25 years or so, and Ron and I knew his beer was really good. I was homebrewing too, as a hobby, and Ron was interested in brewing as well. We had been talking at church and knew we had this common interest. We decided to give it a go. But it took about 18 months to renovate the building and get it ready. We didn’t borrow money, we wanted to do this ourselves. So we framed the warehouse, jackhammered floors, did whatever we had to do to get it to come together. We made a building within a building.

Making some adjustments to Acrospire’s beer lines

What made you pick Glenshaw?
That was a result of practicality and necessity. First off, Ron owned the building, so that was a big part of course. But when we looked at a map of breweries in the area - at least at that time - there was a void in the North Hills area. Plus, we all lived here! So the combination of those things made it an easy choice.

How do you choose which beers to brew?
You brew what you like. Some places brew sours, some focus on IPAs. We’re more traditional, so we like brewing beers like porters and Hefeweizens. That’s actually our niche. We’re adding our own spin to traditional recipes.

So how long does it take to come up with a new beer?
Once we know the flavors we want to pull out and come up with the ingredients, it’s a 2 to 3 week process. The brewing itself only takes about a day, then 10 to 14 days to ferment, and maybe a day or so to carbonate.

And what's been the most popular?
Our Caramel Porter is really popular. Porters aren’t typically summer beers and we weren’t planning on keeping it on, but it’s done really well all summer long. We also make a Honeycomb Oat Honey Ale that does very well, it’s made with honey and orange peel. It goes great with an ornage slice! And our No Evil Hefeweizen is a strong seller.

Those sound delicious. So how did you start getting the word about them?
Mostly word-of-mouth, at least in the beginning. We talked it up to our friends and family and they spread the word. I guess people liked that they “knew someone” starting a brewery! But on opening day, we still weren’t sure what to expect. We didn’t want to make too much and have all of this extra beer on hand, but we ended up selling out. That opening day blew us away!

What happened next? I mean, have you had to do much outreach since then?
[Post-Gazette writer] Bob Batz happened. He had been following our progress from the very beginning, when we were still framing walls. He’d check in with us occassionally to see how we were doing. His article came out in February and that was the springboard.

We also joined the Brewer’s Guild. We were hesitant to join at first, we were still concerned about incurring extra costs. But that turned out to be a fantastic decision. They were so supportive, we connected with other brewers and we had other Pittsburgh brewers stopping in all the time. They’ve been great.

“We get new followers
every week and
so we get
new customerS
every week.”

The Pittsburgh beer community is very welcoming. And I saw you have a Facebook page. Has social media helped at all?
Definitely. Recently it’s been all social media and our website. We’re on Facebook and Instagram.
That’s been the best. We get new followers every week and so we get new customers every week.
I also send some email blasts, but need to be more consistent.

Sounds like you’re doing a lot of things right!
We’re doing OK. We have a physical sign going up, so now people can find us!

So what’s next for Acrospire Brewing?
Our 2020 goal was to open, get some growlers out, and see what it takes to scale. We’ll brew what we can. We all still have our day jobs. It was growing a lot faster than we had anticpated, but then COVID hit. But we’re weathering this OK, we still have plans for a taproom. That’s our short term plan. The long term plan is to be in a league with the big boys, with a brewery that can house hundreds of people, host events, and distribute and circulate a bunch of beers.

But for now, well, if you’re a Seinfeld fan you might remember George saying, “it eased into the water like an old man into a nice warm bath.” That’s what we’re doing, easing into it.

Get Your Fill:
Acrospire website: https://www.acrospirebrewingco.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acrospirebrewing
Instagram: @acrospirebrewing
Email: info@acrospirebrewingco.com
Phone: 412-453-6266

Direct Mail Service - How To Be a Direct Mail Champion

Direct Mail Service (DMS) - Darci Saunders
Prior to becoming “Direct Mail Darci,” Darci Saunders, the Marketing and Business Development Director at Direct Mail Service, worked on the client side of the business. She was an assistant editor of the publications journal at St. Francis Medical Center and was also a PR assistant at Communications Ink (which has since evolved into Brunner). So she knows a lot about what her direct mail clients are looking for, what they need to know, and the pitfalls they should avoid.

