October 26, 2025 • 36 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Danielle Jeter.
Founder of AOA Events and PR and Women in Media Global:
🎙️ Guest Introduction
- Danielle Jeter is a proud Spelman College graduate.
- Founder of Women in Media Global, impacting over 15,000 women and students since 2012.
- Based in Miami, originally from Philadelphia.
🧠 Entrepreneurial Journey
- Started in event planning and radio promotions.
- Transitioned into public relations after repeated client requests.
- Founded Affairs of ISIS Events, later rebranded to Affairs of Influence (AOA Events and PR) due to public perception issues with the name “ISIS.”
🔁 Rebranding Lessons
- Rebranding was prompted by client feedback and public confusion.
- Took a strategic approach: consultations, think tanks, redesign of all brand assets.
- Resulted in a more relatable and inclusive brand identity.
📣 Strategic Communications
- Focuses on external communications to connect clients with their target audiences.
- Emphasizes the importance of attention economy—competing with platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and podcasts.
- Advocates for short-form, impactful messaging.
🧩 Brand & Brand Activation
- Brand = Reputation, not just logos or colors.
- Brand activations create emotional connections through experiences (events, kiosks, partnerships).
- Smart activations happen where the audience already is (e.g., Formula 1, festivals).
❌ Common Mistakes
- Not budgeting for marketing.
- Trying to appeal to everyone instead of focusing on a niche audience.
- Ignoring feedback from clients or social media comments.
💼 Client Onboarding Process
- Free discovery calls.
- Intake form to understand goals and pain points.
- Services offered on a retainer basis.
- Encourages clients to allocate 10–30% of profits to marketing.
📈 Marketing & Sales Accelerator
- Danielle offers a 6-week accelerator program for startups and growth-phase businesses.
- Emphasizes the importance of marketing systems and sales strategy.
🎧 Women in Media Global & Podcast
- Created to address the lack of female representation in media.
- Hosts conferences and a podcast called The Woman Speaks Show.
- Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube.
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald host a weekly Money Making Conversation
Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show provides
off for everyone. It's time to stop reading other people's
success stories and start living your own now. If you
want to be a guest on my show, Money Making
Conversation Masterclass, please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and
(00:21):
click the bo guest button. If you have a product,
your small business, owner, entrepreneur, on influencer, I want you
on my show, so please go to Moneymakingconversations dot com
and click the be a guest button.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Now, let's get started.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
My guess is a proud HBCU graduate.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Through the platform Women and Media Global.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
She has impacted the lives of over fifteen thousand women
and students worldwide.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Since twenty twelve.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Women in Media has provided a platform for women in media,
entertainment and business, offering education, networking and multimedia storytelling opportunities
to foster grow both and collaboration. We would discuss our
journey from HBCU grad to visionary entrepreneur. Please welcome to
Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Danielle Jeter. How you doing Danielle I'm doing great.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Good morning. Thank you so much for having me today.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
First of all, where are you based at.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'm based in Miami, Florida currently. I've been here five years.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Now, Okay, now, PR public Relations. Was that a strategic move?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Actually? No. I first started out in the business as
an event planner and even producer, and I then went
to Radio one in Philadelphia as an intern when I
graduated from Spellman and I ended up in the promotions department.
So I was doing events with the promotions department because
(01:51):
I wanted to hold my skills in the event space,
and so I thought that would be a great opportunity
for me to get started and to meet some of
the great people who are influential in my city of Philadelphia.
When I went back to Philly, and there were people
who began to see me in the studio with journalists,
(02:12):
with media personalities and other celebrities who would come through
the city. Because when I was at the radio station,
not only was I in promotion, but I also had
the opportunity to learn how to actually produce talk radio
shows and how to produce radio shows, and so we
began to actually get calls for me to do PR
services and for me to offer marketing services to clients.
(02:35):
And I said, hey, I don't offer that service, but
when the call came in a few times, I was like, okay,
we offer that service, and so I committed. You know,
I learned in the field actually doing public relations.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yes, okay, cool, So we're going to talk about events
and we're going to talk about public relations. But let's
go back to HBCU Spelman College and based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
What makes Spelman College special?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Spellman is a great space, so because the whole mission
is to educate black women and to create leaders and
innovators out of the students who matriculate through the university.
It was just a wonderful opportunity to be around such
amazing women who are just growing, learning, doing but also
(03:26):
very ambitious women, very driven, very smart, intelligent women. And
so that sisterhood is something that is rare, is very unique.
And what Spellman has been able to create since eighteen
eighty one has been life changing. It has changed my life.
It was a great decision for me to go to Spelman.
(03:46):
I was able to be challenged a lot as well.
It's not an easy place to matriculate through and so
you earn all your grades. If you got to see
you earned that right. If you got a D, you
earned that D. And if you go to A you
earned that A. Because there are no shortcuts as fell
in college. So I'm grateful for my alma mater.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Awesome, Awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now there are two terms that that's the two skill
sets that you developed. Event planner and public relations. Now,
in my business with Sean McDonald, I've seen enough event
planners to know that that's kind of like an abused word,
and I met enough public relations people and that's kind
(04:29):
of like an.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Abused feel as well.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Because everybody thinks they could be a public relation person,
and everybody thinks they can they plan plan events, and
that's not true. That's not true. So let's talk about AOI.
What does AOI stand for this AOI Events and why
did you start it?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
AOI Events in p R stands for Affairs of influence.
So this is a This is a great backstory. We
actually had to rebrand our company when the company turned
five years old because the the original name of the
company was Affairs of isis Events. That was when President
Barack Obama was in his first term and there was
(05:08):
a war on Isoul, right, but the news media kept
saying Isis and Isis is actually an Egyptian goddess. So
I actually had the opportunity to travel to Egypt with
Spelman College when I was a student. That trip inspired
me to launch my business the following year, and I
(05:30):
named my company after the Egyptian goddess Isis. I began
to get attacked online in person at events when I
was speaking at panels, and even some of my clients
had an issue with the name of my business and
did not want to be associated with Affairs of Isis
due to the War on isol and so we rebranded
(05:51):
at year five, and that's when I learned a lot
about branding at that point, because I actually had to
go through a rebrand and a restructure of my own company,
and so we were branded to Affairs of Influence. So
AOI Events and PR stands for Affairs of Influence, and
we do very niche marketing and PR and strategic communications
campaigns for brands who are looking to do social good.
(06:14):
They're looking to drive a message but also to build
relationships with their target audience, so we do communications campaigns.
We offered brand strategy, branding, marketing campaigns and event activations.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Now, it took you a moment to make that name change.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Was it stubbornness or disbelief that people would think that
what your company was based on?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
What finally pushed you over the edge?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And so you know, some either I'm a ride design
or my business is gonna close.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I changed the name when I had a client who
told me I couldn't show up at his event that
I planned with my business cards. And he said, I
don't know what you need to do, but I'm a
give you. I'm gonna ass extra money to your retainer.
