Black Oak Marketing & PR Agency was created out of a combined passion for marketing and love of PR by these two founders, Elisabeth St Pierre and Melissa Houston. Niching down in the tech space, Black Oak brings its unique combination of SEO focused content marketing and the love of PR and getting media exposure for businesses.
Black Oak Marketing & PR believes in building brand authority and creating organic traffic by the thousands is the best position you can give your business.
What is Black Oak Marketing & PR Agency all about?
Black Oak Marketing & PR Agency was formed to address the need for tech companies to become more competitive and get their message out to clients through organic traffic and authority building.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
Melissa Houston and Elisabeth St. Pierre had been business friends for over a year and running their individual businesses and saw the potential they could have with a new business venture that if they joined forces, would highlight each of their strengths.
Already knowing that they worked well together and having a mutual respect for the other, they knew they would make a great team.
Elisabeth’s strength is in content marketing and SEO, and Melissa’s strength is in PR, networking, and relationship building. They saw a way to combine those strengths and create a service that would benefit the end user.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be resilient, believe that your product or service will help others, and have a solid work ethic.
Resiliency because building a business is hard work and there will be mistakes, rejections, and failures along the way. You can’t give up too quickly because it takes time to build a successful business.
Believe in what you are offering. If you don’t believe in your product or service then you will never sell it to others. They will feel you holding back and as a result, will not buy from you.
A work ethic is important because building a business at the beginning requires long hours and a lot of sweat equity.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
We care about our clients and if we feel that we can’t truly help them or benefit them, we will say so before accepting work from them. We take on clients where we believe in their offerings, and we know we can help them get their name out into the world. We work together as a partnership with our clients.
What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them?
Melissa’s biggest mistake she made when starting her first business was, she “invested” in too many programs that she thought would help her get to the next level of business. Yes, she created a successful business, but she should have cut back on a lot of expenses. A lot of money was wasted on programs that she didn’t need.
Tell us a little bit about your marketing process, what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
A successful form of marketing for Black Oak is exactly how we structure it for our clients. We take the time to create valuable content for our readers, keyword optimize that content, create authority for our business and a good reputation.
Networking is an extremely valuable tool for a new business, and don’t forget that when you are asking for something from your network that you give back as well.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Not a lot of money to invest in the company as a startup. We got creative on how to get the word out about our business. We researched companies that we felt would be a good fit and approached them for a 30-minute introductory meeting. As the money started coming in, we reinvested it into the business.
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
There is a lot you can do on a limited budget. There are creative and free ways to get your business out there and get visibility. Starting conversations with potential clients is key.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
If I only had $1000 to spend, I would go all-in on organic traffic from Google using SEO tools and keyword-optimization strategies. Implementing SEO for a new business can give them the biggest bang for their buck and provide HUGE returns down the road.
What helps you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
Believing and knowing that I can help so many people with their marketing and PR needs in an authentic and ethical way.
It is a rewarding feeling to see clients and customers succeed as a result of our contribution.
What valuable advice would you give new entrepreneurs starting out?
Test your market for the demand of your offering.
What is your definition of success?
Customer satisfaction – it’s as simple as that. The only reason our business can exist is because of customers, and if they aren’t happy and don’t feel that we have impacted their business in a positive light, then what’s the point?
How do you personally overcome fear?
Feel the fear and do it anyways.
How can readers get in touch with you?
You can reach us at our website www.blackoakmarketingandpr.com and follow us on our LinkedIn page.
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