I talked to Darci about these needs and how direct mail marketing is evolving, the effects of COVID on the industry, and how to market a direct mail company in a digital world…

How has the direct mail industry changed since you started?
I was recruited by DMS about 17 years ago, after St. Francis Medical Center closed. At that time, of course, we only did direct mail. Now we offer data management and data manipulation solutions, email deployment, mailing services, and a range of digital marketing servies. We used to have one list vendor, one guy in Minnesota, to help us with lists. Now we have 8 - 10 vendors that we work with for list rental. But one of the biggest changes is that postal services and email are coinciding.

“For many of our clients, mailing lists are just a starting point.”

For many of our clients, mailing lists are just a starting point. You can use those addresses to mail, but add emails to geo-fence, re-target, find IP addresses - you name it. It’s a whole different world from when we started.

Right now I have to do a lot of educating. Teaching clients not only about the new digital services, but also about the ever-changing postal regulations!

Are you seeing changes to the industry as a result of COVID pandemic? Is there a mailing resurgence?
People have been touting a mailing resurgence for years! We’ve always been busy. From what we’ve seen, it’s not a resurgence - it plateaued and has remained steady. Not a lot of growth, but it’s been steady.

With regards to changes and COVID, the answer is yes, but things level out. Since most face-to-face meetings have stopped, a lot of companies are relying on direct mail to get their message in front of customers. Companies that haven’t used mail in the past are now using it. But the flip side of that is that some organizations have had to cease operations entirely, and so that mail isn’t going out any more.

And there’s of course a ripple effect. For instance, the CLO and Benedum might stop shows, and so the playbills and mailers for those shows don’t go to the printer, and the printer doesn’t mail the pieces.

That’s happening in a lot of industries, I suppose. So let's talk marketing. First off, your moniker - "Direct Mail Darci"…
I started using that name in a BNI group about 15 years ago. It helped me stand out and differentiate myself - it still does. When I respond to an information request or RFP, I put “Info from Direct Mail Darci” in the subject line, which helps reinforce the brand and the name. It’s in my LinkedIn profile and my correspondence.

Although, I do get asked if I own the company, and I’m like, “sorry, no.” But it really does help me get noticed!

So aside from direct mail, how does a direct mail company market themselves?
Most of the marketing I’m doing is via our new website, which I manage. It was just redesigned. I’m able to make updates and do editing. I had a graphic designer and a web designer construct it, but I knew that I wanted a clean, simple look. Kind of expansive. And I wasn’t interested in driving traffic for traffic’s sake, I knew that I wanted organic traffic - if someone was visiting the site, they’d most likely need what we offer. So I’ve seen an uptick in inbound leads. I’ve also always done a lot of networking and have gotten most of my business from referrals. Just doing a good job and doing right by my clients.

One thing that has been veryimportant, though, is maintaining our Google Business Profile. By that I mean doing audits - checking it for accuracy, checking and responding to reviews. It’s important for reputation management. I’ve definitely asked clients to leave reviews. Whether you know it or not - and whether you like it or not - people are out there talking about you. And they can be quick to criticize if they feel they’re wronged, but not always quick to talk about a job well done. So it never hurts to ask if they’ll give a testimonial or a review when they’re happy!

What about social media and content marketing?
Well, I manage our blog and I’m on LinkedIn. So I post content, but not as consistently as I should. Because I’m responsible for sales, account management, and marketing, I tend to do more marketing when business slows. I'll usually have to manage projects when I’m busy. So it really becomes an issue of time. I need to take care of my current clients first before trying to get new ones!

Well said. So what’s coming up in Q4?
This is our busy time, so I’ll be working on client projects - things like end-of-year appeals, newsletters, that sort of thing. It will be interesting to see how COVID affects the holiday season, it’s hard to tell if there will be any surge in holiday mail, but I expect so.