I need you to go find some new business cards
in forty eight hours. So in forty eight hours I
had to create some really quick business cards to get
(07:11):
them printed in order to show up at his event,
which was a ribbon cutting ceremony that I coordinated. And
that client is still a long standing client of Minds today.
I actually had breakfast with him yesterday. So when he
told me that that was a deal breaker, I was like,
no problem, We're gonna figure this out right. And so
that's a learning lesson right there for everybody that you
(07:34):
know in our journey of entrepreneurs and businesses we are
all there's always going to be a time where a
change is going to come, and rebranding or brushing up
your brand is actually a part of the process and
a part of the journey of being an entrepreneur. So
I really wasn't super attached to the name, and so
what I did was I went to some experts. I
(07:55):
sat down, I did a round table think tank with
people that I trusted at that I trusted, and I
began to get feedback and information and direction and be
able to bounce ideas off of them. Then I went
to another marketing and design company and I sat with them,
and I got a consultation with them, and I went
(08:16):
through the process right. I actually took my I took
deliberate time to actually go through that rebranding process because
this is this is the lifelihood of our business. So
I had to make a decision that was wise and
one that could be longstanding. I had to redo the logos,
had to be done over, the website, had to be
done over, business cards, email addresses. I mean, everything was
(08:38):
brand new.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So you did this whole rebrand, this whole rebrand. Did
you immediately notice the difference? Did you feel comfortable. You know,
this is a lot of work. But it's like a
lot of people don't want to make changes because it
is a lot of work. It's a mindset change. People
are forcing you to do something that wasn't your original vision.
Now you've made those changes, where were you at and
(09:01):
how did you relaunch your brand and let everybody know
I'm the same person, just a different name.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, it was. It was a process, you know, and
when you rebrand, it costs money. You got to pay
to get all of these new marketing assets designed and done.
These things could take a couple of weeks in order
to do. But I felt like it gave our brand
an upgrade, It gave us a refresh, and it gave
us something that was a little bit more relatable to
(09:29):
the diverse clientele that we actually want to serve. Right,
and so, Affairs of Isis was very very Egyptian, kind
of very culture. It wasn't a brand.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Like you jumped out that too far, got rid of
doue cultural on you and it came back and bit you.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
But you realized that change is important. You listen.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I always tell people social media some of the most
important aspects of social media is reading the comments, not
so much the likes reading those comments, because the comments
can tell you exactly what people think about what you're
doing or think about your brand, and also can advise
you the direction you may want to consider what's happening
with your brand. So your comments were clients, and your
(10:14):
clients told you, look, this name here is can impact me.
Now I'm going to keep doing business with you if
it's impacted me. I got a part of my conversation
can't be about you, and that's what it was becoming.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And you did the rebrand. So they're talking.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
About communication, and I think in all conversations, Danielle, I'm
talking to Danielle Jeter pr extraordinaire. I like to say
that an event planner extraordinary impacted over fifteen thousand people
since twenty twelve. She did a rebrand on her name,
and that calms down to communication, strategic communication, which is the.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Core of success.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Being able to listen and being able to speak the
right language to people at the right point of communication.
Talk to us, Danielle about strategic communications.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
The teacher. Communications is so valuable and it's a very
delicate part to to be able to service my clientele
in that way because this is I typically am on
the external communication side of things, so I am externally
communicating my clients messaging and their mission, their vision to
(11:30):
a target audience for their products or services. That's a
delicate situation because you have to think about the end user.
What is important to the end user that is going
to draw them to my client's mission, that is going
to draw them to create impact for in my client
so that they can get more customers within their business,
(11:50):
they can get more users within their services and things
of that sort. So I'm constantly thinking and keeping my
nose to the ground of what's happening on the ground.
What are consumers interested in, what is concerning them, and
how do we communicate best to them in order to
capture their attention. Today, our competition is not other businesses today.
(12:14):
Our competition is the attention of our buyers Instagram, TikTok, podcasts,
the news, what they're taking in entertainment, in sports, where
they're spending their time, and what they're utilizing their minutes
and their hours. That is the attention and that is
what we are in competition with. So we have to
(12:37):
show up where there are and then we have to
communicate in a way that is interesting to them. And
now because we have such short form content and such
short form copy, now we have to relay our message
in a shorter way that is still attractive to the
client that is going to capture their attention. So it's
a lot of strategy that comes with communicating, and you
(12:58):
put a lot of thought around how we do dever
our messages, when we deliver them, and to who we
deliver those messages.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master Class.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversation master Class with me
Rashaun McDonald.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Okay, Daniel.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's the key part of this conversation because my show
is about entrepreneurship, small business owners, influencers, people have products,
brand activations. So many people don't understand that. First of all,
please explain to everybody what is a brand and then
move on to brand activations and how to launch successful
(13:41):
brand activations.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So your brand is simply your reputation. Sometimes we think, oh,
my brand is the colors and my logo. It's my logo,
it's the pretty things, it's the website. Your brand is
your reputation is what people say about you and your
company and your services when you are not in the room.
It is what they say about you when they are
(14:05):
referring or not referring your business to another potential customer.
That is your reputation, your customer service, how you deliver,
how you communicate, how you follow up and follow through
is the reputation of your brand. So that is important
elements that you always want to keep at the top
of your mind because at any given time, you can
(14:26):
go out and create a very attractive logo, something that
is eye catching, and you can design those colors and
redesign those colors. But we are about experiences. The brand
activation gives you an opportunity to create an experience for
your customers and those who you want to be your customers.
You use brand activations as a way to show up
(14:48):
in person, in community, to be able to have personal
touch points with your customers and with your audience. So
you being able to activate a concept, whether it is
a in person event, a in person experience, a KIOSK
type of experience. This is you going out into the
(15:09):
field and being able to create touch points for your
consumers which will create emotional emotions within them. Right, they'll
be able to learn see you, feel you, touch you,
and have an emotional connection to your brand and really
get to know who you are. And it allows us
to you know, come from behind the screens and be
able to actually be in person and have human to
(15:31):
human connections. So brand activations are a part of your
marketing strategy, and a great way to launch a brand
activation is to first plan for it and your marketing strategy.
So breaking up your marketing and breaking up your planning
in quarters and being able to say, hey, let me
(15:51):
go ahead and set a budget aside, because I want
to activate, whether you The smart way that brands activate
nowadays is activating where the people already are. So you
can think about a huge conference or summit that goes
on all the time, like maybe like a tech summit
that goes on, or maybe like a black enterprise summit
that happens, or any sort of big concert or big
(16:13):
festival that has taken place. For example, we just had
f one Formula one here in Miami, and so that's
the race cars that brought out so many major players
and so many brands who activated at that particular event.
