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

Hi Beth, thanks for joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Advertising Agencies have a bad rep from inflated retainer fees, marked up billable hours and not really caring about the clients needs. I started the PLM Agency on the opposite values, NO retainer fees, we do not charge billable hours, and we ONLY care about our clients success! Our Mission statement is a quote from good old Teddy Roosevelt~ People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. I truly believe this and we follow this every day, in every contact, email and phone call.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Well, to simply state how I started the Advertising agency… I was fired. haha. I worked at Hubbard Radio Phoenix as a sales rep for about 5 years and loved, loved my clients. My managers would ask me, “why do you fight so hard for these low rates,?” My answer, I want this to work for my client. I would be reminded by the higher ups, that I don’t work for my clients, I work for Hubbard, my reply was always no, I work for my clients! December 15th 2017, after a good fight of beating to my own drum and telling corporate America I am not going to conform to your ways, I was let go. It was shocking because I was the # 1 local direct rep and had such good relations with my core group of clients for the past 5 years. That day I reached out to a couple of them to explain what happened and before I could even make a plan on what to do next, THEY told me, ” you need to open your own agency” and on January 3rd 2018 The PLM Agency was born, 2 weeks later my clients called the radio station that let me go and said Beth, will be buying our radio from here on out, 2 weeks later the biggest account I had, called me and asked me if I could represent them not only here in Phoenix but across the nation! One year later I was buying a placing media in Canada! 4years later we still have everyone of our clients that came on board with me in 2018! IT’s really a love affair, I love them so much and so grateful for their trust and loyalty. It’s been a wild ride and we are still on, and I am thankful everyday I did not conform to corporate America rules that I did not agree with. It is a true Jerry Maguire story, less clients more relationships.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

From the beginning I’ve stayed true to my beliefs, taking care of people, business owners, marketing directors, really anyone that crosses my path that I can help. Starting the Agency was never scary for me, I was excited at the endless possibilities that came with being your own boss, no budgets, corporate guidelines, or having to try and sell people things they do not need. I would be able to help my clients get as much as they can with their advertising budget and have the power to place it on all media platforms that made sense for them not just one radio group! I took on my clients marketing needs like their business was my own, I worked day and night, I negotiated dollars on commercial spots, my vendors didn’t know where I ended & my client began, we were as one, and wouldn’t have it any other way. We have not tried to bring more clients on to the PLM Agency in the last 4 years, we 100% invest into our core group of companies we represent and use our energy to build our relationships and maximize every dollar they give us to bring in ROI. In 2020 ALL of our advertisers pulled off for months, instead of moving on to new business, we rolled up our sleeves and put them on blast, we added PR to our agency and obtained our clients, ( who weren’t spending) News segments on TV stations, magazines, free radio campaigns across the US and support and love. We fought the fight with them, along their side and it was amazing! Of course all our clients made it through the hard times and are back stronger than ever and so are we! I was so inspired by the grind, I made a podcast! Check it out at BOSSBIZTALK,COM

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

My clients have become my best friends, when you work along side a team of amazing people AND you make friends from it… nothing better. I am so grateful for all the EXTRA in my life being able to have these awesome people, not only trust me with their business but include me in their personal lives, My children are older and because of the relationships built over the years, I now get to be aunty Beth to a group of beautiful babies and I will never take that for granted! On the loyalty note~ we have turned away business from new clients approaching us, I do want the PLM Agency to be known as the #1 fast & furious off road industry agency and we are getting there… so much that direct competitors of our existing clients, know us and want our help, but we stay loyal to the people who have been loyal to us, even if that means saying no to more $$. Loyalty is key for any successful relationship, biz or personal!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theplmagency.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePLMAgency/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theplmagency
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
beth hommel