That would make sense. Ok last question - what's the weirdest thing you've seen sent through the mail?
One time we mailed a box of edible bugs for a computer service with a message saying, “Contact us to get rid of your bugs!” That was clever and unique. My clients have been creative in what they send - tube mailers and 3D (dimensional) mailers, and whatnot. There’s really no limit on what can be sent through the mail!

Go Directly to Darci:
Website: https://www.dirmailserv.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/directmaildarci/

Printerviews: Amanda Bronowski of Heeter Printing

Amanda Bronowski, Sales Executive at Heeter
In addition to her degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Print Management, Amanda Bronowski has over 20 years’ operational experience in the printing industry. That’s why it was a bit of a surprise for her to end up in print sales. As she puts it, “the last thing that I sold was Girl Scout cookies.”

But at the recommendation of Heeter’s VP of Sales, she started a new career trajectory. She watched other industry salespeople - mostly older men - taking clients on golf outings and schmoozing at lunches. “That just wasn’t my style,” she says, adding “I didn’t really see a lot of reps utilizing social media.” As a mother of 5 boys, she’s had plenty of experience keeping an eye on social media trends. And as a former model, she had some level of comfort in front of a camera. So she started posting pictures, and that evolved into videos.

Heeter Printing offers a variety of printing services, from conventional “offset” printing to digital printing, inkjet/web, software, procurement, and more. I talked to Amanda about her role and how she’s helping Heeter reach new customers through somewhat unconventional methods.

It looks like your videos are getting a lot of traction on LinkedIn and YouTube. How did you start?
Last fall, I was posting pictures on social media - mostly LinkedIn - about my company and the services we offer. They were getting a little bit of attention, but I finally got the confidence to put out my first video in December, which was a “Happy Holidays” kind of thing. That got way more engagement. That’s when I thought, “Can people sell this way?”

I decided to try it, and focus on the educational aspect - teaching people how to effectively use print and incorporate direct mail into their overall marketing campaigns. My first video, done with the help of our internal marketing team, was me in front of a camera, pitching. It was fine, but it wasn’t me. I decided to take a more personal approach and shoot and edit the videos myself.

From modeling, I was comfortable in front of a camera but it was actually intimidating putting myself out there as a professional. I mean, there are always going to be people quick to criticize your looks or whatever. But I didn’t want people questioning me as a professional. At first, if people had negative comments, I’d get upset. But you get passed it. And once I saw the positive reactions - and once I started getting clients - it got much easier.

So how do you make them? Do you have any special equipment, lighting, or things like that?
[Laughs]. Not exactly. I shoot them with my phone. Sometimes I hold it. Other times I attach it to a lamp, using a pop socket and [laughs again] putting it on a knobby-turny thingy on the lamp. Very professional. I do have a small, inexpensive tripod so I can get different angles. Lighting is very important, though. I have like 15 different lights in the room I use and I’m always adjusting them to get rid of shadows. I also film a lot outside, to bring in more warm light.

And how do you edit?
I started using the InShot app, then invested a few dollars for InShot Pro. I only shoot maybe 25 seconds at a time, and generally do 5 to 15 different takes for a single 1-minute video. I also show the videos to my youngest boys (7 & 8) to make sure the videos aren’t boring - if I see the boys drift off for even a few seconds, I know I need to make it more entertaining!

Once they make it passed your advisory board, where do you post them?
Mainly on LinkedIn because that’s where my customers are. I also post on my YouTube channel. Ocassionally I’ll add them to my personal Facebook page and Heeter’s Facebook page, if I think people might enjoy them.

Nothing is ever “just” print. It’s always print-plus-something. The industry has evolved.