I saw ice cream companies there, I saw champagne companies there.
(16:33):
I saw bitcoin and crypto companies there, and so what
they did was they curated personalized activation corners for their
brands where the audience already is. Everyone has already come
into formula one. I'm going to show up at the
one and give my my buyers and consumers and potential
buyers and consumers and experience so that they can interface
(16:56):
with my company and know who we are. So the
smart way to activate is to go to where the
audience already is and buy into that experience.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So basically those just does start on a corner.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Lit'tally is an example.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You know sometimes just sometimes I'm at a grocery store
and I come out, girls scout cookies. Wait know me,
that's a brand activation. They know that's a brand activation.
And so I try to bring things down as simple
as possible because you see brand activations all the time.
You go to a grocery store, you walk in and
walk out, they wait know you to sell those cookies.
(17:30):
Those cookies are brand. There's a product they represent that brand.
They want to sell you something.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
They know you're.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Coming into a grocery store to buy. They're gonna get
you going out and get you going in now. If
you're smart like me, I see them, I go to
the other door. But some of us smart, they got
both tied both doors tied up, the entry and an exit.
So they're smart brand activations, which means you're not gonna
avoid my brand until you use that brand.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
But it's also saying don't just start up on a corner.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Goes to what is a general crowd and also a
crowd that we want.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
To buy your product. Relate to your product. That's what
you're saying as well.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah, I love how you broke it down in a
simple way for people to understand. Girl Scouts, Right, that's
a great brand that everybody knows. They've been around for
over one hundred years. So they are stable, right, they
are consistent. We know the we know the cookie season,
we know they're coming out, we go to outfits, you
know colors flavors, right, and we know that they're going
to do this every single year. And so that's a
(18:31):
great opportunity and that's a great example. I think. Another
great way to do this in what ways that I
started to activate my own brand was her partnership and
I built relationships with the local elected officials in my city.
I'm from Philadelphia, so when I went back home from
after graduating from Spelman College, I began to create relationships
(18:53):
with local elected officials. They have a need, I have
a need, right, and so they also have community events
and various events for various audience members within their constituent.
So I began to partner with them on behalf of
small business networking events, young professional networking events, women and
(19:14):
media conferences. And so as a result, my company was
able to partner with their bigger brand and then expose
us to an audience of people in creating that trust factor.
So brand activations could also be something like that. So
now we're partnering on an event. I'm co branding and
marketing with this senator, with this congresswoman. Now people are
(19:37):
seeing that I'm a credible businesswoman in the city because
now I'm partner with the congresswoman who they are already know.
And now my loco placement is there. With her local placement,
we're doing pop up banners. I have an opportunity to
speak and address to audience, and now she becomes my
partner he or she becomes my partner. That's another great
way to activate. And it also doesn't take a lot
(19:57):
of capital in order for you to come in and say, hey, hey,
I want to add value to this program. This is
what I can bring to the table.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Wow, Danielle, let's talk about We'll talk about activation. Let's
talk about brand activation mistakes, because I think you can
only talk about people.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Everybody wants to do it their way.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I always tell people on this show, I say, you
can't show up. You can't show up at the door
opening the door where your customers are in line. You
got to be there before your customers. That's an activation mistake.
When you come to people. Let's talk about the process
of people coming to you.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
You do events.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
You also do pr that's the name of your company,
AOI Events in PR all spart by walking to you.
Trying to avoid brand mistakes. How do you welcome a
new client into your business.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
That's a really great question. So at the point of discovery,
I invite the prospect custom Sstomer Corporation executive nonprofit leader.
I invite them to have a discovery meeting with me,
a discovery call. Before they actually get on this call,
(21:11):
I have a short form and they fill out information
on that form that allows me to gather enough information
that I can go ahead and start to drive the
conversation as we set up for that first discovery meeting.
That first discovery meeting, there's never a charge. I do
not charge for a consultation to see if we are
a good fit to work together. I welcome. I welcome
(21:35):
that one hour conversation and I take the moment to
learn as much about this potential prospect, their company, what
their goals are, what their mission is, but also what
are the pain points, what is not working for you
that you're looking to find a solution and to find
(21:55):
a problem about this problem. If your problem is some
thing that I feel confident that I can address and
help you move forward by way of communications, public relations, branding,
a special event, then I go ahead and I offer
up our types of services and provide that. So public
(22:19):
relations is traditionally something that is done on a retainer,
which means that the customer or the business owner is
signing a contract for several months to retain us for
three months, for four months, for six months, for one year,
and for us to work on your behalf. And it
is services that are done for you. So that is
(22:40):
the traditional way of how we go ahead and do
our business if it does not seem as if it's
a good fit. There's a variety of reasons it wouldn't
be a good fit. One, they're looking for a service
that we do not provide. Two, they may not have
their appropriate budget to go ahead and start the service
of what they're looking to do. Three. Sometimes people don't
(23:03):
even set up a marketing budget. They don't have an
idea of what their budget is. And I think it's
premature to have a conversation with a service provider before
you actually know how much you can afford to actually
spend on that particular project or service. And sometimes people
come and say, well, hey, well I don't have information.
(23:24):
I don't know how much PR costs. I don't know
how much marketing costs. That's okay. I mean you could
just go ahead and start to do your research. And
a lot of that stuff is online already. You know
we have CHATGBT now what makes it even easier. But
ultimately you have to look at how much money your
business is profiting and then drive ten to thirty percent
(23:45):
of your profits into a budget for marketing. That's really
how you said that up.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
That's the number one brand mistake people don't understand. You know,
First of there's a certain fantasy out there.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
In this world with the word viral.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Everybody's viral leads people down a lot of lanes.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You know, if I go viral, then just what will
blow up?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Let's talk about the marketing plan, because I think that's important,
of which my show is based on products that people
want to say small business or entrepreneurs and influencers and
so you do events. It means that marketing is tied
to that. You do popular relationship, which means marketing is
tied to that. Why do people don't I'm gonna ask
(24:30):
this a question in general? I kind of know the answer.
Why do people don't understand they have to market something
to get people to know what they have?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
You know what, it's really strange. I think I really
don't know. That is the struggle with people actually making
sales in their business and being able to profit more. Right,
if you want to get more people in the door
knowing about the product or service that you have, the
marketing is so very, so very important. And I feel
(25:04):
when it comes to small businesses, they get very caught
up in the product and service and producing what it
is that they have, and they fall in love with
the creative process of whatever this app is, whatever this
you know, physical product is, whatever this thing that you
want to create, and then the execution, which is the
marketing and sales side, comes in on the back end.
(25:25):
So now you have launched a business, and now you
are in the red because you haven't figured out who
the audiences that's going to buy this and then how
to actually sell it to them. And so before we
even launch the idea, we have to talk about how
are we going to fund the idea, how are we
going to put together a marketing strategy and a marketing system,
(25:47):
because you have a strategy, but then you need the
system to back up the strategy and so forth as
well with the sales process. So it's really disheartening to see.
