We caught up with the talented and insightful Suzanne Jameson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Suzanne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One deeply underappreciated facet of being a service provider is the kind of crazy stuff that happens from time to time. It could be anything from a disgruntled client attacking an employee or waking up to find out a celebrity gave you a shoutout on TikTok – the sudden, unexpected hits (both positive and negative) make the profession both exhilarating and exhausting. Can you share one of your craziest stories?
As the owner of a marketing and public relations agency, I have learned over the years that every project is unique and things, like in life, can happen. One of my most favorite projects was a wildly successful launch that almost didn’t get off the ground due to a simple online glitch.
In 2014, still relatively new to the Phoenix metro area, I was contacted by the franchise owner of an innovative S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program for kids. While he had been in business for over a year, he was not getting any enrollments for his summer camps featuring fun hands-on classes for ages 7 to 14.
It was less than two months before the first weekly camp was set to begin. The dilemma? Getting registrations for summer camps that had almost zero visibility in a very competitive market. We needed to get the word out – fast – to create a buzz.
The major plus to this project was the creative aspect of the camps which introduce kids to the principles of S.T.E.M. through super cool activities like Sumobot (toy robot) battles, computer programming, and much more.
I developed a “blitz” marketing plan consisting of press releases, open houses, email marketing, social media, and communications with businesses near where the camps were to be held. We even had a Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting. The more the merrier! We needed to reach as many families as possible in a short amount of time.
The first order of business was getting some press. Working with an editor at a major Arizona publication I lucked out (that’s a technical term – LOL!) by scoring an excellent business profile piece, which also promoted the first open house event. I knew, however, that we still needed something to set the camps apart from other programs in the area.
I had an idea. Two years prior I had assisted with a large Arizona Centennial conference and ran a Facebook contest where people could send in historical photos to be voted on. The image with the most votes became the conference program cover. While we didn’t receive many submissions, it created wonderful organic (meaning nonpaid) social media engagement.
Could this work again? I decided to run a contest on the camp’s Facebook page where parents could submit photos of their child’s Lego or science project to be entered to win a week of camp. The photo with the most “likes” and “shares” would be declared the winner on social media. The contest was picked up by a few local publications and entries started rolling in.
Before long, we had parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends sharing entries on Facebook (the mother of the winning entrant shared her son’s Lego masterpiece 217 times!). Based on the enthusiastic response, the business owner started running Facebook ads. We were getting traction!
(FYI: I have a feeling that some of the dads and moms created the submissions – but that’s OK, we’ll never tell. Wink, wink.)
We also held two well-attended open houses for families with S.T.E.M. activities for kids and their parents. Everything was going beautifully, except that registrations were not coming in. What was going on???
In a brilliant move, the franchise owner decided to check the backend of the enrollment website. There were tons of abandoned shopping carts. People had been trying to register but they weren’t getting through! He had discovered a glitch in the online system.
Once the problem was fixed, we were able to download a report with the contact information for the abandoned carts. I made calls to advise parents of the problem, and registrations started coming in. I was then able to book the business on a popular morning TV show, and the owner had his first 10K sales day. It didn’t hurt that the NBC station also tweeted a photo of the segment.
The Moral of This (Marketing) Story: Always, I repeat, ALWAYS, test your website check-out. Your online sales process needs to be bullet-proof. Ever since this happened, I’ve had every client check their system prior to promoting a product, service, or event. You would be surprised at how many times errors occur in this uber important part of the sales process.
So, you can run a fabulous campaign, but if people can’t easily purchase what you have to offer, your company may be missing out on sales.
In the end, this business became one of the most successful summer camp franchises in the country. Kids and their parents love the program, the camps are now located throughout the Phoenix metro area, and the owner is now featured regularly on local TV networks.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My company, Jameson & Associates, provides creative integrated marketing and PR solutions to small businesses and nonprofits, and backend project support to corporations. Since 2014, we’ve obtained over 100 earned media (free) TV segments for clients, as well as over 350 published articles in local and national publications.
What sets us apart is that we work (hard!) to provide the highest quality services at affordable rates. Our clients are provided with updates and detailed reporting to keep us accountable, and to let them know where their marketing dollars are going. We won’t even take on a project unless we feel we can provide an excellent result. We truly care about helping businesses succeed.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Wow, what a great question. Social media is such an interesting animal, and there are so many ways to build an audience. One thing I’ve done with Facebook pages I manage, is to share content on targeted Facebook group pages. This can help increase the reach of a page and build followers at the same time without the need for running expensive ads. For example, on a history page I manage, I sometimes share posts that I feel are particularly compelling into groups with a high amount of followers (200K or more). Then I will invite those who have liked the shared post to follow the page. I’ve been able to dramatically increase page followers organically by doing this.
I also cannot stress enough the importance of responding to post comments. Social media is all about engagement, and responding in a timely manner shows courtesy. If someone has taken the time to make a comment on a post, be sure to take the time to promptly respond in kind. It can be a simple “thank you,” but take a moment to communicate. You’d be surprised at how quickly you can build your audience by simply engaging with others.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
This is such a silly story (and one I’ve posted about before) but it still makes me smile. Oh, the things you end up doing when you work in marketing and PR! I was the marketing and communications director of a Santa Fe nonprofit in 2008. We were hosting an art auction fundraiser, and I was trying to get the attention of reporters at the city’s largest publication to get some pre-publicity and possibly get them to cover the event.
Well, NO ONE was returning my calls. I decided to stop by their offices to personally introduce myself and drop off invitations. When I got there the place was empty! I tiptoed around and stumbled upon their mailboxes and dropped off the invites. I realized later that I could have gotten into trouble for this, but all’s well that ends well. We had a successful auction, and they DID cover the event.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.jamesonassociates.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzannegjameson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjamesonmarketing
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-jameson-ba00944/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jameson_suzanne
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jamesonassociates-marketin9985
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/jameson-and-associates-phoenix
- Other: https://www.alignable.com/catalina-foothills-az/jameson-associates
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Everardo Keeme, Facebook Contest Flyer: Suzanne Jameson, Other photos: Brandon Tigrett