Member Spotlight: Summer Paris
For Summer Paris, each client is a new challenge to find the perfect mix of marketing tools for tackling Jackson’s unique market.
Her advertising-marketing agency, Paris Creative, uses a wide span of strategies to help clients across all sectors. “I have some [clients] that are in the restaurant business, real estate, politics… law firms, professional services mostly, and I just do a little bit of everything,” Paris says.
When Paris receives a new client, she creates a customized advertising plan suited to their specific needs. “A client meets with me, we discuss their goals, their budget, and what they’re struggling with. I help them develop their target audience and look at everything and see what would be a good mix for them,” Paris explains. While advertising is moving rapidly in the social and digital directions with the expansion of online advertising, in a city like Jackson traditional marketing is still relevant. After meeting, Paris selects a mix of conventional and modern advertising for each client that includes elements such as public relations, crisis management, pay-per-click marketing, social media, graphic and web-design, content writing, photography and videography.
One specific area of advertising that Paris finds particularly helpful is pay-per click marketing, which is based in search engines online. Through this, businesses can place ads in search engines that will appear in the results when certain phrases or keywords are searched. “It’s very specific and very niche and you can put your ads up and show them to the exact person who is looking for that exact thing in that exact moment,” Paris says. In bigger markets, people will play hundreds of dollars to connect ads with keywords, but in Jackson, the more competitive keywords easily affordable. A similar type of marketing that Paris also uses is video pay-per-click marketing. In this format, Paris explains, “they’re seeing videos for your services before their favorite youtube channel. It’s not just going out to everyone; you’re very specific about who is seeing it and where they’re seeing it and what types of interest they have.” She elaborates that the categories available to advertisers range from “people who are in the market for residential homes for sale” to “people who might be interested in adopting a cat.” Advertisers can use these categories to place ads specifically on videos that the audiences they want to appeal to are watching. “As a consumer it’s terrifying. As a marketer, it’s amazing because you can be so specific with your money,” Paris says, “You can have thousands of views for a couple dollars.”
Right now, Paris is looking forward to expanding within her industry. 2018, for Paris, was especially busy: she participated in Leadership Jackson with Jackson Chamber, ran marketing for Scott Conger’s mayoral campaign , and publicly launched her own business. She says that while she wouldn’t do anything differently, she didn’t have as much of a chance to broaden her business, and hopes to achieve more growth in the coming year. Currently, Paris is redoing her website and working on rebranding Paris Creative Agency. She plans to become more of a content provider, using blog articles and Linkedin posts to expand her visibility in the same way she would for her clients.
Paris recently transitioned to working out of theCO. “After about five or six years of working from home with two small children, you start to realize that you want a change of scenery,” she says. Paris was drawn to theCO in particular by the driven community, stating, “It’s hard to shake things up and to do things differently, and to push for creativity and innovation and I feel like that’s what theCO offered... It was a great environment to be in because you’re surrounded by people who are trying to make a better version of themselves and their community.” Paris admits that there were many challenges that were difficult to figure out when she was working from home as a solo entrepreneur. But at theCO, she is encouraged by people around her who have worked through the same issues. “I like that when I do struggle with something there are people here in similar industries,” she says, “I like having a network of supportive people.”
One of her biggest challenges has been trying to balance being an entrepreneur and a mother with the time commitment that both roles require. “I want to be there for the school parade that they do at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday but I also want to be at networking events. I want to be there for the baseball game, but I want to attend a conference at the same time,” she admits, “so figuring out how to be really successful in this space as a woman and as a mother is a challenge that I welcome... but I don’t think it’s something that men struggle with as much.” She says that starting her own business has helped her to find a balance as she has more control over her schedule. “Changing the hours that I work, changing the space that I work in, and not being stuck at a desk, helps me juggle both,” she explains.
Starting your own business can be challenging and Paris has some great advice. “I think my young twenty-something self may have thought that the way other people approach business is the only way, or the right way, but I think when you do things in a unique manner, you just offer something different to clients…” She says she’d advise her younger self and others looking to pursue the same path to “learn from strong female mentors who are both exceptional moms and successful business owners. They don't have to be in your town. You don't even have to know them. Listen to their podcasts. Buy their books. Read their blogs. It won't be easy and you will make mistakes, but it's worth it. Big dreams are never easy to achieve, but you can do it.”
To contact Paris Creative Agency, email Summer at summer@pariscreativeagency.com or visit her website pariscreativeagency.com.