And I actually started coaching startups and small businesses who
are in growth phase because of this lack of knowledge
around and marketing and sales. I have a six week
(26:09):
marketing and sales accelerator. And just last night I was
invited to a private event and I met the co
founder of Reebok, who is a billionaire. His neighbor Joe,
and he's European and now Joe is about eighty something
years old, right, and they asked him a question and
he said, one of the most, probably the most important
(26:34):
aspect to a product or service is the marketing. Is
the mar This is the man who scaled the business
and sold it to Adidas for about twenty three billion dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
And that's what people don't understand.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And I think that another part of the whole process
of the mistakes that we make is that we try
to talk to everybody. And I always tell people, you
like Tesla, I've never seen the Tesla commercial on TV,
but you people buying Teslas, Okay, I've never seen a
new brand of EV out there called Rivan.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I believe r iv An. That's a new EV. That truck.
I love that truck. But guess what, I don't see
no TV.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So a lot of people want to go out there,
whatever they product, they want to talk to everybody where
they should do niche marketing. Like you said, find out
who your audience is, focus on that audience, and any
growth outside of that audience is called positive residual income.
Talk to about that niche marketing and focusing on I
(27:39):
always tell.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
People that's what people make a big mistake.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
They throw a why the net trying to catch everybody
when they should be standing on next to the bank
catching a fish.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
That they can catch talk to us, Danielle.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
I think that is a huge that's the huge difference
between the business owner and entrepreneur who has been doing
the work and studying and learning their business and one
who clearly is still just figuring it out or like,
you know, just going with the whim. You know, one
of the things that we first understand is that we
(28:13):
can't communicate to everybody and that our product or service
will not be you know, for everybody. So it's important
to learn and understand the demographics of your audience. Social
media has made it very awesome to understand that because
if you have your profiles set up as business profiles,
you can see the demographics. You can see the gender,
(28:33):
the age, the location, and then you can begin to study, Okay, well,
what types of things do these do do these demographics?
Like what's important? Where are they finding their news and
their media? But then also you can do the work
and actually go out and talk to your customers, create
moments where you talk to them. When I was young,
(28:57):
younger in business, I will always have these I think
tank kind of like roundtables, where I would bring in
strategic people. When I'm thinking about a product, when I'm
thinking about a service, I first want to make sure
that this audience that I'm thinking about actually needs this.
So I bring them in, I host them, I give
them some hospitality, and I get feedback from them. I
(29:18):
ask the questions and they you know, they deliver the
information to me and allows me to create a product
or service that makes sense for that particular audience. Because
you could be thinking something, but it might not be
the case right. So having those communications, being able to
survey your audience, being able to follow up with them
(29:39):
and build rapport with them, have those connections in communication,
being able to niche down and learn about that is
very important. One of the things that I've realized in
my business is a lot of my clientele is males.
A lot of people who hire my PR services and
those who I work a lot with are males. And
(30:00):
when I saw that trend, then I said, okay, well,
I'm going to continue to have conversations with businessmen who
are serious about marketing and building their brands and doing PR.
Now I do represent women. But I'm just saying the
statistics showing my business that more men hire me than
women hire me and so, and that's just because I'm following,
(30:22):
you know, what's happening within my business, and then I'm
able to build those relationships with them.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, and which is which is fantastic because you know,
women and me.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
The global mission in the wim Speaks podcast.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Is about women and so and then we just talked
about earlier we talking about comments in your social media posts.
Find out what people are saying about you, don't ignore.
If it's consistent, that may be a brand tool you
need to bring into your business. Then yeah, well, you know,
some men represent a major portion of my portfolio. Don't
run from your base, build from your base. Extill doesn't
(30:58):
mean that you can walk away from overall.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Brand, which is women and media.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Let's talk about the extensions that you've created your podcasts
and other platforms as a public speaker, that you've created
outside of your for Matt.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Danielle, Oh wow. Yeah. So everything that I have created
and launched is because I found that there was a
need to fill, right. I don't. I'm not that that
entrepreneur who says I think my idea is great, I'm
gonna go ahead and launch it. I understand that I
need a service base. I understand that I need customers,
so I'm servicing and providing things that matter to them.
(31:33):
When I graduated from school, I also went to a
film screening. So I majored in theater, Arts and Dance
at Spelman College and a double major in history. And
so I was at a film screening and it was
about the Philadelphia arts scene, and it was a group
of young filmmakers who was premiering this screening. But when
(31:55):
I saw the screening, I noticed that there was only
one woman in this feature film. And I'm said, well,
why only one woman? Look, there's so many artists that
come out of Philadelphia, like you only found one to
talk to in this documentary. And so I was like, Wow,
this is alarming to me. I think this signifies something
(32:17):
bigger that's happening within the industry. So I began to
research what was happening in entertainment, what was happening in
the media industry as far as those working as professionals,
whether they were in front of the camera or behind
the scenes. Literally, I launched Women in Media Global right
before Me Too. It was like three years before Me Too.
(32:40):
It was like it was simmering up, and it was
like I felt it, everybody else felt it, and boom,
here comes Me Too. But Women in Media had launched,
and I launched this initiative as a reminder to remind
women who own their voice, because in that situation, a
number of things could have happened. One, there could have
been a woman there who didn't speak up. You didn't
(33:01):
know her opinion about this absence of women being represented,
or to her voice was not heard. Right whoever was
producing this film did not take into consideration what she
said if she did advocate for the need for women.
So I created this platform to remind women of that,
but also to empower them to advocate, to take up
(33:23):
more spaces and be able to just be bigger and
to grow wider and to launch their own initiatives and
to be leaders in the space of media, entertainment and business.
And that is how Women in Media launched. And so
we've done six annual conferences. We've launched our podcast as
(33:44):
well as an extension of that conversation, and we like
to bring onto the show those who are working in
the industry They may be entrepreneurs in the industry, or
they may be those who are working on behalf of
major media companies, but wanting to their stories, wanting to
get their advice on how to best successfully matriculate and
(34:07):
navigate such a sticky industry of media entertainment, and to
begin to continue to spread and show a spotlight on
what women are doing, and just having them own their
stories on their voices, letting them know that that's very important.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
How can we get in touch with you, Daniel down
at Miami by way of Philly through Atlanta. You know
what I'm saying, Atlanta, Philly, Miami.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yes, if you are ever in need of anything that
we talked about, if any part of this conversation was
interesting to you, I welcome you to reach out to
me and let's can let's meet, let's have a more conversation.
I have Instagram which is DP jeter e E P
e j E T E R. I'm sure it'll be
right here on the screen, so you can go ahead
(34:57):
and check out my Instagram. There you will find links
in my bio of everything that I have going on.
