IAM2844 – Thought Leader and COO Makes Advancements in Digital Marketing

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Transcription:

Denise Casagrande 00:00
Don't take everything so seriously. You know, I think now that I'm, you know, have been in the game for a while and I'm, you know, growing and learning, I work just as hard, but I'm also more relaxed and things are still getting accomplished. You know when you're growing and you'd want things so bad It's every little mishap is the end of the world and I'm starting to you know, really explore, you know Especially this past year I adapt a situation so much, you know easier than I would have and that's a whole mindset thing So that's my nugget of knowledge is really focus on your mindset if you do want to you know lead and grow Because you know definitely mindset is everything

Gresham Harkless 01:09
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. And I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Denise Casigrande of PCG Digital.

Gresham Harkless 01:16
Denise, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Denise Casagrande 01:18
Hey, I'm happy to be here.

Gresham Harkless 01:20
Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is read a little bit more about Denise so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Denise is the president and CEO of PCG Digital. Her days are spent leading and growing the digital agency while making advancements in digital marketing that her team can provide for their clients.

Gresham Harkless 01:36
She wrote her first book, Can You See Me Now, in 2017, and is an international speaker, a 40 Under 40 Award recipient, and a thought leader in social media marketing and advertising. Denise resides at the Jersey Shore with her husband, George, and can always be found at the local beach. Denise, are you ready to speak to the IMCO community?

Denise Casagrande 01:53
I am so ready.

Gresham Harkless 01:55
Awesome. Let's do it. So I thought we would definitely see you at the beach, but I don't see you at the beach here on this episode. But I wanted to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to get started with your business.

Denise Casagrande 02:06
Yeah, sure. So I started at my company, PCG Digital, four years ago, and I was brought in as a social media specialist. And prior to me being at PCG, I was working in a marketing agency that's main focus was e-commerce. Moving over to PCG Digital, our main clientele is the automotive industry.

Denise Casagrande 02:25
So we work with auto dealerships all across the United States. We have partners in canada we trade folks in italy anybody that's really looking to either utilize us for their digital services or learn more about automotive marketing and so that was a big jump because automotive is its own voice in it. So being with the automotive industry and growing and learning with them the past four years and leading them in digital has just been so monumental to my becoming president and COO. And during this time, I was able to start speaking at events.

Denise Casagrande 03:02
which really helped me connect and network with some awesome people and folks in the industry. And then I wrote my first book in 2017, which is kind of like a guide and a story about how digital marketing is so important to your digital strategy. Now, this book was not just for the automotive community. My co-author and I used a lot of examples from automotive, but then we also used outside automotive as well because we will work with different industries.

Denise Casagrande 03:29
Became an international speaker in 2018, went to Portugal to speak at the World Shopper Conference, which was fantastic. Through all of this and the advancements and just my close relationship with the internal team here at PCG Digital is how I moved very organically into this role of COO and president. Today, that is my role. It's been my role for the past seven months now, and we've been moving and shaking ever since, and we're growing, and the team is expanding, and we're actually moving offices at the end of December, which is super exciting.

Denise Casagrande 04:01
And that's kind of how it all grew. And a lot of it was done through self-education and always advancing myself and just being around the right people that could really help me grow my career.

Gresham Harkless 04:13
Nice. That makes so much sense. And making sure that you have that correct environment around you so that you can be successful. And do you think like a lot of it?

Gresham Harkless 04:21
I mean, I know you guys, you mentioned you focus on the automotive industry and you focused on digital on social. I mean, do you feel like because that is such a big aspect of digital marketing, that's also why you kind of organically were able to get to that spot as well, too?

Denise Casagrande 04:37
Oh, 100%. You know, when I first started in social media marketing, the capabilities for ads manager was just starting to get going, right? It's been great that I started early on when it was growing, and now I've been able to help lead and grow. I work with a great team at Facebook.

Denise Casagrande 04:56
I'm the automotive team at Facebook and we make advancements together constantly. So being able to dive in and grow the social media department here and grow social media for the automotive industry in general was so instrumental to everything.

Gresham Harkless 05:13
Yeah, absolutely. It's that kind of first mover's advantage and you're able to get there, you're comfortable by the time everybody else is trying to sometimes just cut on the computer. So I absolutely love it. So I wanted to hear a little bit more on how clients work with you.

Gresham Harkless 05:28
Can you talk us and take us through exactly how that works as well?

