Building a Business with Paige Arnof-Fenn, founder & CEO of global marketing and digital branding firm Mavens & Moguls

Photo Credit: Paige Arnof-Fenn

Paige Arnof-Fenn is the founder & CEO of global marketing and digital branding firm Mavens & Moguls based in Cambridge, MA.  Her clients include Microsoft, Virgin, The New York Times Company, Colgate, venture-backed startups as well as nonprofit organizations. She graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Business School.  Paige serves on several Boards, is a popular speaker and columnist who has written for Entrepreneur and Forbes. 

Can you tell our readers about your background? 

I am a child of the 60s and 70s who grew up in the Deep South.  I am the oldest of 3 and was always a good student and athlete, responsible and hard-working growing up.  My father and both grandfathers were in business so I always thought I would go that route too.  From a young age, I loved sports, movies, TV, and travel.  I was an exchange student in France in high school and Italy in college.  As an adult, I have lived and worked in NYC, LA, Bay Area, Atlanta, DC, Cincinnati, etc. but have been in Boston for the past 20+ years. 

I was raised to be responsible, honest, hard-working, and confident all great qualities for an entrepreneur.  Both my grandfathers were successful entrepreneurs, and only one graduated from high school. My dad took a more traditional corporate path and my mom stayed at home and I had always assumed I would. go into business (vs law or medicine) and follow in my dad's footsteps.  After college, I took a series of corporate jobs and got an MBA like my father but by my early 30s I knew I had more of the entrepreneurial gene in me so I took the leap and started my company.  My parents always supported me in challenging the status quo and question authority when I had done my homework and could make a strong case which is also great training to becoming an entrepreneur.  They were also very proud of me and encouraging when my high school guidance counselor told me I needed more back up schools because I was shooting too high for college and I went ahead and applied to my top choices anyway.  My mother reminded that man every time she saw him how much I loved going to college at Stanford and getting my MBA at Harvard Business School so I come by my renegade tendencies naturally I guess.  My parents seemed to get me when I tried to bend, break or change the rules if I had a solid argument so I learned early on to not stop just because someone says no.  That is such an important part of being an entrepreneur and has served me and. my business very well.

What inspired you to start your business?   

I did not plan on starting a company.  I always wanted to go work for a large multinational business and be a Fortune 500 CEO.  When I was a student I looked at leaders like Meg Whitman & Ursula Burns as  my role models.  After graduating college with a degree in Economics, I started my career on Wall Street in the 80s and had a successful career in Corporate America at companies like Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola and worked at 3 different startups as the head of marketing.  I became an entrepreneur and took the leap right after 9/11 when the company I worked for cut their marketing.  I had nothing to lose.  Being an entrepreneur provides me a platform to do work I truly enjoy with and for people I respect.  Like most entrepreneurs,  I am working harder and longer than ever and I have never been happier.  Working for yourself and building a business you started in incredibly rewarding and gratifying.  It has been a lot of fun, I joke that I am the accidental entrepreneur.  I knew I had made it as an entrepreneur when Harvard wrote 2 case studies on my business a few years after I started it, and we were very early to pioneer sharing resources on the marketing front (before my company, it was really only done with HR, legal and accounting/finance).

Where is your business based? 

Cambridge, MA but we have resources in major metro areas across the country and around the world.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

My first client came from a talk I gave to a professional networking group.  Someone from the audience came up to me after and made an introduction which resulted in my first project a few weeks later.  It was a 1 year agreement for a 6 figure engagement which felt great that my talk was so well received and generated meetings and referrals as follow up, I knew I had a real business.   I still give lots of talks and it is a great way to generate leads and business.  I think having a good reputation is incredibly important to building a strong B2B business.  Here are the lessons that experience taught me:

*  Do great work that people will talk about

*  Give lots of talks even virtually and use examples from your experience, I do a lot of public speaking online and offline when not social distancing, host podcasts and webinars which leads to people talking about me online, tweeting, etc.

