Gina Manlove

Some food for thought for major event planners out there…if your event is family-friendly, consider a private area for moms to breastfeed. Over the weekend, I brought my 5 month old son with me to the Track & Field Olympic Trials at Hayward Field. It was an incredible event, and I loved seeing all of the young families in attendance. It’s great for the sport! I did my best to time Knox’s feedings around the meet… I fed him in my car before we walked around the campus, and then again in a semi-private area just outside the stadium (where we were harassed by a man walking by). I shook it off okay but it made me anxious about the next feeding that I knew would come before we made our trip home. As predicted, the number of people and loud volume at the meet had Knox crying for breastmilk just a couple races in, and I had nowhere to go. I asked around, and the best option for privacy was the family bathroom. It was smelly and it had no seating (aside from the toilet), so there I stood holding my 18 pound baby while he breastfed for 30min. Not ideal…and considering the number of moms and dads I saw with babies in carriers at the meet, I couldn’t have been the only one in this situation. This is of course not an isolated experience. It’s not the first time I was made to feel uncomfortable while breastfeeding in public, and it’s not the first time I breastfed my son or pumped standing in a bathroom. If I could bottle feed him, I would. But my son requires the milk to be perfectly warmed, and even then, he often refuses the bottle from his mama. More often than not, I’m opting out of social gatherings and fun events these days to avoid the challenge of finding somewhere private to feed my son - which is a bummer. Being a mom with two youngsters now has changed the way I think when involved with planning family-friendly events, and I hope this post is at least insightful for anyone who took the time to read it! #eventplannning #familyevents #eventmanagement #breastfeeding

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Hey y'all 👋 It's been a minute since I introduced myself, and after a year full of connecting with new leaders on LinkedIn, this post feels long overdue. I'm Sean, a husband, girl dad, and Founder of Mallard Agency based in Dallas-Fort Worth. I started my company in 2021 with the intent of offering a marketing approach defined by three simple principles: clarity, simplicity, and beauty. I'm proud to say we've done just that for 100+ small to midsize clients across 20+ different industries. My heart is set on becoming the most compelling and approachable agency for the forgotten, unsexy, and hidden organizations across America. The clients that are stepping stones for other creative firms are our bread and butter. People regularly tell me that my superpower is to listen, ask questions, and bring clarity to their confusion. Put simply, I like simplicity 😉 and I think it's what most businesses struggle with when it comes to marketing. At Mallard, I've cultivated a team that is obsessed about being the best in these key areas: BRAND: We have a 7-step plan for building a successful brand, and it works every time. Dozens of brands come to us for this plan every year. VIDEO: We break through the typical production fluff to offer beautiful, strategic, and consistent video content at scale without breaking the bank. CONTENT: We take the burden of content creation and campaign deployment off of your shoulders, or extend your marketing efforts in the areas that are most challenging for your team. STRATEGY: We provide expert guidance for small marketing teams who are lacking clarity, accountability, or performance. Everything I do is centered around my personal mission to create turnaround moments for others whether that be in their professional or personal life. What is one way I could do that for you?

