Geneve Champoux is co-owner of Red Paper Clip, a company that provides print and web writing for business and marketing. Want to be a featured woman in business? Just fill out the the questionnaire.

One Woman Marketing: How did you get started with marketing? Was it challenging, or did it come naturally?

My first experience with marketing was awful. When I was 21, my boss promoted me from part-time receptionist to full time marketing manager. I had no training and minimal guidance, and I spent a summer suffering through cold call after cold call.

After that, I thought anyone who wanted to go into marketing must be a psycho. Given that first experience, it’s not surprising that when my husband and I started our writing business, I was terrified of taking on any of the marketing, so I largely left it up to him.

I’m certainly much more experienced, knowledgeable, and capable now than I was when I netted my first marketing gig, but it’s still taking me some time to develop confidence in that area. I’ve come a long way, though.

OWM: What preconceptions about sales and marketing, if any, did you have when you started?

I was happy to walk into this business knowing that marketing and sales are about much more than trying to convince receptionists to forward your call, but I still saw marketing and sales only as websites, advertisements, sales letters, direct mail packages, etc. I now have a much fuller understanding of how these materials are just one part of a well-rounded marketing and sales strategy.  

How important of a role does marketing play in your day-to-day business?

Now, marketing Red Paper Clip is our day-to-day business! We haven’t become robots that do nothing but sell, sell, sell, but we’ve realized that successful marketing isn’t about a single, formulaic strategy. Marketing opportunities exist in the most unexpected of places, and you have to be able to spot those opportunities and respond to them as they arise.

What marketing efforts have worked best for you? Which have been the most challenging?

Marketing efforts that can be worked organically and seamlessly into our everyday activities and that focus on building personal relationships have worked best. Advertising, direct mail campaigns and other aggressive sales techniques certainly have a place, but we’ve discovered that we connect best with people one-on-one. Therefore, building business networks and generating referrals have yielded the most success for us.  

How has your self image changed since you started marketing?

When you own your own business, your self image changes from being all about you to being a representative of your business. You can’t afford to not care about how you come across to other people, which is confusing for those of us who already put in a considerable amount of time weighing all those messages telling us that image is everything against all those other messages telling us that ours is the only opinion that matters.

You have to not only be able to talk about your business but also convey your professionalism and your passion. Part of this requires that you gain inner confidence as an entrepreneur, and part if it requires that you learn to project yourself appropriately through your speech, actions and physical appearance.

For a while, I wondered whether I would get lost in the shuffle as I tried to transition from being casual almost to a fault to being able to present myself as a professional, but I’m slowly starting to find the balance.

What do you wish you knew about marketing before you started?

I don’t have any regrets. It’s certainly been a learning process, and we’ve had a few bumps along the way, but I think that if I had known then everything that I know now (or even some of what I’ve learned since starting), I would have been overwhelmed. We had to give ourselves and our business some time to evolve and grow, and as it continues to do so, we constantly revisit our marketing strategies to determine what works at the present time.

What works for us now might not have worked for us a few years ago, so I enjoy learning the right tactics at the right time. We certainly want to use marketing to help our business become more profitable, but we also want to enjoy the process of growing our business, and we’re not looking for a quick fix. We’re looking for what’s right for us.  

What marketing advice would you give to other women in business?

Small business owners often find it difficult to relinquish control and ask for help, but I would recommend that everyone invest in a session with a marketing consultant. Sure, there are a gazillion books out there for small business owners who need to do their own marketing, but a good consultant will listen to you, get to know you and your business, and offer appropriate strategies. That’s not something a book can do for you.

Also, when you do sit down with a consultant, keep the meeting relatively short. Two hours will likely provide you with enough information for you to digest at one time. You can always schedule another consultation when you’re ready to learn and implement more strategies!

To what do you attribute your success?

The amazing people in our lives. Our clients have been fabulous, we’ve been blessed with many mentors, and our friends have been unbelievably supportive, as have our families. And, the fact that my husband and I are continually supporting each other as we navigate our way through the sometimes-confusing world of entrepreneurship is undoubtedly a cornerstone of our success.