IAM543- Founder Helps Clients Tell Stories and Inspire Others’ Support

A former journalist and Congressional press secretary, Karen Bate founded KB Concepts P.R. in 2007. She and her team help companies and nonprofits strengthen their brands; achieve their mission and goals; garner key media placements; and harness the variety of social media tools to tell clients’ stories and inspire others to support them. Great Ideas for Good Causes is not just her company tagline; it is the guiding philosophy of her work.

Karen is also co-founder of Awesome Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) with more than 200 local women business owners as members of six chapters throughout the DC region. Karen passionately believes that collaboration, not competition, and women supporting women are the keys to success in business and life.

• CEO Hack: Showing up as who you are in your business
• CEO Nugget: Women still have to support one another to rise
• CEO Defined: Trying to build a successful business

Website: https://kbconcepts.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenbate_kbconcepts/
https://www.instagram.com/beawesomewomen/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kbconcepts/
https://www.facebook.com/AwesomeWomenAWE/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KBConceptsPR
https://twitter.com/BeAwesomeWomen

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenbbate/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/awesome-women/

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Karen Bate of KB Concepts P.R.

Karen, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Karen Bate 0:38

Thank you. Great to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

Yeah, super excited to have you on. What I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Karen so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

She's a former journalist and Congressional press secretary, Karen Bate founded KB Concepts P.R. in 2007. She and her team help companies and nonprofits strengthen their brands; achieve their mission and goals; garner key media placements; and harness the variety of social media tools to tell clients’ stories and inspire others to support them.

Great Ideas for Good Causes is not just her company tagline; it is the guiding philosophy of her work. Karen is also co-founder of Awesome Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) with more than 200 local women business owners as members of six chapters throughout the DC region. Karen passionately believes that collaboration, not competition, and women supporting women are the keys to success in business and life.

Karen, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Karen Bate 1:31

I am. Yes, I am, and thank you for that lovely intro.

Gresham Harkless 1:34

Yeah, no problem. You're doing lovely things and awesome things so I appreciate that. I wanted to kick everything off and hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Karen Bate 1:44

Well, that's great. When I started out, I'm from Rhode Island, I started as a journalist. When I got out of college, I worked for several local radio stations up in New England. I was a news anchor and reporter. I covered a lot of politics because it was Rhode Island, a lot of corruption and crime and stories like that. I moved to the DC area in the 1980s. I'm giving away my age a little bit, and my first job was on Capitol Hill as a press secretary and that was a lot of fun. I worked for a congressional Subcommittee on investigation and when that ended, I decided that Capitol Hill wasn't really for me.

Having been a reporter and a journalist, I had sort of a different view of politicians coming from Rhode Island, which is uniquely qualified as a place to learn about politics and especially corruption unfortunately. I felt like the people on Capitol Hill, there was a really crazy culture where you have to be the first one there, the last one to leave, and everyone was very full of their own self-importance. It just wasn't a good fit for me, even though I love living on the hill. So I transitioned into nonprofit PR, and I worked for GW Medical Centre for a few years. Then I worked for a medical association. From there, I transferred to AHC Inc., which is an affordable housing developer here in Arlington, Virginia.

I worked there for nine years, and I loved it and learned a tremendous amount about promoting good causes messaging things in the right way, and getting the media to understand why something like affordable housing is so important. I also learned a lot about how the Arlington community works and the Arlington way, I went through leadership, and in Arlington, I got very involved with a lot of local organizations. I really saw the power of clause marketing as a way to get your message out in the world. I come from a very long line of entrepreneurs, my parents were both entrepreneurs, and my four brothers are entrepreneurs. So it was inevitable that eventually, I'd start my own business.

I just continued on the same track of my business, when I started, there wasn't a lot. People weren't tying every campaign to good causes the way they do now. It was really in its infancy, corporate social marketing, and all that kind of stuff. I made my company all about that. Like you said, my tagline is great ideas for good causes. I've spent the last 12 years working with nonprofits and small businesses, helping them get the message out and get people to support them and support what they're doing.

Gresham Harkless 4:29

Yeah, absolutely. It seems like and I don't know it's just been because of how important and how people can use their dollars or their time and their energy to support causes. So usually you have something that you're really passionate about and strong about or they want to support. Now it's becoming I don't want to say it's a requirement, but it kind of seems like that for people to understand from an organizational standpoint like what you stand for, what you're about, what are your core competencies in your values and morals and from a personal standpoint, but an organizational standpoint, but it seems like that it's becoming more and more evident and apparent.

