Heute habe ich ein spannendes Interview mit Lindsey Holmes für Euch vorbereitet. Lindsey ist eine „self made business woman“. Ursprünglich war Sie als Hausmaklerin tätig, bevor Sie dann die sozialen Medien und das Internet Marketing zu Ihrem eigenen Vorteil nutzte und damit Ihr Business aufbaute.
Lindsey, please introduce yourself.
My name is Lindsey C. Holmes and I am owner of LCH Business SM & Tech, LLC, a boutique social media marketing firm based in Newark, NJ, with an office also in Washington, DC. We provide social media marketing, digital pr and mobile app servicing.
How did you get into internet marketing?
My previous business was a real estate brokerage. I was a young broker at 23 and had no startup capital at all. Marketing without a budget in New York City is pretty much impossible. I am very much so from the Web 2.0 coming of age, and telling my friends and their friends about my brokerage on Facebook and later Twitter seemed like a no-brainer. From the successes that I had with social media, I decided to explore SEO a little more and developed a nice vocabulary for SEO/ SMO. I have never advertised nor do I recommend that my clients advertise any place but online.
What are your most successful projects?
The „Status Is Everything“ campaign, an HIV/ AIDS awareness campaign based in Newark, NJ that received an award as ‘Best Urban Health Campaign’ at the World AIDS Conference in Austria, Vienna in 2010.
‘Against All Odds,’ a campaign for NJ’s Against All Odds Nonprofit Organization garnered national attention and got such endorsements as Gayle King, Rapper Big Boi, DJ Khaled, Producer Scott Storch and more. This campaign was even more successful as it was created on a very limited budget. Just shows the power of internet marketing!
What are the biggest challenges for your business over the next couple years?
Remaining current and keeping up with the quick learning curve. I love this technology and love to see it grow, but innovation is always a challenge. A welcomed one, nonetheless, but a challenge.
And where do you see the best opportunities?
We have carved a niche in social justice and health campaigns. I can see these industries looking to internet and social marketing before traditional marketing forms, as there are finally case studies that demonstrate the significance. Always hard to demonstrate success without case studies, but we finally have them!
Is there anything you would do differently?
No. I have had a tough time as a new business in a new industry, but who doesn’t? I have survived, lived to tell the story, and am reaping the benefits of not only innovation, but passion and acute understanding of it. The immense amount of teaching and fighting to prove the validity of my industry has made me a thought leader and allowed me to love it that much more.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
‘Tell your story.’ A mentor told me that as I searched for words during a speech once. She yelled out, ‘Tell your story.’ Those words have always resonated with me. Though simple, she was telling me to be natural, to be myself, and to be true to myself so that I may affect someone else. I have used this mantra in my business ever since, to help my clients create natural, fluid and evocative campaigns. Internet marketing is about transparency. People want to hear your story. My dad also always says, ‘no deal is better than a bad deal,’ which I also adore. That advice is the still small voice inside of me that says this client is ready, walk away.
What are the most valuable hints you would give someone who is just starting out?
Be prepared to fail. Failure is all about growth and learning and change. Failure is only bad if you don’t take away any of these things. However, ‘failing’ because you are unprepared, uninformed or not resourceful is unacceptable and there is nothing good that can come from these traits. You must be do whatever you can to be a thought leader in your industry. The internet gives us the tools to do so.
Any secrets hands-on information you can share with our readers (e.g. great website, book, training, source …)?
Evernote is an amazing productivity tool that has literally changed the way I do business, live and breathe! At the very basic, it’s a note taking tool. Like Microsoft’s One Note, but so much better. There is text recognition, storage, apps across platforms – even mobile and web, and it gives you the ability to categorize through notebooks (folders) and tags. My firm is totally paperless and I can access anything I need at the drop of a dime. I also use Evernote as a distribution tool. There are shared notebooks with RSS and a new feature, the ability to share notes socially. I’m a big fan of productivity and think that it is INTEGRAL to running and maintaining a business. Check out my shared notebook – http://lch.bz/LCHShared.
What are your preferred information sources about the internet marketing world?
– My blog – http://lch.bz/LCHBuzz
– Read Write Web (I used to read Jolie Odell’s articles daily)
– Social Media – www.Mashable.com
Anything else you would like to point out?
Only, that you should love what you do. Anything is simply a waste of your time. Note, however, that this will be a much harder job, simply because you love it. It’s worth it though!
Thank you Lindsey, for these insights!
Website – www.LCHBusiness.com
Twitter – @lindseycholmes
Facebook – www.Facebook.com/LCHBusiness
