From the time she was a young girl, Dionna Smith-Bratton knew
she wanted to be an entrepreneur. And when she discovered her love
of marketing and brand awareness while a student at Tulane
University, she knew which direction her career would go. But it
was her first stint out of college that led her to meld her two
loves.
After graduating, Smith-Bratton, 24, landed a corporate job as a
marketing and promotions director at an urban radio station in
Columbia, South Carolina. While there, she noticed the commercials
being played weren't aimed at the station's predominantly
African-American listeners. Taking her marketing skills to another
level, she started her own business, Diversified Marketing & Public
Relations, an ethnic marketing and public relations firm that
helps companies learn how to market their products to
African-American audiences.
Smith-Bratton succeeded in proving the power of the black
consumer, bringing in $45,000 in sales in 1999, her first year in
business. This year, she expects to double, if not, triple that
amount--a significant increase, especially when you consider she
started her business with just $3,000. Today, Smith-Bratton runs
her business from her home in Tampa, Florida.
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HomeOfficeMag.com: Can you explain in a little more
detail why you started your business and how you got the idea?
Dionna Smith-Bratton: While I was a marketing and
promotions director at the radio station, I noticed that a lot of
the commercials companies were sending us weren't getting the
message through to our audience because they weren't listening
to them. For instance, they might send in a Budweiser commercial
with country music in the background. If it's on a hip-hop
station, listeners are going to change the channel as soon as it
comes on. I realized that a major part of marketing is getting
people to hear your message.
Particularly for African Americans, we tend to spend money and
buy things when they're things we can relate to. So if
you're advertising on a hip hop or R&B station, and you use
jazz, R&B or hip hop as background music, African Americans
will listen to the commercial--as opposed to the country music
example.
HomeOfficeMag.com: Can you tell me about your background?
Did you always want to become an entrepreneur?
Smith-Bratton: Basically since I was very young, probably
around second or third grade, I was always the person on the block
who would get all the [kids] together to cut grass, and I would get
a percentage of the [profits], so I was always trying to come up
with something. I always wanted to do something that had to do with
business, so I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
I went to college as a marketing major. That's when I really
got into understanding brand awareness, and I just absolutely loved
it. At the same time, I was always very conscious of the
African-American community and community service. So I [decided I]
wanted to find a way to tie the two together.
HomeOfficeMag.com: How are you able to present yourself
as an established company while being homebased?
Smith-Bratton: I never mention that I'm homebased,
unless the client already knows. I don't tell them I don't
have any employees unless they ask. I never lie, and I always
represent myself as professionally as possible so they feel no need
to ask those questions. I'm noticing lately that companies are
becoming more familiar with homebased companies and one-person
enterprises, and it doesn't bother them. But some big companies
[still have reservations.] For instance, GTE contacted me, and they
were very surprised to find I owned a homebased company. They
thought it was a big marketing and PR firm where I had employees
and all that. I just really try to handle myself as professionally
as possible because I want people to realize that I can do as much
for them as a 25- or 30-person firm--or even a 500-person firm.
[And my costs are lower,] of course, because my overhead is very
minimal.
HomeOfficeMag.com: Are there any challenges that you face
being homebased?
Smith-Bratton: Originally I started staying home with my
three-and-a-half-year-old son because I wanted to be able to be
with him. That didn't work out very well though, because during
the hours that most companies are calling me, he's running
around and making noise. I ended up having to send him to school on
a half-day program, so I can take and return all my calls during
that time. That's a major challenge.
The other challenge was trying to make my Web site look very
professional. I try to make all my literature and everything else
very professional so I don't have to deal with people thinking
it's a small company and [thinking] I won't provide as good
service as they'd receive from a big company.
HomeOfficeMag.com: How do you reach your market?
Smith-Bratton: It's great when you're actually a
marketing and PR person because you learn the best ways to market
to people. And that's the way you sell your business. I do tons
of PR, [like] sending releases to magazines, and it's free--
you don't have to pay for PR. I also use direct-mail services
and send out mailings.
I also look at Monster.com. I'll put "African
American," for example, in the search engine, and you'd be
[surprised by] how many companies are looking for people in their
marketing department to help market to African Americans. So
I'll find companies that are interested and send them
literature.
I get all the PR and a lot of the marketing publications, and if
a company is talking about diversity or something related to that,
I'll send them something. I try to find every avenue so I can
send out company literature.
Right now, I'm also getting my MBA online from the
University of Phoenix. Most of the people who are getting their
MBAs from the University of Phoenix are professionals who are
already very established in their career or they're
entrepreneurs. In every class I'm in, I tell my classmates to
try to spread the word about my company.
HomeOfficeMag.com: What are your future plans for your
company?
Smith-Bratton: I know I'm going to have to bite the
bullet and hire employees and rent office space because I'm
growing a lot, and I want to give my clients the best service I
possibly can. I don't want to have a lot of clients and then be
greedy and not want to rent space or spend money on stuff and not
be able to serve them as well.
Right now, a lot of the marketing and PR firms are really
recognizing the need to market to African Americans, and many of
them are teaming up with smaller marketing and PR firms. I'm
hoping to establish relationships with some of those firms. I
don't want to sell my company or join forces with them, but I
want to be able to consult with them so I'm able to help a
number of different clients.
If you'd like to tell us about your interesting homebased
business, write us at hoffice@entrepreneur.com.