We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Coco Washington. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Coco below.

Coco, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

As a marketing professional of seven years, I’ve seen so many changes within marketing specifically social media marketing.

Here’s some 2024 trends that Brands can implement into their marketing:

Video marketing – Short form content, videos with subtitles and captions
Social media platform prioritizing content that entertains vs. sales
Content Creator economy and influencer marketing
Taking advantage of advertising
Internal app shopping like Tiktok shop and Instagram shop
Digital content series like podcast

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got started in marketing following graduating college in 2016. My degree is in Fashion Merchandising, and while in my junior year I interned at a fashion design company as their social media manager. When I graduated, the company reached out to me to come on full time to support with their social media marketing.

This was my first job after college and from here I began to navigate my career in marketing. After just over a year of working at the fashion design company and building their brand, I asked for a raise, and a couple weeks later I was laid off by email.

Having this door closed is when I decided to start my own marketing agency, Bomb and Bossy Marketing. I launched my business 30 days later. And did so, all while on unemployment from losing my job. I gave my 6 months to network and build my business. The money from unemployment, I used to invest in logos. brand photos, and a website.

Since launching in October of 2017 I’ve helped 1,000 businesses using social media to grow their Brands.

Bomb and Bossy Marketing offers: Consulting, social media management, campaign strategy, content creation, influencer management, online courses, and in-person workshops.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My story shows that when doors close new doors will not open. If I had not lost my job I will not be a successful business owner.

I also started when things were not perfect because I needed money to keep myself afloat. Since a kid I’ve always hustled. Rather it was doing hair in my room at 13 years old, or selling sun glasses. I always found ways to make money using my skills.

The common thing I hear all the time is that people and my clients is that they need things to be perfect before they start, and they overthink and get in their heads to the point they never get started. Being perfect is holding them back

When I launched my business, I didn’t have a perfect website. In fact, I didn’t have a website at all. I made a Facebook status letting my friends and family know that I just lost my job and I’m starting a business. All I had was a personal email, and I was referred my first client which was a BBQ sauce brand.

Get started with what you have and perfect it over time.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Thankfully because my business is digital there was not a lot of overhead cost to get started. My initial investments were things like, brand photos, website, logo design, flyers, business cards etc and I used my personal funds.

I would allocate about 10%-20% of a monthly income into my business.

This is a common practice with entrepreneurs to use personal funding to get started. So, saving your money and setting funds aside is a great way to fund your business.

Now that I’ve been in business for almost 6 years my goal is to expand. With expanding, I have a goal to get a physical office space to better serve my clients. To raise funding I will be going in the direction of applying for Grants, and small business loans.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bombandbossy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bombandbossymarketing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bombandbossymarketing
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/covanaw/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGW8a1OheBuKG2wAJX4qGA

Image Credits
Yes I have rights