From social media to scaling up, here’s what happened at Brooklyn Marketing Week

Last weekend, the second annual Brooklyn Marketing Week was held at the CoLab-Factory in Downtown Brooklyn. It was produced by digital marketing and events agency, Benchmark Creative Group.

The three-day event included a fireside chat on Friday evening, various workshops on Saturday and concluded with an influencer brunch on Sunday that featured a host of entrepreneurs and creatives who shared their expertise on branding, social media management and scaling small businesses.

Tiffany Ashitey and Tasha Morris, the founders of Benchmark Creative, were inspired to launch Brooklyn Marketing Week because they realized a lot of people that wanted and needed their services couldn’t afford them.

“We created BMWK to bring together professionals, side hustlers and small business owners and help them discover ways to grow, scale and build awareness for their businesses,” said Ashitey. “We reached out to a number of entrepreneurs and strategists, as well as partnered with companies like Fiverr and Fundera, and they were happy to help us.”

On Saturday, attendees participated in workshops that covered a variety of topics from web design and video production to social media and search engine optimization. Emily Kate Pope, a content marketing manager at Fundera, presented a workshop on how to produce social media content that gets results.

One of the event’s panel discussions. (Photo courtesy of Sergio Santos)

“Social media matters for your business because it makes your brand ecosystem come alive,” she said. “Authenticity makes a difference and matters when it comes to brand distinction.”

C-Suite Coach Founder Angelina Darrisaw also led a workshop on search marketing and how small business owners can use Google AdWords Express for digital marketing initiatives. “When thinking about your advertising budget, consider what your business can actually handle,” Darrisaw advised. “What is the key action you want your customer to take on your website or app? Always remember to provide your consumers with relevant information in a timely fashion.”

Sunday’s influencer brunch featured a panel of seven entrepreneurs and creatives who shared their experiences in building and scaling their brands. When moderator and founder of Geenie Box, Chana Ginelle Ewing, asked panelists to define influence, many of the panelists described how they have used their platforms to encourage audience participation.

“Influence is more about coaxing people to take action, ” said Janel Martinez, cofounder of 2020 Shift and editor-in-chief of Ain’t I Latina? “Because what I do is an extension of who I am, I have chosen to define my brand by how I’m changing the narrative.”

Daniel Calderon, founder of creative agency Four Thirty,  challenged the audience to be disruptors in their niche markets, and discover new ways to do things. “Brand differentiation should be disruptive by design,” he said. “Doing something different and right will break systems for good.”

(Photo courtesy of Sergio Santos)