We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Audrey Coates a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Audrey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

When you hear about developing a business, you always hear about the background of developing the initial idea, the long-sleepless nights, and usually an inspiring quote to motivate you on your own journey. But we rarely hear about the first client that truly took a chance.

At Custom Digital Solutions, our very first client was a magazine for the local animal shelter. I was introduced to them by a co-worker that came across an advertisement online stating they needed help with social.

I reached out and introduced myself – it was the most exhilarating experience. Their team communicated to me that efforts from my side would start as more of a volunteer position, so we started off small and pro-bono. We ran organic social media posts quarterly for them. After 6-months of very hard work, the magazine gained enough traction to pay for digital upload as well as social media strategy.

I remember getting the phone call, I was stuck in traffic on the Ravenel bridge when my contact at the magazine reached out and asked what monthly rates would be. I was so excited I didn’t even realize my commute time tripled. From there, they referred me to several of my long-term clients. If it weren’t for them trusting me, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Audrey, 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?

I took the very first job that I was offered out of university as a support specialist for a real estate CRM company in Charleston, South Carolina. My hours were grueling 11-hour shifts and I was being shouted at almost every single day by clients who experienced issues with the software. I knew that I didn’t want to be a support specialist for very long, so I picked up an internship on the side as a social media specialist with a style magazine. I never knew when I accepted the social media internship that it would be the true start of my career. My boss was amazing and she encouraged me to truly make the most of the experience. I remember the day I quit my job as a support specialist – I knew I was never looking back.

I then started working at a marketing agency – I was a sales representative, and I was not very good at my job. I hated sales so much. I would talk to business owners of local mom-and-pop shops that barely had budgets and I would try to convince them to invest more in their businesses. More than what I knew they would see an ROI for. It just didn’t feel right. That’s where the concept of Custom Digital Solutions, LLC truly started.

I wanted to create a space for small to medium-sized businesses to get the same quality of digital marketing as large businesses while working within their budgets. I wanted to make an honest impact with their investment. This core value is what sets us apart from other agencies in the Charleston area.

Over the years we have refined our services and narrowed in on our specialties. We focus the most on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), followed by paid advertising, and social media strategy. I am most proud of the SEO side of our business. We have worked very hard to maintain our core value in helping small to medium-sized businesses, while also expanding as a partner agency to other companies in the area that don’t currently offer SEO.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Honesty and very hard work helped build my reputation within the Charleston area. I was not afraid to speak up if a strategy needed to pivot, and I made sure I introduced myself to other business owners. These elements of boldness are what helped create trust between myself and others who have referred clients to me over the years.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Challenges always arise, and no one is perfect. I learned the hard way that I have to always keep my eye on all accounts and constantly check-in, then double-check again. There was one time where a client credit card somehow got merged between three different ad accounts. I still to this day do not know how these wires were crossed. I cried for hours behind the scenes while trying to ensure my clients felt heard. I remember staying up until 3 AM with a Google Ad Representative who was trying to help me get everything resolved. The situation ultimately got ironed out, but at the moment I thought it was the end of my business and long-standing reputation.

The clients were all very impressed by how the situation was handled, and how quickly it was resolved. I learned that day how to control my anxiety and to put processes in place to ensure this did not happen again in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://customdigitalsolutions.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/customdigital_llc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CustomDigitalSolutionsLLC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/custom-digital-solutions-llc/

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