You can send me a DM and set up a
conversation with me. Follow the podcast as well, the Whim
Wim Speak Show. We're on Spotify, Apple, We're also on YouTube,
all the places that you get your favorite podcasts. That
(35:20):
show is great reinforcement of inspiration, of resources and knowledge
for those who are in business or who are in
the media industry as well. And I'm on LinkedIn, Danielle
Page Jeter too, so Womenimediaglobal dot org.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Thank you, my friend, daniel an amazing conversation. The fact
that you're impacting so many people something you started in
twenty twelve, and the fact that you are in a
business that's very competitive event planning, large event planning, a
small event planning, it's very competitive. And also the fact
that you understanding how to define the need for marketing,
(35:54):
brand activations and public relations. Thank you for coming on
Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Thank you so much for having me. This was amazing.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass
hosted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today, and thank you our listening audience.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Now.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
If you want to listen to any episode or want
to register to be a guest on my show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversations.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
your gifts. Keep winning.
Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald host a weekly Money Making Conversation
Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show provides
off for everyone. It's time to stop reading other people's
success stories and start living your own now. If you
want to be a guest on my show, Money Making
Conversation Masterclass, please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and
(00:21):
click the bo guest button. If you have a product,
your small business, owner, entrepreneur, on influencer, I want you
on my show, so please go to Moneymakingconversations dot com
and click the be a guest button.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Now, let's get started.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
My guess is a proud HBCU graduate.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Through the platform Women and Media Global.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
She has impacted the lives of over fifteen thousand women
and students worldwide.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Since twenty twelve.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Women in Media has provided a platform for women in media,
entertainment and business, offering education, networking and multimedia storytelling opportunities
to foster grow both and collaboration. We would discuss our
journey from HBCU grad to visionary entrepreneur. Please welcome to
Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Danielle Jeter. How you doing Danielle I'm doing great.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Good morning. Thank you so much for having me today.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
First of all, where are you based at.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'm based in Miami, Florida currently. I've been here five years.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Now, Okay, now, PR public Relations. Was that a strategic move?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Actually? No. I first started out in the business as
an event planner and even producer, and I then went
to Radio one in Philadelphia as an intern when I
graduated from Spellman and I ended up in the promotions department.
So I was doing events with the promotions department because
(01:51):
I wanted to hold my skills in the event space,
and so I thought that would be a great opportunity
for me to get started and to meet some of
the great people who are influential in my city of Philadelphia.
When I went back to Philly, and there were people
who began to see me in the studio with journalists,
(02:12):
with media personalities and other celebrities who would come through
the city. Because when I was at the radio station,
not only was I in promotion, but I also had
the opportunity to learn how to actually produce talk radio
shows and how to produce radio shows, and so we
began to actually get calls for me to do PR
services and for me to offer marketing services to clients.
(02:35):
And I said, hey, I don't offer that service, but
when the call came in a few times, I was like, okay,
we offer that service, and so I committed. You know,
I learned in the field actually doing public relations.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yes, okay, cool, So we're going to talk about events
and we're going to talk about public relations. But let's
go back to HBCU Spelman College and based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
What makes Spelman College special?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Spellman is a great space, so because the whole mission
is to educate black women and to create leaders and
innovators out of the students who matriculate through the university.
It was just a wonderful opportunity to be around such
amazing women who are just growing, learning, doing but also
(03:26):
very ambitious women, very driven, very smart, intelligent women. And
so that sisterhood is something that is rare, is very unique.
And what Spellman has been able to create since eighteen
eighty one has been life changing. It has changed my life.
It was a great decision for me to go to Spelman.
(03:46):
I was able to be challenged a lot as well.
It's not an easy place to matriculate through and so
you earn all your grades. If you got to see
you earned that right. If you got a D, you
earned that D. And if you go to A you
earned that A. Because there are no shortcuts as fell
in college. So I'm grateful for my alma mater.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Awesome, Awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now there are two terms that that's the two skill
sets that you developed. Event planner and public relations. Now,
in my business with Sean McDonald, I've seen enough event
planners to know that that's kind of like an abused word,
and I met enough public relations people and that's kind
(04:29):
of like an.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Abused feel as well.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Because everybody thinks they could be a public relation person,
and everybody thinks they can they plan plan events, and
that's not true. That's not true. So let's talk about AOI.
What does AOI stand for this AOI Events and why
did you start it?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
AOI Events in p R stands for Affairs of influence.
So this is a This is a great backstory. We
actually had to rebrand our company when the company turned
five years old because the the original name of the
company was Affairs of isis Events. That was when President
Barack Obama was in his first term and there was
(05:08):
a war on Isoul, right, but the news media kept
saying Isis and Isis is actually an Egyptian goddess. So
I actually had the opportunity to travel to Egypt with
Spelman College when I was a student. That trip inspired
me to launch my business the following year, and I
(05:30):
named my company after the Egyptian goddess Isis. I began
to get attacked online in person at events when I
was speaking at panels, and even some of my clients
had an issue with the name of my business and
did not want to be associated with Affairs of Isis
due to the War on isol and so we rebranded
(05:51):
at year five, and that's when I learned a lot
about branding at that point, because I actually had to
go through a rebrand and a restructure of my own company,
and so we were branded to Affairs of Influence. So
AOI Events and PR stands for Affairs of Influence, and
we do very niche marketing and PR and strategic communications
campaigns for brands who are looking to do social good.
(06:14):
They're looking to drive a message but also to build
relationships with their target audience, so we do communications campaigns.
We offered brand strategy, branding, marketing campaigns and event activations.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Now, it took you a moment to make that name change.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Was it stubbornness or disbelief that people would think that
what your company was based on?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
What finally pushed you over the edge?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And so you know, some either I'm a ride design
or my business is gonna close.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I changed the name when I had a client who
told me I couldn't show up at his event that
I planned with my business cards. And he said, I
don't know what you need to do, but I'm a
give you. I'm gonna ass extra money to your retainer.
I need you to go find some new business cards
in forty eight hours. So in forty eight hours I
had to create some really quick business cards to get
(07:11):
them printed in order to show up at his event,
which was a ribbon cutting ceremony that I coordinated. And
that client is still a long standing client of Minds today.
