Want 2 Grow? Marketing, PR and Events

Cultivating
Fresh Ideas
Daily

Picture of Jennifer Gerlock and Amy Benton; Master Cultivators at Want 2 Grow? Marketing, PR and Events

Creativity
Knowledge & Skill

Want2Grow is a PR firm that makes your social media flowers bloom, your marketing grass grow, and your events the buzz of the neighbor’s backyard. Simply put, we cultivate fresh ideas that blossom into successful campaigns … Think of us as your image gardeners.

Seeds of Inspiration

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Brains on Fire
Amy’s Current Inspiration: Catherine Russell Strictly Romancin
Amy’s Current Inspiration: Leonard Cohen
Jennifer’s Current Inspiration: Pinterest
Jennifer’s Current Inspiration: The Thank You Economy
Amy’s Current Inspiration: Managing Brand You

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Brains on Fire

Brains On Fire, written by Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church and Spike Jones.  It’s no secret that I am a great fan of the Brains of Fire team out of Greenville, S.C. I have a marketing crush on them. So, when I heard they had written a book, I was all over it. I first downloaded it to my Audible account and listened to it as I headed west for a trip.  While I enjoyed it greatly I really found that I needed a hard copy to reference (old school) so I picked up a copy and grabbed my highlighter.  This book is packed with great stuff, all stuff that makes sense, but it’s great to be reminded of.  With pithy sayings and an easy to “get it” attitude this book has quickly become one of my “go to books” to remind me about the basics.  Like the introduction  says, “It’s About People, Stupid”.

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Brains on Fire

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Catherine Russell Strictly Romancin

I heard  a recent interview on NPR’s Fresh Air with Catherine Russell in which she spoke about her new album, Strictly Romancin.  I had seen Russell when she appeared at the Weinberg Center for the Arts several years ago, and I was blown away with her voice and her stage presence. In the NPR interview she spoke about how she started her career, her parents and the hard word she has put in to get her to where she is today.  Something caught my attention in that interview and I quickly downloaded the album to iTunes. Her newest release is a tribute to an era of musicians the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Peggy Lee. Her voice, combined with lovely lyrics, is the perfect inspiration to get me started on a project.

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Catherine Russell Strictly Romancin

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Leonard Cohen

The topic of death inspirational? You bet!  Especially, when it comes from Leonard Cohen.

His latest release, “Old Ideas” takes on the topic that isn’t one we generally spend much time thinking about. With poetry, banjo and his unmistakable voice he weaves in and out of musings about final reckonings.  A Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, musician and novelist, his work pushes the boundaries and creates an almost mystical experience.

Link:

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/22/145340430/first-listen-leonard-cohen-old-ideas

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Leonard Cohen

Jennifer’s Current Inspiration: Pinterest

In case you are unfamiliar with the application, Pinterest simply allows you to create virtual pin boards of your favorite images, share them with your followers, and discover amazing new things along the way.

Five practical ways you can use Pinterest

  • Idea gathering
  • DIY creativity
  • Inspiration
  • Office
  • Vision boards

Link:

www.pinterest.com

Jennifer’s Current Inspiration: Pinterest

Jennifer’s Current Inspiration: The Thank You Economy

I think that every business owner should be required to read this book to understand the cultural shift that has occurred in this economy and how to respond appropriately.

Quote From the Author:

“There’s only so low you can go on price. There’s only so excellent you can make your product or service. There’s only so far you can stretch your marketing budget. Your heart, though, that’s boundless.”

Link:

http://thankyoueconomybook.com/

Jennifer’s Current Inspiration: The Thank You Economy

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Managing Brand You

Everyone is a brand. Everyone has qualities that influence people’s perspectives on how they see us.

Jerry Wilson, noted speaker and a senior vice-president at The Coca-Cola Company and Ira Blumenthal brand consultant, created a useful resource with this book on personal branding.   Great step-by-step guides that help you really look at your brand and give you a step-by-step action plan for personal brand building.

  • Brand development
  • Self-development
  • Marketing
  • Personal growth

Link:

http://jerryswilson.com/managing-brand-you

Amy’s Current Inspiration: Managing Brand You

Our Toolbox

We’re managing multi-million dollar budgets, promoting national recording artists, and crafting rockstar branding campaigns before other agencies have even rolled out of bed. We bring acres of experience, and a shed full of “power” tools ready to have your man-cave trembling. And we want to put our knowledge to work for you.

At Want2Grow, we know every client’s situation is different, and so approach every project like the unique opportunity it is. We work with you to learn about your business, your audience, and the message you want to convey. We take the knowledge you have gained and apply it to our fresh approach, delivering a scalable outreach campaign that will leave you wondering where we have been all your life.