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Running an agency in 2024 is tough—you're not alone, and here's why. I'm incredibly grateful for the AMA Houston – American Marketing Association Agency Forum, where 10+ agency owners come together in a (virtual and in-person) room to support, learn, and remind each other that we're not alone in this journey. This group meets once a month, and the value we bring to each other is unmatched. For many of us, 2024 has been challenging. Sales are slow, and the growth we’re used to isn’t quite there. Hearing this echoed by most of the group was validating—it’s not just us. We’re not doing something wrong. Maybe it's the state of the economy or the world in general. There’s a saying, "misery loves company," but that wasn’t what yesterday's meeting felt like. Instead of it being a vent session, it became a space for validation, followed by problem-solving. We focused on how to bring in more business, exchanging ideas on what’s working, what’s not, and what we could try. One of the practices I find especially meaningful in these meetings is the Rose, Bud, and Thorn exercise. We each share something going well (Rose), an opportunity we’re excited about but still developing (Bud), and a challenge we’re facing (Thorn). For my Rose, I spoke about our Inc. 5000 win—which celebrates our growth between 2021-2023. Even though this year has been tough, I was mixed about celebrating this. But we worked hard for it, and my Leadership Team felt wouldn’t be fair to take the celebration away from my incredible team. I also mentioned how grateful I am just to be in business. It may sound cliché, but sometimes we need to stop and thank G-d for what we have. After the meeting, I received some wonderful messages that really touched me: "Hey Danny. Great seeing you this morning. I wanted to tell you that I definitely related to your sentiment about not wanting to celebrate your Inc. 5000 win. It’s been rough the last few months and I’ve had a hard time even trying to celebrate small wins over here. I appreciated that you started off with your Rose—that it’s a privilege just to be in business." "I loved that everyone was open and shared their experiences instead of being guarded!" "Hi Danny! It was nice to e-see you this morning. Stopping in to say how much I appreciated your Rose this morning about being grateful to be in business. My partner and I were just talking about that the other day, so that resonated. Thanks for the awesome reminder." I am SO FORTUNATE to be part of such a supportive community. Agency life isn’t easy, but it’s made better when you have a group that truly gets it and pushes you to keep growing. What is the support system that you rely on in your business and/or role? #AgencyLife #BusinessChallenges #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #GrowthMindset #SupportCommunity #BusinessGrowth #Gratitude #Inc5000 #SmallBusiness #Resilience #BusinessOwner #2024Challenges #MarketingAgency #BusinessInsights

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Join us Wednesday April 17th to learn about the 3 stages of revenue generation. Learn something new, expand your network and have some fun with a little magic at our new venue in Dallas. Learn more and secure your ticket with the link in the comments 👇 #inpersonevents #businessdevelopment #businessclarity #inpersonnetworking #professionalgrowth

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As I am heading home from the Texas Travel Alliance Women in Travel Conference 2024, I wanted to share some key takeaways from the day! * When dealing with change, you have to reframe. What can you control? How can you reframe your mindset to adapt to the changes? Change is inevitable in todays world and it is all about how you respond, not react to it! * Clarity is kindness. Take the time to fully understand your team and how you all communicate together and separately. Clarity creates kindness and allows your team to fully understand projects. * Regularly ask yourself (and your team members) if you are being a good communicator. Take the feedback you receive and adjust your communication based on it. * Speak your truth—even when your voice trembles. * Bring others to the table with you. Help create opportunities for others and ask yourself how you can be a leader, not just a manager or supervisor. * How will you measure your success when your title goes away? At some point, whether that’s moving on to a new opportunity or retiring, your title will leave you (and the perks that may come with it). The most important thing you can do is build and foster genuine relationships. This conference was so enlightening and empowering and I am feeling refreshed after listening to each speaker!

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What's better than an all original Digital Video Ad? A digital Video Ad with all original Branded Music - which we wrote, produced and built this new kick ass tourism video for Visit Glen Rose, Texas. New from the minds at Flat Five Marketing. #tourism #marketing #digitalvideo #digitalmarketing #jingles

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Do you know where your customers are finding you? So many small businesses in Louisiana could benefit from local SEO. Just a few tweaks, and you could be top of the list! https://lnkd.in/gYTHu9tt #SEO #LocalBusiness #LafayetteLA

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Mark your calendar and get out and hear what is next.... Cultivating community for brands means fostering meaningful connections and engagement with core audiences around relevant interests to create a loyal and supportive network. It’s taking a more human-to-human approach versus brand-to-consumer. Come gather with fellow marketers, agency peeps, and creatives to explore how brands foster community to create true connection, gather valuable first-party data and feedback, enhance loyalty, and ultimately sustain brand growth. Learn how brands can approach cultivating community. Discover strategies, tactics, and tools brands invest in to cultivate community. How to nurture and grow community via relationships with influencers/creators. Register early! Event is limited to 100 attendees. Early-bird pricing through 9/12/24. For tickets: https://lnkd.in/gwwgt9eW

