If elephants could jump, they would jump up and down with excitement of this marvelous Alberta business. Jumping Elephant came about after a long and successful career with large agencies in the digital space. Sarah Kirkpatrick, founder and owner of the business finally decided to become her own boss and help small and medium size businesses market themselves online through the power of social media. The genesis of the idea, however, happened long before that. With entrepreneurial blood running through her veins, inherited from her Mom who was also an entrepreneur. Origins of the idea began when Sarah was in school. She started helping family members and friends market their own businesses. This raw talent caught the eyes of some big digital agencies, who ended up hiring her full time. Thus, launching her successful digital and social media marketing career. Today, Sarah runs a full-fledged and successful boutique digital and social media marketing agency with a cohesive team of sub-contractors doing many different tasks, such as blogging, social media content creation, web design, and digital marketing, just to name a few. She also works directly with small and medium sized businesses valued between $1.5 - $7 million in the capacity of a Fractional CMO. Simply put, a Fractional CMO is having a ‘fractional’ marketing executive to help companies increase their return on marketing spend through digital marketing strategy, team development, implementation management, customer acquisition, and company growth. The business gets executive experience without the full-time cost. This third pillar of their market offering was recently developed in response to a dire need in the small to medium size business world for specialized expert digital marketing services that go above and beyond the traditional social media support services, but without the full time expenses. In terms of what challenges that could face startups and budding entrepreneurs in the online world, Sarah deftly advises: “get your email list started from day one, get some funnels in place, start collecting those emails, even if you're not using them now, you will want to use them in the future.” Sound advice indeed. Jumping Elephant specializes in organic digital marketing. This includes, building digital marketing strategies for clients and building social media and blogging campaigns tailor made for their businesses. All that in addition to their excellent online courses on digital marketing, which can be registered for through their website. The unique niche that Jumping Elephant has chosen, coupled with Sarah’s all-encompassing formal education and practical experience, in addition to the absence of costly overheads, all contribute to their competitive advantages in their marketplace. Sarah’s dream five years down the road is to settle down in Victoria, BC by the ocean, while remotely running Jumping Elephant, which hopefully would become its own entity as an efficient engine running smoothly by a reliable and skilled team. One final thought from Sarah is her recommendation to small business owners to take advantage of her free online course on how to optimize their social media channels. Her last sage advice is: “It doesn't take very long to polish your presence online and make it look that much stronger and more reputable for your audience, and it will make a measurable difference.” |
Archives
September 2022
Courtesy of Alberta Chambers of Commerce
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