Central Florida’s Growth in Technology and Startups
Originally moving to Orlando for the Starter Studio Technology Accelerator and learning about Central Florida’s push to be a technology hub (See “ORLANDO. YOU DON’T KNOW THE HALF OF IT.”), it became clear this was an opportunity to get plugged in and grow with the local energy and focus on the technology sector. Central Florida continues to create commercial growth and opportunities with it’s large healthcare, real estate, event, and video game ecosystem driven by a heavy concentration of Universities and economic hubs (not to mention the massive tourism industry).
As a business and marketing professional, my natural instinct was to look into areas of high demand and low supply. Something that was very clear back in 2015 (and still is today) is that technical marketers are in extremely short supply in Central Florida. A technical marketer is someone that really understands the intricacies of digital marketing, is continuously learning new tools/software and is doing the actual work – unlike many marketers who focus more on content or high-level marketing strategies (this is not a knock on non-technical marketers; both are important skill sets for a successful marketing campaign). Until that point in my career, my core focus was on developing and executing digital marketing strategies, so it was clear that providing effective technical marketing was my calling.
The Changing Marketing Landscape
Starting as an in-house marketing consultant for various B2B technology companies and having the opportunity to get hands on and collaborate with other agencies, I saw that technology moves much faster than the talent pool. Most agencies are made up of traditional marketers trying to make their way into digital. The result is amazing people, lots of brain power, but they often lack the ability to execute advanced digital marketing tactics.
The world is full of marketers, and in today’s environment, anyone with an Instagram account considers themselves a digital marketer. But, true demand generation is difficult, requires an integrated approach that looks at the full funnel, and understands that true demand is built over time with consistent high levels of strategy, execution, and analysis. This is the marketing that we wanted to offer, and how we were going to stand out as a small fish in a big pond; a true digital performance agency that offers demand generation to the core, understands data, and will get our hands dirty to make decisions and execute for our partners.
Building Talent in a Talent Shortage
The number one challenge our competitors face was clearly going to be our biggest challenge as well: finding qualified marketers.
Phase 1 was digging through the network to find digital marketing rock stars to begin building a team. In addition to finding experienced marketers, we also needed to put together a process for inexperienced talent (not yet tainted by traditional marketing) to develop their skill sets from little to no marketing foundation. A temporary solution to this problem was to partner with amazing local freelancers and contractors to learn from each other and offer a full growth solution as a very lean company.
As we produced amazing results for clients, we needed more structure to establish ourselves and build out a permanent team (not just freelancers and contractors). This is where my partner, Mark Bunker, entered the picture. Mark is one of Florida’s most talented UX/UI designers with a business acumen that could help me begin to scale the operation.
From the beginning of our partnership, Mark and I set out to be more than a small shop of marketers, we wanted to create a system that can empower people to be their best and create amazing results for our clients. We wanted a business that we could scale. Many agencies struggle or refuse to invest in non instant ROI generating activities that are costly and time consuming. We’re still in the early stages of this, but we believe that our constant drive to get better and willingness to invest in our people continues to prove ROI and allows us to differentiate ourselves from the competition.
Our mission is simple – Empower people to reach their full potential. This applies to both our team members and our partners/clients.
The Hustle is Real
As we wrap up 3 years in business, we are constantly learning, trying new things and finding ways to get better. Differentiating ourselves from the competition is difficult as a digital marketing agency because it is a mature segment with very low barriers to entry.
One of our biggest focuses right now is to find great companies and show them how we’re different from a standard agency. We like to say that our goal is to get 10% every week and we work diligently to make that happen, build a better company, and educate ourselves on demand generation and scale as our clients continue to grow and evolve. Our differentiation is and will continue to be our people and our process. We will always be your high touch marketing partner that commits to sustained demand creation- the results are what will drive our growth.
The Story Continues…
Today, OM Performance Marketers is a team of 11 rockstars. We operate as your outsourced, full-stack demand generation team and execute with a framework from strategy to execution. Simply put, we aren’t scared to pull the lever and get shit done. We’re deeply involved with healthcare technology and B2B SaaS companies and continue to be selective in our partners as we look for relationships that will be a long term fit. Like any business, scale and talent acquisition continues to be a challenge, but our growth system continues to produce amazing results for our partners. We encourage you to connect with us and see how we empower individuals to reach their full potential.