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People [me included] love to gather together in person to learn, to experience, to network, to explore. That's why specialty events, niche conferences/summits with dedicated programming, and tradeshows like #Lightovation at Dallas Market Center are so popular right now. We want and need the human connection. But, if we can't travel to - or be at - all of them [ which most of us can't ] what can we do? We can explore an event or a home together, online, in community - as our avatars - and that is exactly what the Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse LINK allows us all - and anyone around the world - to do, for free, 24/7, no email required. ____ My long term goal with this entire project I've been in charge of for #DallasMarket's Lightovation tradeshow [ as Laura Van Zeyl knows ] has been to help educate lighting retailers, exhibitors and their reps as well as interior designers on how to use this free content [ this link ] to bring people together, in their stores, showrooms and/or event spaces - in community. This free content that Dallas Market has made available is such a fun and exciting experience -- and allows everyone to walk through the Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse, in community with others [as their avatars ] - wearing virtual reality goggles [ or not ] and talk about what they're seeing. In addition to VR and the actual metaverse experience in the Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse, it also incorporates AR and AI, so everyone has the opportunity to see how all of these technologies work together to create something truly spectacular. ____ During the upcoming June Lightovation tradeshow, I will be in the Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse installation from 9-11 on Wed, June 19th and Thursday, June 19th, to help all attendees understand exactly how to use the free content LINK to the Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse to: Create dynamic in store/in showroom events that will drive traffic, publicity and revenue. I would love to see YOU there if you're an exhibitor, rep, lighting retailer or interior designer attending Lightovation next month, and especially if you are one of the 21 lighting exhibitors featured in the Trendhouse. #lightovation #dallasmarket #metaverse #AI #VR #AR #lighting #thoughtleadership #savourpartnership #dallasmarketdesign #designwealthcommunity cc: Cindy Morris Cole Daugherty Jaclyn Sion Warren Shoulberg

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Major events are fueling travel plans for the upcoming year. Take the Super Bowl, for example—searches for New Orleans (the host city) jumped by more than 100% day over day for February 5-7, right before the big game on February 9. 📈 Event-driven travel offers a unique opportunity to attract bookings. Here's how to Capitalize on This Trend: 1️⃣ Plan Ahead: Identify major event dates in your area and align your advertising strategies. 2️⃣ Optimize Your Listings: Use platforms like TravelAds to promote your property and stand out in search results. 3️⃣ Highlight Your Advantages: Emphasize your proximity to event venues, available transportation options, and any special group rates for attendees. Position your property as the place to stay for event-goers and watch your bookings soar! #hospitalitymarketing

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🎙 Breaking news. We were just named Ad Age A-List Standout Agency for 2024. 🙌🏼 Some context on the award. There are 97,558 marketing agencies in the US (IBIS World), 25 agencies make the A-list. "It is the most prestigious honor in advertising. The recognition is awarded based on game-changing creativity, bold leadership, and the ability to point the advertising industry in new directions." - from Ad Age. A few highlights and learnings from the award announcement and strategy (this is the 1st time I've been part of a team to win this in my career): ✅ Move the needle for client/brand business outcomes and call out specific annecdotes. The article headline says it beautifully "McKinney Hits the Right Notes for Creativity and Efficacy". And small specific details are key. For example, they mentioned Popeyes leapfrogging KFC to become #2 for market share in the category since we took over the account. And in the case of Little Caesars Ad Age even mentioned a funny anecdote we included from the CEO of Papa John's giving a nod to Little Caesar's hypercharged sales volume on their earnings call. "We don't talk about them a lot because they are not public, but credit card data we have suggests they (Little Caesar's) are doing really well." One of my favorite quotes on this how to call out anecdotes to tell a great story is from Jad Abumrad an epic storyteller from Radiolab fame. He preaches to "Chase the little sh*t". It's the cognitive effect of how paying attention to the smallest of details reframes a story to have a much bigger impact. ✅ Social Impact Matters. If you are going to talk the talk you gotta walk the walk. Ad Age mentioned naming our first female president in our history (grateful to work with Gretchen Easton Walsh), obtaining B-Corp status, and our partnership with VCU Brandcenter in breathing life back into Creative Circus (a storied ad school) with an updated curriculum for a new generation of creatives. None of this is possible without all the blood, sweat, and tears from our McKinney Squad, brand partners, and the community that supports us and our brands. Also, a huge shout out to the agencies who also made the list continuing to push the boundaries with great work. What a phenomenal accomplishment ya'll. I could not be prouder. I've linked to the full article in the comments below 👇🏼 #AdAgeAList #advertising #marketing

