We’re back with our latest Member To Meet introduction. Throughout the year we are taking you behind the scenes of our featured members, sharing their story, how they overcome fear and persevere. Our next feature is with Melissa Telsrow, Founder of Hi-Per (specializing in digital marketing). Read on to see how Melissa chooses courage over fear, as she jumped into starting this business with her business partner, and has never looked back.
Melissa Telsrow, photo by Ana Taylor Photography
How long have you been in business and please explain to our audience what you do. : Hi-Per is celebrating its 5 year anniversary this year!
Hi-Per is the first marketing agency of its kind. Along with my business partner, Laura Radewald, we have pioneered hyperlocal marketing at scale for brands that have a complex and distributed digital footprint. Our services include digital ad campaign management, social media management, online review monitoring and response resolution, and loyalty app/online ordering strategy and support for multi-unit organizations.
I am proud to have been the driving force of innovation on the technology front for Hi-Per. I had one of those “wouldn’t it be nice” visions that I was able to bring to life by successfully integrating multiple technology platforms. We’ve essentially created a proprietary service delivery model that enables us to solve very complex brand and marketing challenges, affordably, at scale.
For example: we have the ability to provide individualized marketing support and real-time success metrics to hundreds of individual locations at once, while providing brand cohesion and centralized oversight - something that was formerly out of reach from a cost standpoint - for many of our clients. Coming from the client side, this scalable solution was something that we dreamed of as marketing practitioners. It gives me great joy to see our model in action!
How long have you been a member of the BWC and how has this helped you with your business growth and development? I have been a BWC member for seven years, having first joined an Executive Circle back in 2014. At the time, I had just been promoted to the Dunn Brothers Coffee leadership team. I have always valued the immense local talent in the BWC. One of the most helpful exercises for me personally was the CliftonStrengths workshop we did with the one-and-only Keri Bischoff. Gaining greater clarity of my strengths was the catalyst for my leap into entrepreneurship in the fall of 2015.
I have since been part of two separate BWC Owners’ Circles. It’s been a privilege to be part of a peer group with so many smart, determined and creative individuals.
What are 1-2 goals you have for 2020? As like so many other business owners navigating the effects of COVID-19, we are focused on all the ways that we can be a valuable strategic partner to our clients during this time. This means being resourceful and innovative during a time of change. Our expertise comes in helping brands optimize their entire digital ecosystem, and that has never been more important for the brands we work with. We want to be THE partner to help clients successfully transition from offline to online experiences.
What motivates you to reach these goals, also, what holds you back? Our motivation is quite simply knowing that a strong and strategic digital ecosystem is vital for the future of our clients. And knowing that we provide the solutions and service-level that we always dreamed of when we were on the client side, is a great source of pride. If anything holds us back it is the frustrations associated with the business side of things, contracts, billing, collections and taxes. If only we could focus on the fun stuff all the time!
Can you describe a time you were faced with fear as it pertains to your business and how did you persevere? If you’re currently facing fear, what is causing this? We have been very fortunate that our business model was forward-thinking enough that it has held strong. We’ve been profitable and relatively worry-free since year one. For challenging situations like the current pandemic, I usually have a Seth Godin truism echoing in my ear. Recently, his blog post about predicting the future rings true for me. He so wisely states, “... [when] the future doesn’t cooperate, we spend even more time trying to change the next bit of future so that it ends up more closely matching the future we were hoping for. What if, instead, just for a little while, we simply did our best? And let the future take care of itself.”
What are 2-3 things you always take with you when you leave the house? Lol, I don’t leave the house anymore. BUT, back in the day (circa Feb 2020) I would take purse snacks, newly downloaded podcasts, and sunglasses.
Favorite book, podcast or THING from 2019? I will always love the ‘How I Built This with Guy Raz’ podcast. My favorite episodes include Jake Burton Carpenter of Burton Snowboards (he was just so chill and cool), Steve Madden from Madden Shoes (quite the NY story that includes some prison time), and Sara Blakely from Spanx (such an inspiration, love her ingenuity and perseverance).
Anything else you’d like to share? I am so proud of the work we do at Hi-Per and Laura and I have so much fun doing it together. Special shout out to my husband Brian who is in charge of our one (dining)room schoolhouse through all of this and our three kids that make the WFH experience funny and unexpected. ✌️
How can we stay in touch with you?
http://hi-perlocal.com
melissa@hi-perlocal.com
Facebook: @hiperlocal.com
Twitter: @HiperlocalMktg
Melissa, you’ve been such a supportive member of this organization. Always willing to show up, learn and grow while being a strong ally to your fellow circle members. Thank you for taking time to share your journey with us and we can’t wait to see what 2021 brings for you!
The BWC Team