Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nicole Conway. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nicole, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I founded Conway Marketing Group after working in healthcare marketing on the client side, mostly focusing on B2B, for my entire career. Even when I first started in marketing, I always knew that I wanted to start my own agency, but I knew that I had to have the experience and network first to be able to do so successfully. I had fantastic mentors throughout my career who knew that this was my ultimate goal, but it took some hard work, learning, time and life changes for me to finally take the leap.

In January 2020, after nearly 20 years in healthcare marketing, I launched my business as a corporation of one (me). My first client was my previous employer, AMN Healthcare. From there, I built my business organically, client by client and employee by employee. I also set out from the beginning to build an all-remote marketing agency, with workers who are trusted and empowered to do their best work. The silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic for us was the fact that I didn’t have to legitimize my remote work concept to clients—it was just accepted as natural from the get-go.

This way of operating allowed me to take everything from my past experience and empowered me to do my best work for our clients, since there were no investors to please. It’s produced outstanding results for clients, who happily give us referrals. It also let me build the kind of company that I wanted to work for my entire corporate career. I’m a working mom of three, and my husband and children are so important to me—but my career and passion for marketing is also right up there. I needed to build a company that allowed me the space and creativity to perform my best in both roles: Mom and Marketing Maven!

Nicole, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Conway Marketing Group’s mission is to deliver strategic marketing solutions that connect brands to their purpose. Our core values are as follows: “Lead with integrity. Partner with authenticity. Work smart and hard. Innovate through curiosity. Exceptional is the rule.” We want to compel our clients to think differently, position themselves authentically, and innovate successfully to deliver on the promises they made to themselves and their audience. In other words, we move brands forward.

When I was building Conway Marketing Group’s internal structure, I wanted to make sure I hired the people who made our company the first call when clients had a business challenge. That’s why we’ve evolved into a completely full-service marketing agency, with the best of the industry providing support for every channel a client could possibly need to utilize. You can learn more about our process and everything we do for our clients here: https://www.conwaymarketinggroup.com/services/

But as far as how I personally got into marketing…that was sort of an accident. When I first graduated from college, I thought I was going to be a teacher. I had even been accepted into the Teach for America program, but I started working as an entry-level marketing analyst at MedImpact Healthcare Systems in San Diego, partly out of curiosity and partly as a “for now” job.

It was a tough decision when it came time for me to decide which path I was going to follow, but after some time in that job, I realized I had fallen in love with marketing.

What helped was the fact that right away, I had an amazing mentor at MedImpact in Dale Brown, who is now the CEO of Conway Marketing client FrictionlessMED. He brought me under his wing and allowed me the space to find projects to work on, figure out messaging, and come up with a few creative ideas along the way. I became involved in projects and campaigns that were way above my pay grade. When I was hired, I was the only “fresh out of college” marketer on the team at the time—and most new grad hires at the company had a background as a pharmacist! Eventually, MedImpact built a new college graduate hiring program for roles beyond pharmacists; there are people in various business roles still working at MedImpact who started through that program 20+ years ago.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Conway Marketing Group was originally going to be an events marketing company, because I have always loved event marketing. But, in my third month of operation, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In-person events were no longer a thing, and they are still not back to what they once were. So, we had to pivot. Quickly.

We originally pivoted to a digital marketing focus, but then as time went on and as project demand grew, I realized that given my background and our flexibility in hiring talent nationwide, we could be a full-service marketing agency providing brand strategy, websites, creative, SEO/SEM, content, public relations, digital advertising, CRM (HubSpot), and social media. That pivot from events allowed us to be even more than what I imagined we could be at the beginning.

We do manage events now, but it’s more in the context of delivering omnichannel marketing services. Events are simply one of many channels a brand can use to promote or execute on a strategic goal. We know, as do our clients, that marketing goals must always be based on business goals and business strategy, which should inform our marketing channel strategy—and because we were forced to change our business strategy in the beginning due to COVID-19, today we provide marketing services across all of the major marketing channels for clients nationwide.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Almost all of our clients have come from my personal relationships and LinkedIn. We have seen that those two lead sources are particularly successful for our B2B clients as well. LinkedIn is especially useful in how it allows an interplay between your personal and professional brand.

I recommend focusing organically on how you position yourself (your personal brand) and your company’s brand on LinkedIn by posting regularly, educating and engaging with your customers and partners and industry leaders, making strategic connections, etc. And then, as time goes on, layer in an investment in paid advertising through the platform focused on promoting your services via education and information, in order to segment and attract your key client demographic. The algorithm that prioritizes content in peoples’ feeds is always changing, of course, so I always recommend partnering with an expert to keep up to date and accomplish your strategic goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.conwaymarketinggroup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conwaymarketinggroup/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conwaymarketinginc | @conwaymarketinginc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conway-marketing-group-inc/

Image Credits
Conway Marketing Group