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❗ The Austin Business Journal is running a sale on Book of Lists advertising in our 2024/2025 Book ❗ Do you love our Book of Lists? Here are some fun fact about the publication, and reasons why your company should be advertising in it! 💡 70% of subscribers say Book of Lists advertisers are more top of mind when a product/service is needed 💡 65% of subscribers have bought products/services from companies that advertise in the Book of Lists 💡 84% of subscribers influence company purchasing decisions 💡 Our readers reference the book on average, 2.5 times per month, 30 times annually - that's a yearlong shelf life! 💡 There is a annual Book of Lists in almost every single business journal market and I can help you book in not only Austin, but any market we have a business journal in! PM me if you are interested in learning more! #marketing #advertising #austin #business #bookoflists #austinbusinessjournal

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I have loved working with a client recently on their evergreen funnel launch. Kelly and John, father & daughter duo, came to me - they have a history of ranching in Texas and wanted to turn their recent free live masterclass into an evergreen funnel to sell their membership to help ranchers and farmers make their land more profitable. Using deadline funnel we set up a 48 hour offer to their membership from the free masterclass. We edited down and subtitled the 5 part masterclass, and created eye-catching landing pages for each of the videos. We reviewed and optimised the membership sales page to make it higher-converting. We set up the whole email sequence so that opt-ins to the masterclass were taken on a journey to garner late-sales for those who decided not to join the membership during the masterclass. Tech used: ~ Kajabi for masterclass opt in page & membership sales page ~ Active Campaign for email sequence ~ Zapier to connect the above two platforms ~ Deadline funnel for the 48 hour timer ~ Capcut for video editing & subtitling If you’ve recently done a live masterclass and would like to explore turning it into an evergreen funnel, DM or comment below and we can have a chat! 

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Is there anything worse than this? CBA Culture Marketing #marketinghumor #marketingmemes #socialmediatips #socialmediaadvice #socialmediaagency #marketingagency #houstonmarketingagency #marketingtips

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🎬 Business Lessons from Despicable Me 4! 🎬 Last week, my son Henry and I escaped the heat at Alamo Drafthouse to watch Despicable Me 4. Beyond its entertainment, the movie offers some great lessons for business development and proposal management: 1️⃣ Embrace Change: Just like Gru, who adapts to unexpected challenges, proposal professionals must be flexible to meet client needs and internal constraints. Adaptability is key to success. 2️⃣ Use Team Skills: Gru’s team, including his family and the Minions, use their unique talents to achieve their goals. In proposal management, leveraging your team's diverse skills ensures a stronger, more compelling proposal. 3️⃣ Persistence is Key: Gru’s determination teaches us the importance of persistence. Winning proposals often require continuous effort and commitment from start to finish. Other Movie Recommendations for Business Insights: - Moneyball: Data-driven decisions and innovative thinking. - The Pursuit of Happyness: Perseverance and resilience. - The Founder: Vision and execution in business. Sometimes, the best lessons come from unexpected places. Next time you watch an animated movie, look for the valuable insights that can boost your professional growth. 📈 #ProposalManagement #AECExcellence #MovieLessons