 *  Join networking groups to meet people who are the multipliers in your industry, they talk to everybody and know everyone, they have large followings so you need to connect with them online too

*  Be active on social media so you can share your talks and content and your followers can  help spread the word

*  Generate lots of fresh content that will push down any potential bad comments online 

*  Monitor your online data to shut down trolls and misinformation, there are several online tools to alert you of potential problems (some are free others are for a fee)

It continues to be a great source of leads and has served me well.  

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business? 

I am a big fan of Content Marketing which is a great way to build your brand, increase your visibility more broadly, raise your profile and ultimately attract more clients (how I get paid). The challenge is that social media and technology are 24/7 so it is easy to get sucked into it but you do not have to let it run your life!  My advice is to pick a few things you enjoy doing and do them really well.  You cannot be everywhere all the time so choose high-impact activities that work for you and play to your strengths.  The key is just to pick your platform,  it does not matter which ones you choose just pick one or 2 that are authentic to you.  It should look and sound like you and the brand you have built.  Whether yours is polished or more informal, chatty or academic, humorous or snarky, it is a way for your personality to come through.   Whether you are B2B or B2C, key people need to be on LinkedIn so that they can be found easily.  

It adds credibility and transparency when you know the people you are meeting or working with know people in common.  LinkedIn has become more than an online resume or Rolodex, it is the foundation for building trusted relationships in the digital economy.  You do not need to blog or be on all social media platforms but make sure you are active on the ones where you are.  If your customers do not use Facebook, Twitter, or  Instagram to find you then you do not need to make them a priority.  For many professional service businesses like mine, leveraging LinkedIn matters the most.   

I was a regular blogger for Entrepreneur for ~4 years and then Forbes for ~1 year. Some of my most popular posts were about evergreen topics with broad appeal based on my experience personally and professionally.  To qualify it must be timely and relevant.  To generate ideas I look at the calendar to see if there are any natural opportunities based on the season or activities, keep a running list of topics I get asked about by my clients and other business owners, and note when I read or hear about something new I want to explore further, a trend, theme or idea that catches my attention.  If it is an issue that affects me or my business then it is likely to be a topic that impacts others too.  Once I decide on an idea to write about I may do research on the topic, talk to people for input and just start typing.   If I have a unique perspective to share or any advice I think may help others I get it out there via social media or whatever distribution vehicle makes the most sense.  

Another challenge is that everyone is not going to like you or hire you but for the ones who would be a great fit for you make sure they feel and keep a connection and give them a reason to remember you so that when they need your help they think of you first.  To make content more attractive and drive conversion it is important to understand not just what or how to purchase a product, experience, or service but you must also be able to inspire audiences by identifying the underlying motivation.  The key to becoming influential is when you can answer why they do what they do and connect with people on an emotional level.  I wrote monthly posts for Entrepreneur and Forbes for many years using this strategy.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them? 

My biggest challenge was that the people you start with are not always the ones who grow with you.  The hardest lesson I learned when I started my company is not getting rid of weak people earlier than I did in the first few years of my business.  I spent more time managing them than finding new customers.  I knew in my gut they were not up to snuff but out of loyalty to them I let them hang around much longer than they should have.  It would have been better for everyone to let them go as soon as the signs were there.  They became more insecure and threatened as we grew which was not productive for the team.  As soon as I let them go the culture got stronger and the bar higher.  “A" team people like to be surrounded by other stars.  It is true that you should hire slowly and fire quickly.  I did not make that mistake again later on so learned it well the first time.  I wish I had known it even earlier though but lesson learned for sure!  

How do you stay focused? 