 

Event Planning

“There ain’t no party like a Want2Grow party,
cuz a Want2Grow party don’t stop!”

 

We have successfully developed and managed all manner of events from charity runs to internationally attended conferences.  We are committed to creating memorable events that achieve targeted marketing and communications objectives and support your strategic goals… while being a whole bucket of fun!

If you’re looking to make a splash with a special event, grab your dancing shoes and give us a call! Want2Grow specializes in fantastic fundraising fetes, grandiose galas, creative conferences, and corporate carousing of all sizes.

Marketing & PR

What’s the point of growing a prize-winning rose or a magic bean stalk if no one knows about it? With years of experience as publishers and journalists, we’ve got you covered. We know who to talk to, how to reach them, and what to say. Whether it’s through traditional marketing services or more unique guerilla tactics, we’ll stop at nothing to get your message across.

Need something more specific?
Our standard public relations services include:

  • Strategic planning, advice, and counseling
  • Media relations and training
  • Message platform development
  • Creation and management of public relations material: press releases, public service announcements, photo servicing
  • Blogger relations and outreach
  • Byline / OpEd articles
  • Company and product launch(s)
  • Speaking programs
  • Event planning and support
  • Crisis management

Our traditional marketing services include:

  • Creation and management of collateral materials: newsletter, brochures, annual reports, video productions
  • Media Buys
  • Brand awareness, initiatives and development
  • Direct Mail

Social Media

Because social media really is more than just what you had for lunch today (although if you are a restaurant, that’s important too!).

In today’s market, your customers expect you to be involved in the social landscape – and why wouldn’t you be? It’s a serious component of your communication strategy and can be an incredibly powerful tool in spreading your message, communicating with your customers, and building a community around your brand or organization.

Whether you’re a Twitter aficionado or a Facebook newbie, we will craft a customized plan to get you where you need to be.

Some of the Social Media services we offer include:

  • Social media marketing strategic planning
  • Social media profile creation and management
  • Blogger and vendor relations
  • Blog ghostwriting
  • Custom branding on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
  • Social media training
  • Online videos and podcasts
  • Custom email design – Constant Contact, iContact, MailChimp

Development

When it comes to for-profit vs non-profit development, the grass ISN’T always greener on the other side. We take a strategic approach to our non-profit development, knowing that if you don’t understand the needs of the giving base, you’ll never convince anyone to pony up some cash. It’s all about connecting with your base and building the relationships that will last across campaigns, economic downturns, and time.

You don’t just throw seeds on the ground and hope they grow. You plant them, water them, nurture them, and care for them – guiding them as they grow and blossom into a community.

Our Non-Profit Services Include:

  • Capital Campaigns
  • Fundraising Drives
  • Planned Giving Programs
  • Online Fundraising and E-Campaigns

Training

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

While we aren’t exactly award-winning fishermen, we do know the value of a learned skill. Having the knowledge to do something in-house means a perennial talent base that can continue teaching those who come up after them. At Want2Grow we not only partner with your organization, but we make it a priority to educate your staff as needed to guarantee the best results possible.

Our Training services include:

  • Board Fundraising Training
  • Social Media Training
  • Sales Training
  • Cold Call Training
  • New Product Development Training

Our Garden

A gardener is only as good as the crops he yields. Here’s a peek at some of the work we’ve been privileged to be a part of:

Openning Quotation

Want2Grow assisted me with blogger outreach for a client event and it was very successful. Thanks to Want2Grow we had a large number of bloggers participate in our promotion and the effective reach to our target demographic was high. In conjunction with our other marketing efforts, this provided for a highly successful event with huge attendance… far more than we anticipated! Jennifer was a pleasure to work with and turned everything around very quickly in tight time constraints. I look forward to working with Want2Grow on future blog promotions and marketing efforts.

Christine Wilson, MtoM Consulting

Great bunch to work with! Amy and Jennifer are
out of the box thinkers — innovative and very creative.
Reasonably priced, they know the market they are in well.

Mike Tauraso

Working with Want2Grow was a very positive and productive experience and we thank them for all their hard work on behalf of Gale Recovery, Inc!  The words of wisdom that were shared and the creative flow of ideas along with Amy and Jen’s excellent contacts and suggestions for vendors produced far more than we could have hoped for in our project.
It was a fruitful partnership indeed!