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📍 Leverage Local Hashtags to Reach Clients Nearby  "Be hyperlocal! Add hashtags like #DallasHouseCleaning or #BostonCleaners 🏙️ to target your area. In your captions, include: ‘Serving the [City] area for spotless spaces and peace of mind. Tag local businesses or locations to increase reach. 🌍📲   #smartrajib #rajibseoexpert #cleaningbusinessgrowth #businessgrowthexpert #cleaningbusinessgrowthexpert

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Austin and I have done some pretty amazing collabs since starting SixTwentySix. But what excites me most (more than working with this or that big brand or celebrity) is seeing the consistency and growth in the caliber of jobs we're doing year after year. When we first started the company, we were doing super small $2k to $10k music videos. Landing our first $30k or even $70k gig felt insane. I remember running the numbers, trying to understand how much money we could really make and how big the company could be if those kinds of project became consistent. Fast forward to today… It's crazy to think about how we used to go nuts over something for $10k. Now, we're working on projects with an average budget of over $200k, and we're consistently taking on million-dollar-plus jobs. What I’ve learned is that every project is cool and unique in its own way (even the small ones), and some will resonate with me or Austin or our team more than others. But what's TRULY fulfilling and exciting is watching our business grow — adapting to changes in the industry and technology, and constantly pushing the scope of what we do. Now that I’m more behind the scenes focusing on supporting my business and my team, it’s just the most fulfilling to see the capacity and consistency we’ve built. That's how I know we're achieving the mission and goals of the company.

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When a client wants a champagne marketing campaign on a tap water budget, and you just smile and say, "Challenge accepted!" 🥂 At Baystate Marketing, we understand the hilarious gap between client expectations and client budgets. But who says you can't have caviar results with a tuna fish budget? We're experts at getting creative to make every dollar work harder. So here's to turning dreams into reality, one clever strategy at a time! We'll stretch every penny and deliver results that'll make you feel like you hit the marketing jackpo. Because at the end of the day, it's not about how much you spend—it's about how smart you spend it ✨ Got big ideas but a tight budget? 📞 Call us at (508) 488-9043. 🌐 Visit us online at www.baystatemarketing.com. 📧 Email us at jparker@baystatemarketing.com. #ClientExpectations #Budgeting #MarketingMagic #BaystateMarketing #CreativeSolutions #SmallBusiness #MarketingStrategy #ThinkOutsideTheBox #GetCreative #ValueForMoney

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Excited for my client's grand opening and if any of you live near Parker, CO you should check out their furniture store because the pieces are gorgeous! This is my casual reminder to make sure you are doing press releases. Get those backlinks and use them to generate excitement on socials, ya'll! Some reasons you can do a press release: 1. Announcing a New Product/Service: Let audiences know about exciting new offerings. 2. Winning an Award: Highlight recognition and boost credibility. 3. Company Milestones: Share major achievements like anniversaries or sales goals. 4. New Partnerships: Inform about collaborations that expand capabilities. 5. Leadership Changes: Announce new hires or promotions to show growth. 6. Crisis Communication: Address any issues to control the narrative. 7. Expanding Locations: Promote growth by announcing new offices or markets. 8. Hosting an Event: Drive attendance or attention to events, webinars, or launches. 9. Rebranding: Announce a new look, mission, or direction. Press releases can be powerful for several reasons: 1. Boost Visibility: Get your brand noticed by media, potential clients, and industry leaders. 2. Build Credibility: Establish authority and trust by showcasing achievements, launches, or milestones. 3. Drive Traffic: Direct readers to your website, blog, or social channels for more engagement. 4. Enhance SEO: Gain backlinks from reputable news sites, improving search rankings. 5. Generate Leads: Attract interested prospects and partners with strategic PR distribution. 6. Control Narrative: Shape how your story or message is communicated in the media. 7. Content for Marketing: Use the release across social media, newsletters, and blogs. Need one? Let me know! #Visibility #Authority #SEO #BrandAwareness #LeadGeneration #PressRelease

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