We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Seth Flora. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Seth below.
Alright, Seth thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
When I first started getting serious about making my business idea a reality I went to the local Small Business Development Center in Springfield, Ohio for help. One of the things that my business coach, Chuck, helped me with was coming up with a name. We thought and threw ideas out there until one stuck – LEO Digital Marketing. We thought that the LEO should stand for something other than just a word. Chuck came up with the idea of Leading Edge Opportunities. Which has also doubled as a guiding principle and goal for what we offer out clients.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I got my start in digital marketing in a different way than most. In 2017 my Aunt found an online course on how to start a Facebook ads company. She shared that course with me and we had decided initially to start the agency together. After a few weeks of the course, she decided that it wasn’t something she could see herself doing full-time. I felt the opposite. I loved the idea! But I didn’t do much with the knowledge and skills I had learned until mid-2018 when I was asked to join a local political campaign as the social media manager. During that campaign, I was able to create engaging Facebook and Instagram content and run targeted ads. I knew then that I wanted to do this full-time. Later that year I decided to go to my local Small Business Development Center for help and guidance on starting my own digital marketing agency.
I officially launched my agency in 2019 with the goal of helping small businesses be seen online to attract new customers. Since then I have evolved my business to offer social media, SEO, web design, and branding along with a new mission with the goal of taking businesses from ordinary to extraordinary.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I first started LEO one of my personal goals was to make enough and be big enough to need an office space. In 2022 I was able to get that office in the heart of my downtown. After a few months, I realized that office space wasn’t the great thing that I thought it would be. I found out that my team and I all prefer working from home and the flexibility that provides. So, we left the office. I had to make that pivot and change the way we were doing business for something that would work better for us.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Growing my client base has been the most challenging part of running my agency. I’ve tried cold calling, cold emailing, strategic drop-ins, LinkedIn messaging, targeted ads, and attended networking events. Out of those the most effective has been the networking events mixed with strategic drop-ins. But, I’ve found that by using all of these strategies in a coordinated way I’ve been able to build a brand that is recognizable and trusted which makes our sales process much easier.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.visitleo.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/visitleo
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/visitleo