I actually had breakfast with him yesterday. So when he
told me that that was a deal breaker, I was like,
no problem, We're gonna figure this out right. And so
that's a learning lesson right there for everybody that you
(07:34):
know in our journey of entrepreneurs and businesses we are
all there's always going to be a time where a
change is going to come, and rebranding or brushing up
your brand is actually a part of the process and
a part of the journey of being an entrepreneur. So
I really wasn't super attached to the name, and so
what I did was I went to some experts. I
(07:55):
sat down, I did a round table think tank with
people that I trusted at that I trusted, and I
began to get feedback and information and direction and be
able to bounce ideas off of them. Then I went
to another marketing and design company and I sat with them,
and I got a consultation with them, and I went
(08:16):
through the process right. I actually took my I took
deliberate time to actually go through that rebranding process because
this is this is the lifelihood of our business. So
I had to make a decision that was wise and
one that could be longstanding. I had to redo the logos,
had to be done over, the website, had to be
done over, business cards, email addresses. I mean, everything was
(08:38):
brand new.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So you did this whole rebrand, this whole rebrand. Did
you immediately notice the difference? Did you feel comfortable. You know,
this is a lot of work. But it's like a
lot of people don't want to make changes because it
is a lot of work. It's a mindset change. People
are forcing you to do something that wasn't your original vision.
Now you've made those changes, where were you at and
(09:01):
how did you relaunch your brand and let everybody know
I'm the same person, just a different name.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, it was. It was a process, you know, and
when you rebrand, it costs money. You got to pay
to get all of these new marketing assets designed and done.
These things could take a couple of weeks in order
to do. But I felt like it gave our brand
an upgrade, It gave us a refresh, and it gave
us something that was a little bit more relatable to
(09:29):
the diverse clientele that we actually want to serve. Right,
and so, Affairs of Isis was very very Egyptian, kind
of very culture. It wasn't a brand.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Like you jumped out that too far, got rid of
doue cultural on you and it came back and bit you.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
But you realized that change is important. You listen.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I always tell people social media some of the most
important aspects of social media is reading the comments, not
so much the likes reading those comments, because the comments
can tell you exactly what people think about what you're
doing or think about your brand, and also can advise
you the direction you may want to consider what's happening
with your brand. So your comments were clients, and your
(10:14):
clients told you, look, this name here is can impact me.
Now I'm going to keep doing business with you if
it's impacted me. I got a part of my conversation
can't be about you, and that's what it was becoming.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And you did the rebrand. So they're talking.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
About communication, and I think in all conversations, Danielle, I'm
talking to Danielle Jeter pr extraordinaire. I like to say
that an event planner extraordinary impacted over fifteen thousand people
since twenty twelve. She did a rebrand on her name,
and that calms down to communication, strategic communication, which is the.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Core of success.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Being able to listen and being able to speak the
right language to people at the right point of communication.
Talk to us, Danielle about strategic communications.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
The teacher. Communications is so valuable and it's a very
delicate part to to be able to service my clientele
in that way because this is I typically am on
the external communication side of things, so I am externally
communicating my clients messaging and their mission, their vision to
(11:30):
a target audience for their products or services. That's a
delicate situation because you have to think about the end user.
What is important to the end user that is going
to draw them to my client's mission, that is going
to draw them to create impact for in my client
so that they can get more customers within their business,
(11:50):
they can get more users within their services and things
of that sort. So I'm constantly thinking and keeping my
nose to the ground of what's happening on the ground.
What are consumers interested in, what is concerning them, and
how do we communicate best to them in order to
capture their attention. Today, our competition is not other businesses today.
(12:14):
Our competition is the attention of our buyers Instagram, TikTok, podcasts,
the news, what they're taking in entertainment, in sports, where
they're spending their time, and what they're utilizing their minutes
and their hours. That is the attention and that is
what we are in competition with. So we have to
(12:37):
show up where there are and then we have to
communicate in a way that is interesting to them. And
now because we have such short form content and such
short form copy, now we have to relay our message
in a shorter way that is still attractive to the
client that is going to capture their attention. So it's
a lot of strategy that comes with communicating, and you
(12:58):
put a lot of thought around how we do dever
our messages, when we deliver them, and to who we
deliver those messages.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master Class.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversation master Class with me
Rashaun McDonald.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Okay, Daniel.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's the key part of this conversation because my show
is about entrepreneurship, small business owners, influencers, people have products,
brand activations. So many people don't understand that. First of all,
please explain to everybody what is a brand and then
move on to brand activations and how to launch successful
(13:41):
brand activations.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So your brand is simply your reputation. Sometimes we think, oh,
my brand is the colors and my logo. It's my logo,
it's the pretty things, it's the website. Your brand is
your reputation is what people say about you and your
company and your services when you are not in the room.
It is what they say about you when they are
(14:05):
referring or not referring your business to another potential customer.
That is your reputation, your customer service, how you deliver,
how you communicate, how you follow up and follow through
is the reputation of your brand. So that is important
elements that you always want to keep at the top
of your mind because at any given time, you can
(14:26):
go out and create a very attractive logo, something that
is eye catching, and you can design those colors and
redesign those colors. But we are about experiences. The brand
activation gives you an opportunity to create an experience for
your customers and those who you want to be your customers.
You use brand activations as a way to show up
(14:48):
in person, in community, to be able to have personal
touch points with your customers and with your audience. So
you being able to activate a concept, whether it is
a in person event, a in person experience, a KIOSK
type of experience. This is you going out into the
(15:09):
field and being able to create touch points for your
consumers which will create emotional emotions within them. Right, they'll
be able to learn see you, feel you, touch you,
and have an emotional connection to your brand and really
get to know who you are. And it allows us
to you know, come from behind the screens and be
able to actually be in person and have human to
(15:31):
human connections. So brand activations are a part of your
marketing strategy, and a great way to launch a brand
activation is to first plan for it and your marketing strategy.
So breaking up your marketing and breaking up your planning
in quarters and being able to say, hey, let me
(15:51):
go ahead and set a budget aside, because I want
to activate, whether you The smart way that brands activate
nowadays is activating where the people already are. So you
can think about a huge conference or summit that goes
on all the time, like maybe like a tech summit
that goes on, or maybe like a black enterprise summit
that happens, or any sort of big concert or big
(16:13):
festival that has taken place. For example, we just had
f one Formula one here in Miami, and so that's
the race cars that brought out so many major players
and so many brands who activated at that particular event.
I saw ice cream companies there, I saw champagne companies there.
(16:33):
I saw bitcoin and crypto companies there, and so what
they did was they curated personalized activation corners for their
brands where the audience already is. Everyone has already come
into formula one. I'm going to show up at the
one and give my my buyers and consumers and potential
buyers and consumers and experience so that they can interface
(16:56):
with my company and know who we are. So the
smart way to activate is to go to where the
audience already is and buy into that experience.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So basically those just does start on a corner.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Lit'tally is an example.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You know sometimes just sometimes I'm at a grocery store
and I come out, girls scout cookies. Wait know me,
that's a brand activation. They know that's a brand activation.
And so I try to bring things down as simple
as possible because you see brand activations all the time.
You go to a grocery store, you walk in and
walk out, they wait know you to sell those cookies.
(17:30):
Those cookies are brand. There's a product they represent that brand.
They want to sell you something.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
They know you're.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Coming into a grocery store to buy. They're gonna get
you going out and get you going in now. If
you're smart like me, I see them, I go to
the other door. But some of us smart, they got
both tied both doors tied up, the entry and an exit.
