[quote style=”boxed”]Make marketing part of your every day activities. You want it to be second nature to see the opportunities that are presented to you each day![/quote]
Angela Daffron leads Social Velocity Group after years of experience in the marketing departments of Fortune 500 companies. Early in the life-cycle of social media Angela realized the marketing importance and jumped in to learn all she could about the new media. She has led campaigns for several Fortune 500 companies, as well as, small businesses.
In 2007, Angela transformed tragedy into triumph after the stalking murder of a family friend in Kansas. Utilizing social media Angela successfully lobbied for legislative change in Kansas and New Mexico before officially launching Jodi’s Voice as a charity to increase stalking awareness and provide services for stalking victims.
Angela’s ability to build communities & effectively communicate her client’s messages as led many of her clients to achieve sales increases of more than 50%. Her work has garnered national publicity from outlets like Today Show, Entrepreneur Magazine, USA Today, New York Times, Fox News, CNN, America’s Most Wanted, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight and Discovery Channel. She is also a regular guest speaker for the National Crime Victims Center and the National Institute of Crime Prevention.
Angela received a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Marketing from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. Angela’s most recent project is Soul Models. Soul Models combines stories of women who have overcome challenge to create change.
What are you working on right now?
I work to guide small businesses through the online marketing process while I assist stalking victims with Jodi’s Voice and tell the stories of amazing people at Soul Models.
Where did the idea for Jodi’s Voice come from?
I always wanted to work for myself and helps many different companies with marketing. I truly love marketing so I get an adrenaline rush from having a new hurdle with each organization.
Jodi’s Voice was started out of tragedy. Jodi Sanderholm was a family friend who was murdered in January 2007 by her stalker. At the time of her murder, court records indicate the killer had been stalking almost 20 other women and the police knew. Law enforcement’s hands were tied due to the way the laws were written so I first worked to change the laws in KS (where Jodi was killed) and NM ( where I lived at the time) before officially launching Jodi’s Voice to increase stalking awareness and provide services for victims.
Soul Models was inspired by Jodi’s Voice. My partner Elizabeth Bryan and I was working to find and tell the stories of other’s who have overcame a challenge with change to help many!
What does your typical day look like?
Very un-typical! I am not sure I have a typical day. I get up and start working by 6am and end sometime between 7-10pm depending on the day.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I think too many people get caught up in how will they do it and forget to just do it!
What’s one trend that really excites you?
The web has given everyone a voice! I love that!
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
While I went to school I did business sales for MCI. However, they paid for my school, I made great money and learned incredible sales skills!
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
I would work on my own marketing more. I still leave this on the back burner too much! Marketing for other people is just more fun!
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Keep learning!
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I think cash flow is always tough when starting a new business. I would work sooner with a finance person.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Make marketing part of your every day activities. You want it to be second nature to see the opportunities that are presented to you each day! If you aren’t able to do it on your own…hire a coach.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and how would you go about it?
The general understanding about stalking. It isn’t talked about enough and too often made to be a joke in our society. It is a crime though and affects more than 3.4 million people in the US alone each year. That is more than the number of people living with HIV and breast cancer combined! By the way, it does not always start from a dating relationship either.
What are your three favorite online tools or resources and what do you love about them?
Hootsuite allows me to monitor many accounts at one time.
Google has some great tools available for free to determine active keywords and monitor ROI.
Wordpress because they make site changes (and development in some cases) so easy.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Unmarketing by Scott Straten because it is straight forward no BS truths about marketing.
Three people we should follow on Twitter and why?
@MargieClaymon share great articles on marketing and business while throwing in great causes
@MarkCollier is the founder of #BlogChat and a wealth of blogging information
@MariaShriver tweets some great inspirational stories
When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?
Yesterday, when my little dog got spooked by a bird in the tree.
Who is your hero?
My daughter. She has dealt with a lot between losing a friend to a stalking murder and just three short years later dealing with her mother being stalked and threats to her own life by the stalker. She is a strong young woman!
What is the biggest problem you see with marketing consultants today?
Marketing does not have a one-size fits all solution. It should be customized for the individual business and it’s own goals. Too often I am seeing marketers claim to help small businesses and really take advantage of them with little customization to their own goals and businesses.
What would you like everyone to take away from your interview?
Everyone has something they care about. Take a stand and make a difference. You can create change with something as simple as sharing a charity’s updates on your social media pages to increase their reach. Just do something.
Connect:
Angela Daffron on Twitter: @AngelaDaffron
Angela Daffron on Facebook:
Angela Daffron on LinkedIn:
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.