People often ask me how I ended up running Boot Camp Digital. You can find my official bio here, but I wanted to take a moment to share the story of how I ended up here.
I started my career at Procter and Gamble (P&G) Canada (yes, I am Canadian, don’t hold it against me) after graduating with honors from Wilfrid Laurier University (also in Canada). After three years, P&G convinced me to move to Cincinnati where I worked on businesses including laundry detergent, coffee and Pur Water.
While I was still at P&G I started working part-time for an internet start-up company. After juggling two jobs for a year, working 100 hours a week, the start-up got funded and a month later I got my green card. I left P&G to become the VP of Marketing at Photrade.
When I started working at the start-up, I had a HUGE problem. I had to do more with less – I needed to get results, and I had almost no budget. I also had to compete against companies that had millions of dollars to spend. Anyone else have this problem? Need to do more with less? Have to compete against bigger guys?
I had to do more with less – I needed to get results with almost no budget. That is when I discovered social media marketing.
That is when I discovered social media marketing. We were one of the first companies to use Twitter (we joined in August 2007) and we used it to connect with new customers and build loyalty with existing users. I created MySpace marketing campaigns (back then, only college students could join Facebook). We also ran two very successful blogs that helped us get new customers and earn the trust of our audience. We did a ton of social media outreach and community building. As we learned, I made a TON of mistakes along the way. I can’t tell you about the emails that I got when I made mistakes and offended people (not on purpose). We dealt with everything – from people who hated us to people who loved us!
The best way to learn isn’t from experience. The best way to learn is from somebody else’s experience.
During our first four months we were able to acquire 40,000 users using social media and almost no spending. Our biggest competitor spent $2 million, had been out for a year longer than us, and had the same number of users. Those are the results of social media marketing.
The start-up got sold in 2008, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do next, so I took some time off (which I needed after working 100 hours a week!) People started asking me about how they could get the same results that I did using social media. I started helping some small businesses, and before I even started my own business I was contacted by a brand manager at P&G. He had been reading my blog and following me on Twitter, and they were interested in using social media for their brand. Since I had previously worked there, they asked me if they could hire me.
I worked with P&G to create their internal social media management model – which became the gold standard and was implemented across the organization.
Before I knew it, we were working with businesses of all sizes helping them see success with social media marketing. That is how I started my business. I didn’t set out to start my own business – I was passionate about digital marketing, and now I have written 6 books, was the managing director of an accredited social media institute, wrote a textbook and a Dummies book, speak all over the world and work with companies of all sizes. I really do love what I do every day (if you talk to me, you can see my passion) and I love helping others discover how to harness the power of social media.
My business has taken me to places I would have never dreamed of because I work with businesses around the globe. I’ve worked with some of the most recognized names in the industry – Meta, Google, Macy’s, General Mills, the United States Senate, and more – all while building a successful business.
I currently live in South Florida, and every day I wake up proud to do what I do and excited to help more businesses.