So they're smart brand activations, which means you're not gonna
avoid my brand until you use that brand.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
But it's also saying don't just start up on a corner.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Goes to what is a general crowd and also a
crowd that we want.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
To buy your product. Relate to your product. That's what
you're saying as well.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah, I love how you broke it down in a
simple way for people to understand. Girl Scouts, Right, that's
a great brand that everybody knows. They've been around for
over one hundred years. So they are stable, right, they
are consistent. We know the we know the cookie season,
we know they're coming out, we go to outfits, you
know colors flavors, right, and we know that they're going
to do this every single year. And so that's a
(18:31):
great opportunity and that's a great example. I think. Another
great way to do this in what ways that I
started to activate my own brand was her partnership and
I built relationships with the local elected officials in my city.
I'm from Philadelphia, so when I went back home from
after graduating from Spelman College, I began to create relationships
(18:53):
with local elected officials. They have a need, I have
a need, right, and so they also have community events
and various events for various audience members within their constituent.
So I began to partner with them on behalf of
small business networking events, young professional networking events, women and
(19:14):
media conferences. And so as a result, my company was
able to partner with their bigger brand and then expose
us to an audience of people in creating that trust factor.
So brand activations could also be something like that. So
now we're partnering on an event. I'm co branding and
marketing with this senator, with this congresswoman. Now people are
(19:37):
seeing that I'm a credible businesswoman in the city because
now I'm partner with the congresswoman who they are already know.
And now my loco placement is there. With her local placement,
we're doing pop up banners. I have an opportunity to
speak and address to audience, and now she becomes my
partner he or she becomes my partner. That's another great
way to activate. And it also doesn't take a lot
(19:57):
of capital in order for you to come in and say, hey, hey,
I want to add value to this program. This is
what I can bring to the table.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Wow, Danielle, let's talk about We'll talk about activation. Let's
talk about brand activation mistakes, because I think you can
only talk about people.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Everybody wants to do it their way.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I always tell people on this show, I say, you
can't show up. You can't show up at the door
opening the door where your customers are in line. You
got to be there before your customers. That's an activation mistake.
When you come to people. Let's talk about the process
of people coming to you.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
You do events.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
You also do pr that's the name of your company,
AOI Events in PR all spart by walking to you.
Trying to avoid brand mistakes. How do you welcome a
new client into your business.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
That's a really great question. So at the point of discovery,
I invite the prospect custom Sstomer Corporation executive nonprofit leader.
I invite them to have a discovery meeting with me,
a discovery call. Before they actually get on this call,
(21:11):
I have a short form and they fill out information
on that form that allows me to gather enough information
that I can go ahead and start to drive the
conversation as we set up for that first discovery meeting.
That first discovery meeting, there's never a charge. I do
not charge for a consultation to see if we are
a good fit to work together. I welcome. I welcome
(21:35):
that one hour conversation and I take the moment to
learn as much about this potential prospect, their company, what
their goals are, what their mission is, but also what
are the pain points, what is not working for you
that you're looking to find a solution and to find
(21:55):
a problem about this problem. If your problem is some
thing that I feel confident that I can address and
help you move forward by way of communications, public relations, branding,
a special event, then I go ahead and I offer
up our types of services and provide that. So public
(22:19):
relations is traditionally something that is done on a retainer,
which means that the customer or the business owner is
signing a contract for several months to retain us for
three months, for four months, for six months, for one year,
and for us to work on your behalf. And it
is services that are done for you. So that is
(22:40):
the traditional way of how we go ahead and do
our business if it does not seem as if it's
a good fit. There's a variety of reasons it wouldn't
be a good fit. One, they're looking for a service
that we do not provide. Two, they may not have
their appropriate budget to go ahead and start the service
of what they're looking to do. Three. Sometimes people don't
(23:03):
even set up a marketing budget. They don't have an
idea of what their budget is. And I think it's
premature to have a conversation with a service provider before
you actually know how much you can afford to actually
spend on that particular project or service. And sometimes people
come and say, well, hey, well I don't have information.
(23:24):
I don't know how much PR costs. I don't know
how much marketing costs. That's okay. I mean you could
just go ahead and start to do your research. And
a lot of that stuff is online already. You know
we have CHATGBT now what makes it even easier. But
ultimately you have to look at how much money your
business is profiting and then drive ten to thirty percent
(23:45):
of your profits into a budget for marketing. That's really
how you said that up.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
That's the number one brand mistake people don't understand. You know,
First of there's a certain fantasy out there.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
In this world with the word viral.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Everybody's viral leads people down a lot of lanes.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You know, if I go viral, then just what will
blow up?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Let's talk about the marketing plan, because I think that's important,
of which my show is based on products that people
want to say small business or entrepreneurs and influencers and
so you do events. It means that marketing is tied
to that. You do popular relationship, which means marketing is
tied to that. Why do people don't I'm gonna ask
(24:30):
this a question in general? I kind of know the answer.
Why do people don't understand they have to market something
to get people to know what they have?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
You know what, it's really strange. I think I really
don't know. That is the struggle with people actually making
sales in their business and being able to profit more. Right,
if you want to get more people in the door
knowing about the product or service that you have, the
marketing is so very, so very important. And I feel
(25:04):
when it comes to small businesses, they get very caught
up in the product and service and producing what it
is that they have, and they fall in love with
the creative process of whatever this app is, whatever this
you know, physical product is, whatever this thing that you
want to create, and then the execution, which is the
marketing and sales side, comes in on the back end.
(25:25):
So now you have launched a business, and now you
are in the red because you haven't figured out who
the audiences that's going to buy this and then how
to actually sell it to them. And so before we
even launch the idea, we have to talk about how
are we going to fund the idea, how are we
going to put together a marketing strategy and a marketing system,
(25:47):
because you have a strategy, but then you need the
system to back up the strategy and so forth as
well with the sales process. So it's really disheartening to see.
And I actually started coaching startups and small businesses who
are in growth phase because of this lack of knowledge
around and marketing and sales. I have a six week
(26:09):
marketing and sales accelerator. And just last night I was
invited to a private event and I met the co
founder of Reebok, who is a billionaire. His neighbor Joe,
and he's European and now Joe is about eighty something
years old, right, and they asked him a question and
he said, one of the most, probably the most important
(26:34):
aspect to a product or service is the marketing. Is
the mar This is the man who scaled the business
and sold it to Adidas for about twenty three billion dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
And that's what people don't understand.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And I think that another part of the whole process
of the mistakes that we make is that we try
to talk to everybody. And I always tell people, you
like Tesla, I've never seen the Tesla commercial on TV,
but you people buying Teslas, Okay, I've never seen a
new brand of EV out there called Rivan.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I believe r iv An. That's a new EV. That truck.