So I guess the big question is, have they made an impact on sales?
Yes. The number of viewers has been steadily increasing. In the beginning I’d get maybe 500 views, now it’s more like 9,000. With those viewer numbers increasing, I’ve had many more people reaching out to me for printing quotes and questions about specific printing projects. I’ve also been asked to appear on panels and online sessions, which has helped as well. When COVID hit, more people went online, so that gave me a bump in views. But my customers and prospects also realized it was an opportunity to use omnichannel marketing.

You’ve talked about that in your videos. I suppose to some people it may seem ironic that someone selling print uses video to sell. Can you address that and elaborate on “omnichannel marketing” and what that means to your customers?
Absolutely! Nothing is ever “just” print. It’s always print-plus-something. The industry has evolved. Omnichannel marketing creates cohesive marketing campaigns. Heeter does this well. For instance, we’ll tie a video into a direct mail piece that points to a web page - and there’s consistent imagery and copy across each channel. We practice what we preach - we do it for ourselves and we do it for clients.

Last question - your husband has made a cameo or two - how does he feel about you making him Internet famous?
That was actually his idea! He’s a professional MMA fighter and he loves the spotlight! But he’s a great help. He’s also a personal trainer and markets himself, so we work together. Although, I do get a tad bossy as a Director [laughs again}.

Connect with Amanda:
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/datjyex
Heeter Printing: https://www.heeter.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-bronowski-37385016/

Dog Days of Summer: PITTSBURGH PET CREMATION

Pittsburgh Pet Cremation - Jason Wilt
Pittsburgh Pet Cremation is a mobile pet cremation service owned and operated by Jason Wilt. His service is particularly relevant in a time of social distancing, but it’s also a great service for those who have accessibility issues or for those who don’t have access to transportation.

Jason learned about the funeral industry at a young age. His father was a funeral director, and so he’s been around the industry all of his life. He implemented that knowldege and his love for animals and started Pittsburgh Pet Cremation about 5 years ago. His business serves the Greater Pittsburgh area, and over the past couple of years he’s seen a steady increase in PPC’s business. We asked him for the secret to his success…

How do you typically market your services, and what does your typical customer look like?
We market our services on the web and social media. We focus on individuals, especially those who don't have access to transportation. We also have a few partnerships with various veterinarian offices and humane societies.

How do those partnerships work?
The partnerships we have with veterinary hospitals are mainly agreements that say when a person's pet may be euthanized, the vet will tell them about our services so we can assist them during this difficult time.

Do you have any marketing resources that you can share?
We don't have any secret weapons for marketing, just web and social media! We do send materials to various veterinary offices in the form of postcards that their clients can take home with them. 

Has the pandemic changed your outreach efforts or caused any change in customer requests?
The pandemic hasn't really changed anything with us, our business hasn't been any slower or busier than usual. As far as customer requests, some now require that we wear a mask. But we have been following social distancing and CDC guidelines when we are in a home or office.

“Our plan… is to get our services
more well-known in the
veterinary community
and animal foundations!”

Do you have any special plans for your business in the second half of the year?
Our plan for the second half of the year is to get our services more well-known in the veterinary community and animal foundations!

Your work in a difficult industry. What do you like most about owning your own business?
I enjoy assisting people and providing a service that is a hard topic to deal with for some. It’s the reason I started Pittsburgh Pet Cremation.

So I’ve asked everybody this… if you had to be a dog breed, what would it be and why?
If I had to be a dog breed, I would be a pitbull. I have had three pitbulls and they are fun, energetic, outgoing, and friendly, despite the bad reputation they get. They are some of the sweetest dogs who just need a little love and understanding. They’re just big babies!

Contact Pittsburgh Pet Cremation
Web: https://www.pittsburghpetcremation.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pittsburghpetcremation
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pittsburghpetcremation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pghcremation
Phone: 412-206-9266

Churning Up Success

Churn - Kelley Costa
Good luck keeping up with Churn owner Kelley Costa. With three retail stores, over 60 employees, a growing wholesale business and an eye on franchising next year, you’ll need some caffeine to maintain her pace. She’s a bit of a whirlwind. We caught up with her during a store build-out (she’s also her own general contractor) and we talked about Churn’s success, growth trajectory, and how her passion for creating ice cream flavors brought this professional accountant into the entrepreneurial fold.