Denise Casagrande 05:31
Sure, I would love to. So at PCG, when a client signs on with us for full digital, they get a team of five people here at PCG. They get an account manager, an SEO specialist, a paid specialist, a social specialist, and a content writer. Also mixed in there is graphic designers as well.

Denise Casagrande 05:48
And, you know, the team is very involved with the whole client structure. You know, we're very customized here at PCG. We are a smaller company, but each client gets their own custom strategy that what's going to work best for their business and their market. So, you know, no two dealerships are the same.

Denise Casagrande 06:07
You know, they're in different areas and they have different clientele and Their teams are involved in different things. And one of the things that we really focus on a lot is growing the individual dealerships brand, so almost separating them from that big need. So one of the things we'll always say to dealerships when we start with them on a startup call is, OK, you're a Kia dealership, but what differentiates your Kia dealership from the one five miles down the road? your staff involved in?

Denise Casagrande 06:33
What charities do you belong to? What is your vision? What is your mission? And that's what we use to market them so that consumers want to buy from them and not the competitor.

Denise Casagrande 06:46
So that's how it goes. And when somebody signs on with us, it's very much strategy involved. And then, you know, of course, in the internal department, we're analyzing And we're reviewing everything so that each month we're coming through with the strategy that's going to help them gain more success Now obviously with my day-to-day I started you know being on those internal teams working social media for the clients But currently today when a client signs on they get a beautiful welcome email from me.

Denise Casagrande 07:15
I stay in touch with all the clients I love to hear when my team's doing well, and I also offer a lot of support to the clients currently also

Gresham Harkless 07:23
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And especially the aspect of really, you know, taking that time to get to know who they are, what makes them unique, what you mentioned, charities or organizations they're involved in. Because I think a lot of times in the beauty to me of, you know, platforms like social media, obviously, is you're able to kind of express and showcase who you are, what makes you need to have those stories, have that opportunity to kind of be a little bit

Gresham Harkless 07:45
more, I guess, human, even if it's a brand is really, you know, a great thing to take advantage of.

Denise Casagrande 07:50
Oh, 100%. And when I first started doing social for the auto industry, my tagline was, humanize the auto buying process. And when I started speaking, it was all about that. Because buying a car, it is a big purchase.

Denise Casagrande 08:03
It can make people extremely uncomfortable. There's a lot of acronyms that most of the consumers just don't understand or know what it is. So all of our marketing is geared towards making that consumer more comfortable to make that purchase.

Gresham Harkless 08:18
Right. That makes so much sense because I think a lot of times when we use platforms, whether it be social media, podcasts, whatever it is, you know, from a digital aspect, we're always thinking about how can I express myself and showcase myself. But I love that kind of spin where you're like, OK, this is the person that you want to come through the door or listen to your whatever that might be. How can I humanize it?

Gresham Harkless 08:37
How can I make it so that they're having a phenomenal experience?

Denise Casagrande 08:40
Yeah, 100 percent.

Gresham Harkless 08:41
Awesome. So would you consider that to be kind of like I was going to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and it could be for you personally or for your organization and your company. Do you feel like that's what sets you apart and makes you unique?

Denise Casagrande 08:52
100 percent. And just our customizable strategies for each client that works with us is totally the secret sauce. You know, nothing's cookie cutter about us. We know that every time a client signs on, that they're going to have a unique message and a unique brand voice.

Denise Casagrande 09:06
And we have to have a unique approach to how we're marketing for them as well. Of course, we had best practices that we've fine-tuned along the way, but what works for one dealership or one client is not going to work for the next. Our whole understanding of branding individual businesses is a total secret sauce of ours as well. We've actually just changed our tagline to digital strategies that grow brands.

Denise Casagrande 09:29
because branding is so important and it's just gotten so much bigger and better for businesses to understand that the consumers hit so daily with so many different products and so many different ways to purchase and the brand is what's going to make those consumers connect with you. So that's currently what we're really focusing on is digital strategies that grow brands.

Gresham Harkless 09:55
Nice. I definitely, you know, again, appreciate that. And as you, you know, we've been talking, you know, it's evidence and everything that you're doing, that strategic process that you have, uh, the humanizing brands and the humanizing the auto industry as you kind of spoke to as well. So that makes so much sense.

Gresham Harkless 10:09
That would be your secret sauce. So I, um, I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Denise Casagrande 10:22
So something that has recently, you know, that I've been practicing that is maybe more efficient is focusing also on myself as well. So I am very geared towards the team and their success and the individual people. I meet with everybody once a month in the company for 15 minutes and Unfortunately for me, what was starting to happen was I was starting to forget about, you know, my wants and means and other things that I was interested in besides my career. So I've started to really focus on what makes me happy also.