Marte Birnbaum, LCSW-C, Executive Director

Want2Grow is an integral part of our team.  Their experience with media, social networking and public relations has been invaluable to Mission of Mercy as we work to maintain our message and community support.

David Liddle, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer

I love the enthusiasm and creativity that
Amy and Jennifer bring to the table!

Pat Hanberry, CEO, Frederick County Mental Health Association

In a difficult economy, Amy and Jennifer provide
creative and strategic support to ensure long term sustainability.
They offer incredible work ethic, experience, smart marketing,
and let’s be honest … they’re fun and have never met a stranger.

John Falin, Executive Director, American Red Cross Frederick County Chapter

NON-PROFIT

BUSINESS

Master Cultivators

Image gardeners. Marketing mercenaries. PR pioneers. Call us what you want, our job is ultimately to make YOU more successful. Want2Grow is here to help, guide, and empower your organization along its journey.

With over three decades of combined experience, our team thrives on creating unique marketing campaigns and developing memorable events that deliver maximum results. Today’s economic climate is tough, which makes it more important than ever to promote your business and keep your brand strong. Your bottom line matters and we promise not to waste your time with fluff or … “fertilizer.”

We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction and cultivating a true partnership with each of our clients. Whether your project is small in scope or comprehensive and complex, we look forward to helping you grow your business or non-profit!

Amy Benton

A natural born leader with a penchant for media, Amy has more than 20 years of experience in print media, sales, marketing and business management. She has developed magazines, sold advertising, and served as publisher of a Post – Newsweek Publication, The Gazette, where she added special sections, grew revenue and branded the newspaper to the market. Amy’s heart flutters over product development, brand awareness and all things sales related, leading to a recent tour of duty in the financial industry as a Market Leader.

She is as passionate about her clients as she is about planning events – handling both with white glove delicacy and dogged determination to succeed.

Amy has served the as the President of The Frederick County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, as Vice President of the Women’s Giving Circle of Frederick County, as The President of the Maryland Ensemble Theatre, the YMCA and on numerous other boards (see affiliations).

Affiliations

Rotary Club of Carroll Creek, Leadership Frederick County 2001, Heartly House, Board Member, Frederick Memorial Hospital, Good Samaritan Committee Member, Weinberg Center For The Arts, Member of Association of Fundraising Professionals

Ingredients

  • Hood College, Communication Arts BA
  • Straight Talker
  • Secretly desires to be a Southern belle
  • Devoted to her clients

Jennifer Gerlock

You’re most likely to find Jennifer spearheading a music video shoot or hosting a charity golf tournament, as event planning puts a big smile on this blogger’s face. With more than 15 years of experience in public relations and non-profit development, she’s represented clients ranging from small mission based non-profits to national record labels, local retail shops to multi-platinum recording artists and their respective worldwide tours.

A published author and media maven, Jennifer also serves as our resident social media diva and copywriter.

Jennifer is co-director of the Frederick Social Media Club and serves on the board of the Advertising Federation of Greater Frederick.

Affiliations

Board of Directors – American Advertising Federation of Greater Frederick, Co-Director – Social Media Club of Greater Frederick, Co-Founder – Momz Share, Mission of Mercy, Pillars of Frederick, The Weinberg Center for the Arts, Frederick Rescue Mission, Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Ingredients

  • Self-diagnosed social media junkie
  • Published writer
  • Event planner extraordinaire
  • Co-founder Momz Share
  • Blogger

In the Greenhouse

Just like a greenhouse provides space for individual plants to flourish and mature, the Want2Grow “Greenhouse” serves a stable of talented partners that offer specific skills to our clients. Be it social media, inbound marketing, copywriting, web and graphic design, photography or event management, we have a network of professions at our disposal.

The Garden at 147

Want2Grow is proud to be a part of The Garden at 147, a creative co-op with Think Baseline and Mary Kate McKenna Photography. Together, our combined expertise provides added benefits for all of our clients and their projects!

Want2Dish.com

Want2Dish.com is an online publication that is the brainchild of Amy Benton. Nurtured by the team, it has grown into a regional resource as well as an additional marketing tool for Want2Grow clients!

Affiliations

Lori Rypka

Lori Rypka

Grammar goddess, Words With Friends addict, witty wordsmith

With a keyboard at her fingertips, Lori Rypka works her word magic for Want2Grow Marketing. An experienced journalist, Lori has worked both sides of the desk, as a writer and as a managing editor for a number of publications. She even spent a few years working for the “dark side” (a.k.a. public relations, according to most journalists). Her ability to capture the essence of a message in a compelling combination of words helps visions bloom for clients of Want2Grow and The Garden at 147.

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