We recently connected with Channing Muller and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Channing , thanks for joining us today. Almost every entrepreneur we know has considered donating a portion of their sales to an organization or cause – how did you make the decision of whether to donate? We’d love to hear the backstory if you’re open to sharing the details.
Every year I allocate between 7 and 10% of revenue to the American Heart Association. As a heart attack survivor (x2!), I want to help prevent more people from walking the path that I have. It took about two months after my episodes, which occurred one month apart, for me to feel comfortable sharing my experience with others.
That’s when I reached out to AHA for the first time looking for ways to get involved. It began with speaking engagements and personal fundraising before I had DCM Communications. Then a few years ago I decided to tie my personal and professional brands a little tighter to really take advantage of the biggest platform I can have to spread awareness.
Over the years, that partnership between AHA and DCM has grown through my volunteer efforts, public speaking, board positions, and continued fundraising at increasing levels as DCM becomes more successful.
Channing , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Let me start by saying, I did NOT set out to be an entrepreneur and yet now I cannot imagine my life any other way. I got into the communications industry via journalism. My first post-college position had me writing about the world of live events including corporate, conferences, nonprofits, trade shows, association fundraisers, etc. I knew nothing about events, but a lot about editorial after years of being a published writer.
As my career continued, I moved from the editorial side of media to the advertising side creating and running campaigns for clients in various digital publications around the country.
In an effort to expand my professional experience, I took a position at a large tech company working in marketing. As I left each role though, the chance for freelance work continued. Writing, advertising design & strategy, sales…. “Hmm,” I thought. “There is a business somewhere in there.” So DCM Communications came to be!
After a few years in corporate I took the additional marketing experience gained there and made DCM my full time focus. That’s when the key question came to the forefront:
What makes DCM different from any other marketing agency?
The answer came to me quickly: I know events. So I decided to focus on providing marketing consulting and full agency services to event professionals – planners, venues, entertainment companies, caterers, etc.
Since then we’ve grown to also work with small business owners in any industry. What connects all of our client work is this:
Ensuring marketing connects to sales.
You can have the best brand, content or campaign in the world, but if that marketing doesn’t connect to a sales strategy, it is worthless. So I offer sales coaching to clients so they ALWAYS know the next step to convert a lead to a client.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
There are a few ways I do it that can be tailored to other businesses easily:
- Personal attention. When I am talking with a client, I focus on them. I don’t want them to feel like one in a series of 10 people I am trying to service at once, but rather I am focused on their projects and their questions when we are on a meeting or call. Personal service makes a difference.
- Email marketing. I am always working on more education for clients and prospects a like. When it’s’ live, it goes to clients first – always! I may not be able to call or personally email each week, but this ensures I am staying in touch in some fashion with new insights for them, even if we aren’t under a contract currently.
- To that last point, I send over referrals and leads whenever I come across one that could benefit them. I may not be the one to nurture it all the way through the way I would for a paying client, but I will always provide the introduction.
- Social media engagement. Anyone can “like” a post and keep going. That will have your name getting lost in the masses. Instead, when I go to any platform, I make sure to comment, react, reply or offer feedback to what clients are sharing. It only takes a few seconds yet truly helps demonstrate that I am here for them and paying attention. Plus, once you start to engage the algorithm will show them more often so you don’t have to scroll as much to find.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
I think the most obvious answer to this is providing great results for whatever they are engaging with me on. Whether it’s coaching, branding, website design & dev, lead generation or anything else, I deliver on what I promise they will get. That both helps keep my turnover low (#brandloyalty) and increases the likelihood they refer me to others. Client referrals are always BALLER leads.
Now, let’s get a little more specific. I am a HUGE believer in content marketing. Whether life and business are busy, or a bit slower, I continue to put my thoughts, research and perspective out into the world and encourage my clients to do the same, particularly the service-based businesses. Sometimes it elicits immediate replies and business, other times it’s further down the line. Either way, creating and sharing content helps narrow the leads to be more qualified than with advertising or referrals alone.
This is perfectly illustrated by the number of emails or meetings I get that start, “So I’ve been reading/watching your stuff for a while, and now I’m ready.” Not everyone will love my process or methods of teaching & coaching, but there will never be a question of where I stand on my approach.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dcmcommunications.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dcmcommunications/