Consulting Services
You’ve poured your heart and soul into your small business. But all of that hard work doesn’t mean customers are automatically going to knock down your door, spend countless hours on your website, or become your “#1 fan” on Facebook. For that to happen, you have to have a plan—a badass plan.
And that’s where Shawn comes in. He leverages his background working with small businesses and startups to help you craft and execute your marketing and brand strategy. Based on your unique business needs, you can choose from the following menu of services:
- Idea Generation
- helping you brainstorm the possibilities but without all of those sleepless nights
- Strategic Planning
- gaining a deep understanding of your competition and knowing just where to take your shots
- Naming
- crafting an identity for your small business that is sure to make you beam like a proud parent
- Go-to-market strategy
- moving past just having a great idea to successfully bringing that bad boy to market
Branding
Being Your Badass Self
- Benchmarking
- knowing what your competition is up to long before they’re able to sneak up and bite you in the butt
- Content Generation
- telling your story in a way that will knock your customers shoes and socks clean off
- Social Media Strategy
- creating compelling content your followers will actually want to hear (and respond to)
- Customer Focus Groups
- collecting the feedback you’ll need to help your business evolve and adapt
Marketing
Telling Your Badass Story
What you can expect from the process »
Each engagement starts with a conversation. From the get go, Shawn wants to make sure he understands where you are and where you want to go and that you’re both on the same page about what it will take to get you there.
Find out how Shawn’s consulting services can work for you.
Results Achieved »
GreenerExpressions
Problem:
GreenerExpressions wanted to build a strong following on Facebook and Twitter to help promote GreenerPittsburgh.com, the region’s first online marketplace for green products and services. They were looking for some expertise to help them develop and execute their social media strategy.
Solution:
- Facebook & Twitter strategy, content development, execution, and interaction management
- Engagement also involved content generation for their website, sales collateral, and blog
Results:
- 336% increase in Facebook Followers (45 to 151); 50% increase in Facebook Followers (45 to 91) which has occurred before the official launch of their online marketplace
- 67 New Likes (415% increase); 42,792 post views (22,906% increase); 209 post feedback (20,800% increase)
- (2 Twitter followers as of 9/22/11)
Bright Innovation
Problem:
Bright Innovation was generating some really interesting content for their blog and podcasts but they weren’t seeing a significant increase in traffic to their website or much traction via social media. They wanted to use their content to reach new customers and help grow their business and were looking for some fresh ideas that would help them generate some buzz.
Solution:
Provided strategic direction for blog content generation which includes blog format and editing
Results:
- 295% increase in Tweets (57 total tweets on 11 posts when we didn’t work on together; 168 total tweets on 11 posts we did work on together); client provided the content, I edited blog titles, format, and content
- Client was averaging about 200-300 views per month, now at 700-900
- In 2010 client averaged 2.3 posts per month (around .5 per week); in 2011 client is averaging 10 posts per month (just a shade under 2 posts per week) 4x last year’s rate (also four times the readers)
“Brilliant and creative! Shawn brings his enthusiasm and great communication skills to everything he does. He is genuinely fun to work with and I always look forward to communicating with him and seeing his latest work. He is incredibly knowledgeable about careers and communication. His engagement makes everyone around him better. Find a reason to work with him. You will want to work with him again in the future.”
Resunate
Problem:
Resunate was getting ready to launch a new product targeting the higher education sector. Although they had much of their content already developed, they were having a difficult time articulating what made their product really stand out.
Solution:
- Refined marketing materials to identify and articulate unique aspects of their product
- Provided direction for go-to-market strategy and product launch including identifying potential marketing opportunities and providing coaching around how to position and sell their product
Results:
“Shawn has been a great sounding board and advisor to Careerimp as we developed our business and marketing strategy for Resunate.com In several situations, Shawn's insights into the career space helped navigate us to see more fruitful results with our marketing efforts and guide us in product development. He has an incredibly well-tuned ear and eye for marketing and I highly recommend Shawn as a consultant to start-ups.”
Marty’s Market
Problem:
Marty’s Market was looking to create a unique grocery store concept from scratch, including naming and story development and do so under an aggressive deadline.
Solution:
- Participated in a brainstorming session to identify naming options that reflect store concept and resonate with potential consumers
- Provided story development and imagery that will be used in future meetings with private investors
Results:
“I love the imagery you sent me while you were gone. It's fantastic inspiration which I used much more than you know.”
CandidCareer.com
Problem:
CandidCareer.com was entering the higher education sector with a web-based video application. They were looking for strategies that would help them drive sales and grow their business.
Solution:
Provided direction for redesign of brochure, including recommendations to help drive sales (refining client testimonials and overall content, adding a clear call to action, and effectively highlighting unique product features)
Results:
“I recently met Shawn at a demo of our product, CandidCareer.com He followed up with me shortly after my demo and offered his advice/consultation on improving our marketing collateral as well as other aspects of our website. You could tell Shawn was very excited about our product and wanted to help us succeed in a marketplace that he knew a lot about. His advice/consultation was much needed and helped us to make decisions in the right direction for our marketing strategy. It was a pleasure working with him and I am sure we will be reaching out to him again for his expert advice. Shawn is a great guy and very personable! I would definitely recommend his services to others.”