Dear Lauron,
Could you share more about your background prior to starting your own business?
Lauron Sonnier
After a short while, though, I became very restless like I think most entrepreneurs are. I had tapped out where I was, so I headed to the big city of Houston, Texas, with high aspirations. I found very quickly that the world of television worked very differently there. I instead took a position as Marketing Director of a book manufacturing company. I was really naïve and didn’t even ask what their marketing budget was. It was a small but mighty business owned by two brothers who started the company in their early twenties. They became like family to me, and I got a terrific opportunity to learn about the inner workings of a business. I also learned how to make marketing magic happen without a lot of money. It was a terrific opportunity that paved the way for me to go out on my own. In fact, after four years there I became restless again. When I went to quit the job, the owners asked me what I really wanted to do. I told them I eventually wanted to go into business for myself. They came back the next day and said, “If you’re serious, we’ll help you.” After I picked myself off the floor, we started a company together, and that was my official foray into entrepreneurship. They were true angels and for me, it was true baptism by fire. You never know when or how your dreams are going to come to fruition! A few years later, I bought them out and I’ve been solo ever since.Marketing is all I’ve ever done, in one form or another, and I have been very fortunate to have numerous pportunities early in life and career to give me a foundation for being an entrepreneur. When I was in high school and college, I worked at a small newspaper and then at an advertising agency. All of that helped me to get connected in the community, and, while I was in college, I got offered a position with the local television station in a marketing position. It was a huge break. So, very early on, I was able to learn about business and to get some great hands-on experience in my field. (I graduated with a BS in Marketing.)
When did you decide you were going to pursue a marketing career?
In sixth grade, I was the chairperson of the PR committee for my spirit club. I knew then that I liked promotion. Plus, it gave me a great forum to use my two best skills—writing and speaking. Then, in eighth grade, I anchored a show at the local television station called Teen Report. I absolutely love that, so I thought I would be an anchor. But, later, when I actually worked in television as an adult, I quickly decided that anchoring was not for me. I didn’t want to just be a talking head, and I didn’t want to have to spend years working early mornings and weekends.
I loved, loved, loved working in television though, and the marketing role that got me in the door solidified it for me. I think I love marketing because it’s about getting excited about the things we choose to do with our time and our lives. It’s about telling others how we can help them. How great is that! Today, part of my purpose is to get people more excited about marketing. Too many people consider marketing to be frustrating and overwhelming and they just can’t think that way if they want to reach their business potential.
As for me and my own marketing, I know that I must constantly expand the scope of what I do to reach more people. With more people than ever going into business for themselves, everyone absolutely needs to embrace marketing and learn how to be a good marketer.
How did your personal and entrepreneurial goals fit together?
I always felt uncomfortable being controlled by someone else. I’ve worked for several great bosses and companies, but I always knew that I needed my own show. Plus, I have a mission. I’ve struggled through the years to get clear on what that mission is. And, honestly, I think it’s only been in the last few years that I’ve figured out that my mission isn’t just about helping people create effective brochures, but to understand that they are marketable—that they stand out—and then give them some encouragement and skills to tell their story to those who could benefit from their gifts. At the end of the day, I have to feel like I’m doing something meaningful. I want to touch a lot of lives, and I have lots of ideas of how I want to do that. I could never pursue all of those dreams as an employee. Plus, I always wanted to have a family, and I am blessed to have two beautiful daughters. I love being an example to them. I love being able to involve them in my business, and showing them that they can make their own way as well. It’s also a heck of a lot easier to take time off to go to Disney World!
Could you tell us more about “Everything is marketing and everyone’s a marketer–even you.”?
I teach that marketing is about “making impressions and perceptions so that the customer decides that we are their best choice for the products and services we provide.” To me, this is a very practical way of looking at marketing. The slickest website or brochure in the world won’t bring back a customer who was treated with disrespect or indifference. To be truly effective—and to really think like a marketer—every entrepreneur and every company must understand that every interaction, every exchange, and every communication sends a message that moves a prospect or customer closer or farther away from choosing them, or choosing them again. That means we have to break down everything that makes an impression and creates a perception, and that answer is simply and undeniably everything and everyone. Everything makes an impression. Everyone makes an impression in everything they do every day. Therefore, it’s critical that all staff members everywhere understand that, no matter what they do, they are marketers too. What they do and how they do it—what they say and how they say it—sends a message that either helps or hurts a company’s marketing effectiveness. When a business owner understands this, magical things can happen. Southwest Airlines is my all-time favorite example of a company that really gets it—and it shows.
How did any outside advisors make a difference in your company?
Having the support of my previous employers-turned-partners was just an amazing gift. Also, as an advisor myself, I know how important it is to get outside expert help, so I have always sought out coaches and consultants to help me, and I’ve planted myself in organizations that could be very helpful. If someone can truly help me shortcut the path to success and make life and business easier for me, then I’m foolish to not listen to them. There is a problem, however, that I have encountered and that I think many women encounter and that is that others see us as strong and capable, so they don’t reach out to help. Women have to learn how to ask for help. People are busy trying to survive themselves. They don’t know you need or want help unless you speak up. There are times I should have spoken up quicker or louder.
