We were lucky to catch up with Lauren Marturano recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I love the meaning behind our name here at Zinnia. I have always been passionate about building relationships and the immense power of human connection. I also really just love flowers. Zinnia is one of the fastest growing and most resilient flowers in the world because of the way it cross-pollinates, creating hundreds of unique beautiful variations. At Zinnia, we help connect people through their unique individuality to cross-pollinate ideas, grow faster and be more resilient.

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.

I am a recovering corporate employee after spending 7 years between Microsoft and Salesforce in Enterprise B2B sales. I loved both companies and experiences, but I knew I wanted to build something from the ground up.

While in sales, I went above and beyond to get to know my clients and their businesses. I read 150+ page 10ks and Annual Reports to understand the company’s priorities, and equally as important, how their executives are incentivized and compensated. I would search my prospects on social media, on music and book platforms, in the news, and on LinkedIn. I would listen to their podcasts and read their blogs. Knowing who the individuals I was selling to on a deeper level meant that I could find the right solution for them and their personal and professional goals.

At Zinnia, we take all of the data that I spent hundreds of hours pulling together and put it into a single pane of glass, digestible in 5 minutes or less. We not only offer the data, but turn it into knowledge by providing actionable insights to sellers to accelerate deal velocity and increase close rates.

We are customer obsessed. Zinnia has gone through changes and iterations, specifically because we have listened to what our customers want. I am proud of our team’s agility to adapt and passion for building something people love.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Right when I launched Zinnia, our lead investor told me that I needed a better online presence. I needed to build a brand on LinkedIn. If I am entirely honest, I thought it was silly and time consuming at first. Now, my personal LinkedIn has been our #1 source of leads and clients.

I follow a simple playbook:
-Post three times a week
-One post should be focused on your business, the other two are within an area you are passionate about
-Always include a picture (the algorithm loves this)
-Ask engaging questions
-Respond to every comment

The biggest piece of advice is to be yourself. At first, I tried to emulate what I thought I should be, what I should post, and it felt inauthentic. As soon as I started cracking my silly jokes and being myself, my following took off. Authenticity first and always.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

The Mom Test. Atlanta Ventures lives by this book and there is good reason. It’s all about how to do proper customer discovery so you can build something people love and want to pay for.

Contact Info:

• Website: getzinnia.ai
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getzinnia/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-marturano/