Hello, and welcome to The Theory of Marketing Relativity Podcast. I'm Jess Burton, a marketing specialist here at Epic Marketing Consultants Corporation. Let's talk all things marketing and merchandising with our Epic team. On today's podcast I have with me Don, who is our President here Epic Marketing Consultants, but more affectionately known as one of our lead cat herders here at Epic. So thank you for joining me, Don.
Don:My pleasure.
Jess:So we're just gonna chat about the past year since we've started this podcast, because I think it was July of last year, we started if I remember. So if we look back on this year, thinking about like, Epic and the company, what do you think you or if you would like to speak for Nancy Um, when you look at what we've accomplished in the past year, because I will say, I think we've accomplished a heck of a lot.
Don:Yes, yes, we have
Jess:What are some of the things that you guys are kind of the most proud of accomplishing?
Don:I think one of the things that I'm most proud of that during the pandemic, the epic team rallied, whereas a lot of companies took a hit financially, health wise and everything. The fact that Epic is everybody, you know, works remotely, we were able to stick to what we do best. And we were able to service our clients, however that was needed. Without going in. It was, you know, it was fantastic. When we did the, the virtual conference that we were able to give back to all those people that are out there. And that didn't know about Epic, other than the name, we were able to say, Hey, this is what we are, this is who we are. This is what we're about.
Jess:I think the past year, one of my favorite, favorite things to say, but I tell everyone all the time, I'm like, Oh, my job's always been remote like so. Transitioning to remote work was like not not a thing here. Like we just, if anything we were teaching, I was teaching other people how to work.
Don:Correct? Exactly. You know, it wasn't our first time trying to do it. It was second nature. And where a lot of people were like, Oh, I can't go anywhere. Well, I don't like to go many places anyway. You know, I like I'm a creature of habit. I like what I like I like my house. So yes, it was really great the way that the team stepped up and handled the pandemic, and service the clients with whatever they needed.
Jess:Yes, I think we definitely did a good job of I would just refer to when it's like tucking and rolling and popping right back up and kind of assessing what we needed and addressing that need, like you said with I can't believe how fast we pulled off that conference. What I want to do that again? Absolutely not.
Don:Well, the thing is, we've got it down.
Jess:Yes.
Don:So it's, you know, do we want to do that do we want to do in in real life? Maybe. You know, there's all kinds of possibilities. So I, you know, I won't say we'll never do it again.
Jess:I think that if we did it again, I would like a little more leeway. Okay.
Don:And that's, you know, that's one of the things with doing a first first time, there's always changes, you're going to want to make things you do differently. Things you would omit things you would add in you know, you want to add more value to it. You want to make it worth the people's time to attend. Make sure they have a good takeaway from it. While it was good, yes, we could do things better. And we will, you know, there's definitely room for growth.
Jess:Absolutely. I think we've got a couple things up our sleeve tentatively planned for next year. So let's see where that goes. Speaking about planning looking forward and planning ahead. What do you hope we accomplish in the next year
Don:With our collaboration with CCUA I see big things, you know, working with the credit unions working with them, helping them, promote their brand. And then the APEX conference is going to be a great showcase for us to get out there and say, here we are, we are Epic. And we will get out there, we'll have the opportunity to meet people speak with people, they'll have takeaways, I think that's going to be a really good thing. I'm excited about that. I see, I see Epic, just continuing to grow. And you know, as we bring in more clients, we will onboard more staff to handle that, because it's something that, you know, you can't expect everybody to do it all. And there has to be a place where you draw the line say, okay, we need more people for this,
Jess:I definitely, I'm definitely excited for the CCUA APEX event. I think we really, I mean, I know a bulk of my clients are credit unions. So that is like something that I like, super confident in talking about is social media and credit unions. I am very excited just because like as someone who has been a member of a credit union, I just want everybody I want to shout it from the rooftops that like credit unions exist, they're here to help you whatever. Financially, they're here to help you in the community. And I think working with the CCUA will help us kind of get there so that we can kind of position ourselves even more just knowing our stuff when it comes to credit unions and credit union marketing. And then my final question for you is taking what we've learned over the past year with being able to kind of pivot and talk and roll and figure out what we need to do to help other businesses move forward in what I think Peter refers to as the new normal. What do you have any advice on how we can now approach the second half of 2021, or how anyone can approach the second half of 2021, and move into 2022, with all of this newfound pandemic related knowledge,
Don:My crystal ball has a tendency to be broken at times. You know, you can make all kinds of predictions, and then be way off. I think if we take everything we've done in the past year, and apply it to our clients and future clients, I think we're going to be really well off. We have to keep, you know, you just do the next right thing. And you give the information and you make it available, whether it's through your website, through social media, through speaking engagements, and I you know those things, as long as you put your best foot forward, you can always gain more traction with the public, you know, I don't see why we can't continue to grow. You know, the only people that are in the way of growing epic is epic. And I don't think we're really blocking it, we're open, we're receptive to, you know, client's needs, whether it's a credit union, or it's a roofing contractor, or a construction company, or what have you, you know, I don't want to get bottlenecked into Well, you do financials, and you do that. So you won't know anything about this no we're well versed and, you know, give us the opportunity to wow you that we just need that opportunity to get in a room to get on a call and tell us what your needs are. And we can give you a killer plan that's going to help elevate your business to the next level.
Jess:Absolutely. I think if my one takeaway from the last, or a month has just been like, be flexible, be available. Um, I think that's like one thing that we do really well is that, especially in marketing, sometimes people want changes, and you have to change on the fly even when things are approved and all that kind of stuff.
Don:Oh, yeah.
Jess:I think that we do a very good job of being flexible on the fly. And we are good at, you know, getting the job done and hearing what people need and meeting that need. Yeah, I think that that will benefit us, not just in the short term, but in like the long term. And I think that if anyone can take anything away from the last year, it's that you just got to be flexible.
Don:And you know, our credo is we come from a place of Yes, and that that's a heavy statement. You know, you get somebody that walks in the door and they say they want to do X, Y and Z. You can't turn around and say No, that's not possible. You have to be open to all things. And as long as we can continue to be open minded, there's no reason we can't continue to grow.
Jess:Don, thank you so much for joining me on this wonderful reflection podcast,
Don:My pleasure.
Jess:If people want to reach you, where can they reach you?
Don:You will always find me on Facebook. That's the one of the one of the best ways you can always friend me or send me a direct message. And I'm pretty open to that. I'm on LinkedIn. And I'm you can also catch me at don@epicmc2.com. And of course you can always give us a call 3 2-285-9790
Jess:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me down.
Don:Thank you, Jess.
Jess:Thank you all for tuning in this week. We hope this theory is relative to your marketing needs. Make sure you subscribe to get notified of our latest episodes.