Denise Casagrande 10:56
And that's just led me to become more efficient.

Gresham Harkless 10:59
Makes so much sense. And so now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or if it can happen to a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Denise Casagrande 11:10
Don't take everything so seriously. You know, I think now that I'm, you know, have been in the game for a while and I'm, you know, growing and learning, I work just as hard, but I'm also more relaxed and things are still getting accomplished. You know, when you're growing and you want things so bad, it's every little mishap is the end of the world. And I'm starting to, you know, really explore, you know, especially this past year, I adapt to situations so much, you know, easier than I would have.

Denise Casagrande 11:40
And that's a whole mindset thing. So that's my nugget of knowledge is really focus on your mindset if you do want to, you know, lead and grow. Because, you know, definitely mindset is everything. Also, something that I always, you know, practiced and But I would have told my younger self more of two that you were doing the right thing is self-education Very, you know self-taught when it came to social media marketing.

Denise Casagrande 12:05
I saw a need For businesses and I wasn't afraid to dive in and you know really play around with what Facebook's suite of business manager had to offer same thing with Twitter and Instagram and all of that you really have to dive in you know, we have We're very blessed, right, our generation in this time that we have these cell phones where we're connected to everything and anything. So the eight-hour workday is just, you know, you don't have to just give eight hours. If you want to take more time and learn and grow, I mean, you have your cell phone.

Denise Casagrande 12:37
You could be anybody you want to be. So that's definitely a huge nugget of knowledge, too, I want to pass along.

Gresham Harkless 12:45
Yeah, absolutely. No, I definitely appreciate you for sharing that. And I think, too, I mean, I don't know if you feel the exact same way, especially around digital marketing. I always say usually everything either is so new that there is that opportunity to kind of experiment or it's a lot older and more mature and maybe it's in need of disruption.

Gresham Harkless 13:01
But a lot of times in order for us to kind of approach that, just like, you know, whether it be Facebook or, you know, Instagram, whatever these platforms are. I find and I hear, and even from you, as you said, a lot of the innovators are people that didn't necessarily, not to say it's not okay to take courses, write books, read books and things like that, but they basically just opened things up and they started to do things. And that's how those innovators were able to kind of understand these platforms and then become the experts that everybody's now listening to.

Denise Casagrande 13:30
Right. No, 100 percent. It's just, you know, there's a lot to learn out there and a lot to be done. So, you know, just don't be afraid to, you know, keep growing and learning every day for sure.

Gresham Harkless 13:43
Absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Denise, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Denise Casagrande 13:53
Ooh, it means to me is bringing out the best in the team. I am very much involved in each person's individual growth and self because if they individually are learning and growing and wanting to be better, it's going to make the whole overall structure of the company better as well. That's what it means to be a president, COO to me. Just making sure that each individual person knows that their work is appreciated and that they are doing a good job and helping them grow and explore in other ways too.

Denise Casagrande 14:31
That's very important.

Gresham Harkless 14:33
Absolutely, I think the quote is people don't care how much you know, they know how much you care or something along those lines. So just as you talked about with your team, you know, you want to make sure that they you care about them, you show them that they have their potential, there's their specific goals that they want to reach as well too. And when you're able to do that, it helps out you yourself as a leader, but also the organization as a whole reach those goals, because those people feel like they are valued and they are cared about. Awesome.

Gresham Harkless 14:58
Awesome. Well, Denise, thank you so much for your time and all the awesome things that you're doing. 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 a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you guys are working on.

Denise Casagrande 15:10
Awesome. Yeah. So, you know, if anybody out there needs any resources or, you know, advice on how to grow your businesses through digital marketing, please take a look at PCGdigital.com. The team here is blogging every month about advancements.

Denise Casagrande 15:26
We have a lot of resources that you can download as well. To find me, I'm on LinkedIn, Denise Casagrande. I'm on Instagram at Denise Casagrande underscore. And you can also find me on Facebook.

Denise Casagrande 15:37
I have a Facebook page, Denise Casagrande as well. And if you need any advice or mentorship of any sort, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'm more than happy to help.

Gresham Harkless 15:46
Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And we will have those links and that information in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you.

Gresham Harkless 15:52
But again, appreciate you. Appreciate your time. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.