Karen Bate 5:06

Absolutely, I think, marketing and PR and advertising and all of that and even media, the way media operate today has been changed so profoundly by the internet, and especially by social media. Now, instead of it all being top down, where we're giving information to companies, news organizations, and the customer, or client or general public is receiving it, and there's no two-way conversation. It's so different now.

The audience pretty much dictates everything because we have a say now through social media, and it's completely changed how people communicate with one another, and how people sell things, or try to get people behind them and their causes or to buy their products. I really think that's had such a profound effect. I've been fascinated by that whole thing, and by the power of social media, to give us a voice and all of it. Now, the way the news is delivered, the way people sell things, the way they connect everything with what people care about, is really, I think, has benefited everybody in a very positive way.

Gresham Harkless 6:13

Yeah, absolutely. It's made everything a lot more kind of accessible, and I guess transparent, for lack of a better term that you can get all that information and accessibility to brands and people, and so forth.

I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper, could you take us through exactly how you work with clients and what exactly you do? Also, what do you feel kind of is like your secret sauce? What do you feel kind of sets you or your organization apart?

Karen Bate 6:37

Thank you. Yes, I'd love to talk about that. From the very beginning, I have told my clients and I like to think that I've been at the forefront of this whole Corporate Social Responsibility movement. I always really believed because I came from journalism, and then Capitol Hill where they were working on legislation to improve people's lives. Then in the nonprofit world, I felt very deeply about what you do in your community, and how you show up in your job, whether you're the CEO of a big corporation, an executive director, a staff person at a nonprofit, or just somebody trying to start a company and sell something, how you show up in your community is the best form of marketing you can ever do. Whether your community is global, national, or local, it doesn't matter.

So I've always urged all my clients to get involved in their community to join their community organizations, and to do good in the world. If you do that, and then tell that story, it makes whatever you're actually trying to sell or do much easier to share and to get people behind you. Whether you're selling pizza, like my client Joe's Place on the Highway, or whether you're selling better relationships between the US and Japan, like my client, the Japan-US Friendship Commission, or whether you're trying to get people to be more healthy, like my local client, BBG, outdoor fitness, they all are incredibly involved in their communities and in the world and doing good.

It makes them telling their story and getting people to want to support them a lot easier. That's really honestly my secret sauce in a nutshell.

Gresham Harkless 8:18

Yeah, I truly appreciate that. I think it seems like I don't know if it's just because of the traffic and is the envy area that a lot of times you are in your local community and you do want to kind of see the best of your local community, you want to see the organizations that businesses, you want to see the children and the families, everybody is as successful as possible.

So anytime you're able to support an organization or person that is giving so much into the community, and being a part of the community and champion that community, you want to definitely do as best you can to support that.

Karen Bate 8:48

Absolutely. When people see that you're that type of person or another thing that I strongly recommend to all my clients, no matter what industry they're in, even people in the legal field in the financial fields, who are very, very limited in what they can do on social media, I always encourage my clients to show up as who you really are, as a living, breathing human being with a family, with a community, with a network, with customers that you care about relationships that you care about. All of that combines almost your personal life, obviously, only the personal stuff that you would be comfortable seeing on the front page of a newspaper.

Combining your personal story with your business story just reaches people in a different way and on a different level. People are all about relationships, and people do business with people that they respect and admire. So that's another thing that I encourage strongly of everyone. I even say don't be afraid to talk about your family vacation or how you celebrate the holidays on your social media, the social media that your clients see, because it just positions you as a real living breathing human being who they like and want to support.

Gresham Harkless 10:00

Yeah, absolutely a lot of people, people will support and do business with people they know, and trust. A lot of times by being yourself, and sometimes we get confused about what should I post, what should I do and a lot of times just being yourself and showcasing that on platforms like social media allows you that opportunity to do that. It helps to tell your story and show up good as you as you said, as well, too.

I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO, nugget. So this could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine what would you tell your younger business self?