I love that truck. But guess what, I don't see
no TV.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So a lot of people want to go out there,
whatever they product, they want to talk to everybody where
they should do niche marketing. Like you said, find out
who your audience is, focus on that audience, and any
growth outside of that audience is called positive residual income.
Talk to about that niche marketing and focusing on I
(27:39):
always tell.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
People that's what people make a big mistake.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
They throw a why the net trying to catch everybody
when they should be standing on next to the bank
catching a fish.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
That they can catch talk to us, Danielle.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
I think that is a huge that's the huge difference
between the business owner and entrepreneur who has been doing
the work and studying and learning their business and one
who clearly is still just figuring it out or like,
you know, just going with the whim. You know, one
of the things that we first understand is that we
(28:13):
can't communicate to everybody and that our product or service
will not be you know, for everybody. So it's important
to learn and understand the demographics of your audience. Social
media has made it very awesome to understand that because
if you have your profiles set up as business profiles,
you can see the demographics. You can see the gender,
(28:33):
the age, the location, and then you can begin to study, Okay, well,
what types of things do these do do these demographics?
Like what's important? Where are they finding their news and
their media? But then also you can do the work
and actually go out and talk to your customers, create
moments where you talk to them. When I was young,
(28:57):
younger in business, I will always have these I think
tank kind of like roundtables, where I would bring in
strategic people. When I'm thinking about a product, when I'm
thinking about a service, I first want to make sure
that this audience that I'm thinking about actually needs this.
So I bring them in, I host them, I give
them some hospitality, and I get feedback from them. I
(29:18):
ask the questions and they you know, they deliver the
information to me and allows me to create a product
or service that makes sense for that particular audience. Because
you could be thinking something, but it might not be
the case right. So having those communications, being able to
survey your audience, being able to follow up with them
(29:39):
and build rapport with them, have those connections in communication,
being able to niche down and learn about that is
very important. One of the things that I've realized in
my business is a lot of my clientele is males.
A lot of people who hire my PR services and
those who I work a lot with are males. And
(30:00):
when I saw that trend, then I said, okay, well,
I'm going to continue to have conversations with businessmen who
are serious about marketing and building their brands and doing PR.
Now I do represent women. But I'm just saying the
statistics showing my business that more men hire me than
women hire me and so, and that's just because I'm following,
(30:22):
you know, what's happening within my business, and then I'm
able to build those relationships with them.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, and which is which is fantastic because you know,
women and me.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
The global mission in the wim Speaks podcast.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Is about women and so and then we just talked
about earlier we talking about comments in your social media posts.
Find out what people are saying about you, don't ignore.
If it's consistent, that may be a brand tool you
need to bring into your business. Then yeah, well, you know,
some men represent a major portion of my portfolio. Don't
run from your base, build from your base. Extill doesn't
(30:58):
mean that you can walk away from overall.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Brand, which is women and media.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Let's talk about the extensions that you've created your podcasts
and other platforms as a public speaker, that you've created
outside of your for Matt.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Danielle, Oh wow. Yeah. So everything that I have created
and launched is because I found that there was a
need to fill, right. I don't. I'm not that that
entrepreneur who says I think my idea is great, I'm
gonna go ahead and launch it. I understand that I
need a service base. I understand that I need customers,
so I'm servicing and providing things that matter to them.
(31:33):
When I graduated from school, I also went to a
film screening. So I majored in theater, Arts and Dance
at Spelman College and a double major in history. And
so I was at a film screening and it was
about the Philadelphia arts scene, and it was a group
of young filmmakers who was premiering this screening. But when
(31:55):
I saw the screening, I noticed that there was only
one woman in this feature film. And I'm said, well,
why only one woman? Look, there's so many artists that
come out of Philadelphia, like you only found one to
talk to in this documentary. And so I was like, Wow,
this is alarming to me. I think this signifies something
(32:17):
bigger that's happening within the industry. So I began to
research what was happening in entertainment, what was happening in
the media industry as far as those working as professionals,
whether they were in front of the camera or behind
the scenes. Literally, I launched Women in Media Global right
before Me Too. It was like three years before Me Too.
(32:40):
It was like it was simmering up, and it was
like I felt it, everybody else felt it, and boom,
here comes Me Too. But Women in Media had launched,
and I launched this initiative as a reminder to remind
women who own their voice, because in that situation, a
number of things could have happened. One, there could have
been a woman there who didn't speak up. You didn't
(33:01):
know her opinion about this absence of women being represented,
or to her voice was not heard. Right whoever was
producing this film did not take into consideration what she
said if she did advocate for the need for women.
So I created this platform to remind women of that,
but also to empower them to advocate, to take up
(33:23):
more spaces and be able to just be bigger and
to grow wider and to launch their own initiatives and
to be leaders in the space of media, entertainment and business.
And that is how Women in Media launched. And so
we've done six annual conferences. We've launched our podcast as
(33:44):
well as an extension of that conversation, and we like
to bring onto the show those who are working in
the industry They may be entrepreneurs in the industry, or
they may be those who are working on behalf of
major media companies, but wanting to their stories, wanting to
get their advice on how to best successfully matriculate and
(34:07):
navigate such a sticky industry of media entertainment, and to
begin to continue to spread and show a spotlight on
what women are doing, and just having them own their
stories on their voices, letting them know that that's very important.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
How can we get in touch with you, Daniel down
at Miami by way of Philly through Atlanta. You know
what I'm saying, Atlanta, Philly, Miami.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yes, if you are ever in need of anything that
we talked about, if any part of this conversation was
interesting to you, I welcome you to reach out to
me and let's can let's meet, let's have a more conversation.
I have Instagram which is DP jeter e E P
e j E T E R. I'm sure it'll be
right here on the screen, so you can go ahead
(34:57):
and check out my Instagram. There you will find links
in my bio of everything that I have going on.
You can send me a DM and set up a
conversation with me. Follow the podcast as well, the Whim
Wim Speak Show. We're on Spotify, Apple, We're also on YouTube,
all the places that you get your favorite podcasts. That
(35:20):
show is great reinforcement of inspiration, of resources and knowledge
for those who are in business or who are in
the media industry as well. And I'm on LinkedIn, Danielle
Page Jeter too, so Womenimediaglobal dot org.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Thank you, my friend, daniel an amazing conversation. The fact
that you're impacting so many people something you started in
twenty twelve, and the fact that you are in a
business that's very competitive event planning, large event planning, a
small event planning, it's very competitive. And also the fact
that you understanding how to define the need for marketing,
(35:54):
brand activations and public relations. Thank you for coming on
Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Thank you so much for having me. This was amazing.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass
hosted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today, and thank you our listening audience.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Now.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
If you want to listen to any episode or want
to register to be a guest on my show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversations.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
your gifts. Keep winning.
Host
Rushion McDonald
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.