TechCulture We are super excited to sit down with Parisa Honari, a strategic marketing consultant and founder of honariprs.com. Parisa helps small businesses gain a competitive advantage through targeted and strategic business solutions focused on marketing, branding, and advertisements.
Parisa, I’ve read a little about your background, and I must say I was quite impressed. You have two master’s degrees, one in Business Marketing and the other in Molecular Biology! How did you end up involved in marketing strategy with such contrasting graduate degrees?
Indeed, I do! But I do not think they are as contrasting as they may initially seem. My business background helps me look at the larger picture, tailoring clients on the right strategic path. My background in molecular biology, on the other hand, allows me to hyper-focus on small and crucial details. They go well together, as I can provide higher-level strategy while also drilling down in the technical information and analytics, a service I have found most small businesses are in dire need of.
When you put it that way, it kind of makes a lot of sense! I also hear you’ve lived and worked in four different countries; how has that enabled you to serve your clients better?
I think the biggest takeaway from my time abroad were the cultural aspects I have picked up. While entrenched in four unique, diverse cultures, it allowed me to see how business strategy and operations are done in different parts of the world.
You quickly realize that the US business model is not one size fits all. It helped me become more cognizant of cross-cultural sensitivities and helps tremendously in my open approach to analytical problem solving and business strategy.
Fascinating! So briefly describe your team and the work you do.
We are a group of young professional entrepreneurs, and our mission is to empower local small businesses with strategic solutions and tactical tools to combat the unfair online advertising ecosystem.
We will set up our client’s entire marketing system, and we teach them how to keep running it.
Why did you decide to take this approach, as opposed to say, starting your own marketing agency?
That’s probably one of the questions I get asked the most. It’s pretty straightforward from a small business point of view: marketing agencies simply do not work for the average small business owner.
With an agency, you are generally collaborating with a team trained in a specific type of software marketing, but I would be hard-pressed to call them marketing experts. Agencies work off of volume, and the more you pay for their services, the better quality you’re going to get.
Most small business owners know very little about marketing details and what it entails, so often, they are left overwhelmed with a giant bill and nothing tangible to show for it.
Have to agree! So, what do you do that is fundamentally different from an agency?
I tailor strategic marketing solutions for local small businesses by setting up their entire marketing ecosystem and teach them how to keep it running. It’s a much more hands-on approach, and it helps my clients substantially more than an agency subscription. Think of that old proverb, give a man a fish vs. teach a man to fish.
Teach a man to fish, you feed him for life! So “marketing” is often a generic buzzword nowadays; as an expert, what would you say is the best way to understand marketing’s deeper conceptual aspects?
Marketing is one of those rare fields where having an educational background makes an enormous difference. Even though one may argue that learning practical aspects of marketing can be gained through work experience, marketing schools are the only place that train your brain to think strategically through a wide range of practical exercises and case studies. Sure, you can learn the basics online and through trial and error, but you only develop the underlying thought process through academia.
So how would you describe it to a small business owner with little experience?
Think of Marketing as a way of thinking! Marketing is linked to every single aspect of business success. And a real marketer spends the time to go through every part of your business, learn about your business goals, challenges, success stories, and crafts a strategy tailored to your business needs.
Why is it that the larger multinational firms don’t take this approach? It seems like a better business strategy overall.
That’s the key, though: multinational firms. Your average small business is hyper-local and has nowhere near the marketing budget of these larger companies.
Now, if you are a multi-billion-dollar company, you won’t care much spending heaps of money on blind marketing. After all, one of those stones will hit the jar! But a small business? Every dollar counts. Everything spent on marketing takes away from their cash flow, and the opportunity costs are much higher for small businesses.
And what about SEO? Surely the playing field is even there, no?
If you’re competing with multi-billion-dollar firms for say, ad placement, they will outbid you each time. As such, you will need to spend a much larger portion of your operating budget for the same ad. On top of that, without the national brand recognition, that ad won’t have anywhere near the same effect.
So, it is not an even playing field. It ties directly into the larger message of a focused strategy, and paying for keywords without understanding the metrics is just throwing money away.
So, what would you say is the biggest pitfall of modern-day marketing agencies?
They are going in reverse, so to say. They bombard you with marketing metrics, channels, and then try to raise that metric through your chosen channel! You may think that is obvious, but think from the business owner’s perspective: do they really need that channel? Often, you will see it had no significant positive impact on their sales numbers.
I always thought the more analytics, the better? Is that not the case for small businesses?
If you know how to interpret and act on them in a financially profitable way, then yes, absolutely. But you would be shocked to learn that most small businesses do not have an expert team of marketing analysts!
You should have a marketing strategy, craft a tailored plan for your targeted audience, then decided which marketing channel is the best to reach out to your audience. Craft a value proposition message with the right voice and tone, then figure out what the right metric is to measure success. And understand that marketing success is linked to your business success overall.
So how are these agencies failing their small business customers?
SEO Packs or Social Media Marketing Packages from agencies are often confusing, with too many metrics for the average “non-expert.” They are quite manipulative in a way because they give the illusion of “getting what you pay for,” though you’d hardly use 90% of that premium package.
Solutions offered by agencies are neither tailored for the specific needs of small business nor suitable for local business environments. They often lack strategy! Any local small business needs a marketing strategy that works with their unique business structure.
Certainly, I cannot argue with that! So, what do you see in the future for marketing and the growth of marketing agencies?
The era of agencies and pre-made plans is over. Small Businesses need tailored solutions compatible with their unique business structure, which is not something a big box agency can offer on a subscription model.
Truly amazing! So, what are some of the services you offer clients? I know you mentioned general strategy and tailoring, but what specific services do you offer?
Well, that’s the thing, we don’t have any prepackaged one size fits all package! We can help clients in many areas, be it a general marketing strategy, web design, landing pages, SEO strategy, and even social media marketing.
I work with each client to understand their needs and offer the services which would have the most considerable impact on their bottom line.
Parisa, thank you so much for sitting down with us today. We would love to learn more about your work; what is the best way to follow up and stay connected for our readers?
My pleasure! And thank you for having me! You can learn more about my team and I through our learning center and also at www.honariprs.com.