Another key challenge has been the importance of focus.  There is so much noise out there with social media, 24/7 news, the pandemic, the economy, climate change, etc. that for my clients and me staying focused with all the distractions we are bombarded with on a daily basis can be tough.   So my top tip is to learn to give yourself permission to say no.  Whether it means passing on joining another committee, delegating to someone on your team to attend the event, sleeping in (no to an alarm clock), meditating, taking a walk, or just turning off my phone and computer (no I will respond later on my own schedule), simple acts of letting myself focus, relax and be present in the moment are the very best gifts I can give myself as an entrepreneur.  Like most small business owners and entrepreneurs there are never enough hours in the day to fit everything in so when something has to give it is usually time I have allocated for myself to think, exercise, read. or just relax.  What I have come to appreciate and realize in my 50s is that “me time” is not a luxury or pampering like it was in my youth, now it is maintenance!  To improve productivity in my experience when you focus and do less you can get more done.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?    

Everyone in the group comes out of industry so our heads and hearts are much more aligned with our clients than a typical agency or consulting firm.  We are not professional PowerPoint makers, we have actually done the job as marketing and communication leaders so our recommendations come from having been in our clients’ seats before.  We are an extension of their team and spend their money the way they do, not as a vendor so I think that is a compelling angle when they hire us.  We do not see marketing as a necessary evil, we believe in the power of great brands and think all organizations regardless of size or budget deserve great marketing advice.  Our passion comes through in our tagline and everything we do.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business? 

You do not exist today if you cannot be found online.  Being invisible online is a terrible strategy so making sure your site is keyword rich/mobile friendly/loads quickly/produces meaningful content is the price of entry/great foundation for effective SEO.  Websites must be optimized for voice search adding usability/functionality to your site making it accessible to all users including those with limitations/disabilities.  It’s not about complying with the ADA/responsible web design/CSR goals but it is also good for the bottom line by reaching a broader audience.

Content quality/length matter for rankings so web pages that contain long high quality content get more visibility and shares so becoming that trusted source and influencer with timely and helpful answers to questions gets rewarded quickly.  Search engines notice when sites publish consistently/can see how long people stay so building a strong reputation as a site that informs/educates pays off in higher organic search results.  If content is too salesy/self-promoting it gets ignored. Mobile UX determines your ranking in a mobile-first world, attention spans are shorter than ever so video will be used more to boost rankings.  Using the right keywords for video descriptions/headlines will ensure you do better in searches too.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?   I read a lot for professional development and usually prefer books by practitioners because they are more relevant and have current examples from pop culture vs. theories based on research.  I also like the classics that have advice that has withstood the test of time and in this case the best book I can recommend is How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie — it is evergreen with insights on manners and people/human nature.  In my experience, you can learn a lot from books that offer practical advice whether you are someone just starting a career in business as well as anyone managing and leading a team.  It was published almost 100 years ago and the advice has held up so you cannot go wrong with this one.  Others I recommend that inspire me and keep my marketing skills relevant by using the advice every day are:

Everybody Writes:  Your go to guide to creating ridiculously good content by Ann Handley

Handley argues that in an online world everyone is a writer so you need to learn how to create content that attracts and retains people’s attention.  She provides practical tips, easy grammar and usage rules that are valuable whether you are working with a big brand or startup these are best practices that will make  your writing better.  Great advice we can all benefit from now more than ever.   

Fanocracy —  Turning fans into customers and customers into fans by David Meerman Scott. 

David’s new book is a real world practitioner's guide from someone who has lived the job from the front line, he has been there and done it so he tells it like it is not theoretically but from the trenches.  The name of the game to grow today is how to get your fans engaged online and here is the manual to do it. 

 Best  Apps are Waze & Duolingo.    Both are free and you do not waste time getting lost or stuck in traffic and you can use downtime productively to brush up on or learn a language. 

Best Blogs are by Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki & Gary V.  They all speak from real experience in the trenches not theory and speak in plain talk not jargon.  They are the real deal.     

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why? 

For professional service businesses like mine, LinkedIn matters the most.  With LinkedIn, you don't have to wait for a networking event to make meaningful business connections.   You get one chance to make a great first impression so make sure every section of your LinkedIn profile is complete, with no blank spaces or gaps.  Include a professional head shot and powerful headline followed by a summary with highlights of your personal brand, what you do well and how you can benefit potential clients or employers. Keep this section brief and easy to skim for best results.  Keywords are a great way to help professionals and recruiters in your industry find your profile and strategic keywords in your profile give you an advantage in networking too.