Tell us about Sonnier Marketing
Sonnier Marketing has evolved quite a bit over the years. Today, our focus is speaking and training to help companies think like a marketer, and marketing consulting to help companies identify and capitalize on all of the marketing opportunities inherent in their business every day. When we sum it up, we say that we help companies become marketing machines as we teach them out to “stand out, stir the pot, and put marketing into action.” My Stir the Pot formula for marketing is a five-step process that I think boils marketing down beautifully into specific, actionable steps. Of course, I’m a Cajun from Louisiana, so of course I put everything in terms of food.
Who should read your book “Think Like a Marketer: What it Really Takes to Stand Out From the Crowd, the Clutter, and the Competition”, and what is the main message you’d like to get across?
The book is for anyone who owns a business, runs a business, manages a department, or just wants to be a smart marketer. It’s a highly practical guide to marketing. I just lay out what everyone needs to know about marketing in a direct, simple, and entertaining fashion. It’s not technical and it’s not boring. And, it’s absolutely chockfull of tips and specific, tangible actions. To me, it’s the marketing foundation that every single person in business needs to have. It’s the kind of book that you keep on your desk, not on a shelf.
One key distinction is that it addresses not just what people need to do in their marketing, but how to make marketing happen in the day-to-day operation of business. That’s a really big deal because that’s what I see people struggle with most. They like to use the excuses of no time, no money, nobody to do it. Well, if people want to build successful businesses, they had better put marketing very high on their priority list.
Another key point in the book is that marketing must become as common, natural, and routine as taking out the trash, paying taxes, and making payroll. It’s not just something you do “out there,” and it’s not just something you do when you feel like it. Marketing is happening all the time whether people know it or not. It’s happening in every interaction, communication, and exchange. Smart companies know that they need to capitalize on marketing in every moment, and for small businesses, this is exciting news because it means they have lots of marketing assets that can work for them with little or no money.
What are your plans for the future?
With my new book and new radio show, my goal is to continue getting the message to the masses. Today that’s through product sales and through speaking. I’m working on more products and I’d like to see a full Lauron Sonnier line of marketing tools available at a popular retail outlet to help people “keep marketing constant in thought and constant in action” and implement the many things I teach in the book. I’d also like to align myself with the right partner who can help me reach more people nationally and globally faster than I could do on my own.
In addition, I’m going to work toward creating a non-profit initiative where we uplift and encourage women and others in some way. That’s really important to me.
A few years ago, my husband at the time was involved in a terrible accident the last night of our vacation in Cabo San Lucas. It turned out that he was addicted to pain killers. He had taken our rental car into town, fell asleep at the wheel, and tumbled the car several feet off a steep shoulder causing it to catch fire. A large percentage of his body was burned and he suffered several other injuries. I received the proverbial 2 am call that my husband was in the hospital. I was asleep and didn’t even know that he had left the hotel. I managed to get him back to Houston that day. He fought for five grueling weeks, but the injuries were too severe, and he passed away on April 1 (ironic because he was a standup comedian in college and a very funny guy). From that experience, I am writing another book to share lessons on living. It’s called Just on Vacation, and while it tells the story of the tragedy, its focus is how my daughter and I picked ourselves up and the lessons we’ve learned about life and living. I have high hopes for that project, and I will put my marketing skills to work to help spread its important message to even greater masses.
What advice would you give an aspiring woman entrepreneur? Could you suggest the three most important lessons you have learned?
I would tell an aspiring woman entrepreneur the following:
1. Go for it. Do what you know you must do and don’t let anybody stop you.
2. Whatever you want to do, you can. It’s there inside you.
3. Tap into people, programs, and resources that are readily available to help you. Don’t be a martyr and try to do it alone. There’s no reward in working harder and longer than necessary to do your good.
4. Hire experts to do everything but the core function of your business. If you don’t know accounting, hire an expert. If you don’t know web development, hire a pro. Keep yourself focused on what only you can do.
5. Learn everything you can about every aspect of business. While you might not be doing the accounting, you need to know everything about what someone else is doing. You must never be in the dark about anything.
6. Love marketing! Learn how to do it, and constantly and consistently tell your story to the world. You never know who’s listening, and it takes a lot of repetition to break through the madness.
7. Ask, ask, ask. Whatever you want, ask for it. You don’t get it if you don’t ask.
8. Stay focused. It’s one of the hardest things for women to do, but it’s a key secret to success.
9. Keep your perspective. Family must always come first. You can build another business, but you can’t replace loved ones.
Are there any other questions you wished I had asked, from which you feel Women and Biz’s readers could learn valuable lessons?
Just to remember that, like life, business happens in moments, too. One little email or phone call or decision can change everything.
Also, the success of marketing usually comes in lots of little things rather than one or two big things. Keep your eye on the details. The little things really do matter.
For more information about Lauron Sonnier and her business, please visit http://sonniermarketing.com/.