There are a lot of great agencies that offer public relations and marketing services. But smaller companies often offer more personalized and holistic services to businesses. The founder of Noon Creative learned important lessons from working in larger agencies. And now he uses these lessons in his own effort. Read about your trip to Small Business Spotlight this week.
What does the business do
It offers a variety of marketing services for businesses.
Founder Chloe Zhao told Small Business Trends: “New York-based Noon Creative offers public relations, marketing, social media and event services to hospitality and lifestyle brands.”
Business niche
Adapt content to the unique needs of each brand.
Zhao says: “Noon Creative is known for a holistic, personalized approach to public relations and marketing in the lifestyle industry. Specifically, the agency has helped many contemporary Chinese brands in the U.S. enter and stay. relevant to the target market. One of his experiences is to effectively translate Chinese culture to the American public. “
How the business started
After a successful project with a friend.
Zhao helped her best friend with public relations while opening a restaurant, MáLà Project.
She added: “She was doing so well (she got 60 media locations, including NYTimes for the restaurant for the first 6 months) that other neighborhood restaurant owners started contacting her because her voice had spread.”
Biggest victory
Winning a great client in front of the biggest agencies.
Zhao explains: “We had two months to file the new customer opening against the competing agency at the same time. During those two months, we stepped out of our comfort zone and used all resources to ensure maximum coverage. including getting in touch with my high school senior, who I hadn’t spoken to in years, just to see if he could fit in. Opening up to his broadcast story. We tailored our presentation to our topics of interest.After two months of sleepless release, we got twice as much coverage as our competitor.Our agency was just over two years old.I thought it was the biggest win of my career “.
The biggest risk
Moving away from restaurants and hospitality businesses during the pandemic.
Zhao says, “If we hadn’t pivoted successfully, we might have ended up with no new customers for months, no revenue and no pay for our employees. Fortunately, we successfully signed a 6-month contract with a national app food delivery, which was at the intersection of our specialty and our target customer.Having worked with them gave us enough momentum in our portfolio and made it much easier for us to contact other ecommerce applications / brands later “.
Lesson learned
Focus on dream customers from the beginning.
Zhao explains: “Although Covid accelerated [the] By moving to e-commerce in five years, people were going to buy more online for everything they needed in their life. We believe that e-commerce is the future. So the sooner we can partner with these brands, the faster we can grow and have a greater impact on society. “
How they would spend an additional $ 100,000
Helping other AAPI female-owned businesses.
Zhao adds: “As a woman founder of AAPI, I understand the harsh reality that women face when they grow their businesses. If I had an extra $ 100,000 in my business, I would partner with a local non-profit organization and would use this money and my resources to help AAPI women-based businesses with my experience in public relations and marketing Many female-owned businesses offer great products / services, but the owners don’t know how to market With my public relations skills and $ 100,000, I would make a big difference in helping them survive the most crucial early stages of business growth. “
Preferred work environment
Changing it.
Zhao explains: “Because we could work anywhere with our laptops, sometimes I take the computer to libraries and parks with wifi, and so on. We once went to work at MoMa and it was one of the best experiences. It gave us a lot of inspiration. “
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Image: Noon Creative, Chloe Zhao