To present yourself as an expert in your industry post, interesting and educational content by sharing a great article you've read recently or if you truly want to make valuable connections and represent yourself as a talented thought leader in your industry, you should be crafting your own articles on LinkedIn.  This does not require big budgets, but it does take time.  It is a smart investment to get this right.  Authenticity is the key, it has to be and feel real for it to work I think.  This has helped me grow my business.

Who is your business role model? Why? 

I have been so fortunate to have great mentors, champions and role models throughout my career, including former bosses, my father, grandfathers, senior women in organizations where I worked but the person who has always encouraged and supported me as an entrepreneur and has my back every day is my husband. He started a company, too so he understands the journey of an entrepreneur and has been my sanity check and thinking partner every step of the way. He is both a cheerleader and butt kicker, depending on the situation and I trust his judgment and advice because I know he always has my best interests in mind. He is smart, honest and kind.  I am very fortunate to have him in my corner. 

How do you balance work and life? 

Staying healthy for me is about finding ways to unwind/relax as part of my day, it is more about integration to improve balance. I try to disconnect from technology periodically and focus on cultivating human/face-to-face relationships. Meeting for coffee/lunch even virtually not only allows you to refuel/recharge but it also can accomplish so much more than e-mail exchanges/social media posts and it is a great way to get to know people better, their interests/hobbies/dreams.  I also try to  find creative ways to multi-task that incorporates work and exercise.  Pre-Covid there were gyms at the office/groups who walked at lunch but now you have to get creative to find balance.  Can you take a walk (social distant or with headphone) so you can catch up while you are getting some exercise too?  I have clients who play golf, so sometimes we meet at a driving range to discuss things, especially when trying to think outside the box.  A change in venue is always nice and you feel so much better when you are moving and not trapped behind your desk.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?   

I am a big fan of Tai Chi, but I also do Qigong, massage, acupuncture, knitting, reading, exercise, and watching TV to de-stress.  I started learning Tai Chi >16 years ago and have gotten progressively addicted over the years.  I now know the choreography of 2 different forms and I absolutely love it.  It is a way to both relax and focus.  I even guest teach when the regular backup cannot be there.  I have met great people, it has helped my balance, improved my bone density and helped calm my mind.  I just love it.  I even wrote an article on it for Entrepreneur magazine a few years ago.

What do you have planned for the next six months?   

Successful businesses post-pandemic must be adaptable/agile, strong communicators and have a growth mindset.   They will be inclusive and collaborative because we never know when the next crisis will hit so being able to adapt to change is critical, staying nimble today is core to survival and, ultimately success.  We are measuring productivity going forward by what we get done, it is based on accomplishments not activity.  

As we move to a more remote/virtual world trust becomes an even more important currency to getting things done.  Building trust will determine your success so lack of trust will be a huge obstacle I think after the pandemic ends.   Technology does not have to be isolating it can be used to build our real world communities and relationships too.  Trust grows when you have consistent messaging and deliver on your promises so build a strong relationship that is based on your value proposition not on price.  Authenticity is the key, it has to be and feel real for it to work I think.   Social media and CRM tools are only as effective as the relationships you have built.  I have found that building trusted relationships is what drives my business and technology supports them once they are solidified.  Technology helps advance the conversation but it will never replace the human interaction that builds trust over time.    

Maybe the silver lining is that this crisis reminds us that we have always needed each other and we have learned that everyone is struggling right now to find a new normal so the key is to show our humanity and compassion while we look out for one another.  With Zoom, social media, cell phones, etc., technology does not have to be isolating. It can be used to build our real-world communities and relationships too!  

How can our readers connect with you?

www.MavensAndMoguls.com   and   https://www.linkedin.com/in/paigearnoffenn