Explore Ashley Mason's journey in the Digital Advertising Agencies Industry

I can actually think of two things immediately. I first think of roots, being able to think about where passion lies. I think we always know our passions from a very young age. It’s a matter of holding them out of the ground and seeing them. It also reminds me of the word ‘ruthless’. As an entrepreneur that’s probably what you have to be, not in a negative way but in a resilient one. It’s about being able to push through your own journey and find your path to success. – Ashley Mason

My roots began when I was six years old. There was a game I used to play with my sisters called “stores.”  We would pretend that each of us owned a store and would buy fake things with fake money from each other. That’s what made me believe that I had such a big passion for entrepreneurship. It was that playtime we have as children that helps us explore our interests, things we enjoy and be able to work them on our life beyond and in the future. – Ashley Mason

I always say, “The earlier you start, the better.” I started my company at the beginning of my sophomore year in college. That gave me three full years to figure it out before having to see if I would need to take that corporate route or if I  would be able to continue on the entrepreneurship path. So, I had a bit of time to work on building my business, making connections, building my client base. It was kind of a test period to see if it would work out for me and that’s definitely what I recommend. The sooner you start something, the sooner you’re able to see how it works out for you and find your way to success. – Ashley Mason

I would say, creativity is a necessity, especially with flooded markets and industries. You want to find a way for yourself and your clients to stick out. You also have to make sure you’re on your toes. Marketing changes by the second and you need to be able to adapt and move forward in a way that’s best for your overall marketing strategy. You also need to be like a “human connector.”  I love marketing because I get to meet with so many new people, customers, clients or business owners in general. You need to have that human-facing aspect to your company to be able to show you’re a person behind a brand and not just a business looking to make money. – Ashley Mason

I have to say yes and no. I’m grateful because my college ended up giving me many opportunities, like guest speaking, a TEDx talk; I’ve met fellow alumni who later became my clients. It has opened up many opportunities for me. However, I was taking marketing classes and was learning about things I was already getting paid for while paying to learn it through tuition. I think it depends on your industry and what your major actually is. If you want to be a doctor, you have to go to college. However, I would say that if there’s a way for you to not have to, go for it. – Ashley Mason

Yeah, there are a few out there if you want to get into the weeds and make sure you know different systems and outlets. Anyone who wants to become Google ads certified, there’s a great course and certification you can take in order to use Google ads for your clients. I also really love HubSpot. They’ve got a ton of different training and certifications so that you can not only learn how to use a robust platform inside and out but also learn different aspects of marketing too. – Ashley Mason

I always say, “The cobbler’s son has no shoes.” I have a very small following compared to my clients. What really helps is case studies. That’s why I did pro bono work. I don’t think everyone has to work for free, but in my case, I felt like I had to because I had no prior experience in marketing. Being able to work with those business owners allowed me to build up those case studies and show them to my potential clients. It really helps to boost your credibility and show why somebody should hire you over someone else. – Ashley Mason

I would say, Facebook groups, I recommend them, for business owners at any point of their business because they’re free. I also like to use a project management system like Asana. I truly feel like that played into my success if I had everything scrambled everywhere, I would lose track of everything. That’s a solid and important thing to focus on since the beginning, making sure your processes, operation systems, etc. are all set up to accommodate that success and growth. – Ashley Mason

I say that the longer you are in business, the better you are able to refine your ideal clients. Everyone was my client in the beginning and that was not the way to go. However, I feel like working with people who were not a good fit made me realize who was a good fit. It started to realize certain characteristics or qualities that I would want in a perfect client to work with. The more focused and targeted you are on who you can serve, the better you are able to serve them. – Ashley Mason

I say one of the best hacks I love to use and suggest to people thinking of content ideas is: every time you talk to a potential client, write down any questions they have, problems they’re facing, struggles they’re going through that you can actually answer and solve. You’ll end up having an entire list of ideas on what to write content on. You’ll also know it will resonate well with your audience because you’ve heard it directly from the people that you’re speaking to, what they want to know about and how you’re providing them with the solution. – Ashley Mason

I ended up starting out very low which I think many people can relate to. I just thought of a number and kind of threw it out there. It was really hard for me to raise my prices because at that low number I still had people saying that couldn’t afford me. Nonetheless, the right client will pay the right price. What happened was that I passed that bump of knowing that I needed to raise my prices and did it. I worked with two business coaches at separate times and every time I worked with a coach, I raised my prices. I had an outsider telling me I was undervaluing and underselling myself. You also need to consider the cost aspect of it, you need to make sure you’re turning a profit with what you’re charging. When I’m giving prices to someone, the right person will pay it. The more you charge, the better fit the client is for you to work with. – Ashley Mason

We’re very diverse in what we offer our clients but I would suggest someone who’s thinking about where they need to be to always look at demographics. Don’t get caught up in “shiny objects” syndrome. Everyone is joining Clubhouse or Ted Talks platforms because they’re exploding in popularity. You have to think whether your ideal client is going to use a certain platform, see your content and be able to view you as an expert or are you just using it just because everyone else is. It takes a cold hard look at the demographics of each social media platform and understanding those types of content that ends up living and existing there and then being able to build up a brand on the platforms you can reach the right people at the right time. – Ashley Mason

What really helped me was, I ended up doing what I call a “time audit.” So, I thought about all the tasks I hated doing, which were tedious, tasks that didn’t require special skills and over the course of the month I tracked how much time it took me to do those tasks. For example, I realized that Instagram engagement was taking me 30 hours/month. I was thinking how much revenue generated activities I could do within thirty hours. It made me shift my mindset and realize that in order to make more money, I had to spend money. That means letting go of tasks that everyone can do and bring in someone to help in those different areas. In that way, you can focus on sales and overall business development and therefore really help to scale and grow your business. – Ashley Mason

