“The CoVIDS” Graduation Celebration

[The CoVIDS Learning Journey Slide] – to find out more here

“The CoVIDS” Case Studies

A PR and Communications Professional who turned the COVID-19 times we are living in into a period of self and professional development. Kerline Jules used BIZHACK to pivot into the digital world. Her passion project, a T-shirt Advocacy Campaign “Your Seat Ain’t Safe”, was dormant.

She used ads to increase awareness around her campaign by bringing traffic to the online store. Her ad campaign had a reach of over 10K, with impressions of over 12K. She saw over a 200% ROI. Kerline emphasized the importance of really understanding your different target audiences, knowing the key difference between Google and Facebook Ads, and leveraging Google My Business as a tool for business leads.

Ebony took the BIZHACK course to become a better customer to the future marketing firm she is looking to hire. She wanted to learn how to set metrics that would allow for her marketing team to serve her better.

Ebony did not launch her ads during the course, but she did gain a clear understanding of her marketing funner, Facebook Business Manager, and how to set up an ad that will be successful. She now has a clear understanding of the KPIs that will work for her and is confident she has what it takes to bring on board a marketing company that can help her with a solid digital strategy to fill the spots in her new product that will be launching soon.

In 2003 Michele Benesch started at Menu Men Inc. and grew the business 30% in 3 years. Since that time she has taken over 100% of the company and loves what she does. With a customer base mainly in the hospitality industry, COVID-19 dropped sales by 98% in just 4 business days.

Michele pivoted her business and reopened with a QR Code Touchless Menu idea. Michele launched two different campaigns promoting this new product that have resulted in 37 restaurants and hotels sign ups with an additional 14 active quotes.

Michele was able to learn and acknowledge the importance of her ad campaign execution, growing the impressions from her first ad by 180%.

Antoinette Patterson took this course to better understand social media and how to set up successful Facebook ads to promote her childcare center and summer program. She ran a lead generation ad and a video views ad campaign. Her lead generation ad has brought in 5 new customers who generate a LTV of over $60,000 and leads are still coming in.

Not only did Antoinette gain the knowledge she was looking for and achieve great results, she also learned things that will help her continue to grow her business such as a powerful email marketing strategy and the value of the right website specs.

Antoinette’s campaign is officially the single most profitable campaign in the 6 years of BizHack!

Mandy Diaz founded a fun and creative business from the love and devotion she has for pets. Pawty in a Box is the first birthday party decor kit for dogs. Mandy wanted to understand Facebook Audience, how to target effectively, and generate quality traffic to her website.

In the course Mandy was able to create and target specific audience personas, and also make crucial changes to her website and email marketing strategy. She achieved the highest number of clicks on her Facebook ads, has been able to convert traffic to sign up to her mailing list, and officially launched a newsletter.

The BizHacker Award is our highest honor and it goes to…

In each course we choose one participant who exemplifies what we call a BizHacker mentality- the embracing of the new, the constant experimentation, and the willingness to dare to fail gloriously.

Shakira Johnson, a PR & Events Pro, was diagnosed with COVID-19 and nearly died. For 6 weeks she was quarantined in her bedroom, away from her two girls. In this moment of fear and reflection she made the decision to pursue a passion project in a more mindful and focused way.

Love by OMG is a brand that Shakira started to build primarily through events and now has begun to expand into merchandising. Her website would only see traffic when Shakira posted on social media and she needed a way to continue driving traffic without being the influencer for it. While in the course, Shakira was able to break down demographics to create multiple buyer personas, understand the buyer’s journey and with also understanding the fundamentals of how to properly run ads, her website traffic increased by 100%.

Shakira realized that marketing is hard, but she never gave up, her #Neversaydie spirit paid off!

“Should My Brand Take a Stand” with Keynote Speaker Juana Jones of Jali Creatives

Juana Jones is the owner of Jali Creatives, a boutique marketing agency serving SBOs and NPOs primarily those that are launched and led by WOC. She has over 12 years of experience working in various industries.

When asked to “take a stand” right now it looks like, having a COVID-19/ “Stay at Home” message for your business, supporting the LGBTQ+ rights and the current legislation, and having solidarity with the anti-racism and police brutality movement.

Why is it important?

Brand storytelling is important to stand out, connect, and eventually create revenue. Your storytelling is built on your values and as small business owners we need to make sure that we have a corporate and social responsibility aspect to our business.

Ask yourself, Is staying silent or speaking up in alignment with my brand’s values and the story that it tells?

[How to take a stand slide image] – to get more info here

If you choose to not stay silent it is important to do it the right way. As a business you need to not only not stay silent but also include in your messaging how others can take action. Demonstrate what you are doing to take action and promote others doing the same.

“Virtue signaling” is the wrong way to not stay silent. This is just a way to guilt people into jumping on a bandwagon for some cause. People who chose to post black boxes on social media on #BlackOutTuesday were just trying to make other people feel better but this is not enough, this is not taking action. Keep your stance on causes and issues consistent and don’t put out empty statements with no action.

People want to see themselves in your brand. When they can identify parts of themselves in a brand they are more willing to spend their money. Make sure your brand is inclusive of all people. Representation matters. It is important to also be intentional when seeking out diverse hires, they are the key to strengthening your brand values and giving your business a new set of eyes which is crucial in expanding brand awareness and growth.

When it comes to the answer of “Should my brand take a stand?”
There is no right answer. It must align with you and your brand values.