Karen Bate 10:30

That's such a great question, Gresham. I love it. I would say that my biggest nugget and it's one that you mentioned in your bio, is that we all have to support one another. As a woman, business owner, and as someone who was a woman in a lot of careers, where we didn't always feel we had equality, women still don't have a quality, they still aren't paid the same amount, they still aren't respected in their industries in the same way. They're still fighting the glass ceiling in many, many ways. All you have to do is look at how many CEOs are female in this country to see that. In the hiring and promotion practices of many industries, there's a lot of unconscious bias that goes on.

One of the reasons I started Awesome Women Entrepreneurs six years ago, is because I truly believe that if women support one another, and approach, we network together, and hire, refer, and collaborate with one another. First and foremost, every time we need something, or going to buy something, or going to refer someone, if we think of our own network, and you can start in your own community to do this, we will all rise together and it really helps everyone.

I believe networking is a wonderful thing for every business owner in any setting male or female. But the women-only networking that we've been doing, has had a tremendously positive impact on the women that are members of this organization and many others there. We're not the only ones doing it. We didn't invent it, certainly. But this is just something that I really strongly believe is a key to success for all women, business owners, and everyone in every industry.

Gresham Harkless 12:07

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you for obviously creating that and also for mentioning that as well, too. Because I think so many times as we kind of talked about, we have the ability to support certain causes or be more maybe strategic or aware of how we're spending our dollars or who we're supporting our time and our energy and those things. I think by getting the opportunity to be aware of who's around you, sometimes we don't realize that somebody does X, Y, and Z, we're looking for X, Y, and Z to have that platform and those chapters and the opportunity to be able to do that is tremendously important.

Karen Bate 12:39

Right, I agree.

Gresham Harkless 12:42

Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote, CEOs on the show.

So Karen, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Karen Bate 12:52

Wow, well, first of all, it means trying to build a successful business, and you're at the top. I try to mentor all of my employees, I try to set a good example by how I show up in the world, in all of the ways that we just talked about, by supporting other women, by being involved in my community, I'm super involved with the Chamber of Commerce here. I get involved in a lot of community issues, I support people as much as I can. I put them forward and give them a lot of credit as much as I can.

I also just think that helping and inspiring other women to think that they can do this too, anyone who has a great idea can be a business owner and start a business. But if you don't really think it through and get the team around you that you need, value them, and share, support and promote other people, I don't think you'll be successful. I tried to just walk the walk of being the CEO that I respect and admire and helping other women see that that's really the key to success.

Gresham Harkless 14:05

Yes, absolutely. I truly appreciate that and everything just it's consistent throughout, everything that we spoke about you're working with clients. I think that sometimes we forget that that is a form of leadership as well. But also, of course, our teams and our organizations that we're members of and that we're leaders to, that we have that opportunity to walk that walk and be who we want to see and be who we would want to even work with and do business with and collaborate with. I think that's a really big thing.

I appreciate you for reminding us of that and of course, doing that as well and in the community in the Arlington and DMV community. So truly appreciate that and appreciate your time even more. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know and then of course how best they can get ahold of you, find out all the awesome things you're doing, visit our chapters and everything else you got going on.

Karen Bate 14:52

Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure being here. I would love to tell everyone that we are about to send out a save the date for our second Annual AWS Summit. It's going to be on Thursday, March 12 at Marymount University in Arlington. We'll be gathering with about 200 women holding and men are invited and we're going to have a lot of great sessions on entrepreneurship, and all of the things that go around that. We're going to have a tremendous amount of great speakers, panels, and discussions about all kinds of timely topics.

If people want to learn more about that, starting next week, they will be able to find all the information on our website, which is at kbconcepts and if anyone listening is struggling with their social media, or wants to rethink how they're approaching it, and maybe get some support for that, they can find everything about my company at kbconcepts.com.

Gresham Harkless 15:47

Awesome. Thank you so much, again, Karen, for your time and all the awesome things you're doing, we will have those links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you and find out about all the awesome events and of course if we need help with our PR, social media.

I appreciate you again, and I hope you have a phenomenal day.

Karen Bate 16:03

Thank you, you too, and also I just want to throw in there when they get to the websites, please follow us on social media too, because that's really where we share all of the immediate information.

Gresham Harkless 16:12

Exactly. We will have those links as well in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you directly there on social media as well. But thank you so much again, have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:21

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless.

Thank you for listening.

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