Facebook groups are the number one source our clients come from, every 70%-80% of our clients come from those communities. What I’ve been able to do in order to attract those people in those communities is provide value-driven content and provide value in any way I can. I spend at least ten minutes per day scrolling in a few select groups I’ve chosen, writing genuine comments, giving referrals, answering questions. When I’m posting as myself, I share tons of free tips involving marketing. I’m selling myself without selling myself. I’m not asking people to hire me. Instead, I position myself as an expert by giving helpful information about what to do in marketing and people can try to implement on their own. Once they try to implement it, they usually don’t know what they’re doing or don’t have time for it and that’s when they think of me to help them with marketing. – Ashley Mason

So many people get caught up in a vanity matrix, the likes and followers. What matters most is the action that people take. A huge part of what we do is track website traffic. Just because the post got two likes it doesn’t mean it performed poorly if you got 15 website clicks from it. Just because a video had only three people watching and sharing it doesn’t mean it performed bad because it can bring email subscribers. On Instagram, how many times do people scroll down and mindlessly double tap a photo? Taking that next step and taking that next action and getting people to do what you want them to do holds so much more weight. – Ashley Mason

I would say that it definitely takes time to focus on that. The first year is all about testing the waters. You’re testing different marketing strategies for yourself, you’re testing different types of projects, clients you want to work with, how you’re able to meet people, make connections. It’s about doing those trials and errors and at the end of the year you know what you have learned and what you don’t like doing. Once you kind of start to test the waters and analyze things you’ll be able to put those tactics, strategies into place that will help you grow your business year after year. – Ashley Mason

Being personal with your marketing, especially if you’re a solo entrepreneur or are the face of your company. You’ve got to be showing who you are. There’s this stigma that business is business and personal life is not to be mixed. Year after year these two have started to mash slowly. When you give an inside look on who you are as a person, what your personality is like, your interests, that really helps build that “know, like, trust” factor. That’s what will make people want to purchase your product or invest in your services. It is incredibly valuable and holds weight. I’ve had potential clients on the phone saying they didn’t know what I offered but they liked me personally and that’s what got them interested. People will start to see that too. When you show who you are, people take that into consideration and make you stick out compared to others. – Ashley Mason

That ties into that person’s Imposter Syndrome, thinking they don’t know what they’re doing, feeling like they’re not an expert. Finding ways to validate that you know what you are doing, that the content you’re providing is valuable can really help you get past the roadblock you’re facing of not wanting to publish things. People fear that by posting something, they’ll get people to unfollow them or unsubscribe. I always say that when someone unfollows you, they weren’t a potential client anyway and that process leaves room for those who are. That content will resonate with them and you should keep that in mind. – Ashley Mason

Truthfully, I think you get credibility just from being genuine. With social media specifically many people highlight the highest highs but never show the lowest lows. It’s really the lows that you’re showing that give you credibility and show you’re human. There is no specific time. People are not going to know you as an expert in a year. Make sure you’re implementing strategies for people to build yourself up as an expert, getting featured in press publications, giving free tips and creating content that anyone can read through and consume. – Ashley Mason

I actually have a quote on a letter board in the corner of my office. It says, “Get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” I think it is an incredibly important message to remember. Especially women when we get comfortable, doing something out of our routine can be really hard. Ultimately, it’s those uncomfortable moments, the times you do something that isn’t easy but ends up bringing amazing results for you. – Ashley Mason

I would say that it’s not so much the hours that you’re able to put in but what you’re actually able to do with the hours that you have. When I just started my company and going to college, it was hard to find enough time in the day to work on the business. However, every spare moment I had, I spent it on the business. Being able to leverage and capitalize on the free time you have, waking up early in the morning, staying late at night, dedicating weekends end up doing so much for you. It moves you forward and allows you to get to the level of success that you want to achieve. – Ashley Mason

There’s a big trend in service-based business, especially business coaches and marketing that you always need to be coming out with a new launch, program or service. I completely disagree with that because my services and offerings have remained mostly the same over the last 5 years, I have just refined them. For example, social media management is our most wanted service and we’re consistently getting more and more clients at that. It just goes to show that you don’t need to be coming up with something new and shiny to get more business. You can refine what you have, get very good at it and that’s what will bring more money. – Ashley Mason

A negative aspect I have experienced is definitely letting difficult clients get to me. If I worked for someone else, I wouldn’t take it personally but because it’s my business, it’s been really hard to get past it, knowing that you’ve disappointed someone. On the other hand, something positive that has come out of it is my confidence. When I started out, I lacked confidence, hated public speaking, I was totally introverted and I think that being an entrepreneur forced me out of my comfort zone and made me step into that extroverted role. I had to build that confidence because if I’m not confident in myself, people won’t be confident in what I’m selling. Feeling that you have a strong head on your shoulders can do so much not only for your professional life but your personal life as well. – Ashley Mason

Think about what your passions are and find a way to act on your passion even if it’s not bringing money in right away. The reason I started my blog was because I had always loved to read and write. That was the first step. I wasn’t making money from it at first but it helped hone my skills, get experience and that led me down the marketing path. Because I had spent a few years blogging and focusing on marketing, dedicating all of my time to that, I already had a few years behind me. It’s the experience that can do so much for you. – Ashley Mason