Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to K. Shon Tillman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have K. Shon with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
We started True Digital Marketing in 2017 shortly after the worst hurricane in Texas history, Hurricane Harvey. The city of Houston was going through an experience like never before. A lot of businesses didn’t make it, some couldn’t come back. Three years later, the world would go through an experience like never before, we got hit with the COVID-19 shutdown. These situations made us stronger, we took advantage of every opportunity to grow our business. Since we’re a website design agency, we were able to work with business owners that were looking to grow their online presence anywhere. This allowed us to work with people in America, Mexico, and England. With nearly a decade of experience in digital marketing and over five years in business as a full-service digital marketing agency headquartered in Houston, TX, it’s our passion that keeps us driven.
When you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Our clients know that we put their business first, and we provide them with the highest class of customer service. We use real-time data to help our clients strategize their marketing goals to help them grow their businesses. We share a similar vibe with the people that we partner with, and that’s we all want to win.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m from Long Island, NY and I moved to Houston, TX for good in 2002. My partner Melinda is from Flint, MI, she moved to Houston a little over 10 years ago. Our first business was a commercial collection business that didn’t do well. The problem was I had no idea how to collect money from debtors with commercial accounts. We would learn from the experience that we would need to know every aspect of our business if we were going to be successful. Melinda would move on and start a tax preparation business with her best friend. I would become inspired by their success together. I was a part of helping them to market/advertise the business services while working at Yellow Pages as a digital marketing account executive. What I learned from both of them is that they knew all the ins and outs of this business and that’s what made them successful. Coupled with their work ethic, they were able to surpass their financial goals.
Yellow Pages would sell their company to a competitor that was bringing a change to my position that I wasn’t interested in. By this time, my co-workers and I would discover how the company was overcharging clients and delivering subpar results. Clients had to spend a certain amount of money to gain access to better performing services, I felt like that created a level of unfairness in how much attention accounts would get. I found a lot of holes in the way in the way my prior employer ran the company. The only service they had to offer in house was their directory, everything else was outsourced. That caused a long delay in simple changes for client accounts and campaigns because everything had to go through another vendor. By this time, I knew digital marketing would take me to places I only dreamed of. It could also make or break an emerging business, and help to grow businesses by leaps and bounds. Plus my name was on the line, not my prior employer. My clients trusted me, believed in me, and took my advice. I was what made my prior employer great, not the other way around. Now, I knew what my mission was and I had found my purpose. It was time to challenge the majors and level the playing field for the small business community.
My focus now is to make True Digital Marketing the most competitive digital marketing agency in America. We’ll do that by providing our clients with a suite of corporate level marketing and advertising services at a comfortable budget. We help our clients build their businesses and get found online. At True Digital Marketing we offer one to one client relationships, better website design, and strategic marketing plans made easy.
The first few hours of my day is spent prospecting for new business, before lunch I catch up on emails from the day before, and during the afternoons I’m on the phone with clients or networking over Zoom meetings. I collaborate with others in the digital marketing space on podcasts, and on social media platforms.
We are expanding our business by offering referral partnerships, paying referral fees to people that refer business owners in need of websites, and we white label our website design services for other consultants.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’ve been in sales all my life, I’ve been a stockbroker when I lived in New York and now I sell digital marketing services. There’s a lot that goes into obtaining a client no matter what you sell. You have to be honest, believe in your services, and most importantly to me, work with a high level of integrity. When it comes to building your business, you’re in total control of your future and your income. Nobody is going to pay you like you pay yourself! A lot of people don’t believe that hustle is a good word and I feel the total opposite. The truth is if I don’t get up, get out, and get something then my kids don’t eat, I can’t take my lady out, and I can’t buy sneakers. All of those are major issues to me, lol. Part of being a business owner is having the freedom and the ability to afford the lifestyle that you want, but that has to be earned. Nothing is given.
In the beginning, you’re going to have to keep your faith up, your head down, and focus like you never did before, The reason for that is that your time is the most valuable asset you have. How you manage your time will make or break your small business in the first 2 years. Don’t expect your friends, family, or your relatives to support you, most of them may not even understand what your services are or have any knowledge about the products you sell. Learn how to market your business and strangers will make you rich!
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Collaboration is the new currency, and your network could have a major impact on your net worth. I would encourage people to get outside and make themselves known. People do business with people they like and trust. Once you’ve earned your client’s trust, their way of showing you love is by sending you referrals. It’s great if the world knows your name, but there is no better way of marketing than word of mouth. In most cases, you don’t have to sell yourself, the client did it for you already At True Digital Marketing we are growing our business through partnerships and our referral payment program. We’re looking to collaborate with public relations, graphic designers, marketing consultants, business coaches, print advertisers, videographers, photographers, and promotional products. We can all network and refer business across our different services without stepping on anyone’s toes.
For more details please email info@truedigitalmktg.com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.truedigitalmktg.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truedigitalmktg/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/truedigitalmktg
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truedigitalmediaconsulting
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/true_digital?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@truedigitalmarketing5172
Image Credits
the Monalise photography/designs