So how does an accountant end up owning an ice cream shop?
My parents actually had a soft-serve shop when I was 16, so I knew the business. While I was still doing tax work, I opened Kelley’s Dari-Delite on Babcock Blvd. I had that shop for over six years.

Then, when I was on a trip to New York with my dad, we stopped by an old-style gelato shop (that’s how we bonded). I was there with him and we were looking around, really enjoying the look and feel of the place. We liked the visuals. And we thought, “why doesn’t someone open a place like this near us?”

At the time, Kelley’s Dari-Delite was a seasonal business that had a walk-up window. I figured that we could create a year-round ice cream place that served hot drinks, like coffee, in the winter. Churn opened in Gibsonia in 2015 - a little later than I had anticpated in October - just in time for winter!

Your Gibsonia location opened first, then the Cranberry location in 2017 and the Fox Chapel location in 2019. What’s been working for you in terms of marketing?
Social media is the number one thing we use, although we do start with word-of-mouth. But we invest money into Facebook and we invest resources into Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. We have lots of internal promotions, then blast pictures and posts on social media. Our target demographic is 16 to 24 year-old’s. They tend to come in after 8:30pm. We also get a lot of young families that stop in right after dinnertime.

And we’re constantly showing new products to these groups. Right now we’re working on a fall campaign to mimic drinks for “all of the stuff you missed this summer.” So we have concert-themed drinks and lots of fun stuff launching each week, and we’ve made Tik Tok videos to help promote them.

In terms of traditional media, we use that to a lesser extent because our online marketing - things like posting in Facebook groups - has worked very well for us. But we’ve run ads and coupons in publications like the Hampton News and InCommunity. And the other thing that’s been good for us is giving back to the community and participating in events. We show up at tradeshows. We’ll donate free ice cream or coffee or giftcards to things like community races, fundraisers, and other events. For instance, we donated to a drive-in movie night at the park, we went to Yelp’s Ice Cream Fest, and we gave out free samples at a Macy’s Grand Opening party. We’ve been successful in booking catering events directly from those types of events.

Are you always on the lookout for new events?
We’re to the point that we don’t go out to find events, they seem to find us!

“ I think that a lot of businesses that are struggling are going to have to embrace the “DoorDash 25%’ and try to make it work.”

Has the pandemic changed that?
Well, the events have changed. But as far as our marketing goes, things have stayed pretty much the same. In terms of the business, though, one of the biggest changes was our online ordering, and using services like DoorDash and GrubHub. I don’t know that we wold have tried them. But once the pandemic hit, we decided to try it and there was a two month period where DoorDash accounted for 75% of the business at our Cranberry location.

Has that fundamentally changed the way you do business?
DoorDash is here to stay. The younger people that we target really like it. It’s maybe 25% of our business right now. I don’t see it going away. Mobile ordering has dropped off, but it’ll come back. What I realized was that we need to grow to cover the additional costs of those delivery services so that we can achieve economies of scale. I think that a lot of businesses that are struggling are going to have to embrace the “DoorDash 25%’ and try to make it work.

So what’s next for Churn?
A few things. We’re going to continue to make new flavors of ice cream - that’s my passion! We recently added wedding catering, and that was doing very well pre-COVID. We still have weddings booked. We have brides asking if we can match the cake, or a specific flavor that they like, and as long as I can get a sample of the flavor I can usually turn it into an ice cream. So custom-made flavors will continue to be a large part of our business - we’ve made over 1,000 flavors to date!

We’re getting innovative on social media and we’ll continue to spend resources there, and we’re looking into franchising and seeing how that will work. But we’re taking our time, I want to vet potential franchisees and find people who are truly passionate about the business.

Get Your Dairy On:
Website: https://churngetsme.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homemadeicecreamandcoffee
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/churn_homemade/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/churn_homemade

Interview by: Eric Pursh