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Interview Series: Digital Marketing


This week I'm featuring an interview with Trent & Grant Reiman, two digital marketing entrepreneurs who started their own business in 2018–The Big Picture is a social media management and digital marketing firm based in Morton, IL. Trent & Grant are identical twins, and have bachelors degrees in marketing from Eastern Illinois University. They've answered a few questions below:


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Q: As digital marketing entrepreneurs, what does an average day look like for you?

T & G: We wake up early (anywhere from 5-6:30am) and start creating content until we are finished–nothing but focused and concentrated work until about 11am or noon. Afterwards, we take client meetings and check in. Those meetings vary from getting pictures for fresh content, talking about upcoming promotional ideas, to just checking in. We believe that building a relationship with the client is very important.


Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

T & G: Definitely the relationship and networking side of social media. Every business owner is very different, and it’s fun to get new and unique perspectives from more than 100 different business owners on a weekly basis.

Q: What is the most difficult part of your job?

T & G: The most difficult part of our job is probably the everyday consistency that needs to be put in. We’ve had the business for 4 years now and we haven’t had a single off day since… it’s so worth it though. 

Q: How did your previous experiences in work, school, and life help prepare you for what you are doing today?

T & G: We took a few courses in college that we were able to take value from, but the main thing college prepared us for is structure and building a solid foundation. We both played D1 tennis, and we were on a very tight schedule. That definitely prepared us for what we do now. We have to show up everyday, no matter what. It’s definitely exhausting but extremely rewarding and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Q: What is one piece of advice you’d give to students looking to pursue digital marketing?

T & G: The main piece of advice we’d give comes down to two things: consistency and action. You have to be consistent no matter what. We all have good days and bad days, but you have to show up with a smile on your face and a good attitude each and every day otherwise you’ll spiral out of control. Things happen, you just have to try and learn from any negative experience and move on. Failures are inevitable… instead of getting down, use it as a lesson and move forward. Action is the second part. There’s so many people that spend all this time planning and talking about what they are going to do… very rarely do people actually take action. You don’t have to be the most knowledgeable or talented as long as you are continuously following through and doing what you say you will.

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I've had the opportunity to work with Trent and Grant over the past year, and their work ethic is evident just from collaborating with them. Digital marketing is a fast-growing career field. A recent article from ClickThrough shares that about half of firms outsource at least one component of their marketing activities. It also lists digital advertising and content creation/curation as the most in-demand digital marketing skills. I'd definitely recommend reading the article if you are considering a career in digital marketing.

I'll see you next week!

- JS

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 21, 2022 at 2:50 PM

    I really enjoyed reading this blog post. As a soon to be graduate, hearing advice from professionals is always something I try to keep my eye out for. I especially liked the part where they talked about how playing tennis has helped them in their career. I resonate a lot with this. Some of the most important skills you learn during college are the skills you learn outside of the classroom, especially in the business field. My leadership positions in college have taught me equal, if not more, to what I have learned in my classes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 22, 2022 at 5:16 PM

    I had an internship this past summer in Digital Marketing and I found that I really liked it. Your blog post is very informative and I enjoyed reading it!! I also really liked their advice for students. Nice post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Slav A.March 24, 2022 at 1:03 AM

    Consistency is such a huge value of importance when it comes to most things and exceling at the in the modern world, it's good to see its need emphasized as well in this interview. I would imagine constant action and always being ready to act is also really important considering digital marketing tends to deal with a multitude of fast changing trends.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AbigailMarch 26, 2022 at 6:42 PM

    Great interview, James.
    My takeaway:
    consistency and action.

    ReplyDelete

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